Yes, it was promoted to the hilt—for more than a year crammed down our throats by the likes of GM and Bank of America (whose interests may not be entirely altruistic). Yes, there are the overly-precious voiceovers, the numbingly slow trademark pans across sepia-toned still photos, the unabashed nature porn, the incessant, cloying soundtrack of fiddles and banjos.

But here, to our surprise, the writer Dayton Duncan has done a fine job pulling together the intricate and eminently dramatic story of how, against the tide, this most radical notion came to be—the idea of setting aside parts of the country as national parks, owned by We The People—for the benefit not just of Americans but of the whole world.

It’s a hell of a story. And for the following six reasons (and more) it’s one worth hearing, again and again:

1. Because “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread.” (John Muir)

2. Because “Here we find nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs all other circumstance, and judges like a god all men that come to her.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

3. Because “The great curse of this age and of the American people is its materialistic tendency. Money, money is the cry everywhere, until our people are held up to the world as noted for nothing except the acquisition of money at the expense of all aesthetic taste and of all love of nature.” (Senator George Vest, MO, 1883)

4. Because “Unless steps are taken by government to withhold them from the grasp of individuals, all places favorable in scenery to the recreation of the mind and body will be closed against the great body of the people.” (Frederick Law Olmsted)

5. Because “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” (John Muir)

6. And because we may have lost track (again), somewhere along the way.

Where to see it?

Alas, the full episodes are no longer available online. But you can still see clips, deleted scenes, and untold stories at pbs. org. You can buy the whole series and other fun national parks/PBS schwag here. You can get both video and audio on iTunes, put it on your Netflix queue, or just check your local library.

Community Connection

For more Matador on parks worldwide, check David DeFranza’s Back to Nature: 13 of the World’s Richest National Parks, or Alan Velasco’s stunning Photo Essay on Glacier.

Been to a National Park lately? How are we doing? Are we living up to the dream? Share your thoughts below…

Photo: Ed Karjala

The first day of Fall and as Sarah says it brings on the ‘onslaught of cliches’ like woodsmoke and falling leaves but like anything else it all depends on where you are.

Here on the Gulf Coast of Florida there aren’t really seasons except for rainy and dry. Here it’s a game of burying any sign of things changing or growing older, much less falling or dying, as evinced by the plastic surgery places on Highway 41 and the inordinate number of old ladies on the beaches with non wobbly mega-tits.

It’s like this on so many levels. Looking out the window there’s a dude from chem-lawn hosing down the yard across the street with some foul-looking liquid.

Earlier today Layla and I went to the park where there is a section of old flatwoods and trails shaded by the oak and long-needle pine. Usually there’s nobody here and we end up exploring these trails, Layla asking for “food” when we pass the stalks of fennel, a wild edible I showed her when we first got here and which, like everything else, she hasn’t forgotten since.

Today there were some other nenas though, four little happy girls worming up the slides, and Layla wanted only to be with them even though she was shy at first only looking at them and smiling, saying “baby nena.”

Later they had to go. When you’re a parent you learn you never can just leave a place, it always takes stopping several times along the way. Layla saw them stop at the last section of playground, and said “otro parque,” which meant she wanted to go over there with them to the ‘other park.’

It made me think about Sarah’s blog the other night about the parks in Mexico, the “llanos,” and how life is lived out there in the open, a kind of transparency that I could never imagine existing here but have always wanted just the same.

Layla went over to play with the kids a few minutes more without worrying about symbolism or where we were. Another kind of transparency.

I think I’ve always loved autumn because back in Georgia where I grew up it was cooler but still warm, and usually the driest time of the year, the best for walking down to the Chattahoochee river and watching everything fall which is still another kind of transparency. Go back there with the right kind of eyes and ears and you can practice being invisible.

Summertime. Photo by Laura Bernhein

It’s been since the Spring since I’ve pumped out a From the Editor note. Far too long.

Since then we’ve had so many changes, so much progression at Matador it’s good just to stop for a second and go through some of the highlights.

That seems like an August thing to do–to soak up and savor wherever you are and whatever you’ve been doing over the last summer, to go back over it one last time before it’s back to the Fall, the school year, another transition.

Here are a few highlights, in no particular order:

* The Traveler’s Notebook migrated all topics (travel jobs, travel advice) to other blogs in the Matador Network , and began focusing exclusively on publishing travel narratives, notes, and journal excerpts, as well as articles on travel writing, photography, and video.

* Brave New Traveler broke 4,000 RSS subscribers.

* The Matador Network began consistently reaching nearly 800,000 unique visitors per month.

* Matador Community members began winning some great awards, such as Jenny Williams winning the StorySouth Award 2009 , Craig and Linda Martin winning Lonely Planet’s award for Best Travel Podcast.

