Blog : Simmons B. Buntin

Find Me at blog.simmonsbuntin.com

2010-04-17T01:06:00.001-07:00

Hey, thanks for visiting! Alas, I have moved my blog from here to:

blog.simmonsbuntin.com

Please reset your bookmarks and join me there, thanks!

Simmons

Sunny Day on Kitt Peak National Observatory

2010-04-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday my younger daughter and I drove 60 miles west to Kitt Peak National Observatory, located on the Tohono O'odham reservation. Ostensibly I was looking for wildflowers -- 'tis the season and all -- but mostly I wanted to hang out with my excellent little traveling companion and goggle at the big telescopes atop the 7,000-foot mountain (there are 26 telescopes in all). Here are a handful of photos, and all 57 larger photos are over in the main gallery:

Wildflower-dotted picnic area alongside Arizona Highway 86, with Kitt Peak in the distance.

The road up to Kitt Peak, where swaths of Mexican goldpoppies ribboned the ridges.

View of many of the telescopes on Kitt Peak, from the 4-meter Mayall observatory on the left to the (barely visible) McMath-Pierce national solar observatory on the right.

One of the ten worldwide radio-telescope antennas of the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA) with the 4-meter Mayall telescope in the distance.

My traveling partner.

Dad and daughter in the gallery below the national solar observatory.

View of the telescopes atop Kitt Peak.

View of my younger daughter and the telescopes atop Kitt Peak.

The SARA .9-meter telescope dome.

Peek-a-boo: my younger daughter, a star in her own right.

View all of the photos at the gallery: http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2010/kitt_peak/

Hiking the Babad Do'ag Trail

2010-04-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

On Friday I skipped work to take my daughters hiking with a group of neighbors up the Babad Do'ag Trail, which starts at the first pullout on Catalina Highway once the road starts climbing the Santa Catalinas. It was a beautiful, wildflower-filled day, and the 4-mile roundtrip trail was just right. Here are a few photos, and check out all 94 larger photos over in the gallery.

Starting out on the Babad Do'ag Trail, the Tohono O'odham name for Frog Mountain, what we call Mt. Lemmon.

Right away we saw a lot of wildflowers, including these bladderpods.

Higher up, we came across wide swaths of Mexican goldpoppies.

And then we saw such beauties as these covena...

And desert chicory.

The view from the top of the trail: looking east/southeast toward the snow-capped Rincon Mountains.

Friend and neighbor Ingrid Anderson put the hike together. Thanks Ingrid!

My younger daughter was my hiking partner as my older daughter leaped ahead with her friends.

Hiking back down the trail in the lush Sonoran desert. Though the rains and so the blooms have been about a month late this year, neither disappointed!

Check out the full gallery here: http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2010/apr_hike/

Terrain.org Issue No. 25 - Virtually There - Now Live

2010-03-31T00:20:00.000-07:00

The editors of Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments at http://www.terrain.org are pleased to announce the launch of our 25^th issue: Virtually There.

One of our largest and most dynamic issues to date features:

Columns

Guest Editorial: “Virtually Unconscious: Dreams of Escape” by Renee Lertzman, Miller Postdoctoral Fellow in Humanities and Sustainability, Portland State University
Simmons B. Buntin’s The Literal Landscape: “Songbird”
Deborah Fries’s Plein Air: “Sharing the Edge of the Sixth Shore: Artists and Scientists Converge at Lake Clifton”
David Rothenberg’s Bull Hill: “The BluRay Squirrel and the HighDef Squid”
Lauret Savoy’s A Stone’s Throw: “Winter Leaves”

Interview

Patrick Burns interviews author Padma Viswanathan

UnSprawl Case Study

Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia
by Ken Pirie

Poetry

Poetry in text and audio by Sara Talpos, Karen Schubert, Patricia Clark, Erin Coughlin Hollowell, Abe Louise Young, Linda Umans, Arianne Zwartjes, Jamison Crabtree, Sandy Longhorn, Matthew James Babcock, Robin Chapman, Tim Bellows, C. J. Sage, Paul Hostovsky, Lyn Lifshin, Deborah Fries, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Julie L. Moore, Hugh Fox, and Fran Markover

Essays

“How to Draw a Glass Mountain: Los Angeles and the Architecture of Segregation,” a hypertext photo essay by Aisha Sloan
“The Book of Water,” by Joe Wilkins, with audio
“The Road to Crownpoint,” essay by Kurt Caswell and illustration by Susan Leigh Tomlinson
“The Place and the Photograph,” by Lex Runciman, with Stonehenge Photo Gallery
“Four Dispatches from the Interface,” by Charles Goodrich, with Audio

Articles

“Planning a Post-Carbon World: The City of North Vancouver and the 100 Year Plan,” by Patrick Condon
“The Digital Cathedral in the Age of Democratic Sustainability,” by Peter W. Bardaglio
“Isn’t it Time to Dig Vertical Farming?” by Chris Bradford
“Open Data and Government 2.0,” by Nate Berg
“Virtuality: The Splenda of Existence,” by Rachel Shaw

Fiction

“Machete Maneuvers,” by Rachel Furey, with audio
“The Glory of Ned Wiley,” by Braden Hepner
“Holding Patterns,” by Bette Lynch Husted
“Estrella, Extranjero,” by Chavawn Kelley

ARTerrain Gallery

Ten art quilts of textile and mixed media by Jan Rickman

Reviews

Jennifer McStotts reviews The Seasons on Henry’s Farm: A Year of Food and Life on a Sustainable Farm, by Terra Brockman
Simmons B. Buntin reviews Animal Logic, by Richard Barnes, and Earth Forms, by Stephen Strom
Julie Wnuk reviews When the Rains Come: A Naturalist’s Year in the Sonoran Desert, by John Alcock
Stephanie Eve Boone reviews Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife, by Francine Prose

Read the entire issue, available in both HTML and PDF formats, online now at http://www.terrain.org.

Whitewater Draw

2010-03-03T22:36:00.001-08:00

The Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area lies at the south end of the McNeal Playa, 20 miles north of Douglas, Arizona, and the Mexico border. At the northeastern edge of the grasslands-dominated Chihuahua desert, the area attracts about 30,000 Sandhill cranes -- from separate Rocky Mountain and Mid-Continent populations -- every winter, generally from November through February. This year, however, nearly 50,000 cranes overwintered, and though usually gone by early March, there are still at least 15,000 cranes at the Draw, plus hundreds of other species, from snow geese and ducks to owls and songbirds.

Over New Year's 2008/2009, my family and I traveled to the Bosque del Apache to see cranes (view photo gallery). I was hoping to take my daughters to Whitewater Draw for comparison this weekend, but it rained; so on Tuesday I took the afternoon off and drove down -- about two hours southeast of our home. Though I couldn't get as close to the cranes, there were thousands more here than in central New Mexico last January. And the clouds! Well, here are a few photos from my recent trip, and there are a total of 64 over in the gallery.

Sandhill cranes flying at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area on a warm early March afternoon.

I'd guess there were at least 15,000 cranes at one point.

Unlike the Bosque del Apache last winter, there were very few snow geese here.

Mostly the scene called for my wide-angle lens -- dramatic clouds and water with strings of mountains all around.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon skipping out of work, eh?

Warm glow on the mountains east of the Whitewater Draw.

Cranes relocating for the evening, and perhaps beginning their migration back as far north as Alaska and even Siberia.

At first subtle, then fiery, the sunset flared like a crane's scarlet cap, and then some.

View all 64 of the photos, in larger size, at: http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2010/whitewater_draw. And hey, let me know what you think!

Wildlife and Daughters at the Desert Museum

2010-02-28T00:08:00.000-08:00

On January 31 I visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with visitors from out of town. Of course, I seemed to only take photos of wildlife, the grounds, and my daughters. No surprise there. Here are a few of the shots, and a total of 28 can be found in larger format over in my gallery:

My daughters are all smiles beside the organ pipe cactus near the Desert Museum's entrance.

We arrived in time to see the Raptor Free Flight Program, with a family of Harris's hawks. Pretty amazing stuff.

The cats, like this bobcat, were pretty active in Cat Canyon on this mild January day.

A showy Costa's hummingbird in the hummingbird aviary.

Even the desert bighorn sheep wasn't shy, though I'm not sure he actually ever moves.

View of the Desert Museum grounds, with the Tucson Mountains in the distance.

View them all at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2010/dm_jan/.

Full Moon Ringtail

2010-01-30T10:15:00.000-08:00

On January's full moon -- the closest moon to Earth in two years -- we discovered a ringtail in the tree near the Civano neighborhood center. Fortunately, I had my camera nearby, and was able to spend some time with our neighbor. Check out the gallery for all 19 of the photos; here are a few, smaller photos:

Another wonderful reason why I love living in the Sonoran desert.

View the full gallery at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2010/ringtail.

Saguaro National Park in Black and White

2010-01-03T00:59:00.001-08:00

My younger daughter and I welcomed in the new year with a trip out to Saguaro National Park (West) for some hiking and petroglyph gawking. The park is a study in enticing contrasts, as I hope these black-and-white photos show. Here are 8, and these and 36 more are available in larger format over in my gallery.

My younger daughter at the Red Hills Visitor Center.

Along the Hugh Norris Trail to Amole Peak.

Petroglyphs at Signal Hill.

Perhaps the park's most-known petroglyph, atop Signal Hill.

My young artist admires the ancient rock art.

View along the Signal Hill Trail.

Saguaro with arms and blooming ocotillo.

Backlit prickly pear.

View the full gallery at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2010/saguaro_west/.

Rock Scampering at Saguaro National Park

2009-12-15T21:14:00.001-08:00

On Sunday afternoon my daughters took me rock scampering at Javelina Rocks, Saguaro National Park, at the base of the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson. We get out there several times a year and always have a blast climbing around.

Here are a few small photos of the trip, and there's a gallery of 25 photos here.

Posing for that camera-toting dad before climbing.

Our younger daughter scampers.

Our older daughter enjoys the view.

Striking lichen on the rocks, with ocotillo and saguaro in the background.

View them all in higher resolution at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/rock_scampering.

Devil and Angel

2009-12-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

There are, according to my younger daughter, two types of ballerinas in all of us: devil and angel. See your yourself:

Faces

2009-11-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

Last weekend at the Washington State vs. Arizona football game my younger daughter got a hold of the camera and took a series of self-portraits. Enjoy!

2009 Haunted Garage (Haunted Pirate Ship)

2009-11-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

I'm still trying to get the video converted of this year's haunted garage (Haunted Pirate Ship theme), so until then, I've posted a series of 58 photos in my image gallery, and a half-dozen images below:

The underwater room; the first room you enter.

Next: the headhunters island.

Then, the witch doctor's cupboard.

And across the aisle is the galleys.

From both: the view of the captain's quarters.

The captain's quarters, with treasure chest, desk, and the skeletal captain himself!

Finally, the ship's deck, where the pirate ship is steered by the first mate.

View the full gallery at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/haunted_garage.

Halloween Party 2009

2009-10-31T09:43:00.001-07:00

Last night we hosted Civano's Spooktacular Halloween Party and Haunted Garage (Haunted Pirate Ship Theme), and we had about 150 friends and neighbors stop by for tricks and treats. I didn't take very many photos, and I hope to post a video of the haunted garage a bit later, but wanted to throw a few party photos up until then:

Arrgh! It's Cap'n Simmons and his daughters, one a lady bug, the other an Eskimo.

A couple early party scene shots here.

These are kids from my older daughter's theater group.

My neighbor Paul Tumarkin. Scary Paul. Very scary!

My neighbor Micha and her new baby boy.

Avast! It's rare we find a lady bug on the high seas!

My younger daughter with her best friend. Her friend's mother LaDawn made these beautiful costumes.

The lady bug and the bumblebee.

Our neighbor Gina Corteza won the costume contest.

She's dressed as a Day of the Dead sugar skull-type thingy(?).

Ahoy all ye scurvy dogs, I can snarl with the best of them!

Look for the video and perhaps photos from this evening soon!

Autumn Camping with My Daughters

2009-10-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Last week I gathered my daughters up for a camping trip to kick off their fall break. We drove from Tucson east to the Guadalupe Mountain National Park of west Texas (where I went last November to photograph fall foliage), then up to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, over the Sacramento Mountains to White Sands National Monument, and back home. A whirlwind tour in four days, for sure, and it was great fun.

Below are a sampling of photos, and all of them are available in large format over at my gallery: http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/gallery.

Guadalupe Mountains National Monument

Relaxing in the tent on our first evening at the Guadalupes.

My daughters on the Pine Springs trail.

So far only a little fall color on the big tooth maples that line the white canyon floors.

One of the open, grassy portions of the trail, which is just great for kids.

View all 100 of the Guadalupes photos at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/guadalupes/.

Carlsbad Caverns National Monument

Getting ready to bat watch outside the natural entrance to Carlsbad Cavern.

Deep within the cave, which is gigantic. We hiked in via the natural entrance trail.

Dad and daughters on a trail atop the Sacramento Mountains outside Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

Viewing the large valley west of the Sacramentos, wherein the White Sands lie.

View all 79 of the Carlsbad Caverns photos at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/carlsbad/.

White Sands National Monument

Along the White Sands nature trail, where if not for the heat it would be easy to confuse the pure gypsum sands for snow.

All along the trip we saw loads of beautiful autumn wildflowers like these.

Grass growing near an "interdune" area at White Sands, where it's both astonishing and inspiring that plants grow at all.

Triumph at the top of a steep dune: they made it!

View all 65 photos of White Sands National Monument at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/whitesands/.

Terrain.org's Borders & Bridges Issue Now Live!

2009-09-21T23:02:00.001-07:00

Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments (www.terrain.org) is pleased to announce the launch of Issue No. 24: Borders & Bridges.

Our largest issue yet, interactive contributions include a guest editorial by U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Agritopia as the UnSprawl case study, a long lost interview with poet A. R. Ammons, new poetry features (translations and our first online chapbook, with audio), essays by Christopher Cokinos and Mark Tredinnick, articles on the silence of owls and severing the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, plus new fiction, poetry, nonfiction, reviews, and more.

Check it out now at www.terrain.org — and be sure to add to the conversation with Terrain.org’s new commenting tool for contributions. And then join us at 8 p.m. on September 24^th at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson for the Issue Launch & Reading, featuring David Rothenberg, Pamela Uschuk, Christopher Cokinos, and Deborah Fries.

Specifically, Issue No. 24 includes:

Columns

Guest editorial by Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Representative, Arizona’s 8^th Congressional District : Solar is the Bridge to Our Future
Columns by regular contributors Simmons Buntin, Deborah Fries, David Rothenberg (with image gallery), and Lauret Savoy

Interview

Philip Fried interviews poet A. R. Ammons (1926-2001); an interview dating back to 1980 yet as timely today as it was 29 years ago

UnSprawl Case Study

Agritopia in Gilbert, Arizona — Crafted with a sort of evangelical "New Ruralism," the 166-acre Agritopia neighborhood east of Phoenix mixes gardens, pastures, orchards, restaurants, lush trails, and more with historically inspired homes designed to bring neighbors together.

