Bogey's Books at discounted prices [ Click Here ]
[Author Menu] [Date Menu] [Genre Menu] [Home Page] [Links] [Sponsors]
| The Davis Virtual Market | || Davis Community Network | |
 |  |
“A Leaky Tent is a Piece of Paradise: 20 Young Writers on Finding a Place
in the Natural World” (2007) is a wonderful collection of excellent
writing, perfect for this time of year.
Since yesterday was Earth Day, I can think of no better way to celebrate
the season than by reading these unpredictable essays, published by Sierra
Club Books.
For instance, Brooklyn writer and apartment-dweller Liesl Schwabe admits
that she is no tree-hugger. Her 5-year-old son does not like the feel of
grass under his bare feet and once asked her, as they drove upstate for the
weekend, when they would “get away from all these trees.”
Yet Schwabe came to love and appreciate the seasons – and their fruits and
vegetables -- through her job as a waitress in an organic food restaurant
and her membership in a food co-op, not to mention her early morning food
trips to New York’s produce markets.
And Tim Neville – now a travel journalist -- writes of his early camping
experiences in his essay “Once Upon a Time in a Tent.”
It begins: “The first day of my senior year in high school started with a
moment so traumatic that I eventually gave up on life and moved out of my
parents’ house and into a tent in the backyard: my girlfriend dumped me.”
An even more unlikely essay is “Sissies in the Wood” about a gay gathering
in Tennessee and a gay man’s second experience with camping (his first
being a nightmare of a family camp-out).
When a drag queen in spiked heels teaches him how to pitch a tent, Hugh
Ryan begins to think his week in the woods might have some possibilities.
A more traditional piece is Sam Moulton’s description of a 1,581-mile canoe
trip from Wisconsin to the Arctic Circle with three friends. Near the end
of the adventure he almost casually describes a near-death goof-up when the
tide carries away their boats. The boats aren’t far away but the icy water
and freezing air temperature makes retrieval tricky. The crisis is over in
less than 30 minutes but Moulton must have aged a lifetime in that
half-hour.
Closer to home is Jonathan Kiefer’s piece, “Trespassing,” about learning to
love the rough, raw Nevada desert despite a $142 speeding ticket.
Kiefer has been the associate arts editor for the Sacramento News & Review
and according to biographical notes he is working on a book about the
cinema of the San Francisco Bay Area, to be published by City Lights Books
this year.
Each of these essays says something about how the writer came to find a
place, no matter how tenuous, in the natural world.
“Warning: This is not your parents’ nature writing,” says Bonnie Tsui,
editor of the collection. But that’s not really true. The essays are marked
by good writing, humor, and original insights and will appeal widely.
Like most good books, “A Leaky Tent” may well inspire you and give you the
freedom to write about your own brushes with nature.
If you don’t quite know what to do with pieces you want to write or have
written, take a tip from Melanie Bowden. Bowden, author of “Why Didn’t
Anyone Tell Me? True Stories of New Motherhood,” is giving a class on
magazine writing.
The class will take place Saturday, May 19, from 9 a.m. to noon at the
Davis Senior Center. This three-hour workshop offered through Davis Parks
and Community Services will include information on finding article ideas,
researching magazine markets, writing query letters, and working with
editors. The cost is $30 for Davis residents and $40 for non-residents.
And if you are hungry for still more wonderful travel writing, “On the
Rez”(2000) by Ian Frazier is super. I loved his 1989 book, “Great Plains,”
and this is a closer look at modern-day American Indians who live in New
York City and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the plains and
badlands of the American West.
-- Reach Elisabeth Sherwin at gizmo@dcn.org and watch for more local writers to be featured biweekly at this web site.
For More Information, Visit These Links:
Official Sierra Club Web Site
Sierra Club at Wikipedia
To inquire about ordering any of the above mentioned books from an independent bookstore,
Bogey's Books at discounted prices [ Click Here ]
[Author Menu] [Date Menu] [Genre Menu] [Home Page] [Links] [Sponsors]
The Davis Virtual Market || Davis Community Network