Luke Montrose: There may be dangerous components in wildfire smoke
As dozens of large fires burn, a lot of people are wondering what’s in the air they’re breathing.
Martha Silano: Poem that Begins at the Core
A mother who lived to peel apples,
bake the most exquisite pies. Suffuse the air
with delicious love. A father gah-gah for fossils,
mummies, cow manure.
Joe Kadi | Good Poetry: A Force To Be Reckoned With
As soon as I became an activist, as soon as I connected with Arabs and feminists and queers and folks with disabilities and poor people fighting to re-make the world, poetry demanded my attention.
Paul Christensen: My Mazda and I
The monks of Europe often planted their vines in cemeteries to ward off thieves, and believed you could taste the blood of ghosts when you drank. My mother would sip her wine and look away dreamily and then back at me as if I had come home from a long journey, with the Mazda parked in her driveway.
Video: The Lady and the Owl
This gentle film highlights the work of Kay and Larry McKeever, a retired Canadian couple who dedicated themselves to caring for orphaned, injured and starving owls.
Video: Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans
In this powerful talk, tribal leader Kelsey Leonard shows why granting lakes and rivers legal “personhood” — giving them the same legal rights as humans — is the first step to protecting our bodies of water and fundamentally transforming how we value this vital resource.
George Drew: The Sheryl Crow I Mean (with soundtrack)
the smokin’ hot honey dressed in skin
tight black leather pants and matching jacket
and wielding her six-string and harmonica,
meant Mr. Sin and his sidekicks were for
the moment muzzled
Chris Winters: Does Every Vote Still Count?
As far as crises of democracy go, this should be a hair-on-fire moment.
Bhikshuni Anyatara: Out in a Field
Then one morning, there I was, an old woman.
Where had I gotten in all those years on the Path?
That night I slept out in a field, and it rained.
Video: How a 1940s psychology study sparked the modern gay rights movement
In the 1940s, psychiatrists labeled homosexuality as a mental disorder. UCLA’s Dr. Evelyn Hooker sought to change that with her groundbreaking study that proved homosexuals were not ill and in need of a cure. This research made it all the way to the Supreme Court and helped change gay life forever.
Jose Padua: Green
I love how green moves when I’m
not watching, when I look down to my hands
to steady my direction and find the new
shapes it created when I meet it again with
my sleep deprived eyes.
Elizabeth Jacobson: There are as Many Songs in the World as Branches of Coral
As a child
I combed black rocks of a jetty
prying starfish from pools
Kaveh Bassiri: Afterword
In the Quran, God taught Adam the names of all things. Even the angels didn’t know the names. Do we carry the weight of these words with us? Do they hold us responsible?
