Mark Woods: A rainy day column about our weather, college rankings and the skies on 9/11

Mark my words … a rainy day(s) notes column.

I spent part of last week backpacking in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park .

I’ve been talking about making it back there ever since 2012, when I devoted the October chapter of my year in the national parks to Olympic.

The Hoh is a remarkable piece of that park. It makes Seattle, a few hours to its east, seem arid. It’s the largest temperate rainforest in the Lower 48. In an average year, it gets about 12 feet of rain.

But that’s mostly in a rainy season that starts about October. When I was there this time, it didn’t rain a drop. Not one. We had mostly deep blue skies over the absurdly lush green landscape.

Then I came back to Florida, where it’s been raining ever since. No rain in a rain forest. Buckets in the Sunshine State. It feels like a discarded verse in Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." We’re only at about 4 feet of rain this year. But it sure feels like we’re trying to compete with the Hoh. So go ahead and blame me. Or the stalled front that the meteorologists say is the cause.

Either way, if there ever were a week for a “rainy day” column of notes, this feels like it.

Who baked state parks plan?

When I headed into wilderness that’s still blissfully free of cell and wifi, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection was pushing ahead with plans to build golf courses, huge hotels and pickleball courts in some state parks.

When I came back to a virtual pile of messages and mail, the plans were dead (at least for now), a cartographer-turned-whistleblower had been fired from his DEP job (but received more than $200,000 on a GuFundMe page), and nobody seemed to want to say the ideas in the “Great Outdoors Initiative” started with them.

Gov. Ron DeSantis distanced himself from the plans , calling the initiative “half-baked.”

Considering that all signs point to the baking starting in the governor’s office, a lot of questions remain .

UF falls from No. 1 to No. 34

You may recall that about a year ago, state leaders and University of Florida officials were making a big deal about the Wall Street Journal’s “Best Colleges in the U.S.” rankings — with UF ranked as the No. 1 public university in America .

At the time UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini said: “The University of Florida dared to be audacious, and we’ve succeeded — for our students and for our state. … The people of the great state of Florida can take great pride in knowing that their tax dollars are well spent at the University of Florida. The best is yet to come.”

You didn’t hear much when the latest Wall Street Journal rankings came out last week — with Florida falling to No. 34 among public universities (and dropping from No. 15 to No. 83 among all universities).

One of the reasons for the drop: the UF “salary impact score” dropped. That score includes graduates’ estimated salaries, along with the cost of living in the state.

If only a few more grads could’ve been given jobs in former President Ben Sasse’s office. They wouldn’t even have to live in the state.

The latest ranking wasn’t connected to, but seems apropos of, news that didn’t exactly inspire pride in well-spent tax dollars. The Independent Florida Alligator, UF’s student run newspaper, reported that before Sasse resigned as school president, citing his wife’s health, he had tripled the budget for his office in his first year to $17.3 million. Some of his former U.S. Senate staffers were given large salaries at UF, much larger than their predecessors, but weren’t required to move anywhere near UF.

Two bits, four bits, six bits, $17.3 million dollars …

And then there's football

When I came back to so-called civilization, I also checked the rankings that I know some of my co-workers care most about: football. As long as UF and Florida State are in that top 10, my Gator and Seminole friends are going to be insufferable.

Oh, wait.

That’s Missouri at No. 6 in the AP rankings.

Not that Mizzou grads would ever gloat about such things. But I am old enough to remember when some said Missouri didn’t belong in the Southeastern Conference, partly because it wasn’t a good football program (quite true when I was there) and partly because it wasn’t Southeastern enough.

While it remains to be seen how good Mizzou is this season (I fully expect any gloating to end soon), at least Missouri actually borders Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee. These days — Stanford is in the Atlantic Coast Conference? — it’s clear that the NCAA, which long ago gave up on math (see 18 teams in the Big Ten) also has given up on geography .

Look to skies and remember 9/11

Finally, I can’t let this rainy Wednesday pass without recalling a sunny Tuesday 23 years ago.

As this day on the calendar approached, I found myself thinking about traveling to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania with the family of Richard Guadagno, one of the United 93 passengers, most recently for the 20th anniversary.

The speakers that day included Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland and then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. But the most memorable speech was delivered by the president on Sept. 11, 2001: George W. Bush.

I went back the other day and re-read the transcript .

“For those too young to recall that clear September day, it is hard to describe the mix of feelings we experienced,” he said. “There was horror at the scale of destruction, and awe at the bravery and kindness that rose to meet it.”

Eight months after Jan. 6 also became more than just another day on the American calendar, he said “the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within.” He lamented that so much of our politics had become “a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment,” leaving Americans worried about the future of our nation.

“I come without explanations or solutions. I can only tell you what I have seen.

“On America’s day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor’s hand and rally to the cause of one another. That is the America I know.

“At a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of Muslim faith. That is the nation I know.

“At a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceived as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome of immigrants and refugees. That is the nation I know.

“At a time when some viewed the rising generation as individualistic and decadent, I saw young people embrace an ethic of service and rise to selfless action. That is the nation I know.

“This is not mere nostalgia; it is the truest version of ourselves. It is what we have been — and what we can be again.”

And, finally, he said that when terrorists chose to make the passengers and crew on Flight 93 collateral damage in their Sept. 11 plans, they didn’t know America.

“The terrorists soon discovered that a random group of Americans is an exceptional group of people. Facing an impossible circumstance, they comforted their loved ones by phone, braced each other for action, and defeated the designs of evil.

“These Americans were brave, strong, and united in ways that shocked the terrorists – but should not surprise any of us. This is the nation we know. And whenever we need hope and inspiration, we can look to the skies and remember.”

On this day, rain or shine, that is what I will do. Look to the skies and remember.

mwoods@jacksonville.com

(904) 359-4212

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Mark Woods: A rainy day column about our weather, college rankings and the skies on 9/11