Whitmansexual

Walt Whitman

Cold Splinters mentioned the poet Antler today and it reminded me of a poem of his I've been meaning to post for awhile. According to the preface to Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, the powers of a great poet to speak the truth have no bounds, can boldly encompass all he or she encounters, and lay bare the hearts of things, the truth of things. Here's an example of the powers of a great poet to capture, not from Whitman, but from Antler writing about Whitman.

Whenever I teach or discuss Walt Whitman, conversation always seems to find it's way back to the poet's sexuality (look, it's happening again...). In once sense, discussing Whitman's homosexuality reaffirms what we should all already know - that our heroes, icons, and leaders of previous generations included gay men and women, even if they weren't able to publicly fulfill their romantic and emotional lives. We should celebrate Whitman's sexuality as an integral part of our understanding of the poet, and, by extension, remember to embrace homosexuality as a creative and generative force in American culture. Of course no one is wholly their sexuality, this is true for Whitman as well. As a teacher and student of literature, I've struggled to meaningfully situate Whitman's sexuality in respect to the totality of his writing and his aura. Luckily, Antler found the words and put them together for us in his poem, "Whitmansexual," reproduced below. Be sure to check out more of Antler poetry here on his website.

Whitmansexual

Whitman was a mansexual,
      a womansexual,
A grasssexual, a treesexual,
      a skysexual, an earthsexual.
Whitman was an oceansexual, a mountainsexual,
      a cloudsexual, a prariesexual,
A birdsongsexual, a lilacsmellsexual,
      a gallopinghorsesexual.
Whitman was a darknesssexual, a sleepersexual,
      a sunrisesexual, a MilkyWaysexual,
A gentlebreezesexual, an openroadsexual,
      a wildernesssexual, a democracysexual,
A drumtapssexual, a crossingbrooklynferrysexual,
      a sands-at-seventy-sexual.
Whitman was a farewell-my-fancy-sexual,
      a luckier-than-was-thought-sexual,
A deathsexual, a corpsewatchsexual,
      a compostsexual, a poets-to-come-sexual,
A miracle-sexual, an immortalitysexual,
      a cosmos-sexual, a waiting-for-you-sexual.

Pururambo

Erin and I watched Pavol Barabas's exploration documentary, Pururambo, and I can't say I'm entirely positive how I feel about it. I've been a delinquent blogger (but perhaps a better grad student) and I thought this movie might be something interesting enough to share.

Barabas is a Slovak film maker and explorer; Pururambo documents his trip into the interior of New Guinea and his various encounters with distinct groups of Kombai native people. I tried to find an English version on Youtube, but no luck. We watched it on Netflix and it's available for streaming.

Barabas travels through thick jungle swamps, encountering wary people, and establishing goodwill with packets of tobacco and sugar candy. He stops with each encounter to highlight something about the group he's with, reveal larger aspects of Kombai life, or pontificate on the deleterious effects of Western cultures on indigenous peoples. Barabas is particularly tough on missionaries for corrupting and destroying cultures, even dedicating the final, frustrating moments of the film to the Kombai's hypothetical cultural death after exposure to missionaries. Of course, his criticisms stand - missionaries wreak havoc on indigenous cultures, inculcating them with ideologies and rules they are not culturally prepared to understand. All the antibiotics and Salvation Army jean shorts in the world can't buy a culture. The result is infrequently conversion to Christianity, but often the loss of the original culture. Yet, as Barabas strolls into villages, quelling arrows and gaining shelter, food, and guidance before a camera lens, one has to wonder whether some of the vitriol he aims at missionaries isn't on some level to ameliorate his own conscience. His presence disrupts each village he enters and he offers gifts of food and reveals technology. More often than not he narrowly escapes being shot by obviously alarmed and bewildered men before gaining confidence and hospitality. If you're a Star Trek nerd, you might say he violates the Prime Directive.

Keeping in mind that the film is translated from Slovak, Barabas's word choice might not quite meet professional anthropological standards. He refers to the Kombai as "barbaric" and "headhunters." I admire how he presents his discomfort and even fear, but at times I felt unguided when trying to determine if he described the Kombai or his own anxiety about them with this language, and I think that distinction matters.

Finally, the film ends abruptly with no explanations. The Internet furnishes no clues, so prepare to be frustrated. That sounds like a lot of criticism, but of course some of it is my attempts to reconcile what it means to be of Barabas's tribe and consider he represents us to the Kombai, whether he intends to or not. With all my ethical reservations, the footage is remarkable and it certainly raises awareness. The film exists to be seen now and even a 55 minute glimpse of a culture so vastly different than ours deserves seeing. At minute 6:50 in the clip I provided, a man explains how they count using places on their bodies rather than with their fingers.

The Green Tunnel

Green Tunnel from Kevin Gallagher on Vimeo.
In 2005, hiker Kevin Gallagher hiked the Appalachian Trail. But he didn't just walk; he stopped and took thousands of photographs along the way. A few years later, he's now compiled the footage into this shot stop action video called "The Green Tunnel." You can read a lot more about Gallagher, his hike, and the movie in this article on Wired.com. Gallagher takes you through the AT highlights in less than four minutes and the music is cool as hell! Enjoy!

