Mortality and Forestry

“Statistically speaking, you will die having missed almost everything.” – Linda Holmes

Linda Holmes wrote these words in 2011. For Linda this realization was tied to the vast number of books in existence in the world. By her very generous and back of the envelope accounting, a person such disposed could read two books or one really big book a week and accumulate 6,500 books by age 80. Even at that accelerated pace, an individual would be still only read a few books of certain genres and certainly miss the vast majority of the books ever written. The huge swaths of books written to date and the rate of new books published every year would make sure that, as she mentioned in the quote above, the reader would still effectively miss almost everything.

Thinking about Apathy in Nature

Today I awoke to find an article in my inbox that begged me to read it. The topic was one that Tina and I have batted around in a past post, Finding Truth in a False Idyll. The author, Alan Lightman, writes in the article entitled, Our Lonely Home in Nature:

After each disaster, we grieve over the human lives lost, the innocent people drowned or crushed without warning as they slept in their beds, worked in their fields or sat at their office desks. We feel angry at the scientists and policy makers who didn’t foresee the impending calamity or, if forewarned, failed to protect us. Beyond the grieving and anger is a more subtle emotion. We feel betrayed. We feel betrayed by nature.

Aren’t we a part of nature, born in nature, sustained by the food brought forth by nature, warmed by the natural sun? Don’t we have a deep spiritual connection with the wind and the water and the land that Emerson and Wordsworth so lovingly described, that Turner and Constable painted in scenes of serenity and grandeur? How could Mother Nature do this to us, her children?

It seems that prior to nature wrecking havoc on our individual lives we take a default stand that nature is a provider of resources, landscapes, wildlife, and substance. We see the avalanche prone mountains, flood stage rivers, tornado conditions, landslide slopes, fire adapted chaparral, and seismically active regions as the exception to the rule that nature loves and nurtures us. This is an understandable condition given our origin. We, like all life on earth, are a product of this planet. If this rock provided conditions that brought us into being how could it also bring about conditions that destroy homes and wreck lives?

"These are not melodies to hum."

Not much time to talk, but here's a tingle for your spine.

Watching Takeaway Shows on La Blogotheque is always thrilling for me. Organic, single-take (is that the right word?), full of power or vulnerability and usually both. This one from Torres is no exception. Give it a listen, and when you're done, browse the archives: 332 videos and even more songs. My favorites include Yeasayer and Sigur Ros, which came very early on. It's been years since I had time to watch these for hours, but maybe I'll squeeze in a few before it's time to go hiking every day.

Flower faces and deer heads: women and nature in art

These two artists are parsing out women's relationship with nature. The result is both beautiful and haunting.

Marco Mazzoni’s women among birds and blooms

Marco Mazzoni is the artist that first hooked me into Hi-Fructose magazine, when it published a thick, book-like insert of his Moleskine sketches. I’m a sucker for birds and colored pencil anyway, but the energy and movement of these drawings really snagged my soul. I bought volume 27 just to pin up around my house.

Marco Mazzoni’s Naturama show features drawings that “are focused on the rituals of struggle between animals in the wild, and the impossibility of harmony in nature.”

Mazzoni’s more “refined” work is quite darker, telling stories of women healers and the way their power and knowledge were muzzled. I’ve read that the pieces are influenced by Italian folklore, which prevailing religions tried to silence.

 Mazzoni calls these images still lifes, displaying a “moment when a woman takes control of all, in harmony with nature.”

But birds and flowers surround the women’s faces; humans, birds and flowers exchange life forces. It’s empowering in the sense that knowing that you’re going to die and become something else is empowering, and as long as you’re at peace with that, this is inspiring work. [see more here]

Emily Burns’ deer-headed women

Also from Hi-Fructose, I just found Emily Burns, who showed her work at P.S. Gallery in the fall.

On her website, Burns says, “My recent work investigates the inner complexities of women through intimate glimpses of parallel environments. I am interested in the vulnerability of beauty, and the eternalization of my subjects through the process of painting.” Pretty badass.

“These works describe the psychological juxtaposition between the inherent urge to exploit one’s own short-lived youth and the pressures of adhering to social expectation.” – Emily Burns

Burns’s women model no boar heads or even big cats. She sticks to the animals most prized for being light and graceful, just like the pin-up girls. 

