Structure has been a recurring theme this week, in multiple conversations and readings. It’s what I need, and it seems I’m not the only one. It reminds me of a warm-up exercise from a series of assignments I did a couple of years ago: draw lines for fifteen minutes. Each time you start work, repeat.
Have you ever drawn lines for fifteen minutes even once? How about for days on end? Weeks and weeks of daily lines. As per the instructions, I used big paper—18 x 24 inch sheets of newsprint, horizontal orientation. Charcoal stick in hand, I drew and drew and drew. I switched the charcoal (messy, but exquisitely sensitive) from tip to side, from right hand to left, and back again. Each line is distinct: simple, straight, meandering. Languid, jagged, swirling. It does something to you after a while, all those lines. I still feel the effects now.
Eventually I used even larger sheets of paper, and the lines wandered into each other, became a net. A safety net, it turned out, there to catch me when the bottom fell out.
I’d like to offer a few lines here today. A handful, a starter set. Lines of text, connections to events, to people, ideas, and a larger community, so together, we can create the structure so many of us are seeking.
I’m excited to attend the MOTH Festival of Ideas this week, hosted by the More Than Human Life (MOTH) Project. This interdisciplinary initiative advances “rights and well-being for humans, non-humans, and the web of life that sustains us all.” If you’ll be there and would like to meet up, let me know!
Creature Conserve’s Mentorship Showcase will be March 28th-30th. I will be part of the keynote presentation on Friday the 28th. On Saturday and Sunday, we’ll hear from Mentees about projects that range from monk seals, to pollinators, to sacred groves, and more! These online events are all free and open to the public. Register to get a link here.
And there’s so much great stuff happening here on Substack! Here’s a little sample:
Rebecca Hooper, a writer, poet, and evolutionary biologist, shares lovely writing that whisks me from my current reality into her observations and adventures with seals, icy waterfalls, jackdaws, and more.
Chasing Nature is the Substack outlet for thoughtful observations from field biologist and journalist Bryan Pfeiffer. I’m sharing this post in particular because he highlights a recent paper about snowy owls, and the lead author, Dr. Rebecca McCabe, is a friend from our local Hawk Mountain Sanctuary!
Rebecca Wisent, a lawyer specializing in American public lands and wildlife, shares both HOME|Nature Directory and Fearless Green||Owl in America.
Need a little good nature news?
You can find wonderful resources—and support newsletters with smaller readerships—here at the Smallstack Library.
When it comes to human health concerns specifically, I find the information and interpretations shared on Your Local Epidemiologist very helpful.
And finally, I leave you with this quote (also the source of my title this month) from the beautiful post Time is a Magpie by Chloe Hope:
…Birds use the constraints of their physical form to transform falling into flight.
Beautiful. Words and images both. ❤️🪶🕊️