Tag: essays

‘Erosion’ by Terry Tempest Williams

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books

Erosion came out in 2019. My apologies for not mentioning here sooner. Perhaps my bias in favor of Williams’ activism and writing made me too cautious to talk about it as though I might inadvertently “oversell it.”

Wikipedia provides a quick overview of her life and work: “Terry Tempest Williams (born 8 September 1955), is an American writer, educator, conservationist, and activist. Williams’ writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of Utah. Her work focuses on social and environmental justice ranging from issues of ecology and the protection of public lands and wildness, to women’s health, to exploring our relationship to culture and nature. She writes in the genre of creative nonfiction and the lyrical essay.” You can learn more on her website here.

From the Publisher

“Timely and unsettling essays from an important and beloved writer and conservationist

“In Erosion, Terry Tempest Williams’s fierce, spirited, and magnificent essays are a howl in the desert. She sizes up the continuing assaults on America’s public lands and the erosion of our commitment to the open space of democracy. She asks: “How do we find the strength to not look away from all that is breaking our hearts?”

“We know the elements of erosion: wind, water, and time. They have shaped the spectacular physical landscape of our nation. Here, Williams bravely and brilliantly explores the many forms of erosion we face: of democracy, science, compassion, and trust. She examines the dire cultural and environmental implications of the gutting of Bear Ears National Monument―sacred lands to Native Peoples of the American Southwest; of the undermining of the Endangered Species Act; of the relentless press by the fossil fuel industry that has led to a panorama in which “oil rigs light up the horizon.” And she testifies that the climate crisis is not an abstraction, offering as evidence the drought outside her door and, at times, within herself.

“These essays are Williams’s call to action, blazing a way forward through difficult and dispiriting times. We will find new territory―emotional, geographical, communal. The erosion of desert lands exposes the truth of change. What has been weathered, worn, and whittled away is as powerful as what remains. Our undoing is also our becoming.

“Erosion is a book for this moment, political and spiritual at once, written by one of our greatest naturalists, essayists, and defenders of the environment. She reminds us that beauty is its own form of resistance, and that water can crack stone.”

–

“Williams makes a poignant connection between the political and the personal . . . If Williams’s haunting, powerful and brave book can be summed up in one line of advice it would be this: try to stare down the grief of everyday life, speak out and find solace in the boundless beauty of nature.” ―Diane Ackerman, The New York Times Book Review

–Malcolm

New Title: ‘I’m Tired of Racism: True Stories of Existing While Black’ by Sharon Hurley Hall

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, racism, writing2 Comments

Writer and educator, Sharon Hurley Hall (Exploring Shadeism), released this book of essays on October 1, bringing the information and wisdom of her Anti-Racism Newsletter to a wider audience.

From the Publisher

To feel empathy, you need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. If the experiences of racism in a white supremacist system seem too far away from your daily reality, I’m Tired of Racism will change that. If you think of racism as something that only happens where you are, I’m Tired of Racism will change that, too. And if you’re wondering how you can be a true ally and avoid performative nonsense, this book is an excellent starting point.

“I’m Tired of Racism” collects many of Sharon Hurley Hall’s anti-racism essays, sharing her global perspective on racism, anti-racism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy, born out of experiences in the Caribbean, the UK, the US, and elsewhere. Hurley Hall has lived and worked in multiple countries, enabling her to accurately reflect what’s the same and what’s different about experiences of racism in different locations.

The foreword, by Ashanti Maya Martin, says: “Because Sharon’s experience is rooted in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Europe, she’s able to tell us how the U.S. looks from the outside in (not great at the moment), and explain how even being a citizen of a Black-majority country comes with its own layered burdens rooted in colonialism and white supremacy.”

The book is available on Kindle and in hardcover. The audiobook and paperback editions will be available soon. I have known Sharon online for possibly 20 years and look forward to seeing her newsletter in my in-basket.

Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of the Florida Folk Magic Series about a conjure woman fighting the KKK in a 1950s-era town in the Florida Panhandle. The series begins with “Conjure Woman’s Cat.”