Ecotone climate issue launch
tonight online from 6-7 (see you there?)
Hi, Frog Troublers—this is a special, short Thursday post, splitting the difference between Tuesday and Friday. Bea and I will be back with more craft, river, and book posts next week. I’m still catching up from having Covid, finishing grades and end of the semester work, and getting ready for NC State’s English department graduation tomorrow.
But I wanted to tell you about a special reading tonight with the folks from Ecotone, one of my favorite literary journals (maybe my very favorite), which happens to be based right here in North Carolina, at UNC-Wilmington’s MFA program.
In ecology, an ecotone is a transitional area between two biological places, a place that is often richest in biodiversity and life. Ecotone has that feeling of transition—a place of liminality, risk, and possibility—as well as an impressively wide range of responses to place. Every issue has a surprise, and often a little something extra—a postcard or other beautifully made something that the amazing editors, designers, and MFA students put together. I’ve opened Ecotone before, delighted to find the work of an ornithologist friend I wasn’t expecting to see there, or a stunning poem from a writer new to me. The current issue, focused on climate, includes stories, poetry, essays, artwork and graphic storytelling, and an explication, by USGS research ecologist Adam Terando, of this NOAA history of atmospheric carbon on Earth.
Adam will speak tonight at the launch of this issue, as will Pritha Bhattacharyya, Emily Kevlin, and Bernardo Wade. I’ll be there too, reading a passage from “Unreliable Narrators.” You are invited, and also welcome to invite others. Just use this link around 6PM: https://ecotonemagazine.org/news-and-events/join-us-for-the-climate-issue-launch-party-may-5/
Also, following the devastating news on Tuesday about the Supreme Court’s likely overnturn of Roe, I began a sustaining (monthly) donation to Carolina Abortion Fund, which provides funding, transportation support, and other resources to people in the carolinas who need abortions. You can give as little as $5 a month, and 100% of your donation goes directly to helping patients access care in the Carolinas. As CAF reminds us, the South has been post-Roe for a long time—TRAP laws, long mandated waiting times, and few providers means that many people go without the healthcare they need, including abortions. Despite this devastating impending ruling, people have their appointments tomorrow, and next week, and the week after that. To donate to Carolina Abortion Fund, click here. If you’d like to donate to the national network of abortion funds or find the group closest to you, click here.
Bea and I will see you next week, Frog Troublers! Stay safe and keep your heads up. We love you!
