K.R. Gastreich's Blog, page 4
August 3, 2020
Virtual Inspiration
By February of this year, when Covid-19 was just making its presence known in the U.S., my summer calendar was booked. Early June, I planned to attend the Society for Ecological Restoration’s (SER) global conference in Quebec. By midsummer, I would be at Kenyon College in Ohio teaching their summer Young Science Writers program. My last event would be the Society for Conservation Biology’s (SCB) North American Conference in Denver, Colorado, at the end of July.
Needless to say, none of that happened the way I had planned. SER and Kenyon College were, sadly, obligated to cancel their 2020 programs. SCB held out until early summer, and decided in the end to convert to an online format. Thanks to an extraordinary effort by SCB organizers to move us all into virtual space, last week, I attended the North American Conference for Conservation Biology (NACCB2020) from the comfort of my home office.
While not the same as being there, it was great to connect with biologists and conservationists from across North America and around the world. I heard many inspiring stories of work done to protect our environment and the wildlife that we share this planet with. Throughout the week, I tweeted about those efforts. I will also try to come back to some of them in upcoming posts here.
Because NACCB was virtual, for the first time I recorded an oral presentation for a professional conference. Today, I’m going to share this recording with you, about my work with native bees in the KC Metro. As many of you know by now, I have many collaborators in this effort, including Avila undergraduates and colleagues from KC Wildlands/Bridging the Gap, KC Parks, and the Missouri Department of Conservation. The video is just 12 minutes long, but it will give you a nice overview of what we’re trying to do with our little project on the south side of Kansas City – and why the space we study is so important for native bees. Enjoy!
July 17, 2020
Words of Courage, Comfort, and Contemplation
There are small things I can point to as bright spots inside the pandemic. Among these, I’ve discovered the pleasure of podcasts. I know: I’m years behind on this one. I’d never listened to podcasts before March 2020, but being away from the office – and people in general – nudged me into finding new ways to fill quiet moments.
In previous posts, I’ve mentioned the New York Times series 1619, which examines the impact of slavery on U.S. history and society. I also continue to enjoy Matt Kelly’s The Bee Report, which keeps me up-to-date on all kinds of conservation news, bee-related and otherwise.
Most recently, I’ve discovered This Land, a compelling narrative from Crooked Media about the circumstances leading up to the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the territories of five Native American Tribes in Oklahoma. Hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Oklahoma journalist and citizen of Cherokee Nation, This Land discusses the details of Sharp v. Murphy, as well as the deep history of deception, broken treaties, and land grabs that have left Tribal Nations with a fraction of their ancestral territories. Like 1619, this podcast is a must-listen for all U.S. citizens. You will come away with a greater appreciation of the challenges and abuses Native Americans have faced defending their homelands in the past; and you will learn about the obstacles they continue to face as they fight to maintain territorial sovereignty today.
I have also found inspiring podcasts on diverse topics from two excellent programs: Bioneers and Emergence Magazine. Both of these have a lot to choose from, so I suggest you browse their offerings to find what resonates with you. Here are a couple of my favorite episodes, one from each:
Why the world doesn’t end: Recreation Myths of Nature and Culture with Michael Meade. We live in an end-of-times culture, and now more than ever, many of us are contemplating the meaning of ‘apocalypse.’ In this podcast, mythologist, author and storyteller Michael Meade reflects on the true meaning of apocalypse — as a time of unveiling. From this viewpoint, penetrating the veil is not the end, but the beginning of a new story. The podcast features real story-telling by Mr. Meade; and I don’t know about you, but listening to a true story-teller always gives me a lot of joy.
Courting the wild twin with Martin Shaw. Also a mythologist and storyteller, Martin Shaw works with ancient European fairy tales about the ‘wild twin.’ According the these myths, each of us has a wild twin that we were separated from at birth, a part of us we are forced to repress and banish in order to conform. In a town hall format, Shaw answers questions from listeners and examines the deeper meanings of the wild twin myth in the context of the pandemic. He discusses how rediscovering our wild twin can inform our response to today’s challenges, both in our personal lives and in society at large.
