Happy Birthday to Eudora Welty, born on this day in 1909. One of my aunties lived in Jackson, MS–which is where Welty grew up–but I never got to visit her there. My older sister did, though. Took the plane from Montreal to Mississippi by herself when she was seven (different times then!). Her favorite story was about how when my aunt took her to the zoo and they saw the monkeys, my sister said, “Look at those buggers!” Well, my aunt was furious because this was not a word a young girl should be using (we picked it up from our dad) and my sister felt so ashamed, but not so ashamed that she didn’t come home and tell us.
I am addicted to news. It’s not good. I’m trying to break the habit but I fear being uniformed or, worse, misinformed. Still, in an effort to not fill my head with crap and fear there are several news stories that I am avoiding (i.e., not clicking on) and they are:
- Anything to do with Michael Jackson
- Anything to do with Britney Spears and her pregnancy
- Anything to do with silicone breast implants
- Anything to do with the pope
- Anything to do with killer flu viruses
- Anything to do with the IRS and taxes
This–No Refuge Is an Island–is precisely what has worried me over Arctic drilling–not just that one place (though that is troubling, indeed) but the whole of the protected lands.
In the controversy over whether petroleum development in the Arctic Refuge is worth the threat to habitat and wilderness, a crucial broader issue has been lost: how will drilling and development affect the 95 million-acre refuge system? Last month’s Senate vote to open the Arctic Refuge to drilling puts the already-patchy network in danger of unraveling — and it defies a protective statute Congress enacted just eight years ago.
Lan Samantha Chang has been chosen to lead the Iowa Writers’ Workshop:
Chang, 40, a workshop graduate and former faculty member, was chosen from four finalists to succeed Frank Conroy, who led the prestigious program for 18 years before his death last week from cancer.
“I’m just so very happy to be coming back to Iowa City,” Chang said Monday from her office as a creative writing lecturer at Harvard University. “I feel, in some ways, I’m coming back to my roots.”
Hurray! The new issue of FRiGG, one of my favorite ezines, is live featuring the work of such talented souls as Terri Brown-Davidson, Dave Clapper, Heather Fleming, Paul A. Toth and many more. Go on and read it.
More daffodils finding out if they like their new home in the woods.
Allen calls these “the fire pit” because of the stones but it was the only way I could protect them from the mailman. They are right near the mailbox and he will drive over them otherwise.
I planted some daffodils in front of this rotting stump. They will be a gorgeous contrast when they flower.
Wonderful writing in the new Pindeldyboz, including this gem:
Why a Dilettante Poet Looks Better Than You
by MaryAnne McCollister
Please forgive me for being quiet today, my friends. Allen has had time off and so we have been partaking of ye olde New England rite of SPRING–yard work. The past four days have been a blur of brush clearing, raking, branch pruning, fertilizing and tree cutting. I feel as though we have plowed the back forty with a mule and I have the calloused, blisters and farmer’s tan to prove it.
But, jaysus, does it feel good to be outside again. And to see that my tulips, daffodils, iris and lilies are finding their spots in the world is a joy. Soon, I will have real honest to goodness blooms and the trees are budding already. The owls have been hunting all night and the foxes (whose dens we found on the hill next door) have been whooping it up all night (how many kits will they have this year?). We had no spring to speak of last year and not much of a summer so this year we’re all going a little bit crazy, I think.
But the sun is shining and the snow is but a few patches.
myfanwy collins 