Reader's Oasis Books, Quartzite, AZ

Situated near the Arizona/California border, Quartzite, AZ is an unusual place. Though in the middle of nowhere, it attracts RV enthusiasts from all over the US and Canada and has a reputation for hosting massive gem and mineral shows, flea markets, and RV shows. The main street is lined with gift shops selling tourist-trap items, such as airbrushed t-shirts, mini-crossbows, magnets, and other junk. It's a weird little town that is proud of its idiosyncrasies and it's full of interesting characters.

Chief among the interesting characters is Paul Winer, the owner/operator of Reader's Oasis Bookstore. Originally from New England, Paul spent years performing as a musician. He recently returned to the Northeast and played a sold out show in his old stomping grounds, Salisbury Beach. His primary focus these days is running Reader's Oasis. Visitors to the bookstore immediately notice the wide selection of cool, used books, magazine, ephemera, local memorabilia, and the attire of the manager. Paul is a nudest who wears footwear, a hat, glasses, necklaces, and specially-made covers for his...well...you see the photo. He's a hell of a nice guy with a welcoming attitude and great stories to tell. If you're ever driving on I-10 to Los Angeles, stop by and meet him.

Hemingway's Elephant Gun for Sale

Looking for a new gun? Do you have an extra $150,000-200,000 lying around? If so, you're in luck. Ernest Hemingway's 1913 .577 caliber, double barrel Nitro Express elephant gun is for sale! This is a big gun, weighing in at 16 pounds. It was made by English gun makers Westley Richards, who continue to make some beautiful firearms even today. This particular gun accompanied Hemingway on a safari in 1953.

Read more on Garden and Gun and check out some more photos too. Auction starts March 14 through James D. Julia!

Terry Eiler's Documerica - Arizona, 1972

Early in the summer of 1972, photographer Terry Eiler traveled to Arizona to photograph on the Hopi and Navajo reservations as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program. If you're not familiar with Documerica, it was a government funded photography program that ran from 1972 until 1977. The goal was to "capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities, and everyday life in the 1970s." The program was eventually discontinued because the government thought it was a flimsy way to spend EPA money. Still, the photographs are wonderful, in the public domain, and available on Flickr. Here are a few samples from Eiler's Arizona set, but I suggest looking at more of his photos and photos from other Documerica photographers and locations here.

Charles Bukowski's House

I spent last weekend in the L.A. area attending the Charles Brockden Brown Society Conference and visiting friends. The conference was held at The Huntington Library in San Marino. Founded by railroad man Henry E. Huntington in 1919, the library is one of the country's most impressive private collections. Interestingly, they house the papers and works of L.A. poet, Charles Bukowski and while I was there, an exhibit highlighting his work was on display.

Not to get into an aesthetics debate, but the contrast of The Huntington's high-brow image and Bukowski's often crass, decidedly blue-collar writing struck me. A sign for the Bukowski exhibit stated that it contained material not suitable for all audiences. The irony was further driven home when my friend Katie took me to see the house Bukowski lived in from 1963-1972 and the liquor store he frequented when he lived there. The house is still occupied, so it's not really a tourist site. It's not in the best L.A. neighborhood - it's located at 5124 W. De Longpre Ave. Los Angeles. Bukowski's favorite liquor store, The Pink Elephant, had a surprisingly good selection of beer considering it's rough/gaudy exterior, but it still wasn't in the nicest area of town.

The whole experience stood as a strong reminder to me that, whether or not an author or his/her work is inducted into the canon, it's important to remember to read what he or she is trying to tell you. Read at The Huntington, it would be easy to romanticize the hard-scrabble life of dead-end jobs, drinking, prostitutes, and poverty Bukowski describes and to let yourself get caught up in his humor, but ultimately he described a hard life, an unhealthy life, and often a humiliating life. He described poverty and people still live it. So while I'm certainly glad that The Huntington has become the steward of Bukowski's work, I'm equally happy that the city of L.A. was able to preserve where he lived. I don't know if I can adequately describe the contrast, but Bukowski could, so I'll let him...

Bum on the Loose

I climbed off a park bench to engage the giant of
literature battle.
I lived with women madder than the gods
themselves.
I consumed enough booze to get an army drunk.
I lived in shacks without windows, without electricity,
without plumbing, without heat.
I climbed off a park bench to engage the giant of
literature battle.
I was beaten in alleys, robbed.
I searched the cities for sanity.
I read great books and they made me sleepy.
I starved in rooms fat with rats.
my parents were in shame of me.
the beautiful ladies thought me ugly.
I climbed off a park bench to engage the giant of
literature battle.
the world considered me insane.
I slept in deserted graveyards.
I sat in bars through the mornings and into the night
and back into morning.
I engaged the giants of literature.
all my work came back.
one editor wrote, "what is this stuff?"

Gary Snyder

On Thursday night I went with some friends to hear Gary Snyder read at the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona. There were tons of people there. He talked and read for about an hour. He read new poems and old poems and talked about his time in Japan and on Mt. St. Helen. If you're not familiar with Snyder, he's a naturalist, a Buddhist, an ecologist, an anthropologist, a linguist, and about anything else you can think of. He's a literal and literary factotum. But most of all, he's a wonderful poet and writer.

