Hope on an ominous day

The wrecking crew returns to Washington, D.C., this January, more organized and prepared than they were before.

I recall Bob Marley’s words, “The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off.  Why should I?”  Keep fighting for a better world, my friends, no matter what happens.

Hurricane Helene strikes, Country Creek unites

People frequently ask Bill McKibben where they should move to survive climate change.  He tells them to live anywhere that they have neighbors that they can count on.  


I said that my evil plan was to retreat from South Florida to my folks' house in Western North Carolina during the peak of hurricane season—and then Hurricane Helene walloped Western North Carolina!  Our neighborhood, which is populated mostly by senior citizens, was lucky.  The high winds knocked over many trees, which took out lots of power-lines, yet no injuries occurred, and only one house and zero vehicles received damage.  The waters of Country Creek rose to levels residents had never seen before, but the houses stayed dry up on the ridge.  Between washouts and fallen trees, our neighborhood woods trails (which were volunteer passion projects led by my mom), will be impassable until they get some professional attention.  Before the storm, I was in our woods tethering benches (handcrafted by some of our crafty neighbors) to prevent them from washing away.   I didn't get any photos or videos of the hurricane in action because when I awoke at 3:00 AM on Friday, September 27, to swirling winds and trees swaying like breakdancers, I rushed to fill containers with the last remaining trickle of water from the pipes; by 3:30, running water and electricity were out.  Three miles away, the French Broad River overflowed much more dramatically than our Country Creek.  

 

Post-hurricane, neighbors came together for a spontaneous work party to clear fallen trees from the roadway, using any hand or battery-powered tools we had.  My brother Carl (who was visiting from Boston) and I rushed to join, armed with sawzall, pruning shears, and baseball bat (which he likes to use to break dead limbs).  Throughout the hurricane aftermath, residents of our street have helped each other find drinking water, matches, non-perishable foods, and other essentials.  A  neighbor with a generator kindly offered my family and I the opportunity to charge our electronic devices, and he ran an electrical line to the home of another neighbor who sleeps with a CPAP machine.  On Monday morning, I had my first bucket bath since this situation began, and getting clean was a huge morale booster (despite my aversion to cold water).  Another morale booster was gathering around a laptop computer at night to watch a video (we had some saved on hard drives, jump drives, and DVDs); Surivorman was relevant to our situation.

My folks' three rain barrels proved to be worth more than their weight in gold, and I also got a lot of exercise hauling buckets of water from the neighborhood swimming pool.  (Up the road in Weaverville, large numbers of people filled water containers from Lake Louise.)  Our refrigerator was well-stocked, and we ate well by candle-light post-storm.  We regained the ability to text and call after a few days of near-total cell phone blackout in North Carolina.  On Sunday, we connected to the web for the first time since the hurricane by accessing a temporary cell tower near the Pack Library downtown (at a neighbor's suggestion).  By mid-week, after more trucks with bottled water and other supplies had gotten through and more retailers had reopened, post-hurricane life felt less like survival and more like camping (although camping is still a lot of work).  I returned to Florida two nights ago feeling that things are stable out by Country Creek.  Many communities of Western North Carolina had it many times worse than we did, and their road to recovery is long.

Nowhere is safe from extreme weather, and future events will be worse.  Get to know your neighbors if you want to survive.

Photographer Credits: #1: Susan Studlar.  #3-4, #7: Carlton Studlar. #9: Donley Studlar. #2, #5-6, #8: Ross Studlar.

Dinosaur Stories on Etsy

Happy National Comic Book Day!  DINOSAUR STORIES is now up for sale on my Etsy site.  In addition to my three dinosaur comics originally published in THE MESOZINE #1-3, it also contains pin-up illustrations, including the Ankylosaurus below.  

Dinosaur Stories + Come see me at Queen City Zine Fest

Here is the cover image for my new comic book DINOSAUR STORIES, which debuted at AVL Zine Fest 2024. I will begin sales on my Etsy site in the near future. DINOSAUR STORIES collects the three comics that I originally authored for THE MESOZINE dinosaur anthology series (issues #1-3) in 2020-2024. In addition to dinosaurs, my stories co-star other Mesozoic wildlife, such as the giant frog Beelzebufo and the giant crocodylian Deinosuchus. (The cover image depicts Beelzebufo and Masiakasaurus, a small theropod, sizing each other up.) If you missed me at the AVL Zine Fest, you can still find me at the Queen City Zine Fest in Charlotte, North Carolina, 11-5 on September 28 at Blumenthal Arts Knight Theater (oh wait, most of you live a long way from AVL or Charlotte :) On another front, issue #3 of THE MESOZINE, edited by Denis St. John, dropped at the SF Zine Fest.

 

Come see me at AVL Zine Fest 2024

 

I and my Comics from the Wood table will be at Asheville Zine Fest TOMORROW! I will debut a NEW comic book. Stay tuned for more information about it. I'll also sell my classics. Poster artwork by  ©Matt Panuska - IG @panuskastudio.

 

Of Helicopters and Baby Turtles

Here is a post I authored (and some colleagues edited) for the official Everglades National Park social media channels.  (So it's NPS public domain work.)

 

"Rangers take the skies 🚁

 

Today was Ranger Ross’ first ride in a park helicopter. He and wildlife biologist, Mark Parry, were headed out to survey alligator nests. As they dug into their first nest of the day to assess the status of the gator eggs, they were surprised to also find baby Florida redbelly turtles!

 

(If Ranger Ross were the superstitious type, he would call this a sign. He likes turtles.)

 

Florida redbelly turtles lay their eggs in gator nests to benefit from the nest material piled high and the maternal care of gators who defend their nests and deter predators.

 

While alligators have exceptionally strong bites, Florida redbelly turtles have exceptionally thick shells. This helps to protect an adult female turtle from the adult female gator. The mother gator may take a break from nest guard duty in the daytime when predators are less active. This gives the mother turtle an opportunity to amble over and deposit her eggs.

 

In this nest, the baby turtles hatched first. They are too small to dig their own way out so they will wait for the alligators to hatch and call out for their mother. The mother gator will excavate her babies, carry them to the water in her mouth, and sometimes do the same for the baby turtles. Perhaps maternal instincts drive this behavior of not eating the baby turtles.

 

This nesting arrangement benefits the turtle at no cost to the gator, though perhaps a few of the young turtles will later become food for gators.

 

Swipe for cute turtle pic! 

 

NPS Photos

Image 1 and 2 by Mark Parry

Image 3 by Ross Studlar

 

#Everglades #EvergladesNationalPark #Helicopter #AlligatorNestSurvey #RedBellyTurtles"

 

 

 

 

The Song For Our Times

In the 1950s and 60s (and beyond), we had Pete Seeger.

In the 1990s, we had Rage Against The Machine.

In 2024, Macklemore steps up with "Hind's Hall": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDQyFeBBIo

 

Tell President Biden to change course on Gaza.

 

 

Another trip around the Sun

 

I survived another trip around the Sun! I competed in a fencing tournament on my birthday (this time against opponents in my own age bracket) and took home another third place medal. And I’m going kayaking in the Everglades tomorrow. So I’m trying to stay vigorous, despite that my age keeps ticking in only one direction, that being upward. Then again, it would be pretty weird if one’s age ticked downward (like Benjamin Button). Here are some pictures from adventures in South Florida from winter 2023-spring 2024. 

 

Photo #4 by Susan Studlar, fencing photos by Sophie D., all other photos by me, with only the first one being an NPS photo.