Scott Anderson, Ph.D.

My first-grade classroom had a Ouija Board tucked among the missing-pieces checker boards and outdated magazines. My classmates and I were intrigued by its premise, and while our pronunciation of Ouija tended toward rhyming with squeegee, for a short while the Ouija Board held our collective imaginations. I wouldn’t describe myself as a skeptical kid, though my first (and last) question to the Ouija Board, do grasshoppers wear pants? , seems to evidence at least some Ouija-skepticism. The “yes” answer clearly contradicted the abundance of evidence, and even in 1973, wishing the Ouija Board’s answer to be true didn’t make it true. In the aftermath of this dissonant answer, I quickly shifted my attention from the Ouija Board to more pressing concerns, such as scuttling worksheets and talking to my neighbors. Despite my transient interest in the Ouija Board, this first-grade experience continues to inform my worldview. Jiminy Cricket figured prominently in various "I'm No Fool...

Eight pounds doesn't seem like a lot of weight to carry in a backpack, though when I recently climbed the Manitou Incline , the pack felt quite heavy. At 2744 steps, the Manitou Incline is known as a challenging hike. Despite being less than one mile in length, these thousands of steps gain almost two thousand feet of elevation - all of it at "high" altitude! At that altitude, carrying Gladys' ashes in a backpack proved challenging, albeit it satisfying. The oxygen content of the air at high altitude is significantly less than in my Driftless-area home. When planning my recent trip to Colorado, the Manitou Incline wasn't on my radar. While I've heard fable of this hike for decades, climbing a long staircase within sight of a tourist-town wasn't on my bucket list. Or even my kinda-interested list. But necessity is famous for altering priorities, and scattering my adoptive Mother's ashes was one of the primary intentions of this trip. My adoptive Mother...