Monarchs and Memories
Monarch Butterfly
Monarchs and Memories
D. S. Mitchell
A Public Warning
Across his two terms, President Trump is responsible for removing protections from more than 100 million acres of public lands. He has abolished safeguards on more than 86 million acres less than two years into his second term. Trump has slashed conservation agencies’ funding while purging land management jobs. Trump is putting beloved public lands and waterways across the country—and America’s conservation legacy—at risk of being permanently altered or destroyed. Do we really want oil rigs springing up around Yellowstone and Yosemite? I don’t think so, and if you agree, it is imperative we get this guy hog tied with congressional oversight. Please vote blue in the mid-terms.
With all that said, you might think today I would stoke up the fires on that story, but instead I’m going to discuss a lovely short essay, by Jennifer S. Kushnier. I originally saw it printed in one of those little books you see at Hallmark card stores. You know, the kind. They are usually really small and are filled with cool art, quotes, short stories or essays. Anyway, this little essay by Ms. Kushnier reminded me of my childhood. When I was a kid, even in city neighborhoods there were plenty of vacant lots, some were quite big, really open undeveloped fields where beautiful things happened. Thank you Jennifer, your piece was lovely and brought back beautiful memories.
Butterflies by Jennifer S. Kushnier
Jennifer began her essay with the lines, “All kinds of wildflowers prospered there, from ivory Queen Anne’s lace and purple Clover, to yellow Buttercups and Black-eyed Susan’s, to burnt orange Indian Paintbrushes and those light-blue flowers that seem to be so rare these days. To this field came dozens of butterflies.”
Island Life
That little essay takes me to another time, a distant point in my childhood. When I too was very young. At that time my father managed a dairy farm on a picturesque island. Sauvie’s Island is an amazing piece of land caught between the Willamette River and the Columbia River in NW Oregon, about 20 miles west of Portland, Oregon. Most of the island is a designated wildlife refuge with a few farms, even today, in this busy industrialized time.
Protect What We Love
I can remember when the birds would take to the air, a sunny day went black. Today, on this protected island the sky will never again be so full of birds that the sky is black with their bounty. How long before the Monarch’s will be gone forever, and the Wood Duck a mere memory? I think it is imperative that we challenge the Trump Administration at every turn as they push their backward thinking fossil fuel agenda. It is dangerous for the environment. A threat to wildlife, a risk to our water supply. The gutting of the EPA could potentially poison everything we know and love. If you love the sight of a Monarch butterfly in flight, if you love the sound of a woodpecker, if you love the beauty of a Wood Duck floating on a pond, if you love the sight of an Eagle on the wing, you are not alone. Please, stand up, speak out, and stop the threat to all the wild places by the fossil fuel pushing madman.
***Thank you Jennifer S. Kushnier. I have tried to find you but I have not seen anything else you have written, but your little piece was just perfect.