"Rip Rap" is probably Gary Snyder's most famous poem, so I'll add it here. You can find it in the collection Rip Rap and Cold Mountain Poems. My buddy likes "Axe Handles," so I'll add that one too.

"Rip Rap"

Lay down these words
Before your mind like rocks.
          placed solid, by hands
In choice of place, set
Before the body of the mind
          in space and time:
Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall
          riprap of things:
Cobble of milky way.
          straying planets,
These poems, people,
          lost ponies with
Dragging saddles --
          and rocky sure-foot trails.
The worlds like an endless
          four-dimensional
Game of Go.
          ants and pebbles
In the thin loam, each rock a word
          a creek-washed stone
Granite: ingrained
          with torment of fire and weight
Crystal and sediment linked hot
          all change, in thoughts,
As well as things.

"Axe Handles"

One afternoon the last week in April
Showing Kai how to throw a hatchet
One-half turn and it sticks in a stump.
He recalls the hatchet-head
Without a handle, in the shop
And go gets it, and wants it for his own
A broken off axe handle behind the door
Is long enough for a hatchet,
We cut it to length and take it
With the hatchet head
And working hatchet, to the wood block.
There I begin to shape the old handle
With the hatchet, and the phrase
First learned from Ezra Pound
Rings in my ears!
"When making an axe handle
the pattern is not far off."
And I say this to Kai
"Look: We'll shape the handle
By checking the handle
Of the axe we cut with--"
And he sees. And I hear it again:
It's in Lu Ji's Wên Fu, fourth century
A.D. "Essay on Literature" -- in the
Preface: "In making the handle
Of an axe
By cutting wood with an axe
The model is indeed near at hand."
My teacher Shih-hsiang Chen
Translated that and taught it years ago
And I see Pound was an axe
Chen was an axe, I am an axe
And my son a handle, soon
To be shaping again, model
And tool, craft of culture,
How we go on.

Hexalectris revoluta/colemanii

A rare orchid named Hexalectris colemanii is delaying Rosemont Copper's plans to open a mine near the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. The flower is extremely rare and requires exact conditions, including a type of fungi, to grow. The orchid also grows in parts of Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas. Outside of Arizona, it's called Hexalectris revoluta, but the Arizona variety may be a unique species and it's named Hexalectris colemanii after Tucson orchid expert, Ronald Coleman. The Forest Service is delaying a report on the environmental impacts of the mine in order to study the impact of the mine on this unique flower.

Of course, the idiots are raising the usual sound and fury. The AZ Daily Star quotes Benson, AZ mayor Mark Fenn as saying, "They will use every excuse to delay things. It is beyond me why they would hinder a potential economic resource for the region, given the high rate of unemployment we are experiencing right now." At least Mr. Fenn is honest - clearly the implications of conservation and environmental protect are indeed "beyond him." Obviously, we should disregard the future of our local environment because of events that are happening "right now." There's short sighted...and then there's this guy. I wish people in Arizona would find leaders who don't find really, really simple stuff "beyond" them.

Pussy: The Racecar No Man Would Drive

I've met some cool people during my short stint as a census worker. Among these people is fellow enumerator, Heidi MacDonald. Heidi's car is what she calls an "art car" - it's painted with roses, the rear bumper reads "peace is da bomb," and her dashboard is covered in various objects. However, it wasn't always as, relatively speaking, unassuming. Heidi's car's last life was as the Pussy Car and it was the subject of a short film by Pan Left Productions called "Pussy: The Racecar No Man Would Drive." Watch it here via Real Player.  The car wasn't a vulgar prank, or an attention grabbing stunt, but a sort of social experiment. When I asked Heidi if it was weird to give up the anonymity we usually enjoy while riding around, she simply said she's driven art cars for a while and it seems natural to her. If you have a car, why not make it art? 

Zane Lamprey

Zane Lamprey on Mutineer Green Carpet, originally uploaded by mutineermagazine.

I'm pretty stoked. Erin and I are going to see Zane Lamprey tonight for her birthday. If you're not familiar with Zane Lamprey, let me fill you in. He's a comedian, T.V. show host, and professional drinker. That's right - professional drinker. His first show, Three Sheets (available here on Hulu), featured Lamprey visiting cities all over the world and drinking with the locals. Three Sheets, which was on FLN but has moved to The Travel Channel, might be the best travel show ever. With Three Sheets, Dhani Tackles the Globe, and No Reservations, the Travel Channel is actually worth watching! Lamprey's not shy about getting into the booze. In fact, he's usually tanked about 15 minutes into each episode and does the latter half of the show hammered. He holds it together pretty well, though; he is a professional.

Three Sheets also rewards avid followers (like me and Erin) with lots of great inside jokes and even drinking games. For example, every time you see a monkey on the show, you drink....and Lamprey's sidekick is a plush toy monkey named Pleepleus. Other returning characters, like his buddy Steve McKenna and Jim the Cop, add a bit of continuity and humor to the show.

