An Urbanite Discovers the Outdoors
For Ray Burks, outdoor adventures in college forever transformed her relationship with nature.
Here is her contribution to Outdoor Afro in words and in pictures.
As an ubanite born and raised in a concrete jungle, trips to the real wilderness were few and far between. Going out in nature just felt very unnatural. That all changed when I went to the University of Northern Iowa and graduate school in the midwest. The "norm" was outdoor activities if the temperature was above 30 F and nothing was falling from the sky. I discovered camping did not have to be a huge undertaking, it was casual weekend trip. My last year in college as a chemistry major, I got to do science outdoors through UNI's Water Project and being in nature no longer felt so unnatural.
Now, I get out in the great outdoors as often as I can. Being married to a Midwesterner who fishes, snowboards, hikes, camps, boats and any-other-outdoor-hobby helps too! We live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, a great place for a beach lover (me), mountain lover (husband) and outside lovers (our dogs).
Once place we all enjoy is Whidbey Island. We headed to Double Bluff Beach, a beautiful stretch of beach with stunning views of the Olympic mountain range. Double Bluff Beach has an off-leash dog park, along with plenty of interesting marine life for people and pups to enjoy (or chase after). For a few hours, we all got to feel far away but were only a short ferry ride away from bustling Seattle. That's a perfect fit for this nature loving urbanite!
Ray Burks is a Forensic Scientist who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and canine companions. Follow her on Twitter @RadiumYttrium
Creative Ecologies: A Group Residency + Public Conversation
Image by Amy Franceschini
Sunday, March 6, 1PM
Admission FREE | Mess Hall Cafe Open
Reservations are not required, but we invite you to click here as a courtesy RSVP
Invite Friends via Facebook
Join Creative Ecologies in a round table discussion and presentation by artists and creative thinkers from across the country who address the complex relationship between humans, cultural production, and the natural environment. As part of an initiative exploring ways that residencies catalyze collaboration, participants will spend two weeks prior to the event in residence at Headlands, living, thinking, and working together.
As a group, participants will examine issues on-site in the Marin Headlands portion of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, in the greater Bay Area, and throughout the world-at-large. Areas of exploration include New Definitions of the Commons: Land Use & Appropriation; Larger Cycles of Resource Management: Waste Disposal and Recycling; Big Bad By-Products: Toxic Waste Prevention and Mitigation; Alternative Systems of Sustainable Agriculture & Human Foodways; How Far Do We Go? Urban Growth & its Limits.
T. Allan Comp (AIR ‘00), U.S. Department of the Interior
Amy Franceschini (AIR ‘03), Future Farmer and artist
Cynthia Hooper, Eco-artist
Patricia Johanson, Environmental artist
Philip Ross (AIR ‘03), Critter Salon founder and mushroom artist
Susan Thering, Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Daniel Tucker, AREA Chicago co-founder
Rosten Woo, Founder and Former Executive Director Center for Urban Pedagogy
Creative Ecologies is part of Humans and Other Species, the first of several themed program initiatives highlighting common concerns in public events and artist projects at Headlands this season and beyond. This Spring, four of our programs offer rare insights into coexistence, discovery, exploitation, and other interactions among humans, other species, and the environment via collaboration, performance, music, and mixed media.
The Rose That Grew From Concrete
By Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)
Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.
We love this poem as it wraps its parable in nature to remind us of what is possible in spite of the odds we sometimes face. Nature is a generous teacher in that it models a perseverance and beauty we can know is possible for our own lives.
Memories of Summer Camp
Our newest Outdoor Afro contributor, Justice Fergie, recalls fondly her years at camp, and what it means for her own children today.
My Girl Guide troop at sleepaway camp.
That's me in the bottom left-hand corner.
Don't laugh!
Ok, go ahead.
Remember sleep-away camp? Some of my best childhood memories are from spending summers making friends, singing campfire songs, and making friendship bracelets at sleep-away camp. My Girl Guide troop (the Canadian version of Girl Scouts), was very active and one summer we had the opportunity to camp at a site owned by a Hungarian couple out in the wilderness. My mom dropped me at the bus we were taking to the campsite and I trotted off, bedroll, homemade poncho and sit-upon in hand. I had an amazing, enriching experience that I will never forget. Yes, we had to use lats and got bitten to the hilt by mosquitoes, but I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. To this day - and I'm not exaggerating - I haven't tasted a better Hungarian Goulash than the one that our campsite hosts made for us over an open fire at camp. Or maybe it just seems that way because I was having a blast.
