Lay of the Land
Cicadas Still Sing
IN LATE JUNE, the thrum of annual cicadas, or chicharras, as we call them here in San Antonio, becomes the dominant sound of summer. The air percolates with percussion as males buckle Continue reading
Animals
blog post
My Five Favorite (Common) Birds
In April 2021, award-winning author and Orion contributor Jeff VanderMeer shared a personal essay on a formative childhood encounter with a pair of hummingbirds. The essay became one of the year’s Continue reading
Feature
Waiting for the Elvers
Despite these painful conversations, I am holding on to hope. Because two young boys, in the quiet time of a global pandemic, fell in love with slithery eels. Continue reading
blog post
Questions for the Author: Matthew Gavin Frank, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers
SIX YEARS AGO, back in April of 2015, author Matthew Gavin Frank came to DePaul University, here in Chicago where I teach, to read in the Visiting Writers Series from his Continue reading
Feature
How to Be Animal
An excerpt from Melanie Challenger’s new book: How to Be Animal: A New History of What it Means to be Human. Continue reading