I’ve been musing about all the people who, had they lived, might have made a difference in our country’s attitude toward community and sustainable resources.
I imagined a government where Dr. King, President Kennedy, Senator Kennedy, Rachel Carson, John Lennon and others held decision-making roles.
If Rachel Carson lived to head the Department of the Interior, what shape would our natural resources be in? How many species would be endangered?
I’d normally be on the trail at this hour. Sometimes the wind moans, sometimes it sounds like a freight train. The 40+mph gusts, more than the 18-degree air temperature is keeping me indoors.
A while earlier juncos, sparrows and chickadees ventured out to peck sunflower seeds from under the rhododendron. I don’t see or hear them now.
I’m working on three projects.
I am reading everything I can find about nonfiction writing. If ethics determines that I have to make a choice between writing content for an organization or writing articles as a freelancer, I have some learning to do.
I have no clue which I do better - or if I do either well at all.
I’m thinking about writing a biography of Rachel Carson that brings her to life. My inspiration for style is Jean Fritz. Four of the ten books now bookmarked and stacked on the floor next to my desk are about Rachel Carson. Two are biographies written by Jean Fritz.
I also have my character Janet Collins Fowler, who will not speak to me. I’m thinking of posting a chapter or two, just to see if being out there appeals to her. When she’s speaking to me, I’m fascinated by her curious mind and sheer passion for all things natural.
I’m blessed. Some guiding spirit heard Rachel Carson’s prayer when I was born - “…gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.”
[From The Sense of Wonder]