Today is a perfect day to make this introduction. I arrived home from the farmers’ market in a huff, I’m sad to say. The overwhelm of my ambitions coupled with the underwhelm of my productivity is getting to me. And as often happens when my mood is on the south side of happy, things that I see out in the world leave an even less than usual favorable impression.

Outlandish? Oakland-ish. is my ever-growing list of sights, sounds, and happenings that make Oakland, California a stimulating home. The idea being that the act of recording / reflecting will ease out the judgement / frustration and usher in the joy / delight that I experience living in this fabulous city.

I’m not sure that I can talk myself out of today’s gripe though. It’s littering. When I arrived home my very kind and supportive husband came to help me into the house with my basket full of farm fresh goodness. But he was distracted by garbage in the bushes along our driveway. I wish that I could come up with a justification for littering or a defense of litterbugs, but I cannot. Littering disgusts me. Living in the city I have all too often seen people pull their car up to the curb, proceed to dump all their garbage out onto the street and sidewalk, and then pull away. Once I witnessed somebody do this very thing in our driveway. I protested and he just looked at my blankly then drove away.

All I can say is that I have more confidence in my fellow humans. This littering is not an expression of our highest potential. And it’s gross. So it puts me in a bad mood. I’d like to someday have an idea of why people do this. To me it seems like an expression of their unhappiness with their life and their community. I can’t imagine what else would bring a person to dump their garbage in public space.

I have high hopes for us all though, that perhaps we may find an alternative outlet for our personal frustrations and that we can also find a way of supporting each other to reach toward our highest potential.