May 23, 2012 New The quiet season, what it’s all about.
Writers are bad publicists, I’m told. Agreed. Public self-disclosure seems odd to me—especially right now on the cusp of summer, which is my one long private moment to walk up in the mountains and let my feet wander wherever, because it’s what I want to do and where I want to be. There are no witnesses to declare it good, bad, funny or entertaining, and that’s not the point anyway. It’s my own happy moment spread out over an entire season, starting in mid-June and running into September.
Morning at the Lake
Sometimes, I go on outrageous hikes when I get super excited about a place or hatch an idea from the coffee shop or couch, and then I get into all kinds of trouble and call it adventure. But that’s rare.
Most of the time, I simply stroll in beautiful places and feel fantastic for no particular reason. There is no goal, achievement or purpose. There is only the present moment, and it’s more than good enough. The Sierra Nevada is so perfectly formed, so outstanding, picturesque and sensuous, it’s impossible not to be happy there, and if I’m unhappy, I know it’s because of something that I’ve brought with me, a complexity or conflict, which is on mind. But just by hiking in Yosemite, I’m able to problem solve without working too hard; I just follow my thoughts wherever they lead and the answer eventually arrives. But since I want to enjoy the mountains as they are and not really think about anything at all, I try to deal with issues sooner rather than later, with some success and some failure, always with the best intentions.
Here are two quotes that beautifully summarize these opposing approaches to life and hiking. I found them in an article on resiliency.
Helen Keller: “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.”
Anne Frank: “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.”
Tags: Adventure, Anne Frank, Deanna Lynn Wulff, Happiness, Health, Helen Keller, Hiking, Yosemite
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April 19, 2012 The Answer Really is Blowing in the Wind, but it’s not under a Freeway Overpass
Last night amid roaring street and freeway traffic, I tried to pry open my truck doors while stuck underneath an off-ramp. I had the key, but I couldn’t get in. Why? Because one door was broken into in Berkeley, and the thief pushed the lock in and then took my used climbing gear. The other door simply couldn’t take the repeated freeze-slush-sun cycle of three Colorado ski seasons. It’s rusted and won’t budge. I don’t lock my doors, so I can get in and out of my truck. But while I was off meeting reps from Orion Magazine in downtown San Francisco, a parking attendant helpfully opened my vehicle, locked it and left, accidentally sealing me out in the cold underneath a freeway.
What to do? Think, but not well. Amid the lights, the cars, the continuous blast to the senses, there was no spot to rest my eyes or mind. So I called my sister.
A growing body of studies suggests that if you want to problem solve, just take a walk. But the type of environment that you walk in counts. Before certain cognitive tests, they asked participants to solve problems after either walking on a city street or walking in a natural setting, and the nature walkers performed better. Not only that, but walking in nature helps you solve emotional troubles, too. If you’re considering therapy, you might keep your cash and head for the hills. This falls under the category of obvious news. Thoreau, Emerson, St. Francis of Assisi and Tolstoy have long advocated the power of nature to heal humans both mentally and physically. But now, scientists have gotten into the game and documented the results. People think better, feel better and perform better after they’ve spent time in a natural place.
Under the overpass, I wondered how people make it in San Francisco. I even asked a couple of local writers that night, “How do you manage to get into nature here?” They said, “Oh, there is Golden Gate Park, and there is the ocean.” I shrugged my shoulders, thinking, it really doesn’t seem very natural.
California Oaks in Spring
And I can appreciate the city life; I lived in Buenos Aires for two months, the third loudest city in the world, because I love Tango, the burgeoning streets and the lively vibe. Still, after three weeks, I found the continual chaos overwhelming. I hopped on a plane for Bariloche, went backpacking in the Patagonian Andes and instantly felt better. Even though spray-painted rocks, plastic bags and coke bottles are the Argentine version of trail markers, I was happy to sleep on the ground and rise with the sun.
