Why a trio of articles on tribes + fire = essential reading

September 1, 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

Wildfires are a permanent part of the landscape. Climate change – and a host of “positive” ecological feedback loops (a positive loop is one that is self-reinforcing; a negative loop indicates reactions that move in the opposite direction) – mean that things will only get worse, not better, unless we enact radical changes. We have […]

“Orange Alert“ – a swift, sharp essay on today

October 8, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

In the midst of an otherwise horrid month (and this was before the August Complex wildfire hit one million acres), a pair of new shoes inspired a cogent piece of literary commentary. (You know writers: we see metaphors e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.) Published in Issue 8 of the online journal Route 7 Review, the essay sums up the […]

We become the smoke we once fled

November 9, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

The Kincade Fires of Sonoma County have, at last, been vanquished. But their destructive taint remains on the land, in our hearts and within our storyscapes, never to be erased. Yesterday, the anniversary of the Camp Fire (the deadliest and most destructive of California’s wildfires, so far) Paradise residents gathered for a memorial service unveiling […]