After a rough start, Animal Book Club in Charlottesville, Virginia is a happy success. I tell our origin story so that you might create an animal book club in your community. Merlin (2025) To begin, we partnered with our public library. Catherine Fae volunteered to co-host. We vigorously promoted our book club via event calendars,Keep reading
Holding Sanctuary
How do you hold sanctuary as order tumbles into chaos? This is the hard question I mull on my way to the donkey barn. As I cross the creek, a rooster crows, momentarily drowning the calls of songbirds and spring peepers. The daffodils, bluebells, and tulip magnolias are in bloom. It’s a bright, sunshiny morningKeep reading
Animal Sanctuary Lesson Plans
I’m excited to share our first draft of Sentient Sanctuary Lesson Plans. The purpose is to help children to grow empathy and compassion for animals (and for one another). We are working with a local public elementary school to test and refine. A fifth grade class will study one lesson per week for five weeks,Keep reading
Natural Information Architecture
I’m writing a book on natural information architecture in which I explore strange connections between mental models, natural order, artificial intelligence, and divergent thinking. But don’t pre-order just yet. My deadline is 2029 — the year I turn 60. This is simply me telling you where I’m heading before I disappear into the wilderness. MycorrhizalKeep reading
Books Change Lives
Last week, I was gifted this lovely feedback (shared with permission). So I read Animals Are People over Christmas, Peter, and I have to say, I think it is a triumph! I wasn’t expecting it to, but it’s completely changed the way I view the world and the animals I share it with. And it’sKeep reading