tabcat - check out these air roots!
Air Roots Galore!. When healthy they usually have a grayish appearnace with a green or reddish/green tip (depending upon the color of the flower).
It looks to me like your roots are not getting as much water as they would like - somewhat shriveled. It could partly be you live in a dry environment (if the humidity is indeed low?). However, I would suggest you water from the top unless you need to occasionally soak the entire pot from time to time to get your media charged with moisture (?). Some folks like to mist their air roots daily - if you do, do it early in the morning so that you don't end up with any water in the crown of your plant late in the day - leads to crown rot.