Alumni Author Finds Hope and Family in Alaska

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Hank Lentfer

Hank Lentfer ’91 lives in and writes about Alaska and its wilderness areas.

From the outside, alumni author, Hank Lentfer ’91, is living an American dream.  He quits his 9-5 office job,  treks through untouched Alaskan wilderness, fells trees and mills them to build his own cabin, and gains prominence in conservation circles as he serves on boards and travels to Washington DC to defend his home state from environmental destruction.

Yet, Lentfer’s 2011 book, Faith of Cranes: Finding Hope and Family in Alaska really isn’t a celebration of personal liberation or a bland reporting of an idyllic life in Alaska’s wilderness.  Rather, it’s a story about the author’s journey through despair.  Despair in the face of unrelenting “progress”.  Despair in the face of habitat loss.  Despair and frustration with the interminable political process failing to protect the earth’s wild lands.

Book Cover Image

In his latest book, Faith of Cranes, Lentfer describes his journey into fatherhood and his evolving perspectives on hope and conservation.

Lentfer’s story will resonate with many Greeners working in environmental or social justice fields.  How does one maintain hope and optimism when the challenges are so many?  Lentfer describes his effort to “keep his despair in check” and connects the birth of his daughter with a shift in his thinking that enables him to stop worrying so much about the future.  He writes,

“I now believe even the extinction of cranes cannot render efforts at conservation irrelevant any more than the death of a soldier can strip meaning from calls for peace….”

What do you think?  Join the conversation by responding to the following question posed by Hank Lentfer in Faith of Cranes:

“If every step of one’s way is along a path of caring, does it matter what the future brings?”

 

 

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    Ken Tabbutt’s Field Report from Yellowstone

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    Field report author, Ken Tabbutt.

    Editor’s Note: Member of the Faculty, Ken Tabbutt provides the following Field Report from his program’s Fall 2012 trip to Yellowstone.

    The upper-division science program, Environmental Analysis, used the first few weeks of Fall quarter to travel through the west in order to study microbiology, hydrogeology, and analytical chemistry in an integrated and applied manner.  

    The trip followed the path of the Missoula Floods up the Columbia River Gorge, through the scablands and up the Clarks Fork drainage.  A week in Yellowstone National Park provided an opportunity to grasp the interconnections between the unique geology, thermal systems and microbiology.  

    Clyde Barlow and Ken Tabbutt lead their students through Yellowstone National Park–an environment epically rich in both science and artistic beauty. Photograph by Shauna Bittle

     

    Visits to the Berkeley Pit of Butte, Montana and Silver Valley, Idaho focused on the mining history and the physical and biological processes that create acid mine drainage and metal contamination. A final stop at the unusual alkaline lakes of Grand Coulee provided an opportunity for students to sample lake water and identify chemoclines, thermoclines and do alkalinity titrations until the wee hours of the morning.  

    One Minute Evergreen: Yellowstone

    Yellowstone ranger Wes Hardin leads Environmental Analysis students through Mammoth Hot Springs. ** Faculty Ken Tabbutt, Andy Brabban and Clyde Barlow take a group of students through Yellowstone National Park with the program Environmental Analysis on Fri., Sept. 30, 2012. The group was studying the unique geological and microbiotic conditions in the park.

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      Live From Evergreen: Coontz’s ” The Myth of Male Decline” featured on Al-Jazeera

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      Coontz on Al-Jazeera via CCAM

      Last week students, faculty and staff in Evergreen’s Center for Creative and Applied Media (CCAM) linked author and Evergreen faculty member Stephanie Coontz to Al-Jazeera’s web show, The Stream.  The topic was her September op-ed piece in the the New York Times, The Myth of Male Decline. Give it a read and talk back on this controversial topic.

      We hope you’re as proud of the CCAM as we are — a great facility that allows Evergreen students to connect with the world.

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        Inkwell 2012

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        Editor’s Note: Sandy Yannone, Director of Evergreen’s Writing Center provides the following guest blog post about the latest edition of Inkwell.

