A young friend of mine, Andy, came by this morning to buy boxes to take as gifts to Korea where he will be a Fulbright Scholar for the coming year. The boxes shown in the photo below are just like the ones he chose. Andy asked, "What are the woods? Are they local?" Yes, they are local. The linden or basswood comes from the area and the spalted maple from a tree that fell in Eureka Springs. The lines in the spalted maple come from the activity of fungus in the natural process of decay. I guess you can see that localism is not a new concept in the Doug Stowe wood shop.

For the past 30 years, I've been a local artist using local woods, making products to be sold in the local market, so, I think perhaps you will understand why the concept of localism is important to an understanding of the "wisdom of the hands." Globally informed localism is an important tool for restoring our communities, putting a stop to global warming, and building an environmentally sustainable civilization. Get a grip on the bar and hang with me. It is a subject that requires some patient exploration.