I’ve never been in more pain in my entire life.
My dad played football at Baylor, so I come from a football family. Pain and toughness come with the territory. But I’ve never felt something like this.
In 2020, an injury I sustained in a game revealed an infection in my leg, and the severity of the infection left me with more questions than answers at the time. I was a tight end for the Sooners, and I can honestly say I wasn’t worried about never playing football again.
I was worried if I’d ever be able to walk again.
I was incredibly scared when they took me to the surgery room.
No one knew how far the infection had spread and if they could save my leg.
As they were wheeling me through the hospital, though, I recalled a Bible verse my dad instilled in me at a young age.
2 Timothy 1:7, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”
As I said that verse to myself over and over, I was no longer scared. I was reminded of God’s love and the sound mind he gave me to take charge of any situation I found myself in, including this one.
Even beyond my injury, that verse has become a major theme in my life, especially during my collegiate career.
There have been plenty of setbacks and obstacles along the way. As crazy as it sounds, though, even when I was at my lowest, I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.
My journey, with the tremendous highs and devastating lows, has made me into the person I am today.
And it’s helped me (re)discover the place I was always meant to call home.
The highs before the lows
While the recruiting process was a little overwhelming at times, I took to OU almost immediately. I committed during my sophomore year of high school, so I didn’t waste much time.
I visited a bunch of schools, but OU seemed like the perfect fit to me.
The offense they had, the success of their team, and the proximity to my home – it just felt right.
Nevertheless, the transition to college was a big step, especially being away from home for the first time. But I was lucky to have a great support system. I had teammates and friends who helped me navigate through that transition and made me feel comfortable.
To be honest with you, the start of my OU career couldn’t have gone any better. But football, and life in general, has a way of humbling you when you least expect it.
A home game against Kansas during the tail end of my sophomore season would soon change everything.
A life-changing hit
Before I took the field against Kansas, I remember feeling sick. I was pretty sure I had strep throat, but I wasn’t about to miss a game because of a sore throat.
During the game, I took a hit to my thigh that initially felt like a Charley horse. But the pain worsened throughout the day, and my knee started swelling up. It got to a point where walking became difficult, and I was in excruciating pain.
I called up my then-trainer Chris Watson in the middle of the night, begging him to take me to the hospital.
After days of tests and uncertainty, it turned out that I had an infection in my leg caused by strep throat.
I had to undergo surgery and spent several days in the hospital. I lost a lot of muscle in my leg and had to work harder than ever just to be able to get back on my feet and walk again.
But with the help of the OU medical staff and trainers, I was able to make it back eight weeks later to play in the 2020 Cotton Bowl against Florida. Stepping back onto the field meant everything to me. It symbolized overcoming adversity and the determination to not let anything hold me back.
Despite a life-changing and potentially career-ending injury, I was playing football again, and my goals and dreams remained ahead of me.
To this day, it’s hard to put into words how grateful I am for OU’s support during this incredibly testing time.
A Sooner for life
When I came back, I wasn’t exactly myself, though.
It wasn’t until I was about halfway or three-fourths through my junior season that I finally started to feel good again and play better football.
And after the season, things started to change at OU within the program. When Coach Riley left, that took its toll on the team.
At that time, I made the difficult decision to transfer to South Carolina for the 2022 season, wanting to make the best decision for myself and my career as a student-athlete.
But life has a funny way of bringing you back to where you belong.
I enjoyed my time at SC, but I found myself yearning to be back at OU.
The camaraderie, the history, and the standard of excellence — there’s just something special about being a Sooner.
I believed I had unfinished business in Norman.
So, I decided to take advantage of my fifth year and do something that’s quite unusual in college athletics — I transferred back to the place I transferred away from.
And ever since, the support I’ve received from the OU athletic department has been nothing short of incredible. The athletic director, Joe Castiglione, went out of his way to ensure that I could still graduate as a Sooner even after I transferred from OU.
That tells you everything you need to know about this university.
Once you’re a Sooner, you’re a Sooner for life, and it’s not just a catchphrase.
OU has looked out for me since the first day I arrived on campus, and I can’t tell you how much their support and guidance has meant to me these past few years.
Finishing what I started
One of the many joys of my return to OU has been establishing a relationship with Coach Venables. He’s truly an amazing person, as he genuinely cares about us as individuals and wants to see us grow not only as football players but also as people.
My hopes for this season are simple: I want to win football games.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that winning is more important than individual stats or accomplishments. It’s about the love and bond you share with your teammates, and the feeling of achievement that comes with a victory.
Looking ahead, I want to pursue a career in the NFL and play football as long as I can. But I’m also mindful of life after football.
My leg injury taught me so many things, but above all else, I learned that my career could come to an end at any moment, and I need to be prepared for the day when I hang up my cleats for good.
I never could have predicted this roller coaster ride, but I remain grateful for every twist and turn along the way. It led me back to where I belong in what’s become my home in Norman.
So, here’s to a great season and ending my college career in the Crimson and Cream.
I wouldn’t want it any other way.