Lamprey has a new show coming out called Drinking Made Easy, which is basically like Three Sheets, but in the U.S. instead of worldwide. I think Steve McKenna will show up more often, too, which is a plus. If you're not familiar with Lamprey, DVR Three Sheets and I bet you'll be hooked too. There's not much good stuff on TV these days, so it's important to support the few good shows that show up.

Can't wait to have a couple of beers tonight at the Rialto. I'll try to get "Steve McKenna'd"(euphemism for wasted) or "Jim the Cop it" (euphemism for spilling beer down the front of yourself during a chugging contest).

A Letter to the Governor

I'm so mad about SB1070. This is really the last straw. Different political views are necessary to our national identity and I usually recognize and respect politic positions different than my own, but even a basic understanding of history and the spirit of America democracy tells us that racial profiling is wrong and witch hunts are wrong and that only harm comes out of intolerance and hate.  SB1070 is a vehicle to terrorize an unwanted segment of the population - a time-tested fascist move to deny the "enemy" a feeling of safety and prevent sanctuary.  I'm tired of ignorant people's voices being heard over the voices of reason, thoughtfulness, and knowledge. Let's scream the truth over the belligerent, ignorant sound and fury.

I sent Jan Brewer this e-mail. I know she'll probably never read it, but it's cathartic. Feel free to copy it and email it to her yourself. It's the truth and what she deserves to hear for being too cowardly or ignorant to stand up to the fascists and act like an American leader. Here a link to her email engine: http://www.azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp

Dear Gov. Brewer,
While thinking about American history, I remembered that our current moment will undoubtedly solidify your political legacy. I didn't need an oracle to know how you'll be remembered. You're name goes here on this list:

 - Orval Faubus - Arkansas Governor who opposed desegregating schools and tried to block the Little Rock Nine.
 - Ross Barnett - Mississippi governor who proclaimed "no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your Governor."
 - George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, who tried to block the integration of the University of Alabama.
 -Evan Mechame, Arizona governor who rescinded Martin Luther King Day.
 - Jan Brewer - signed SB1070, which set aside civil rights and allowed racial profiling of citizens in an attempt to remove undocumented immigrants from the state.

Congratulations on securing your place in our country's story. Remember, that these governor's decisions also enjoyed popular support in their respective states, but no one recalls that now. Enjoy being on the wrong side of history.

A concluding note - I thought about including - Benjamin Tillman, South Carolina governor and apologist for lynch laws, but I decided not to.  I'm not ready to say that SB1070 is as horrible as lynching. Still, the similarities are there; both rely on an "ends justify the means" foundation and both rely on terror to attack a racially identified enemy. I'm sure there are myriad other politicians who have been on the wrong side of civil rights that I excluded from this list. Feel free to add them.

SB1070 = Apartheid

Update: Our worthless, cowardly governor passed this law. She would have signed Jim Crow if the state hyenas had told her to. What a weak, ignorant person.

Zach de la Rocha has been an active force in Arizona for some time now, attending protests against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others within Arizona who promote pseudo-fascist, nationalistic, or racist laws or actions. Real Americans in Arizona (a.k.a. not racists or fascists) appreciate his voice. Now one of our most vocal, idiotic, and racist state legislators, Russell Pierce of Mesa, has recruited his party to pass a law that uses terror to frighten undocumented immigrants out of Arizona. This law is referred to as SB1070, and it promotes 21st century America apartheid. The move has made us the laughing stock of the country.

How can an Arizonan blogger abjure from weighing in? This is the situation as I see it.

SB1070 is the most terrifying and misguided law I have seen in my lifetime. The law requires people to show proof of citizenship if a law enforcement official has "reasonable suspicion" that someone is in the country illegally. If you don't have proof, you face a fine or jail time.

Our state is 1/3 Latino. This law puts nearly half the state - if we include other people of color or with accents with Latinos - in a defensive position. I'm white - blond hair, blue eyes, sunburn on a cloudy day white. This law doesn't threaten me. But it threatens many of my friends and neighbors. As the white population faces little chance of discrimination, the law creates a social dynamic that divides whites and non-whites - this is essentially apartheid. It's surreal that in April, 2010 I am writing about a law that threatens to divide whites and non-white in America. It's very sad.

Many Arizonans are upset about the derision we're facing from the rest of the country. Though I hate this law, I understand people's frustration. 58-year-old Arizona rancher, Bob Krentz Jr. was found shot to death on his ranch near the Mexican border. All signs point to illegal human or drug smugglers as the killers. What's more, we have many undocumented immigrants driving around our state uninsured. Drug cartels move massive amounts of drugs through our state and human traffickers use AZ as a highway. Car theft is out of control and Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the country. When I go hiking in national forests south of Tucson, the NPS has posted signs warning of dangerous drug smuggling activities in the area. So while the rest of the country can sit back and talk about immigration reform, we're left down here at the border to deal with the mess. Still, the Republican AZ legislature is to blame for making us look so foolish. I mean, they passed a law requiring presidential candidates to show a birth certificate to get on the ballot in Arizona. Birthers are the nation's most idiotic clowns. If it makes these people upset to share their country with Mexicans, it makes me sick to share my country with birthers.

