Rattan Ensō

Six different species of rattan cane rolled up and carefully laid out on the Ledo Road in Shimbweyeng, Kachin State, Myanmar (see Packing Up In Shimbweyeng). Love the different colors and sizes. Reminds me of those Zen circles (ensōs) that symbolize "a moment when the mind is completely spacious and unfettered and true reality is allowed to manifest itself". Which may or may not describe my state of mind in January 2005 after finishing up six weeks of fieldwork in the Hukaung Valley (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey). 

OTS Specialty Course

I am co-teaching an OTS (Organization for Tropical Studies) course on palms this summer at the Las Cruces Biological Station in Costa Rica. My part will focus on the conservation and management of wild palm populations.  Should be fun. [NOTE: Contact andres.santana@ots.cr if you would like to learn a little more about palms and have some free time in late May-early June].

Blizzard?

Well, it wasn't the largest blizzard in the history of New York, and we didn't get two to three feet of snow, and there weren't 50 to 60 mph winds with tree limbs and power lines crashing down – and I am grateful for all of these things. We did, however, get 5 to 6 inches of fluffy white snow, it's 28 degrees outside, and my Adirondack chair is no longer an inviting reading spot. Minor inconveniences. And the snow is really beautiful.  

Ansel Adams

Gelatin silver print of Ansel Adams taken by Williard Van Dyke. From the Oakland Museum of California (see Oakland Museum of California).Van Dyke recalled that Adams was suffering from a hangover at the time (1933) of the photograph.

Drawing Histograms

Sitting on the front porch of U Aung Than's house in Nam Sabi taking advantage of the light provided by his generator. U Myint Thein (see Collaboration) draws diameter-distribution histograms using data from the first two inventory transects from the VMA (see VMA Inventory) to present in the village meeting that will happen in about 15 minutes - or as soon as we finish the histograms. Daw Myint Myint Oo looks on and checks for errors while I flip through the data sheets and try to find all the big thin bone trees (see Measuring the Diameter of a Tree). [NOTE: I guess Sein Day Le took the photo (thx)].

Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay

Large Cosco barge loaded with containers gliding through the San Francisco Bay. I was on my way back from Alcatraz (See Alcatraz). Wasting time. Go here to listen to Otis Redding offer a more soulful description of this lovely place.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (From the Archive)

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The sharp boundary between the park and the agricultural fields reflects the continual tension between forest conservation and local livelihoods in the region.

In the Bwindi forest.  That's me in the left foreground.  That's a silverback mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) shown inside the white circle.  A large female is also visible in the lower right of the image.  [NOTE: Both images are scans from slides; the second one was taken by Chris Davey]

In October of 2001, Tony Cunningham and I did a workshop on ecology and resource management for the wardens and park staff at the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in southwestern Uganda.  About half of the world's population of Mountain Gorillas lives in these forests.  After finishing the workshop, the park managers graciously allowed us to accompany a team of Batwa trackers who had been following a group of gorillas for several months.  The trackers were working to gradually habituate the gorillas so that they could be observed and studied by scientists.   After several hours, we located the study group and were able to get unbelievably (uncomfortably) close to some of the most elusive, threatened, and noble creatures in the world. [NOTE: Although I appreciate the potential scientific benefits of habituation, I question the logic of training gorillas to not be afraid of the one thing that they definitely should fear, i.e. human beings.

This Is Water

A wonderful video of David Foster Wallace's unique commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005. Lot of wisdom in these words. Choose wisely. [NOTE: DFW's commencement speech, the only one he ever gave, is also available as a book, "This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life"]. 

Measuring the Diameter of a Tree

I guess there's also a koan (see Mu) associated with this photo from the recent inventory work in the Nam Sabi Village Management Area (see VMA Inventory). How many people does it take to measure the diameter of a thin bone (Dipterocarpus sp.) tree? [NOTE: Seems a little higher than DBH to my eye, but that's not part of the koan].

Mu

A monk asked Chao-chou, "Does a dog have buddha nature or not?" Chao-chou said, "Mu". Mu is a Japanese word meaning "no", "not", "nothing" or "non-". That's all. And like this, Zen's most important "breakthrough" koan came to life.

The Book of Mu compiles contributions from forty teachers, both ancient and modern, to address the issue of that dog and its Buddhanature.  Doesn't really matter if you are currently working on this koan, i.e. "striving to penetrate the Mu obstruction", or not–this is a terrific book. From the Introduction: "An expression of the boundless nature of all things and how that boundlessness interacts, informs, and completes the particularities of our lives". Maybe not for everyone. But definitely everyone. [NOTE: Love the dog on the cover, "Blizzard Dog" by Kate Hartland].