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“Action is the antidote to despair.” – Joan Baez
When Women Were Birds
22 | Embrace the Season of Your Life 28 | A Tribute to the Late Phyllis Diller 31
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When Women Were Birds A Conversation with Terry Tempest Williams on Finding Her Voice WRITTEN BY June Pace
“Hope dares us to stare the miraculous in the eye and have the courage not to look away.” One of the most eloquent and passionate voices writing today about social and environmental challenges facing the West, and the world, Terry’s body of work, and her life itself, defies categorization. She also defies the stereotypical labels that usually accompany writers on these issues. The titles of her books speak to the breadth of her interests and passions: Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert; Leap; The Open Space of Democracy and Finding Beauty in a Broken World. Her life has been a rich tapestry of family, writing, teaching, travel, working as a naturalist, and being a strong advocate for justice and freedom of speech. She has testified before Congress on women’s health issues, been a guest at the White House, worked as a teacher, camped extensively in remote regions of the West, and worked as a “barefoot artist” in Rwanda. A fourth-generation Mormon and a Utah native, she has been an outspoken voice for ecological consciousness and social change. In 2011, The Community of Christ International Peace Award was awarded to Terry in recognition of her significant peacemaking vision, advocacy and action. Terry is a recipient of numerous honors and awards for her writing and activism some of which include the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West, a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative fiction and a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association. The list goes on... Currently the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah, Terry and her husband, Brooke, divide their time between Castle Valley, Utah and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I caught up with Terry recently to discuss the release of her new book, When Women Were Birds. We also talked about her thoughts on the current political scene and her unfailing commitment to hope for the future.
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Photo by Debra Anderson. opportunity
Title WRITTEN BY name | PHOTO BY name
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how I have come to my own voice through the voices of my mother, my grandmothers, and the women who have inspired me. My Mother’s Journals are a generosity. My Mother’s Journals are a cruelty. My Mother’s Journals tell me nothing. My Mother’s Journals tell me everything. My Mother’s Journals are a celebration of the empty page waiting to be written. You come from a background where your family made its livelihood from the land. Four generations of the Tempest family, including your father, John, dug trenches throughout the west putting in natural gas lines, water lines, etc. You’ve said that “This is a typical story of Westerners, how we build community through change.” Knowing as the population continues to grow and such infrastructure will continue to be needed, what would you like to see from local and state-wide government attitudes towards inevitable development?
Photo by Louis Gakumba.
Tell me about your new book, “When Women Were Birds.” What prompted you to write it?
TTW: Yes, I am very proud of my family’s role in creating the infrastructure of the American West through the work of The Tempest Company, now in its fourth generation. The men in my family from my great grandfather to my grandfather to my father and uncle, brothers and cousins, all have a tremendous love and respect for the land. They have walked thousands of miles walking the trenches of pipelines carrying water and natural gas to local communities. Of course, there have been times when our political philosophies have been at odds with one another, be it running gas lines through prairie dog communities or being shutdown over the Endangered Species Act concerning the fragile ecosystem of the desert tortoise.
TTW: When Women Were Birds is a book about voice. It asks the question, “What is voice? How do we find our voice and use it, honor it and speak our truths with respect?” Not an easy path for most women, certainly not an easy path for me. Before my mother died, she told me that she was leaving me her journals, but that I must promise her I would not open them until she was gone. I gave her my word. A week later she died. A month later, I found myself in the family house alone. I thought, “Now is the time to read my mother’s journals.” They were exactly where she said they would be, three shelves of beautifully bound cloth journals. Each one unique, some floral, some paisley, some solid colors. I opened the first journal, it was empty. I opened the second journal, it was empty. I opened the third journal, it too was empty, as was the fourth, the fifth, the sixth. Shelf after shelf after shelf, all of my mother’s journals were blank.
But we are family and we love the American West. We love each other. We respect one another’s opinions, even when we disagree and we try to allow a sense of humor to surround our differences. We live in a living and breathing democracy. We make choices. We vote. And we are forever engaged in an ongoing conversation about what it means to live in place. What we all agree on is that freedom in the West is primary and water is part of that freedom, how we choose to allocate water becomes part of the political process which requires educating ourselves to the alternatives and consequences of each proposed action. One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves as citizens is “Who benefits?” All too often, it is the real estate developer who benefits or the oil and gas companies who benefit, not the local communities, both human and wild.
When Women Were Birds is an exploration of what my mother bequeathed to me. What did she mean by this very conscious act? Did she mean for me to fill them or were they an act of defiance? My mother left me a beautiful mystery. This book is an inquiry into this mystery.
