So why bother trying to write factual yet heartfelt pieces? It ends up

feeling like when you need to scream in a dream, but the sound just

isn’t coming out. Mental constipation settles in. A backup of the flow

of the prose. A feeling that you’re just so tired of everyone else’s -

well, you know what – that you don’t even feel like expressing your

own pent up thoughts anymore. A desire to just quit and let those

seemingly hellbent on ruining everything get on with finally doing it.

But a writer’s gotta write, even if only for themselves. Even if there’s

only a shimmer of a glimmer of hope that someone else might want to

read it and relate to it. Especially when the topics are critical to the

well-being of that writer’s heart and soul.

About the time my friend suggested this topic to me, I found myself

distracted in the mindless scrolling on social media that I so

hypocritically dislike. Short video clips from the TV series Sex and the

City began catching my attention. I’m not a city person at all. Yet what

was it about that show that appealed to me?

Its characters represented a sampling of people in a certain

environment (one quite foreign to me) openly discussing topics that

many people likely ponder but are uncomfortable voicing. Most

viewers could relate to at least some parts of the characters’

viewpoints or challenges, including many they might not have

previously considered, as their own lives may have been vastly

different. Same but different, though, as there are universal threads

that unite all of us in certain ways. And each episode had the main

character, Carrie, ultimately writing thought-provoking essays in

personable ways that made you want to stop and think a bit, for better

or for worse.

In stark contrast, the city is not my habitat at all. I live, work, and

recreate in rural areas, and I travel to remote wildlands around the

globe. My focus in all of these activities is always on nature. And how

we, as humans, impact it. As well as how it affects us. And when I’m

alone with my thoughts, trying to figure out how to share these

important issues in essays that might just maybe encourage others to

think more deeply and act more appropriately about them, I often end

up frustrated and daunted.

How could people who have little to no experience outdoors, beyond

cities, or amongst wildlife, feel justified in dictating what can or cannot

occur in the lives of those of us who do? And continually dispute,

contest, and agitate us in problematic ways that honestly hurt

conservation instead of helping it?

Hence the creation now of my new blog series, titled Vex and the

Country. To vex someone is to annoy, puzzle or frustrate them. To be

problematic or contentious, difficult or much debated. Sometimes in

trivial ways. I’m often vexed, in the country, by people, who are often

(but not always) in the city, and their non-factual opinions nowadays on

topics that can be inherently vexing anyway.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading my candid essays in this new series. But I

hope more so that they’ll generate honestly deeper thought about the

topics presented, greater discussion amongst all of us, a desire to seek

the truth and reject the falsehoods, and an appreciation for

acknowledging that the world of both humans and nature is a complex,

diverse place with many far-reaching connections.