Warren Angus Ferris, Yellowstone’s first tourist
Warren Angus Ferris visited Yellowstone in 1834 as the first tourist to experience the thermal features, and the first person known to use the Icelandic word “geyser” to describe them.
A challenge comes to its successful but inglorious end: daily post 105 of 105
This is the end of my writing challenge, but not completing the exercise does not in any way feel like failure.
Canary in the coal mine: national parks and the future of the earth
As the parks go, so goes the future of the earth. The sad state of national parks predicts an ominous outlook for the earth and the communities that rely on it.
Looking for a place of rest on a winter night
This excerpt from an epic retelling of the Christian biblical narrative offers a poetic interpretation of the traditional Christmas advent story.
The first day of winter
Watching the nearly full moon set, we felt the first hints of morning light following the solstice. Slowly the first day of the new year cut through the night’s frost to brighten a new season.
Tourists all the time
To the extent that we have all become consumers in every facet of our modern lives, we live in the touristic ethos of consumerism. All of us are tourists all of the time.
Advice for a better life
Learning to write well, creatively, productively applies as well to learning to live well, creatively, productively.
Great teachers need great students
Great teachers lead their students into new fields to stand beneath rushing waters and feel the possibilities of the worlds they inhabit.
Teacher as artist
Teaching does not supplant writing, and the artist at some deeply significant level remains always a teacher.
Listening for our humanity
Listening distinguishes greatness among humans. The greatest among us are those who listen, hear, and feel for others.
Why I Am Vegetarian
I last ate meat on Thanksgiving Day of 2014. Vegetarianism has made my life simpler. It also has made me healthier, and I feel less culpable in our culture of slaughter.
Motion and movement
Leaving brings movement toward something new, toward a fresh sense of being and becoming, as we break free from the stagnant orbits of settled lives.