Hi KL, I'm a reader on Medium, and a wordy commenter too. However, this is only the second story I've written.

I read Howard Zinn, twice. Once in college, and again, just a couple years back.

As you might have guessed from the photo I am a rural American. I took that photo from my balcony, and the stories inside that photo would boggle the minds of city people.

While you can't see them, they can see you - wild horses, snakes, racoons, bobcats, deer, condors, antelope, vultures, hawks, eagles live here too. In the spring and fall, the elk migrate and stop here to graze, for just about a week. We reserve that meadow for the wildlife. They hunt and play there and stay awqy from the house and livestock. Except for one bold cougar who likes to sun himself on the rock just below my balcony. When he looks up at me and I look down at him, we do this eye thing that makes me swoon.

Let me list a few other activities in that photo... aerospace, fighter jets, some of the most dangerous criminals in this country, alternative energy, forests and timberland, black, brown, white, Korean, and Sikh farmers, ranchers and vinters, Peruvian sheepherders, land holdings that date back to Mexico, 2,000 year old petroglyphs and the people whose ancestors painted them, Denmark, gated communities, conservation land, open space, Hawaii, high-tech training schools, a professional skateboard training school, a music schools, public schools, private schools, home schools, and an international elder-hostel site, to name a few.

Yup, all that is going on in that photo.

I finally got fed up with people speaking for us, and about us, and decided to start speaking for myself.

Apparently, life in the wilds fosters a different sensibility when it comes to female parts. I swear, country people know more about female anatomy than doctors do.

KL, I am glad to meet you. Thanks for the encouragement. I need it.