From the Natural World To the Horrific. My Saturday Was Better Than Yours. Loving the Life I Live

I finished my Saturday with a 5K Zombie run in Milford where, as a Zombie I was chased by Zombies, which isn't necessarily fun when the temperatures jump up to 70 at 4 in the afternoon, and because of a cough, you haven't run for a week. Still, I'm glad I did it, and I'm thankful to Targets for the cheap make-up and to Pam for making me look like Alice Cooper for the 3 miles. The crowd was light, but it was an inaugural run and I think the funkiest, happiest of people came out to run it.

In the morning, Rich Novack kicked off the 1st day of the two-week #WriteOut event, as we move towards the National Day on Writing with teachers and students at Weir Farm National Historic Site. I've only hiked the trails during the summer months and I truly appreciated the morning drive to Wilton, Connecticut with the leaves just beginning to change their hues. Rather than the warm air of the Zombie-run afternoon, the morning air was crisp, cool, and delicious. It made all the sites of the location that much better.

I was thinking much about apocalypse and end-of-the world shenanigans because of the evening sprint, and I started to think about the horrific reality of an unnatural world when human stewardship finally catches up to us (that is, the lack of stewardship). I've often told people I'm a recovering environmentalist, because the best thing that can happen to the planet is to rid our species from it. But then I started thinking, while hiking, what if we came to a place where humans were zombie-esque and needed to feed off one another. Not sure I want to see a scenario like that.

I'd much rather live in a world of conversations, fresh air, beautiful change of season, fresh water, good vegetables and fruits, and a total appreciation for life as we have it. I like finding the intricacies that exist under a rock or underneath shedding bark, and I'm thrilled to see ecosystems in action (it's why I'm slowly turning my backyard into a dragonfly, hummingbird, butterfly emporium). Reading and learning of the heavy-languaged scholars who position their 'reading of the earth' in text the vast majority of people will never understand makes me feel like I've entered the land of absolute hypocrisy. Ah, academics who need to make careers for themselves. They sure like to mark their territories.

Give me kids, books, and trails, and binoculars and strolls. That's all I need to commune with the outdoors - If I'm to be a critical ecological composer and learner, I need to quickly name that blogs such as this, journals, and even books are HUGE distractions. Want a love for the outdoors? Simply go out and enjoy it. Want future generations to love it? Then you know what to do. Take action and put back everything you get from the world.

It's that simple.