By way of introduction, I should mention that Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre holds a special place in my heart in a rather unique way: It may be my least favourite book in the entire English literary canon.
For what reason? Take your pick! Nearly all of the characters irk me in ways I cannot put into words, the storyline drags dismally, and the whole tale seems shrouded in a sort of feverish darkness. (Also, narrowing down your protagonist’s options for a husband between Rochester and St. John is nearly as dismal of a choice as when the USA had to opt for either Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton.)
Never has a person tried so desperately to like a book as I have tried to like Jane Eyre… The first time I read it, I was 16 years old and reading it as part of a bargain. I had a good friend who was a reader and had never read The Lord of the Rings, possibly my favourite book of all time. She told me that she’d read it if I read a few of her favourite books: the Eragon series and Jane Eyre. I don’t think either of us particularly enjoyed the other’s suggestions — I don’t know if she ever even got through LOTR, and I passionately disliked both Eragon and Jane Eyre. I had wanted to enjoy it for my friend’s sake, but much to my chagrin, I could not.
A few years later, once I’d mellowed out a little, I decided to give JE another chance — it was a classic after all, and I probably ought to like it. Undoubtedly, I was just too young to appreciate its nuance the first time. Alas, I came to the same distressing conclusion: I simply did not like the book! Halfway through my university degree, I determined to give it one more chance in a 19th century literature class. After all, I reasoned, surely studying the literary aspects would help me to understand why it is such a well-loved and revered classic.
Sadly, the third swing struck out, too. I doubt I’ll ever read JE again, and will likely go to my grave still baffled at how many people legitimately enjoy the story and its characters. However, I have finally come to a place of grudging respect for it, thanks to a nearly 4,000 word essay I wrote as part of my third attempt to give it a chance. (Told you I tried desperately hard.) That essay is presented as follows, because it actually is quite interesting and I’m rather proud of it. Hopefully you enjoy it, even if you’re not a Jane Eyre fan.
(And if you are a Jane Eyre fan, please do comment and explain to me why you like this book so much!)
Now without further ado,
Connections and Character: Landscape in Jane Eyre
There is a moment in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre in which Jane, as the narrator, asks her reader to imagine a new chapter in the novel as the curtain going up after a scene change in a play. There is a short description of the room where Jane is sitting, and then the play continues, with dialogue, character, and emotion being the chief items of importance. Many scholars and critics of Jane Eyre seem to take this note to the reader to heart, treating the book almost as though it were a play, quickly glancing over each new set before settling into the continuing action. No doubt this is still an effective way to read the story, but the difference between a novel and play lies in the very thing that is overlooked in the former and omitted in the latter: landscape. Though landscape in Jane Eyre is usually only considered when focussing on the quintessential Gothic elements of the book, its plays a much more involved role than simply setting the iconic scene; it is every bit as important to the story as the dialogue, plot, and characters are. Paying close attention to landscape in Jane Eyre allows readers a deeper understanding of the story by seeing how it aids Jane’s personal development in crucial moments as she matures, illustrates her feelings and responses towards various situations in her life, and offers a potent means of describing the nature of several characters in the story, including Jane herself.
Jane’s life is influenced by a fascination with landscape from nearly the first moment the reader begins to know her. She introduces herself almost instantly as reading a book, Bewick’s History of British Birds – hardly a stirring title. But what she seems to love in the book is not necessarily the descriptions of the birds themselves, but the places which they inhabit, “the bleak shores of Lapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland, with ‘the vast sweep of the Arctic Zone, and those forlorn regions of dreary space’” (Brontë 64). Jane finds herself fascinated by the “strangely impressive” landscapes she encounters, and her imagination feeds not on pictures of birds as one might expect from the title of the book, but rather on the “vignettes…[from] the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray; to the broken boat stranded on a desolate coast; to the cold and ghastly moon glancing through bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking” (64, 65). Jane’s solace and happiness even at the outset of the book is absorbed with stark, wild, almost desolate landscapes. A few pages and chapters later, Jane also shows a fascination with tales from Gulliver’s Travels, the content of which she conceives as “a narrative of facts,” sure that she can one day access the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians through their lands, which she considers “solid parts of the earth’s surface” (78). To young Jane, landscapes are the connections to other places, realms, and realities. Though the definition of fairies, imps, and elves may vary according to imagination, the landscapes in which they live are within the mind’s grasp; Jane herself, disappointed at not being able to find any of these elves, “at length made up [her] mind to the sad truth that they were all gone out of England to some savage country, where the woods were wilder and thicker, and the population more scant” (78). Thus, it is not difficult to see how Jane’s character is heavily influenced by the concept of place, specifically natural landscape, and how she is especially drawn to those which are wild, strange, and far off, as they are a means of accessing a different or otherworldly place or people.
Yet though Jane is fascinated by imagined landscape, though delving into a book seems to be her favourite pastime, her desired place to sit in order to read her books is in the window seat, where she can “at intervals, while turning over the leaves of [her] book… stud[y] the aspect of that winter afternoon,” or look out at the horizons of her real world as well (64). The concept of Jane sitting at the window is a crucial one for connecting her with nature, as the panes of glass are “protecting, but not separating” her from the outdoors (64). The horizons that she can see from these window seats are important as well, as they often intimate her attitude towards each particular dwelling in which she finds herself. At Gateshead, for instance, she describes the view as “an empty field where no sheep were feeding, where the short grass was nipped and blanched,” a landscape where she finds “no pleasure,” just as she finds the house to be lonely and devoid of pleasure, warm life, and nourishment (97). Once she leaves Gateshead and lives instead at Lowood school, Jane describes the garden there as “a wide enclosure, surrounded with walls so high as to exclude every glimpse of prospect” (108). It is clear that Jane initially feels somewhat trapped at the school, but even when she has lived at the school for eight years, the trapped feeling has not gone away. Wondering what the future holds, Jane looks out of a window and realizes her situation by looking at the horizon: “there was the garden; there were the skirts of Lowood; there was the hilly horizon. My eye passed all other objects to rest on those most remote, the blue peaks: it was those I longed to surmount; all within their boundary of rock and heath seemed prison-ground, exile limits” (151). Brontë depicts this scene so that the reader’s imagination adds layer upon layer to the landscape, filling it in with the immediate details and then gazing further and further as Jane herself does – essentially seeing through Jane’s eyes. This is a turning point in Jane’s character, since her comprehension of the distance and the yearning to go physically beyond it is what prompts Jane to tire “of the routine of eight years in one afternoon,” to leave Lowood, and to seek a new dwelling somewhere else (151).
Once at Thornfield, Jane yet again does not seem initially fully content, and continues her characteristic habit of gazing out at the horizon. She frequently goes to the attic and looks out at “sequestered field and hill, and along dim skyline… then [longs] for a power of vision which might overpass that limit; which might reach the busy world, towns, regions full of life” (178). Now, gazing out at the landscape around Thornfield, Jane realizes her desire more concretely, that she wants a spark of liveliness and interest in her life. When Rochester arrives at Thornfield, Jane once again “walked to the window, but nothing was to be seen thence: twilight and snow-flakes together thickened the air and hid the very shrubs on the lawn” (189). This time she is unable to yearn for another horizon past her own; she has no need to desire a far-off life, for Rochester has brought that life to her. She leaves the window, “let[s] down the curtain,” and is summoned to formally meet Rochester downstairs. Here, it is the noticeable absence of a concrete landscape to prompt longing which ushers in the next turning point of Jane’s life, coming to know and love Rochester.
Yet even though this is the end of Jane’s window gazing, the landscape continues to play an important role in enhancing the reader’s understanding of Jane’s true feelings towards her situation. When she has fallen in love with Rochester and thinks he will marry Blanche Ingram, she resents the idea of going to Ireland since the sea will separate the two of them, physically forcing them apart. Later on, when she is ready to marry Rochester herself but finds out that he already has a wife, Jane feels uncomfortable and almost trapped by him. Rochester tries to use a physical change of scene to put Jane at ease, attempting to give them both an escape from the situation by proposing a “place I have in the south of France: a white-walled villa on the shores of the Mediterranean. There you shall live a happy, and guarded, and most innocent life” (394). Here, just as with Ireland, Rochester again uses the ocean as a motif for separation from Thornfield. However, the way Brontë words Rochester’s solution suggests that it would not be out of place to draw a parallel between his French villa and the white-walled garden at Lowood, the school where Jane learned to speak French. Since the emotions accompanying Jane’s description of the Lowood garden were those of being trapped and enclosed with no clear future, it is not unreasonable to apply the same feelings to her current situation; and just as with Lowood, Jane now makes up her mind to leave in search of a new servitude. This time, however, she has no destination and simply needs to go “in the contrary direction to Millcote… not one glance was to be cast back; not even one forward” (412). The lack of a clear direction or an aim, which up to this point in the story has been provided by longing for a distant horizon, leaves the reader feeling as lost and isolated as Jane does. The landscape must change once more, but it is now completely unknown, both to Jane and the reader.
While Brontë uses a specific idea of place to better describe Jane’s feeling of being trapped in her situation and in her love for Rochester, Brontë also uses landscape to illustrate Jane’s situation when St. John urges her to marry him later in the story. The conversation does not take place in a house, but in the beautiful landscape surrounding it, which Brontë describes in detail. But though it is described in a way that the reader understands it as beautiful, it is never explicitly stated as such; instead, Bronte has Jane speak of treading “soft turf, mossy fine and emerald green… the hills, meantime, shut us quite in; for the glen, towards its head, wound to their very core” (499). Though beautiful and potentially a solace, this landscape that Jane describes has an eerie hint to it, for it leads down an isolating, winding way. Usually when a horizon is described, it reaches only as far as Jane can physically see; this time, however, she appears to know exactly where the road ends up, even though the end is impossible to literally see. This unique moment in which Jane sees more of this road than she should be able to, suggests that in some sense, this path is allegorical to the one that Jane would be following if she chose to marry St. John. From this path, there would no hope of return; beautiful in its own right, but not warm or comforting, only long and isolating, taking her far away with no potential return. Interestingly, travelling to far-off lands was Jane’s original desire as a child, and she used to yearn for what lay beyond the horizon. However, Jane has changed at this point in the story; now, Rochester satisfies her desire for strange, new life, and there is no longer any joy for her in the prospect of exploring a land which will take her further away from him.
The allegorical nature of the landscape here continues through the rest of the scene. When St. John and Jane begin to argue, and St. John gets ready to convince her to marry him, “he leaned back against the crag behind him, folded his arms on his chest, and fixed his countenance, I saw he was prepared for a long and trying opposition” (501). St. John’s resolve is firm, as unmoveable as the very landscape that he leans against in confidence. His position is enhanced by his following remark asking Jane to lean on the Rock of Ages, to trust his judgment. However, the more Jane considers the situation and becomes convicted in her heart that she must not marry St. John, she too “rose up and stood before him, leaning [her] back against the rock,” standing her ground as immovably as he stands his (508). St. John then looks out towards the hills one last time before they both return home, retracing their steps and physically walking away from the path they might have trod together.
This scene between St. John and Jane is one of several that suggest a parallel or connection between landscapes and characters. Jane herself seems rather obsessed with “sketching a character” of those around her, figuratively as well as literally (173). When Jane describes characters to her readers, the descriptions often employ language reminiscent of landscapes. When she first meets Rochester, she relates the sound of his approach breaking the silence as “in a picture, the solid mass of a crag, or the rough boles of a great oak, drawn in dark and strong on the foreground, efface the aerial distance of azure hill, sunny horizon and blended clouds” (181). He is abrupt, unavoidable, and striking, but rather than using such adjectives, Jane calls to mind a landscape, letting the idea of the picture speak to Rochester’s character before the reader has even met him. Only a few pages later when she describes Rochester in more detail, his face is “dark, strong and stern,” similar to the bleak, hard landscape that surrounds their first meeting, and he disappears “like heath that in the wilderness / The wild wind whirls away,” evoking a picture of nature to portray a character (185). Jane also describes the character of Blanche Ingram like a landscape: “her mind was poor, her heart barren by nature: nothing bloomed spontaneously on that soil; no unforced natural fruit delighted by its freshness” (264). This natural imagery allows the reader to see and better imagine the character of Blanche as easily as they might picture her physical features when Jane draws her portrait a few chapters earlier.
Though Jane draws many implicit parallels between characters and landscapes in her narrative, she draws a few explicit ones as well, quite literally. Almost all of her paintings are either portraits of those around her or depictions of landscapes she sees. But when Rochester first discovers Jane’s sketchbook, he finds a number of paintings that are a blend of portrait and landscape which are described in great detail for the reader. The Evening Star and Death are just two of these paintings, but each feature a definite figure that is integrated with and yet distinct from the landscape upon which it is painted. The paintings depict neither a person nor a place, but rather an essence, or, one might say, a character. Thus, Jane describes a person’s nature by using nature itself, evoking the earth and specific horizons or vistas which the reader may understand in order to give a distinct impression of the person’s essence.
Though Jane sketches the character of those around her by using landscape, she herself is connected to landscape as well. Rochester often calls Jane a fairy or an imp, strange and other-worldly, hearkening back to the wild landscapes she was obsessed with as a child. Jane herself assures Rochester that she is “naturally hard – very flinty… [with] divers rugged points in [her] character” (360). Such a description indeed seems to portray a landscape rather than a human being and draws a connection between Jane and the place “up where the moors spread and grey rocks are piled” (79). Like the moors, Jane is striking but not beautiful, rugged but soft. She is at once straightforward and full of hidden thoughts and feelings, like the flatness of the heath which covers a labyrinth of mysterious spaces to be explored. As Rochester keenly notes, she does not smile or laugh very often, but when she does it is pleasant, like a sudden patch of vibrant flowers on the muted colours of the moors. The moors are where Jane feels safe and at home, where she finds solace and protection. Even though Jane cannot survive completely alone on the moors and needs a human dwelling where she can be “protected, but not separated” from nature, the dwelling that she comes across is right up against the landscape and is aptly named Moor House (64). In fact, the inhabitants of Moor House are literally family to Jane, as she finds out later on that they are her blood cousins. Thus, Jane is intricately connected to the moors; they provide a haven for her, and it is only after dwelling on them that she comes into her own, and can return to Rochester as her “own mistress… an independent woman now” (536). In short, where Rochester’s nature is wild and Blanche Ingram’s nature is fallow, Jane’s is moorish: solitary, soothing, and strange.
Bronte also highlights Jane’s deep connection to the physical world by using landscape to bring her to revelations of truth, and even the divine. In some ways it seems like a stretch to claim that the natural world can communicate truth or allow for a recognition of the spiritual, but as Jennifer Gribble puts it in her article on imagination in Jane Eyre,“it is essential to Charlotte Brontë’s intent…that she should attempt to blur such distinctions between the observer and the scene and to make the world of nature contiguous with the human mind” (Gribble 290). The key idea in this definition is that the human mind can somehow be influenced by nature in such a way that it is able to realize new things of which it was previously unaware. These moments are generally turning points for Jane in the story and mark stages where she grows up, especially when considering the novel as a bildungsroman, a story in which the protagonist progresses from adolescence to adulthood following a “pattern of personal growth” (Baldick 39). In Jane Eyre, these crucial moments of personal growth come through the revelation of landscape.
The first such instance is at Lowood, prior to Helen passing away. Jane has been out playing all day, and then looks at the many aspects of the beautiful evening, “noting these things and enjoying them as a child might, when it entered [her] mind, as it had never done before: – ‘…This world is pleasant – it would be dreary to be called from it, and to have to go who knows where?” (Brontë 144). This moment is highly significant for Jane: one minute she is childlike with simple thoughts and pleasures in mind, the next minute she has lost that naivety and comprehended death. Jane suddenly understands the implications of what is happening to Helen, realizing that she is dying. Such a turning point in the story is crucial to Jane’s character and maturation, but it does not come about through a conversation or the aftermath of someone’s death; Jane lands on this truth through the landscape, once again reinforcing her character’s connection to nature.
Jane experiences one other potent revelation through nature when she is out on the moors after having run away from Thornfield. In this instance, Jane is hurting as much as she possibly can be, and though nature offers her shelter, she still finds herself utterly “worn out with…torture of thought” (416). But as she looks up at the sky stretching out over the moors, she reflects that “we feel [God’s] presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us: and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their silent course, that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence” (416). Jane’s struggle with her idolization of Rochester is ultimately banished by her conviction that “he was God’s, and by God would he be guarded,” a realization that comes to her only through looking at the night horizon, in the solitude and safety of the moors (416). Though Jane initially runs to the moors to “ask repose” of Nature, which “seemed to [her] benign and good,” it is not nature in and of itself which comforts her, but it is through nature that she realizes the overwhelming presence, peace, and benevolence of God (415). It is entirely plausible that in writing this scene, Brontë was thinking of Psalm 19:1-3: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. / Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. / There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (KJV). This would be an ironic and striking reversal of Jane’s childhood sentiment that “Psalms are not interesting,” indicating yet again that Jane has reached another stage of maturation at this crucial moment; and once again, this revelation comes not from a conversation or event, but through a landscape (92). Perhaps Jane’s other-worldliness, her fairy or elf-like qualities, stem from the fact that she seems to connect with the spiritual world through the physical one.
Landscape and place in Jane Eyre are far from simply inert background; rather, they are a means of connecting all aspects of the book to one another, and also connecting the reader to the story in a more nuanced and subtle fashion. Jane herself is obsessed with landscape from the onset, as it is the way in which she seeks to find a connection to strange and far-off places. Landscape, specifically horizons, often serve as a way of illustrating Jane’s situation and prompt a change of scenery, both figuratively and literally. Similarly, character itself is intrinsically linked to landscape in Jane Eyre. This can be seen explicitly in Jane’s drawings and implicitly in her descriptions and portrayals of the characters of those around her, like Rochester and Blanche Ingram. Jane’s own character is not exempt from such a parallel, as she is deeply connected to the moors. Finally, as she grows up, Jane’s strong relationship with landscape acts as a catalyst for connecting her to deep truths such as death, and later even brings her to a truer understanding of God. Clearly, then, landscape plays a crucial role in Jane Eyre, and by considering the significance of descriptions of place throughout the story, the reader may gain significantly deeper insight into Charlotte Brontë’s classic tale.
Baldick, Chris. Oxford Dictionary of Literay Terms. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. Print.
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard Nemesvari. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 1999. Print.
Gribble, Jennifer. “Jane Eyre’s Imagination.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 23, no. 3, 1968, pp. 279–293. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2932556.
The Holy Bible. The King James Bible Online: 2018.
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Increasing REDD+ benefits to indigenous peoples & traditional communities through a jurisdictional approach
In this brief, we (1) review the current situation of indigenous peoples (IP) and traditional communities (TC) with regards to climate change, REDD+ and low-emission rural development (LED-R) in the Tropics; (2) present a conceptual framework for Jurisdictional REDD+ to demonstrate how IP and TC could receive greater and more lasting benefits from climate change mitigation strategies (including possible climate finance) under certain conditions; (3) present six regional case studies on Jurisdictional REDD+; and (4) summarize recommendations for the road beyond Paris. In particular, we examine which actions can be supported by IP and TC, governmental decision-makers, and other key stakeholders to ensure equitable and sustainable low-emission rural development.
navigating climate change mitigation and sustainable development in the tropics
In this paper for Outreach, a multi-stakeholder publication produced for the UNFCCC negotiations, the STA describes its transformational framework for large-scale, bottom-up solutions through Low-Emission Rural Development strategies. The full Outreach publication can be reached here.
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The Sustainable Tropics Alliance (STA) is a strategic partnership of independent, non-governmental organizations that draw on research, multi-stakeholder engagement, and local knowledge to develop low-emission rural development (LED-R) models in the Tropics.
indigenous peoples and low-emission rural development
Indigenous peoples and traditional communities are key players in the race to slow climate change, yet often on the sidelines of climate change dialogues. In this report, we explore opportunities for greater inclusion and improved benefits-sharing for indigenous peoples and traditional communities in the context of Low-Emission Rural Development (LED-R).
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The STA analyzes progress made in implementing low-emission rural development (LED-R)—a jurisdictional or regional approach to sustainability—using examples from eight regions in the Tropics. LED-R provides a framework for integrated implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and helps to address challenges related to implementation. We define LED-R and assess each region’s potential for and progress in moving toward LED-R. We also identify the key actor groups in each region, describe their dynamics, and discuss the potential roles each group could play in the transition to LED-R. We also summarize the barriers and opportunities for LED-R to take hold across the regions.