And there's something about Arizona that you don't know until you live here. Low taxes and lax gun laws make the place seem libertarian, but it's really more like a police state. We have speeding cameras, we have foolishly tough D.U.I. laws, we have chain gangs, and public humiliation. Helicopters fly over Phoenix to fine people with green pools and they fine you $135 for having a license plate frame. So while people are calling Obama and his administration socialist for passing what really amount to consumer protection laws (it's fine to oppose healthcare reform, but you're an idiot if you think it's communism), we have people in the southwest ready to throw away their civil rights via SB1070. What makes them so ready to surrender their rights? Simple. They're racist. They blame everything on "illegals." Mexicans have become the scapegoat. Arizona's Orwellian "Two Minutes of Hate" are projected upon Mexicans. They dislike Mexicans more than they value freedom. And they're white and unconcerned about the rights of non-white Arizonans.

I have little hope that Governor Jan Brewer will do the right thing and veto this un-American, racist, foolish law. I love Arizona - the mountains and deserts, Bisbee, Tucson, Sedona, the canyons and cacti, the animals and the clearest night skies imaginable - but many of the people here are of the worst sort. They're the self-righteous ignorant. Self-centered and undereducated, they buy into simple ideologies (racism is a complex problem, but a simple thing to believe in) and they fight fervently to protect "their rights," which often means denying rights to others. Don't get me wrong, we need immigration reform. Mexico is our neighbor and we need to comprehensively work to create a viable relationship with them, but in Arizona and the other border states, we need a more secure border and better protect for our citizens now, not at the federal government's pace. One dead rancher at the hands of criminals is one too many. But, racism and apartheid are not only unjust and ignorant, they're also ineffective. We need to vote for intelligent, creative, forward-thinking legislators, not bigots who fuel anger and say what idiots want to hear.

For more information, visit Alto Arizona.

Farley Mowat

Farley Mowat's name pops up fairly frequently here on Making Owls Cool  - and I've mentioned that the blog title is a bit of a tribute to him - but I've been negligent in dedicating a post to talking about him. Until now.

Farley Mowat is a conservationist, naturalist, and one of Canada's finest writers. Now nearly ninety-years-old, Mowat's literary career stretches behind him for over a half-century. He's a prolific writer and I can't say I've exhausted his catalog. I'll give some brief descriptions of the works I've read at the end of this post.

Mowat used his stature as a writer almost exclusively to promoting issues of conservation of wildlife and protecting First Nation people, primarily in the Arctic. His memoirs are classic nature writing that explore the relationships between people and animals, though some also address his time as a soldier in WWII. Among his broad range of topics are his dog, his owls, wolves, Vikings, whales, Inuit people, Dian Fossey of Gorillas in the Mist fame, and the people of Newfoundland. He's a member of the Green Party of Canada and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society named a ship after him and he's donated money to that organization. If you're not familiar with the Sea Shepherds, they're pretty bad-ass and you should check them out.

Of course, like all public figures, he's not without some controversy. His book Never Cry Wolf has been attacked for being scientifically inaccurate, though Mowat has a degree in biology. In 1985, he was denied entry into the United States when he was supposed to speak in California. It made a lot of people angry and he was eventually granted limited entry, which is declined. The reason for his denial was unclear.

That's a very brief overview of the man, so let me give you a brief overview of his works that I've read. There's a lot more that I haven't read and look forward to reading.

People of the Deer (1952) - People of the Deer recounts time Mowat spent with the Ihalmiut Inuit tribe in northern Canada. The tribe had been nearly driven out of existence and the government didn't even acknowledge they were there. Mowat followed their way of life as migratory caribou hunters and exposed ways in which interlopers on their land were ruining their ancient culture. The book helped raise awareness and government support for previously neglected people.

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be (1957) - This book is a memoir about Mowat and his relationship with his dog, Mutt. It recalls Mowat's boyhood growing up on the prairies of Saskatchewan. Mutt is just that - a mutt - but he's a dog with myriad idiosyncrasies and questionable luck. I believe every dog would make a great literary hero in the right authorial hands - they often seem to believe themselves heroic -and in The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Mutt gets his chance to shine. There's one sad point here, though. The target audience of The Dog Who Wouldn't Be is older children and adults, which meant that I read it after I read Owls in the Family, which is a children's book. Owls in the Family ends with an optimistic nod toward the future of Mowat's owl friends, but The Dog Who Wouldn't Be reveals what actually happened to them. Needless to say, I was very, very sad about that part of the book.

Owls in the Family (1961) - This book is, as some of you may already know, the inspiration for the title of my blog. I read this in 1986 and I've been an owl devotee ever since. Like The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, this book recounts Mowat's childhood on the Canadian prairies and his adoption of two great horned owls, Wol and Weeps. Like Mutt, the owls are full of personality and make fantastic protagonists. Poor Mutt is often the target of their antics. Mowat describes his extensive critter collection, which made me intensely jealous as a kid, though I had a respectable critter collection myself.

Never Cry Wolf (1963) - Though the science and scope of this book is contested, Mowat's depiction of wolves is undeniably sympathetic and does a great deal to dispell myth about the species. In the book, the watched a wolf family through breeding season and keeps a journal about what he sees.