As I’m not a native Utahn, I’ve always loved your appreciation of your heritage as a Mormon and a descendant of many generations of Utah pioneers, and how you’ve honored that in your work and your books. You even helped put together an anthology called New Genesis - A Mormon Reader on Land Community, as a collection of essays written by members of the LDS faith on how wilderness and a healthy environment matter and are compatible with religious beliefs. At this time when the political divide seems so deep, it gives balance and awareness that not all Mormons are anti-environment or Republicans.
It is a book about voice and it is also a book about silence. Helene Cixous writes, “We must learn to speak the language women speak when there is no one there to correct us.” When Women Were Birds is an honest meditation, an autobiography in fifty-four variations of
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TTW: My Mormon heritage matters to me. My family matters to me. Six generations of good “pioneer stock” run through our veins. And most of my family remains active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My husband Brooke and I are no longer practicing members. But I still love and respect my cultural ties. As a writer, these Mormon strands tied so powerfully to the American West have been both the bedrock and backbone to my work as a writer. It is my identity and like all of us in the United States of America, identity comes with complexity. The great Mexican poet, Octavia Paz, writes, “If we are interested in a revolution of the spirit, an evolution of the spirit, it requires both love and criticism.” I believe I have offered both to my community within my own writing be it about conservation or women’s sovereignty or issues of peace. Again, I see the world as one, interconnected and interrelated. Nothing exists in isolation. And I personally, do not believe there is only one true religion or one chosen people. The world is much too large and much too diverse. As I have traveled the world from Paris to Rwanda, I am continually humbled and in awe of our species’ capacity to create and destroy, to love and hate, to make beauty and orchestrate war. And yet our ability to forgive and rise together with compassion in the name of great resiliency and strength is inspiring and is made possible, I believe, by a spiritual resonance within. Call it an innate reverence for life which ultimately, is our survival. Each
parks. Our public lands are our public commons. Each year as our population increases and as development expands in our redrock desert, these public lands become more and more precious. I actually think we are making progress but the press likes to keep the polarity alive. That is too easy of a story. It’s much more complex than that and much more subtle. For example, local land trusts like the Castle Rock Collaboration where Brooke and I live have done an extraordinary job in working with neighbors, county commissioners, local and national conservation groups such as the Grand Canyon Trust and our Congressional delegation in Washington over the past ten years helping to both lay the groundwork and create the atmosphere that allowed the Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act to pass both the House and the Senate and become law. This legislation now protects nearly 50,000 acres of sensitive wildlands in eastern Utah and along the Colorado River corridor. This victorious vote was the result of three years of intensive effort by Castle Valley residents Laura Kamala and Bill Hedden working with Utah State Trust Lands Administration to promote the bill and 2 years of steady work in the House Resources Committee to refine and rewrite the legislation. In each of our communities, there are stories that exemplify this kind of collaborative effort and leadership. They are not easy. They take time. But common ground is found through honest conversations over time
“Each person has the dignity and right to find and forge their own spiritual life and be respected for their beliefs.” person has the dignity and right to find and forge their own spiritual life and be respected for their beliefs. The metaphor of mosaic is helpful to me. We are all broken. This is part of being human. So how do we take that which is broken and create something beautiful and whole. It’s what I so appreciate about my Mormon upbringing, a respect for community which is a mosaic. Each of us holds a piece of this mosaic, each with the gifts that are ours.
where we learn how to listen to one another’s concerns and engage creative alternatives to the black and white politics that bore all of us. We have another opportunity to engage creative thinking and community conversation around the expansion of Canyonlands National Park. When we look back over history, no one has ever regretted the creation of a national park. It is a matter of long term version over short term thinking.
We met almost twenty years ago at “Embracing Opposites: in Search of the Common Good” conference that then Mayor of Springdale, Phillip Bimstein and the local arts council sponsored which was the beginning of looking at finding common ground in polarized western communities. The model of having all citizens come together and discuss their differences by listening to what was important to each of them, and discovering what they had in common, almost always centered around a mutual love of the landscape. Many visioning processes have occurred since then throughout many communities in the west, however, we are still in great conflict in Utah over the wilderness debate. Is it time to start a new process or is the general polarization in politics the main culprit in keeping us from protecting these vulnerable lands?