Join the Women’s Ministry for our Tuesday Morning Bible study! Childcare Provided.
Study // Book: Because of Bethlehem by Max Lucado
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Join with Max Lucado in this lively, heartwarming six-week celebration of all things Christmas. Because of Bethlehem features stories both insightful and whimsical. On every page, Max’s words will encourage, captivate and inspire you, but most importantly, they’ll point you towards the One worth celebrating.


Last night we said goodbye—yet again—to an international friend.
I remember the first time my husband had him over for coffee, maybe a week or two after he showed up at our Sunday fellowship. We found out that a coworker in the city where he had done his PhD had often invited him to events where the Bible was discussed. While completing his doctoral work, he began to think that the faith he had previously mocked had some substance to it. When taking a post-doctoral position meant he needed to move to our city, his coworker directed him to our fellowship. I think he would say that he was not yet a follower of Jesus when he arrived in our city. But he was curious and close.
We knew he was transient, but we befriended him anyway. We shared our table with him, over and over. He graciously ate anything we served him, and visited with anyone whom we placed at the table with him. We celebrated milestones and grieved losses together. We met each others’ parents when they came to town, and got to know each others' coworkers. We watched him declare his desire to follow Jesus by being baptized, grow in his understanding of the Bible, and develop friendships with Jesus followers of all different ages and walks of life.
Two autumns ago, we started a weekly gathering with him to eat, read the Bible, and pray. Some weeks we ate supper with 10 people, and some weeks we ate just with him. But if he was in town, he was at our table on Thursday night…even last night, before he flew out to his new job in a new country this morning.
Last night he emptied all the leftovers from his kitchen into mine. In my freezer are his leftover strawberries, in my fridge his German sausages, and on my counter his butter in his butter dish. There’s a tote bag in the corner which I think contains his vinegar, oil and salt.
He even left his umbrella in our umbrella holder, and said “I hope it’s not raining on the way home, so I can leave this here.” Standing in our narrow hallway last night, saying goodbye, my heart squeezed. Why do we do this? Why do we love when we know the people we love will leave?
The scripture that comes to mind whenever I think about this is from John 13:1. “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” He calls us to love and to love to the end. Christians are taught to “love one another deeply as brothers and sisters” (Romans 12:10). From the way our hearts were squeezed last night, I knew we had loved our international friend like the brother that he is. And it was only right to love him “until the end”.
It is worthwhile investing in transient people like international students and immigrants because…
…God says it is worthwhile.
There are only two things in this world that will last into eternity: God’s Word and human souls. When I see the new life that flourished in our friend’s heart in his few years in our city, I am sobered to think what a loss it would have been for eternity, if that friend in his last city had never invited him to investigate the Bible’s claims, and if no one in our fellowship had noticed and welcomed this newcomer.
…you get the chance to invest in another corner of the world.
It boggles my mind to consider this: when one of our international friends comes to Christ (or even comes into contact with His Words), we indirectly have the chance to influence that person’s network, too. As our friend shares what he’s learning in another language, on another continent, in another culture, he reaches people we could never have reached ourselves. Last night our friend asked for prayer for his students and colleagues at his new job, a reminder that part of what he has learned here will affect how he influences others for many years to come.
...many people won’t.
There are many people who dismiss deep relationships with transient people because they don’t see what God sees in them, they don’t have a global vision for what God can do through that investment, or they’re too busy with the relationships they already have.
When my husband first had our international friend over for coffee, we could not have known that he would become one of our best friends in this city. We took a chance on friendship with him, and our lives were enriched because of it.
We gain much more than we lose, by following God’s command to love the internationals and immigrants He brings into our lives. Today it feels like we lost: we lost our neighbour. But the net result of our relationship with him is gain: we gained a friend and a brother. We gained all the things we learned with and through him. Maybe we will gain more brothers and sisters through him. And someday we’ll eat together again in our Father’s house, and say no more goodbyes.