Those are my recommendations, but like I said: Have a look at all the episodes and see what resonates with you. I hope these resources lead you to words of courage, comfort, and contemplation as we continue to struggle under the weight of the pandemic.
July 1, 2020
Summer Escape for $4.99
It’s been a while since I’ve done this. I’ve decided to run a promotion for my award-winning fantasy trilogy, The Silver Web. For a limited time, you can download the entire set for just $4.99. Each novel is available separately, starting with Eolyn for just $0.99. The trilogy has been published across multiple electronic platforms, including Kindle, Apple Books, Nook, and Google Play.
The Silver Web intertwines fates of those who survived the Great Purge, a violent conflict that nearly destroyed women’s magic. Together with her allies, Eolyn, sole heiress to a forbidden craft, confronts brutal oppressors in a desperate gamble to restore the tradition of her dead sisters.
A tale of courage and struggle that spans generations, The Silver Web features gripping battles, heart-wrenching loss, hard-won triumphs, and the ultimate magic of love. You will not see the full trilogy at this price again for a very long time, so please take advantage of the offer while it lasts. Your next summer adventure is just a few clicks away!
“Headstrong, hopeful, and fiercely loyal to her roots, Eolyn is a character you can’t help but stand behind.” –Apex Reviews, EOLYN
“…the story’s greatest triumph is Gastreich’s prose, a consistent blend of lyrical verse and dark imagery…” –Kirkus Reviews, SWORD OF SHADOWS
“Fans of the trilogy won’t want to miss this hard-hitting finish.” –Publishers Weekly, DAUGHTER OF AITHNE
June 19, 2020
When History Repeats
A year and a half ago, when travel was still a thing, I had the opportunity to visit the great city of Berlin. While there, I spent an afternoon at the Topography of Terrors Museum. Built on the rubble of the former headquarters of the Secret State Police, the Museum commemorates the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Germany.
In Topography of Terrors, I viewed for the first time the Kennzeichen für Schutzhäftlinge in den Konzentrationslagern (shown on the right), which categorized concentration camp prisoner badges on the basis of their “crimes against the state.”
My German grandfather, had he been deported, would have worn the upside down brown triangle of the zigeuner (gypsy) male.1 My great uncle, had he been deported for protecting Jews in the underground railway, would have worn the upside down red triangle for political dissenters.
The upside down red triangle received some attention this week because the President of the United States incorporated the symbol in a political ad for his re-election.
As an American of German descent, I knew from a very early age the life of a white person should be one of constant reckoning and reparation. Though I will say up front, I have never achieved a full understanding of what that means. Even today – even now – I am still learning and listening.
Having had family members on every side of the greatest and perhaps darkest conflict of the 20th century, I carried a different burden from other Americans I grew up with. Clearly, I could not indulge in the luxurious myth that my white ancestors had always been ‘right.’ This, of course, was a good thing. Understanding that Germans should never forget led me to realize how adept white Americans are at always forgetting.
We have little stomach for confronting our history of slavery, apartheid, and structural racism. We have wiped the pages of history clean when it comes to the genocide of Native Americans, who are both our forefathers and our companions today as we occupy land that was stolen from them. We refuse to atone for our own sins even as we greedily point the sins of others.
Case in point: Unethical human experimentation came to a screeching halt in Europe with the end of World War II and the Nuremberg Trials. Nonetheless, in the United States, the Tuskegee Experiment, which allowed Black men to suffer and die from syphilis, continued from 1932 until 1972 – ending some thirty years after a cure had been discovered for the disease. Ending twenty-three years after the Nuremberg Code established modern ethical standards for human participation and informed consent in medical studies. Most horrifically, the experiment was stopped only because a whistle blower made it public. A nation that allows such things to happen suffers from very deep rot. I wish I could say that rot has since healed, but history would make me a liar.
The disease we struggle with could go by many names. I call it the myth of white supremacy. More than an ideology of right-wing extremists, white supremacy is a basic assumption built into the foundations of this country. Embedded in our deep (and for the most part denied) history of genocide and slavery, white supremacy intertwines with the myth of American exceptionalism. It underscores implicit bias, oppression, police brutality, and institutional racism. White supremacy feeds on blind patriotism – which, as the Nazi era taught us, should never be confused with true love of one’s country.
