Seems I’ve seen a jackrabbit, or three, on every hike I’ve taken this winter. Black-tailed jackrabbits, or American desert hares, make the same habitat as mine their home (that is, the desert Southwest), or perhaps more accurately, I make my home in their habitat....
I’m gazing out the window, watching the clouds trying to snow. The tiniest of snowflakes are twisting and swirling, so light that they're "falling" up, down, and sideways. There certainly won't be any cross-country skiing today, and it might not even accumulate enough...
Not red or green chile. Though I could wax poetic about our spicy and savory New Mexican cuisine, I’ll save that for another day. And not gift wrap, though perhaps some of you are untying red or green ribbons for Christmas. But red or green, or yellow, pink, blue,...
[For my non-geological readers—gneiss is pronounced nice] In March of 2019, during my term as the Richard H. Jahns Lecturer, I had the honor of speaking at the Seattle Science Center for their Science in the City series. The Q&A following my talk wound up with a...
I’m not sure why the simplest joys in my life, some very present and others in memory, are what I am reflecting on today, perhaps because there is so much that is complex and troubling to read and think about in the wider world right now. I often write of balancing...
It was 2:52 a.m. and I was lying awake, orchestrating the next three days and seven hours (roughly the time between then and when we would pull into the ferry line). I was planning, hour by hour, the time I had to finish getting my sailboat, Kagán, put to bed for her...
A natural event can become a disaster when humans are in its way—like the earthquakes in southeastern Turkey beginning during the early morning hours of February 6, when thousands upon thousands were asleep in buildings that could not withstand the shaking they were...
Sometimes it takes decades, and sometimes just a moment... Growing Up and Out (2000) I grew up,into me,not who you wantedme to be.You remember,and so do I,that I would doall you said,that I would bewho you said,when I was small. That little girlseemed to needyou, so...
In my last post, I talked about inevitabilities, like rejection in the writing life. But there are ways to make that inevitability a little less so. First, and always, the story needs to be compelling, but most of us have a captivating tale or two to tell. If you want...
“Is that fun?” my mother had asked some years ago. “Is putting a 30-lb backpack on and hiking 10 miles fun?” I answered with a question, perhaps asking myself. “Not exactly, but going amazing places most other people won’t get to is.” I could end this piece right...
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