Weaving the Junco: Reflections by LA Director Jesse Carmichael Places are people. Julia Gonzalez is a Yagán elder, artist, teacher; daughter to Ursula Calderon, sister to Christina and beloved great auntie. Julia is one of the few who still holds and speaks the language of the Yagán. On New Years Eve we meet her on the...Continue Reading
Weaving Beauty A few days ago, I had the privilege of walking with Julia Gonzalez, Yagán artisan, and one of the last direct descendants of her people, who is dedicated to the ancestral art of traditional basket weaving. We met with her, and students and professors involved in Tracing Darwin’s Path, at the mouth of the...Continue Reading
Over the Winter Break, Biocitizen Los Angeles had 18 students for their New Year’s classes! Lead Teacher Michael Galano welcomed students grades K-5 for a three day session. Read about what the Biocitizen students’ learned on their walks in Michael’s Field Notes below: “This group of Biocitizens was unique and energetic! We had 5 first-time...Continue Reading
Below you’ll find texts and images that accompanied Kurt Heidinger’s lecture on “Re-Presenting Nonotuck: The Landscape Paintings of Hitchcock and Gloman” 1) The Hitchcock’s science was their religion: “geology and the Bible speak the same language” “The undevout geologist is mad” “it is in the facts of the natural world that most strikingly discover to...Continue Reading
How do spring peepers know when to start singing? They don’t have weather reports, or the ability to see the buds forming on trees, the snow melting, or teens walking around in shorts and T’s when it’s 40 degrees and climbing.How do spring peepers know when to start singing? Certainly, there are scientific reasons that...Continue Reading
Biocitizen is pleased to welcome Brigid Ryan onto the staff as our Westfield River Fishways public education assistant! Brigid is a recent graduate of UMass School of Natural Sciences (congratulations!) and a Now Voyager who surfed the waves at Punta de Lobos, explored the green canyons of the midlands and then climbed the Andes in Chile...Continue Reading
Biocitizen has substantial roots in Chile that began growing in 1999 with the collaboration of biocultural conservationists Ricardo Rozzi and (advisory board member!) Francisca Massardo with Kurt Heidinger and others to create the Omora Ethnobotanical Park. The Omora Park was the impetus for the creation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve and a whole slew of...Continue Reading
A path makes decisions for us. Walking off path forces us to us make decisions (strengthening our decision-making powers). Freewalk: to walk off path, without (feeling anxiety about) getting lost or hurt, or being disrupted. Freewalkers use whole terrains as paths, creating the path most interesting and delightful, without being destructive (by crushing delicate lives)...Continue Reading
Now Voyager Four Corners is a field environmental philosophy expedition that prepares students to be environmental protection action leaders. Early announcements did not make this clear, so Biocitizen is adding a subtitle to the course: Now Voyager Four Corners: Escalante- and Bears Ears- National Monuments Campaign of Witness DETAILED INFO Sometimes bad things happen that...Continue Reading
