How It Looks From Here

To open Season 3 of HILFH, Gary & Mary were part of an unequaled faculty of writers in support of an equally astonishing group of students, all of us at the Elk River Writers' Workshop in the Paradise Valley of Montana. As a part of that week, we had the opportunity to record a panel of five of these authors for the first and second episodes of Season 3. Mary facilitated this conversation that included poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, Beth Piatote, Camille Dungy, J Drew Lanham, Gary Ferguson and Pam Uschuk.

Elk River Writer's Workshop:

www.elkriverwriters.org

Beth Piatote - Domestic Subjects: Gender, Citizenship, and Law in Native American Literature (Yale, 2013), and The Beadworkers: Stories (Counterpoint 2019) https://complit.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/beth-piatote 

Camille Dungy - Guidebook to Relative Strangers (W. W. Norton, 2017), [POETRY] Trophic Cascade (Wesleyan UP, 2017), Smith Blue (Southern Illinois UP, 2011), and Suck on the Marrow (Red Hen Press, 2010). https://camilledungy.com/ 

J Drew Lanham - The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature (Milkweed Editions, 2016), [POETRY] Sparrow Envy (Hub City Press, 2016). https://jdlanham.wixsite.com/blackbirder 

Gary Ferguson - The Eight Master Lessons of Nature (Dutton, 2019), The Carry Home (Counterpoint, 2015), Full Ecology - Repairing Our Relationship with the Natural World (Heyday, 2021) https://fullecology.com 

Pam Uschuck - Refugee (Red Hen Press, 2022), Blood Flower (Wings Press, 2014), Crazy Love (Wings Press, 2009) http://www.pamelauschuk.com/index.html 

This episode, Mary speaks with Asher Jay, an award-winning conservationist artist, entrepreneur, National Geographic Explorer, and philosopher. Their conversation goes deep: from the psychological roots of our separation with nature and burgeoning reconnection, to the power of looking into the eyes of a wild animal. Listen in to hear about it.

Find Asher Jay at:

www.asherjay.com

www.henoscene.com

This episode, Mary speaks with Lavoy Tolbert, legendary educator and wilderness therapist. Lavoy speaks of his connection to place near Loa, Utah, his understanding of the lessons that nature is ready to teach us, and how we can be right sized humans on the land.

In this episode, Mary speaks with Chuck Hudson, Hidatsa Elder and longtime expert in Tribal/Federal policy and government relations. Chuck speaks of his and his family's history and experiences as they relate to the times we are living in, now.

He draws stories from his time advocating for the four treaty tribes of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission

Throughout, he reflects on contemporary Native American culture and the longstanding challenges to Tribes' interests in protecting land and water, salmon and bison. 

Many Dances Family Fund https://oregoncf.org/ways-to-give/donor-stories/responsibility-and-resilience/

Traditional Indigenous Knowledge - Article by Helen Thomas (Lakota) https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-01-13-indigenous-knowledge-is-often-overlooked-in-education-but-it-has-a-lot-to-teach-us

Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission

https://critfc.org/

**In recent days, we have learned that Charles Bearstail's body has been found on the banks of the Missouri River. Given up by the river, his family may now lay him to rest.

This month Mary talks with Petra Kuppers, a disability culture activist and community performance artist. Petra holds the Anita Gonzalez Professor of Performance Studies and Disability Culture chair in English and Women's & Gender studies departments at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also teaches with the low-residency MFA Interdisciplinary Arts faculty at Goddard College. Petra uses somatic and speculative writing as well as performance practice to engage audiences toward more socially just and enjoyable futures. She has written academic books on disability arts and culture, medicine and performance, and community performance.

In their conversation, Mary and Petra consider the natural world and its diversity, alongside the political, spiritual and activist considerations that arise from being embodied.

Links to Petra's work:

Eco Soma: Pain and Joy in Speculative Performance Encounters. 

Gut Botany (poetry collection)

Disability Visibility

https://www.alexispauline.com/

https://www.petrakuppers.com/presentbreath

Music this week by Cedar Mathers-Winn and Gary Ferguson

In this episode Mary talks with Susan Bragdon, the executive director and founder of SEEDS FOR ALL, an organization devoted to global food security. Seeds for All supports agroecology and regenerative agriculture by bringing the voices and participation of small-scale farmers into food policy and governance. Susan brings to this work her experience as an international lawyer and natural resource ecologist with 25+ years of experience working with governments, UN agencies and small-scale farmers to create policy change in support of agriculture that nourishes both people and the planet.

In their conversation, Mary and Susan unpack global policy actions to make clearer how that level of deliberation supports the nourishment and resilience of people and our world.

Music this episode by Cedar Mathers-Winn and Gary Ferguson.

This month Mary talks with Karuna Eberl, a freelance journalist, photographer and filmmaker specializing in environmental issues, nature, travel, science and history. Karuna is an award winning author of travel and nature books who lives her life in the fullness of the wide wild world. She describes her life as centered in the natural world, from her childhood in the mountains above 8000 feet to the recent year she and her husband, Steve, spent exploring the country in their van.

In their conversation, Mary and Karuna dig into what we as individuals can really do to make a positive difference in the progression of climate change. 

Koruna's Blog: https://www.naturerising.world/

Koruna's Website: https://www.wanderingdogcreations.com/

This week, Mary speaks with CMarie Fuhrman, a poet and essayist. They talk about love, the deep, interconnected integrity that humans share with the natural world, and the grief that we must allow ourselves the time to feel, in order to act to repair our world during a time of climate catastrophe. Listen to gain insight and heart from this touching conversation.

CMarie Fuhrman's Website: https://www.cmariefuhrman.com/

CMarie's Essays:

"Aspen"

"Hells Canyon Revival"

"Coyote Story"

Music this week by Alexei Desmarais and Gary Ferguson.

You can find Mary and Gary's work at www.fullecology.com

This week, Mary speaks with Alayna Rasile Digrindakis, about Alayna's work with plant-based textiles, fine art, and environmental activism. As an emerging young artist and designer, Alayna is keenly aware of the need to leverage her skills to make money, but that doesn't mean she needs to sacrifice her values: in fact, leaning into those values can open entrepreneurial opportunities, as Alayna found while working with milkweed fibers.

Find Alayna's work at:

https://alaynarasile.com/projects/

https://www.absorka.com/

Music this week by:

Cedar Mathers-Winn: https://kgvm.org/show/cedar-mathers-winn-naturalist/

Gary Ferguson - www.fullecology.com

This month, Mary talks with Dustin Hunt, a muralist, art educator, and DJ at large in Lansing, Michigan. Dustin describes the challenges and triumphs of teaching math to youth through art. Within these lessons, there is a deeper lesson, about belonging, self-love, and a holistic understanding of the world.

Check out Dustin's work at https://www.muralmatics.com/

Music this episode is by Mikeyy Austin. Mickey's music can be found here: Mikeyy Austin (https://mikeyyaustin.bandcamp.com/). To learn more about his work, check out this excellent interview: Rising Music Star Mikeyy Austin.