Skip to main content

Oct. 9 | The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

"Nature writing now combines rhapsody with science and connects science with rhapsody, and for that reason it is a very special and nourishing genre." — Edward Hoagland, the introduction to The Cloud Forest: A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness by Peter Matthiessen
Flash! I was there! Hard glare.
Under the anxious chilling sun, nothing gets done

"Man is the matter of the cosmos, contemplating itself."
— Carl Sagan
Snow leopard taste: sea
At home:
salt
Snow leopard sight: a cosmic energy shimmers in all stone and steel as well as flesh; "the cosmic vision of this goat by the crooked door, gazing through sheets of rain into the mud"; blue and white prayer flags, celestial colors
At home: sunlight
Snow leopard sound:
"snorts, sighs, bellows, shrieks"; prayer flags snap in the crisp wind
At home:
cat's cry
Snow leopard touch:
stillness
At home:
sweating, chills
Snow leopard words of the day:
kensho, satori, enlightenment
Snow leopard quote of the day:
"All the way to Heaven is Heaven." — Saint Catherine of Siena;
"And then, almost everything that lent magnificence to life and peace to death was overwhelmed in the hard glare of technology."
Snow leopard notable: 
"Today most scientists would agree with the ancient Hindus that nothing exists or is destroyed, things merely change shape or form; that matter is insubstantial in origin, a temporary aggregate of the pervasive energy that animates the electron."
Snow leopard extra: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind; greedy monkeys
At home:
Paralyzing anxiety? Better to resist or coexist?
Snow leopard gratitude:
OM MANI PADME HUM
At home:
internal solitude, peace within oneself

Panthera progress
:
Why? Oh, why?

What is this?
Blogging The Snow Leopard project.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts on "Depression Hates a Moving Target": What I Mean by Relatable

Relatable — I used this word in my reviews of Depression Hates a Moving Target   by Nita Sweeney on Goodreads and Amazon . It's a nice word, but overused of late. So, it feels lazy. What do I mean? I connected with this book. It made me reflect more on my own first marathon experience. It made me want to put on my running shoes and head out the door again. In fact, I did. Now, typically, my mental health doesn't hinder my ability to do the stuff I want to do and my body flies under the radar. Still, I also felt goofy stepping out in my running gear a lot of the time. I didn't see myself as a "runner" or an athlete. And, I had no idea if I could run 13 miles let alone 26.2 when I started. More to the point, could I stay moving for the 4+ hours straight it would take to complete the marathon? To do the training mileage, I knew I'd have to run through streets and trails on my own and that made me nervous, too. Waves of grief wash us to strange shores. Whe...

What is Solarpunk? Good question, great answers from our community

What is solarpunk? My fellow Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers authors Commando Jugendstil and Tales from The EV Studio put together this video for the Turin International Book Fair . It features editors and authors from the solarpunk community sharing their thoughts. Together we're imagining optimistic futures based on renewable energy. My soundbite was: "Solarpunk futures are — green spaces with clean water that are pedestrian, collective, feminist, creative communities. And they include non-human animals. " Mary "solarpunk" Shelley cat did a great job (at 6:15) helping from her rather ridiculous cat tree which she absolutely loves. And what better time to wear this solar-colored "Veganism is Feminism" tee from The Herbivore Clothing Company . Seriously. I'm holding a stack of solarpunk books: Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers  edited by Sarena Ulibarri which includes my story "Watch Out, Red Crusher!".  Wings of R...

Springy story review: "State Change" by Ken Liu

Why it springs to mind:  You'll never look at an ice cube the same way again. Where read: In the 2014 Hugo award-winning Lightspeed Magazine , August. Length: 5,194 words Summary: A woman has an ice cube for a soul. Memorable: How the story invites us to think about the shape of our soul, how it (or our perception of it) influences us and how it changes. What ordinary every day object would your soul be? A silver spoon, a beech stick? A great party conversation starter, this. Quote:  “All life is an experiment." Notable:  The protagonist Rina is an avid reader (always a good choice). Pairs well with: T.S. Elliot, Edna St. Vincent Millay Origin:  The story was written in 24 hours based on a writing prompt. (See Author Spotlight: Ken Liu ) About the author: Ken Liu’s debut novel, The Grace of Kings , the first in a fantasy series The Dandelion Dynasty, is due out from Saga Press ( a new Simon & Schuster imprint ) in 2015.