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TT: modern treelore
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Colleagues -
The current joke that is circulating the Internet about the ransom
note from the trees is clearly offensive to some sensibilities. My
personal feeling is that it is both funny and offensive. Whether
you like it or not, there is some validity in this list keeping up-
to-date on the ways that tree imagery is (ab)used in popular culture.
On television they are selling a sport vehicle called a 'Forester.'
Folks who watch the X-Files will confirm that in recent months trees
are starting to play into their mythology, as bees had earlier on. One
tree was found to be trapping abusive parents in its root system (?!)
The great cartoonist Gary 'Far Side' Larson has often turned his warped
imagination to satirically defending the trees -- from their human pests.
I don't want to dwell much more on this tangent, but 'treelore' --
both good and bad -- is evolving all the time (eg _The Man Who
Planted Trees_). It's not just the 'relics' of Native American legend
and Christmas ritual. Some of the best arguments on this list have
stressed the need to affect popular psychology, in order to deepen
and illuminate the bonds between our Community and our Forest.
Richard@Flora.Com
TreeTown ListOp
Baltimore USDA Zone 7
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