The Unexpected Wonder

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

A Western Meadowlark. Photo by Fred MacVaugh provided courtesy of the National Park Service.

Except for half-a-dozen contrails as white as a prairie snowball’s petals and . . . → Read More: The Unexpected Wonder

While Reading through Layers of Soil and Bone

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

The Fossil Hills, also known as University (left) and Carnegie Hills, at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. Photo by Fred MacVaugh provided courtesy of the National . . . → Read More: While Reading through Layers of Soil and Bone

Standing Face to Face with Crazy Horse and Recognizing My Bias

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

Crazy Horse Memorial: Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills, South Dakota. Photo by Navin75, provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

5:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 23. Five . . . → Read More: Standing Face to Face with Crazy Horse and Recognizing My Bias

Happy To Be Back and Reacquainting Myself with an Absence of Light

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

Big Dipper: Ursa Major, the Big Dipper. Photo Courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

I stand outside an hour after the sun has . . . → Read More: Happy To Be Back and Reacquainting Myself with an Absence of Light

What to Dust, What to Discard: The Quandaries of Packing and Moving Books

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

Dandelion Seed Head. Photo by Jon Sullivan, courtesy of public-domain-image.com

Dust clings like dandelion snow to cobwebs in places I hadn’t looked in nearly three . . . → Read More: What to Dust, What to Discard: The Quandaries of Packing and Moving Books

So Long, Farewell: The Final Wander through the Woods

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

A White-breasted Nuthatch. Photo Courtesy of WikiCommons

No. I’m not leaving Precipitate. Today is my last day at Iowa State University, the last day before I . . . → Read More: So Long, Farewell: The Final Wander through the Woods

Celebrate National Park Week: Hike, Observe the Stars, and Make Crafts at a Park near You

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

The Temples and the Towers of the Virgin in Zion National Park. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

Has spring’s arrival got you feeling anxious . . . → Read More: Celebrate National Park Week: Hike, Observe the Stars, and Make Crafts at a Park near You

Immersing Women in Iowa Water: The Global Value of College Rowing, Title IX

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

Thomas Eakins’s “Max Schmitt in a Single Scull;” housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Last Friday I drove to Cedar Rapids, . . . → Read More: Immersing Women in Iowa Water: The Global Value of College Rowing, Title IX

When What Is Legal Is Wrong: A Rant

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library

In all fairness, you’ve been warned. Today’s post qualifies as rant. . . . → Read More: When What Is Legal Is Wrong: A Rant

Learning to Love One Another—An Idealist’s Philosophy for Promoting Environmental Health

Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.

Love, the U.S. Postal Service's 1985 Stamp Designed by Corita Kent. Image courtesy of National Postal Musuem, a Smithsonian Institution Museum

On any given day, I’m . . . → Read More: Learning to Love One Another—An Idealist’s Philosophy for Promoting Environmental Health