As part of my journey in coming to terms with my personal family history, I’ve read a lot about the rise of the Nazi state. One of the most informative volumes I’ve come across was Ian Kershaw’s Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris. A very thick and heavy book, Hubris gave me a comprehensive picture of the political landscape of Germany in the 1920s and 30s. Several interesting arguments rose to the surface.
One: Hitler wasn’t impressive. He came from an obscure background and spent most of his life as a vagrant until one day, somebody discovered he could speak. Much like our current president, he hadn’t actually done much by the time he assumed political power. (He did serve in the military during WWI – no bone spurs, I suppose. Oh, and he wrote a book, a sort of 1920s extended tweet, if you will, in prison.) Few took this man seriously. Indeed, many called him a clown – until things stopped being funny.
So how does an unremarkable person, the target of public jokes, become absolute dictator of a dynamic, diverse nation with a rich, complex history?
Kershaw, like many historians, looked to the conditions of post-World War I Germany for an explanation. He noted that Hitler and his party had support from powerful members of the German elite. Kershaw also argued that Germany never had a democracy before the 1920s, and couldn’t quite “get it together” under the Weimar Republic. (I accepted this at the time I read the book. Lately, I’ve been thinking, “Seriously? Germans couldn’t get it together?”) Finally, Kershaw referenced the devastating economic impact of the Treaty of Versailles – often cited as where WWII began.
In short, 1920s Germany was pictured as a country in a chaotic state with a vacuum of leadership, much like today’s third world nations that succumb to dictatorship.
As I’ve watched events unfurl in my own country over the past few years – in particular the police and White House response to recent protests asserting that Black Lives Matter – it’s occurred to me Kershaw may have missed an important element in the rise of fascism. Other historians may have considered this, though I haven’t come across it in my reading. I suspect fascism is the instinctive response of a white supremacist state when “too many” citizens begin to push for broad reform.
In other words, if a threshold proportion of the population demands significant dismantling of structures that maintain white power, the ultimate backlash, from a behavioral perspective, would be fascism: Violent obliteration of all dissent and aggressive reassertion of the dominant mythology. Making this happen under the iron fist of an unremarkable white man is especially effective, because putting an inept person in a position of absolute power sends a crystal clear message: The worst of us is still infinitely better than all of you.
Consider again the Weimar Republic: Sure, democracy was new to German society, but that shouldn’t necessarily lead us to conclude Germans couldn’t “figure it out.” The more astute question is this: What was the perceived danger of democracy for the powerful German elites who threw their support behind Nazi authoritarianism? The idea that all citizens should have an equal voice in governance. From their perspective, rising demand for a broadly inclusive society had to be stopped, at any cost.
We know where Germany’s struggle, which involved much resistance and vigorous dissent, took them in the 1930s and 40s. I maintain the hope that our current struggle in the United States will lead us down a better path.
But I understand from my family history how high the stakes are, and how far defenders of white supremacy will go to maintain the status quo. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. I am worried. I have been worried for a very long time. How could I not be, knowing my nation’s heart and soul as well as I do?
Resist, my friends. Rise up and resist. The future depends on us.
1According to official family history, my grandfather was not deported but finished the war confined as a military prisoner in then-Czechoslovakia. During that same period, however, German Sinti and Roma were rounded up and sent to concentration and labor camps across central Europe as part of the Final Solution. While the true numbers may never be known, it’s estimated at least 250,000 – a quarter of the Roma population at the time – were killed by the Nazi war machine.
June 8, 2020
Black Lives Matter
I’ve been contemplating what to say here about the national and global outrage expressed in response to police violence against people of color. This is not a new problem for our nation; though like many others, I hope we are at last reaching a new horizon.
Rather than indulge in my own take, I prefer to direct you to persons who have spoken more eloquently than I can. Statements that have resonated with me over the past week include those from Trevor Noah and John Oliver. Both are embedded below.
For anyone still reticent toward the idea that our current circumstances are rooted in deep history, I urge you to listen to the New York Times podcast 1619, released last year to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first slaves to arrive in Jamestown.
