Winter Solstice 2024
Winter solstice marks the beginning of our journey around The Wheel together. It’s a mysterious dark time here in the Northern Hemisphere, when Nature challenges us to turn inward. Inward to our homes, inward to our bodies, inward to our minds and thoughts.
In my part of the Pacific Northwest, winter is marked by long stretches of blustery rain punctuated with cold, clear breaks in the weather. Many people find comfort in starry winter skies, chunky knitted blankets, and twinkling lights. But it’s during these breaks that I find comfort in something different: the winter sunrise. The sunrise is especially glorious on these mornings; the sky is banded with robin’s egg blue, house finch blush, and warbler yellows and greens. The bare branches of the birches outside my window are strikingly dark against the fleeting colors in the sky.
What is it that makes sunrise so special at this time of year? Besides the fact that more of us are awake to witness it? It has a magical quality not matched during the summer. The bright colors sweep steadily through the cold air. The chickadee’s morning greetings ring out like bells through this liminal moment. Our spirits are lifted as we witness Nature and all her features persisting, doing what they know to do during this cold time.
As we head into this darkest turn of The Wheel, look for those glorious winter sunrises and remember to persist in all that is important to you.
Animal Intelligence
Recently, I caught an episode of the Ted Radio Hour entitled “Natural Intelligence” that explored new discoveries in animal and plant intelligence. I was instantly intrigued because I teach workshops on writing animal characters and intelligence is one of the four elements vital to creating memorable characters. This episode also flips the question from “How intelligent are animals?” to “Are humans smart enough to understand animals?” Included in this episode is an excerpt from a TED Talk by Karen Bakker titled “What are animals saying to each other? AI can help us eavesdrop.” Bakker, a scientist who used AI to interpret animal communications, explains that many non-human communications happen in sound frequencies that humans can’t hear. By using technology, we can now listen in on these communications and AI can interpret them.
With all of this research happening and available to us, think of the stories we could tell! My challenge to you – and myself – is to use these discoveries as a jumping-off point to write amazing non-human characters. Listen to the episode for yourself and decide: How intelligent do you think these plants, animals, and mold are? How could you use these discoveries to portray an intelligent creature in a story?
If you’re in the Portland, Oregon, area on January 12th, I’m teaching a free workshop on writing animal characters through the Oregon Naturalist program! It’s free but you do need to reserve your spot. Click here to register.
I’d love to teach a workshop for your group! Email me at ebeechwood@gmail.com for more information.
Three Short Stories I Love
Since we’re on the subject of animal characters in stories, I want to share three amazing short stories with animal characters in the anthology, Two Hour Transport 2. This collection of speculative fiction and poetry features both well-known and emerging contributing authors from Seattle and beyond.
Eileen Gunn – “Terrible Trudy on the Lam” is a wild romp with Trudy the Tapir as she escapes from the San Diego Zoo. She goes on to become a roller skating dancer, but she must always on the lookout for the zookeeper. One thing I love about this story is that Gunn was inspired by a real life zoo escape!
Genevieve Williams – “Song of the Water People” is written from the point of view of a female orca in Puget Sound. Williams's dream-like prose brings us into the pod’s world filled with joy and grief as calves are born and die, salmon become harder to find, and memories haunt them.
Keyan Bowes – “Octonet” is a story told by a woman who finds herself researching octopus intelligence by giving them specialized cell phones—with shocking results!
