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Show ‘THEZEPHYR/ OCTOBER NOVEMBER 2002 and comfort. though murmuring to herself, "so many years.” She told me once that she had spoken out in defense of men, at a women’s writers’ conference. She was telling me that her generation was different and she wasn’t about to switch over to current fashion. Remember, Mardy was born in ‘02 ... 1902 that is ... became a teenager in World War I anda young woman in post-Klondike Alaska where her male acquaintances were gentlemen sourdoughs of Victorian demeanor, or rascals. The rascals were best talked about privately, among women. And later, in When Olaus died, Mardy carried on, into the sixties and seventies, the new wave of environmental activism, and the bleaker years of the eighties and nineties. Visitors kept on showing up at the ranch, to be warmly greeted and served with tea and cookies and conversation blossomed. When asked, Mardy answered forthrightly, about wilderness, about its necessity. No wavering. I think that the calm certitude in her voice and the direct simplicity of her words are one clue to her becoming noticed among so many environmentalists. In a nation increasingly addicted to middle-of-the-road solutions to everything, it must be refreshing to see someone play her cards like that. My brother Donald is quoted as saying, "I have seen people walk away from visiting with her as though they Wyoming, cowboys sometimes touched the brim of the hat when meeting a woman on the street, and an ex-cowboy, a politician, say, might even raise the hat. Those were times of subterranean contrariness, not open rebellion; more acts perhaps, fewer words. Looking back over my mother’s life, realizing that, like all lives there are many untold stories, I see it as an amazing adventure, and not just for her and Olaus, Weezy and Ade. There were many other amazing lives. I think that Mardy herself sees it that way. A few years ago she wrote a letter bringing us up to date-on her latest journey to speak for wilderness, including a brief account of a foreed landing in Alaskan wilderness and signing off, “your adventuring mother." I keep thinking of those many people who go away from her home in Moose, Wyoming feeling as though they’ve been to a shrine. I hope that they will not stop with the feeling good phase. I hope they see themselves as adventurers, people of a certain contrariness, who will fight for wilderness or endangered species or the rights of workers, the rights of women ... whatever cause lies closest to them. When asked, Mardi answred forthrightly, about wilderness, about its necessity. No wavering. [ think that the calm certitude Martin Murie grew up in Wyoming, served with the 10th Mountain Division in World War Il. worked as a park ranger, construction laborer, lab tech, taught biology and ecology at the University of California, Antioch College and North Country Community College. He now lives and writes full-time in upstate New York. And next April, Martin in her voice and the direct simplicity of her words are one clue to her becoming noticed among so many environmentalists. contributor to The Zephyr. Olaus and Mardi, near Jackson. will become a regular . had been visiting a shrine.” (Casper Star Tribune, 7/27/02) He’s right, I’ve seen that too, and it is not an easy thing, not easy at all, for a grown child (speaking about myself now) to discover a parent in a radically new role of that sort. For me, there’s a terrible vulnerability about it. Exploitation lurks. Here’s a different scene: Nevada, a hot and thirsty day. We came to an abandoned cattle ranch. The house sagged, wooden frame and sheathing dried and its color washed out by sun and wind, low mesas in all directions, pale, dry, e Moab's Canoe Specialists... We're happy to report that the stuff that makes rivers...we think it's called RAIN...has actually been seen coming out of the skies lately!!! ‘Thanks to the Great Hairy Thunderer e jMON JUDId canoe company l.c. guided trips . canoe school 2971 S. Hwy 191+(Next to the Branding Iron)*Open Mon-Sat 10:00 - 5:00 %* Native Grasses For Large Areas * JUDide « jMON IUDId AND PLEASE REMEMBER... WE REALLY ARE IN THE MIDST _ OF AN HISTORIC DROUGHT. CONSERVE!!! . sales HC 64 Box 3116 Castle Valley, Utah 84532 {MON JUDId | aspire to be a GREAT LADY of the WEST! « jMON JUDI|de oN A33,259.45:31 JUDId HIGH DESERT GARDENS e jMON ® Plant Now! «Plant Now! « Plant Now! « Plant Now! ePlant Now! « Plant Now! e utterly quiet. A blue enamel cooking pot half buried in the dusty yard was the only bright object. My mother pointed to it. "A woman lived here,” she said, as 435.259.7722 800.753.8216 - |