Orion Notes & Miscellany
Congratulations to Orion contributor Tara Donovan, who was selected Also in October, Managing Editor Tara Rae Miner attended the
as a MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur annual convention of the Society of Environmental Journalists in
Foundation in October. The fellowship is accom- Roanoke, Virginia, and appeared on a panel
panied by a $500,000 grant. Photographs of entitled “The Craft,” along with editors from
Tara’s sculptures of “object landscapes” appear Plenty, New Scientist, National Geographic,
in the July/August 2006 issue. and Popular Science. Marketing Director
In October, Picture Editor Jason Houston Scott Walker also attended the conference.
attended Art+Environment, a conference hosted Editor-in-Chief Chip Blake delivered the
by the Nevada Museum of Art that brought keynote address at the Confluence Literary
together influential artists, curators, gallery own- Festival in Moab, Utah, in October. And in
ers, writers, editors, and educators to discuss the November, the Orion Grassroots Network’s
role of environment in their work. Jason also Southeast Regional Gathering brought activists
participated in a panel discussion titled “what’s from around the region together with authors
Janisse Ray at Orion’s Southeast Regional Gathering.
neXt: Artists Imagining the Future.” The confer- Janisse Ray and Jan DeBlieu and Orion staffers
ence was moderated by Orion correspondent William L. Fox. Erik Hoffner and Tara Rae Miner in Columbia, North Carolina.
ORION’S FOOTPRINT: Orion is printed on paper containing 50 percent recycled content, 25 percent postconsumer waste. Compared to
using virgin paper, our use of this paper avoids the release of nearly fourteen tons of carbon dioxide every year. Orion and the Orion Society
are carbon-neutral; we have offset all our estimated carbon production for 2008 through NativEnergy. For details, visit orionmagazine.org.
Henry Chappell’s essay “Bone of
Conciliation” (September/October 2008)
is absolutely stunning and extremely
moving. I carry with me sadness and
compassion for native cultures that were
destroyed or brought to the brink of
extermination. I also harbor anger and
disgust for what my European ancestors
did to “settle” the U.S. And I >nd it reprehensible that so many in America
today continue to fail to acknowledge the
genocide that took place on our soil. I
realize that Americans living today did
not personally cause this, but we’re all
directly bene>ting from it while thousands of Indians around the country continue to su=er due to past atrocities.
Reconciliations like this one need to be
repeated throughout the U.S. We need to
acknowledge these wounds and take
action to help heal them. It’s great to see
this taking place.
Mike Gundlach
Portland, Oregon
Thanks to Hank Lentfer (“A Window,”
September/October 2008) for the breath
of fresh air! It is precisely through that
attention to cranes and coho that we can
slow down the perception that our world
is spinning out of control— a perception
that is at least in part caused by our society’s increasing distance from nature.
The slowing down, even if only once a
year in crane and coho season, is vital to
our understanding and appreciation of
our connection to all. My greatest fear is
that we will alter our world so much that
the cranes and cohos no longer return
each fall to remind us of this connection.
Pat Harris
Juneau, Alaska
I had pretty much given up on print
magazines when a friend of mine sent
me a gift of Orion. Upon >rst read I felt
like I just discovered which family I
really belong to. From Bill McKibben’s
“When Words Fail” (July/August 2008),
which gives hope and order to a seemingly insurmountable problem, to Roger
Pinckney’s Naked Bill and the weeping
turtles in “Once Upon a Turtle Moon,” to
Deborah Slicer’s “Apricot” poem that
fairly dribbled down my chin in the
slanting afternoon sun: all I can say is
what a woodworking friend of mine said
after we stood and critiqued a piece of
furniture he just >nished—“still and all,
it’s a miracle of creation.” Perhaps you
have your bad days in the o;ce, or wish
this and that had turned out better, but
please accept my thanks for your focus
on the very small, human acts of courage
that weave culture and nature in place.
Ben Barclay
Guelph, Ontario
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