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Show Sierra Club Releases New Book "Windsinger" Gary Smith is regarded in the mountain West as a kind of Renaissance man: mountaineer, mountain-eer, folksinger, songwriter, photographer, television personality, per-sonality, former forest service naturalist, Marine Corps public pub-lic affairs officer and pilot, and advocate and champion of wilderness. Now he is the author of forthcoming Sierra Club book. Windsinger. Smith offers Windsinger as a record of one person's environmental odyssey, dedicating dedi-cating the book to the "new native Americans" those discovering themselves by means of a sense of community commun-ity with their homeland, the earth. In a unique fusion of vernacular ver-nacular prose, lyrics, color and black-and-white photographs, and drawings, Smith sets down in Windsinger a living picture of the people and the landscapes which have shaped and amplified his own attitudes. atti-tudes. "Americans are starting to cast aside the invader-exploiter mentality toward the land," he explains. "An awareness is growing, a nagging, gnawing inner feeling that we've gone wrong and have to learn a new lifestyle. We've rebounded off all the physical frontiers and are now discovering that the American West is a kind of frontier of spiritual discovery." discov-ery." Smith's hope for this evolving ethic is fueled by the experiences recorded in Windsinger. Wind-singer. "They are real and found everywhere in our commonality, and hopefully this book will serve as bridge or connecting device for the reader's memories and roots." Smith's narrative in Windsinger Wind-singer ranges wide and deep. He shares peaceful moments wjth an old woman on Okinawa, converses with a master duck decoy carver in Maryland, brands calves with a salty cowboy in Utah, learns about "catching songs" with a Shoshone friend, flies through a thunderstorm over the Escalante with a wild and woolly canyon pilot. Basque sheephcrders. some Marine Corps brass, and Smith's farmer grandparents are a-mong a-mong the other characters who people Windsinger. Each shares with Smith the conviction that "we are immediately accountable for our actions. The future and the past stand at our sides, and we must act accordingly. To do so, we must discover our roots and honor the demands and limitations of the natural world." About the Author Gary Smith is a folksinger and songwriter whose concerts on behalf of the canyon wilderness are well known in the West. Now in his early thirties, Smith recently learned that he has multiple sclerosis. Unable to continue with many of his outdoor activities (he is an experienced mountain climber, climb-er, backpacker, kayaker, canoeist, can-oeist, and airplane pilot), he has directed his energies toward his writing and music, and toward a formidable campaign to protect the West's wildlands. Smith has a bachelor of science degree in Forest Recreation from Utah State University and is currently completing a master's degree there specializing in environmental environ-mental public affairs. His thesis is the production of a 16mm color film and multimedia multi-media presentation promoting a proposed wilderness area. |