All Posts

Every year, BirdLife South Africa, a non-profit bird conservation organization, hosts an annual event known as Birding Big Day (BBD). This year marked the 40th anniversary of the event, and I was here for it.

Every year, BirdLife South Africa, a non-profit bird conservation organization, hosts an annual event known as Birding Big Day (BBD). This year marked the 40th anniversary of the event, and I was here for it.

My happiest birthdays are spent traveling. If you had asked me a year ago where I would be spending this one, South Africa would not have made my top ten guesses.

The most remarkable part of the day was being on foot looking at dung and tracks when two curious giraffes came out to look at us. I can’t even express what it was like; feeling so incredibly small to their tall bodies.

We spent the afternoon identifying tracks, learning to distinguish male and female tracks for certain species, and following their tracks.

Each night I sleep in a heavy canvas tent on a raised platform with one other tent about 3 yards away. My tent has a raised bed, end table, and camping torch. We have an open air common area kitchen where Chef Sibi cooks us three meals a day, and all the large bugs like to slam into the light at night flying across the kitchen.

2 December 2024: Brighton Beach bluff, Durban, South Africa Three flights, one very long layover, and 43 hours later, enjoying this amazing view before I go pass out for the evening. So happy to be here. A day to relax before heading into the bush.

Just because Anne, Viola, and Auntie Em’s librarian skills seemed to tame, or dare she think, transform the monsters, she was not stupid. She exercised an abundance of caution before going into the stacks to pull the holds. She strapped on a fanny pack that held a few knives and a pistol, and tucked a … Continue reading Z District: Part II

The Last Front. The Last Library Surrounded by Chaos. Today was like every morning. Anne strode in with no fanfare, no notice. It was the early hours of the morning, the sun peeking out from among the former high rise buildings in the city. She wore her usual blood red ankle boots, her long skirt … Continue reading Z District: Part I

I’ve been reading Boyd Varty’s “The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life,” and finding many poignant observations. One in particular was about imagination. Varty points to early humans needing a keen sense of awareness for survival. Being acutely aware of each sound, smell, and sight, they were more easily able to track animals. A track that … Continue reading What Makes Humans Different

Ahimsa is being non-violent to all living things. It does not ignore the suffering. Spiritual bypassing is a big issue in the yoga and new age community. It ignores and dismisses the plights of the suffering by “rising above it.” By ignoring your fellow human, you replace Christian tactics of believing bad things happen to … Continue reading The Ahimsa of Yoga

It has been 250 days since at least 62% of women across the country took up a protest so unthinkable that the far-right faction of white men have been reeling and thinking of every way possible to quash it. The sixty-two percenters, as they are now known, made a pact that would make women across time applaud.