Of course, I support America’s Redrock Wilderness Bill to set aside 9.2 million acres of Utah wildlands now before Congress. I support the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and serve on their board. These fragile lands are singular and people come from all over the world to experience their spiritual power and wonder. This has become a cornerstone of Utah’s economic wellbeing, alongside the extraction of our natural resources. Some lands are more suitable for energy development than others. This is the kind of discernment we have to make very carefully with all concerns laid on the table of negotiations. I do not see Governor Herbert offering this kind of open conversation. Perhaps, it is a matter of education and global perspective. The world is interconnected and interrelated. Utah’s wildlands are a reservoir for our spirits as well as providing ecological integrity to the ever increasing fragmentation of the Earth.
TTW: One of the qualities that binds us together as Utahns is our shared love of landscape. We are blessed by the natural riches of five national parks: Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands and Capital Reef. Wilderness is the connective tissue between our national
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Here in our community, there has been so much loss to “Downwinders” from fallout-related illnesses from the above
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ground testing at the Nuclear Test Site. You wrote a very touching and personal book, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, where you describe belonging to “a Clan of One-Breasted Women” where nine women in your family had mastectomies, seven have died, including your mother, grandmother and brother, as a result of the testing and radio active fallout. Years ago, you and I shared an act of civil disobedience at the Nevada Test Site when we crossed the line and were arrested for protesting against future testing. Since then you have committed similar acts of direct action against other injustices. In these challenging times, when it seems so difficult to get our politician’s attention, do you believe there is a place for civil disobedience to help raise awareness and bring about change?
Brooke and me at the headwaters of the Missouri River, at Hell Roaring Creek in the Centennial Valley of Montana.
TTW: I do believe in civil disobedience as an appropriate act in the name of social change. And I believe it has played a crucial role in American democracy from the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War to the current Climate Change Movement, including Utah’s own Tim DeChristopher who is now serving time in a federal prison for exposing the illegal and fraudulent oil and gas auction supported by the Bureau of Land Management. Henry David Thoreau writes in his essay, “Civil Disobedience, “Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence.” Your husband, Brooke, is also an author and activist. You two have been on an amazing journey together.
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I believe in an active faith, call it an engaged hope. I believe in the open space of democracy. I believe in participation. We can make a difference in the world through our love. When I am discouraged by the darkness of the times we live in and when despair grows inside of me, I am aware of the limits of my own imagination. Imaginations shared create collaboration. Collaboration creates community and in community anything is possible.
Interested in More Information? When Women Were Birds
These are very challenging times we are living in. The economy, our society, the very earth we are living on feels so threatened and hostile ... yet I still feel hope. I know you believe in hope and faith, and have written about that. Can you share some ways that you remain hopeful in spite of all this adversity?
Fifty-four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest William Published, April 2012 Farrar, Straus & Giroux Audio Book available from Wind Over the Earth Arts swww.coyoteclan.com
TTW: If we are engaged in something we are passionate about, we remain hopeful. If we are sharing our gifts with others, we remain humble and teachable. Curiosity creates wonder and wonder inspires acts of creativity. Creativity creates new possibilities we have never thought of before. And if we commit to a life in the service of something beyond ourselves, I believe we can live a meaningful life and contribute to the greater good in the world.
Plein Air Competition
9th ANNUAL
2012 Escalante Canyons Art Festival
Sept. 21 - 27
Everett Ruess Days
Speaker Series
Live Music
Arts & Crafts Sale
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Dr. Scott Sampson Friday, Sept. 28 - 7:30 pm
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The 9th Annual Escalante Canyons Art Festival is a premier art event in southern Utah hosted when the striking light and colors of fall compliment the stunning landscapes of the region. Escalante is located along Utah’s only All-American Road - Scenic Byway 12, in the heart of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks. Join us for what is sure to be another wonderful gathering of those who are inspired by the beauty of canyon country. SC
ALA
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2011 Best of Show - Oil - David Nakabayashi
You’re Invited!
28-29
Plein Air Auction
Total Prize Money $8000
September
TTW: Brooke and I have been married for thirty-seven years. It is honestly, the thing I am most proud of because we are both strong, independent people who have not only allowed one another to grow, but supported it in one another. I think of the poet Rainer Marie Rilke, “Protect one another’s solitudes.” And we have done that. Brooke is my foundation and my flight. I respect his compassionate intelligence, his joy, and his wild spirit. Brooke is currently working with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance as a community organizer, employing new creative strategies for wilderness protection, first and foremost, getting along with county commissioners in San Juan County! He is working on the campaign to expand Canyonlands National Park. He is also writing a book on the power of inner wildness as a means of creativity.
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Escalante UTAH
Dr. Scott of PBS’ Dinosaur Train
www.escalantecanyonsartfestival.org www.facebook.com/EscalanteArtFest