Q&A with author Charles Johnson
The Kratz Center for Creative Writing at Goucher College is pleased to welcome Charles R. Johnson as the Fall 2019 Kratz Center Visiting Author.
Johnson is the second African American man (after Ralph Ellison) to win the National Book Award, for his novel Middle Passage, and he has also received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a MacArthur Fellowship, and numerous other prizes and awards. His novels and short stories have been translated into many languages.
Johnson will give a presentation and Q&A in Soper Room in Julia Rogers on Tuesday, October 15, 2019, at 3 p.m.
At 8 p.m. on the same day, Johnson will read from his work in Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College. Both events are free and open to the public, but tickets must be reserved for the evening event at www.goucher.edu/tickets. For more information, contact the Kratz Center at email@example.com.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 at 3:00pm
Julia Rogers Building, Soper Room 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd.


Ueshiba Morihei, Osensei (1883–1969)
Aikido was created by Ueshiba Morihei from his lifetime of martial experience and spiritual practice. Following a challenge by a naval officer, which involved repeatedly avoiding being hit with a bokken, Osensei experienced a major shift in his awareness. Alone in his garden, “At that moment I could understand that my life’s work in budo was actually based on divine love and the laws of creation” (Ueshiba).
He thus came to the realization that the source of true budo is love. From this perspective, competition had no place in his system. “There is no room in Aikido practice for conceptualization or opinion: no perfection, no right or wrong, only the reality of experience” (Ueshiba). Further, “Within love [ai], there is no competition, no enemy, no antagonism toward anyone else or anything” (Ueshiba).
For him, “Budo is a divine path established by the gods that leads to truth, goodness, and beauty; it is a spiritual path reflecting the unlimited, absolute nature of the universe and the ultimate grand design of creation” (Ueshiba). The principles of heaven and earth could be perceived through the virtue which would come from devoted practice.
In practice, “one must polish one’s ki and forge the spirit within the realm of life and death. . . . Realize that your mind and body must be permeated with the soul of a warrior, enlightened wisdom, and deep calm” (Ueshiba). He made a clear distinction between the manner of practice of sports as useful bodily exercise, and practice as budo. “Warriors, too, train the body, but they also use the body as a vehicle to train the mind, calm the spirit, and find goodness and beauty, dimensions that sports lack” (Ueshiba). Making the body strong and healthy was but a part of what came with practice. Sincerity, valor, goodness, and beauty are also nurtured and encouraged.
The ideal state of Aikido is considered as being “able to respond to, embrace, and blend with anything offered, without any conditions or preconceived notions” (Ueshiba).
Our techniques employ four qualities that reflect the nature of our world. Depending on the circumstance, you should be: hard as a diamond, flexible as a willow, smooth-flowing like water, or as empty as space.
The body should be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control. (Ueshiba)
Aikido may also be called the way of peace, as the practices are focused on harmonizing one’s body and spirit with the natural forces of the universe.
Aiki reflects the grand design of the cosmos; it is the life force, an irresistible power that binds the material and spiritual aspects of creation. Aiki is the flow of nature.
Aiki signifies the union of body and spirit and is a manifestation of that truth. . . . Aiki is the ultimate social virtue. It is the power of reconciliation, the power of love. (Ueshiba)
Do symbolizes both the cultural path of Aikido and the way of Aikido. This shows in how we relate to self, other, society as a whole, as well as how we deal with nature. Takemusu Aiki sums this up succinctly.
Take stands for “valor and bravery”; it represents the irrepressible and indomitable courage to live. Musu typifies birth, growth, accomplishment, fulfillment. It is the creative force of the cosmos, responsible for the production of all that nourishes life. Takemusu Aiki is code for “the boldest and most creative existence!” (Stevens)
Stevens, J. (1995). The secrets of Aikido. Boston, MA & London, UK: Shambhala.
Ueshiba, M. (1991). Budo. New York, NY: Kodansha.
Ueshiba, M. (1993). The essence of Aikido. New York, NY: Kodansha.
Kato Hiroshi, Shihan, 8th dan
Kato Hiroshi (1935–2012) lived in Tokyo, when he was not travelling to spread his knowledge of Aikido. In 1953, when he was 19, Kato sensei began his Aikido training at Aikido World Headquarters (Hombu Dojo) under the instruction of the Founder of Aikido, Ueshiba Morihei. From 1975, he taught at his own dojo in the Ogikubo district of Tokyo.
He regularly traveled to affiliated dojo in Texas and California twice a year, as well as to other places around the world where he was invited to share his depth of experience and dedication to the ideals and principles of Aikido. Having studied directly with the founder, and having trained himself for over 56 years, he demonstrated an uncommon wealth of knowledge as he cultivated a world-wide community of practice dedicated to the art of harmony / peace.
Kato sensei focused upon the nonverbal aspects of instruction and practice, and emphasized that seeing is far better than hearing about something. He recommended that everyone try to do what he showed, even if you did not understand it. In his words, “Results come as you practice.” His style could be described as moving with a unified body, powered by one’s hips with knees soft, from a compact base, both grounded and fluid.
Kato sensei hiking January 2009
Cultivation of respect for the natural world was an intrinsic aspect of his training and experience. Hiking in the mountains was part of his training with Osensei, and integral to my experience of training with him during my 10 years in Tokyo. This served multiple functions: as physical exercise, as a time of community building, and as offering a welcome opportunity to shift perspective from one’s life in the city. Body, mind, and spirit were honored, respected, and interwoven on such outings.
Susan J. Newton, 4th dan
I began my study of Aikido as part of my doctoral program in transpersonal psychology in 1992. Following licensure as a Clinical Psychologist in CA, I traveled to Tokyo to deepen my practice in its home culture. While serving the international community as a psychotherapist, I had the great good fortune to study for 10 years with Kato Hiroshi Shihan, 8th dan, a direct student of Ueshiba Morihei, Osensei. With direct authorization from Kato Shihan, I opened Front Room Dojo in 2011. Now living in Kapa’a, HI, I work as a psychologist / processworker and consultant in private practice, as a free-lance editor, and continue to deepen my Aikido practice.


Introducing Rera and Rera Hair for Genesis 8 Females!
Rera is a spy from a futuristic world. After completing arduous tasks time and time again, she became numb and ruthless. All that exists in her consciousness is the task and the gun in her hand. Smiling? That's a luxury for her.
Rera comes with fixed expressions, her own makeup — her design is inspired by comics, anime, and sci-fi characters.
Bring the edgy Rera and Rera Hair for Genesis 8 Females into your stories for your fill of boldness!


