http://www.allochthonous.com for readers and writers who care about place Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:11:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last time I promised more Siberia. Lucky you! There’s plenty of it to go around. There’s so much Siberia, in fact, that it took Ian Frazier and two Russian pals five weeks and two days to cross it in a diesel-powered Renault step van. He wrote about the experience in a ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2010/03/04/on-the-road-with-ian-frazier/ With all apologies due James Taylor, there’s something powerful about the way a place – even a place you’ve never visited – can stand in for a state of being. Siberia? I think: Cold. Isolation. Hard labor. Okay, tundra. Maybe caribou. There are few places in the world I don’t want ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2010/01/21/going-to-siberia-in-my-mind/ I spent much of last night watching the TV and staring at the computer screen, stunned by the images of a Haiti under siege. The disastrous earthquake and its death toll, the very literal ticking clock as relief workers toil to rescue those still trapped, and the misery among the ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2010/01/14/to-help-in-haiti-youve-got-to-know-where-to-go/ The last blog post I planned to write was on how you could tell it was fall in northern New Mexico by the procession of big, hairy tarantulas crossing the road. Instead I looked out the window this morning to find a white-out. Kind of Rip van Winkle, you know? [caption ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2009/12/08/powder-day/ My middle kid (the fabulous banjo-pickin', song writin', lead singin' KAN NAMBA of Two Ton Strap fame) sent me a link to a quirky little project by the photographer Kyle Cassidy. Where I write is a visual chronicle of the dedicated writing spaces of a host of science fiction and ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2009/08/21/where-do-you-write/ In the northwest corner of New Mexico lies a small jewel called Ghost Ranch. Its redrock landscape is familiar from the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe, who lived and painted there for fifty years; and in August of every odd-numbered year, a bunch of women writers from across the country gather ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2009/08/17/women-writers-retreat-then-move-forward-at-ghost-ranch/ This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: http://www.allochthonous.com/2009/07/29/writing-around-taos-july-2009/ Hats off to Kirstin Valdez Quade for her moving story, “The Five Wounds”, published in this week’s issue of The New Yorker – and a nod of appreciation to the magazine for taking a chance on a story that’s so thoroughly steeped in New Mexico lore.  Quade’s New Mexico (she’s ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2009/07/29/god%e2%80%99s-in-the-right-details-no-frills-new-mexico-in-%e2%80%9cthe-five-wounds%e2%80%9d/ I’m fresh off the experience of teaching at the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference, a seven-day rush of great words, wonderful people, and – certainly for me, and I’m hoping for the 25 writers (in two groups) who traipsed about Taos by my side – terrific visits to places that reveal ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2009/07/21/great-people-great-places-the-taos-summer-writers-conference/ Living as I do in the wilds of Taos County, I catch most of my movies long after they’ve left the box office.  FROZEN RIVER is no exception.  Debuting at Sundance Film Festival in January ’08 and entering theaters across the country in a limited release six months after that, ... http://www.allochthonous.com/2009/06/02/courtney-hunts-frozen-river-a-triumph/