I’ll have to think a bit about the idea of nostalgic thought being a desire to force change to stop. Does quite seem right to me.

I do agree that everything changes and often for reasons hidden or dismissed. It only takes a view of Pennsylvania’s forested mountains to realize how difficult life would be to migrate westward. Entrepreneurs and governments certainly hastened the changes. History helps identify good and bad but man in the present it just seems like a political and economic crap shoot.

Who decides for sure.

I feel the same way about the experience while riding. I may escape something but never reality. I wish I felt social media was an illusion but man it drives so much of society for an illusion. I think of it more like a lie. Or an incomplete truth.

The challenge for each of us I think is learning who or what to trust. There’s just no way to know most things first hand. So we’re left with the challenge of sorting things out if we’re smart. Or just drinking the media Kool-Aid closest to our beliefs. I don’t watch any TV news. Everything I embrace is in print or on a screen in text. The difference between a 90 second story and a 10 thousand word news piece is striking. It’s easier to find the whole story.

You’re right though, everything has a bias. But knowing that to start with allows me to bring a keen eye to what I’m reading. Any time I read a source telling me that they hold the truth I am immediately suspect. And I appreciate how the WSJ and NYT clearly indicates what pieces are opinion.

More and more I pay less and less attention to the news. Not much I can do about anything.

I have been lied to by journalists for so long that I no longer trust any of them to the degree that you seem to. Andy is right about the rise of individual journalists who are less beholden to any corporate mandates, but even they often succumb to envy or greed and their biases start to show through.

Many years ago I attended a local organizational meeting, then later read the “news” article in the papers. That reporter and I must have been at two different meetings. You are wise to subscribe to newspapers that represent both sides. For more extreme viewpoints try watching Fox news and MSNow for a while. Each lives in its own world and neither will ever give you the whole story.

Thank you for the kind words about the photography Andy. Beyond the satisfaction I get from the process of making pictures I find them valuable as touchstones of my life. It’s easy to forget so much that I’m glad I have an archive of remembrances here. I have to say I see a marked difference in my photography of the past couple years since almost exclusively shooting with my iPhone. It’s easy but the images lack the energy of earlier work. I’ve begun carrying a camera again but the phone is just so easy to use. It appeals to my inherent laziness.

Escaping reality. The option is always there but I’ve found embracing reality to be more productive and a reliable path to some daily sanity. But as you say, there are always things to unpack.

Change. Ugh. Never easy or welcome for me but the only way to acknowledge that life isn’t static.

I agree with you that riding is the perfect place for me to wrestle with the big questions. Not every ride is like that. Most are just enjoyable and satisfying and recharge my batteries. But sometimes when something is weighing on me it is the right place to ponder.

I just listened to “The Riddle.” It’s a beautiful song. And it brings with it a reminder of the beauty and sometimes sad reality of life. Thanks for sharing it.

It has a way of sticking in my head. Not all songs do that.

Well Scooter boy, the big things are important at our age. Escaping those world problems, or rather accepting that they are no longer ours to deal with, is a gift. The scooter reminds us of our immediate responsibilities of riding. Whether one calls it escape or something else, riding has a great way of putting everything in perspective.

Thanks to your insight I’ll add “pants” to my mantra of “wallet, keys, spectacles, testicles.” I want to make sure I have pants on…

I think our approach to riding and the benefits we derive are largely the same. Especially in regard to how riding brings us into the moment. I often find myself grateful to have found my way on to two wheels. Life is richer and more exciting.

My first reaction to the title of your post was, “No, I don’t ride to escape reality.” But a reaction like that for me usually means there’s more to it that I need to unpack.

I find your independent study of the NYT and WSJ fascinating and enjoyed your take. I’d say I align with your view that serious journalists who operate in good faith can be trusted because they follow professional and ethical standards and report the facts. Interpreting those facts is important and unavoidable, part of being human and falls on a spectrum that I believe gives the overall discourse its strength. I feel similarly about the discussion of religious topics.

(I’ve noticed a pattern in my own life: my reality seems to mean a particular structure or orientation of things. Change, often disorienting and sometimes painful, inevitably arrives at the scene and serves as a reality check. Then, time and practicing acceptance seem to help me construct a new reality that I settle into. Then the pattern repeats. I think it’s called Life!)

As we have seen, politics influences big business deals that impact the news industry, and I’ve been watching many journalists go independent. I’m glad that our free market system allows these voices to continue to be heard. It’s a strength of our democracy that I may not have appreciated before, and it gives me hope.

Speaking of reality, I find riding a perfect place to ask myself the big questions in life, usually while feeling more grateful than usual for the beauty around me. A song that has been on repeat in my own head for the past couple of weeks is The Riddle, by Five for Fighting. God knows I don’t always have this perspective, but it’s something I can aspire to.