The Rafter Has Lost It's Tom!

I guess I missed this email from the Chatham campus security on 3/19 (emphasis mine):

"We have had reports that our large male campus turkey has been attacking students and staff (he’s the one with the blue head). Unfortunately, this is turkey mating season and he has become very protective of his territory. We are going to have him relocated at the earliest possible time (hopefully this weekend). In the meantime, please try to avoid him and try not to antagonize him. Usually shouting or firmly hitting him with something will chase him. Also, don’t hesitate to call security if you are afraid to pass. They will run off this feisty feathered criminal for you.

The good news is we finally probably have the name for our coffee shop – The Wild Turkey Café."

How sad. It sounds like he was head of a pretty big group (called a "rafter," in case you were curious about the post title; though you can call it a "flock" too I guess, but that's not nearly as interesting). I wonder to where he's been *relocated*? I also wonder if turkey relocation efforts are about as useless and ineffective as, say, black bear relocation efforts?

Of Place and Words

I just ran across this anthology of Ohio writers that looks really interesting. Looks like it's a collection of place-based writing, by several people whose other work I admire a great deal (I didn't realize some of them were from ohio originally - I associate them with other places). I'll definitely have to pick this one up. Might make a good gift for other Ohio folks too.

J. and Z. also gave me this brand new book about the redwoods that I'm looking forward to reading. Some reader reviews have suggested that Preston focuses too little on environmental issues and too much on the "adventure" aspect of some of the people he profiles, but it still looks really intriguing. Ihen, I shall have to, as J. says, "Get my Appalachia on" in terms of reading about the area to which we'll be moving.

Oh! and thanks again to L. for sending me those excerpts from that John Daniel book. I'm going to use the "Among Animals" chapter in the nature writing class this summer! I'm having a terrible time planning the nature & environmental writing syllabus. There is just too much to potentially read. Too much that all feels utterly significant to include. It's a real struggle to choose what to leave out. I want to include everything!

Decisions, Decisions

I have no idea what books to use for my Craft of Nature & Environmental Writing course this summer. the big anthology I planned to use, S. is using now, which isn't that problematic, BUT another faculty member is using it in his lit class now as well. So there's a chance that some of those students who are enrolled in his course would take mine this summer and be stuck with the same main text. And that's no good.

I don't like any of the options. I'm probably stuck with the Norton Book of Nature Writing (those Norton anthologies give me bad undergraduate flashbacks I tell you...). It's comprehensive, but that's the issue. It's too comprehensive. The true "contemporary" nature writing section doesn't start till about 500 pages in, and that's the part I'd rather focus on in this course. I just don't know what to do.

I have ideas for *supplemental* readings, but what a huge amount of work, scanning them and getting them all online in Blackboard. Not to mention that I scribble up my own books like crazy (FYI: If such personal notes bother you, you might not ever want to borrow a book from me!), so I probably can't copy anything from most of my personal library. If I don't order books like, yesterday, the bookstore manager is going to kill me.

I did, last night, solicit some feedback from some current (and future) students in that class about my idea for a field trip to see pennsylvania's largest nursery colony of little brown bats at Canoe Creek State Park near Altoona (about 2 hours from Pittsburgh). I guess that single colony is up around 25,000 and there's several hundred endangered Indiana bats too. The students thought it sounded like a really fun idea, and I've been meaning to do this for the last seven years. I just discovered they have a batcam! .

Another animal-not-bat-related note: With the recent rains and the upcoming warm temperatures, I'm guessing this could be prime viewing weekend here for the yellow-spotted salamander mating. I was going to include a link, but oddly, there's not a single related link to this annual phenomena (if any local folks want directions, let me know. it's REALLY cool). Or maybe that's not so odd after all. I mean, they're just salamanders, right?

When I mentioned the possible bat field trip (which would probably mean an overnight, since it's so far from here), J. got all jealous and said: "I want to see the bats too!"