My Parents Were Awesome

I submitted this photo of my parents to My Parents Were Awesome months ago and I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon it today. Very exciting! This picture was taken the day I was christened. I don't know what I was up to that kept me out of the picture, but perhaps I was crying or sleeping. I didn't do much else back them.

Garden of Gethsemane

From the Reverse - "THE LAST SUPPER - "Take, eat; this is my body." St. Matthew 26:26. The breaking of the bread at The Last Supper is the central piece among several sculptured religious representations by Felix Lucero in the Garden of Gethsemane on the west bank of the Santa Cruz river at the Congress Street bridge, Tucson, Arizona."

Felix Lucero Park, more commonly known as the Garden of Gethsemane, sits next to the usually-dry riverbed of the Santa Cruz River here in Tucson. The park, which is very small, contains sand and plaster sculptures depicting people and scenes from the New Testament, such as the Last Supper pictured on this postcard. Lucero was a homeless WWI veteran who lived under the Congress Street Bridge and built the statues over a series of years out of material he recovered from the Santa Cruz River.

The legend goes that Lucero was injured in battle and made a pact with the Virgin Mary that if he survived he's dedicate his life to making religious art. Apparently, they both made good on their respective ends of the deal.

Here's the info if you want to visit the park. The city likes to advertise it as a tourist spot, but be aware that it's a favorite hang out from vagrants, the homeless, and less savory characters. Considering Lucero's story, I'm happy to share the park with homeless folks - perhaps they have a better right to be there than I do - but I take a friend with me on the visit all the same.

Address: 602 W. Congress St., Tucson, AZ

Directions: To Felix Lucero Park, take I-10 to exit 258. Head West on Congress St. for one block. It's located on the western bank of the Santa Cruz River, at the corner of Congress St. and Bonita Ave.

Hours: Daily 7:00 AM - Sunset.

Phone: 520-791-4873

Cochise Head in Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona

From the reverse: "Cochise head, the bare rock top of a ridge in the northern part of the Chiricahua Mountains, which, silhouetted against the sky resembles the profile of Cochise, famous Apache Indian chief, may be seen from Highway 86 near San Simon and Bowie; also from Massai Point near Chiricahua National Monument, "wonderland of rocks", from which this picture was photographed."

The inscription on the back reads:
To: Mr. Grover Reese
Homer Michigan
Route 3

Apr. 1st, 1951
Hi Grover: Read your card and was Happy to hear from you. So Armstrong had passed on. Sorry to hear you are not so good. I surely hop that Drew help you. More sorry to hear you wouldn't be able to make the trip down here this winter but surely hope you will be able to make the trip in the fall. Carl's working at the Post(?) helping the roofer he works 6 days 10 hrs a day each week is hard work too. I am doing pretty good. Folks send best wishes. Now take care of Grover for me,
Mae."

I couldn't find much on Grover Reese except that he lived in Calhoun, Michigan (Homer is a township in Calhoun County), that he registered for WWI, and that he passed away sometime between 1977-1996. Ancestry.com has tons of great records, but you need to pay to see them. I like looking up people on postcards, but I don't want to spend money on it. In any case, it looks Grover didn't make it down to Arizona and missed out on seeing Chiricahua National Monument, at least for the 1951 winter season. I hope he made it down eventually; it's a really cool place.
As I always note on these postcard inscription entries, if you find this and you're related to Grover Reese, let me know and I'll send you the postcard.

The Nature Library - Birds by Neltje Blanchon

I bought this great copy of Birds by Neltje Blanchan a few years ago at used bookstore in Massachusetts. Blanchan was a historian and naturalist, publishing many books in her lifetime. She was also the wife of Doubleday Publishing Group founder, Frank Nelson Doubleday. This edition was printed in 1927, but the copyright is 1916. The illustrations are by R.E. Todhunter.
This copy of Birds combines several of Blanchan other books on birds, including Bird Neighbors, which is available on Project Gutenberg.

 


This really cool banner is at the foot of every page. What a nice touch.

The Todhunter prints, though not quite Audubon, are impressive. Much like I hit a dead end researching Walter Ferro and his woodcuts when I posted on Loren Eiseley's book, I can't find anything on Todhunter except people posting or selling his prints. It's really unfortunate that terrific illustrators seem to present us with their art and then move into obscurity. Here are a couple other prints from the book.

Q&A with Cactus Guru, Peter Breslin

Peter Breslin is a musician, an educator, and a cactus expert. When I see Peter,
we're generally in an environment where it would be rude, inappropriate or
impossible (such as poetry readings) to sit around shoot the breeze about cacti,
so I thought I'd satisfy my curiosity and share the benefits of Peter's cacti
knowledge at the same time.

In addition to the picture Peter was kind enough to supply, here's a link to his
photo site with many, many more cacti pictures. Of course, Peter owns the copyright
to those photos, as well as the photos in this article.

Q&A with Cactus Guru, Peter Breslin

1. How did you get started studying cacti? What sort of things do you do?

I've been interested in cactus plants since I was about 10 years old
and my grandmother bought me one. I then got a classic popular cactus
book called The Encyclopedia of Cacti in Colour by Edgar and Brian
Lamb. The Lambs were UK eccentrics and internationally recognized
amateur cactus experts who grew thousands of cacti and succulents in
their greenhouses in Worthing on Sussex, England. I joined their
cactus club and received their newsletter called "The Exotic Collection"with
color photos and descriptions of visits to Mexico and so on. It really was
exotic stuff for a Pennsylvania boy.