        Each year, the Writing Center’s tutors in Olympia and Tacoma practice the writing process they encourage student writers to explore by writing, designing, and editing Inkwell: A Student Guide to Writing at Evergreen. Now in its seventh edition, Inkwell features eclectic essays, poems, and tidbits of wisdom regarding how writers can cultivate their voice. As 2012 Co-Editors David Imhoff and Madeleine Stephens write, “Inkwell is both the end and the beginning of collaboration. The fruits of our collective reflection live here, accommodated by hours and weeks of conversation and writing.” Distributed free each fall, Inkwell also has sparked its own writing festival. This year’s InkFest includes writers Giovanna Marcus ’01, Paul Whitney ’04, Marissa Luck ’10, and Shanda Zimmerman ’10.

        What was your experience as a writer at Evergreen? Has it helped you in the alumni afterlife?

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          Academic Statement Initiative Begins

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          Nancy Koppelman ’88
          guest blogger

          Editor’s Note: Nancy Koppelman ’88, Member of the Faculty provides this guest blog about a new program on campus.

          The new faculty-led project called the Academic Statement Initiative begins during Orientation Week.  New students meet in seminars to learn about Evergreen’s philosophy and think together about a common reading.  This year’s book was Carlotta Walls LaNier’s A Mighty Long Way:  My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School.

           

          A Mighty Long Way, Evergreen’s common reading for 2012

          The campus thought deeply about LaNier’s experiences as one of the “Little Rock Nine”—students who made the first brave step to integrate Arkansas’ public schools in 1957.  During Convocation, Ms. LaNier urged us to appreciate the opportunity that a college education represents.  During the school year, sustained faculty-led activities will help students nurture that appreciation, culminating in each graduate’s transcript-ready Academic Statement.  This Initiative continues Evergreen’s history of innovation, and of trusting students to invent their own paths toward graduation.

           

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            A Convening Moment: All Campus Convocation 2012

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            New students are welcomed in by Evergreen’s President, Les Purce. All Campus Convocation taking place in the CRC. Photographed on Sept. 18, 2012.

            Evergreen’s gym was packed; it was standing room only. The air buzzed with anticipation for the start of our All Campus Convocation.  In the past convocations haven’t always been this well attended or dynamic. So what made the difference?  Here are three keys to this year’s convocation success:

            1. Civil rights leader Carlotta Walls LaNier as the keynote speaker
            2. 1,200 copies of LaNier’s book, A Mighty Long Way, mailed to all new students three weeks earlier
            3. 240 seminars led by faculty to engage new students with LaNier’s book during orientation week

              Carlotta Walls LaNier, author of A Mighty Long Way, and President Dr. Les Purce at the Evergreen State College Convocation on Tues., Sept. 18, 2012.

            After brief opening remarks by President Les Purce and Provost Michael Zimmerman, LaNier opened her talk with a characterization of the Little Rock Nine’s fight for school integration.  A struggle of state rights vs. federal authority, Arkansas governor vs. the President of the United States, 9 kids vs.an angry mob. And at the bottom of it all, a staunch determination to receive a fair and adequate education, marked a major shift in the struggle for desegregation.

            Carlotta Walls LaNier at podium

            Author and speaker Carlotta Walls LaNier speaks to a crowd of over 1,200 students, staff and faculty at The Evergreen State College Convocation on September 18, 2012. LaNier was one of the Little Rock Nine who integrated public schools in Arkansas in 1957.

            At the end of this thought provoking and serious look at an important time in our history, Evergreen’s very own Marla Beth Elliott led the crowd in a round of Alma Mater and the Geoduck Fight Song.  If you’re feeling rusty on the fight song, Randy Stilson ’77, the college’s much beloved archivist has posted an audio recording and sheet music on the college archives page.

            New students, faculty, and staff rally the Evergreen spirit, singing the geoduck fight song! All Campus Convocation taking place in the CRC. Photographed on Sept. 18, 2012.

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