Essays

“Night at the World’s Largest Atomic Cannon” by Christopher Cokinos, with audio
“Body Exposed in the Golden Wind” by Florence Caplow
“Positioning” by J. David Bell
“Lee’s Ferry” by Ben Quick
“Mustering the Sky” by Mark Tredinnick

Articles

“To Wit, to Woo: The Silence of Owls” by Kathryn Miles
“Ken Wu and the Fight for Canada’s Remaining Pacific Coast Old-Growth,” with online slideshow, by Joan Maloof and Rick Maloof
“A Hole in Time” by John Lane
“A Region of Wounds: Severing the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands” by Tom Leskiw

ARTerrain Gallery

Four series of impromptu sculptures-in-the-wild and studio sculptures by R. L. Croft

Poetry

Borderland Translations: Tedi Lopéz Mills, translated by Wendy Burk — poems in English and Spanish with audio
God, Seed: Online chapbook of poetry and images by Rebecca Foust and Lorna Stevens, with audio
Other poetry (and audio, too) by Pamela Uschuk, Jessica Weintraub, Polly Brown, Linda Parsons Marion, Jenn Blair, Laura Sobbot Ross, J. P. Dancing Bear, Beth Winegarner, Peter Huggins, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, George Moore, Eva Hooker, Scott Edward Anderson, Alison Hawthorne Deming, William Keener, Brett Foster, Thorpe Moeckel, Joe Wilkins, and Sue Swartz

Fiction

“The Hank Williams Dialogues” by Andrew Wingfield
“The Garden” by Jaren Watson
“Stones” by Jeffrey Stevenson

Reviews of…

A Conservationist Manifesto by Scott Russell Sanders
The Trouble with Black Boys and Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education by Pedro A. Noguera
Unexpected Light, poems by C. E. Chaffin
Crazy Love: New Poems by Pamela Uschuk

Terrain.org Issue Launch & Reading : Sept. 24 in Tucson

2009-08-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments, a Tucson-based online journal that examines the interface between the built and natural environments, is holding its first-ever issue launch and reading.

This celebration of the “Borders & Bridges” issue (No. 24) features readings by contributors Christopher Cokinos (Hope is the Thing with Feathers and The Fallen Sky), Pamela Uschuk (Crazy Love), Deborah Fries (Various Modes of Departure), and headlining artist David Rothenberg. It will take place on September 24, at 8 p.m., at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson.

David Rothenberg is a philosopher, musician, and the author of Why Birds Sing, Sudden Music, Blue Cliff Record, Hand’s End, and Always the Mountains. His articles have appeared in Parabola, Orion, The Nation, Wired, Dwell, Kyoto Journal, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and Sierra. Rothenberg is also a composer and jazz clarinetist, and he has seven CDs out under his own name, including On the Cliffs of the Heart, named one of the top ten CDs by Jazziz Magazine in 1995. His latest book is Thousand Mile Song, about making music with whales. Rothenberg is professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Agenda

Welcome, Issue Overview, Contributor and Editor/Board Callouts (in audience), and First Reader Introductions - Simmons Buntin
Pamela Uschuk (poetry) - 8 minutes
Christopher Cokinos (nonfiction) - 8 minutes
Deborah Fries (poetry) - 8 minutes
Introduction of David Rothenberg - Kieran Suckling, Center for Biological Diversity
David Rothenberg (music and prose) - 20-25 minutes
Refreshments and book signings (UA Bookstore will sell books)

Mark your calendars and please join us for this free and fun event! For more information, view www.terrain.org or contact Terrain.org editor Simmons Buntin at contact1@terrain.org.

The Buntin Clan Lives in...

2009-08-18T23:21:00.001-07:00

... which is full of wildlife, in case anyone was wondering.

Illustration on-the-fly by my younger daughter.

Zebra Question

2009-08-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Zebra Question

by Shel Silverstein

I asked the zebra,
Are you black with white stripes?
Or white with black stripes?
And the zebra asked me,
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times?
Or are you quiet with noisy times?
Are you happy with some sad days?
Or are you sad with some happy days?
Are you neat with some sloppy ways?
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways?
And on and on and on and on
And on and on he went.
I'll never ask a zebra
About stripes
Again.

~~~

To which my older daughter replies:

I am bad with good habits.
I am noisy with quiet times.
I am happy with sad days.
I am sloppy with neat ways.

Paprika Red Pearl

2009-08-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

A few photos, at Saguaro National Park, of the new Subaru Forester I picked up last week. Ever since selling the 2006 Outback, I've regretted that decision. And while the Honda Fit was a good little car, with great gas mileage, it was never comfortable for a tall drink of water such as myself, nor of course capable of off-road travels like the Outback, which I (apparently) can't help but seek out. But I didn't want or need the turbo power of the Outback again, and after test driving a Forester, came to really like its utility -- inside and out -- and so present my new paprika red pearl 2010 Forester X Premium.

Victoria and Vancouver Island, British Columbia

2009-06-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment biennial conference in Victoria, British Columbia. It was a great conference in a stunning location!

Below is a sampling of the 137 photos available in my site's photo gallery. You may also wish to view the ASLE blog entries I posted over on the Terrain.org Blog while at the conference.

The Empress Hotel on Victoria's Inner Harbour.

Nightfall on the harbour, with British Columbia's Government Provincial Buildings in the background.

The University of Victoria has a rabbit problem, but they sure are cute!

View of boats in a small Victoria inlet off the Strait of Georgia, with the Olympic Mountains behind.

Victoria is BC's capital.

Rigging from the Pacific Grace, a ship on the Inner Harbour.

I spent an afternoon sea kayaking, which was great fun.

While paddling we saw bald eagles, seals, and some pretty big waves.

Driftwood along the beach at Cadboro Gyro Park, which is close to UVic.

Old growth forest in Walbran Valley in southwest Vancouver Island.

Self-portrait in forest campsite mirror. Thanks to photographer Rick Maloof for the idea!

Columbine before bloom.

A close look at the totem pole outside the BC Government Provincial Buildings.

Check out the full gallery at:

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/victoria/index.html

Blogging Victoria/ASLE

2009-06-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

I'll be over at the Terrain.org Blog for the next week blogging my trip up to Victoria, British Columbia for the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment conference.

Check out the first post at:

http://terrainorg.blogspot.com/2009/06/asle-conference-review-day-0.html

And follow all the entries at http://terrainorg.blogspot.com/.

Hope to see you there!

The Beagle Project Blog and Darwin Poems

2009-05-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

I recently stumbled upon the Beagle Project Blog at http://thebeagleproject.blogspot.com/, which is the blog portion of The Beagle Project at http://www.thebeagleproject.com/. The folks behind the project say:

We aim to rebuild the ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world, starting in Darwin's bicentenary year of 2009. The new Beagle will sail the world in Darwin's wake, and will inspire global audiences through unique public engagement and learning programmes, and original scientific research in evolutionary biology, biodiversity and climate change.

When I discovered the project, I immediately thought of my series of three poems that are imagined letters from Charles Darwin to his sister, Catherine. The blog is posting those poems one each over the next three weeks, and the first one is now live:

http://thebeagleproject.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-dearest-catherine-part-i.html

Enjoy!

Virtual Sense of Place

2009-05-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Check out my new hypertext essay:

Virtual Sense of Place: Terrain.org and the Online Nexus of Literature and Place

The premise: Whether virtual or actual, what drives strong community and a sustainable nexus between the built and natural environments is sense of place. The purpose of this interactive position statement is to explore sense of place in the context of ecological media — for e-zines like Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments that work at the nexus of literature and environment, and otherwise.

The essay was developed for the Ecological Media seminar which precedes the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) biennial conference this June in Victoria, B.C. Terrain.org will have a table at the conference. I am participating in the seminar and also reading my essay "Songbird," appearing in the current issue of Hawk & Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability, as part of the Wildbranch Writing Workshop Essays panel.

Simmons is God's middle finger*

2009-05-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

So here's the story:

This morning at my daughter's school a mother told me that she had a conversation about God with her daughter, age 5. The mother said that if God took human shape, she imagined He'd be really big; just imagine the size of his hand!

"Oh," said her daughter, "like Simmons would be his middle finger." You know, because I'm tall.

Made my day!

Besieged by Bees

2009-04-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

About ten days ago, when the girls and I were on our Colorado trip, Billie mentioned some bee activity in the backyard, near the door to the garage. When I came home I noticed that bees were flying in and out of a small gap where the back porch roof meets the flat garage wall. At the time, I didn't imagine how many bees could possibly be in that small space, and I considered trying to plug the hole and nuke the bees, or spray water up there, or something else equally as foolish. Fortunately, I never tried anything like that.

But the bee activity had been increasing, so today finally I called in AAA Africanized Bee Removal Specialists (520.743.8000), and this evening a duo of bee removal specialists arrived. Four hours later, the bee colony and related honeycombs are gone. In just ten days, the bees had built six honeycombs in a wall cavity about 28" high x 13" wide by 6" deep. How many bees? By measuring the mass, a fairly accurate estimate is 40,000 to 50,000 bees! How good is it now that I didn't try something by myself?!

Below are some photos of tonight's events:

Four of the honeycombs in the cavity, which was accessed (after the Africanized bees were exterminated, sorry) by cutting a hole in the interior wall of the garage.

Closer view of stacked honeycombs once removed from the cavity: dark spots are pollen, golden spots are honey, lighter spots are empty cells, and white masses at broken edges are bee larvae.

Closer view of honeycomb with pollen and honey (and a couple doomed bees). Billie kept a large honeycomb to show her class, and my daughters each took a part of the empty honeycomb to share in school, as well.

A bee removal specialist holds a honey-saturated honeycomb from our garage wall.

Taking a closer look at the honeycombs once removed from the cavity. On the floor behind the bag is the cavity-side of the piece of drywall cut to access the colony.

Measuring the cavity's dimensions once all the honeycombs and dead bees have been removed. There is a small gap at the lower left corner of the diagonal piece of wood. That's where the bees came in.

Southwest Excursion : Part 3

2009-04-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

Continuing our journey, after Aztec Ruins National Monument we spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. The next morning, we made the loop through the sister monuments of Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki Ruins, then on to the Grand Canyon.

Photos from the third and final leg are now available. Below are ten of my favorites, and all 62 are available here.

My daughters at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.

Sunset Crater: so named because of the deep red volcanic rock at its summit; the rock is black below.

Taking the National Park Service Junior Rangers pledge at Wupatki Ruins National Monument.

The Wupatki Ruins, carved from the red rock of the area, with volcanic hills in the background.

The ruins are visually (not to mention culturally) stunning.

My daughters in the ball court area of Wupatki.

In the Lookout Tower of the Grand Canyon's south rim.

Contemplating the vista as they complete their Junior Ranger workbooks.

Late afternoon at the Grand Canyon.

Later afternoon at the Grand Canyon.

View all 62 of these photos in my gallery at:
http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/sw3/index.html

Southwest Excursion : Part 2

2009-04-01T23:27:00.000-07:00

Continuing our journey, after Great Sand Dunes we drove west through the lovely San Juan Valley into southwestern Colorado, where we visited Mesa Verde National Park. From there we drove south into New Mexico, and then -- after Aztec Ruins National Monument -- west to Arizona.

Photos from the second leg are now available. Below are ten of my favorites, and all 80 are available here.

My daughters at an overlook near Chimney Rock in southcentral Colorado.

My younger daughter near Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park.

Great view of Balcony House from an overlook.

Closer view of one of the towers and windows at Balcony House.

Far View ruins on top of the mesa at Mesa Verde.

The morning trail down to Spruce Tree House.

Exploring a rebuilt kiva at Spruce Tree House.

The Ancestral Puebloan ruins at Aztec Ruins National Monument in northwestern New Mexico.

Detailed view of wall stones and timbers at Aztec Ruins.

A doorway made for those a bit shorter stature than us Buntins, dating to about 1100 A.D.

View all 80 of these photos in my gallery at:

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/sw2/index.html

Southwest Excursion : Part 1

2009-03-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

Over spring break, my daughters and I took a road trip from Tucson to Denver and back, putting 2,700 miles on the Honda Fit and visiting seven national parks and monuments (and many great friends) along the way.

Photos and narratives from the first leg of the trip -- Tucson to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, by way of Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park -- are now available.

Below are ten of my favorites, and all 83 are available here.

My daughters and me atop Raton Pass, a fun snowstorm at the summit.

My younger daughter at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado.

My older daughter at Rocky Mountain National Park.

My daughters and the daughter of our good friends Jason and Shannan, at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Mount Blanca in south-central Colorado, on the way to the sand dunes.

My daughters at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

Lofty sand dunes and loftier mountain peaks.

My older daughter atop a dune.

Walking the dunes: not as easy at it looks.

Sunset at Great Sand Dunes, an amazing place.

View the full gallery of larger images at:

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/sw1/index.html

Introducing Rojo

2009-03-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

My older daughter has a new pet: an albino Nelson's milk snake, which we purchased here at Tucson's Reptile Specialists. She has named him Rojo, the Spanish word for red--the color of his eyes as well as the (diminishing) stripes along its otherwise white-and-yellow body. The snake is about 10 months old, probably 18 inches long, and should grow to about three or four feet and live for 15 or more years. That's a commitment!

A few photos, with some larger versions available here:

Check out the full gallery (5 larger images) at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/mar_snake/.

Denver Reading : Friday the 13th

2009-03-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

I'm heading up to my old stomping grounds this week for a reading as part of the Copper Nickel 11 Release Party:

http://www.copper-nickel.org/11/

Get the details at the link above and join me for a little prose, poetry, and good company at the great redevelopment that is Belmar.

Edge Series Poetry Reading : Feb 18 : Tucson

2009-02-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

I'm reading on Tuesday evening as part of the Edge Reading Series at Casa Libre here in Tucson, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Details here. Won't you join me?

Here's my reading list:

Indigo Buntin
Friday Afternoon
In May I Consider My Websites
Amazon.com
Her Mission of Light
Angelfish
Wild Mint
Coyote
Shine
Home and Back Again

Hope to see you there!

The Big 4-0

2009-02-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

Today, apparently, is the day....

And one day soon I hope to get back to a more regular blogging schedule!

Darwin's Hawk

2009-02-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Charles Darwin is known more for his detailing of finches on the Galapagos than of his work with hawks (if any), but hawks and Darwin are on my mind this week and next.

First, we had a Cooper's hawk visit our yard the other day:

He started at the bird feeder, which I had just filled for the first time in weeks.

Then he flew to the back wall by the alley.

I couldn't set up my tripod to get a clean shot -- in part because there wasn't time and in part because it was out in the car -- so this is the sharpest I could crop the second photo above to get a closer look at those sharp eyes.

As for Darwin, the University of Arizona is throwing a 200th birthday celebration on the famed scientist's birthday: February 12. That also happens to be Abraham Lincoln's birthday (same year, too; pretty solid birth year for two of the most important men in modern world history). And 160 years later, that happens to be the day I was born, too!

I'm excited for the celebration not just because I share the birthday of a man I so admire, but also because I'll be one of a half-dozen poets reading in the celebration. I'll be reading my series of three poems, "Letter from Charles Darwin to His Sister, Catherine." That begins at about 2:45, and I'm the first reader (so don't be late!).

Seems appropriate to close with my first Darwin poem, then:

Letter from Charles Darwin
to His Sister, Catherine

21 January, 1832

My Dearest Catherine,

Passage to the Cape Verde Islands,
a minor stopover for the Beagle,
but a major one for myself.
Oh, if you could have seen my face—
the color of stitched linen at Downs
(where last I have seen either you or Susan).
How can I explain my misery at that time?
The tormenting waves, the incessant rocking,
always rising and collapsing
as my stomach did the same.
Fitzroy is a fine man,
as he would look in on me while
I lay idle at sick bay;
But Wickham, his first mate,
knew no friendship for me.
My quarters fare little better—
I share the poop cabin,
and have my drawers; the two others
(officers both) have lockers.

16 March, 1832

Finally it is Spring—
it seems as if even these vast seas
know the changes. They are richer,
though I knew well before we reached the mainland
we were there. A single leaf, a barkless twig,
a clod of saturated grass, still living—all signals.
No beauty exists in all the world
such as in these tropical lands.
In all my days of studying,
under Henslow or even Sir Adam Sedgwick,
I was never prepared for the absolute
numbers and grand diversity of life—
of species. I have been able to collect,
though I must have killed
hundreds of insects, small mammals, and birds.
(Do not worry, Catherine, I know how
you love life. These species are too numerous
for my sampling to harm.)
One butterfly must be named for you—
its wings are the majesty's blue blazoned
with scarlet, violet, and even silver.
How much it reminds me of your favorite brooch.
These lands have too many more to describe,
the brilliantly colored parrots, the gay
primates swinging on twisted branches...
Father must accuse me
of lizard-catching now, as well.

Yet in all of this beauty, one thing
remains disturbing. Here
on Bahia, on the Northeastern coast
of Brasil—chiseled into the delirious
greenness of rainforest—
man holds man captive.
Nothing plays enchanting in blood
mixing with sweat on the whip-cuts
of the negroes. Nothing enchanting
in the deep brown skin
chained with iron coils.
You must see the difference.
I collect a few specimens for knowledge,
for all—it is my passion, no man sees harm.
But these men, vulgar and cruel,
they act as if they transcend the Creator,
though He who created such solitudes
surely must not agree.

We depart for the South
in but a short while. I cannot say
I will be home soon—the Beagle
shelters my bed now, much as
the tropical canopy is secure in the mist.
You cannot know
unless you see these forests
and breathe this air...

With loving passage,
Charles

Late Night Bits on Poetry

2009-01-27T23:05:00.000-08:00

I've just finished reading Paul Muldoon's Moy Sand and Gravel (2002), which won the Pulitzer Prize, and I have to say that, mostly, I just don't get it.

Which brings me to a larger question that's always swirling in my mind when I think of verse: How does one decide what good poetry is? I mean, it's pretty easy to know what bad poetry is. But good poetry? It seems the best teachers -- two I've studied with who have an incredible gauge for this are R.T. Smith and Alison Hawthorne Deming -- have an innate sense for good poems, as well as when a poem is "finished," though there's the oft-quoted line that a poem is never finished but abandoned.

This is Muldoon's tenth book (I imagine he's published more in the last six years, too), and I recall his Paul McCartney-like mug gracing a relatively recent Poets & Writers magazine cover. And with that Pulitzer thing; yeah, pretty respected poet. But with the exception of the wonderful longish poem "As," the others left me scratching my head. Plenty were witty, and I suppose in as surprising and creative a way as the poems by E.E. Cummings, Langston Hughes, or Billy Collins. But none were as compelling (or charming) as the poems by those three.

Speaking of Collins, I've just started re-reading some of his books, because not only do I really enjoy his work (dare I say it? yes!), but they provide great inspiration for my own writing. And that's why all of this is on my mind: I'm writing poetry again, working toward a second manuscript, and am making some progress.

Oh yeah, back to Collins. Any feedback on his new book, Ballistics, which has the cliched bullet through a playing card image on the cover? I was disappointed in The Trouble with Poetry, but I suppose compared to books like Nine Horses and Picnic, Lightning, it's hard not to be.

So I'm reading a lot to write more, and therefore thinking about poetry quite a bit more. And having good conversations with Alison Deming and a few others about poetry, as well. Now, apparently, if I only had a better sense, or perhaps more rightly said: a broader sense of good poetry.

I don't feel like that's an issue with the work I accept for Terrain.org; in fact, I'm delighted by that though there's a sizable slush pile to pick through for the gems (how's that for a mixed metaphor?). But in reading the wide recommendations of others -- and not being able to (or being particularly interested in) discussing the various "schools" of poetry -- I sometimes feel inferior in this nebulous genre of ours.

But hell, that isn't going to stop me!

And finally, couple Simmons poetry notes:

I'm reading my series of three "Letter from Charles Darwin to His Sister, Susan" poems at the UA's 200th birth anniversary of Charles Darwin celebration on February 12th, which also happens to be my birthday. That's some time from 3-4 p.m. at the Student Union.
On February 18th, I'm reading (for about 20 minutes) as part of the Casa Libre Edge Reading Series. I'm the only poet that evening, the rest of the evening is dedicated to the "Invisible City" performance project, which sounds very exciting. Begins at 7:30 p.m. Details on both here.

Piano Recital

2009-01-25T12:16:00.000-08:00

Friday evening was our younger daughter's piano recital. She played "The Conductor's Surprise" and "J.S. Bunny's Story."

Below is a video courtesy of friend and neighbor Paul Tumarkin, and then some photos I took, including a link to a few more in the gallery. Enjoy!

Or view on YouTube.com at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUHm31Dg3M.

And a few still photos:

View a set of ten larger photos here:
http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/jan_piano/

Mad About Cuts in Education While Big Business is Bailed Out?

2009-01-22T20:29:00.001-08:00

I sure am, and you should be, too. Huge budget cuts have been proposed by Arizona's conservative legislature to K-12 and higher ed, with K-12 getting the brunt of the cuts.

Read this excellent and brief editorial from Vail School District superindent Calivin Baker on proposed K-12 budget cuts, as compared to recent bailouts of the auto and financial systems. An essential read:

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/cbaker

Then, especially if you are an Arizona resident, contact your legislative respresentative to let him/her know this isn't acceptable:

http://www.azleg.gov

Sometimes it sucks to live in a state that does so little to support education. Oh how we miss our dearly departed Democratic governor already....

Daughters at Saguaro National Park East

2009-01-21T23:01:00.000-08:00

One of the advantages of living in southeast Tucson is our proximity to Saguaro National Park East, which is about five miles from our house. Over the New Year's weekend, my daughters and I spent an afternoon climbing around a magnificent rock outcropping, allowing me to burn through photo after photo in the desert's golden light.

Here are a handful of photos, which start with macro and end with panoramic, with the full set of 43 in the gallery.

Making a four-armed shadow person.

Macro shot of colorful cholla fruits.

Beautiful light, clouds, and desert: plus a little prize on top -- my older daughter!

Here's that little shoeless scampering lizard of a girl now.

Not quite on top of the world, but a great view nonetheless.

Pretty spectacular views here at Saguaro National Park East.

View from the rocks toward the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.

Check out the full gallery:
http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/saguaro_east/index.html

Autumn in the Guadalupes

2009-01-19T22:52:00.001-08:00

For several years I had been itching to get over to the Guadalupe Mountains of west Texas and southern New Mexico. Known primarily for their geological features -- the Guadalupes are the remnants of a large Permian reef that was part of a vast shallow sea that once covered the entire region -- I was more interested in the fall foliage. The Guadalupes, I've heard, have the largest collection of maples in the West.

Though the autumn flash may not rival that of New England, when the colors are combined with the stunning mountain landscapes, the area certainly surpassed all of my expectations.

I've finally had the opportunity to get the best photos, all 136 of them, into my gallery, which you can access here. But you may also be interested in the online version of a book of 38 photos (with captions) I put together for my landscape photography class, which gave me the excuse to finally head over to the Guadalupes the last week of October 2008.

Below are a sampling of photos. Then settle in for the larger show over at my gallery.

View the gallery at:
http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2008/guadalupes/index.html

Or view the online book at:
http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/landscape/

In Honor of the Cardinals, Super Bowl Bound

2009-01-18T23:33:00.001-08:00

We're celebrating in Arizona like it's 1999, or rather 2009, the year the Arizona Cardinals finally make it to the Super Bowl. In honor of that momentous occasion, and because I doubt that many poems have been dedicated to that, or any, football team, I present one of my favorites, from my teacher so many moons ago:

Cardinal Directions

by R.T. Smith

In the body of the cardinal
who hops along the tamarack limbs,
cathedrals are collapsing. Whole
worlds are falling, exhausted
stars and dialects no one left
can translate. This crested finch,
red as the last cannas
wilting, is famished. He scavenges
in a dry season for pods,
cold grubs, any scrap to sharpen
his beak or hone his sight,

and also within me the tree
of bones is giving way
to gravity, the tree of nerves
surrending, memory's tree
releasing its leaves, though my
eyes are still seeds looking
for fertile soil, and the one bird
heavy in my chest, the cardinal
heart, still has ambitions
to forage, sing the litany
beyond language, and fly.

-- from The Cardinal Heart, 1991

Some of us make our own light

2009-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Lamium

by Louise Glück

This is how you live when you have a cold heart.
As I do: in shadows, trailing over cool rock,
under the great maple trees.

The sun hardly touches me.
Sometimes I see it in early spring, rising very far away.
Then leaves grow over it, completely hiding it. I feel it
glinting through the leaves, erratic,
like someone hitting the side of a glass with a metal spoon.

Living things don't all require
light in the same degree. Some of us
make our own light: a silver leaf
like a path no one can use, a shallow
lake of silver in the darkness under the great maples.

But you know this already.
You and the others who think
you live for truth and, by extension, love
all that is cold.