Several web sites and news outlets, including the Medium.com, provide helpful lists of anti-racism resources. Educate yourself and others. Use your voice. Take action. Most of all, vote. You, too, can be part of the change.
April 26, 2020
Reconnecting
Normally this time of year I would be at my annual Women’s Writing Retreat, more affectionately known as Dollbabies Week. Like so many other spring activities and conferences, that plan was washed away by the tide of Covid-19. My literary colleagues and I have organized a remote edition instead. It won’t be the same, but I’ve resolved to set aside dedicated writing time this week, and to devote my evenings to a series of virtual activities for the retreat.
At Avila, we have one week of classes and then finals, although it’s unclear just how everything will wrap up schedule-wise. Some students may require extensions due to the extraordinary circumstances they or their families are facing. We are committed to providing them all the support they need to finish successfully.
As of this writing, the numbers in the United Stats are 940,797 confirmed cases, with 54,001 deaths nationwide. The U.S. has only about 4% of the world’s population, but we are suffering one third (32.2%) of the world’s Covid-19 cases, and just over a quarter (26.5%) of the deaths.
This reminds me, eerily, of some statistics I often return to in my introductory environmental science course: The U.S. has only about 4% of the world’s population, but we use approximately 20% of the world’s energy and produce about 35% of the world’s waste. We are also responsible for about one-third (33%) of the atmospheric carbon currently heating up the planet.
Coincidence? Maybe. I don’t believe nature is vindictive or conscientious in her response to our actions. I do believe our actions have consequences, and that it is past time for us to wake up to the suite of unhealthy behaviors our society has encouraged and even glorified.
These have been dark times, but it’s my hope that everyone of us can find a bright spot inside of the struggle. In many places we are rediscovering our sense of community as we support each other through the crisis. The spaces we once shared freely together have increased in value during quarantine. The virus may have contaminated surfaces, but it has cleaned up our air and quieted our streets. Anecdotal reports the world over indicate nature’s positive response to the pause in human noise. In light of this, perhaps we should make every Earth Day a day of complete rest, of remembrance and respect for all the members of our global community that benefit when we remain silent.
I have missed my students and colleagues dearly, and the adjustment to working at home has been tough. (Though I am grateful everyday that I can work.) Still, I’d be lying if I claimed I’d found no benefits from enforced solitude. I’ve connected to new people through online workshops and seminars. I’ve learned a host of new technological skills necessary for the post-Covid19 world. I’ve learned I don’t need the car every day to survive. I’ve become more aware of creatures in my own backyard, as bright birds and small mammals eagerly embrace the lush Midwestern spring.
While my original plans for summer research have been altered and might yet go up in smoke, I have gotten out to the field for some routine work. The native bee communities of Jerry Smith Park are active, queens and a handful of young workers setting up shop for the summer months. I’m very curious to know whether the Covid19 shut down will have any impact on their numbers and diversity.
I’ve started writing fiction again, which seems like some sort of miracle. Inspiration came from an unexpected direction, an online nature writing workshop that I signed up for in the wake of the Covid19 lockdown. As a result of the workshop, I’ve been reflecting on my personal journey from the child who imagined a suburban playground as prairie to the adult trying in some small way to bring real prairie back to life. That thread inspired me to sit down with one of my old stories, shuttered away for a few years because it just wasn’t working. Now the elements are coming together in a much more constructive fashion. And also, it’s just good to be writing again.
That’s my Covid19 status in a nutshell. The good and the bad, always in balance. Many are asking when will we get back to normal. The short answer is: There will not be a ‘normal’ ever again. Nor should there be. The only way out of this is forward, to a new way of thinking, of organizing our lives and activities, of constructing our health system and our economy, and most fundamentally of engaging with the natural world.
The ‘normal’ of our past was not normal. It was a twisted system with perverse incentives, unsustainable in the long run and vulnerable to disasters like this one. What we once had needed to be reformed. Not in dramatic, brutal, revolutionary ways, but with thought, care, patience, and compassion. It’s a tall order, but I’m a person of stubborn faith. I still believe we can come out on the other end of this and succeed in building a better world. I invite you to believe with me, and to work toward making that dream manifest.
Stay safe and healthy. You are needed for everything that is yet to come.
