Hiking the C2C from Corvallis to the Coast
This spring, my friend and I spent six days hiking 60 miles from the Willamette Valley over the Oregon coast range to the Pacific Ocean. I kept a journal. Here it is—but first, some notes. …
Be
Climate & Stories in the Pacific Northwest
Last November, within the wild space of three weeks, I was in Portland, Oregon, then Toronto, Ontario, presenting papers at two conferences. Both talks have everything to do with change, social and ecological. Take a…
What Story Are You Living?
Last month, I gave a talk for TEDxCorvallis at the Whiteside about using brand strategy to change your life. I enjoy giving presentations, but this felt different—a chance to say out loud what I want…
Rigor and Remembrance
What a pleasure it was to hobnob with a bunch of folklorists all weekend, and hear talks on proverbs, Internet cryptids, fairy tales, peep stones, place relationship, and, and, and—I came home with much to…
Themis Doesn’t Belong to You, Officer
Recently D.C. police conducted an anti-protest crackdown dubbed “Operation Themis.” Read my op-ed in Cunning Folk Magazine about how classical mythology can be weaponized in service to white supremacy, and how this particular goddess flies…
Wordless Word
I find I would rather apprehend the knowable unknowable than attempt to put Logos into words. Some things are better lived than said. “Some things are more important than words,” Marigold said to Guy. “Some…
Myth, Science and Unicorn Mind
In the first chapter of Before Philosophy, Henri and Henriette Frankfort pointed out that the language of myth, which they called “speculative thought,” isn’t so common these days, because science. In our own time speculative thought finds its …
Science Can Be Personal
In an earlier post, I started compiling the passages I like best from the first chapter of Before Philosophy, because there’s something in there that strikes a chord and I want to tease out what it …
Well That Explains a Lot
I mentioned I’ve been reading Before Philosophy by Henri and Henriette Frankfort, et al. And I mentioned it’s one of my favorite treatises on mythology. What I didn’t mention is the lights-on moment I got the first time I …
More than Metaphor
In my last post about mythology, I said that myth isn’t metaphor. Metaphor is a popular way to look at myth these days, which is why it deserves some pushback. I maintain that myths are not allegories of the human psyche. …