Recent Publication
I am very proud to have a new creative nonfiction piece in Superstition Review, “The Essential Guide to Types of People at a Funeral.” Last summer, I had a whim to write a tongue-in-cheek guide to funerals using a voice inspired by birding guides. It’s a little snarky with some slight autobiographical elements and I am thrilled that it found a home at Superstition Review. Many, many thanks to the Mother Hens who cared for us at Dad’s funeral.
Sadly, this is the last issue of Superstition Review before ASU puts it on indefinite hiatus. A nerve-wracking trend seems to be developing wherein universities pull funding from longstanding and valuable literary magazines. Last year, Gettysburg Review was shuttered on little notice. These magazines are an important part of the literary community and a space for students to learn and get experiences. Subscribing to a lit mag or two is a good way to help support these publications and read fun, diverse, moving writing you might not find elsewhere.
Orion Workshop
This month, a workshop I took through Orion Magazine wrapped up. The six-week course was taught by the amazing Lisa Wells and focused on seasons and thresholds in nature and in life. I was grateful to have the opportunity to dedicate to my writing and learn from other writers in this way. The other students were generous and inspiring and I have a lot to think about as I process the work produced and the themes we discussed. Getting to take this course meant a lot to me in ways that I think will resonate for a long time. I was so scared when it started because I hadn’t taken a writing class since…2006…but the feedback was incredibly valuable and the conversations were so insightful and supportive that I was able to relax and enjoy the company of other people also thinking about how to write through life’s seasons and our place in the natural world. Powerful stuff.
Eclipse
My family in Indiana was in the path of totality for this month’s solar eclipse. Here in Colorado, we got about 60% of the eclipse. I was most curious how the bees would react. I thought maybe the alpacas would take off pronking like they do at dusk, but they were oblivious. I spent the 10 minutes around the peak of the eclipse watching the entrance to my beehive and there was a marked decrease in activity as foragers came home and none left. That was not as cool as seeing a total eclipse, but still pretty neat! (Video)
Political Activities
Eclipse Day was also a busy day of meetings. My Citizens’ Climate Lobby chapter met with Representative Brittany Pettersen during Congress’s spring recess. It was wonderful to meet with her and her staff and talk about climate solutions and the concerns of the community before she headed back to Washington. (If you would like to keep up with us, check out our Instagram profile.) That evening, the county chapter of Moms Demand Action had its meeting and a chance to debrief after the Advocacy Day in February and plan for election season.
April 17th and 25th, I was at the statehouse to lobby with Colorado Mountain Mamas, a group advocating for clean air and other environmental policies. More information on them is available here. Several local organizations are trying hard to keep the pressure on so that important ozone legislation does not get dropped before the legislative session ends. If you are a Coloradan, please consider writing to your legislators. If you want help doing so, just let me know.
Museums
Last week was Volunteer Appreciation Week. Several museums around the metro give reciprocal benefits to volunteers as a thank you. Last year was the first time I used these wonderful perks and my daughter and I went to the Denver Art Museum and the Children’s Museum. We loved the experiences so much that we became members of the Children’s Museum.
We made our second annual trip to the Art Museum, where we had to stop several times to explore the Space Command installation. It was fascinating to me to see how much my daughter’s experience of the art changed in just one year. She was much more engaged and looked at things more carefully. I worried that some pieces would be nightmare fuel, because there’s been a lot of talk about monsters lately, but she was okay. She is out of school for a couple of days for parent-teacher conferences, so we will also make another trip to the Children’s Museum to play. The sand area is a big hit these days.
Gardening and Bees
We started our seeds this month and I am looking forward to doing some major work weeding, fertilizing, and planting in the garden, but first I have to build a fence around the garden beds or the chickens will immediately undo all of my work. We think we have most of the materials to do so on hand from various phases of our pasture fence, but it’s important to me that it looks more like the garden from Practical Magic than a junkyard.
So far, the split of the beehive is working out well! It’s still too early for me to see if a new queen has successfully been raised and mated for The Bee & Bee, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Your energy and drive are inspirational, Kasey. You go!
As usual, your articles are so full of interesting topics. Papa & I love reading them.❤️