One lesson I learned as a small child was this: the American land did not hate. People did. These were the late 1960s, when riots ignited cities across the nation. These were years when journeys with my parents introduced me to national parklands. Yellowstone. Grand Teton....
Last night Terry Tempest Williams gave me the honor of asking me to share her reading event with her. Terry is on tour with The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks for this centennial of the National Park Service. With gracious...
The openness and maturity of First Lady Michelle Obama's speech last week at the DNC National Convention stand in stark contrast to ignorant dismissive responses by certain pundits. But the truth remains. The White House, United States Capitol, and the nation's capital as Washington, District...
Seven years old on a sun-bright June day, she stands by the curio shop’s postcard rack. In their move across the country, her family has visited many national parks — Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon — and at every stop, she runs first...
Following the ceremony welcoming the Hōkūleʻa and its crew from Hawai'i to Piscataway tribal homeland, I thought of ironies of history. The event took place on Piscataway tribal homeland in Piscataway Park. There the National Park Service works in partnership with the Accokeek Foundation, which...
We entered Grand Canyon National Park before sunrise, turning west onto the primitive road toward Point Sublime. This was in those ancient days when a Coupe de Ville could negotiate the unpaved miles with just a few dents and scrapes. My father had driven through the...
U.S. Place Names Tell You Who's in Power The highest peak in North America now has a new old name. Following decades-long efforts by Alaska lawmakers, and a recent order by the secretary of the interior, President Obama has restored Mount McKinley to Denali, its traditional Koyukon...