I research by reading books and journal articles (there are several
cactus journals published periodically every year). I also communicate
with a lot of the recognized experts. I do a lot of amateur field
work, basically just looking for and photographing plants. In the
field, I tend to target the rarest plants and get quite a thrill when
I find populations of them, usually in some pretty wildly remote
locations, but sometimes right along an interstate highway.

2. You grow cactus as well, yes?

Yes. I currently have a couple hundred plants and dozens of seedlings.
I sold about 300 seedlings to a nursery a few months ago. The past few
years, we've lived in the same suburban house with a yard. Whenever I
settle for any length of time I start accumulating cacti. It's
especially dangerous here in Tempe because many cacti can be grown
outside year round. I basically have too much room and I completely
lack self discipline. I'm a member of a cactus forum on the web,
www.cactiguide.com, and those people are just as crazy as I am, so
that's been encouraging. I've also been a customer at Mesa Garden,
www.mesagarden.com, for many years and their seed and plant list is so
thoroughly extensive, it's like a Noah's Ark of cacti. If I owned a
home and had a greenhouse, I'd probably eventually be growing
thousands of plants or even have a small business.

Top: Eight-month-old Seedlings

Bottom: Some of Peter's Cacti

3. What are some issues in cactus ecology? Who's looking out for cacti
in the Southwest?

The biggest issues are illegal collecting of rare or specimen plants
by hobbyists, landscapers and nurseries and habitat destruction due to
development. The southwest has been growing so incredibly quickly the
past few decades. Every residential, agricultural, ranching and
mining/drilling project spells catastrophe for the fragile desert
ecosystem. When you combine these pressures with cactus poachers
digging up the less common plants, usually plants that are narrowly
adapted or have dwindling populations already, the picture looks
pretty bleak. Locally, the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society
(www.tucsoncactus.org) and the Central Arizona Cactus and Succulent
Society (http://www.centralarizonacactus.org) conduct rescues of
cactus plants from development or highway construction sites.
Tucson's club in particular has been instrumental in rescuing some
very rare plants, including a plant called Echinocactus
horizonthalonius ssp. nicholii, from the Silver Bell mine area.
Tucson's club is also involved in removing as much invasive grass as
possible to prevent fires in areas where cacti are not adapted to
periodic fire.

Echinocactus horizonthalonius var. nicholii near the Silver Bell mine, Avra Valley AZ.

I'm sure there are other organizations looking out for desert habitat
in general, including state and federal agencies. I've been involved
on a volunteer level doing a population study of a very rare cactus
called Echinomastus erectocentrus var. acunensis, a candidate for
listing as endangered by US Fish and Wildlife. There's only a few
known populations of this plant, any one or all of which could be
wiped out in an afternoon by a poacher or an uninformed landowner.

Echinomastus erectocentrus var. acunensis

I think desert conservation is a difficult area in general. Many
people think of the desert as basically a barren wasteland. Many
desert areas in the US are connected to a philosophy of private
property rights and a general resentment toward environmentalists and
state and federal regulations on land use. Areas like Phoenix attract
people from greener environments who then start planting grass, trees
and shrubs and watering like crazy. In developing regions of the
world, desert areas are often targeted for huge hydroelectric,
agricultural and ranching initiatives. Desert habitat is being wiped
out or seriously degraded at alarming rates.

If you combine this with how narrowly adapted many species of cacti
are, you get a picture of how threatened the entire group of plants
is. Some cacti simply can't be transplanted successfully. Some grow in
very particular soils or geological formations. Some have very
particular micro-climate requirements within larger habitats. Slight
alterations in conditions can lead to the very rapid disappearance of
entire populations.

4. What's something we should know about cacti but probably don't?

Cacti are great flowering plants if one learns just a little bit about
how to grow them correctly. The flowers are awe inspiring. I do grow a
lot of cacti just for their incredible spines or geometric patterns,
but I'm equally interested in their flowers. Cacti are not at all
difficult to grow, generally, even far outside their natural habitats.
They are fun to grow from seed and one can inexpensively amass a
fairly large collection in a small space.

Most people don't know that within the professional botanist community
in the cactus world, a fierce debate over taxonomy has been raging for
about 25 years. Sometimes this is described as a war between the
"lumpers" (botanists who combine many forms under as few names as
possible) and the "splitters" (those who maintain many more names).
Meanwhile, cacti have been the subjects of extensive DNA sequencing
research to try to determine evolutionary lineages and relationships.
The emerging field of cladistics in botany has derived much of its
methodology and technology from the study of cactus taxonomy.
Cladistics is the attempt to classify organisms based on natural
evolutionary relationships.

Also, cacti are not just desert plants. Their natural range is almost
the entire "New World" from Patagonia to Saskatchewan. There are many
cold weather cacti, including some species that are under snow cover
for 9-10 months every year. There are tropical semi-arid rainforest
cacti. The diversity in the cactus family is incredible.

