Most of us can look back on life and think, “Yeah, that moment changed me forever.” I’m grateful for those moments, because they reconnected me to the natural world. I say “re” because we’re born connected but capitalism breeds it out. It’s a choice to find our way back. When I was 9, I stepped […]
Geneviéve Villamizar
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Branching Out: Outsiders wanting in
Arriving in the dark, we parked in a cloud on mud tracks amid falling rain. Visiting family in a tiny Central American mountain town, population 250, our minds were blown — because we’re moving here. Driving through third-world towns and villages, along ridges and valleys cloaked in rainforest, I was keenly self-conscious of the tables […]
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Branching Out: Hunting for balance and meaning
Seeing other trucks at the BLM access opening day darn near derailed me. We parked, anyway — mere yards from a rotund, older hunter glassing the opposite ridge — as if. Jittery, we donned our gear and requisite blaze. Walking past a bend to the secret trailhead, seven more trucks squatted roadside. Gah!! This was […]
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Branching Out: Call it out
Scanning the shelves at Lowes, I was already overwhelmed —parts, shapes, sizes, prices; the big box fluorescent lighting; high, industrial ceilings made for raucous acoustics. Through it all, I could hear kids giggling, and then, their dad. “That’s it! You [f-ing] kids, if I have to tell you one more time! You never behave! You […]
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Branching Out: Living into our dreams
I was a teenager already studying architecture in high school, and I wanted nothing but New York City. I wanted to live on a boat in a marina. I dreamed of tailored mini skirts; long, fitted blazers; and three-inch slingback heels. I would zip about in my charcoal gray Mazda RX7 with stick shift, tinted […]
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Branching Out: Living the enlivening of spring
I almost drove off the road when I caught sight of the wild Merriam’s turkeys — two or three toms were in full display mating mode. How could you miss them? Sunlit, the ivory and cream bands of their tail fans were incandescent, their regal sway reminiscent of an elk’s antlers or a Plains chief […]
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Branching out: Oh, my god, the shoveling?
It’s been 15 years since I’ve lived in a natural setting, and wow. Overnight. Lifestyle. Change. At a slower rate, I’ve been shuttling for three weeks, moving to our new digs. Every time I pass Sunfire, the mouth of the canyon whispers, This is serious stuff. The winds whip; snow gusts. Too sharp a […]
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What in the philtrum?!
Why does placing my philtrum in the fur of a dog or cat calm me? Why am I drawn to placing said philtrum against the warmth of my daughter’s neck when we hug, or against a lover’s skin while we laze about? What the heck is a philtrum — and what drives it? It’s a […]