Dances With Titles
I work hard to polish the content of my literary nonfiction and poetry but don’t always give the same attention to titles….
Song Inspires Nostalgia for Anthropology
A contemporary song reminds me of all that inspired me to become an anthropologist eons ago….
Lessons From Dr. King on Haiti
It’s hard enough to comprehend the scale of disaster in Haiti. What’s harder is this: to stand by and watch hate, ignorance and greed breed on human suffering like maggots….
Ama: My Greatest Teacher
Growing food this summer in northeast Oregon, I relied on all that I’ve learned over the years from books, conversations, observations, and personal experience. But I probably heard Ama’s voice more than any other….
Witnessing
It’s wonderful to have more and more pieces published online and in-print. But it also feels a bit disembodied. If I’m lucky, I may exchange a few emails or have a phone conversation with an editor. I never meet the others whose pieces share the same binding with me. It’s all understandable given how busy the world is, but still odd….
Nature Writing
I’ve published (or will soon have published) six pieces over the last year of full-time writing, but the lyric essay – “A Nature Lover’s Phobia” – posted online in Fringe Magazine: The Environment Issue yesterday makes me particularly happy. I have wanted to be a nature writer since childhood. I thought becoming a zoologist would [...]
Publication
The Gettysburg Review, Spring 2009 Flu has laid me low for the last few days. But getting the Spring 2009 edition of The Gettysburg Review cheered me. It includes “Natural Births” — a chapter from the book I’m working to finish. This is my first piece of literary nonfiction in print (I’ve had a [...]
