Have you looked at the sky lately?

There is just something about Ashland. It was not until I moved here that I heard of crystal healing machines, or electric mats filled with amethyst, or that drinking cilantro juice will help detox you of heavy metals. Ashland is the first place I ever experienced hemp lattes, and where even drive-through coffee shops have rice milk. It was in Ashland when I was asked if the wine I was serving at a small gathering was organic, and it is here too, when I first heard of "chemtrails," a topic abuzz in our community.

Is this for real, or is it just another conspiracy theory with an occult following in our slightly asymmetrical Ashland? (It was here, after all, when I was approached by a man in a mask who felt he had to tell me that we were really living in a matrix and born from pods). In a letter to the editor of the Tidings, a resident speaks out about "chemtrails":

"So what are these chemtrails, really, why is our air and water being poisoned, and why is there so little information about them? Why did they not exist before the late 1990s? What is being done about this locally? Regionally? Nationally? Not nearly as much that needs to be. In any case, I do not want to see any more chemtrails over Ashland or anywhere." March 13, 2007, Chad Derosier.

Here's the chemtrail theory: Some believe that the trails noticeable behind some aircraft are not regular condensation trails, (called contrails), but the result of high-altitude spraying of chemicals for a secret purpose. Some suggested purposes for the chemtrails are: weather control (perhaps to counter the effects of global warming), military purposes, scientific study, biological warfare, cloud clustering to cause precipitation, hegemonic mind control or other similar occult purposes.

This sounds a little crazy but — have you looked up in the sky lately?

Students did not seem overly concerned, and some were unaware of such things, though others seemed to be in the know.

"Working at the Co-op I have a lot of customers who come through my line and talk about it, so there's definitely an awareness about the issue," said student Ana LoPresti. "I haven't really looked into it. It seems pretty silly, but then, you never know"

Some Ashland residents seem to be tracking the sky daily. If you look up on any given day, you may see what people are calling chemtrails. The exhaust seems to linger and it seems much lower than what's emitted from other aircraft. Sometimes there are many lines in a pattern, and there is something about the trails that don't look like what I remember jet streams looking like in my early youth, when we had time to notice that sort of thing. Many of us don't even look at the sky anymore.

"If you do travel out of the valley, there are no chemtrails. It's the effect of having blinders on. Some people think this is normal. I've heard all sorts of things. We're a high-risk community because there are so many unvaccinated children, because there are so many liberal and educated people here," said Ashland resident Sara Hirst. "It's hard to tell if it's Oregon paranoia or reality."

"I'm not saying there is a conspiracy or anything. But certain aircraft trails tend to dissipate at a much faster rate than others. Sometimes you'll see one last all day, then you'll see a jet fly by and its trail is disappearing as you watch it, so they are kind of strange," said student Philip Shilts.

Maybe the trail formation does just depend on the varying weather patterns and is harmless. Or maybe we are really being bombarded with chemicals to numb us to the mind control brought about by the dominion that is our government. Whatever is going on, may I suggest we turn off our televisions, computers, iPods and cell phones, and start looking up at the sky for ourselves.