Another summer, I accompanied my sister to a sleep-away camp for the Deaf. It was easily one of the best times of my life. We went whale-watching, dissected a nurse shark, made popcorn and berry
necklaces with Native Americans, and - of course - had the requisite boy-girl end-of-summer dance. I remain in contact with many of those fellow campers and cherish the memories we made.
Fast forward to 2011. I'm a mom of 3 children and I'm just itching for them to be able to go away to camp like I did. But here's the thing - it's a different time now than when my sister and I went away to camp. The world is almost indisputably a scarier place. I don't know if I would feel comfortable sending my kids off for an extended period of time nowadays. And another thing - my husband never went to an overnight camp. In fact, he was barely allowed to go to sleepovers with kids that weren't family. So naturally he is 100% against the idea of a sleep-away camp for our brood.
I'm saddened at the thought that my kiddos won't be able to experience camp the way I did. Sure, they can do to day camps, and maybe a heavily chaperoned 1-night overnight camp here and there. But will they be able to run into a cabin and compete with friends to choose a bunk that will be theirs for the next 3 weeks? Will they be able to lie under the stars in a sleeping bag wearing matching friendship bracelets with a newfound friend? Will they write me postcards telling me how much kayaking sucks? Or will their knowledge of the freedom and free-spiritedness of sleep-away camp have to rest with me?
Justice Fergie is a wife, lawyer and supermom to 3 beautiful children. She's also a foodie, social media junkie and co-founder of Be Blogalicious. Visit her at JusticeFergie.com or follow @JusticeFergie on Twitter.
Ice Cube: Then and Now
I think Mr. Cube looks much happier with the fishing pole!
What a difference the outdoors can make.
African Americans in the Natural World
Join National Park Service ranger Betty Reid Soskin and Rue Mapp of the social network Outdoor Afro as they discuss the state of African American participation in our national and regional parks.
I am honored to share the stage with Ms. Betty Soskin, who will share personal memories of East Bay life and working conditions during World War II and show a short film about Richmond's Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park.
Following Ms. Soskin's presentation, I will highlight the variety of city and regional parks in the Oakland area and encourage audience members to share their experiences.
Details:
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Oakland Public Library
125 14th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
America's Great Outdoors Initiative and Report - Bravo!
Many in the Outdoor Afro community are elated by the announcement of the greatly anticipated America's Great Outdoors (AGO) initiative by the Obama Administration. Following in the tradition of Lincoln, FDR, and Teddy Roosevelt -- Presidents who each made great strides toward conservation, President Obama left his own mark today by initiating an historic initiative that is likely to change the way Americans perceive and engage with the outdoors.
Read the President's Remarks:
On the conference call following the President's address, I was delighted to hear Lisa Jackson, Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, remark about the importance of inclusion that considers urban environments and the people who live in them.
When asked by Charles Thomas, "What elements are envisioned to serve underserved communities?" Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar responded that there is a "deliberate focus on employing young people who are reflective of the diversity of the country -- otherwise we're selling America short..."
These are exciting times for Americans and the outdoors, and Outdoor Afro will continue to promote, make visible, and encourage its growing community to foster stronger and more empowered connections to nature that benefit us all.
How do you think the AGO initiative will support your engagement with the Great Outdoors?
Let's Move Launch Anniversary!
I was fortunate to attend with several others from around the country a White House briefing for First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move initiative last December. In the meeting we learned more about Let's Move accomplishments, and contributed ideas for next steps. I encourage Outdoor Afros to engage with this important movement to support and sustain the health of our children, and the generations to follow.
From the Let's Move website:
Physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. In combination with healthy eating, it can help prevent a range of chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and stroke, which are the three leading causes of death. Physical activity helps control weight, builds lean muscle, reduces fat, promotes strong bone, muscle and joint development, and decreases the risk of obesity. Children need 60 minutes of play with moderate to vigorous activity every day to grow up to a healthy weight.
If this sounds like a lot, consider that eight to 18 year old adolescents spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies in a typical day, and only one-third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity. To increase physical activity, today’s children need safe routes to walk and bike ride to school, parks, playgrounds and community centers where they can play after school, and activities like sports, dance or fitness programs that are exciting and challenging enough to keep them engaged.