5. What cactus should we be really, really excited to see on desert
excursions? How will we know it when we see it?

In the Sonoran Uplands and various transitional and adjacent deserts
around this area of Arizona, there isn't the sort of species diversity
one finds in other desert regions. It seems there are a relatively few
extremely well adapted species in this part of the Sonoran Desert.
It's not uncommon to hike for hours and see perhaps 7 species of
cactus. (Using some common names: A couple different chollas, a
species of barrel cactus, a hook-spined pincushion, a hedgehog, the
saguaro and a prickly pear or two).

On the other hand, there are a few rare, unusual or very well
camouflaged plants in highly specific niches and locations.
Peniocereus greggii var. transmontanus, known as the "desert night
blooming Cereus," is a cool find. The thin gray stems grow under Palo
Verde and other trees and look precisely like dead branches. The plant
grows from massive underground tubers and sports huge, fragrant
flowers in late spring. Another rare or at least hard to find group of
plants in Arizona are in the genus Echinomastus. The federally
protected Echinomastus erectocentrus in a few locations near Tucson,
Echinomastus erectocentrus var. acunensis in more arid locales and
Echinomastus johnsonii in the Joshua Tree transition area to the
Mojave Desert up north of Wickenburg. A fairly diverse habitat exists
up around Fish Creek in the Superstitions, with some unusual plants
including Mammillaria viridiflora, Echinocereus apachensis and Dudleya
saxicola (a chalky blue rosette succulent). Up around Holbrook through
House Rock Valley and near Fredonia are some of the rarest of all
cacti, a few different forms of Pediocactus, all of which are
federally protected. There are a very few rather unusual plants,
encountering any of which is a major event.

Peniocereus greggii var. transmontanus a.k.a. "Desert Night Blooming Cereus"

"dozens of dead Echinomastus erectocentrus near Benson Arizona by a

road building project, a failed attempt to transplant."

Echinomastus johnsonii 'lutescens' from near Wickenburg AZ

 

Mammillaria viridiflora   

Another cool plant to look for is the crested saguaro. These are
saguaros where the growing tip splits for some reason into two or more
rows of cells, producing incredible fan shapes and other wild
patterns. It is estimated that approximately 1 out of 1,000 saguaros
will mutate like this. The cause is not known.

 

A young saguaro just beginning to crest.

6.Do you have (a) personal favorite(s) cacti? Places to see cacti?

I have been visiting a particular habitat near Florence, AZ regularly
for the past few years. It's beautiful out there, once you get past
the prisons. I love the areas in southern Arizona on the Tohono
O'odham reservation. I also frequently visit the area near Sonoita, AZ
and explore the grasslands there. Then there's the entirely different
habitats up around the Grand Canyon and Peach Springs, and on up
toward Meadview, pretty much a cactus paradise. I've been out in many
different habitats in New Mexico and Texas also, all of them
extraordinary. It's impossible to pick even a few favorites, really.
Not to mention the mind blowing habitats I've been lucky to visit in
Baja California and Baja California Sur, as well as the state of
Sonora.

7. Have any exciting adventures resulted from studying cacti that
you'd like to share?

I drive a 1991 Honda Civic with 207000 miles on it. I also tend to
become very interested in habitats that are rather remote and many
miles down unpaved roads. It sometimes seems these adventures could be
Honda commercials. The roads this car has successfully traveled in
many different weather conditions have sometimes been barely even
recommended for 4 Wheel high clearance vehicles. For example, a couple
of years ago in Baja California near Bahia de Los Angeles, we drove
the several miles on the washed out, rocky, bone jarring road to San
Borja, entirely to see a relatively rare species of cactus that grows
there, Cochemiea setispina. It was totally worth it! But I did gain a
new nickname from my long-suffering significant other as a result of
that excursion: Captain Loco.

Cochemiea setispina near San Borja, Baja California.

 

The Honda after many muddy offroad miles near El Rosario, Baja California.

Loren Eiseley - Another Kind of Autumn

I cannot remember where I found this copy of Another Kind of Autumn by Loren Eiseley. Eiseley was a professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, but perhaps he is best remembered for his essays and poetry. He spent part of his life as a drifter, part as a scholar, and somewhere in there earned the honor of being called the Thoreau of the 20th century. If you have never read The Star Thrower, I highly suggest you put it at the top of your to-read list. Another Kind of Autumn, a book of poems, was published around the time of Eiseley's death in 1977.

The book is beautifully illustrated with woodcuts by Walter Ferro. I searched like crazy to find more information on Ferro, but all I could find was information on other books he illustrated. These included another of Eiseley's books, The Invisible Pyramid, some books for children, and an edition of Hemingway's Nick Adams Stories. If anyone has more information on Ferro, please post it in the comments or e-mail me. His woodcuts compliment Eiseley's poetry quite well.

 I don't dare post a poem on here. I couldn't find one full-text Eiseley poem online, so that might mean that the copyright is strictly enforced. Eiseley's works are still in print and easily accessible. If you buy or borrow Another Kind of Autumn, some of my favorites are "Habits Nocturnal," "The Black Snake," and "The Fungus Bed."