Winter 2007, Issue 13
Wyland by Diane Buccheri
Hold Your Water! by Wyland (book review)
The Ocean Resonates in You by Christine Bowman
At Bastendorf Beach by Robert Cohen
Is the Tide Turning? Sea Turtle Restoration Project
Fishermen Conserving Sea Turtles by Martín LaPorta
You Can't Stop the Ocean by Wallace J. Nichols
Waterproofing the Ocean by Emily Monosson
Beyond the Quay by Janelle Segarra
Unfurling the Heart by Susea McGearhart
Shells and Stones by Gary Szymanski
Of Love and Brine by Joshua Conklin
Ixchel, the 8th Part by Derek Rowley
The Long Dark Nights of Winter by Melba Milak
"Your work is so beautiful." The words were spontaneous.
He shot me a glance, then held his gaze, eye to eye. "Thank you," as if he'd heard this for the first time. That's Wyland.
With t-shirt, jeans, baseball cap, clear blue eyes, hair sticking out boyishly from under the cap, and a mischievous twinkle, he talks to the crowd with ease, just a regular guy. A regular guy who just painted his 94th Whaling Wall, with 6 of these worldwide giant marine life murals, some well over 1,000 feet long, left to paint by 2008. A regular guy who creates life-size bronze sculptures, oil paintings, watercolor paintings, abstract paintings, ink paintings, designs acrylic and metal sculptures, and photographs in the marine environment.
"I start with a piece of watercolor paper, thinking of the subject, many times referring to my photograph of an animal. Every animal has its own mood, coloring, or look. The background dries for one to two days. I sketch my subject, then fill it in with colored pencils, add more watercolors or other mediums to areas needing more, and lastly I highlight with oil pastels. I work large and get larger all the time, but remind myself not to get too large because framing is very difficult, not to mention most people at home do not have walls large enough for art that size.
"For marine life, exotic animals, and everyday animals, something has got to change, and I want to be a part of that. We need to protect our wildlife, our environments, our world, or we will not have any left." Artist and designer Christine Bowman tells her impassioned tale.
"What I didn't know then shames me now. What I didn't know then, apparently the 3M Company and the Dupont Corporation had known for years. The manufacturing process for products like Scotchgard(TM), my Gore-Tex® coat, and the surface on my favorite frying pan, bestows upon us more than just consumer goods. What we know now, according to a review recently published by Magali Houde from the University of Guelph, and others, in the journal ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (ES&T), is that the perfluorinated polymers, the most notorious being PFOA and PFOS, used to resist, protect, and repel, have infiltrated almost every living system on earth, from Great Lakes algae to polar bears in Svalbard, from the green-lipped mussel to Kemp's ridley sea turtle, bald eagle, and common loon. And, unless you consider yourself separate from life on earth, these chemicals have infiltrated you, me, and your nextdoor neighbor . . ." –– Emily Monosson
Spring 2007, Issue 14
Under Water, On My Mountain by Kathryn Magendie
"I am a little drop of water." by Brandon J. Madison
The Whales' Gift by James Michael Dorsey
. . . gives and takes away. by Christine Bruness
Face to Face with a Great White by Cat Campbell
Alaskan Kayaking by Laura Johnston
Greenland: A Land as Old as Time by Sean O'Reilly
The Seafarer's Wife by Brianne Killoran
Sand Dollars in Trust by Donna D. Mann
What if . . . by Katie Morris
Voyage of the Turtle by Carl Safina (book review)
Turtle Haikus by Jason Segarra
Who Has Seen the Wind? by Melba Milak
Ixchel, the 9th Part by Derek Rowley
Orcas swim at him in his kayak –– like freight trains –– only to pass around him and feed in a spectacle of struggle, death, and life. James Michael Dorsey is awed, and honored. The whales graciously allow him in to witness their private ceremony –– a true gift.