Let’s Move! aims to increase opportunities for kids to be physically active, both in and out of school and to create new opportunities for families to move together.
Active Families: Engage in physical activity each day : a total of 60 minutes for children, 30 minutes for adults.
Active Schools: A variety of opportunities are available for schools to add more physical activity into the school day, including additional physical education classes, before–and afterschool programs, recess, and opening school facilities for student and family recreation in the late afternoon and evening.
Active Communities: Mayors and community leaders can promote physical fitness by working to increase safe routes for kids to walk and ride to school; by revitalizing parks, playgrounds, and community centers; and by providing fun and affordable sports and fitness programs.
Outdoor Afro Goes to the American Camp Association Conference!
This week, I had the honor of presenting at the American Camp Association (ACA) the topic: Recognizing and Cultivating Diversity in Family Camp in beautiful San Diego, California at their annual conference.
ACA is a community of camp professionals who, for nearly 100 years, have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. ACA and Outdoor Afro have recently formed an educational partnership to help camps connect to the diverse Outdoor Afro community; and also help Outdoor Afro community members become more aware of the wide range of camp experiences available to them.
The ACA conference brought together camp professionals from around the country to learn about best practices and new innovations, and to foster collaboration to bring the camp experience to more Americans. My friend, and Outdoor Afro supporter Nina Roberts, professor at San Francisco State University, gave a fabulous presentation on strategies to help camps recruit more diverse staff.
Also nice to meet Kevin Gordon, who runs a multicultural camp called Camp Kupugani:
After the educational forums, the ACA exhibition hall featured a wide range of vendors with scores of products and program tools to successfully run camps, and there I ran into some friends and supporters of the Outdoor Afro community, each committed in their own way to make the camp experience available for everyone. Here are Camp Director Lisa Maynor's comments:
And finally, just before leaving to return home, I was able to connect in person with the passionate CEO of the American Camp Association, Peg Smith, who generously shared her thoughts on ACA's goals related to camp diversity:
Thank you ACA for your educational partnership and genuine commitment to diversity in the camp experience!
February's Bird of the Month
By Douglas “Birdman” Gray, Outdoor Afro Contributor
Many, when they take a look at this month’s bird will say, “Hey, I know what kind of bird that is.”
“It’s a duck…and it’s a Mallard at that!” You’d be right with it being a duck, but it’s not actually a Mallard. This month’s featured bird is the American Black Duck.
I have to admit that a few years back while studying this duck on paper…before I actually saw one…I was thinking, “Hey, I’m going to have a problem trying to differentiate the American Black Duck and the female Mallard.” Low and behold, the first time I saw one, I was indeed mistaken in thinking I was looking at some kind of off-colored Mallard. However, when I was able to see a Mallard and the American Black Duck next to each other, their difference in color was then quite apparent. The American Black Duck, while not really black, is several shades darker than a Mallard. Its color is more of a dark chocolate brown. This bird is known as the “Dusky Duck” in some circles, which is probably a better name, as it only appears “black” from a distance.
The American Black Duck and the Mallard are similar in size, similar in behavior, their voices sound the same, and these dabblers even interbreed regularly. Some birding authorities even consider these two ducks to not be separate species at all. (Which I think makes for an interesting debate).
Here in Indiana I’ve seen American Black Ducks in “decent” numbers over these winter months. However, their numbers are being watched closely by concerned conservationists, because it’s well documented that the population of American Black Ducks is only about half of what it was before the 1950’s.
I know many of us don’t go birdwatching during these winter months, but I challenge you to study up on this very interesting bird, and you’ll probably find yourself motivated to get out and try to catch sight of an American Black Duck before they head out of our area and toward their breeding grounds. (You’ve got about a month and a half left!)
Douglas “Birdman” Gray has been birding almost all of his life. He grew up on a family farm near Clarksville, Tennessee, where they grew crops ranging from apricots to wheat, and most things in between. They also raised chickens, guineas, pigs, horses, and a cow named…….Apples. Doug’s grandfather identified the birds they would see daily on the farm.
Doug now resides in Indianapolis and works in Parenteral Engineering with Eli Lilly and Company. Most of his current birding takes place in Indiana, with a concentration on Central Indiana, where he leads bird walks for “Backyard Birds”. Doug can be reached at 317-255-7333.