~~~

The Wild Iris, 1992.

Full Moon at San Xavier Mission

2009-01-16T23:37:00.000-08:00

Last weekend the San Xavier del Bac Mission, just south of Tucson, was lit at night for the first time in several years. Due to renovation, the White Dove of the Desert, which is located on the Tohono O'odham reservation, will not be lit again for three years.

Below (and here for larger views) are five chronological photos, from just after sunset until the dark sky of night. I was one of about 500 photographers who showed up for the one-night-only event.

The full moon -- the largest in the sky this year (14 percent larger than other full moons because of the moon's proximity to Earth right now) -- also reminds me of another event that will take place during a full moon, six months from now.

The Wildbranch Writing Workshop panel proposal that I am a participant of, and reading from my new essay "Songbird"* for, has been accepted for the biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) up in Victoria, B.C. the first week of June. Needless to say, I'm delighted to go to my first ASLE conference. I'll fly into Seattle and take the ferry up to Victoria, and am very excited about that, too. It's my first time. Unfortunately, the girls can't make the trip with me, so I'll have to get them some excellent British Columbia goodies! Plus I need to figure out how to fund it!

* "Songbird" is forthcoming in the next issue of Hawk & Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability, which I'm delighted about.

Back in the desert on a full-moon evening, here are the San Xavier photos:

View these photos at a larger size in the gallery:

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/mission_night/

The Franklin Mountains of West Texas

2009-01-15T21:59:00.001-08:00

In late October I drove over to the Guadalupe Mountains of west Texas, about a hundred miles east of El Paso. Along the way there and back I stopped at the Franklin Mountains State Park, north (but officially within the city limits) of El Paso.

I've just added 28 photos from that excusion to my gallery. Check it out.

The Franklin Mountains are bisected by a major highway and completely surrounded by El Paso, at least according to the map -- making it the largest urban park in America.

What's so great about the mountains, though, is that even that close to El Paso, once you get over the road noise, it feels completely remote. And the park represents a truly unique and very diverse part of the Chihuahuan desert.

Some of those in the know believe the Franklin Mountains are the southernmost range of the greater Rocky Mountains of North America. Geology, of course, plays no small part in their wonder, but I was especially smitten with the variety of plant life, especially the numbers of agave and small cactus.

