The Nature of Things

Here's a poem by American poet Adrienne Rich. It was first published in 1995 but it feels like it might have been yesterday. What Kind of Times Are These by Adrienne Rich There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted who disappeared into those shadows. I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here, our country moving closer to its own truth and dread, its own ways of making people disappear. I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods meeting the unmarked strip of light— ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise: I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear. And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these to have you listen at a...

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : This is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . It is the nectar-sipping Masked Flowerpiercer , a bird of the mountain forests of the northern and central Andes. It is a common resident in its range but its numbers are decreasing primarily due to habitat loss from deforestation.  *~*~*~* Measles was declared eliminated in the United States twenty-five years ago, but the disease has made a comeback. Cases have now reached a record high since that elimination. *~*~*~* A study suggests that as glaciers melt it could lead to more volcanic eruptions . *~*~*~* Minnesota has a new official state fossil : the bear-sized giant beaver that roamed the Twin Cities area more than 10,000 years ago. *~*~*~* Scientists have been able to sequence the entire genome of an ancient Egyptian man.  *~*~*~* Here are the fifteen species of hummingbirds that are at home in the United States. *~*~*~* Those in this country w...

Searching for a poem to feature this week, one that might express the zeitgeist of the moment, I came across this one. It was first published in 2002 but it seemed to perfectly fit this moment in 2025. See if you agree. We Are Not Responsible by Harryette Mullen We are not responsible for your lost or stolen relatives. We cannot guarantee your safety if you disobey our instructions. We do not endorse the causes or claims of people begging for handouts.  We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.  Your ticket does not guarantee that we will honor your reservations.  In order to facilitate our procedures, please limit your carrying on.  Before taking off, please extinguish all smoldering resentments.  If you cannot understand English, you will be moved out of the way.  In the event of a loss, you’d better look out for yourself.  Your insurance was cancelled because we can no longer handle your frightful claims. Our handlers lost your luggage and w...

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the beautiful James's Flamingo , one of the three flamingo species that make their home high in the Andes Mountains of South America. The others are the Andean and the Chilean . The James's is the smallest and rarest of the three. It frequents shallow saline lakes and wetlands in all seasons and its population - thankfully - is stable for the time being. *~*~*~* Earth reached its aphelion for the year - its greatest distance from the sun - this week on Thursday. Now we'll be moving ever closer. *~*~*~* In honor of Independence Day, how about some fun facts about our "National Bird," the Bald Eagle ? Here are eighteen   such facts. *~*~*~* The shuttering of the U. S. Agency for International Development by the current administration in Washington is probably illegal and could result in fourteen million human deaths over the next five years....