Thank you for this. Your newsletter continues to be one of the few I read immediately. It's a needed bracing tonic against the "hellish encroachment we allow gigantic and evil extractive corporations to inflict on the things we all need to survive⁵ more than we need things like Google searches and TikTok and day trading."
In my 35 years of living in Idaho, the last straw was the neighbors who smiled at me as they walked their dogs and also installed two very tall poles in their yard to fly their Fuck Biden and Make America Great Again flags. I can’t explain why that, of all the things that have happened over those decades, made me decide to leave. It just was.
I just don't understand the cultish behavior this flag stuff displays. It's asinine and frightening. I miss the days when people flexed their toughness through their choices in sports teams!
Your words resonate with me. I live in Idaho, and you nailed it.
I also became a grandpa on June 9th and wondered what this World would be like for my granddaughter. Can I share what beautiful places I have experienced in the West, Idaho?
Yes.
I recently wrote a poem called Seasons of Noise, which I read at my city council meeting during public comment. The poem is about the noise of land and water power craft every season and the sounds of wildlife and birds being silenced. Seasons of recreation become seasons of noise and seasons of loss. One council member emailed me the next day and said he got the message.
I wrote an essay based on the poem and sent it to CMarie. I am glad I did before I sent it off. "This essay is filled with anger and remorse, of course it is, because you feel that." CMarie gave me some excellent writing advice and examples of how I could write about things in a way that doesn't feel like an attack, a different approach.
I thought about CMarie's advice for a few days, wrote a few new poems, and then started a new essay.
After reading your words today, I learned another writing approach. Thank you.
Sounds like it was a trip to remember despite all the "encroachments" and reminders of the idle rich (three private airstrips is four too many IMO 😂). Thrilled to hear that four folks were able to attend with the funds raised this spring and thank you for the reminder (by way of Jess Housty) that all of us are intrinsic to the thriving and abundance around us.
Yes, yes, and yes. So glad you got to sleep underneath the stars. Go easy on yourself as you embark on this book tour and try to exhale as much as you can taking it all in. This is such a special time. 🏹✨
Re: "I’m awfully judgmental and recognize it as a deeply “me” problem but man, would I have preferred to wait to see all that." - I see something fascinating here, as I've also experienced this sort of whiplash from immersive (and usually analog) experiences. What would our world be like if more of us were keen to savor that liminal transition after river float trips, cross-desert mountain bike rides (I was blessed to go on one in Canyonlands in 2022 and it remains one of my favorite weeks of my life), even an hour on a car ride in between cell service ranges? We plan and prepare so much for these circumstances, and then we zoom through and past them almost without realizing what happened.
My partner's brother married this weekend at a low-key home ceremony and reception, and I was so grateful they had a wedding photographer there to document it, so that none of us felt obligated and could just *be in it* (though some folks wanted their own photos, and that's their prerogative). I think I touched my phone maybe three times the entire night, instead running around figuring out random quandaries, and dancing with toddlers, and witnessing a cursed contest of shotgunning beers, and holding down the chuppah as a storm blew sososo close (then followed with a DOUBLE RAINBOW as its blessing for this beautiful gay wedding at the end of Pride Month). I had been so nervous for a week or two leading up to the wedding that it would be chaos at worst, awkward at best, and it was just really lovely the whole way through. And I was frankly grateful to sit and sometimes talk with my partner in the car for 4+ hours today, driving home through spotty cell service and stupid traffic, digesting the weekend from the quietude of the passenger seat, before returning to chores and work and life's mundanities.
P.S. As for footnote #4 - thanks for sharing, that's a curious observation indeed. I wonder, if there was a male-ID'd-only trip offered, if there would be interest; or if these trips' introspective theme ends up being femme-coded anyways (which, love that for the femmes and thems, but we all need these experiences from time to time). Just my two armchair expert cents.
Hmm, I wonder indeed. Regardless, they sound like fantastic voyages, and (not that this would help your numbers, ha) I'd love to make it one of these years!
Big Chill #3... July, 2007... ten of us, five men, five women, connected by one Ohio college... all of us 60 years old, but a young 60. The kayak is my favorite water toy. The Salmon River whitewater dumped me three times. Ice cold water felt just right on a 100-degree day. Our three guides and cooks deserved every penny of the 100-dollar tip from each of the ten of us. Exhilarating camaraderie.
In every piece you send I find a thread I want to pull at. In this instance it is the poem you posted at the end. I've spent some time this evening learning a bit more about Jess Housty. I'm looking forward to reading their book. Always so happy to find an email from you in my inbox. Thank you.