Waves as large as her mountain sweep over, crash through, and submerge . . . Kathryn Magendie swims underwater with her husband and dogs, reveling in the overwhelming beauty of the ocean.
By water Sean O'Reilly travels to the frigid waters of Greenland and is met by surreal majesty and grace, ancient and real. "As the days pass, some deep silence seems to enter and abide in me. I become as polished and bright as the ice around me . . . A new power drawn from the mysterious and beckoning North Pole seems to arise within."
A great white shark! –– for all to see at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's the second the aquarium has captured for research, and released successfully.
One young boy captures the essence of life in a drop of water.
The ocean, a haiku whispers, ". . . gives and takes away."
Two kayakers dance with abandon, and laugh with joy following Alaska's record breaking rainfall.
The seafarer's wife binds herself with expectations of loss. Upon return, her fisherman reminds her with a salt-laden kiss, ". . . the sea brings everything back."
A mother shares her sand dollars in trust with her young daughters whom she hopes will grow up to love and fight for our ocean "with an astounding ferocity".
"What if . . . you were floating? We wonder about the unknown . . . Comes the day we cease to wonder and we begin to know." A fifteen year old writer explores the realms of possibilities.
Carl Safina's VOYAGE OF THE TURTLE is a beautiful tribute to the ancient creature of the ocean, a scientific exploration into their modern struggle to survive, and a declaration of hope, with our cooperation, for their future.
Who has seen the wind?
Ah, the mystery in Nice involving a Mayan conquest continues . . .
Summer 2007, Issue 15
Rising Gifts, Falling Harvest by Andrew Beahrs
Sal Del Mar by Jason Segarra
El Niño –– the Ocean's Power by Diane Buccheri
The Secret Society of Waves by Wallace J. Nichols
Cruising with Humpbacks by James Michael Dorsey
Ocean Song by Robert Wykes
Saving the Planet with Art by Joseph Zammit-Lucia
Daybreak on the Dunes by Gary Szymanski
Into the Liquid by Christine Brooks
Hot! Hot! Hot! by Melba Milak
Where Have the Fish of My Childhood Gone? by Christina Claassen
Pharoah and the Princess by Michelle Borinstein
Ixchel, the 10th Part by Derek Rowley
The ocean is our lifeline, here on earth. The ocean also reflects the condition of the earth and its atmosphere, and its living, and brings it back to us on solid ground –– whether we are near the ocean and can hear its crashing and smell its salt, or if we are far away surrounded by land, and more land.
All of life on earth is vitally connected to the ocean. OCEAN's current issue brings this reality alive with its adventurous discussion of the ocean's upwelling. Andrew Beahrs takes us diving off California's Monterey Bay, where we learn how the ocean's temperatures are changing, as are its creatures, and how that changes life for all of us. Following, an article describing the dynamics and events of El Niño brings the ocean's weather effects to every corner of the earth.
Marine naturalist, author, and photographer James Michael Dorsey cruises with humpback whales by kayak in Alaskan waters. His quiet closeness to the ocean's surface, in the swirling currents, finds him fully in the company of one of earth's grandest creatures.
Joseph Zammit-Lucia, a solo exhibitionist at New York City's United Nations headquarters, hopes to awaken people's consciousness with his photographic imagery to conserve the environment and earth's heritage. Indeed, his stunningly beautiful, haunting images stay in the mind's eye of every viewer.
"And then, just then, I heard it. The silence. The calm. The peace." Christine Brooks gathered her surfboard and stepped into the liquid, never to be the same.
"HOT! HOT! HOT!" says Melba Milak of the grainy black volcanic sand on Guatamala's beaches. Ash is everywhere in this brightly colored place where she meets smiling people and becomes a part of their everyday island activity.
Where have the fish of Christina Claassen's childhood gone? She grew up snorkeling Bermuda's turquoise green, crystal clear water among brilliantly colored fish. Returning years later with her children and husband, she notices the sparseness of fish due to increased human popluation, overfishing, pollution, and global climate change.
