Art Culture Politics
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Good Fences?
An immovable object meets a growing force. The city is full of such cases, of fences and street signs being absorbed by growing trees. I think here of the dialectic in Frost’s “Mending Wall.” One voice says “something there is that doesn’t love a wall” and the other, the more-often quoted, says “good fences make…
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The Plains Indians:
Artists of Earth and Sky at the Met until May 10 is not to be missed. It is amazing and immensely sad. Drawing of artist’s world. Attributed to Wacochachi (act. ca 1820-1850), Meskwaki, Iowa. Ca. 1830. Ink and sealing wax on paper.Shield with guardian sporty. Arikara artist, North Dakota, ca. 1850. Buffalo rawhide, native-tanned leather,…
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Tanka
Late afternoon Moon rising over Brooklyn Heights ~ I forget the Sun Homeward-bound at end of day Night will never be that dark. I have been reading Bashō’s travel sketches, culminating in his famous “Narrow Road to the Deep North.” I’m moved by the Japanese tradition of making an event of the contemplation of natural…
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Jane’s Walk: A Man, A Plan, Stranahan!
Top-hatted, I’ll be participating in the Jane’s Walk weekend, leading a walk through Prospect Park and into Green-Wood Cemetery on May 3rd. We’ll walk from the James S. T. Stranahan statue at Grand Army Plaza — who, what, where? PRECISELY! — to the Stranahan gravesite in Green-Wood in celebration of the forgotten man behind the…
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Turtle Underground
The great turtle or tortoise holding up the world is an ancient story from China and India — and the New World, whose original inhabitants came from Asia. Less well known is the race of giant tortoises who hold up New York City. Your engineer, the very definition of quotidian, will insist on schist —…
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Misc.
Long-time readers may know of my interest in the Two-spotted Ladybugs of Brooklyn Bridge Park. I wrote about them for Humans and Nature this week. I hope you’ll visit and read this and other interesting takes on the intersection of humans and nature. Some of my recent JSTOR Daily work may be of interest to…
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Word-Hoards
Kame, karst, kettle, key, kill, kipuka, kiss tank, knob, knoll, krummholz, kudzu. These are all the entries under the letter K in Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, put together by a team of 45 writers and with an introduction by Barry Lopez. What a treasure trove! Sometimes, I’m down on the ol’ species…
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Arctic Longing
What an amazing and awe-inspiring book. I’ve long heard about Barry Lopez‘s Arctic Dreams but have only just got around to reading it. I was nudged by a fellow conspirator, Erin of the Familiar Wilderness on the other end of the Long Island. And now I want to read it again. Combining human and natural…
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Ending The Endless War
Last year was the the hottest year since modern record keeping began in 1880, capping all the other recent record-breakers. And it’s NOT going to get better. If you were born in 1985 or after, you’ve never experienced a year in which the global temperature has been below the 20th-century average. And then there’s methane.…
Backyard and Beyond 