Thanks for this Chris. Having just been there myself to visit a brother in Grangeville, I had many similar reactions, and your take on the region resonated with my experiences. Eat your Wheaties (or equivalent) & rest up for the book tour.
Thank you for your writing. That transition back to the world of screens and cell service is always a hard one, and reading this makes me want to go out on the trail for a few days right now. I love that poem you included by Jess Housty, too - thank you for the introduction to her work and words!
Oh, Chris, you came through my backyard - Grangeville! Such a lovely drive on hwys 13 and 12 along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers to Lolo Pass. I often think of what this region must've been like when only the Nez Perce lived here. Idaho is oppressively red politically for us sane residents. Neighbors recently hung a new flag featuring Trump's head on a Rambo body holding an AR-15. Who are these people?! And worse, what do they want for our country? At least they're identifying themselves so I can avoid them. I'm so glad you had a chance to sleep on the ground beside the wild and scenic Salmon, even if you were working all week. And to wake early and listen to the pre-dawn sounds. Carry those moments into your busy days ahead.
Chris, I loved the poem! I visited the website of Free Flow and finally learned that it is named for Frank Church who was a hero of my family and of those who were Unitarians of that era. His son, Forrester Church, was minister of All Souls Church in New York. Sadly he too died early with esophageal cancer. They were a family dedicated to improving the lives of people and the land. How I wish we had more congressmen who were willing to work together for the betterment of all. I’m afraid that until BIG MONEY is taken out of the equation we will only improve the lives of corporations and the wealthy who seem never to have enough profit. Those signs you and Laura spoke of infuriate me. It true that the majority of people vote against their own best interest. I am scared for our country! Sorry to get into politics but it affects (?) all our lives. Love your writing!
I love to hear this. It puts some context desperately needed for the name of a place that was certainly called something different for thousands and thousands of years by people forced out to make room for settlers.
Thank you for this. Your newsletter continues to be one of the few I read immediately. It's a needed bracing tonic against the "hellish encroachment we allow gigantic and evil extractive corporations to inflict on the things we all need to survive⁵ more than we need things like Google searches and TikTok and day trading."
In my 35 years of living in Idaho, the last straw was the neighbors who smiled at me as they walked their dogs and also installed two very tall poles in their yard to fly their Fuck Biden and Make America Great Again flags. I can’t explain why that, of all the things that have happened over those decades, made me decide to leave. It just was.
I just don't understand the cultish behavior this flag stuff displays. It's asinine and frightening. I miss the days when people flexed their toughness through their choices in sports teams!
Miigwech for reading, Vicki!
Thank you for There is Hurt in the World.
Your words resonate with me. I live in Idaho, and you nailed it.
I also became a grandpa on June 9th and wondered what this World would be like for my granddaughter. Can I share what beautiful places I have experienced in the West, Idaho?
Yes.
I recently wrote a poem called Seasons of Noise, which I read at my city council meeting during public comment. The poem is about the noise of land and water power craft every season and the sounds of wildlife and birds being silenced. Seasons of recreation become seasons of noise and seasons of loss. One council member emailed me the next day and said he got the message.
I wrote an essay based on the poem and sent it to CMarie. I am glad I did before I sent it off. "This essay is filled with anger and remorse, of course it is, because you feel that." CMarie gave me some excellent writing advice and examples of how I could write about things in a way that doesn't feel like an attack, a different approach.
I thought about CMarie's advice for a few days, wrote a few new poems, and then started a new essay.
After reading your words today, I learned another writing approach. Thank you.
I appreciate you reading, David! ✊🏽
Sounds like it was a trip to remember despite all the "encroachments" and reminders of the idle rich (three private airstrips is four too many IMO 😂). Thrilled to hear that four folks were able to attend with the funds raised this spring and thank you for the reminder (by way of Jess Housty) that all of us are intrinsic to the thriving and abundance around us.
We had space for five but the fifth backed out the morning-of due to illness. It was great to have the folks along that we did, though.
Yes, yes, and yes. So glad you got to sleep underneath the stars. Go easy on yourself as you embark on this book tour and try to exhale as much as you can taking it all in. This is such a special time. 🏹✨
❤️
Re: "I’m awfully judgmental and recognize it as a deeply “me” problem but man, would I have preferred to wait to see all that." - I see something fascinating here, as I've also experienced this sort of whiplash from immersive (and usually analog) experiences. What would our world be like if more of us were keen to savor that liminal transition after river float trips, cross-desert mountain bike rides (I was blessed to go on one in Canyonlands in 2022 and it remains one of my favorite weeks of my life), even an hour on a car ride in between cell service ranges? We plan and prepare so much for these circumstances, and then we zoom through and past them almost without realizing what happened.