The adverse outcomes experienced by young people may vary according to the specific type of disability or health condition that the parent has. For example, young people caring for a parent with a physical disability report a variety of physical ailments resulting from the caring role, including muscle strain, fatigue and exhaustion (Gays 2000). Young people living with a parent with mental illness may experience greater social isolation as a result of the stigma attached to mental illness, as well as the stress of coping with the parent's condition.
Figure 3.8 presents disability prevalence rates among parents for four disability groups: intellectual/ learning, psychiatric, sensory/speech, and physical/diverse. Intellectual/learning disability is associated with impairment of intellectual functions, with limitations in a range of daily activities and with restriction in participation in various life areas. Psychiatric disability is associated with clinically recognisable symptoms and behaviour patterns frequently associated with distress that may impair personal functioning in normal social activity. Sensory/speech disability is associated with impairment of the eye, ear and related structures, and of speech structures and functions.
Activity limitations may occur in various areas, for instance communication and mobility. Physical/ diverse disability is associated with the presence of an impairment, which may have diverse effects within and among individuals, including effects on physical activities such as mobility.
This report discusses the current overall health status of young Australians in the 21st century with that of young Australians in the 1990's by making reference to morbidity and mortality data and to positive measures of well being. In finishing this report, data from the specified years were studied and analysed.
Self-assessed health is often a good indicator of the positive measures of wellbeing. A series of studies have also shown that people's perception of their own health status to be a powerful, independent predictor of their future health. Table 2.1 below indicates the ‘self-assessed health statuses' of those aged 15-24. Surveys performed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) asked respondents to assess their own health against a five-point scale.
In 2004-05, 70% of young Australians aged 15-24 years assessed themselves to be in either a state of excellent or very good health; another 24% rated their health as good and the remaining 7% to be either fair or poor. Young males outnumber females aged 15-17 years in either a state of excellent or very good health (85% of males compared to 80% of females), results were very similar in the 18-24 age group. There is a slight increase in the proportion of young people stating their health to be excellent or very good from 65% in 1995 to 70% in 2004-05. Likewise, the proportion of young people who assessed their health as fair or poor declined from 9% in 1995 to 7% in 2004-05.
Morbidity rates often refer to disease and disabilities. Communicable diseases such as Hepatitis B and C for example, remain a threat to human health. Fortunately, the number of hepatitis B notifications have almost halved between 1995 and 2005, from 100 notifications to 55. Hepatitis C on the other hand increased since 1996 from 1.1 per 100,000 young people to a peak of 9.4 per 100,000 in 2001; it did however decline again to 3.5 per 100,000 in 2005. There are also chronic diseases such as Hayfever and allergic rhinitis which are considered the most frequent long-term conditions reported (14%), followed by short-sightedness (12%); and then asthma, with a prevalence rate of 8.5% during the 1990's and 13% in 2004-05.
A population's experience of mortality provides a key set of indicators of its health and wellbeing. Even though death rates for young Australians are quite low during the 1990's and the 21st century, the trends and differences are still significant in the planning of future public health care.
In 2004, there were 1,470 deaths among those aged 12-24 years, 1,012 (69%) were males. As indicated by Table 2.26 above, the leading cause of death for young Australians was transport accidents which make up 30% of all deaths in this age group; followed by intentional self-harm (19%), and accidental poisoning (5%). These three causes accounted for over 50% of all deaths. Cancers also featured among the leading causes of death for young Australians having been responsible for 3% of all deaths. High levels of distress between young males (12%) and females (19%) aged 18-24 has also been reported, an increase from 1997 when the corresponding proportions were 7% and 13%.
In 1997, there were 2,082 deaths among those aged 12-24years, 1,523 males and 559 females. The causes for two-thirds of all deaths during this decade were very similar to that of the 21st century. On a positive note, the mortality rates among young Australians aged 12-24 years over the past two decades has halved, mainly due to decreases in deaths caused by injury which accounts for a majority of deaths. Suicide and transport accidents have too declined by 40% and 35% respectively between 1995 and 2004 and deaths due to drug dependence disorder decreased from 142 deaths in 1997 to 3 deaths in 2004.
PART 2e: Asthma
Asthma is one of the most common long-term health problems amongst adolescents in Australia. It is a disease caused by the narrowing of one's airways, resulting in symptoms of wheezing and shortness of breath. For most asthmatics, the condition can be effectively controlled through medications on a regular basis; in some cases, people with severe asthma may lead to premature death. In spite of the difficulties in precisely measuring asthma prevalence, studies have indicated that Australia has one of the highest prevalence rates in the world and is indeed on the rise, having increased in the early-to-mid 1990's.
The burden of disease due to asthma is significant, accounting for 7,995 DALYs or 4% of the total disease burden for young Australians aged between 15-24 years in 2003. In 1996, asthma accounted for 2.6% of total DALYs (2.1% for males and 3.1% for females). This 2.6% is made from 4.8% of YLD and only 0.6% of all YLL, indicating the fact that asthma is a major cause of chronic disability rather than death.
During the 1990's, 11.3% of the then population had asthma, an increase on the 8.5% prevalence in 1989-90; whereas in 2004-05, estimates based on the ABS have indicated a prevalence rate of 13%. Between 1996-97 and 2004-05, females were overall more prevalent to asthma (14%) than males (11%). As shown in Figure 2.14 above, the difference was largest in the 20-24 year age group where the prevalence rate for females was 1.7 times the rate for males. However, among those aged 12-14 years, the prevalence rates for both genders were close (14% and 13% respectively).
It may also be of interest to acknowledge the significant reductions in asthma hospital separation rates between years 1996-97 and 2004-05. The number of separations has fallen from 189 to 88 separations per 100,000 young people for males and from 283 to 131 separations per 100,000 for young females, a decline of 54%.
In terms of mortality rates in 2004, there were 14 deaths due to asthma which accounts for less than 1% of all deaths in this age range. Between 1995 and 2004, deaths from asthma almost halved. This shows that asthma is not the main cause of deaths in Australia; and is also a clear indicator that young Australians today are much healthier than their counterparts were during the 1990's. This decrease in mortality rates can be largely due to a reduction in the severity of asthma, changes in treatment practices or environmental factors or through improved asthma management.


Next up in our Meet the COG series is Stephanie Shank!
Stephanie is the Program Developer for the COG and she was interviewed by Nancy Richards.
What ridiculous thing has someone tricked you into doing or believing?
Stephanie is quick to play tricks on others but it is pretty hard to pull one over on her. She has two boys at home that are known to try often but haven’t been successful yet. She says with a smile, that they are still pretty young so their pranks are still very obvious.
Stephanie did recall a time when she was in the 3rd grade that her dad got one over on her. Her family went to Cedar Point for some summer fun. She was convinced that roller coasters were very scary things and that she was not ready to ride one and then came her dad, a determined man. He convinced her that the Gemini was no big deal and not really scary at all. “Be brave, I will ride with you” he said. So off she went hand in hand with him and boarded the coaster. The trick was on. Little did she realize that he had tricked her into sitting in the very front seat. She says within seconds she was screaming like crazy and kept her head in her dad’s lap for the entire ride. Her family tells her she parted the Gemini with some wise words, “I AM NOT RIDING ANY MORE ROLLER COASTERS EVER! OR AT LEAST UNTIL THE 5TH GRADE!”
What’s the most useless talent and what is the most useful talent you have?
Stephanie’s most useless talent is towel snapping. She would give herself a gold medal for her towel snaps. She and her brother practiced for hours perfecting their skill while running around their house as young children. Or, in reality, he perfected his skill on Stephanie and her sister. It was a game of survival. She continues the tradition by playing the game with her boys. She is quick to note, it is all in fun and the laughs abound.
Stephanie considers her most useful talent to be that of a writer. We at the COG couldn’t agree more. She told me all about how she has journaled since she was a young child and would spend her days writing if she could. She also happened to mention she is an avid reader and has been known to read five (5) books a month. Reading that many words in a month would sure give you a lot to write about.
What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
Stephanie said she thought about this a lot while she was getting ready to be interviewed because there are so many things that came to mind. She then settled on telling me how she believes everyone should have the privilege of being immersed in a culture that is not their own. It gives you a whole different perspective of people and the world. She challenges us all to go somewhere different, don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable, experience a new culture fully –it just might change your world.


While ‘tis the season for giving, it’s the little things you do for others — over the course of time — that ultimately go a long way. Whether you’re well off (or not), a business entity, or underprivileged, helping those in need is one of the most rewarding contributions you can make for both yourself and society. Be it physical, monetary, or sheer hardship, there are numerous reasons someone could be in dire need of a helping hand.
As the popular Ralph Waldo Emerson saying goes: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” However, sometimes on that beautiful yet unpredictable path, things can go unexpectedly awry. Although the resilient ones manage to get through major setbacks on their own, some of us — be it our misconstrued ways of thinking, or lack of resources — benefit greater from those who are willing to give them a small nudge. That very nudge could come in the form of an opportunity such as a place to crash for a brief stint, or a much needed job opportunity.
Regardless of the predicament, each circumstance serves as an opportunity for those contributing to their respective causes. From the contributor side, the biggest benefit you receive is that feeling you get inside knowing that you made a difference. Essentially, the little things you do for others are, utterly priceless, for both the giver and receiver.
In closing — to summarize Forrest Gump’s well known quote, life is “like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” However, regardless of its twists and turns — and debts and credits — we can make the world a better place if we find it in our hearts to assist others along the way.


The book is APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book, by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch. It is available on Kindle for $9.99. The bottom line is: Get this book if any of the following apply to you:
- You have any interest whatsoever in publishing your own book, print or digital;
- You are an author who wants an overview of best practices in social marketing using the latest tools available, even if you already have a publisher; or
- You want to know what the future of publishing is looking like from the point of view of authors.
In APE, Kawasaki and Welch present about the greatest possible amount of useful information per page. Yet they do it in a style that makes you feel like you are sitting down with Guy over coffee. Much of the information presented is practical and even technical, but it is never dry because every bit is so directly relevant and applicable to the reader who wants to write and publish a book. Also, APE has witty quotes and quick anecdotes scattered throughout, making it nearly as fun as it is informative.
The primary premise of APE is that if you want to write a book, you may be best off publishing it yourself, especially since the authors are going to tell you just what you need to know to pull it off. The key sub-premise is that to pull it off, you will need to wear the hats of author, publisher, and entrepreneur. The book’s title is thus also its table of contents. The first section tells you how to write your book, how to be an author. The second section tells you how to produce and distribute your book, how to be a publisher. The third section tells you how to market your book, how to be an entrepreneur. By “entrepreneur,” they really mean “marketer,” but they probably couldn’t find a picture of an APM for the cover.
APE can be read from cover to cover as an inspirational book (while guiltlessly skimming some of the more specific detail) and then can be used as a reference that you can lean on as you actually go through the process of publishing a book. As an inspirational book, the authors make it clear that publishing your own book is hard work, but they also make you realize that you can do it, and you can do it well. And they include tons of great advice and pearls of wisdom throughout. As a reference book, APE feels comprehensive, but curated; that is, the authors have gathered what they feel are the best resources and methods to help you at every stage of your publishing journey, so you are not overwhelmed with every possible way to do something. In this way, the authors are giving you their advice all along the way and saving you from frustrating dead ends and inferior ways of doing things.
The “Entrepreneur” section of APE is actually a great primer in how to use social marketing to market your book. Most of this section is applicable even if you have a publisher; for that matter, most of it is applicable even if you are selling something besides a book. This section summarizes Kawasaki’s wisdom on social marketing in general—it is a great read and worth the price of admission on its own.
What APE cannot do for you (and does not claim it can): make you a good writer if you are a poor writer; tell you what to write about; make it easy to publish your own book (though it can make it easier); guarantee that you will get rich from your book. As long as you do not have any such unrealistic expectations, if you want to publish your own book or market your own book, you will love APE. It will give you the kick in the pants you need to get started, and it will be your constant companion all along the way.


