Story Info
Story Info
Thea Levkovitz
For a slashed forest and slain wolves—Teanaway, Cascade Mountains, Washington
2019
Type of Wounded Place
Story & Experience
From the 2017 Global Earth Exchange:
Last week, I spent 3 days camping and hiking with two of my closest women friends. We all needed some girl time and some time in the wild. We expected clear weather and got misty, overcast and gray. It was all great! We hiked, sang, talked, and sat around the campfire drinking hot wine brewed with Good Earth Spice tea—a spur of the moment invention after an 11-day wet and amazing hike. We hiked in the Teanaway are on the east side of the southern Cascades. We chose it because it is one of the areas that has not been “discovered” yet by the masses of Seattle. It also has a 6- 8-member wolf pack. When I told my friends about the Earth Exchange they immediately were on board. We had not planned, but we had ideas—singing, praying, creating your wonderful bird. The wildflowers were amazing, and there didn’t seem to be so much wounding where we were. We thought we might find a spot and simply acknowledge that all places are wounded now because of climate change.
We reached a point on the hike when we needed to decide if we wanted to go back the way we came or do the entire 11+ loop. We opted to go on. Not long after we came upon the wound—a clear-cut with slash piles alongside the lupine encrusted trail.
As I was looking down, I saw your bird. It was perfect. I know I will never look at dead branches the same way again. Together we crafted Radical Joy. We sang. We held back tears. I think we each made an internal vow—it could not be helped. I know I did.
We now call ourselves the Radical Joy Gypsies. Yala, Trail and White Alpha (in honor of the White Alpha Female Wolf of the Tower pack in Yellowstone. She was shot outside of the park this year.)
From the 2017 Global Earth Exchange:
Last week, I spent 3 days camping and hiking with two of my closest women friends. We all needed some girl time and some time in the wild. We expected clear weather and got misty, overcast and gray. It was all great! We hiked, sang, talked, and sat around the campfire drinking hot wine brewed with Good Earth Spice tea—a spur of the moment invention after an 11-day wet and amazing hike. We hiked in the Teanaway are on the east side of the southern Cascades. We chose it because it is one of the areas that has not been “discovered” yet by the masses of Seattle. It also has a 6- 8-member wolf pack. When I told my friends about the Earth Exchange they immediately were on board. We had not planned, but we had ideas—singing, praying, creating your wonderful bird. The wildflowers were amazing, and there didn’t seem to be so much wounding where we were. We thought we might find a spot and simply acknowledge that all places are wounded now because of climate change.
We reached a point on the hike when we needed to decide if we wanted to go back the way we came or do the entire 11+ loop. We opted to go on. Not long after we came upon the wound—a clear-cut with slash piles alongside the lupine encrusted trail.
As I was looking down, I saw your bird. It was perfect. I know I will never look at dead branches the same way again. Together we crafted Radical Joy. We sang. We held back tears. I think we each made an internal vow—it could not be helped. I know I did.
We now call ourselves the Radical Joy Gypsies. Yala, Trail and White Alpha (in honor of the White Alpha Female Wolf of the Tower pack in Yellowstone. She was shot outside of the park this year.)
For a slashed forest and slain wolves—Teanaway, Cascade Mountains, Washington
RECENT STORIES
Remembrance Day for Lost Species in Helsinki 2023
On November 30th, there was first a session organized by the Finnish social and health sector project about eco-anxiety and eco-emotions (www.ymparistoahdistus.fi). This “morning coffee roundtable”, a hybrid event, focused this time on ecological grief [...]
Ashdown Forest
Ashdown Forest is an area of natural beauty in West Sussex, England. It is also one of the very few remaining areas of extensive lowland heath left in Europe. This rare and threatened landscape is [...]