I managed to get out of SF last night, but only by mangling my key. Good thing the tow truck arrived late, when I was long gone. According to my hip urbanite friends, I live in the sticks, more appropriately, among the sticks. Maybe so, but I’ll take the distant call of a hawk and the smell of oaks and damp grass, as my daily greeting, in exchange for lack of culture. When I got home, I took the dog out among the crickets and sighing night breeze, and it was a sweet relief.
A special thanks to Dr. Sally Augustin for the references in this post.
Tags: Dr. Sally Augustin, Ecotherapy, Emerson, Orion Magazine, Problem Solving, San Francisco, Thoreau, Tolstoy, Walking in Nature
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April 11, 2012 What is a Good Journalist? From Mike Wallace to New Media
Mike Wallace represents a glamorous era when investigative news was a primary bread-winner for television media and not some reality show featuring nearly worthless wanna-be starlets in high heels, and it’s always sad to see something valuable go.
But when I read the New York Times in-depth obituary, I was disturbed by Wallace’s version of journalism. He was known for stealing stories, using hidden cameras, doing ambush interviews, asking questions only to create drama and cornering guests following his trademark, “Forgive me.”
His comments about getting the story first, as integral to good news, is outdated. Any blogger or person with a Twitter account can get there first, and they regularly do. Many newspapers with an online presence will snip and cut facts in order to appear in the lead. I’ve seen this happen, and it isn’t impressive. There are just a few of us, and there seems to be no limit on corruption, so why compete over the same story and try to take credit, when another story is waiting to be told. Perhaps, it’s pressure. I don’t work under a daily deadline, and my stories usually take 4 to 8 weeks to complete.
And I never try to surprise the people I interview, in fact, I go in the other direction. They know what I’m going to say about them, because I tell them, and I give them an opportunity to express themselves. I try to be fair. Why? It doesn’t make sense to trap a person, when we share complex problems that will require us to work together, if we’re going to solve them. Yes, certain people aren’t doing their jobs, they’re not being straight, and they’re playing games with data and language to avoid a hard truth. It’s my job to unwind that. But I let them know what I learn. From there, we can look at solutions. My killer-question is simply, “If not this, then what?” You’d be surprised at how powerful that is.
That’s where new journalism might find its place. It’s not about being first, it’s about providing a public service to increase understanding. People might read the news not just to be informed, but to be elevated. That’s why I read.
In the NY Times article, it mentions the anti-depressants that Wallace was on and his suicide attempt. He and his friends spent their afternoons walking glumly around Martha’s Vineyard as “The Blue Brothers.” I can’t get inside his head to ask why he felt down, but I can guess. If ego, money-making and getting there first came at the expense of his relationships with the public, his four wives and other journalists, he might have ended his days feeling badly, wondering where he went wrong.
New journalism and digital media has the potential to bring us to a more sophisticated place, especially if the dwindling supply of good journalists learn to work together. There is an infinite supply of untold stories out there, which we might more successfully divide and conquer as a team.
Tags: California Investigative News, Good Journalism, Investigation, Mike Wallace, New Media
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May 4, 2012 I’m so glad I drove nine hours and walked three miles across sizzling Death Valley to take a picture of a stupid ladder. Really.
Redwall Canyon in Better Days
Thank you, whoever you are, for making what was hard, so easy…
Because it’s wonderful when you have one last photo to take for your hiking book, and you want every picture in the book to be your own. And this particular spot is so incredibly inconvenient to get to, so out of the way, that it’s been left for last, and I’ve got to go get it right now. And I had to temporarily shelve those two urgent water stories I’m working on, so that I could walk three miles across a dusty wash in the Mojave desert, to that spot where there is a 25-foot dry waterfall, the spot where I fell so many years ago, and just barely missed hitting the ground with my head, if weren’t for that tiny piece of nylon. My old beau dangled his pack over the edge in case I fell, just after we had one of those relationship talks, the kind where you reach an impasse and there is nothing left to say, except Goodbye. But there was one last rescue, which shows just how ambiguous relationships can be. And it’s symbolic, you see, to be dangling off the edge, with just a nylon strap between you and the other person and the other side of things. You know what I mean?