March 24, 2020
Bees in the Time of Covid-19
[image error]Life has been transformed in the past couple weeks for pretty much everyone in the United States, and around the world.
At Avila University, faculty, staff and students have undertaken a monumental effort to move our entire spring curriculum online. Virtual classes started yesterday, almost all of us wading into unknown territory.
On the bright side, a creative challenge always gets my adrenaline going. It’s been at once invigorating and exhausting to adapt all my classes to an online platform. The Avila community has really come together on this, even as we disperse to our off-campus work spaces. At the same time, I miss day-to-day contact with my students and colleagues. And of course, the circumstances in which we are doing this – a global pandemic that’s generating considerable economic instability – add constant, distressing undertones to our efforts.
During the rush to adjust to a new normal, something wonderful did happen: Matt Kelly of the Bee Report interviewed me for his podcast. We talked at length about my work on Kansas City’s native prairie bees, including my recent publication in Ecological Restoration. It was a great conversation and a refreshing break from the heavy situation we are all dealing with.
Among the good news Matt and I discussed: Small spaces matter. Urban parks and neighborhood gardens can do a lot to help conserve our native bees, as long as they have the right resources.
Please keep this in mind as you choose plants for your spring garden, porch or deck. Many native flowering plants are low-maintenance and easy to grow. You can make a positive difference just by planting these seeds and giving pollinators a little more nectar and pollen to support their livelihoods.
If you’d like to listen to my full conversation with Matt Kelly, please visit The Bee Report Podcast. I know you’ll enjoy every moment!
Stay safe and healthy.
March 19, 2020
EOLYN available for free download
In hopes of offering more entertainment options for a home-bound public, my women-centered fantasy novel, Eolyn, is now available for free download.
You can find Eolyn on Google Books, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo, as well as on Smashwords in both epub and mobi format. Amazon wouldn’t let me set the price below 99 cents, but if you’re counting pennies and have a Kindle, the mobi format on Smashwords should work on your device.
Offer good indefinitely. Please share widely. Enjoy the magic, and stay healthy.
EOLYN (Book One of the Silver Web)
[image error]In a land ravaged by civil war, the Mage King Kedehen initiates a ruthless purge of women practitioners of magic. Eolyn, sole heiress to the forbidden craft, escapes slaughter by fleeing into the South Woods. There, she is adopted by the hermit Ghemena, last guardian of a sacred path.
When the mysterious boy Akmael appears in her woodland refuge, Eolyn unknowingly befriends a dangerous prince, heir to the man who destroyed her family. Confident the young mage will help restore the lost tradition of her dead sisters, Eolyn embarks on a path of hope and innocence that will end in betrayal, heartbreak and war against a man she once loved.
As a child, Corey of East Selen witnessed the massacre of his clan. His cousin, Briana, saved Corey’s life through a desperate bargain: by marrying the Mage King who slaughtered their family and giving him a son, Akmael.
Corey has since honed bitter cynicism into a tool for survival. When one day he meets a woman named Eolyn in a far-flung province, Corey considers burning the last maga to advance his status. But Eolyn has something that compels Corey more than her magic: She wears a jewel that once belonged to Briana of East Selen. Discovering how Eolyn acquired the heirloom leads Corey down a path of intrigue and vengeance at any cost.
In Book One of The Silver Web, Briana’s lingering magic weaves together the fates of those who survived a great purge in a tapestry of conflict, love, revenge, and renewal. Eolyn, last daughter of the magas, challenges a realm of powerful wizards and brutal deceptions in a desperate bid to revive women’s magic against the will and ambitions of men.
“Vigorously told deceptions and battle scenes, with a romantic thread.” – Publishers Weekly
A “dreamlike, fairy-tale ambiance…immersive political machinations and grand-scale battles.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Headstrong, hopeful, and fiercely loyal to her roots, Eolyn is a character you can’t help but stand behind.” –Apex Reviews
“Magnificently written.” –Kindle Book Review
March 9, 2020
Urban Habitats for Native Bees
I’m happy to report that my article on native bees in urban habitats is now available in this month’s issue of Ecological Restoration. Based on work completed with my Honors Biology student Laura Presler for her capstone project at Avila University, the paper provides evidence for the important role of small remnant habitats in conserving native bees.