For over three decades, Wisdom Publications has been committed to publishing contemporary and classic Buddhist books. As the leading ecumenical and nonprofit publisher in this field, publishing everything from His Holiness the Dalai Lama's works to the classic "Mindfulness in Plain English," we have made it our mission to:
- help cultivate and share the phenomenal and multifaceted resource of Buddhism, enriching the world by preserving and sharing the wise, compassionate, and profound teachings of Buddhism and mindfulness
- advance critical scholarship, nurture communities of authors and readers, and
- preserve Buddhist literary culture.
We are committed to providing readers with polished, thoughtful, and carefully-chosen works, available at reasonable prices. We also donate many books each year to schools, prisoners, sanghas, and libraries, and all our profits are invested back into the creation of new works.
We recently had a new website built (www.wisdompubs.org), where we now offer thousands of pages of free content from our books available to read online, as well as direct and instantaneous ebooks for sale.
We have already raised $5,000 this fall, and hope to raise $5,000 more by December 31st so we can continue developing and improving our new website, and fulfilling the work of our mission.
(Tibetan flags photo by Chris Majors)


A final gesture of love. “Marie” is his ex-wife. Six months into our relationship, he moved cross continent. We ended our relationship six months after the move.
I realized today that the connection I’d actively created with you involves my helping you process present and past events. Given this understanding, it feels unkind, dishonorable, irresponsible, and premature to leave your life without properly responding to your feelings and thoughts from last night. I’m writing this letter in respect of the roles we had created, and my responsibility as that person.
You say you haven’t been able to feel better despite having moved closer to family and the people you love. I fear and feel this is because the transformation you seek is internal; changing external circumstances will not accomplish that feat. I hope you devote the emotional effort of looking closely within, into your thought, behavior, and speech patterns. I fear that your negativity and general ingratitude towards the little and big things are obstacles that challenge your ability to be happy, calm, loving, and emotionally present. I hope you start AA, or something similar, a framework for support and guidance that isn’t a romantic relationship or partner. I feel alcohol is one of your numbing agents. It allows you to evade the inner turmoil that demands tackling, healing, and release. Ultimately, the quality of our relationships, both interpersonal and intrapersonal, determines our quality of life. So I feel all the above are factors that have kept you from true fulfillment. Moving from one geographical state to another isn’t the same as truly moving, from one state to another. I think you’ll feel better only after doing the necessary, deep, difficult, and continual inner work. It’s the task we all have in common, simply in different manifestations.
For me, our relationship began on our first date when, while waiting for dessert, you reached over, took my hand and said “I would never do this on a first date, usually. I hope there is a second one. I hope I haven’t repulsed you.” My heart broke for you. Earlier, you had told me the story of Marie calling you “repulsive”, something that is incredibly cruel and untrue. I wasn’t going to accept a second date given our vast differences and the fact that you were clearly very focused on your ex-wife, and broken. But when you said that, I made myself a vow: I would sign up to be the person who’d show you that you were deserving and capable of being loved even though you didn’t think that was possible. I would give you love and remain by your side knowing full well that I would receive very little respect, affection, or attention in return. I would love you without conditions or expectations, for that was the only way. I would give you a year. I would do this because you deserved the gift and opportunity to heal and move beyond your present and past, because you are inherently good, decent, and highly intelligent. You were and are worth the work. What I would receive in return is the contentment that comes from helping someone with something that only I could give and do for the person. Arguably, that incentive is both loving as well as egotistical. We dance this fine line in the matters of love.
Something you and I spoke of often is the hard-to-swallow truth that so much in life, and especially in love, is uncontrollable. By extension, so many parts of a person and the relationship forged with them will remain ever mysterious. Unknowable spots that will remain blurry given the nature of life and being human. It is the highly intelligent and the young who believe ardently that we can understand, and thereby determine or control or know, anything and everything we wish to. For the highly intelligent, it is a necessary and humbling step to realize and accept that not all are within our minds’ grasp. As for the young, life will teach them the same truth. The journey is sweetly ironic: The older we grow, the more we learn. The more we learn, the more we realize we know so little. The more we learn, the more clear it becomes that learning is an ever unfurling path.
Give yourself time. You deserve it.
One of the things that pains me most is that nowadays, you show such interest in my life and my work, when for the most part of our relationship and synergy, I was invisible. I was the other woman, and Marie and you were the ones in focus. I loathe that you ask me so often about my book when in the past, I begged you for nine months to read something from it, and you couldn’t and wouldn’t make the time because you preferred to focus on yourself, your move, your job search, your ex, your pastimes and your addictions. It’s like lavishing affection on a teenager after refusing to embrace her as a child. Contraband love, sullied gifts, the kind which accepting means one’s auctioned oneself to the dark.
I cannot be your Reema anymore. Meaning that I cannot and will not give, and give, and give to you anymore. You have nothing to give me in return, and my past reasons for giving you love, time, support, counsel and friendship are no longer valid. A hard lesson I’ve learned is that in all my relationships, my role as a daughter, sister, friend, girlfriend, wife, ex-girlfriend, ex-wife involves that I counsel. This is my approach to intimacy. At times it is also how I avoid it. My calling and my crucifix. Invariably, unless I’m careful, I grow depleted and resentful from the constant outpour of words, thought, synthesis, and love I devote to my beloveds. That is on me, a tightrope I choose to string, a balancing act I’m still navigating. My doing and my responsibility — no expectations, yet I try, yet I beg. Such an agreement, and its results, are ultimately unfair on both the beloved and myself. In terms of you and I, we know only an unbalanced synergy. I feel it would be deeply unhealthy for both of us to continue this. You need to take care of yourself — you deserve to become self-healing, self-sustaining, and self-empowering. There is so much to you that is remarkable, extraordinary, and good — hence my commitment to you. This is my final offering of love. If you read this letter, I hope you can receive it as such.
Please seek help. You are worth the work. You are worth the commitment. You are worth the love you need now to give yourself.


'Come of Age' Reading and Reportage
"Getting older is inevitable; becoming an elder is a skill." - Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW
Acclaimed Canadian culture activist and author Stephen Jenkinson returns to San Luis Obispo to discuss his upcoming book, Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. In his signature provocative style, he makes the case that we must birth a new generation of elders, one poised and willing to be true stewards of the planet and its species. With lyrical prose and incisive insight, Jenkinson explores the great paradox of elderhood in North America: how we are awash in the aged and yet somehow lacking in wisdom; how we relegate senior citizens to the corner of the house while simultaneously heralding them as sage elders simply by virtue of their age. Part critique, part call to action, Come of Age is a love song inviting all of us to grow up, before it's too late.
We invite you to an evening book reading and reportage by Stephen Jenkinson for young folk and old folk, for elders in training.
For more information, please visit www.hospiceslo.org or call (805) 544-2266


