Nature’s Campaign

A natural campaign to preserve her bounty.

Imagining her destruction draws tears to sorrowful eyes.

Watching her demise embroils disdain for selfish egocentric climate change deniers.

Have not her blazes taught us lessons about our deliberate discard of her precious resources?

Have not her surges informed us about our over dependence on fossil fuels?

She yearns not only for advocacy and defense but for action.

She beholds joy, peace, and wisdom for those seeking respite within her water & land.

We must not become blind and deaf to her desperate pleas for help.

Rather, allow the smoke that has stung your eyes clear and foster footsteps towards change.

New evidence influences plausibility right from the start,

using data & resources crafted from the scientist's heart.

Learning agents from grades six to twelve,

talking science & exploring evidence to make student minds meld.

Exercising one's brain in a format to make sense,

of the science they are learning without being tense.

Article analysis can jumpstart engagement on a level so deep,

a science education practice that our students are encouraged to keep.

The lens the learner uses helps them see far beyond,

while reasoned discourse in science yields articulation that bonds.

Using MEL models in hopes to expand,

a students' scientific thinking about the environment, space, and land. 

https://serc.carleton.edu/mel/index.html

He is a curiousSCIENCEwriter

One day a budding clumsy, collegiate, physics student underwent an identity crisis that was resolved by reaching into the depths of story threaded science...

          He was liberated by language that merged, married, and explored the natural world                              through character development.

          He was driven by a wandering appeal to free stories embedded in the narrative.

His solution = an artistic approach, supported by colorful details that capture the curiosity of the reader to eliminate the dull, intimidating nature of science. 

He is a curiousSCIENCEwriter.

She is a curiousSCIENCEwriter

She covers the issue and merges the gap

She writes for the voiceless and reads to gain perspective

She brings their stories to life using literary devices and creativity

Her research informs to separate evidence from non-truths

Her hunting uses statistics to formulate a factual foundation

Her verbal flexibility reaches readers in 3-dimensions

It is the unknown that answers the unanswerable

She is a curiousSCIENCEwriter

curiousSCIENCEwriters

Interested, curious, science communicators

researching facts

interviewing experts

unpacking abstract scientific concepts

selecting verbiage

infusing jargon

unveiling cutting edge research

to make science accessible for all 

(http://www.curiousyoungwriters.org/)

#CuriousScienceWriters

ADVENT: REDIRECTING MY SPIRITUAL COMPASS

Advent: redirecting MY Spiritual Compass

Eyes deflected

recognize the illuminating grace

divinely embedded in the ordinary.

Ears tuned

engage the quiet spiritual voice within.

Palette flavored

 by the blessed sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood.

Hands outstretched

cultivate relationships that increase the spaces within the heart.

Olfactory cues of frankincense and myrrh

prompt reflections of a journey to the sacred past.

A patient internal incubation

creates a rising illumination in the womb

redirecting my spiritual compass.

The Minnesota Mosquito Swarm

The Minnesota Mosquito Swarm

Here they come in one giant screaming mass

flying into camp to bite me on the ass.

Wing movements create an intimidating sound 

as they approach from the sky and forested ground.

Their bite is sharp like a needle piercing skin

that makes me curse and commit a verbal sin.

These little creatures fly both day and night

only to return tomorrow with an even more vicious bite.

Pain of a portage

Pain of a portage

Mosquitos crawling all over the place

from the tip of my toes to the front of my face

Sweat's pouring down my aching back

that is exhausted from carrying a canoe and 60 lb. pack

The twisting densely forested trail 

creates unwavering determination for me to not fail

Unsuspected Mosquito Ambush

Wingbeat frequency resonates in exhausted ears as her body bangs against a fortress of nylon-tented walls

Like a hunter, she uses chemical, visual, and heat detecting weapons to stalk her exhausted, sweating prey

Her compound eyes and antennae sense exhaled carbon dioxide and muscles laden by lactic acid

Palpus and proboscis work together like a fine tuned machine to pierce skin and suck 5 mL of luscious blood needed to increase her species army

The victim fights back in a sleepy yet earnest effort to swat away additional potential enemies in the dark of night

The distressed camper restlessly sleeps as an itchy immune response is evoked by her anticoagulant rich saliva left by the unsuspected ambush

Exploring the Boundary Waters

Over the next week my dad and I will be naturalists exploring the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). We will be experiencing environmental conditions that support and make the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness unique by paddling, fishing, and camping along a route from Ely Minnesota to Lac La Croix Canada.   Want to learn more about the outfitting company who we hired to field our expedition: http://elyoutfittingcompany.com

Cultural Inequity

My face, a symbol of the joy my heart feels: hers a nondescript stare alluding to a life of solvent despair.

My home, a secure place emanating assurance: hers a space occupied by tattered uncertainty and danger. 

My life, a collection of opportune experiences: hers an embarrassing accumulation of events.

My memories, decorated with familial love: hers sheltered by unacquainted disappointment.

Cultural Birth is an inequity of circumstances.

Prophetic Grace

A breath fills her body as she relinquishes the tough decisions in eagerness for prophetic Grace.

A blind offering of daily challenges humble her thirst for heavenly love.

She reflects on the lives of saints and their heroic virtues that guided their hands and words.

She whispers to her angelic comrade... "Mary, Mother of God, be a Mother to me now."

Within moments her muscles relax and tensions dissipate like droplets in a pool of water.

She is gently reminded that there can be faith even in the seemingly insignificant moments that she calls her life.

Science Poetry Workshops 2012

Come join me at the New Jersey Teacher's Convention for a workshop in science poetry on Thursday November 8, 2012.

Insurmountable Beauty

Symmetry of petals

Brilliance of color

Distinction of scent

Insurmountable beauty contained within the angiosperm

Flowering structure specialized for reproduction

Surrounded on Outermost edges by sepals that enclose and protect developing bud

Petals promote pollination by attracting insectual suitors

Male gametophyte meets Female gametophyte

Floral Reproduction yields fruitful result

Potential Perpetual Biodiversity

A fragile Ecological Hot Spot

Sandwiched Sideways by Oceans

A 150 million year old volcanic arch inserted between

North and South America

A Centralized Gem

Tropical and Temperate land encasing irreplaceable flora and fauna

Habitats yearn for preservation

Protection required

Global Conservation can yield perpetual biodiversity

Sustained naturally

WIND

Sustainable resource
Naturally renewed
Provider of energy
Preserver of ecosystems

A RESOURCE WISELY USED

Water's Compositional Secrets

Hydrogen and Oxygen you look so beautiful compounded together beneath this aqua marine surface.

Your polar covalent bondage allows me to see the many shapes you can form.

As tiny molecular droplets you cling to one another like beads on a smooth surface.

Your attraction to foreign objects makes the world below look like a canvas that rises up against the force of gravity.

You protect those living within from drastic changes impressed upon you like a mother protecting its young.

There are days when I envy the simple alteration that can be made to your inner core…

Those times when you get to reinvent yourself and adjust your external appearance

Those times when your internal energy redefines your state of being

But today, I simply embrace the peacefulness that you bring as I dive through you and smile knowing your compositional secrets.