Frogs. They’re familiar and otherworldly, slimy and charming, the kind of odd liminal animal that spurs the imagination. Their voices range from the brute croak of the bullfrog to the fairy-sweet, bell-like chorus of the spring peeper. Our complex relationship with frogs shows up even in our childhood in the deeper meanings of the well-known …
Read more “The loss of the frog prince”
The Pacific Northwest seems to recur in my life. This summer, for instance, I spent a week in southeast Alaska for a field project on Prince of Wales Island. I’ve been asked to repost this blog entry from 2004, which recalls the first time I set foot in the region, and the impression its vastnesses …
I have an unusual name, and most people can’t pronounce it. So much so, in fact, that I usually tell baristas at cafes and sandwich shops to write down “Nyla” so I don’t get called up as Neila or Nayla. Sometimes people say Nalia, or – inexplicably – Naomi or Nadia. That may explain my …
by Robert Frost I wonder about the trees. Why do we wish to bear Forever the noise of these More than another noise So close to our dwelling place? We suffer them by the day Till we lose all measure of pace, And fixity in our joys, And acquire a listening air. They are that …
Read more “The Sound of Trees”
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