The art of truth telling has never been more important. True-to-life stories (otherwise known as nonfiction) involve disclosure and risk, pathos and pleasure. These stories are more gripping than any reality television show; more daring, more authentic. One of the nation’s foremost creative nonfiction literary magazines, Hippocampus, has pulled together their finest essays from […]

During my years in Eastern Indonesia, I experienced a wide range of flora and fauna, from the microscopic (tropical parasites) to the macro (Komodo dragons). A few species were so memorable they merited a written tribute. “Bite Me” my most recent essay published in Lowestoft Chronicles (a free, humorous online lit zine), tells the story […]

“This is an animal story of the old days. They lived there at Forest Depths. Many animals of different kinds lived there. They played games…” When my Fall semester students – Courtney Bautista, Chelsea Carner, Danny Perdomo and Sarah Presno – in the Nature & World Cultures course I teach at San José State University presented […]

We all have secret habits. Mine was a habit with a purpose.   For several years I stopped my SmartCar by the roadside to gather recently perished beings into my arms, bring the beings home, and do whatever was necessary to pass their contributions on to others. “My Roadkill Habit” is the title of a recent essay, a national finalist […]

What happens to Waterdog (a.k.a. the California Red-bellied Newt) when he tries to hook up with Little Frog? And then runs into Bullfrog and Water Snake? This traditional story, told by Elizabeth “Belle” Lozinto Cordova Dollar [Dry Creek Pomo] to UC Berkeley linguist Robert Oswalt is depicted in a storybook produced for the Grace Hudson […]