I didn't take any macro shots, but take a look at the landscape views of Franklin Mountains State Park in west Texas:

http://simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/franklin_mtn/index.html

Bacon and Banana Cream Pies

2009-01-14T20:59:00.001-08:00

I'm getting ready to dig in for my last semester in the MFA program here at the University of Arizona, focusing on my nonfiction manuscript, as well as a bit of poetry writing. To that end, I thought I'd post a few quick lines of verse from my older daughter following a recent conversation we had:

Bacon and Banana Cream Pies

Yuck, I say. Yum, he says.
What a sick mind he has.
Crunchy creamy bananay all mixed together.
Dad, there must be something wrong with you.

~~~

Ah, the love!

And speaking of poetry, I review Suzanne Frischkorn's wonderful Lit Windowpane -- a book I had been waiting for for a long time and was definitely not disappointed by -- in the latest issue of Terrain.org: here.

Here are my next reads:

Half Lives, by Andrew C. Gottlieb (check out his three excellent poems, with audio, in Terrain.org's current issue: here)
Solace of the Aging Mare, by Dan Stryk (a wonderful poem and image by his artist wife Suzanne, also in current issue: here)
The Wild Iris, by Louise Gluck
Moy Sand and Gravel, by Paul Muldoon

And then I hope to dive into work by Seamus Heaney (again), Thomas Transtromer (Swedish, translated), Inger Kristensen (Danish, also translated?), and Bridget P, Kelly.

Who else do you suggest?

Keep on Flying

2009-01-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

Now that Terrain.org is out the door, I hope to blog more regularly. I've got a few lined up (in my mind, anyway) for the next several days, and then a bunch of photo galleries from last fall that I need to put up.

Let's start with a photo gallery that actually appears as my column in the recent "Symbiosis" issue of Terrain.org: Sandhill cranes and snow geese at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. Billie, the girls, and I traveled over there for New Year's Eve; it was a wonderful way to ring in the new year:

http://www.terrain.org/columns/23/bosque/

Terrain.org's Symbiosis Issue Now Onlline

2009-01-10T22:44:00.000-08:00

Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments is pleased to announce the launch of Issue No. 23, with the theme of “Symbiosis,” at http://www.terrain.org/.

This issue features an interview with Scott Russell Sanders; essays by Sharman Apt Russell, Stephen Trimble, and Deanne Stillman; articles on Sustainability and the Pringle Creek Community and Saving Coral Reefs; twenty poets with audio; new fiction; columns, including a new regular editorial by Lauret Savoy; and more.

Specifically, this issue of Terrain.org includes:

Guest editorial by Mandy Creighton, Within Reach, titled “Cycling Toward Sustainable Community”
Columns by Simmons B. Buntin (Flare: an online photo gallery of cranes and geese at the Bosque del Apache), Deborah Fries (The Language of Give and Take), David Rothenberg (Does nature need us? Symbiosis as one way to survive), and Lauret Savoy (Placing Washington, D.C., before the Inauguration)
Interview with author Scott Russell Sanders
UnSprawl case study: Plum Creek in Kyle, Texas
Poetry with audio by Aleria Jensen, Janet Smith, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, Greg McBride, Dorine Jennette, Wally Smith, Lori Anderson Moseman, John Hildebidle, Beth Paulson, Andrew C. Gottlieb, Joy Ladin, Dan Stryk, Mary Cisper, Suzanne Roberts, Cynthia Belmont, Rachel Dacus, Jared Pearce, Pianta, C.E. Chaffin, and Michael J. Vaughn
Essays:
- Letter to My Father Concerning the State of the World, by Sharman Apt Russell
- Devil’s Bargains, with online slideshow, by Stephen Trimble
- Educating the Body, by Katherine Jamieson
- Report from Monona County: Mysterious work, with audio, by Kelly Madigan Erlandson
- The Unaccountable Stupidity of Living Things, by Anca Vlasopolos
- Horse Latitudes, by Deanne Stillman
Fiction by Patrick Burns (with audio), Ron Rindo, and Jonathan Dozier-Ezell
Articles:
- One Green Thing Leads to Another: Sustainability at the Pringle Creek Community, by Jim Fizsimons
- Saving Coral Reefs: Darwin’s Second Obsession Needs to be Our First, by Rick MacPherson
- Building and Dwelling in the Mountains: The Sage Mountain Center Story, by Kathryn Bundy
- Muir Woods National Monument: William Kent’s Progressive Vision, text by Tom Butler, photograpy by Antonio Vizcaino
Photographer Ben Krall in the ARTerrain gallery
Reviews of Nancy A. Nichols’s Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town’s Toxic Legacy, and Lit Windowpane, poems by Suzanne Frischkorn

Check out the new issue now at http://www.terrain.org/.

Previous issues are fully archived at www.terrain.org/archives, and submission guidelines are at www.terrain.org/submit.

Saguaro Ranch in Black and White

2008-12-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

Egads, it's been a month since I've posted on my blog! Well, so it goes with the end of the semester and the next issue of Terrain.org out in only a month (and I'm way behind at that).

I'm hoping to post the photos I took from my landscape photography class, which just ended. I've posted the "Heaven and Hell in Tucson" shots, and now I'm posting some black-and-white photos from Saguaro Ranch, an elite enclave in the gorgeous foothills of the Tortalita Mountains north of Tucson. These go along with the editorial I wrote on desert transit for Next American City, online here. View the full gallery of thirty of these photos in larger format here.

Update on January 11, 2009: Uh oh, looks like there's trouble on the Ranch....

Saguaro Ranch has a unique entrance feature: a 700-foot tunnel through a mountain.

A light at the end of the tunnel, or an atomic blast? Curious. Very curious.

View of the Santa Catalinas from Saguaro Ranch, with a custom home in the foreground.

Perhaps the most beautiful place you'll ever see a port-a-potty.

Elegant saguaros and amazing mountain views from the road at Saguaro Ranch.

Building here is like building at a national park; certainly the area is as beautiful as Saguaro National Park, and as lush.

A bit farther south, a road construction vehicle near Oro Valley, north of Tucson.

Wash and dramatic view of the Catalinas from Catalina State Park.

View the full gallery at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2008/saguaro_ranch

My Not My Poem

2008-11-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

So I'm late to this game, I guess, but I just stumbled upon the Issue 1 anthology, created by the folks over at for godot. It features poetry by something like 3,500 poets (the anthology is 3,785 pages). Except none of the poems were actually written by the poets, including mine (not mine) on page 263, titled "Loitering."

It reminds me of the line by Buddy Pine (a.k.a. Syndrome) in The Incredibles: "And when everyone is special, no one is special."

A statement on the ubiquity of poets and poetry across the web, mayhaps?

My only concern is that someone might enjoy this "Loitering" more than my own work. Ah, the risks of being a "poet!"

Autumn in the Huachuca Mountains

2008-11-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend my friend Scott Calhoun, my younger daughter, and I ventured through the gate of Fort Huachuca army base at the foot of southeastern Arizona's Huachuca Mountains, which climb to nearly 9,500 feet and edge into Mexico.

We had a wonderful time climbing through Garden Canyon and taking lots and lots of photographs of the bigtooth maples, Arizona sycamore, Arizona ash, and other trees. Though it was a windy day, we still got lots of great color and a few decent photos, as well.

Here are a dozen, and the full slate of 49 is available (in a new, larger size) over at my gallery.

Arizona sycamore with the Huachucas and a cool cloud in the background as we started our hike.

Early in the hike we came across what appeared to be bear fur stuck to the shady sides of the rock along the dirt road. Turns out these are hibernating colonies of daddy longlegs! Check out the gallery for a few more photos, including a closeup. Of course we had to harrass the spiders a wee bit to see how they nuzzle into, leaving only their legs exposed, waving in the wind like dark brown fur.

Maple leaves among granite boulder.

Scott Calhoun photographs the autumnal scene while my younger daughter looks on.

Fall leaves and the stream at Garden Canyon.

It was a pretty amazing place; we don't get many fall colors like this down in southern Arizona!

As you'll see from the gallery, I took many, many photos of leaves in water.

My younger daughter on a bridge spanning the stream. The trail beyond leads to protected pictographs in a shallow cave (there's a photo of the fairly intricate artwork in the gallery).

Leaves and a tree's reflection on the blue, blue water.

Arizona sycamore (left) and bigtooth maple (right) in the Huachuca Mountains.

Check out the full gallery at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2008/huachucas/

Flare

2008-11-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

A lovely something to wake up to this morning, my poem "Flare" is today's poem at Verse Daily:

http://www.versedaily.org/2008/flare.shtml

This poem is inspired by the wonderful spring wildflowers we had in March 2005, as friend Scott Calhoun and I drove down to Mexico to photograph the wildflowers of the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve just south of the border in Sonora.

Fitting into a Smaller Footprint

2008-10-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

It is with some sadness (not to mention a loss of luxury and performance) but a strong will nonetheless to reduce my automobile's footprint (economic and environmental) that I have replaced my Subaru Outback with a Honda Fit:

This weekend I broke the Fit in by driving over to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas, which was amazing. I'll post photos of that in mid-December, after my landscape photography class wraps up, because I'm selecting from the more than 900 photos I took for my final project. Actually, I need to post photos from my last two outings, as well: back to Elgin in southeastern Arizona and up to Saguaro Ranch (which I wrote about over at American City here).

It's more of a transition between the cars than I had anticipated because I really love the Outback, and loved driving it. But I also really like the Fit, which on my thousand-mile trip garnered 39 mpg. The Outback, sucking down premium fuel, would have gotten perhaps 24 mpg. Between the lower payment and reduced gas, I figure I'll save maybe $140 per month while putting less carbon into the atmosphere.

There's more to it than that, things like simplifying my life (though the built-in iPod player that I love so much in the Fit doesn't quite help me there, I admit). But I sure will miss that panoramic sunroof and easy turbo power that quite represents, I think, what I'm seeking to change in myself. Just as it isn't always easy to walk the talk, it's sometimes not easy to drive it, either.

Top Five Reasons Obama Followers Shouldn't Rest Easy

2008-10-20T21:35:00.001-07:00

In case there was any question about who I support this election. ;~)

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug ,and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.

If you agree that we shouldn't rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking here: http://pol.moveon.org/obama/office.html?source=blog&id=14534-2464566-SwobNlx&t=1

Selling My Baby

2008-10-11T00:10:00.001-07:00

Well, not my real babies, of course. That would be just wrong. Not to mention a bit difficult given these economic times.

Probably more difficult to sell a car in these times, but I'm giving it a shot, anyway. Time to live a bit more lightly on the environment and my wallet. So...

For Sale: 2006 Subaru Outback XT Limited

- $19,500
- 33,500 miles
- Manual transmission
- Located here in Tucson.

Get the scoop at http://www.terrain.org/outback. Ways to contact me there, too.

I'll miss ol' Indy, but she's more than I need for my daily commute, which is muchly what I do these days.

Heaven and Hell in Tucson

2008-09-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

This semester I'm taking a landscape photography class as an elective. Our first photo assignment was to capture "heaven and hell" in Tucson. Most folks took separate photos of heaven (the good) and hell (the bad), but I took photos at religious sites that I hoped would represent both heaven and hell in each particular photo, either in aesthetic or symbol, as well as cultural context, history, and the like.

The first seven below represent my portfolio for the project, which I did in black-and-white. The original photos, however, are in color, and a few of those follow. I have 35 black-and-white and color photos at a larger size over in my gallery.

Blooming desert beneath cross at the top of Grotto Hill, next to Mision de San Xavier del Back.

The gated entrance to the Grotto; notice the note, beads, flowers, and peace canister.

The large dome at Mision de San Xavier del Bac, just south of Tucson.

St. Augustine Cathedral in downtown Tucson, lit up at night.

Statue and lawn at the cathedral, with downtown buildings in the background.

Streetscape with cathedral, streetlighting, and downtown buildings.

The El Tiradito Shrine just south of the Tucson Convention Center at night. Spooky, no?

This is the original color for the San Xavier Mission dome photo in black-and-white above; darkened quite a bit in the top version "for effect," as they say.

Weed, median, and bridge at the intersection of I-19 and Valencia Road.

St. Augustine Cathedral lit up at night, with a car's headlights (but no car!) on the street.

Another spooky view of the El Tiradito Shrine, where only a few candles were lit when I visited.

Be sure to check out the full gallery here.

Denver-Area New Urbanism

2008-08-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Edit: I've written the first of two parts, over at Next American City, on these places: "Denver: America's Great Urban Canvas, Part I."

Last week I had the good fortune to visit Denver, hosted by our friends the Doolings, and visit many Denver-area New Urban developments. The purpose for my visit, really, was to see The Police and Elvis Costello at Red Rocks, which I did. It was a great show, and a few photos are available over on my Facebook page.

Below are photos from the vast galleries I put together from visiting these cool communities. You can access all the galleries here, or individual galleries below.

Stapleton (55 photos)
The redevelopment of Denver's Stapleton International Airport by most accounts has been a huge success. Carolyn and Joe Dooling and their children live there, and kindly put me up for a couple evenings.

Carolyn Dooling, an excellenct urban planning and marketing strategist, and a good friend.

The Dooling house in Stapleton.

Typical Stapleton street scene, where even the bird houses have extraordinary architectural detail.

Lowry (22 photos)
Not far south of Stapleton is the redevelopment of the Lowry Air Force Base. Most of our visit was of Gallantry, the redevelopment of Officer's Row--keeping the original structures of the buildings intact. That's impressive, but I'm less impressed with Lowry's residential neighborhoods.

A redeveloped Officer's Row duplex is now a single-family home, starting in the $800Ks.

The Steam Works Plant redevelopment is very cool.

Bradburn Village (41 photos)
Bradburn Village is located on our old stomping grounds of Westminster, about halfway between Denver and Boulder. It's also the UnSprawl case study in the current issue of Terrain.org.

The Nantucket Close portion of Bradburn Village features New England-influenced homes on a central, landscaped pedestrian walkway.

Most of Bradburn's residential architecture is Craftsman, Denver Square, or Farmhouse-based.

Prospect New Town (136 photos)
Prospect, located in Longmont, must be the most eclectic and interesting new development in the country. I absolutely love it!

It takes a brightly colored car to live among such brightly colored homes, no doubt!

When there's such a large collection of Modernist homes, it works really well.

One of my favorite Prospect homes, and unlike the others, not surrounded by a high wall or fence.

Belmar (37 photos)
This is the second time I've visited Belmar, Lakewood's new "downtown" where once the Villa Italia mall stood. I love its urbanness, particularly the retail and mixed-use, but am not so keen on the townhome architecture.

Attention to detail is one of the things that sets Belmar apart from other redeveloped downtown areas, I think.

Carolyn soaks her feet in a plaza fountain at Belmar. And we needed such respite after walking so many urban neighborhood miles!

Boulder Urbanism and Chautauqua Park (31 photos)
On my last day I spent the morning roaming Boulder's pedestrian Pearl Street Mall, then hiked up to historic Chautauqua Park and the base of the Flatirons.

The Boulder Cafe on the Pearl Street Mall, the mall being one of my favorite haunts (at least when we lived in Colorado).

Blooming yarrow in a yard adjacent to Chautauqua Park.

The Flatirons, viewed from a trail at Chautauqua Park.

Iris Hollow (22 photos)
Boulder's Iris Hollow may be Colorado's first New Urban project. It's a small neighborhood that fits into Boulder's urban fabric very well.

Not irises but daylillies this time of year.

A small, single-family home, with a one-room schoolhouse in the background.

Holiday Neighborhood (53 photos)
North Boulder's Holiday Drive-In has been redeveloped as the green, affordable neighborhood of Holiday, with an eclectic but rich mix of housing and an authentic-feeling "downtown" area.

The Holiday Neighborhood keeps the original Holiday Drive-In sign; very cool.

Holiday features a large community garden, not to mention some very excellent architecture and metal siding.

Larger single-family homes on Holiday's west side, not far from its commercial area.

View these and many, many, many more photos at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/gallery/index.htm#nu.

It's Getting Quite Pink Around These Parts

2008-07-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

The flamingo migrated into our yard this morning, and will likely move on in the next day or so.

ENFP, Take 2

2008-07-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had our staff retreat, where we received the results of our Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment. As with two years ago, I came up as an ENFP, which generally means:

"Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency."

My specific reults say that I have "extraverted intuition with introverted feeling," since my dominant function is Intuition (or N) on the Sensing-Intuition (S-N) scale. Extraversion (E) is pretty high, as well.

So, at my best:

"For people with ENFP preferences, life is a creative adventure full of exciting possibilities. ENFPs are keenly perceptive about people and insightful about the present and future. They experience a wide range of feelings and intense emotions. They need affirmation from others and readily give appreciation and support. ENFPs are good at understanding how people and groups work and are persuasive and compelling in pursuing what is important to them. They are adaptable, blooming where they are planted. Their energy and enthusiasm encourage others to bloom as well."

But all is not always rosy:

"ENFPs hate routine, schedules, and structure and usually manage to avoid them. They are normally verbally fluent, even in extemporaneous situations; however, when their deepest values need expression, they may suddenly be awkward and express their judgments with uncharacteristic intensity."

Additionally:

"If ENFPs do not find a place where they can use their gifts and be appreciated for their contributions, they usually feel frustrated and may

Become scattered, have trouble focusing, be easily distracted
Fail to follow through on decisions
Become rebellious, excessively nonconforming
Ignore deadlines and procedures"

I read that last part to my new boss...!

Generally, though, there's more positive than negative:

"ENFPs are innovators, initiating projects and directing great energy into getting them under way. Using intuition primarily externally, they are stimulated by new people, ideas, and experiences. They find meaning and significance readily and see connections that others don't. They are likely to be

Curious, creative, and imaginative
Energetic, enthusiastic, and spontaneous

ENFPs value harmony and goodwill. They like to please others and will adapt to others' needs and wishes when possible. ENFPs primarily use feeling internally, making decisions by applying personal values through identification and empathy with others. ENFPs are likely to be

Warm, friendly, and caring
Cooperative and supportive

ENFPs have exceptional insight into possibilities in others and the energy and motivation to help actualize them. They feel confident moving ahead based on their insights, and their enthusiasm tends to bring others along with them."

So there you have it: Simmons in a nutshell, verified by the assessment now twice over the last three years.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Daughters at the Desert Museum

2008-07-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

Before my recent trip to Denver (look for photos from that over the next week or so), I spent consecutive weekends at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with my daughters. First my older daughter and a friend attended a Saturday Summer Evening, where we get to shine blacklights in search of scorpions and have loads of fun. Then, the next weekend, my younger daughter and I participated in the "Amphibians and Reptiles" program of the Coati Kids Club.

Below are a few photos, and there are a total of 33 over in the gallery.

Sunset as we drove over Gates Pass in the Tucson Mountains.

My older daughter (right) with her friend.

A Sonoran gophersnake in the cool night lighting of the reptile and invertebrate building.

My younger daughter wearing her Coati Kids Club t-shirt.

A beautiful flower found near the new education center. I should probably know what this is!