We were especially honored to have the paper featured on the cover of the journal with a beautiful photo by Matt Kelly of the brown-belted bumblebee (Bombus griseocollis) and a green sweat bee (Augochlorini) on the flower Dalea purpurea.
This is the first of what I hope will be a series of papers based on ongoing efforts to monitor and understand the native bee community of the Greater Kansas City Area, and to apply this understanding to the larger question of how best to support native bees in urban landscapes. Many thanks to my colleagues at Bridging the Gap/Kansas City Wildlands, Kansas City Parks and Recreation, and the Missouri Department of Conservation for collaborating in this work.
Speaking of Matt Kelly, I want to give a shout out to his latest Bee Report Podcast. The third episode was released this week and features Dr. Hollis Woodard of the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Woodard is organizing a National Native Bee Monitoring Network, a nation-wide effort to monitor native bees. My lab will be participate in this effort through our work in the Kansas City area. To find out more about the network and why it’s important, please visit The Bee Report. And while you’re at it, listen to their other podcasts, too! You will find a lot of interesting and engaging information about native bee research and conservation.
Those are my updates for now. Spring seems to be getting an early start in the Midwest, so we will be starting the 2020 field season soon!
February 14, 2020
Dia de la Amistad
[image error]My bee page is now updated – check it out for details about our 2020 field season. I’m excited about my projects, coordinated as always with KC Wildlands, KC Parks, and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). We’re going to conduct a standardized survey of a unique habitat in the Kansas City area, the rocky glade. We’ll also be assessing the impact of a new management technique designed to better protect vulnerable stem-nesting bees in small prairie remnants.
In other news, I connected with Dr. Hollis Woodard this week at the University of California, Riverside. She is organizing a National U.S. Native Bee Monitoring Network and will include our KCMO project! I’m very excited about the opportunity to collaborate with native bee biologists nationwide. Bees are facing many critical threats, but there is also a great synergy right now between different sectors that want to understand and protect them.
[image error]One of many great ways to keep up with worldwide pollinator news.
I found out about the native bee monitoring network from Matt Kelley’s The Bee Report, a great resource for worldwide bee news and research. You can follow Matt’s website or connect with The Bee Report on Facebook. The Bee Report also has a brand new podcast, which I highly recommend. Episode 1 discusses a lawsuit against adding bumblebees to the endangered species list in the state of California.
Another great source for pollinator news, especially if you are into beautiful glossy magazines, is the new publication 2 Million Blossoms. Edited by Dr. Kirsten S. Traynor, the quarterly magazine is packed full of articles that are especially helpful for fans of pollinator-friendly gardens and landscaping. 2 Million Blossoms expands its scope beyond native bees, including honey bees and those other great North American pollinators, butterflies.
Those among my long-time followers know that February is not easy for me. During this time, I commemorate the end of my marriage – not because it ended in February, but because several dates that used to be important for us cluster around these weeks. Some say time heals all wounds, but time doesn’t heal anything – not on its own. What heals is time together with a lot of hard internal work; reliable support from friends, colleagues, and family; and a stubborn – almost belligerent – willingness focus on aspects of life that bring us joy.
During the process of healing, I was occasionally told to “just let it go.” But one can never “just let go” of real pain and anger. Pain and anger must be deliberately confronted, grappled with, and understood, before it can be cleaned out of one’s life and soul. Even then, you learn to accept there will always be some dust in the corners – or maybe even an entire box of old clothes in the basement – that you missed the first time around and will have to deal with later.
It’s also true that when what we thought was secure crumbles, we often find the freedom to build something better – or at least, better suited to who we are now. My divorce forced me into precisely that sort of transition. On the whole, while this has been difficult, it has also been good.
This weekend, I’ll celebrate Dia de la Amistad by giving some love to the Earth and participating in the Audubon Society’s Great Backyard Bird Count. This is a wonderful and easy way to help scientists monitor the status of birds worldwide. Also, it’s fun to watch birds! If you’d like to participate, you can sign up on the GBBC Website. I hope you do!
Enjoy the weekend. Spring is coming.