Michelle Borinstein builds sand castles, runs through the waves, laughing, and collecting sea shells from the sun drenched summer beach. As a child, her summer days turned her into a bronzed troll at South Africa's Cape Town beaches; with her children, she shares the joys on Israel's beaches.
Ixchel's mystery continues in the darkness of Nice as pedestrians stroll along the French waterfront . . .
Poems –– splashing, frothy, sandy, and deep, sparkle between and among.
Fall 2007, Issue 16
Ocean Warming by Diane Buccheri
Looking at the Ocean by Joshua Conklin
Heavy Waters by Kathryn Magendie
Spirit of the Waters by Seneca Hawk Elder Edna Gordon
Gray Whales of San Ignacio Lagoon by James Michael Dorsey
Foggy Autumn by Christine Bruness
A Tale of Two Whales by John K. Borchardt
Galápagos Islands by Melba Milak
Ixchel, the 11th Part by Derek Rowley
No Chasing, No Splashing by Marlene Moon
The Bird by Jeannine M. DeHart
After Life by Laura Johnston
My Blue by Diane Buccheri
Transworld Flight by Tom Sheehan
Working to abate global warming in terms of ocean warming, Ocean Conservancy and Ocean Revolution marine scientist Wallace J. Nichols' newest personal initiative is to stop ocean warming (www.stopoceanwarming.com). The ocean is the most powerful force on earth, determining much of our existence here, and the existence of future generations.
As a new father, poet Josh Conklin relives the wonder of seeing the ocean's might from the perspective of a small child. As a child, and now again with his child, he shares the ocean's wonder with new eyes.
Kathryn Magendie remembers her very early experience with the ultimate power of water. Determined to overcome her fear, she is moved: "The creek beckons to me as it seeks its way to the river, then creek and river become one for their wild rush to the ocean." She kayaks the river, at first more controlled by the force of the water, then as one with it, finding peace.
Seneca Hawk Elder Edna Gordon celebrates the spirit of the waters flowing from the mountains past everything on land into the ocean, joining all as one, again. "Their movement is life, a stream of life that is found in blessings bestowed our way."
Within the sanctuary of Baja's San Ignacio Lagoon, gray whale mothers adjourn their migration to nourish and teach their young, preparing them to continue along the migration. Author and certified marine naturalist James Michael Dorsey guides whale watching groups through the winter months.
Simply, with the few words of her Haiku, Christine Bruness washes the salty fog, quiet and thick, right across the pages, through our senses.
In his TALE OF TWO WHALES, John Borchardt tells us the endangered northern Pacific right whale population is larger than we thought; the northern Atlantic right whale population, however, continues to decline dangerously, mostly due to injury from boats.
Of Charles Darwin's land of natural selection Melba Milak describes her adventures experiencing the Galápagos Islands' natural, and unnatural wonders.
"No chasing, no splashing." Marlene Moon lives her mantra swimming with dolphins off Mahaka's coast in the Hawai'ian islands. "A delicious wave of profound inner peace filled my entire being. The moment was alive, filled with all that I ever wanted, all that I ever needed. Within and without, everything was present, had always been present."
On the U.S. mainland's east coast, Jeannine DeHart and her young son are saddened by the struggle, and probable defeat, of a seagull caught by a fishing net. Jeannine is profoundly touched by a surfer's efforts to help the bird –– an act of kindness in a time-paced society.
"Clarity is a gift learned by paddling through life." Kayaker and photographer Laura Johnston is taken beyond herself by Alaska's natural beauty among stillness and peace. "The spirit views the vast world outside of its body, like the disconnection of the spirit and body when we pass on."
"In dawn's wing-lift, when great gulls tell time, he rose to the east of morning . . ." With poet Tom Sheehan's TRANSWORLD FLIGHT we feel the last seize of the heart and muscles, the passing. ". . . she felt him newly forming over waters."