Not in My Backyard, Or Yours
“Not in my backyard.”  I used to cringe at the NIMBY syndrome, thinking it elitist and out of touch. Then I learned that my backyard is being primed for sulfide mining. My roots run deep in Minnesota, where I grew up living in a cabin on a remote island part of every summer. My parents [...]
Wed, Apr 24 2013

At a Loss for Words
 “What is painting? Do you sense how all the parts of a good picture are involved with each other, not just placed side by side? Art is a creation for the eye and can only be hinted at with words.” That framed black-and-white phrase, hanging in New York’s Museum of Modern Art alongside “The Scream,” [...]
Mon, Mar 04 2013

Penguin Therapy
In an effort to make myself useful and to escape the obsessive compulsive stressing that goes along with freelance writing, I help first graders with their schoolwork at a local elementary school every Thursday afternoon. First graders are the perfect fit for me: They don’t need help with calculus and they make me laugh. Yesterday [...]
Fri, Jan 11 2013

2012: Deep Thoughts From My Moleskine Reporter Notebooks
Sometimes I’m so focused on looking ahead that I forget to look back. A more enlightened soul would tell me that the point is not to look back or ahead, but to stay present. That’s wise, but in 2012 my fingers clutched a UniBall Vision Elite pen and scribbled a few hundred thousand words on [...]
Tue, Jan 01 2013

Thanks & Giving
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. —Albert Schweitzer
Thu, Nov 22 2012

Rite of Passage
“It’s rare. It’s quick. It has no track record,” my friend Marcus told me from the St. Luke’s emergency room in Duluth, Minnesota, on August 15. He and I were supposed to have dinner the previous week and when I didn’t hear from him, I knew something was not right. “It’s very aggressive, Steph. I’m [...]
Thu, Nov 15 2012

Twin Peaks at the ATWS 2012 Summit
The sun is high, the snow is bright, and we’re in a mad dash with a crush of teenaged ski racers to catch an 8 a.m. ride on the Matterhorn Express. Rock skis tangle as their owners, wearing stretchy Lycra, run toward the red car, hell-bent on getting up the mountain first. We squeeze in [...]
Fri, Oct 12 2012

Pushing Boulders Uphill
Free days, rolling waves, an island of pines older than memory. A silent refuge you sought and shared. A teacher. A force. A compass pointing north. A voice in my wilderness. I’m listening.
Thu, Sep 20 2012

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Nuqui, Colombia
Sun, Aug 05 2012

Noise Free, Visually Enhanced
Last Saturday my friend Jose Saldana, who was passing through town on his way to Yosemite, hiked with me up to the saddle of Cathedral Rock near Sedona. We arrived right around sunset to catch the shadows playing off the red formations. Engrossed in our mission, I gave no thought to the precipitous four-mile hike [...]
Fri, Apr 13 2012