by David J Rothman, Jeffrey R Villines, eds.
ISBN: 978-0-9641454-9-8
Pleiades Press, 2017
$16.00; 201pp.
Reviewed by Eduardo Brummel
David J. Rothman is Director of the Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Gunnison’s Western State Colorado University. He is also, as anyone who’s recently spent time with him already knows, a passionate advocate for Breckenridge-based poet, Belle Turnbull (1881-1970), whom he describes as, “one of the strongest poets yet to emerge in Colorado.”
The 25th Headwaters Conference, The Working Wild, began Friday, Sept. 20 at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison. The auditorium was full in anticipation of the keynote speaker, Gary Snyder. One spectator mused, “It’s the gathering of the eagles,” with community leaders from all over the Headwaters region in attendance. After a poem by Art Goodtimes and a song by Alan Wartes, Conference Director John Hausdoerffer introduced Snyder. He revealed that Snyder, a beat generation poet, inspired Jack Kerouac’s famous character from the Dharma Bums, Japhy Ryder.
By Michele Parenti
A brisk, windy Saturday morning beckons Bill Zeedyk and a crew of “white collar muscles” to the Wolf Creek basin in Gunnison. It’s October in the high Rockies. The morning weather is turbulent with rain and snow as the shivering volunteers listen to the day’s instructions. Bill is wearing Muck boots, layers of flannel and fleece, jeans, a fishing hat and the thick of his beard to keep him warm. For a man in his sixties, he’s sturdily built, and he’s been plugging away since the wee hours of the morning. In a soft-spoken manner Bill urge us to stay hydrated and watch our footing. The author of the book Let the Water Do the Work, Bill has years of experience in the Forest Service and holds a wealth of knowledge within him; and along with training volunteers in water conservation, he is also busy in the fields of rock masonry and hydrology.