* Various Matador members have published books. This includes, among several others, Beebe Bahrami, whose book, The Spiritual Traveler Spain–The Guide to Sacred Sites and Pilgrim Routes, was published in May 2009, and Nora Dunn, whose book 10,000 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget, was also published this May. Other Matadorians are just about to publish books, such as James Workman whose work, Heart of Dryness is already receiving advanced praise from literary giants such as Rick Bass and David James Duncan.

* Matador launched its newest blog, Matador Sports.

* In probably the biggest news of all, we’ve spent the last 7 months working on Matador’s first educational component, MatadorU. The first course offered at MatadorU will be a Travel Writing School unlike anything else on the web or in print, a true step by step guide that lays out exactly how to become a professional Travel Writer.

Happy final weeks of summer to everyone at Matador.

David Miller

8/07/09, Atlanta

Layla. Champion rock thrower. Photo Laura Bernhein

1. Over the weekend my bro Segundo left a message on my phone where he sang this passover song Dayenu.

Segundo is not Jewish but half-Italian which is close. He’s also really good at imitations which is all you need when it comes to songs and ceremonies, especially ones for which you feel a slightly whimsical if misunderstood ‘fondness’.

2. How this all figures into a week’s ’roundup’ of the Notebook I’m not sure. I just got the sense when I woke up last Thursday that millions of dining and living rooms across the world were about to get hit up with new remixes of the story of how Moses parted the Red Sea. And that that counted for something–not the Red Sea part so much but the re-telling.

3. Yesterday I was walking with Layla through Ravenna park in Seattle. There was some kind of Easter race / scavenger hunt going on involving the local hipster / tight pants / fixie bike crowd. The racers skidded down the hill, dropped their bikes, then had to fish a can of PBR out of this reeking, algal-skinned pond. The kid taking pictures told me it was to represent how “Jesus was a fisherman.”

4. This all made me feel somewhat ‘proud’ of Seattle.

5. Last week I published a piece by David Johnson. Afterward he wrote me back saying:

“sort of blows me away to think that that many people saw a bunch of lines I drew when I was going out of my head in Rio. . . anyways, still going out of my head. Now in San Luis Obispo. Surfed Montana de Oro this morning.”

6. That’s one of the ceremonies he and I have had going since we were kids in Georgia: basically stoking out on whatever the next set of views are or might be and considering each new stage to be part of some progression even though you always end up feeling the same.

6. Layla looked up at the kids pushing at the beer cans with long sticks. She was only mildly interested. She was busy with her own ceremony: throwing rocks in the water. I picked up some more and handed them to her.

Layla in Seattle Arboretum. Photo: Laura Bernhein.

Indie Travel Podcast

Congrats to longtime Matador contributors Craig and Linda Martin for their winning the Lonely Planet’s award for best travel podcast. If you haven’t yet, make sure you subscribe to their podcast.. Craig has produced several podcasts for the Notebook as well. You can find them here.

Notes from the Road

Also wanted to thank everyone who has been submitting their notes from the road. We’ve been getting lots of great stories. In general, most have been rejected not because the writing isn’t ‘good’ but because it doesn’t seem like a ‘note’. Those that have been selected seem to have a few things in common:

• Total lack of any kind of ‘judgment’.
• A focus on ‘concrete’ language.
• Short paragraphs, words, sentences, overall length.
• A narrator who isn’t looking for ‘universal truths’ but just traveling and observing things as they come.

Please keep writing and sending everyone. We could be publishing your note next.

Travel and Adventure Jobs

In the weeks ahead we’ll be bringing back one of our favorite series: travel and adventure jobs. Please note: we’re currently soliciting submissions .

Happy Spring everyone. Here in Seattle the Cherry Blossoms are going off and there’s still color in the sky at 8:00 pm.

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/from-the-editor/early-spring-notes/feed/ 3 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/from-the-editor/la-proxima-ola-the-next-wave-notebook-20/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/from-the-editor/la-proxima-ola-the-next-wave-notebook-20/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:10:46 +0000 David Miller http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=291

Editor David Miller with assistant wave-checker, Layla.

Greetings mundo,

Stoke levels are super high across Matador tonight as we’ve just launched a new theme for the entire network. This coincides with a whole new crew of contributing editors, including Teresa Ponikvar , who will be joining me here at the Notebook to bring you the fresh.

Now seems like a good time to reflect. Here’s a brief history:

The Traveler’s Notebook launched as Matador’s first ‘network’ site in back in September 2007. We joined forces with Brave New Traveler at the end of January of 2008. From there our network has evolved into what it is today: 9 sites interconnected through the Matador Community and covering everything travel, culture, and place.

Our original vision for the notebook had two parts:

• To find local experts willing to line out the exact who-what-where-when-why and how of travel. Like How To Travel By Cargo Ship, or How to Convert your Truck to Run on Veggie Oil.
• To offer advice on becoming a better writer, photographer, filmmaker.

That’s still still our mission today, and even after almost 2 years, it still feels like we’re only in the early stages. There are way more waves out there.

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