My partner's brother married this weekend at a low-key home ceremony and reception, and I was so grateful they had a wedding photographer there to document it, so that none of us felt obligated and could just *be in it* (though some folks wanted their own photos, and that's their prerogative). I think I touched my phone maybe three times the entire night, instead running around figuring out random quandaries, and dancing with toddlers, and witnessing a cursed contest of shotgunning beers, and holding down the chuppah as a storm blew sososo close (then followed with a DOUBLE RAINBOW as its blessing for this beautiful gay wedding at the end of Pride Month). I had been so nervous for a week or two leading up to the wedding that it would be chaos at worst, awkward at best, and it was just really lovely the whole way through. And I was frankly grateful to sit and sometimes talk with my partner in the car for 4+ hours today, driving home through spotty cell service and stupid traffic, digesting the weekend from the quietude of the passenger seat, before returning to chores and work and life's mundanities.
P.S. As for footnote #4 - thanks for sharing, that's a curious observation indeed. I wonder, if there was a male-ID'd-only trip offered, if there would be interest; or if these trips' introspective theme ends up being femme-coded anyways (which, love that for the femmes and thems, but we all need these experiences from time to time). Just my two armchair expert cents.
I appreciate all of this, Lucy. Miigwech!
As for trip composition, I'm told all the other Freeflow ones tend to run about 60/40 female/male, so mine are the consistent anomaly. So who knows.
Hmm, I wonder indeed. Regardless, they sound like fantastic voyages, and (not that this would help your numbers, ha) I'd love to make it one of these years!
🤞🏽
That poem. Perfect.
The entire book is like that.
Big Chill #3... July, 2007... ten of us, five men, five women, connected by one Ohio college... all of us 60 years old, but a young 60. The kayak is my favorite water toy. The Salmon River whitewater dumped me three times. Ice cold water felt just right on a 100-degree day. Our three guides and cooks deserved every penny of the 100-dollar tip from each of the ten of us. Exhilarating camaraderie.
The water was perfectly chill.
Love that poem! Thanks for sharing it!
Thanks for reading it!
In every piece you send I find a thread I want to pull at. In this instance it is the poem you posted at the end. I've spent some time this evening learning a bit more about Jess Housty. I'm looking forward to reading their book. Always so happy to find an email from you in my inbox. Thank you.
Ah, I'm so glad that you are going to check out Housty's work. I love it. 💚
Thanks for this Chris. Having just been there myself to visit a brother in Grangeville, I had many similar reactions, and your take on the region resonated with my experiences. Eat your Wheaties (or equivalent) & rest up for the book tour.
I haven't had Wheaties in ages. But I might!
Your newsletter always brightens my day by inviting me to think deeply about the world. Thank you!
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for your writing. That transition back to the world of screens and cell service is always a hard one, and reading this makes me want to go out on the trail for a few days right now. I love that poem you included by Jess Housty, too - thank you for the introduction to her work and words!
I appreciate you reading! 💚
Don't have my words today, but wanted to say everything about your post is so good. 💚 🌿
✊🏽
Oh, Chris, you came through my backyard - Grangeville! Such a lovely drive on hwys 13 and 12 along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers to Lolo Pass. I often think of what this region must've been like when only the Nez Perce lived here. Idaho is oppressively red politically for us sane residents. Neighbors recently hung a new flag featuring Trump's head on a Rambo body holding an AR-15. Who are these people?! And worse, what do they want for our country? At least they're identifying themselves so I can avoid them. I'm so glad you had a chance to sleep on the ground beside the wild and scenic Salmon, even if you were working all week. And to wake early and listen to the pre-dawn sounds. Carry those moments into your busy days ahead.
I'm absolutely carrying them. 💚
Your very welcome
Chris, I loved the poem! I visited the website of Free Flow and finally learned that it is named for Frank Church who was a hero of my family and of those who were Unitarians of that era. His son, Forrester Church, was minister of All Souls Church in New York. Sadly he too died early with esophageal cancer. They were a family dedicated to improving the lives of people and the land. How I wish we had more congressmen who were willing to work together for the betterment of all. I’m afraid that until BIG MONEY is taken out of the equation we will only improve the lives of corporations and the wealthy who seem never to have enough profit. Those signs you and Laura spoke of infuriate me. It true that the majority of people vote against their own best interest. I am scared for our country! Sorry to get into politics but it affects (?) all our lives. Love your writing!
I love to hear this. It puts some context desperately needed for the name of a place that was certainly called something different for thousands and thousands of years by people forced out to make room for settlers.