Art and Drama...
While Mother Nature’s Child is far from being a sexy or violent film, it does contain an abduction scene! To illustrate it, I turned to my niece Amelia Bethke and her twin passions for art and biology. Though just a few weeks from college graduation, Amelia found time to compose the four sketches we needed to illustrate the dramatic scene, movingly described by naturalist Jon Young. The simple sketches served as placeholders in the rough cut for the real art — which just arrived this week! Though I’ve enjoyed the evolution of Amelia’s creative...
Last Child in the Woods?...
My filmmaker friend, Nicole Clark, recently returned from a camping trip at Sequoia National Park. This is the message she sent: “What’s wrong with this picture? The largest living thing on earth, 2200 yrs old, weighing as much as 7 blue whales and still the media wins?? This was taken in Sequoia National Park at the foot of General Sherman – the largest living thing on earth. Instead of being astounded this kid was memorized by media. I barely managed to take this photo…I was stunned by this child’s complete disinterest in his...
Discovering Home...
From the start, producing Mother Nature’s Child inspired me to look at my own connection to nature. In September 2008, knee deep in research, I attended a Spirit & Nature Retreat at Shelburne Farms, an outdoor education center on the Vermont shore of Lake Champlain. Our retreat facilitators encouraged the practice of starting the day at an outside “sit spot” of our choice on the grounds. I chose a hill in an open field that afforded a wide vista of the sky and the Adirondacks across the lake. Sitting alone on that peaceful hill away from the claustrophobia of...
