“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” Emily Dickinson wrote in 1861, wisely putting quotation marks around the word to signify its unreliability, for nothing is more easily crushed in our world today.
Hope
Fire Engines: Perhaps a Silver Lining?
I didn’t realize until Saturday that the Hermit’s Peak firefighters and their engines had come to us from all over the West.
First We Burn
The national news, which almost never recognizes that New Mexico is a state—after all we have only five Congressional delegates—has been pricked into awareness by our five fires, one of
Escaping the Labyrinth of Nostalgia
As the first copies of my memoir, Little Brother, begin to circulate, I’m struck by the way some friends have responded to the photograph of Jonathan on the cover.
Another Silent Spring
Would it have made a difference if a man had written it, a well-known scientist? I wondered that this morning as I walked through our parched and silent woods here
Living in a World on Fire
Driving down from Taos yesterday, I followed a dusty, beat-up pickup truck with an American flag painted on the tailgate.
Smoke
It happens every summer during these years of drought, and we should be thankful it didn’t happen until last week…
Burning the Forest
What is it in men that delights in lighting fires?
The Fire This Time
Burning to prevent burning produces unwelcome results… even in the face of wildfires, we may do our forests a favor by leaving them alone.
No More Water
In times like this, I’m grateful that—so far—Santa Fe has been spared, and perhaps the closing of our neighboring national forest will prevent disaster.