 

In context of their habitats, both deer and women will be dedicated mothers, smart and sociable members of their herd, and fierce survivors in an unforgiving environment. When men remove them from that and place them on a plaque or in a picture on a screen, they become trophies. Are they trophies that symbolize all the other traits, or are they simply prized as a show of the hunter’s prowess? A lot of that depends on the viewer.

In a statement on Beautiful/Decay, Burns says, “I explore the push and pull of these two concepts [see quote above], asking how they have affected the female psyche and as well as how society has actively created its own vision of the idealized female.”

“Finally, the figures are foregrounded against fragmented views of digital interruption and pixilation, serving to remind one of how computerized communication has profoundly affected how we reimagine the female form.” – Emily Burns

These are just two artists I’ve been excited about lately. There's also Laurent Seroussi, who paints insect women, which reminds me of a very early episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Who else is exploring nature/environment and the feminine? Anyone examining the masculine form? Let us know in the comments!

This post originally appeared on my website, where it never fully fit. I also just wrote about an artist of Appalachia named Stacy Kranitz on my new blog, tentatively titled Gasconader.

The Politics of Fowl

The New York Time has a conversation up on their website that starts with a few comments about non-native species and goes wildly off course.

Gail Collins: David, here in New York we’ve been having a crisis over swans. Can we talk about that today? I don’t think we’ve ever discussed large fowl before.

David Brooks: I’d be really happy to talk about them, but when I was growing up we called them pigeons. The only birds I remember in New York were pigeons — and maybe sparrows, but sparrows manage to live without actually entering the consciousness of the creatures around them. I’m guessing you’re referring to pigeons and that now we’re calling them swans in the hopes that it will boost their self-esteem.

Gail: Wow, I’m getting a vision of pigeons tattooing each other and shooting up steroids. I think we have another movie script idea. But no, this involves real swans – mute swans, to be precise.

Check out the rest of the discussion here.

They even bring up these guys.

The Wave and The Civil Wars

The Civil Wars released a new album called Between the Bars recently, which featured a album cover that looked oddly familiar to me. It is The Wave, part of the Paria Canyon Vermilion Cliff Wilderness Area in northern Arizona.

What it is about this place that captures the imagination? For once I won't try to guess but leave you, the reader, with images from my visit to the wave and let you decide. Make sure to listen to the tunes and see if you think they match the place on the cover.

All Is Not Well In the Wildland Urban Interface

I have been spending the last few days staring at maps and thinking about communities. While communities are places to raise families, meet friends, work and create connections, in the eyes of those who exist in the world of wildland fire they are most often defined by a single question. Are they at risk?

Wildland fire, fire outside the confines of brick and mortar buildings, can certainly be a hostile environment to outsiders. It is filled with jargon that can be far from inviting for anyone who doesn’t know their FMO, how to find their PPE, or just exactly what an IC does. The important thing to know about wildland fire is that those who spend their careers managing fires when they do occur spend a lot of time thinking about one inconvenient acronym, WUI.

Simply put, wildland urban interface, wui for short, is any area where houses are next to a significant amount of plant life that has the habit of catching on fire. While the wildfires that make the news generally give the impression that it is only a problem in the Western part of the country. A quick look at the 2010 data on communities at risk, CAR for those inclined to brevity, from wildfire shows that it is largely a national problem.

Barred Owls and Wintery Mix

Bad news first: our Barred Owl cousins are getting shot by the dozens. And if a new program goes according to plan, more than 3,500 can be legally killed. It's all an effort to make room for the Spotted Owl, which is losing habitat to the bigger, more aggressive species. Fascinating story. Go read, then we'll discuss. I'll wait.

I really want to know what you think. Is previous human disruption enough justification for hunting wild creatures now? Or should biologists spend resources on other initiatives, such as restoring habitat or breeding programs?

And to cheer ya'll up, here's a playlist! Perfect for the chilling wind and spitting snow we've had in Missouri lately. There's seriously not a track I don't love.

If you aren't reading The Fox is Black, then what are you reading?