Three weeks and approximately two lifetimes ago, I went to Rock Springs, Wyoming to meet some migrants. The pilgrims in question were mule deer, a whole herd of ‘em, who trek each spring from the sere sagebrush valley where they winter to alpine summer pastures, devouring fresh green-up as they wander. Along the way they […]
Miscellaneous
This post first appeared March 27, 2015. It’s not irrelevant March 25, 2020. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A trolley carrying five school children is headed for a cliff. You happen to be standing at the switch, and you could save their lives by diverting the trolley to another track. But there he […]
Hands go up for questions at the end of a talk and someone asks, “What gives you hope?” I say the usual, believing the future to be long, all sorts of twists and turns in the plot. No, not that. Too weak. Too…hopeless. I’ve got to go home and think about this. So, here’s what […]
Touch is how we show our most loved people our care. A medium beyond words to say, I hear you; I’m here for you. One of the cruelest things about this highly contagious virus now sweeping the world is that it steals this language from us when we most need it. Our breath, our hands […]
Day 111 a.m. Dear Diary, Well, the freezer and pantry are PACKED! I have enough frozen spinach and canned beans to last me into the next century. Time to settle in for the long haul! 2:00 p.m. I could swear I bought way more coffee than this. 4 p.m. Heading to 7-11 for stringcheese and […]
On November 6, 2015, when this was originally published, I had just arrived back from the most bizarre trip my work has ever taken me on–and I’ve been on some pretty weird reporting expeditions. It was my first (and probably last) experience of being a royal guest in a place where royalty really runs the […]
A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile. -Shakespeare, The Winters Tale I still am learning how to behave during a pandemic. Some things are simple: I know that I should wash my hands frequently with soap for at least 20 seconds. I know that I should cancel my social […]
On March 1st, I got concerned enough to start asking a few beloved elders if they had two weeks of supplies. (They did.) The next day, I stopped touching my face. Last week, I stopped going to restaurants. Monday, when I left the office for my two regular work-from-home days, I thought I might not […]
