'TECHNOLOGY TREESON' -- somehow the island floating around Manhattan this week reminds me of an extraordinary book that I'd like to recommend that all parents and techies read this fall...as your kids go to school or as you reminisce about going back to college in the past....be sure to check out "LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS" 
back to school reading for any age" LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS" to counter "technology treeson"....
REMEMBERING INDIAN SUMMERS.....
Once upon a time, fall ushered in the best days and early eves of Indian Summer....leaves changing color, briskness in the wind, a squirrel zapping in front of your path in the woods squirreling away nuts for the long winter ahead....but my query today is will kids of tomorrow ever experience that exquisite experience? A recent news report said that one fourth grader reports that he likes to play indoors better "because that's where all the electrical outlets are."
Technology-2-go -- cell phones and now TV wirelessly connect us without those electric outlets...but is there a time when you need and should disconnect.
NATURE-deficit-disorder-- Journalist and child advocate, Richard Louv, discusses the problem of nature deficit disorder in his new book, "Last Child in the Woods." Never before in our history have children been so separated from nature," Louv tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith "They can tell you anything about the Amazon rain forest, but they can't tell you about the last time they went out in the woods and watched the leaves move."
Louv claims that, according to recent reseach, lack of direct contact with nature is connected to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). H ealso cites statistics showing children who play in nature perform better at school.
STILL HUNTER/GATHERERS AT HEART:
"It (nature)reduces their stress level," Louv says. "Biologically, we are still hunters and gatherers. We haven't changed since that time.
CULTURAL AUTISM:
What happens to the human organism when you take nature away from it and replace it with television and computers? I call that cultural autism where children's use of the senses is reduced to the size of a screen, like a computer. Only in nature are we using our full senses all at the same time in a positive way."
RECOMMENDED LINKS:
A breath of fresh air:Chicago Tribune
Read This Outdoors:Cascadia Scorecard Weblog,
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