How (Not) to Give a Wedding Gift
What does a Nature lover and adventure writer gift to friends for their wedding? It may not be what you think. The next installment in the How (Not) To series is a little funny, a little serious, and all good. Names and deets have been changed to protect the innocent.
Why The Humanities are Still King
When people hear that someone is majoring in English, chances are they think, “Oh, you are going to teach.” Or, “Man, what in God’s name are you going to do […]
In Through the Out Door: How Going Out Into Nature Leads Us In to Our Truest Selves
Why do people go outside? I mean, besides the obvious, like having to go to work or move from the house to some other point in the world. What draws […]
Three Books, Three Days: Here’s What I Learned
Are you a reader? I mean like, are you mad about reading? Do you read a lot? At least a book a week? If you’ve found this site, I bet […]
Lightning Lessons in Writing: How to Use the Comma
All too often, inexperienced writers view, or worse, use, the comma as a pause in a sentence. While it’s true that we pause at commas, as we would any mark […]
Potty-mouthed Professors: Why They’re the Best
Trust me. I should know. I’m one of them. And if you are someone easily offended by foul, vulgar, profane language, this essay might not be for you. There is […]
How to Interpret Dreams
Last night I had the strangest dream. I was driving in an SUV, ran over a lovely flower bed on some private land and momentarily got stuck in a man-made […]
Walking Through it All: Reviewing Ben Montgomery’s ‘Grandma Gatewood’s Walk’
In Ben Montgomery’s eye-opening profile, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail, readers encounter the real life folk heroin Emma Gatewood. On the […]
Lightning Lessons in Writing: How to Improve Overnight
This “lightning lesson” in grammar, a super short but very helpful lesson on how to write clearly and correctly, won’t make you the next Shakespeare or Hemingway. It will, however, […]
How to Write Anything (Part III)
In parts one and two of this mini-series on writing I discussed crafting an essay with a particular audience in mind, choosing a genre and writing with purpose, followed by […]
The Stories We Tell Ourselves: A Meditation on Frost’s Two Roads
(A quick note: while the gender of the speaker remains undetermined, I sometimes use the masculine for the sake of simplicity and consistency. It seems easier than having to repeatedly […]
How to Write Anything (Part II)
In part one of this “how-to” mini-series I discussed some of the broader aspects of the initial stages of the writing process. In that essay I covered genre, audience and […]
How to Write Anything (Part I)
Writing is contentious. As someone who works in higher ed., I ought to know. Looking around the country at different universities and colleges it’s easy to notice some interesting structures […]
Dirtbag Dreams: Fantasy vs Reality
(Cover Image: Fred Beckey) Virtually anyone who climbs, has ever picked up a climbing magazine, seen Reel Rock, or any YouTube video on climbing, knows the term “dirtbag”. The general […]
Mountain Buddha: The Origin Story
I never pictured myself as a blogger. After graduate school, most of the writing I did, when I did it, revolved around literary criticism. That was the original plan: get […]
Why Climbing Matters
As a brief note, this article often uses the term climbing in a broad sense to include everything from rock climbing to mountaineering and hiking. As I rediscover climbing in […]
