On Wednesday, Mary, Peaches, and I will be zipping down to Cambria on the coast. It will be about six hours away. We have reservations for the Cambria Shores Inn, one of many inns in town that is pet-friendly. According to the front desk, they “not only allow dogs, they love them.” What’s not to love about a golden retriever like Peaches? Goldens may be the world’s sweetest breed.
The next day, I’ll be talking with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s student chapter of the Society of American Foresters. I picked May 24 way back last December. In prime procrastinator fashion, I thought that something akin to lightning would strike me between then and now and I’d be witty, amusing, and deep.
I think it’s a truism for everyone, except the current administration, to see him or her self as a fraud, at least sometimes. We got lucky and if we’re not careful, we’ll be exposed as the imposter that we know that we are. I graduated from Humboldt State University thirty-three years ago. Crap. What can I tell some college students, who know more about today’s forestry, about the business of forestry? Yes, I have been the assistant forest manager at Mountain Home State Forest (asst forest manager of a state forest has more gravitas than the local burger franchise, don’t you think?), coordinated the natural resource management training for the California Dept of Forestry and Fire Protection, and been the forest manager for Boggs Mountain State Forest. Still, that’s what I used to be. What can I impart about how to be relevant? How do I tell them how to have a vocation in forestry in the 21st century?
Time for a point of view shift. I’m going to talk about writing.
Nullius in Verba 