The Round

Corpse Medicine on Smithsonian.com

The question was not "Should you eat human flesh," says one historian, but, "What sort of flesh should you eat?" A Smithsonian story on what scholars are saying about medicine's cannibal past--and present. By me. 

 

 

 

Headaches

If you get headaches, and you wonder what kind they are, or how to get rid of them, you might read this story I wrote for the winter issue of Northwest Health Magazine. Group Health's experts debunk some headache myths, and make useful suggestions. THE STORY

Vaux's Swifts Stole My Heart

 

I first read about these tiny birds, the Vaux's Swifts, more than two years ago. I was interning at at a radio station a couple of days a week to learn how to make audio stories, and I decided to go to Monroe, Washington, to interview Larry Schwitters about trying to save an old chimney where the birds liked to roost. Larry was a great interview, and the Vaux's, some of the most balletic and fast-flying of all birds, were full of charisma, but I never could quite capture the story properly for the radio show. (Maybe I should have thought about how important the visual spectacle of flying birds was to the story before I tried to capture the scene with audio).

Still, at an organized event called Swift's Night Out, which happens in the peak of the Vaux's migration season, I got to see the full swift performance, thousands of birds seeming to appear from nowhere, moving in swirls and ellipses across the sky, then plunging into the chimney to spend the night safe from the cold and predators. (Hawks and crows do like to sit on the edge of the chimney and wait for the swifts to emerge in the morning, but that's a different story). It was a transporting experience, something like the first time I stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Only this time, part of what made it so beautiful was being in the company of several hundred people who had shown up in front of this elementary school chimney for the show. People set up lawn chairs, spread out picnics, and ooo'd and aaah'd at every dip and swirl. Then they cheered wildly as the birds funnelled into the chimney, like they were watching their favorite sports team score a point. 

When I finally wrote this story for Smithsonian about the birds, and Larry, I tried to convey the way humans and these birds are intertwined. Larry keeps working to find more chimneys where the birds like to roost, in order to try to save them. Check out his website: vaux's happening

Three Green Seattle Homes

I loved researching this story for Seattle Magazine on three Seattle homeowners who have taken on some fairly radical green home projects. I wished I'd had room for a story twice this size. Still, there are some fun details here if you take a read--14 inch thick walls in a Passive House project-- (they don't have central heating)--a greywater treatment system in another. These people aren't waiting for climate change or regulations to change how they live, but throwing their intelligence and limited resources into living more wisely. They're willing to teach others what they've learned. Inspiring. The Story

The Goldengrove of Summer

Sometimes my environmental writing and my home writing are uneasy bedfellows. This month in Seattle Mag:

http://www.seattlemag.com/article/lifestyle/seattle-homeowner-can-you-cut-down-tree

AND

http://www.seattlemag.com/category/keywords/fire-pits

Win-Win

Well, shoot. My November 2010 Seattle Magazine story  "How Green Is Thy Lumber"  just won an Excellence in Journalism award from the Northwest Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.  I sweated a bit while working on that story, so it feels good to be noticed for it.

Also, I won a raffle recently, which absolutely never happens. The goody basket I claimed contained two strange, handle-less, sweater-wrapped mugs and a bag of coffee.

Surely this luck can't hold. 

 

Vivian McLean, Community Advocate, Tree Hugger

Remarkable Seattle woman Vivian McLean died recently at age 90. I talked to her on the phone in April 2005 for a Seattle Times story about some of Seattle's most loved trees, and she told me that the enormous black walnut tree in her backyard, which she had nominated for Heritage Tree status, made her feel "safe and happy." I wish I’d met her in person. But she was busy, always, volunteering for her community in West Seattle’s Delridge neighborhood. She told me there was a lot of family history in that tree, including a wedding that had been held under it featuring a barefoot dancer and bongo drums.

More:

Vivian McLean’s 90^th birthday on the West Seattle Blog: link

National Arbor Day (April 29th): link

Seattle Times Heritage Tree Article: link

 

 

 

The Ted Talks

Until meeting Ted Danson, I'd never before been so delighted to talk about overfishing.  

I met him and briefly interviewed him last week at Vito's in Seattle. Then I wrote about it at the Seattle Magazine blog. Danson isn't a surfer or diver or even much of a swimmer, but he is an ocean activist, and he has a new book out. One of the things he said that I really liked was that he only encouraged people to become ocean activists out of love, not fear. Otherwise, he said, they would quickly burn out. "Do it from joy!" he said. (I also learned that he once sold kisses in a bar to raise money for his cause.) Find out more about that and also what the Fonz told him about cruise ships by diving into the Sea Mag post. 

Gardens Grow Up

 

Image from Seattle garden and floral design shop Midnight Blossom.

As we pack more people into this city, we're looking for ways to cram in more vegetation. These spectacular tillandsia (air plant!) wall gardens at the Seattle shop Midnight Blossom look like they're busting out of the wall. More on these and other ways to make (or buy) living walls with more traditional, rooted plants in April's Seattle Magazine.  Here's the link.