A hummingbird in the Desert Museum's hummingbird aviary.

View to the southwest from the Desert Museum.

Check them all out in the gallery now!

Next American City » Daily Report » Is It True That Nobody Walks in L.A.?

2008-07-18T07:55:00.001-07:00

Next American City » Daily Report » Is It True That Nobody Walks in L.A.?

Posted using ShareThis

Terrain.org's Understory / Overgrowth Issue Now Online

2008-07-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

The newest issue of Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments (http://www.terrain.org/) is No. 22, with the theme of "Understory / Overgrowth." It's online now, and is our biggest so far:

Columns

Three Catastrophes, One Sky, guest editorial by Kieran Suckling, Center for Biological Diversity
Editorials by Simmons B. Buntin, David Rothenberg (with audio), and Deborah Fries

Interview

Michael J. Vaughn interviews poet laureate Charles Simic

Poetry

Poetry by Leonore Wilson, Twilight Greenaway, Paul Hostovsky, Elizabeth Simson (with audio), Joanna Gardner, Kathryn Kikrpatrick, Sarah Sarai, Lee Passarella, Nancy Takacs (with audio), Christine Klocek-Lim (with audio), Karla Linn Merrifield, John Estes, and Gretchen Primack

Essays

Catching Hell: The Joe Holt Integration Story, by Heather Killelea McEntarfer
The Teeming Abyss: Weaving Through the Pemon Amazon, by Paul Huebener
Waiting for the Train, by Deirdre Duffy
Kempsville Summer, 1961, by Richard Goodman
Sunset Canto, from River of Traps, with Online Slideshow, text by William deBuys, photos by Alex Harris

Fiction

Nova, by Liz Warren-Pederson (with audio)
Coyote, by Werner A. Low
Higher Ground, by Darren Akerman
South of Flag, by Aaron H. Gilbreath
Devil Takes the Hindmost, by Rosalie Morales Kearns

Articles

The Future of Environmental Essay: A Discourse with Audio Excerpts, by Alison Hawthorne Deming, David Gessner, David Rothenberg, and Lauret Savoy
An Undefended Buffet: The Unnecessary Extinction of the Redbay, a Defining Southern Tree, by Susan Cerulean
Planting Pipelines in National Parks: The West-wide Energy Corridor and the Future of Public Lands in the West, by Erin Podolak
High Point: A Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing in Seattle, by Walker Wells
The Currency of Nature, by David Wann

UnSprawl Case Study

Bradburn Village in Westminster, Colorado

ARTerrain Gallery

Twelve conceptual nature drawings by Suzanne Stryk

Reviews

Stephanie Eve Boone reviews Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach and More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want by Robert Engelman
Rich Michal reviews Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities by Patrick M. Condon
Simmons B. Buntin reviews Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound by David Rothenberg

Check out the latest issue now at http://www.terrain.org/. That's an order!

Read This Book

2008-07-05T13:53:00.001-07:00

Or listen to it on CD, as I just did: Alan Weisman's The World Without Us.

It is essential reading.

15

2008-07-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

Celebrating 15 wonderful years with my beloved bride Billie today.

Here's a photo of us from the night before our wedding, back in 1993 in Roswell, Georgia:

Thanks for everything, babe, and happy anniversary!

The Plan for Tomorrow's (Green) Mega City

2008-06-30T09:48:00.001-07:00

at Popular Science is worth checking out:

http://www.popsci.com/futurecity/home2.html

In June I Consider My Poetry

2008-06-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let folks know I've got two poems in the new issue of Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science Writing, published out of Utah State University. If you're not familiar with Isotope, you should be--it's one of the best place-based journals, print or online, out there. I've been a subscriber for a few years now and I'm delighted to be included in the current issue. In fact, I've got three extra hard copies of the journal, so if you'd like one, leave a comment or shoot me an email and I'll send you one.

The two poems are "Angelfish" and "In May I Consider My Websites." The latter is also included on Isotope's website, here. This issue also includes work by Mark Tredinnick, Sharon Fain, Tina Mitchell, and a host of others I'm delighted to be among.

I've also received a few bits of good news for other pubs, forthcoming still. My poem "Flare" will be in the next issue of Whiskey Island Magazine (here's the Duotrope link, since the magazine's site is currently down). My essay "The Sum of All Species" is in the current (or forthcoming, haven't gotten it yet) issue of Mid-American Review, winning the journal's 2007 Creative Nonfiction Award. The fine new online journal Anti- will be using a photo or two of mine on a forthcoming cover. An upcoming issue of Copper Nickel will include my long essay "The Biter on Tap: A Brief History of Craft-Brewed Beer," and Elsewhere: A Journal for the Literature of Place just accepted my neighborhood activist essay, "Vulpes Civano."

Don't worry, I'm still receiving more than enough rejections to keep me honest. I hope to get more submissions out after the next issue of Terrain.org (theme: Understory / Overgrowth) launches on July 10.

Harry Potter and the City of Gold

2008-06-17T10:13:00.001-07:00

The release of a Harry Potter prequel this week has created a spell on me, so I ponder: What does J.K. Rowling’s seven-book Harry Potter series tell us about urban form, and what might that form look like? By 2010 we’ll know, as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter comes to life with hamlet, forest, and school grounds at Universal Studios in Orlando. But how authentic can it be?

Read my full commentary in Next American City online:

http://americancity.org/daily/entry/876/

Vermont and New Hampshire

2008-06-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

Could of sworn I posted this entry late last week, but I guess not. Anyway, here are a half-dozen of the final Vermont and New Hampshire photos. View them all here.

The church on the commons at Craftsbury Common, Vermont.

A llama with attitude outside Craftsbury.

The Black River.

A bridge spanning Vermont and New Hampshire.

Plenty of lupines in New Hampshire.

Yours truly.

View all 27 photos in the gallery.

The Maine Coast

2008-06-10T23:07:00.001-07:00

Buckle yourselves in for this next series of photos from the last leg of my recent New England trip: mid-coast Maine, all 104 of them available here. Here is a preview of photos for your enjoyment:

View of Camden Harbor from Mount Battie, Camden Hills State Park, Maine.

Amazing scenery, geology, and botany on the Maine Coast. This is an inlet between Penobscot Bay and Rockport Harbor.

A beautiful schooner I happened to see as I drove along U.S. Highway 1.

The Owls Head light in thick fog.

Early morning Camden Harbor.

Lots of color in the harbor; Camden Hills State Park in the distance.

The Towne Motel, where I stayed and which I highly recommend.

Marshall Point light.

A beautiful little firehouse near Marshall Point.

Storm- and wave-sculpted stone beach at Reid State Park.

Reid State Park.

Get ye over to the full gallery: 104 photographs with captions (generally).

New Hampshire and Vermont

2008-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

I'm having a wonderful time up in New Hampshire and Vermont. I've just completed my first full day at the Wildbranch Writing Workshop in Craftsbury Common, NH, and it's a pretty great group of faculty and students both.

I flew into Boston on Saturday afternoon, then drove up to North Woodstock, New Hampshire, in the heart of the White Mountains. On the way I stopped in Manchester to visit Milly's Brewery, and had dinner in North Woodstock at the Woodstock Inn Brewery. You may see a theme here.... In case you didn't know, I collect pint glasses, and have scored one from each.

Saturday evening I visited a portion of Franconia Notch State Park called the Basin, then Sunday morning I returned to visit the Flume -- a narrow gorge and waterfall -- and then ride a tram up to the summit of Mount Cannon, at 4,060 feet. From there I drove into Vermont, stopping in the beautiful town of St. Johnsbury, and then rolling into Craftsbury Common by mid-afternoon.

Below are a few photos from the journey so far, though a full set of 84 larger photos is available here:

A rapid brook at the Basin in Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire.

One of Vermont's oldest covered bridges, spanning the Pemigewasset River. It was built in 1886.

Avalanche Falls at the head of the Flume, also in the state park.

Birch (I think) growing among glacial boulders at the state park.

A canopy of birch leaves in this beautiful, primarily hardwood northern forest.

Boulders atop Mount Cannon, looking toward the north.

The tram to the top of Mount Cannon is a smooth, beautiful ride.

Old barn and silos just north of the Connecticut River in Vermont.

Closer view of the barn. I pulled off the highway quickly once I saw this and, finding the drive off the road, pulled in and parked. I walked up to the house to ask if I could take the photos, and I gathered from the woman's friendly response that photographers regularly pull off in such an excited state. It's a beautiful (if not in a sad state of disrepair) barn.

One of the many churches in downtown St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

And directly across the street: another church, plus a quaint downtown.

The Vermont countryside. This photo is from Craftsbury Common, looking southeast.

The commons at Craftsbury Common, with the public school in the background.

Again, check them all out, and larger format too, at my website's gallery.

It's likely I won't post again before I return late Sunday evening, both because the Internet connection here is poor, and because I likely won't take many photos before I get to Maine on Saturday evening.

Have a great week!

May Zoo Day

2008-05-25T10:10:00.001-07:00

A few photos from the family zoo outing yesterday (more available in the gallery):

Our daughters in the Reid Park Zoo's new "Get Wet" area.

Checking out the rhino.

Snuggling, giraffe style.

Observing the zebras.

Caiman lurking in the (not so) deep.

View all 23 photos here.

Micro Review: Sure Signs

2008-05-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

I suppose I picked up Sure Signs: New and Selected Poems by Ted Kooser at some AWP conference, because while the book was published in 1980, my copy is crisp and clean (excepting my recent reading of it).

The quotes on the back by poets such as Denise Levertov are all predicting the book will become (so by now has become) a classic, and while there's no doubt Kooser's poetry is in the vain of the best rural poets (I think here of Richard Hugo, William Stafford, Wendell Berry, and even Robert Frost, all whom seem inspirations for Kooser) I'm not sure it qualifies as "classic." Maybe I don't really know what that means when it comes to the written word. My first car was definitely a classic: a 1966 Ford Mustang. I enjoy some good ol' rock and roll that we might call classic--"Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones, for example. But calling a book of poems a classic is tougher, and if I had to choose among the 165 books of poetry on my shelf (I just counted them), I wouldn't right now put this particular volume among the top.

Still, there's much to admire in Sure Signs, including brevity, an amazing (if sometimes almost overbearing) command of metaphor, and a strong sense of place: rural and small-town Nebraska, mostly. I can't say I've read much Kooser before, though undoubtedly I have--he was U.S. Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006, and writes the "American Life in Poetry" weekly column, to which I subscribe. In both cases, though, his job is primarily to promote the poetry of others, and poetry as an American good. Yet right away I recognized the first poem, "Selecting a Reader," a sort of inside joke for poets, I think, though I hope you don't have to be a writer of poems to enjoy this particular one.

My favorite, though, is not quite in the middle of the collection, and I realize I like it not only because of the craft and quality of the poem itself, but because I'm a father:

At the End of the Weekend

It is Sunday afternoon,
and I suddenly miss
my distant son, who at ten
has just this instant buzzed
my house in a flying
cardboard box, dipping
one wing to look down over
my shimmering roof, the yard,
the car in the drive. In his room
three hundred miles from me,
he tightens his helmet,
grips the controls, turns
loops and rolls. My windows
rattle. On days like this,
the least quick shadow crossing
the page makes me look up
at the sky like a goose,
squinting to see that flash
that I dream is his thought of me
daring to fall through the distance,
then climbing, full throttle, away.

So is Sure Signs a classic? I can't say. This poem certainly feels like a "classic" to me, like Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Walz," a definite classic. As for the collection, take a peek and judge for yourself. I read it in one not-too-long sitting, and can recommend at least that.

Girls for Grandparents

2008-05-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

A handful of photos of the girls for the grandparents, since it's been a while. These are photos from the last week: our older's viola recital and 5th grade graduation. Yikes, I can't believe she'll be in middle school next school year (which for us starts in mid-July)!

Our younger daughter, waiting for the recital to start.

Here she talks with her piano teacher, who accompanied our older daughter as she played.

Our older daughter concentrates on playing.

Cardiovascular system, as displayed by my younger daughter and her classmates.

For 5th grade graduation at Civano Community School, the youngers make custom hats for the kids who are graduating.

It's a bit of a sad time for many. Or at least a time to contemplate the years.

Reading her "will."

Passing tissues along in case they get teary eyed, which most of the girls did.

Our older daughter mostly held it together, though.

Except when they were altogether cracking up.

Civano Community School marm Pam Bateman shows off a self-portrait, one for each year for each graduating student. It's great fun.

Definitely great fun.

Dancing the "Chicken Dance" to conclude graduation.

One more photo with the hat...

... and a photo without.

Our older daughter started at Civano in 2nd grade; our younger in K. Both are fairly different learners, I think, and both are excelling in this great school. Many thanks to the wonderful teachers and staff!

Micro Review: What Narcissism Means to Me

2008-05-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

Tony Hoagland's third book of poetry, What Narcissism Means to Me, has been sitting on my shelf since I purchased a signed copy following his reading at the AWP conference in Austin back in 2005. Three years later, I couldn't recall any of the specific poems he read, but remember enjoying them quite a bit live.

After reading the collection of nearly 40 poems divided into 4 sections -- America, Social Life, Blues, Luck -- I can see why I enjoyed the reading so much, and yet must say too that the book at first lacked the punch I expected. That's not to say I didn't enjoy many of the poems, but it took me a while to get into them; they're a fair bit different, more conversational if you will, than much of the poetry I generally read. And that's a good thing, because right now (and always?) I'm looking to broaden my poetry horizons. But until the last two poems of the first section, I wasn't convinced by Hoagland's style or the book. After that, though, things moved along at a better clip, if not a stronger quip.

Hoagland's style is represented in the first two lines (the first stanza) of "Parade," the first poem in the collection that really struck a chord for me:

Peter says if you're going to talk about suffering

you have to mention pleasure too.

One of my favorites is "Windchime," which after my on-the-page reading I recall from Hoagland's reading in Austin. It seems fitting to end this micro review with that full poem: and my endorsement for the book, for whatever that's worth:

Windchime

She goes out to hang the windchime

in her nightie and her work boots.

It's six-thirty in the morning

and she's standing on the plastic ice chest

tiptoe to reach the crossbeam of the porch,

windchime in her left hand,

hammer in her right, the nail

gripped tight between her teeth

but nothing happens next because

she's trying to figure out

how to switch #1 with #3.

She must have been standing in the kitchen,

coffee in her hand, asleep,

when she heard it--the wind blowing

through the sound the windchime

wasn't making

becuase it wasn't there.

No one, including me, especially anymore believes

till death do us part,

but I can see what I would miss in leaving--

the way her ankles go into the work boots

as she stands upon the ice chest;

the problem scrunched into her forehead;

the little kissable mouth

with the nail in it.

The Wildflower Wars

2008-05-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

A dazzling wildflower season spells trouble for the master-planned communities that spread like invasive weeds along the edges of urban areas across the West. How are the wildflower wars being waged, and why is it important to have natural yards in cities, anyway? Here's my take:

http://americancity.org/daily/entry/834/

Elgin High Desert Grasslands

2008-05-12T23:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend we joined two other Civano families for a weekend in and around Elgin, Arizona, about fifty miles southeast of Tucson in high Chihuahuan desert grasslands (now mostly rangeland, though still beautiful). Below are a few photos from the trip, but be sure to see these and many others in larger format in the gallery (here).

We stayed at the Rancho Milagro Bed and Breakfast outside Elgin, which we highly recommend.

Our first evening we went to the small, funky town of Patagonia, where the girls rode the merry-go-round.

Morning view of the Mustang Mountains.

Grasslands, and plenty of them.

Tucked among the grasses was a delightfully surprising amount of wildflowers like this beauty.

Lots of wildlife, too, like this bird that found us as curious as we found him.

And the clouds were pretty awesome, too.

Sonoran fountain at the B&B.

My lovely girls: older daughter, wife, and younger daughter. Happy Mother's Day, Billie!

Check out all of the photos in the gallery now!

Micro Review: Genius Loci

2008-05-09T23:20:00.000-07:00

Over the last two years, my writer's mind has been so attuned to creative nonfiction that the poetry bug, mostly, hasn't been there. And though I've read more than a dozen books of poetry this year, and written some poems that are ready to fly, I haven't had the drive to write poetry, the kind of fevered pitch that occurs when the mind and body become more of a channel than an instigator.

When I'm in that zone, though, every book of poetry I read, it seems, spurs new poetry ideas of my own. Maybe that's why so many readers of poetry are writers of poetry: it's art that propels more art. So I'm excited to report that in my recent flurry of reading poetry books, it's the latest--Alison Hawthorne Deming's Genius Loci (Penguin, 2005)--that has pushed me into the zone. Not long after I settled into the first section, I had my notebook in hand, scratching out ideas for poems.

That's a sure sign that I like the poetry in the collection, and I must say that Genius Loci is one of my favorite recent collections. Not only are the poems filled with reverence for natural and human communities and a certain Earthly wisdom, but they are rich narratives full of stunning imagery, allusion, and metaphor. Take the first three stanzas of "Biophilia," for example:

On the day I found the snakemouth orchids,

little explosions of organic joy,

blooming in the spaghnum bog, you were walking

a thousand miles away and found a half-grown

gopher tortoise, head collapsed on dozer-paws,

asleep beside the trail. No dreams to dream,

you wrote, just evolved too soon. And there it lay

in the awful smolder of wildfire and

summer heat, waiting for its mind to change.

Surprisingly, perhaps, I found myself drawn more to the longer poems in the collection, like "The Yaak," "Under the Influence of Ironwoods," "Short Treatise on Birds," "The Charting" (perhaps my favorite in the collection), and "Wild Fruit." It's surprising because I have a hard time writing longer poems; feel like I don't have the attention span, patience, or artistic planning capacity for it. All three, likely.

And yet Deming's poems make me want to stretch myself in that way, to in effect scribe "every longing that ever led you / where you needed to go in spite of your best intensions," as "Biophilia" suggests near its brilliant ending.

Genius Loci--meaning "a guardian spirit," a deep sense of place--is just right for stretching my spirit; and yours too, I'd wager.

Micro Review: Legacy

2008-05-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

Just a few days ago I received a slim package from Jane Levin, a contributor to Terrain.org's current issue and a seasonal resident--this year, at least--of the Sonoran desert. The package arrived from Minnesota, and was filled with Jane's first chapbook, Legacy, published by Moonflower Press just a few weeks ago.

I remember Jane's single-poem submission both because it is rare for a submitter to send only a single poem, and also because that poem--the first in this chapbook, "Atoll;" it was originally published in The Minnesota Women's Press--was small, simple, and stunning. Naturally, we accepted it and requested others. You can read them here.

Legacy contains just twenty poems, and many of those are a dozen lines or less. But here as in the best poetry, it seems, less is more. Take this poem, for example:

Odd Girl Out

Grandville, Minnesota

Where Larsens marry the Larsons

who sat behind them in homeroom,

their connection more contagion

than attraction.

Unmarried girls leave.

Tomboys, who grew up in foxholes

to escape friendly ire don't tell.

No one asks.