The Intrepid Traveler — Preface
by Adam Rogers
“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.”
— Samuel Johnson
The Greek poet, Constantine Cavafy, wrote in the late nineteenth century of the importance of enjoying the trip, any trip, and not only longing for a journey’s end. It’s a metaphor that can be extended to many of life’s processes and what this book is ultimately about.
This book is about travel – not tourism per se, but travel – experiential travel; the kind of travel that benefits both the visitor and the visited. And not just the travel where you go for a good time – though if you follow the guidance in this book carefully, I do believe you will have the time of your life, far beyond what you ever thought possible.
In the history of this world there has never been a better time to explore and never a greater need for increased awareness of the principles and practices of responsible, ethical, sustainable, and experiential travel. This is what I like to call intrepid travel, as the word intrepid suggests a lack of fear in dealing with something new or unknown – indeed seeking out the new and unknown to better understand the world as well as oneself. The adjective comes from Latin intrepidus, formed from the prefix in (or "not") plus trepidus ("alarmed").
Intrepid travelers are among a group of daring individuals who want—indeed thirst—for a deeper understanding of the world in which we live. To travel is to step beyond the comfortable surroundings of the familiar world. I believe this is one of the greatest adventures we can take in life.
Whether you are planning a trip to Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, or Germany (or Haiti, India, Jamaica, Korea, or Lichtenstein), traveling offers an opportunity for the ultimate adventure and the highest education, if you are open to it. To travel is to live life at its fullest.
I believe that travel is best when one pursues a three-dimensional experience, with three separate but interlinked facets of reality. There are the things we can see with our eyes—images captured on postcards, the monuments left behind by past civilizations, the architectural remnants of yesteryear. And then there are the people—the descendants of those who built the pyramids, the Great Wall of China, or the temples of Machu Pichu. The second dimension of intrepid traveling involves getting to know these people and their culture, gaining a glimpse of empathy into how life is experienced through their eyes. The third dimension involves nature—tuning into the vibration of the land and listening to it with all five senses.
This book is part travelogue, part travel guide—to anywhere. The insights that I share in these pages took years to develop, and I am still working on them. My first real travel experience occurred at the age of ten, when my parents packed up the Chevy Suburban, loaded me and my two sisters into the back, and then set off from the south of Arizona to the Yukon Territory in the far north of Canada. I wasn’t sure where we were going or why were we leaving, or even what Canada was, although I distinctly remember two words that often came up in the conversations emanating from the front seat: Nixon and Vietnam.
My next big travel experience came at the age of sixteen, when I hitchhiked from the Yukon, down the Alaska Highway to Los Angeles and then back by way of Wyoming and a short stint at the National Outdoor Leadership School. The following year, I bought a used motorcycle and spent a summer exploring the Pacific Coast of North America from Haines, Alaska to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by the light of campfires along the way. By the age of eighteen, I had run out of exciting places to explore on my own home continent and so I set my sights further East—so far East that my goal was to arrive back in the West. This journey took me around the world, lasting five years and took me to fifty countries throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia on a shoestring budget of less than one hundred dollars per month.
During those five years, I practically lived five lifetimes. Each country, town, and village touched me in some way. Every person I encountered enriched me with a new understanding of life. It is often said that seeing new outer horizons broadens one’s inner horizons, and indeed for me, traveling caused my worlds to expand far beyond what I thought possible at the time. Not a single day passed in the five years I spent on the road that my awareness did not expand through a new insight or revelation.
A word about past editions of this book
The first and second editions of this book were not necessarily written for the jet setter. I started out with the backpacker in mind, like myself many years ago. I have since learned that the jet setter, the business traveler, or a UN Advisor “on mission” can all be experiential travelers, intrepid travelers; responsible adventurers with an appetite to partake of the banquet of life, traveling to explore and experience what is beyond the horizons—the horizons “out there” and those that lie within us.
Indeed, during the twenty-two years I spent working with the United Nations between the second edition of the book and this one, I was able to explore an additional 50 countries in a way that would have been much more difficult had I been an independent traveler on a shoestring budget. From remote rural areas of Mozambique and isolated villages of Cambodia to the deserts of the Sahara and the mountains of Nepal, I was tasked with connecting with, interviewing, and photographing villagers and local authorities throughout the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). LDCs are a group of 47 developing countries that, according to the United Nations, exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world. Some of the images and insights in this edition are from those experiences.
Whether your budget is $100 per month or $1,000 per day, the two things I believe you must bring with you as an Intrepid Traveler are an open mind and curiosity. You can be eighteen or eighty years old and travel with a backpack, a duffel bag, or a suitcase. You can wear jeans or a suit. The externalities are secondary. A wise monk in a monastery in Thailand once told me that it is the motivation behind the action that determines the quality of the experience. It is precisely your motivation to travel that will be the greatest determining factor behind both the quality of your experience and whether it builds you up or breaks you down.
There are as many reasons to travel as there are travelers themselves, but there is something that ties even the most diverse of travelers together: a sense of adventure, a heightened self-confidence, and a positive outlook on life. Travelers seldom sit still; they are always wondering what is on the other side of the mountain. The tourist tours, usually in groups, and focuses most of his attention on seeing, on “window shopping.” Travelers are usually highly motivated, intensely interesting, and wonderfully inquisitive. Their experiences have shown them that the world is indeed a wonderful place. They have a good understanding of global events and feel comfortable with anyone in most any circumstance. She focuses on experience—on meeting people and attempting an empathic understanding of life as viewed through another’s paradigm.
It is my vision that through increased travel and a greater understanding of the world in which we live, that the world will become a better place one traveler at a time. Global peace and global stability can only come through global understanding. Understanding comes through connecting and interacting. Connecting and interacting is what you do when you travel.
Every traveler is intrepid—fearless and self-confident. This confidence arises from being able to perceive a goal and achieve it. It also comes from trusting the universe to provide your needs and knowing with confidence that every situation, no matter how complicated or uncomfortable, is an opportunity to learn. We are never presented with a challenge too great to overcome with the right attitude, and every challenge brings with it new understanding and awareness.
It is commonly thought that to see the world one needs a lot of money. The opposite can be true as well; quite often the amount of money spent on a trip is inversely proportional to the depth of the travel experience. In other words, the more money you spend on a trip, the more you may insulate yourself from the people and the reality of the country you are visiting. If you travel to Mexico City, stay at the Four Seasons, eat American food, and travel to all the tourist sites with groups of Americans in air-conditioned tour buses, you may not really be in Mexico City. Rather, you could be merely “seeing” an image through the framed perspective of a tinted glass window. You could probably get better views from watching a documentary on the National Geographic website.
On the other hand, being too frugal carries an opportunity cost, causing you to miss out on potentially valuable travel experiences. I have met travelers who have passed up a visit to a museum or ancient ruins because of a five-dollar entrance fee. If your budget is too tight to allow a visit to a local museum, it may be time to reevaluate your travel plans.
Getting to the part of the world you have planned to visit may the biggest cost you encounter. However, if you plan, compare prices, or make more stops with longer layovers, you can significantly reduce this expense. Once you arrive at your destination, especially if your journey takes you to the developing (and often much more interesting) part of the world, the cost of living and traveling could very well be much less than you expected.
By spending less than the contemporary “tourist,” you are more likely to encounter locals and engage them in conversation. By avoiding lunch at the Radisson and eating in a local restaurant, by avoiding the tourist bus and taking local transport, and by staying with a local family in a bed-and-breakfast or at an Airbnb, you are more likely to spend time with people who are from the area, which should be one of the three reasons you are there in the first place. The geography and nature may be attractive, the cultural sites and monuments may be interesting, but it is the people you meet while traveling that will make your travel experience one that will enrich your life beyond compare. When you return home from your travels, you will have made new friends with whom you may be in contact for the rest of your life.
Travel slows down time – and we live longer
I have found that in many ways when we travel, and our senses are exposed to new experiences, we pay more attention to the details surrounding us: We become more mindful of the people, the food, the smells, the architecture, etc. Thus, we live more in the here and now because it is in the present moment where we experience reality. When we do this, our perception of time slows down, like when we were children marveling at and learning about the world around us. Remember how long the month before a birthday seemed as a child? Then, as we get older, we fall into routines and an entire year can go by in the blink of an eye.
I believe we are only truly alive when our consciousness is anchored in the here and now. When our mind is mired in memories of the distant past, we get lost in movies of our own making. We are not here, now. When we are anticipating or worried about events that may or may not happen tomorrow, we are not here, now – we are literally somewhere else in our minds. We are only alive, when we are here, now, in this moment. Thus, the secret to longevity could be as simple as staying present and mindful in the present. Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth as it turns out, is not in some hidden faraway Floridian fable—it is right here where I am, in this moment. It is in observing and appreciating the details of my now.
Inward/outward simultaneous travel
While you are on your outward global journey to faraway lands, you may discover another journey occurring simultaneously. You will see, hear, smell, taste, and feel things that will stimulate your spirit and awaken your senses. These new senses will inspire you to contemplate different paradigms about life and how it is lived. Traveling can transform nearly anyone into a philosopher and poet, for life on the road is revealed to you in a wonderful tapestry of contradictions and the kind of raw beauty that defies definition.
Seeing the world as it is in its true nature is what gives the traveler a perspective of life that is often different from those who have never traveled. The journeyer is more apt to view him or herself as a citizen of the world, of the human race, rather than citizen of a country or representative of a specific race.
I have found that for me, traveling quite often awakens a primordial nomadic instinct that creates a desire to forever want to see and experience what is beyond the next horizon. The more we experience, the more we want to experience.
For those who have never tried it, the traveler’s wanderlust can be a curious and rather incomprehensible type of behavior. Some non-travelers even look upon the traveler with either contempt or detached awe, saying to themselves, “I wish I could do that if only _____.”
If you want to travel, there is no excuse to delay. Settle your accounts, pay your bills, take an indefinite leave of absence from work, and hang a sign on the window that says, “Gone fishing – in Tasmania.”
A few notes on the third edition and some acknowledgements
Twenty-five years in the making, I do hope this third edition of The Intrepid Traveler will be of use and interest to travelers who are embarking on their first journey and to those seasoned travelers who can ever-so-well relate to the autobiographical experiences I have included to illustrate a few of my points. I also have tried to write it in such a way that it would appeal to readers who are embarking on the journey of life without transporting their physical bodies to the far reaches of the planet. Armchair travelers can be intrepid as well, gaining every bit as much insights to feed their curiosities and open minds.
This third edition includes a lot of material that simply did not exist when I was doing and living the research for the first two editions. In the early 1980s when I first set out to discover the world there was no email, no internet, and no ATM machines. Placing an international phone call could take three days if there was even a phone available. A letter could take three months to reach its destination. Now all that is required to let mom know you are safe is a Facebook account and access to an internet café or a smartphone.
Also, in the twenty-five years since the first edition of this book was published, I have more than doubled the number of countries I have visited—many during the past two decades of work with the United Nations. I have expanded the sections on traveling as a couple, having experienced much of the world from Marrakesh to Manhattan and from Cairo to Cape Town with my patient and loving wife, Gillian. I also have experienced the joy and adventure of traveling with children and have journeyed to and through several countries from Egypt to Morocco and from Chile to Canada with my two sons, Sage Mandela and Addison Tafari. Traveling with kids opens new opportunities for experiencing a country in ways I had never imagined.
This is a good place to acknowledge that nothing of substance is ever accomplished without the benevolence, understanding, and assistance of friends, family, and higher powers. In recognition of this, I would like to express appreciation to my mother, Nancy Dryden Lorieau and to my publisher at Earth News, Judy Rae. These two women (and their husbands) gave me the push I needed in the early 1990s to put pen to paper and to produce the first edition of this book. I feel enormous gratitude toward my Grandmother Ruth Wyatt Dryden and to her son, my uncle Chuck Dryden. I would also like to thank the late Ted Harrison of the Yukon for believing in me, Ella Cisneros of the Together Foundation for inspiring me, and to Lennie and Alena, for creating a new haven in New Haven. Thanks also to Wes Bernard, who first taught me how to take photos, and to Laura Kullenberg, my first boss in the UN system, who pushed me to take those skills to the next level. Thanks to Jim MacIntyre for an open door; Simona Marinescu for an open mind, and Jamrad Saoman for an open heart and for reminding me to breath. Thanks also to Jamie Birdwell-Branson and Gillian Rogers for editing the third edition of The Intrepid Traveler, and to Dennis Lundø Nielsen of Phoenix Design Aid, for publishing it.
Of the many, many people who helped me out and inspired me along my own journeys around the world: My deep appreciation goes out to Sebastian Copeland (who provided the foreword to this edition), Reinhard Struve of Germany, Salwa el Habib of the Sudan, Martin and Annette Edney of Australia, Zeynep Sinal of Istanbul, Gert Paul Nowosadko of Everywhere, Keven Lafey of Jerusalem, and the Nazmuddin Family of Eritrea and now of Phoenix, Arizona. Thanks to Dimitry Elias Léger, with whom I worked in the post-earthquake rubble of Haiti and who inspired me with his tenacity for writing and the insights of his book, God Loves Haiti. I would also like to recognize, with appreciation and gratitude, the Lebanese monk on Mt. Athos, who changed my life one evening with a single conversation about moments and journeys. Lastly, I would like to express my appreciation to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the Little Prince, who wrote that “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
This book, as with the two previous editions, is dedicated to the Little Prince in all of us.


