Rights of Rivers

Rights of the Rivers (This is a slightly revised version of a keynote talk I presented at the annual gathering of the Apalachicola Riverkeepers on 3/26/16.  It’s longer than usual!) You cannot live in the Southeast without noticing how rivers define the places where we live. They bring us fresh water and so much more, but their geographical delineations of bioregion are among their most magical qualities.  I first noticed how the rivers embrace us in the early 1990s, when I traveled … Continue

And It Came To Pass….

3:15 pm, March 20, 2015 It’s spring equinox, almost to the minute. For north Floridians, that means maximum flowering (azalea, fringe tree, dogwood,  buckeye, wild iris, columbine); maximum birdsong (parula warbler, goldfinch, brown thrasher, cedar waxwing); and unprecedented pollen. Birth and creation in so many forms!  Beauty abounds! I personally am experiencing a full measure of spring fruition and joy. Five boxes of Coming to Pass were just delivered to our home by my friend, the UPS man.  The creation … Continue

How It Came to Pass

The writing of Coming to Pass: Florida’s Islands in a Gulf of Change began on October 22, 2007, when I inscribed a fat black journal with a single word–COAST–and then cut out pictures to decorate it.       I didn’t know what this book would become back then.  In 2007, I was trying to reconcile my roles. Mother and stepmother to three sons growing out and away. Daughter of an aging father needing a good deal of my help. … Continue