~~~

The poems are often riddles, many sensual Lesbian love poems, others about Jewish themes and Levin's struggle with ovarian cancer. A few are what we might call nature poetry. All are poignant and precise--a compelling chapbook indeed.

So how to go about getting a copy? Looks like the only way right now is to shoot an email to moonflower press at gmail dot com. Or contact me and I'll forward your request to Jane. I think you'll be pleased.

Micro Review: Here, Bullet

2008-05-04T21:05:00.001-07:00

Brian Turner's Here, Bullet has received a lot of recognition since it won the 2005 Beatrice Haley Award (and since then a host of others) and published the same year. And rightfully so. The poetry is strong, the topic both horrifying and intensely interesting, the imagery stunning. I'm not sure that there's been a more important book of poetry this decade. I think there have been finer books, books perhaps more important for the poetry industrial complex, but few as essential to Americans because it does something none has yet done: "Turner has sent back a dispatch," says The New York Times Book Review, "from a place arguably more incomprehensible than the moon--the war in Iraq--and deserves our thanks."

I read Here, Bullet in two sittings: late into the evening last night, when I wanted to get a flavor for the book, intending to read just the first poem but subsequently held by it until halfway through half past midnight. And again this morning, when I couldn't put it down until finishing it.

I was fortunate to attend a reading by Turner here at the University of Arizona back in, I think, 2006. He blew the room away, because his reading is as intense as the poems, showering the room in a bullet spray of words, leaving us all wounded and better for it.

The words to describe this collection are visceral, poignant, imperative. Take, for example, the title poem:

Here, Bullet

If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta's opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you've started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing throguh the air, here is where I moan
the barrel's cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue's explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.

Last week I said Jake Adam York's new collection is essential, and it is. So is Here, Bullet--and more so in this time in our history.

.

(And for more info about Turner, read his first book interview by Kate Greenstreet and listen to Turner read some of his poetry over at From the Fishouse.)

Micro Reviews: Freshly Rooted, and Pity the Drowned Horses

2008-05-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

I just finished Emily Wall's Freshly Rooted and Sheryl Luna's Pity the Drowned Horses, and as distinct as the poetry in each is, I'm struck by their similarities. Both have a rich relationship to place: landscape fully forms and informs the poetry.

For Wall, whose book was published by Ireland's Salmon Poetry in 2007, the place is Alaska, predominantly, and Juneau where she lives now, dark with rain and ravens and a kind of redemption that the landscape both gives and demands. For example:

Three black knives
cleave morning air.
Snow has softened the sound
but even driving
beside them, we hear
the slicing of wings.

- from "Composition: Ravens"

While there's a Mary Oliver-like quality to much of the poetry, there's also an intimacy with the built places of Wall's northern (and sometimes southern) world not so common in Oliver's work, and toward the end of the book a certain jazzy tendancy that I find quite lovely. For example, the first stanza of "Rain on South Franklin Street," one of my favorites:

Oh you know that
voodoo rain,
the way he carries
his names, giving a new one
at each gas station
liquor store—
now he's she-rain
all seductive tears and tongue,
now dog
rain, teeth & yips on the metal roof.

If Wall's influence is largely Oliver, then Sheryl Luna's poetic influence may be Jimmy Santiago Baca, whose Black Mesa Poems is a collection to emulate indeed. But that comparison may be too easy. While I find Baca's work to have a certain shamanistic quality, Luna's is mythical in a different and I feel deeper sense. It's a tie to landscape removed and then returned, a lineage of place both terrible and rewarding, an impressive poetic narrative of life on the border. It's no surprise, then, that Pity the Drowned Horses was awarded the inaugural Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize from the Institute for Latino Studies and the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame in 2004.

"Fence on the Border" near the end of the collection is perhaps my favorite. It begins:

It is in the bending and the pain,
the way old paint scrapes off old wood,
the way elders light our way through time
on their way to a smaller frailty.

Luna's success, in part, stems from the fact that she crafts an honest perspective, honest story and scene if you will, without bludgeoning the reader in image or sensibility. That is, the poetry is elegant yet narrative, flowing yet tight. Woven is close to the right word.

From "The Bullfight:"

My blood, of necessity, will eventually seep
into the desert; it is the way of my people;
it is the way of all people: crossing borders,

learning of caliche and wind, building monuments
from mud, finding something of themselves,
losing something of themselves.

If having an intimate relationship with place means losing something of themselves, then readers are the ones who gain in Freshly Rooted and Pity the Drowned Horses.

Micro Review: A Murmuration of Starlings

2008-04-25T21:56:00.001-07:00

This summer I hope to catch up on a lot of poetry books I've been meaning to read over the last year, or more, but haven't gotten to for the usual reasons. School's not out just quite yet, but I still had the opportunity to read Jake Adam York's A Murmuration of Starlings, his second book.

So begins what I hope to be a series of micro reviews (that is, a paragraph or so) for each of the poetry books I read over the summer, probably one a week:

A Murmuration of Starlings
Poems by Jake Adam York
The Crab Orchard Series in Poetry - Open Competition Award

I finally had the opportunity to read A Murmuration of Starlings, and found it--as I expected--pretty damn excellent. This book, as with the first (Murder Ballads) though in a more focused way, gives me hope that poetry can matter in the larger context; that is, that it is good not just in its noble literary sense, but good also in the sense of making a difference in the world. Murmuration makes a difference, and I'm sad to say that there are not many poetry books that can make that claim, even as much as I like others, too (a statement that I realize won't make me popular among the poets, but so be it).

This one is essential.

March Yard Flowers

2008-04-20T22:54:00.001-07:00

I'm running behind on posts, I know, but 'tis the season. School's almost out, and then I may have a moderately regular blog post schedule. Or at least I'll keep telling you that.

My new Canon XSi arrived late last week and while I haven't had much of a chance to play with it, I did take a couple photos from my backyard:

The rest of these photos, though, are three weeks old now, from the amazing spring wildflowers we've had (and still continue to have). These are all from our yard, our neighbors' yards, and a small walkabout at Civano. These and 30 others are available at a larger size in my gallery.

The sweet acacia bloom this spring has been spectacular: the trees are as yellow as Colorado aspens in the autumn.

Closer view of sweet acacia bloom. These are predominant street trees in our neighborhood.

Bloom stalk of my neighbor's agave.

It is not an overstatement, I think, to say that our street had the best wildflowers in Civano this year.

My younger daughter: a flower among flowers.

Ocotillo buds just before bloom, with palo verde in the background. I must say I love this photo.

Lovely scented star jasmine in my neighbor's yard, with our purple house in the background.

Hesperaloe leaves and palo verde shadow against the wall of the Civano Nursery.

Indian blanket soaking in the sun.

View the March Yard Flower photo gallery.

Ammonsfest

2008-04-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading A.R. Ammons's delightful and important book-length poem Garbage, which won the 1993 National Book Award. I also gave a presentation and led a discussion on it here at the UA creative writing MFA program, for my "modern poetics and the environmental muse" course. (On a site note, read this excellent analysis of the poem to learn more both about the poem and about the waste-to-landfill process; it's fascinating.)

I have before and I will again thank Miriam Marty Clark for introducing me to A.R. Ammons (specifically, his Selected Poems, Expanded Edition, published in 1987). That was probably 1989 or therabouts, when I was a sophomore or junior at Auburn University, when I first started writing poetry seriously. Miriam, who has been on the Terrain.org editorial board since I started the publication eleven years ago, taught an upper-level contemporary poetry course. She did her Ph.D. thesis on Ammons, so knew his work intimately.

In doing research for the presentation, I turned to another Ammons researcher, fellow Salmon poet Philip Fried, editor of The Manhattan Review. Turns out that Phil interviewed Archie for MR's second issue, back in 1980. Phil was kind enough to send me that issue, collected deep from the dark confines of his closet. The interview, and Phil's afterword, are astounding, and I'm delighted to report that he is going to let Terrain.org reprint the entire interview and afterword. It'll be our feature interview in the winter/spring 2009 issue. The issue's theme is "Symbiosis," which if you know Ammons's work is perfect.

A couple good poetry blogger friends had the opportunity to study under Ammons at Cornell: Gina Franco and Jake Adam York. I'd like to have long conversations with both of them about their experience. Some day I hope to. (I feel especially connected to Jake in this capacity because we both studied poetry under R.T. Smith while at Auburn University. Though, Gina has more more beautiful hair....)

