My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark
-Indigo Girls, “Prince of Darkness”
Deep summer is here, and every morning before the sun comes up, the harmonious sounds of birdsong fill the sky, slowly awakening me. The chirps and trills of northern cardinals dominate our yard and meadow, and it’s sweet to hear. Soon, the male cricket song will join in, starting in the late afternoon and going through the night. Later in the morning come the raucous screams of wise crows, no less joyous to my ears.
“My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark” are lyrics from the Indigo Girls’ “Prince of Darkness”. The sun part of it describes the places I purposely create or seek out. It doesn’t take much to find a place of the sun, even in the darkest morning when sleep is broken by hundreds of birds in our trees. “This place is of the dark” describes the larger world around me—of course not all of it bad, but the future doesn’t seem bright.
Film of the Month
The first time I got turned onto the Indigo Girls was as a young mother, after I left a guy who was physically abusive. I became sick with the flu, and a couple women affiliated with the women’s shelter took my then tiny children and I in for the weekend while I was waiting for a house to rent. It was summertime, like now, and they lived in a shophouse above a store on the main street in a small, old, conservative Indiana town. The women were so gracious and supportive that I felt safe for the first time in years. Their bohemian loft was full of warm wood, art, music, and incense. They blared the Indigo Girls night and day that whole weekend. It must have been 1993, because that was the year I left the abuser; that fall I would start classes at Purdue University, where I would graduate with two degrees five years later. Whenever I hear “Prince of Darkness,” I remember that time where, for one of the few times in my life, people reached out to me with kindness.
Photo above by Bryan Ledgard, Creative Commons
A year after my college graduation, my sister and I still listened to the Indigo Girls. She had also just graduated Purdue (it ran in the family) and temporarily lived with us in Indianapolis, where she got a job. I had a guitar, even though I’m not a very good player. But we both had musical backgrounds. I sang in choirs all my life, first in church and elementary school choirs, and then in my high school concert choir. So, I bought an Indigo Girls guitar book, and we sang often, harmonizing with me singing alto and her soprano.
In the 90s, we knew a lot of gay people from college and work. I never cared if one was gay, straight, trans, two-spirit (a word I learned much later), or anything else. I thought of people as people—love as love. I never understood how anyone could be of a different mindset or how they thought they had control and wanted to deny people who they perceived as different and wrong the basic human rights of marriage, employment, love, education, housing, or kindness. Look around the world today, and after some progress out of that darkness, we seem to be moving backward.
To make a place of sun, I highly recommend the documentary now on Netflix, It’s Only Life After All, a “moving portrait about two queer people who were radical for their time.” And still are. I laughed, cried, and remembered. I was unaware of a lot of stuff they got involved with after the 90s, like founding an environmental Indigenous-first non-profit and donating proceeds from their music toward worthy causes. The Girls were, and are, some of my favorite role models.
World Ecofiction Spotlight
This month, the spotlight shines on Renan Bernardo, who I talked some about in June’s newsletter, as his collection of short stories, Different Kinds of Defiance, just came out in March. This month, enjoy our chat about this book.
The stories take place in and around Rio de Janeiro, and Renan said that he was inspired to write them because the city, “has a web of complexity in its people, their ways of living, social classes, and the city’s urban shaping, that is both chaotic and planned. It has a profound history that mixes our colonial, imperial past with the exploitation and enslavement of African and Indigenous populations, and then the city’s rise as the Brazilian capital in the early 20th century (it’s not the capital anymore). It’s a fairly intense place in many ways, but also incredibly welcoming. I hope I can show some justice to it in my stories that are set on it.”
Other Dragonfly news
Check out new novels and events at the site, including:
NecronomiCon is happening August 15-18, 2024 in Providence, RI.
Jeff VanderMeer has a surprise 4th addition to the Southern Reach trilogy: Absolution.
Other new novels posted at Dragonfly are Under the Bakul Tree by Mrinal Kalita, Vigil Harbor by Julia Glass, and Plastic by Scott Guild.
The Rewilding our Stories Discord is doing early-stage planning to attend Flights of Foundry during September 28-29. This will be our third year. We usually do a chill & chat and talk about such topics as climate/eco-fiction and solarpunk.
Upcoming interviews include Oonya Kempadoo, Sarah Brooks, Tom Weaver, Diana Renn, and Premee Mohamed.
Dragonfly.eco’s 11th anniversary is this August!
Resources
In case you’ve missed these exciting resources, including newest books at Dragonfly, check ‘em out!
LinkTree: Find out more about me.
Rewilding Our Stories: A Discord community where you can find resources, reading, and writing fun in fiction that relates strongly to nature and environment.
Our environmental/nature song-of-the-week playlist goes back to 2015.
Book recommendations: a growing list of recs.
Eco/climate genres: They’re all over the place, and here’s an expanding compendium.
Inspiring and informative author quotes from Dragonfly’s interviews.
List of ecologically focused games.
List of eco/climate films and documentaries.
Eco-fiction links and resources.
Book database: Database of over 1,100 book posts at Dragonfly.eco.
Turning the Tide: The Youngest Generation: Fiction aimed toward children, teens, and young adults.
Indie Corner: The occasional highlight of authors who publish independently.
Artists & Climate Change. This site is no longer being updated but still has a wealth of info. I was a core writer for their team, and I’m both honored and grateful. Look for my “Wild Authors” series there.
Copyright 2024 Mary Woodbury