Redwall Canyon with the Ladder and Rope
I couldn’t wait to see it. Would the waterfall be as slick or as mysterious or as tall, as I remembered? Maybe, my mind had colored the canyon differently; maybe, my new eyes would see it as lighter or easier, no big deal, what with all the growth and maturity that I’ve acquired over the last decade. But thank God, someone came out here and built a wooden ladder in that spot, and in case, it wasn’t easy enough, they put a blue rope next to it. Not to worry, if you fall off the ladder, there’s a rope to grab. That way you can’t possibly feel challenged or threatened by the only hard part of this canyon hike. Really, thank you, for making it easy. I will add a caveat to my book, The Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: Hard Hikes for Wild Women, and will consider changing the title to Sometimes Hard Hikes for Girls who want Safety.
The Corkscrew Peak Sign (the only help available)
I had to recover from this. And just to be sure, you hadn’t gotten to Corkscrew Peak and flattened it, or put in a trail or a road to help us out, I bagged it right after. Thankfully, it was just as steep, hard and fun as I remembered, although someone put in a lot of cairns, and I suspect it’s the ranger who left a note in the ammo can at the top to “hike safe.” I placed five business cards in the peak box myself and wrapped them in an American flag. Now, the only way to verify that’s true is to go bag it yourself.
Pardon me now, I have some driving to do.
Tags: Corkscrew Peak, Deanna Lynn Wulff, Death Valley, Hiking, Redwall Canyon, The Girl's Guide to Getting Lost
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April 2, 2012 Who is Minerva? What’s Moxie?
She is also sewn into the uniforms of California’s highway patrolmen. She is present at Caltrans, the Department of Natural Resources, the San Francisco Ferry Building and Civic Center, and the office of the State Controller.
Who is she?
California Seal carved in Gold
She is the Roman goddess of wisdom, worshipped prominently as a goddess of all activities involving mental adeptness, such as writing, music, medicine and art. Today, she is the center feature in California’s state seal. At her feet, she has a grizzly bear, the Sacramento River flowing out from the Sierra Nevada and clusters of grapes and wheat, representing California’s abundant wildlife and agriculture. Above her head is the word Eureka, meaning “I have found it.” According to myth, Minerva sprung full-grown from the head of Jupiter, and many suggest California was born the same way, because it became a state without having to go through a territorial stage. Adopting the seal with Minerva’s image came with much conflict. According to the Capitol museum, Senator Mariano Vallejo believed the bear should appear only if being captured and lassoed by a cowboy. In the end, the delegates overcame their differences and established her presence on the seal on October 2, 1849. And now Minerva is the symbol of California.
Minerva's Moxie Pose
Why moxie?
If you don’t know what moxie is, you’ll soon find out. Moxie is force of character, determination, skill and courage. It is an essential quality required for outdoor exploring, reporting and detailed investigating.
Life on the trail can be challenging. It can rain or snow when you don’t expect it, and you can get blisters and sore muscles after a long day. But if you soldier on, you grow stronger, more savvy. In journalism, it’s the same. It can take an entire month of chasing down experts to verify a single fact, but those hard-won facts have power. It took me almost two months to clearly articulate the public trust recommendations for the rivers flowing into the California’s Bay-Delta, and I was close to tears more than a few times. Trying to find clarity in law, politics and poorly-worded statistics is difficult. It’s moxie that kept me going. And it’s moxie that led me to take a closer look at the costs associated with the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan’s Tunnel Conveyance Project.
An update to these stories will soon follow.
Tags: Adventure, California Investigative News, Deanna Lynn Wulff, Hiking, Minerva, Moxie, Pubic Trust Recommendations, The California Bay-Delta., The Girl's Guide to Getting Lost
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