The Orlando Shooting: How You Can Help

A single man with an assault rifle and a handgun walked into a queer nightclub in Orlando, FL and killed at least 50 people and wounded at least 53 more. He deliberately targeted people for their sexuality: the fact that he struck on a night celebrating Latinx queerness means his victims were overwhelmingly people of color.

My Facebook feed is filled with pain and fear and sorrow and despair. But it’s also filled with wisdom. If you’re a hetero cis person, there are things you and I should be doing right now. Continue reading “The Orlando Shooting: How You Can Help”

The Orlando Shooting: How You Can Help
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Thirty-Six Years Ago Today: Mount St. Helens

Image shows the upper part of Mount St. Helens's truncated summit, with an enormous ash cloud roaring from it. Image is in color: the cone and cloud are dark blue-gray. The valley in the distance is covered in pale gray ash.
Mount St. Helens in eruption at 9:50am Pacific time on May 18, 1980. Public domain image courtesy USGS.

It’s the thirty-sixth anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. Please take a moment to remember those who died that beautiful May morning, and to appreciate the power of a volcano to change our lives forever: Continue reading “Thirty-Six Years Ago Today: Mount St. Helens”

Thirty-Six Years Ago Today: Mount St. Helens

What Can We Do in the Face of Such Hate?

We can mourn for the three cities that were attacked: Beirut, Baghdad, and Paris.

Image is a black background with Beirut, Iraq, Paris, and Syria printed in white block letters. The i in each name has been replaced by a lit white taper candle.
Image via Eva Pagiatakis on Facebook.

We can extend our empathy and aid to the survivors of these attacks, and to those refugees fleeing the terrorist violence Daesh has caused in Syria and other parts of the Middle East. Continue reading “What Can We Do in the Face of Such Hate?”

What Can We Do in the Face of Such Hate?

Interlude: Moment of Silence

Image shows Mount St. Helens, nearly devoid of snowcap and looking very grim, with the curved granite memorial in front of her.
Memorial to the people killed in the May 18th, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Johnston Ridge Volcano Obervatory, Mount St. Helens, WA.

REID TURNER BLACKBURN

WALLACE NORWOOD BOWERS

JOEL K. COLTEN

RONALD LEE CONNER

TERRY A. CRALL

CLYDE ANDREW CROFT

JOSE A. DIAS

ELLEN DILL

WILLIAM (BILL) DILL

ARLENE H. EDWARDS

JOLENE H. EDWARDS

BRUCE EDWARD FADDIS

JAMES F. FITZGERALD JR.

THOMAS G. GADWA

ALLEN R. HANDY

PAUL HIATT

DAVID A. JOHNSTON

DAY ANDREW KARR

DAY BRADLEY KARR

MICHAEL MURRAY KARR

BOB M. KASEWETER

CHRISTY LIANN KILLIAN

JOHN G. KILLIAN

HAROLD (BUTCH) KIRKPATRICK

ROBERT E. LANDSBURG

ROBERT LYNDS

GERALD O. MARTIN

GERALD LLOYD MOORE

KEITH A. MOORE

SHIRLEY (SAM) MOORE

KEVIN CHRISTOPHER MORRIS

MICHELLE LEA MORRIS

EDWARD JOSEPH MURPHY

ELEANOR JEANNE MURPHY

DONALD R. PARKER

JEAN ISABELL PARKER

NATALIE ALI PARKER

RICHARD A. PARKER

WILLIAM PAUL PARKER

MERLIN JAMES PLUARD

RUTH KATHLEEN PLUARD

FRED D. ROLLINS

MARGERY ELLEN ROLLINS

PAUL F. SCHMIDT

BARBARA LEA SEIBOLD

RONALD DALE SEIBOLD

DONALD JAMES SELBY

EVLANTY V. SHARIPOFF

LEONTY V. SKOROHODOFF

DOUG THAYER

HARRY R. TRUMAN

JAMES S. TUTE

VELVETIA (VELVET) TUTE

KAREN MARIE VARNER

BEVERLY C. WETHERALD

KLAUS ZIMMERMAN

 

Previous: Prelude to a Catastrophe: “The Volcano Could Be Nearing a Major Event.”

Next: The Cataclysm: “Vancouver! Vancouver! This Is It!”

 

Originally published at Scientific American/Rosetta Stones.

Interlude: Moment of Silence

One Week

Flag at half-mast. Illinois State University campus during winter storm Draco, on 20 Dec 2012. Image courtesy George Wiman.
Flag at half-mast. Illinois State University campus during winter storm Draco, on 20 Dec 2012. Image courtesy George Wiman.

The flag at the Seattle Times building is at half mast, too – I see it when I pass by on the way to work, and remember. I hope this time we don’t forget.

 

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana M Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

Madeline F. Hsu, 6

Catherine V. Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison N Wyatt, 6

One Week

New Rosetta Stones Post: In Memory of the Geologists Who Died in the May 1980 Eruption

I’m not sure how many people know four geologists died on Mount St. Helens. None of us can think of St. Helens without thinking of David Johnston, of course, and the other three deserve to be remembered as well.

This was so hard to write. I wanted to do them justice. Very little information on James F. Fitzgerald Jr., Bob Kaseweter, and Beverly Wetherald is available. And I’m not a journalist: I didn’t want to go prying around looking for friends, family and colleagues, ripping scabs off old wounds. That said, if anyone reading knew them and wishes to share anything about them, please feel free to leave a comment or email me directly at dhunterauthor at yahoo dot com. That goes for folks who knew David Johnston, of course.

I really want to go hug a vulcanologist right now. The work they do is so insanely dangerous, and yet so necessary. If we have any vulcanologists in the audience, I want you to know how admired and appreciated you are. Consider yourself hugged. Also, let me buy you a beer, next time you’re in town.

New Rosetta Stones Post: In Memory of the Geologists Who Died in the May 1980 Eruption