WRITERS BEHAVING BADLY
Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers
Illustrated by Edward Hemingway
Written by Mark Bailey
(Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Workman Publishing, $15.95)
by Becky Sauer
Certain 20th century authors–F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker and Raymond Carver, to name a few–were just as famous for their hard living as they were for their fine writing. Taking inspiration from that theme, Mark Bailey has compiled this unique bartending guide designed for the literary lush. Forty-three American writers are arranged alphabetically and matched up with a signature cocktail recipe, mini biography and an excerpt from their work devoted to the subject at hand—drinking. Illustrator Edward Hemingway supplied the whimsical caricatures of the literary masters, including one of his grandfather, Ernest Hemingway.
Also featured are amusing anecdotes of particularly memorable benders, such as the time Jack Kerouac passed out at a portside bar and in the morning found himself on a ship headed for Greenland. Legend has it that he called his parents to say he would be home “a little late.” As far as the cocktail recipes go, the selections range from the classic (Manhattan, Bloody Mary) to the old-fashioned (Brandy Alexander, Gin Rickey) to the obscure (Ward Eight, Between the Sheets). And though you may not learn any nuances to fixing a Screwdriver, you may find it interesting to know that Truman Capote referred to it as “my orange drink.” This handy little book is less a tome for the serious mixologist and more of a novelty gift for those who enjoy a stiff drink and a great read.


Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo
By Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Truman, and Sam Glanzman
Vertigo Comics 1993
Copyright © DC Comics, Inc.
Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo wasn’t my first experience with weird westerns, but it might as well have been. This is the story that inspired me not only to try my hand at penning weird westerns, but also to read about the history of the Old West—something no schoolteacher or college professor could ever claim. It also set me on the trail to finding every bizarro western I could get my hands on and is thus responsible for Strangecoach as well.
It’s also the first story I ever read written by Champion Mojo Storyteller, Joe R. Lansdale.
I’d been searching for books by Mr. Lansdale ever since I read Stanley Wiater’s Dark Dreamers: Conversations with the Masters of Horror, a birthday present from my brother who encouraged my interest in horror fiction with this collection of interviews featuring such usual suspects as Stephen King and Clive Barker, and several other authors whose books I sought after being introduced to them in these pages.
It was Joe R. Lansdale’s books I was most interested in finding after reading this line from Mr. Wiater’s introduction of the author: “[Mr. Lansdale’s] Western-horror novel Dead in the West reads like Zane Grey’s (and George A. Romero’s) worst nightmare in it’s unflinching descriptions of mutilation and mayhem.” As a fan of Clint Eastwood’s westerns (thanks to my Mom, who insisted Mr. Eastwood played roles other than Dirty Harry, and rented The Good, the Bad & the Ugly on video to prove it to me) and George A. Romero’s living dead flicks (thanks again to my brother, who had no problem warping my young impressionable mind when we were kids, but has since turned his back on Romero’s zombie epics now that he’s a respectable husband and father), Mr. Lansdale sounded like a writer who was up my alley.
But in the suburbs of Long Island, Mr. Lansdale’s books were nowhere to be found in either used or new bookstores. Worse still, the booksellers stared at me with blank expressions when I asked if they carried any of his books, having never heard of him.
So when DC Comic’s Vertigo imprint launched in 1993 with an announcement that Jonah Hex—DC’s scar-faced bounty hunter, whose title survived longer than any other western comic book (92 issues in 1985)—was going to receive a makeover in the hands of Mr. Lansdale and his collaborators, artist Tim Truman (Grimjack) and inker Sam Glanzman in a horrific and humorous adventure of dark magic and western gunplay, I was thrilled that I was finally getting the opportunity to read this author’s work—and on one of my favorite characters too.
Invited to a necktie party he just couldn’t refuse, on account of being trussed up and dragged behind a horse, Jonah Hex is nearly done in by some outlaws when he’s rescued by Slow Go Smith, an older bounty hunter with poor sight and even poorer aim, who manages to kill the outlaws…and most of their horses. Obliged to Slow Go, Jonah accompanies him to Mud Creek, Texas (a fictional town featured in many of Mr. Lansdale’s stories), to collect the reward for the outlaws’ heads.
Mud Creek is, as Hex observes, “a regular paradise—if you was a maggot.” Folks there charge two bits for pictures taken with dead outlaws and prepare picnics to watch hangings, while their sheriff works hard searching for justice at the bottom of a bottle. It’s the perfect environment for Doc “Cross” Williams to ply his trade.
Advertising himself as an alchemist, physician, and paraphysicist, Doc is a pointy-eared, pointy-toothed, goggle-sporting snake oil salesman, traveling across the west in his “Wagon of Miracles” with a trio of circus freaks selling his Sweet Brown Tonic, guaranteed to cure whatever ails folks. He’s also a body snatcher, using parts as ingredients for an elixir much stronger than his tonic—a voodoo potion that turns people into zombies, not the flesh-eating kind, but the obedient kind Doc can command and who suffer from such useful side effects as increased strength and agility.
Unfortunately, Hex and Slow Go are in the wrong place at the wrong time, catching Doc in the corpse-stealing act and trading gunfire with his star zombie—Wild Bill Hickok, who’s a better shot half-dead than he ever was alive. When the smoke clears, Slow Go is a goner, Doc and his troupe are gone, and Hex swears to track them down, avenge his friend, and put Hickok back in the grave where he belongs.
Joe R. Lansdale’s one-of-a-kind imagination fills Two-Gun Mojo with strong characterization, funny dialogue, relentless action sequences, and unexpected moments. Even if he had left out the supernatural elements, it would still qualify as a horror story of frontier life in its depiction of violence, bigotry, and general absence of human decency.
Hex’s point-of-view narrative drives the story with a wicked sense of humor that remains intact no matter how dangerous or strange the situation. The origin of Hex’s scar becomes a running gag as he offers different explanations of how he acquired it for everyone who asks from “damn toothpick slipped” to “damn chigger bite.”
A man of principle, Hex follows his own moral code, righting wrongs as he sees fit, relying on his wits just as much as his guns. A loner by nature, he doesn’t seek companionship, but values those friends he makes along the way, however brief their time together, trading insults with them faster than lead with his enemies.
It is his friendship with Slow Go that puts Doc Williams on Hex’s most wanted list. Despite his ineffectual gunfighting abilities, Slow Go earned Hex’s respect because of his courage in helping others regardless of how the odds were stacked against him. By contrast, Doc is a dangerous coward, literally using others for his own benefit and to do his dirty work while keeping himself out of the line of fire. Encountering more brave souls who fall victim to numerous gutless ones, Hex is driven to see justice done.
Tim Truman’s and Sam Glanzman’s artwork is palpable, bombarding the reader’s senses with such Old West atmosphere you can hear flies buzz, smell manure, and taste Hex’s cheroot smoke. Each and every character is distinct from one another, attired in a variety of period clothing and brandishing a wide array of firearms, demonstrating the artists’ commitment to authenticity, and their genuine love for the era.
And Hex’s visage has never been more horrific. Long-time readers know his face was branded with the “Mark of the Demon,” and even though it’s not mentioned in this story, the description is apt.
Rounding out the art team, color artist Sam Parsons adds striking depth to the already raw characters and gritty environment, and his use of moonlight and shadows for night scenes are especially impressive. Letterer extraordinaire Todd Klein amplifies Doc’s ramblings with clever designs that brings the insanity out of the character’s voice.
Two-Gun Mojo remains my favorite Jonah Hex story. It was also the perfect introduction to Joe R. Lansdale’s writing, and I’ve been a faithful reader of his novels, short fiction, and comic books ever since, regardless of genre, because Mr. Lansdale is his own genre and his stories never fail to entertain me.
Collected into trade paperback in 1994, Two-Gun Mojo is currently out-of-print in book form, but is now available as a motion-comic—released to drum up interest in the Jonah Hex film.
Based on the trailer, the film could use all the help it gets.