I found myself pulled into the world of author Mona Shomali’s Water Mamas on the first page, which paints a mysterious dream vision of a mermaid-like female spirit figure with an urgent message for the book’s main character, Afa. How will Afa balance her UN job, her understanding and respect for Indigenous sovereignty and human rights, and the possibilities and pitfalls of combining science and spirituality to rebalance Earth’s swiftly deteriorating climate system in ways that will be beneficial for all?
Author: Debra Denker
A Poem: Who Picked these Strawberries I Eat?
I wonder whose hands, quick and gentle, picked these ripe and luscious organic strawberries? And are they safe right now?
“Flow” is Really a Cli-Fi Movie: And Your Cat and Dog Will Like it Too!
Watching the movie with my friends and Sammy—who thankfully has never been caught in a flood or even seen a river—I couldn’t help but see the story as a metaphor for the water element out of balance. Disruption of the water cycle is of course a key component of the human-caused climate breakdown that we are already living through...
Ceremony: Rest in Power and Peace, President Jimmy Carter
I was at the Buffalo Dances at Cochiti Pueblo in northern New Mexico when President Jimmy Carter’s spirit left his body and this Earth. And somehow, for me, this was appropriate and poignant timing.
Of Chosen Family and “Childless Cat Ladies”
Maybe we should all claim the honorific “childless cat lady”—whatever your gender, sexual orientation, or age, whether you have cats, dogs, other companion animals, or just love wildlife and the Earth, and whether or not you have raised children and/or grandchildren.
The Great Forgetting: World War II and the Fight Against Fascism
There is a Great Forgetting [of World War II} that all this storytelling is attempting to jolt us out of. Perhaps the collective unconscious is urging us to wake up before it’s too late and new iterations of fascism have decimated our increasingly fragile democracies, our ideals of human rights, and the very future of our planet due to its obscene coupling with climate denialism.
Be Unpredictable: Smash the Algorithm (and AI Too)!
The "Escape the thought police" game When I was a child of perhaps nine years old, my best friend, also named Debbie, and I used to play an odd game called “Escape the Thought Police.” Bear in mind that this was the mid-60s and though we were both reading at adult level by that age, … Continue reading Be Unpredictable: Smash the Algorithm (and AI Too)!
Healing and Redemption in the Alaskan Wild: A Review of On Heaven’s Hill, a novel by Kim Heacox
Kim Heacox’s latest novel On Heaven’s Hill is a vividly written tale of healing and redemption through connection with nature in the wild rainforest of Southeast Alaska. It is a multi-layered story with complex and sympathetic characters—one of them a wolf, the courageous and clever young male Silver. Magic weaves itself throughout the narrative and several subplots about community and compassion.
No Escape: How it Feels to Nearly Die of Heat Stroke
Once you’ve come near death from heat stroke, you will never be the same. Every year since 1982 the last days of July herald a creeping PTSD unsettledness that lurks at the boundary of my consciousness.
Solastalgia: Grieving Many Paradises Lost
I have a home I love in an environment I am deeply grieving.
Weather Menders 