D is getting packed for New Orleans. She's leaving for the College English Association conference. There, daytime highs will be in the 80s. Not so here.
I was chatting earlier today with Thomas Dean, Director of the Iowa Project on Place Studies. A fine man, very willing to chat. We veered close to ecpoetry and ecomposition from time to time, but mostly talked about ecocriticism and, as luck would have it, place-based curriculum, and the people who do those things. It's refreshing to have a discussion in which "wilderness" is problematized without reaching for continental philosophy. That is, we kept speaking of specific places and trying to engage with the particular issues of that place and the flora and fauna thereon (including the various large apes).
As we were in this discussion, I kept thinking that I need to review more current poetry books for the Schooner, and I'd love to find some ecopoets to work on. Maybe I'll meet people with tasty books at ASLE. Note to self: write that paper. I'll try to develop thoughts in this space.
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