Red Rock Stories

03/06/2017

A new poem from Joel Long to cure those Monday blues.

by Joel Long MAP TO TAYLOR CREEK Begin at moonset. Lose your feet in the dark. Find water, how it feels on your skin, how it sounds—you walk into it. Shadows grow wine, grow rust on iron. The moon drops in a pocket at the base of your skull.

02/21/2017

A recent visit to Arches NP reminded me of the value of easy trails and short walks. Everyone was out of their cars and sharing their wonder at the sandstone formations. While I usually opt for remote trails and solitude, community does a soul some good too!

01/24/2017

Today I am reminded of Chip Ward's musings on the current conflicts between those Stegner labeled as "boomers" and "nesters":

"That division between boomers and nesters is, of course, too simple. All of us have the urge to consume and move, as well as the urge to nest, so our choices are rarely clear or final. Ecological citizenship is the struggle to choose wisely and to live with each other’s choices. Today, that struggle is intensifying in the American West as heat-parched forests ignite, reservoirs dry up, and sparse mountain snow is ever more stained with blowing dust."

Ward was writing about Bears Ears, but his observation applies to other struggles too. Let us always strive to choose wisely.

The honey, bone, and amber-toned canyons in my Utah backyard are a magnet for tourists, drawn by the beauty of light on stone. I live at the gateway to the Colorado Plateau’s wild canyons, places like Capitol Reef, the Bear Ears, and Cedar Mesa. Tourism and recreation are the lifeblood of the local…

01/20/2017

“So, show up. Call the members of your congressional delegation, no matter how conservative. Taking action will jolt you right back from the brink of despair. And you may surprise yourself as you, too, begin to organize and speak out and lead.” Stephen Trimble, “Letter to America” Terrain.org

March tomorrow. March Monday. Show up.

Guest Editorial Dear America, Democracy is crisis driven, and this is a crisis. This man we elected, an Obscurus, a dark wizard whipping up a frenzy of poisonous lies, will be vanquished. I believe that facts vanquish lies. America is better than he is, and he won’t serve four years. How do we …

01/13/2017

Lovely piece uniting literature and environmental science in the NYT last weekend. Stager, a science educator and author of this essay, is working with students to "read" the sediments at the bottom of Walden Pond. Is anyone doing similar work in the red rock desert? Let us hear about it!

Centuries of sediments deposited on the bottom of the pond made famous by Thoreau tell a story of pollution and climate change.

01/13/2017

Write. Submit. Let us gather, unified, our voices. Submit your stories, your poems, your heart to Red Rock Stories.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN14V1EP

President-elect Donald Trump aims to open up federal lands to more energy development, tapping into a long-running and contentious debate over how best to manage America’s remaining wilderness.

01/12/2017

Remember that post-election resolution to give more? Perhaps you renewed that resolution on New Year’s Eve? With each passing day we learn there’s more work to be done. Today is the day. Give.

My wife, Joanne, and I spent some time researching the best charities to fund the good fight in the Age of Trump. Here’s our list of top…

11/14/2016

Red Rock Stories is also on Instagram. Pretty photos, inspiring words, updates, and all things Colorado Plateau.

Photo by Stephen Trimble

11/02/2016

Meet Michael Engelhard. He's a writer/author, anthropologist, and wilderness guide. He lives in Alaska; works in the Arctic. He wrote a story for Red Rock Stories. You can read it here:

http://www.redrockstories.org/last-fifteen-miles-michael-engelhard

11/02/2016

An excerpt from Red Rock Testimonies:

then the awakening with the break into light
only to recognize the separation between aye and I
and remain standing above the lake’s great eye
wondering: what next? while deep in the mind’s ear
between the anvil and stirrup of memory

-Prelude | David Lee

Read the full poem here

http://www.redrockstories.org/stories/2016/6/19/prelude-david-lee

Prelude: Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit. And the Voice said, “Moses did not go to an oil well derrick to receive the Law and the Tablets, and Jesus did not go to a fracking site to give The Sermon, and Buddha most certainly did not sit under a pump jack to experience the vision that changed…

10/31/2016

Read the stories and see art submissions here:

http://www.redrockstories.org/stories/

10/31/2016

Call for submissions! Send us your writing, photos, videos, art, music, audio – anything that conveys your love of the Colorado Plateau.

http://www.redrockstories.org/submit/