River Earth

by Pierce, John C.

• ISBN13: 9780874221770
• ISBN10: 0874221773
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-05-01
• Publisher: Washington State Univ Pr

Summary

River Earth is a personal exploration of family and community in and around the rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Love, anger, wonder, a sense of place--these all emerge in this collection of poignant, often funny pieces.

Author Biography

The Child of a Dustbowl- and depression-buffeted family, John Pierce was raised amidst hope and roots in the lowland forests and prairies of western Washington. Three decades of toil in universities on all edges of the country have never separated him from that earlier life. Pierce loves streams and rivers and their intermingled movement and stability. Life on that moving water has helped teach him who he is and why. His reflections on rivers have bound him tightly both to his past and to his future, and to the people around him. President Bill Clinton appointed him a trustee of the Columbus Foundation, and Governor Mike Lowry appointed him to the board of the Washington Commission on the Humanities. He served as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Washington State University in Pullman, and now is Vice Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where he lives with his wife Ardith.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Riverfishing	1	(10)
River Earth	11	(10)
Fly Fishing Alone	21	(8)
Lagniappe: The Accidental Finding	29	(10)
Politics and the Pack	39	(14)
The Sounds of Silence	53	(10)
Mirage: The Fish that Doesn't Exist	63	(6)
The Survivalist	69	(16)
Masquerade	85	(8)
Flylife	93	(8)
The Inclined Plane	101	(12)
The Forest Primeval	113	(14)
The Bogachiel Sonata	127	(18)
Violation	145	(14)
Who Am I?	159	(18)
Rivers of Change	177	(16)
About the Author	193