An Ammons poem, then, to leave you on:

He Held Radical Light

He held radical light
as music in his skull: music
turned, as
over ridges immanences of evening light
rise, turned
back over the furrows of his brain
into the dark, shuddered,
shot out again
in long swaying swirls of sound:

reality had little weight in his transcendence
so he
had trouble keeping
his feet on the ground, was
terrified by that
and liked himself, and others, mostly
under roofs:
nevertheless, when the
light churned and changed

his head to music, nothing could keep him
off the mountains, his
head back, mouth working,
wrestling to say, to cut loose
from the high, unimaginable hook:
released, hidden from the stars, he ate,
burped, said he was like any one
of us: demanded he
was like any one of us.

From the School Art Exhibit

2008-03-31T22:33:00.000-07:00

The Life Tree in a Forest of Death
Oil on Canvas Panel, 2007
by my older daughter

A Night at Kitt Peak National Observatory

2008-03-22T12:38:00.001-07:00

On Thursday evening my older daughter and I participated in the Kitt Peak National Observatory nightly observing program, which was really cool. Some photos below, and more over on my gallery. I definitely recommend this for folks interested in astronomy, though be sure to make reservations a few weeks ahead of time and be flexible, because the program can be cancelled due to weather. This was our third attempt to get up there.

Kitt Peak, a part of the Tohono O'odham reservation, is about 50 miles from Tucson. On the way up, we stopped on this side road to snap a few photos.

The road up to Kitt Peak, which unless you are a part of the nightly observing program, closes at 4 p.m. Driving down after the program ended at about 10:45 p.m., we had to have our headlights off for the first mile.

A mural on a large concrete ballast. And who's that cutie in the middle?

The most recognizable observatory (of 26) atop Kitt Peak: the Mayall 4-meter telescope.

Sunset view from the SARA Observatory.

Final light at SARA.

View these and 15 other larger photos on my gallery.

And check out the Kitt Peak live KPCam here.

Extended Vacation

2008-03-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

At the realization that I had to go back to work after taking a couple days off, my younger daughter wrote me an excuse for an extended vacation, courtesy of my boss. Ah, if only it were so easy!

And unfortunately I'm home today because I'm under the weather. Strep, I fear.

The Cost of War

2008-03-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

From Jeremy Funk, Americans United for Change:

Five years ago today, President Bush declared war on Iraq.

He went on TV and addressed the American people, saying:

The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.

The American people have paid a terrible price for that statement:

http://www.americansunitedforchange.com/costofwar

In a matter of days, the U.S. military will likely suffer its 4,000th casualty from the war -- 4,000 brave young men and women who won't be coming home to their mothers or fathers, sons or daughters.

And while our troops overseas and their courageous families here at home have paid the highest price, every American has been impacted by the President's war.

With the half-trillion dollars that President Bush has already spent in Iraq, we could rebuild the Gulf Coast. We could fix our failing schools. We could give every child healthcare.

How much more are Americans willing to pay for President Bush's war in Iraq?

The cost of the war can't be measured merely in dollars. Click here to watch the Americans United for Change new YouTube video about the real cost of the five years of war:

http://www.americansunitedforchange.com/costofwar

~~~

Does anyone still doubt how we as a nation have been deceived? Can anyone legitimately justify the war and its expenses? How guilty are we for allowing this to continue?

Wildflowers, Wildflowers, Wildflowers

2008-03-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

I returned yesterday from two extraordinary days of wildflower hunting in the mountains north of Tucson and east of Phoenix (Superstitions, Dripping Springs, Apache Leap, and points thereby). I went with my friend Scott Calhoun and three other landscape designers and folks I hadn't met before: Julie from Chicago, Hilary from Indiana (from England originally), and Judy from here in Tucson.

We had a great time stumbling upon wildflowers, talking shop, raging on the current political administration, and eating chile rellenos. The twist-cap Australian wine was pretty good, too.

We saw so much, and I took so many photos, that I've divided the trip into three galleries, and I hope you'll visit all three!

Dripping Springs Mountains Wildflowers

View all 58 Dripping Springs Mountains wildflower photos >>

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

View all 16 Boyce Thompson Arboretum photos >>

Superstition Mountains Wildflowers

View all 75 Superstition Mountains (and Lost Dutchman State Park) wildflower photos >>

Or head on over to the main SimmonsBuntin.com Gallery, where links to these and all galleries are located.

The Year of Self-Indulgence

2008-03-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

Saw Jennifer Michael Hecht last night for the first of her three lectures for the UA's Astrobiology and the Sacred annual series. Pretty mind-bending stuff. One of the more eloquent athiests I've heard. Compelling visions, hers.

*

Saturday evening my older daughter and I will attend Kitt Peak National Observatory's Nightly Observance Program. Should be an interesting experience, and cold, too. I hope to work the experience into an essay on vision, of a sort.

*

Sunday through Tuesday I'm off to the Superstition Mountains with compadre Scott Calhoun, and others, for a few more days of wildflower photography. This is turning out to be the Year of Self-Indulgence.

*

What else is self-indulgent? Last week I spent $100 to join The Police Fan Club so I could advance purchase $111 tickets to see The Police with Elvis Costello up at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver on July 22. I've been a lifelong fan of The Police, and while I've seen Sting in concert, never the trio. Much to my chagrin, Billie and the girls will be back in school (our year-round schedule). I hope I'm allowed to bring in my camera....

*

Speaking of camera, another self-indulgence: I recently purchased a new wide-angle lens, and have ordered the new Canon Rebel XSi, too. Patience is not one of my better virtues.

*

Conversely, I haven't done our taxes yet. We'll owe this year, I'm afraid.

*

Grandpa Bill and Grammie Gloria are coming in next week. Between the wildflower jaunt and working late, I probably won't get to see them much, which is my loss.

*

More self-indulgences, you ask? I'm home typing this instead of at work so I can catch the girls' talent show on their last day before spring break. I thought that actually less indulgent than going to work, which was my original plan.

*

After the Wildbranch Writing Workshop in Vermont in June (assuming I get in, and if I go that's certainly another self-indulgence) and after the July issue of Terrain.org launches (Understory / Overgrowth), I'm hoping to make this the summer of poetry. There's something on the horizon in that context, but it's way out on the horizon and solely depends on me putting pen to paper and finding poetic success. Always an unknown.

*

On the nonfiction front, still lots of submissions out there, though nothing new from a publishing perspective to report. But my friend and fellow UA MFA nonfictioner Ben Quick has an excellent essay in the current issue of Orion on Agent Orange. Way to go, Ben!

*

Listening to some old grunge favorites lately: Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, Singles soundtrack. All really frickin' awesome. What about Nirvana? All in good time, my friends.

*

Finished listening to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials triology (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass). Very well-written, very intriguing. The last one had one braid that was notably less interesting than the main story, and the ending was a bit mushy, but otherwise a great set of books that are in theory oriented toward children, but are really for adults (and young adults I suppose). Great narration on the CDs.

*

Off to the talent show now. Look for photos from the wildflower trip mid-next week.

Picacho Peak Wildflowers

2008-03-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

The flowers at Ironwood Forest National Monument aren't bad. The flowers at Picacho Peak State Park are absolutely amazing. Below are 17 glimpses of my morning hike with my older daughter. There are a total of 63 colorful images over in the gallery, too.

Sunrise over a low peak adjacent to Picacho Peak, itself about 40 miles northwest of Tucson. This first set of photos is taken with my new 10-20mm wide-angle lens, which is awesome!

My older daughter (the younger lass, alas, is under the weather) on the trail up to the peak.

And her old man, smiling but---with eyes hidden in shadow---perhaps a bit shifty?

The older rascalian, again. We had pretty amazing clouds in addition to flowers this morning.

Poppies and a dramatic view as we climb the trail to the peak.

A more horizontal view. There are saguaros and other cacti a plenty at the park.

For example, these teddy bear cholla.

The patches of Mexican gold-poppies, desert lupine, fiddleneck, desert chicory, and wild heliotrope were fairly stunning.

But here's one of my favorite flowers (and a wildflower, at that)!

Switching to the trusty ol' macro lens now. What a difference a good lens makes!

Poppies among Picacho's volcanic soil.

Found composition: cholla joint, poppies, verbena bloom (or filaree, an exotic, perhaps), and more.

Mexican gold-poppies and desert lupine.

Desert chicory; not as plentify as the others, but stunning nonetheless.

Fiddleneck among poppies and lupine, with hedgehog cactus in the background.

Wahoooooo for wildflowers!

Not a bad way to spend to spend the morning, indeed!

View all 63 of the Picacho Peak wildflower photos now.

Return to the Ostrich Ranch

2008-03-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

Periodically the girls and I stop by Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch northwest of Tucson off Interstate 10. To our delight, there always seems to be something new. This time, following a wildflower hike at Picacho Peak (see above), my older daughter and I stopped. Some photos below and a few more on my site's gallery:

The ostriches are always happy to see us!

Speaking from experience, it's true: ostriches do bite, with a blind indiscriminate thrust.

The key deer are always great fun to feed.

And apparently the camera's pretty tasty, too!

The rainbow lorikeet aviary's pretty great, too.

Taking the other bird's-eye view, I suppose.

So what's new there? Miniature donkeys and emus. Quite a managerie they've got going on. I'm amazed, too, how many people zoom by and never stop. Trust me, it's a wonderful and unique experience.

View the other photos on the gallery now.

Ironwood Forest Spring Wildflowers

2008-02-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

Not perhaps what you typically think of with forests, but Ironwood Forest National Monument, northwest of Tucson, is pretty spectacular, especially on a beautiful day like today when the poppies are a-poppin'!

Below are a dozen photos from the afternoon outing with fellow photography addict Scott Calhoun (though he actually gets paid for this stuff every now and then). Then buzz on over to my Ironwood Forest National Monument Spring Wildflowers gallery for 39 larger images.

Mexican gold-poppies among foothill palo verde and saguaros.

A thicker patch of the poppies, with palo verde and cholla.

Who doesn't love poppies? Mary Oliver sure does [read poem]!

There are some patches of bladderpod, too, though more often they grew among the poppies.

The magical time of late afternoon when the light brings out warm color in everything.

Ragged Top, in the heart of Ironwood Forest National Monument, with lots of saguaros, too.

The iconic silhouetted saguaro photograph, methinks.

Cholla backlit among the gold-poppies.

Poppies closing up, looking west as the sun sets, with Ragged Top in the distance.

Lying (or is it laying?) down with the poppies.

My favorite shot of the afternoon: is it wrong to love my macro lens so much?

Good night gold-poppies!

Hey, I just realized I didn't actually take any photos of ironwoods! Ah well, I think I'll head back when they flower later this spring.

Don't forget to check out these and 27 other images in the gallery.

If you're feeling generous...

2008-02-17T12:48:00.001-08:00

... then you may be interested in purchasing me the new Canon Digital Rebel XSi with EFS 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens, available April 15, but available for pre-order now from places like Amazon.com.

More details on the camera here.

Until then, I'll use the powers of positive thinking and image manifestation (see image below, acquire camera below) in the hopes of securing such a fine, and reasonably affordable (it lists at $899 with the image-stabilizer lens) combo:

Just something to consider, friends.

Dark Skies, Bright Future?

2008-02-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

I've always been intrigued by light pollution, those cool global maps showing artificial light on Earth, from space. So for this week's The Next American City blog entry, that's just what I wrote about:

http://americancity.org/updates/blog/2008/dark-skies-bright-future/

Dark skies are on my mind because in the next few weeks I hope a) to travel a bit farther east and south of here (around Willcox) to view sandhill cranes at sunrise before they head back north and b) to spend an evening at Kitt Peak National Observatory with one of my daughters (the younger, unfortunately, is not officially old enough). The last one's scheduled for March 8, and then from March 10-11 I'm traveling down to Organ Pipe National Monument and the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve, in Mexico, for some wildflower photography. (Sorry Grandpa Bill and Grammie Gloria, I know you'll be in town; but I'm not taking the girls with me, and that's who you rightfully prefer to see, anyway!)

Oh, and today's my birthday! The first person to correctly guess my age will get a free signed copy of my book, Riverfall. If you already have a copy, I guess you only get the satisfaction of a correct guess. In other words: not much, sorry.

By the way, have you ever read the poet Lorine Niedecker? Odd. Interesting.

Final AWP Bits

2008-02-09T13:31:00.000-08:00

As if this hasn't dragged on long enough, I have some final AWP bits:

Images from "The Future of Environmental Essay" panel, Terrain.org 10th Anniversary Reading, and Salmon: A Journey in Poetry Anthology Launch & Reading are now online in a gallery at:

http://www.terrain.org/img/gallery/index.html

I ate insects at AWP. Specifically, for a free one-year extension on my Isotope: A Literary Journal of Science & Nature subscription I ate a chocolate-covered larva and a white chocolate-covered cricket. Mmmm, tasty.

Most famous person I met: Marvin Bell, at the Salmon Poetry table. I suspect he doesn't remember.... I also saw Billy Collins roaming the third level of the bookfair, but he didn't make it to the Terrain.org table, gosh darnit!

It occurs to me now that the only panel I attended was the one I facilitated. And I feel like I didn't miss anything (though surely I did, no?).

So concludes, finally, AWP for this year. It was good fun.

NYC and AWP Redux

2008-02-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

I didn't keep a log of those I met and didn't meet at AWP in New York City this year, though I can say I was sad not to spend more time with folks like Gina Franco, who I always seemed to see only in quick passing, or Jake Adam York (thanks, Jake, for the very kind words at the end of the reading, and for a copy of your beautiful book; and sorry I missed a good search for good beer on Saturday afternoon). Such is AWP.

What made AWP so great for me this year really has little to do with the conference itself, with a few notable exceptions (sitting behind the Terrain.org table as a matter of sanctuary rather than roaming, head swinging into dizziness, the bookfair's maze of corridors; and the strong "The Future of Environmental Panel" panel on Saturday with Alison Hawthorne Deming, David Gessner, David Rothenberg, and Lauret Savoy; more on that below).

What made it so great was the city itself (see my The Next American City blog entry for more on that), the extracurricular events like the Salmon: A Journey in Poetry anthology launch and reading at the Bowery Poetry Club on Saturday night, and meeting and enjoying the company of folks I hadn't met before (Suzanne Frischkorn and Shann Palmer, among others) or I hadn't seen in many years (David Rothenberg and Philip Fried and Deborah Fries, for example). Then there were the marathon walks across Manhattan and Brooklyn with fellow explorer and Terrain.org editorial board member Scott Calhoun.

So below are some photos and stories and such that define this year's AWP for me:

A little concrete lion love in front of the main branch of the New York Public Library (photo by Scott Calhoun). I'd wager that Scott and I walked a good 40 miles in the four and a half days we were in New York, most of those in the evening. Plus we took the subway whenever we could. New York's subway system, at least the entrances and exits, are as confusing as I can imagine, but the system itself is still workable, efficient.

Here, Scott Calhoun (right) and I work the Terrain.org table, located way up on the third level of the bookfair (photo courtesy Dennis Lee). From my limited excursions down to the other levels, I'd say we received quite a bit less traffic than the lower floors. But at least we had great daylighting and open spaces, which the lowest level couldn't boast. I enjoyed the table both because I could meet lots of folks, and because it's much less stressful, I think, behind the table than roaming among them. Still, I had to wear my marketing hat and almost literally lasso people over to tell them about the journal. So it goes.

Many thanks to the table volunteers: Scott, Deborah Fries, Shann Palmer, and contributor and former UA MFA classmate Stephanie Eve Boone.

Will we have a table at AWP in Chicago next year? Not sure. I've learned what to do and not to do, but there's also an ASLE conference in Victoria, B.C. in 2009 I'd rather attend. And funds, as always, are quite limited.

The highlight of the trip, and it's hard to choose among several worthy events, was the Terrain.org 10th Anniversary Reading, featuring contributors old and new. The Cornelia Street Cafe (shown here with Scott Calhoun) was packed. It was great to finally meet contributors Scott Edward Anderson, Suzanne Frischkorn, Donna J. Gelagotis Lee, Shann Palmer, and Andrew Wingfield; great also to catch up with Teague Bohlen, Philip Fried, Deborah Fries, Dennis Must, David Rothenberg, and Jake Adam York. It was a pleasure, too, finally meeting Angelo Verga, Cornelia Street's literary events director.

(Deborah Fries reads poetry, above.) Dinner following the reading was divine, and I must specifically point out a new craft brew I hadn't had before, because it was among the best of hundreds I've yet had: Magic Hat #9 Not Quite Pale Ale, brewed in Vermont. Really great stuff, and yet another reason to travel to Vermont this summer if I can!

The other literary highlight was chairing the panel titled "The Future of Environmental Essay," which included Alison Hawthorne Deming (above, photo by Scott Calhoun), David Gessner, David Rothenberg, and Lauret Savoy (below, photo by Scott Calhoun). Each panelist's presentation was unique, intriguing, inspiring.
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There was (of course, I think) no consensus as to the future of what we might call "environmental essay," a term despised by the write David Quammen. But there was a real energy to the presentations and follow-on discussion, and the next issue of Terrain.org will feature these presentations in text (and perhaps audio) format. I can tell you that Lauret's concluding presentation nearly made me cry in its beauty and poise and frankness. Thank you, Lauret; and thanks to all the panelists!

Following the panel, I (photo above, left) joined David Gessner (middle), David Rothenberg (right), Scott Calhoun, and Stephanie Boone for lunch at a wonerful, randomly-selected Thai restaurant in the neighborhood called Hell's Kitchen. (Photo courtesy Scott Calhoun.)

There we learned that David and David are old Harvard classmates. We also had great fun gossiping about other writers of place. If you haven't heard David Rothenberg's impersonations of Rick Bass and Barry Lopez, among others, you're missing something grand. The photo above is David R., David G., me (eyes closed, much to my shagrin), and Stephanie, courtesy Scott Calhoun.

Here I am reading at the Salmon Poetry reading, which was really great (photo by Scott Calhoun). It was wonderful to hear fellow Salmon poets read, some of whom I'd met but not heard read, but most of whom I'd not yet met before the conference or reading.

Finally, I am delighted to report that Scott and I spent many a wonderful evening with Suzanne Frischkorn, to whom we send out the above poem, coauthored by Scott and me at the amazing Haitian restaurant Krik Krak. "Krik Krak," by the way, is a call and response in Haiti. If someone says, "Krik," you say "Krak" in response, to hear a story.

The poem alternates lines, beginning with Scott and ending with me (I have the last two, I see):

First Draft @ Krik Krak
2-2-08 (Groundhog Day)

You asked
whether the world, this bookish world,
could accommodate a cowboy--
we're here to tell you--maybe.
But, on the other hand,
the world is much like a Haitian restaurant:
it burns like a Scotch-
bonnet, like the
walls of this scented room: ochre and

(Intermission for Cabrit En Sause and Poulet Maison)

blackened with the smoke of
our love. But for whom? Why, for you!
Sometimes a little love
is like a little Bouillen Haitien:
only served on Saturday,
an empty day without you (and me, and
me). And AWP!

