Essay Collection: Human/Nature
My lyrical essays accompany photography by fellow Washingtonian Cameron Karsten in the book Human/Nature: Celebrating our connections to Washington’s lands and waters. These essays were also featured along with select photos in the Seattle Times!
The links below lead to full text (and photos) on The Nature Conservancy’s website.
Apples are the vibrant hearts of Washington’s harvest. World-renowned and unsurpassed, Washington apples fuel an economic engine and support entire communities, within and beyond our borders. Thousands of workers, the majority skilled migrants who return each season, pick every Washington apple by hand. The harvest is demanding yet delicate: Early mornings, firm grasps, quick twists, and the daylong, gentle pour of full bags into pallet upon pallet.
Haven
Washington’s winter forests present a frosty palette. Evergreens and snowy white drifts are abundant, and the sky can be a misty gray, sometimes a vibrant blue. Hikers lend splashes of vibrancy, a bright orange beanie or purple paths dotted on a digital map. Laughter and shared stories provide warmth, and in quieter moments slushy steps are the only sounds.
A starter gun sounds, and paddles slice the sea in synchronicity. Teams of tribal members launch cedar canoes much the same as mariners set out centuries before. These wooden vessels are central to Washington’s coastal tribes—for fishing, hunting, building connections with coastal neighbors. Today’s canoe races span generations and genders, bringing competition to age-old communion with the tides. Friends and family cheer from the shore, their voices carrying far across the water.
