Atomic Bomb Treestory 1

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Image from the Peace Musem, Chicago, IL.

Atomic Bomb Treestory 2

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Image from the Peace Musem, Chicago, IL.

Dogwood and Job

 I was listening to NPR this morning and they had a strange tribute to Dogwood trees. The woman telling the story decided to determine what kind of song Dogwoods sing. Anyway, it quickly turned into comparing the trees to woman and the simple arraignment of the Dogwood making other trees, like a cherry, look like a "tart". As I pondered the ridiculousness of calling trees whores I thought about our need to map ourselves and our cultures onto to nature. The I thought, your projects are more about mapping nature on to us. I think this may be why Darwin is so feared and hated. He proved that we follow natures rules, not the other way around. This is similar to an interpretation of the Book of Job. There, Job, the super-righteous man, suffers heaps of troubles--his whole family dies, he looses all his wealth, he gets boils--and as he's sitting on the road covered in welts and dust his friends try to convince him that he must have done something wrong because God doesnt punish the righteous. Finally, God gives an "answer" to Job's lament by spending many chapters describing the magnificance of his creation: nature. So, Job asks, why do the righteous suffer and God answers, arent waterfalls amazing. A scholar, whose name escapes me, who believes that God is making the point that all the human, Job included, in the story are acting on the assumption that nature should follow the rules of humans, eg fairness and justice. When, in fact, nature follows its own rules: sometimes there's rain in the desert and none on the farm.

by Anne Knafl

Cedar/Live Oak

These pictures are from St. Francisville LA of a big cedar grown completely around a small live-oak, so only a few of the lesser's branches poke out.  The tortoise is catching up to the hare though. The cedar wood is cracking and splitting quite a lot- with patches of oak bark showing through.  It makes for a very strange tree.
Chris and Marine.

Elf Tree

Minneapolis has hundreds, perhaps thousands of trees. Beside Lake Harriet,though, there is a very special tree, a tree where three special creatures live...three ELVES. This tree has a beautiful, small door, like the door of an old castle, where children and adults of all ages, after opening the door, leave their letters to the elves inside, hoping for a reply.

Believe it or not, each letter gets a reply that people can come back and pickup later! What is most beautiful about this tree in particular is that, everyday, children walking around the lake with their parents stop by to drop off their letters to an elf, or to retrieve a reply. Another beautiful thing is that people of all ages come on occasion to help improve the area around the tree to make it more pleasant. This tree is a good example of how the simplest things are definitely the most beautiful things in life.

So, in a little story about trees and children, we are forced to believe, to believe strongly, that it is possible to change many things for the better. We may, then, also believe in a better tomorrow, with more trees...and more happy children.

Rodrigo