The month of March has a reputation for being windy. I believe there’s an old saying that goes, “Spring comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” Translation: March is usually pretty blustery and I don’t much like the “blust.” Wind makes me cold. It messes up my hair and it causes a massive amount of leaves to be distributed throughout my yard, giving the appearance that my landscape is not well maintained.
Considering all of the forces of nature, wind has quite a mystique and following. Wind has been the subject, or at the very least a word used in the title, for countless movies, songs and books. There must be something to this infatuation with the wind and all of its actual or perceived power.
When it comes to movies, Gone with the Wind, staring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, is by far the most recognizable film with the word “wind” in the title. However, this movie isn’t about wind at all. It’s a timeless classic love story centered around the time of the Civil War, but people, women mostly, think it’s still cool (no pun intended) to watch these cheesy old movies on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Other “wind” titled movies include Inherit the Wind, based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Evolution and, Blowin’ in the Wind, a documentary film examining the secret treaty that is allowing the U.S. Military to train and test its weaponry in Australia. Windwalker -is a little gem of a film and rates as a ‘must see’ for anybody interested in an authentic portrayal of Native American life in the winter of 1797 and finally, Wind – a story set around the 1987 America’s Cup yachting competition in Perth, Australia, starring Matthew Modine and, if I’m not mistaken, a post-nose job Jennifer Grey.
Songs with the word “wind” in the title include Ride like the Wind, by Christopher Cross, with backing vocals by Michael McDonald. “Gonna ride like the wind/ until I’m free/ gonna ride like the wind/ blah, blah, blah.” What a cool (no pun intended) easy listening tune from early 80’s. Back then, I would jump on my Stingray bike, pop on my Astro Tunes portable cassette player and, well………….ride like the wind around the neighborhood. Other “wind” songs you might recognize include Blowin’ in the Wind by Bob Dylan, “How many roads must a man walk down/ before you can call him a man/ the answer my friend is blowin’ in the Wind/the answer is blowin’ the wind.” Candle in the Wind by Sir Elton John, “Goodbye Norma Jean/ though I never knew you at all/ you had the grace to hold yourself/ while those around you fall/ like a candle in the wind,” Dust in the Wind by 80’s rockers Kansas, “I close my eyes/ only for a moment and the moment’s gone/ pass before my eyes of curiosity/ all we are is Dust in the Wind.” My all time favorite “wind” titled song is Wind Beneath My Wings by Miss Bette Midler. “Did you ever know that you’re my hero/and everything I’d like to be/ I can fly higher than an eagle/for you are the wind beneath my wings.” Don’t judge me.
Books with the word “wind” in the title include The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a coming-of-age tale of a young boy who, through the magic of a single book, finds a purpose greater than himself and a hero in a man he’s never met; Grasping the Wind by Andrew Ellis provides students a unique opportunity to study an application of Chinese medical language in a clear and culturally valid context; Wind Flowers by Oscar Wilde, a collection of Wilde’s shorter poems which include: Impression du Matin, Magdalen Walks, Athanasia, Serenade for Music, Endymion, La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente; and, The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen and his life as a fugitive after being accused of murdering a king. This last book, The Name of the Wind, sounds like the only “wind” titled book that won’t cure insomnia. It appears to be a “Harry Potter on Steroids” type read.
I suppose if wind was an integral part of your job/vocation or hobby, you might feel differently about it than I do. If you are an accomplished yachtsman like Dennis Conner, or a professional windsurfer like Phil Horrocks, then wind is essential to your livelihood. Kite flyers like the wind, but I was never much of a kite runner, despite many a March day in my youth spent trying to get a kite airborne. Back in the day, my friends and I would purchase an intricate kite kit at the local drug store for a quarter. It was a light-weight, paper kite with a balsa wood cross frame. It also required the addition of a perfectly engineered knotted tail, made from an old dress shirt, to increase the lift-versus-thrust ratio.
Assuming we didn’t manage to destroy the kite fabric during the assembly process, which happened way too often, our adolescent kite gang would all head out to our elementary school with a bag lunch and a ball of string to spend the day running around like lunatics in our attempt to master aeronautic acrobatics with a precision instrument that cost a quarter. When we did occasionally catch the wind just right and get our kite into a suburban jet stream, we would spend hours maneuvering our kites in the perfect wind currents as a metaphor of our youth. More times than not, our kites ended up in a tree, tangled up in the overhead power lines or smashed beyond recognition after an ill advised nose dive reminiscent of a Kamikaze pilot.
We could’ve used the services of Chris Maxa, General Manager of the Kite Loft in Ocean City, Maryland. Chris is the most recognized professional kite flyer and instructor in the world. Yes, there is a Professional Kite Flyers Association (PKFA).
Whenever someone talks of “going green,” energy is part of the conversation. Wind energy is not just the next big thing, but perhaps the biggest thing ever. Confronting the peril of greenhouse gases and climate change happens to be a multi-trillion-dollar business opportunity. The solar and wind energy markets, which totaled about $80 billion in 2008, are projected to nearly triple in size in 10 years, employing 2.6 million people worldwide, according to Clean Edge, a “Cleantech” research group. The payoff is a low-carbon economy and tens of thousands of new jobs. That’s called “research,” my friends.
Virtually everyone in the greater Bay Area is familiar with the Altamont Pass Wind Farm. The turbines form lines scattered about the hilltops, around an area of about 15 kilometers in diameter. Hundreds are visible from the highway. According to online info, there are approximately 4,900 of them, being the world’s largest wind farm in terms of number of turbines. Although you can hear the whooshing from the blades from a fair distance, it is hard to get anywhere close to these high-tech windmills since there is no paved road leading to them, there are specially trained guard cows scattered throughout the hillside and the wind is not surprisingly strong in that area.
Collectively, they have a capacity of 576 megawatts (MW), producing about 125 MW on average and 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) yearly. I truly don’t know if that’s enough juice to illuminate a single nightlight for a week or all the houses in the Tri-Valley for a year. That’s called “lack of research.” I do, however, think these high-tech windmills look cool positioned along the hillsides of the Altamont Pass giving travelers something to gawk at as they head toward the popular destination spot of Manteca.
In retrospect, perhaps, I’ve been too hard on the wind. I do like wind chimes and I suppose knowing the wind-chill factor (the temperature of windless air that would have the same effect on exposed human skin as a given combination of wind speed and air temperature) is helpful at times. Chicago is known as the Windy City and I think Chicago is a very cool (no pun intended) place—even cooler than Manteca. However, when that wind whips off Lake Michigan, it cuts through you like a knife—a freezing cold knife.
I believe there’s another saying that goes, “Women are known to change their mind like the wind changes direction,” or something like that. Well if that is in fact true, then after further analysis, I, as a man, will change my mind and proclaim that wind is Cool (no pun intended). Given its unbelievable strength and power of destruction (one word, tornado) there’s no reason to give Aeolus – the God of Wind, any reason to get all blustery on me.