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Boat Drink for Boats
Though all of us were broke, we started pooling our ones for a nice tip when the waitress approached the table of twenty three, dissociating, holding a fishbowl filled with something orange. “I have a piña colada for Boats,” she said, and the bosun jumped out of a wooden chair carved and painted with a…
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Remembering Esteban Vicente — innovative educator, daring explorer, and tall ship pioneer
With the Spanish sail training schooner Atyla up for sale, this is a repost of a 2023 article I wrote for Western Colorado University’s student paper about the man who built the ship: Esteban Vicente. This is a repost of a Top o’ the World article from 2023. The Spanish sail training ship Atyla continues balancing tradition and innovation,…
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Some Things Never Change
Three hundred years after pirates Ann Bonny and Mary Read boarded ships with their shirts open to intimidate their enemies, we’re still scared of boobs. Today, I watched a documentary about the 18th century pirates Ann Bonny and Mary Read and renewed my CPR certification, during which I couldn’t help but notice that, three centuries…
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We Need to Name the Victims of the Cuauhtémoc Collision
When the ARM Cuauhtémoc hit the Brooklyn Bridge on May 17th, the news coverage made sure to mention the bridge was fine. They should have named the two sailors who died instead. USCGC Eagle When the Mexican Naval tall ship ARM Cuauhtémoc hit the Brooklyn Bridge on May 17th, snapping off all three of her topmasts, it…
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Working on a Boat Like the Bounty
How a conversation with journalist Dr. Kathryn Miles about covering the sinking of the Bounty reminded me of an unsafe tall ship I’ve worked on In one of our Nature Writing classes this week, my Western Colorado University MFA cohort had the privilege of talking with Kathryn Miles about her book Trailed: One Woman’s Quest…
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Studying Symmetry Through the Surreal
Using a combination of traditional verse and prose poetry, Jose Hernandez Diaz explores his Mexican-American Identity, art, language, and the absurdity of life In the title prose poem of The Parachutist, Jose Hernandez Diaz portrays a man waging war against the mundane. And that’s what this collection does in every piece. Through explorations of how…
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Federal Job Cuts Will Force us to Rethink How We Think About Working
In October, I called my friend Marc, a Barcelona native and my best friend when I lived in Spain for two years studying and working in outdoor education. When I asked him about his work, he told me, “Me he quedado sin trabajo.” I have found myself without a job. I laughed at the casual…
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Gutting Public Lands Won’t Help the United States’ Mental Health Crisis
On February 13th, the White House created the Make America Healthy (MAHA) commision. Shortly thereafter, its policies on government downsizing gutted Forest Service and National Park staffing, yet the very chronic health issues MAHA claims to address are almost universally improved by access to the outdoors. According to the commission’s fact sheet, it will address…
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Denying Trans Kids Care Won’t Save Hospitals’ Bottom Lines
On January 28th, Donald Trump signed an executive order banning gender-affirming care in the US for patients under 19. In the weeks since, Colorado hospitals like Children’s, Denver Health, and UC Health have stopped scheduling patients for this care, even though it reduces suicide rates, citing their need for federal funding, notwithstanding the fact Colorado’s…
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We All Need to Do Some Digging
I was born because my father got kicked out of law school. A first generation college student, let alone graduate student, he had no financial support from his family, and he worked full time through his secondary and postsecondary education. After completing the first two years of his Juris Doctor at the University of Colorado…
Kira Rambles 