~~~

I plan to post Terrain.org 10th Anniversary Reading and "The Future of Environmental Essay" panel image galleries in the next few days.

I Heart New York!

2008-02-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Really, I do. This was my first visit, and New York is an amazing city.

Neither overwhelming nor unfriendly, I found it compelling beyond expectation, from the many small and fine restaurants to its pedestrian scale (in spite of its grand scale), from its wonderful literary venues to the intricate and diverse architecture and peoples. The only things I didn't like ($10 beers at the bar of the New York Hilton, for example) are mostly avoidable.

I plan a post about the biggest delights, but that will be over at The Next American City, probably tomorrow or the next day. Until then, here are 22 photos, with these plus 50 (!) more in larger format over on my gallery:

Arriving: view of Manhattan and the Empire State Building from LaGuardia International Airport (aboard the plane) at sunset.

Candle and Guinness make for good company the first evening at an Irish pub near Grand Central Station.

The Empire State Building, washed in green lights, towers above other beautiful buildings along (I think) 5th Avenue.

Windows of the New York Public Library, where traveling partner Scott Calhoun dreams of penning his next book.

The Hotel Metro, somewhere in Soho or Greenwich Village, perhaps. I just like the shot.

Scott enjoys gelato at a wonderful Italian bakery we discovered in Greenwich Village.

A famous (and now infamous, but I'm telling no secrets!) poet blogger reads at the Terrain.org 10th Anniversary Reading at Cornelia Street Cafe.

And Jake Adam York, seen through the reflective mirror, closes out the reading. Look for a link to a Terrain.org 10th Anniversary Reading image gallery soon....

Okay, so some skyscrapers in Manhattan look the same (though most don't).

Times Square, though we didn't venture into the heart of the beast.

One of two gauchos who serenaded us (the other with classical guitar) on the subway as we headed into Brooklyn.

Jessie Lendennie, publisher of Salmon Poetry, introduces readers at the Salmon Poetry reading at the Bowery Street Poetry Club. Photo by Scott Calhoun.

Hey, that's me, reading a couple poems from Salmon's new anthology! Photo by Scott Calhoun.

Brooklyn contrast.

View of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge, spanning the East River, from Brooklyn Bridge Park.

A tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, through the windowless arch of an abandoned warehouse.

The hazy Statue of Liberty, viewed from beneath the Brooklyn Bridge (with a telephoto lens).

A (rare?) bright, bright Brooklyn winter day, with yours truly. Photo by Scott Calhoun.

Manhattan skyscrapers viewed above a frozen pond in Central Park.

Boulder and buildings viewed from the south section of Central Park.

A single blooming tree in the park.

View of Queens and Manhattan from my airplane window. I say again: What a great city!

View all my NYC photos here.

New York City and AWP List

2008-01-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard (is it possible?!), I'll be in New York City for the annual AWP Conference and Bookfair from January 31 to February 2. Here's where -- if you're around -- I hope you'll catch up with me:

Terrain.org Table at AWP Conference
Join Terrain.org at the AWP Conference Bookfair at the New York Hilton, Table #480 (Americas Hall II, access from third floor), where you can meet staff and contributors, view a slideshow highlighting the journal, and pick up flyers.

On Saturday, the Bookfair is open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

And the first person to mention this blog entry at our table will receive a free, signed copy of my book of poetry, Riverfall.

AWP Panel: The Future of Environmental Essay
For those of you attending AWP, be sure to join me as I moderate "The Future of Environmental Essay" panel, featuring Alison Hawthorne Deming, David Gessner, David Rothenberg, and Lauret Savoy:

Saturday, February 2, 2008
Noon - 1:15 p.m.
Sutton South, New York Hilton

Terrain.org 10th Anniversary Reading
Celebrate ten successful years of Terrain.org at our 10th Anniversary Reading. Our first contributor showcase features the following award-winning poets, essayists, and fiction writers:

Scott Edward Anderson, Teague Bohlen, Simmons B. Buntin, Scott Calhoun, Philip Fried, Deborah Fries, Suzanne Frischkorn, Donna J. Gelagotis Lee, Dennis Must, Shann Palmer, David Rothenberg, Andrew Wingfield, Jake Adam York

Thursday, January 31, 2008
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Cornelia Street Café

Salmon: A Journey in Poetry Anthology Reading
Join me, Terrain.org editorial board member and Salmon Poetry publisher Jessie Lendennie, Terrain.org contributors Philip Fried and John Hildebidle, and other Salmon poets Patrick Chapman, Susan Millar DuMars, Kevin Higgins, John Mehaghan, Eamonn Wall, and Emily Wall in celebration of Salmon: A Journey in Poetry, 1981-2007.

Saturday, February 2, 2008
10:00 - 11:45 p.m.
The Bowery Poetry Club

Now, if I only had some time to actually see New York. It's my first time in the city, after all....

Winter Day at the Desert Museum

2008-01-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

My younger daughter and I took a trip to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum today, which as regular visitors to this blog know is one of my favorite haunts.

Here are a handful of photos, and these and a few more, larger, are also available on my website's gallery.

My younger daughter digs for fossils at "Ancient Arizona."

A barn owl on the hand of its handler.

An ocelot slumbers in a very vertical position.

Hesperaloe blooms against a wall of adobe brick.

A female Calliope hummingbird at the Desert Museum's hummingbird aviary.

Teddy bear cholla cactus; almost cute enough to cuddle with?

A cedar waxwing in the museum's walk-in aviary. First time I've seen this bird there.

The fruit of a climbing cactus in a new portion of the Desert Museum just opened.

A Harris' hawk, the raptors that like to perch on the tops of saguaros.

The head of a large agave stalk, approaching bloom.

One flower surrounded by winter-blooming lantana.
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Check out these and a half-dozen more on my website's gallery.

Good News: The Sum of All Species

2008-01-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

I'm delighted to report that my essay "The Sum of All Species" was just awarded the 2007 Mid-American Review Creative Nonfiction Award, judged by W. Scott Olsen, and will appear in the April/May 2008 issue. Woo hoo!

Why, I might even be able to use the award money to help pay for the Wildbranch Writing Workshop in Vermont in June (assuming I'm accepted, and I've yet to actually apply, but with faculty like Scott Russell Sanders, Sandra Steingraber, and Janisse Ray, I'm definitely interested). I've never been to a writing workshop or retreat -- or to Vermont for that matter. Both sound pretty great during what is usually the Sonoran desert's warmest week of the year.

Civano Community School Wins!

2008-01-18T10:33:00.001-08:00

The Civano Community School---which my daughters attend---won the "Go Green with All" greenest grade school in American contest, announced today on The Ellen Show. Very cool!

Details at http://gogreenwithall.com/home/ and a local news clip here.

In addition to a $50,000 grand prize for the school, each student receives an iPod shuffle with a solar charger, and each family receives a year's supply of All concentrated detergent.

This is the work of many good folks, but Pam Bateman, school marm, deserves special recognition.

Bits

2008-01-15T09:40:00.001-08:00

A few quick updates before classes begin again this Thursday:

My wife Billie has been nominated for Vail School District's "Teacher of the Year Award." Woo hoo, Billie! I know she's not seen much on this blog, and that's because she's usually working while I get to scramble around with the girls. Fingers crossed, babe!
The Civano Community School has been named a finalist in the Go Green with ALL greenest grade school in America contest promoted by the Ellen Show. We'll find out Friday if we win!
What do HOAs, miniature horses, and unnecessary special meetings have in common? Read my latest Next American City magazine blog entry to find out: "A Boy and His Horse, and the HOA Too."
This semester, in the University of Arizona MFA in creative writing program, I'm taking the nonfiction workshop and an environmental poetry craft class (not a workshop, though I'm hoping to write some new poems, as it's been a very long time), both taught by Alison Hawthorne Deming, who rocks!
Have I mentioned lately that I'll be at AWP?

More soon, maybe.

Terrain.org Issue No. 21 : Islands & Archipelagos : Now Live!

2008-01-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments

Winter/Spring 2008 Issue Now Online: http://www.terrain.org

Issue No. 21 — Islands & Archipelagos — features a rich mix of contributions:

Columns

- Guest Editorial: “Restoring Abundant Oceans” by Andrew Sharpless, Oceana
- Simmons B. Buntin scribes a portrait of Fernando at Bahía de Loreto
- David Rothenberg plays clarinet to humpback whales off Hawaii
- Deborah Fries recounts the Rutherford Island life of artist Ellen Vincent

Interview

- Terrain.org interviews author David Quammen

Poetry

Poetry by Susan F. Benjamin, Donna J. Gelagotis Lee, J.D. Schraffenberger, Margarita Engle, Eric Paul Shaffer, Wendy Burk, Scott T. Starbuck, Paul Fisher, Yvonne Carpenter, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, and Jane Levin

Essays

- "Searching within the Archipelago" by Steve Kahn, with photos by John Hohl
- "St. Francis and the Isle of Foula" by Lynne Shapiro
- "Navajo Women: Doorway Between Traditional and Modern Life" by Betty Reid, with photos by Kenji Kawano
- "Land and Money" by William R. Stimson
- "My Farmhouse in Japan: A Breakfast to Remember" by John Roderick

UnSprawl Case Study

The Villages of Loreto Bay in Baja California Sur —an 8,000-acre new urbanist project that strives to be North America’s largest sustainable resort development; it will include village neighborhoods constructed in nine phases along the Sea of Cortés

Fiction

- "The Third Way" by Tamara Kaye Sellman
- "Pelicans" by Julian Hoffman
- "Her Best Interests" by Janet Yung
- "The Way Things Fall" by Richard Denoncourt

Articles

- "Rice Island: Bali and the Cultivation of Tradition — A Narrative Slideshow" by Colin Donohue
- "Sky Islands of North America: A Globally Unique and Threatened Inland Archipelago" by Matt Skroch
- "No Community is an Island: Tributary and the Young & the Restless" by Rick Mildner and Brian Canin
- "Tourism Takes the Bird: Are Proposed Changes to Four Seasons Development Enough to Protect the Rare Grenada Dove?" by Dr. George Wallace
- "Ocean Acidification: A Greater Threat than Global Warming or Overfishing?" by Dr. William G.C. Burns

ARTerrain Gallery

- Ten natural light photographs from Floridian Joel B. McEachern

Reviews

- Deborah Fries reviews Salmon: A Journey in Poetry, 1981-2007, edited by Jessie Lendennie
- Simmons B. Buntin reviews Phantom Limb: Essays by Theresa Kishkan
- Stephanie Eve Boone reviews Nature Cure: A Story of Depression and Healing by Richard Mabey
- Terrain.org reviews Planet Ocean: Voyage to the Heart of the Marine Realm, by Laurent Ballesta and Pierre Descamp

View new issue now at http://www.terrain.org
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