As a nonfiction writer, I have always wanted to capture the things that I feel are most beautiful and amazing in the world — icy night air, white moonlight, the mouse chewing somewhere in my kitchen wall tonight. When I was 18, I longed to capture the fragrance of the canyon near my house — savory sagebrush, sweet buckwheat — so I could smell them always. I filled my coat pockets with their crumbled up flowers when I went East for college, and kept my pockets filled all winter, pulling out a handful to smell when I needed to reconnect with the earth, or with my self. I could never capture that smell in words, though that was my ultimate wish. Not for a lack of trying.
I keep trying.
This video lives on my computer — courage, a few bracing words. Buck up, mate! Don’t quit. Try again!
This advice is from Ira Glass and was on Joy Chu’s Got Story blog a few months ago. It is audio-visual courage. Thank you, Ira, Joy, and the wonderful video producer who turned Ira’s words into visual poetry.
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Nature Explorer 