Ernest Talks: Seeing the Desert with Gregory McNamee

McFarland State Historic Park

Thursday, December 7, 2023   11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Most Arizonans are not originally from Arizona, and most come from places that are far greener and milder of climate than our desert. For many of us, it takes a shift of eye and of attitude to appreciate this hot, dry place—but once it gets into one’s soul, there’s nowhere like it. This talk explains that transformation, drawing on the work of poets such as Joy Harjo, Richard Shelton, and Ofelia Zepeda; novelists such as Barbara Kingsolver and Edward Abbey, nonfiction writers such as Joseph Wood Krutch and Mary Austin, and much more, from Native American folktales to modern scientific insights, all accompanied by a rich slide show full of art and photography. With insights from literature, philosophy, art, neurology, and other fields, Gregory McNamee will discuss how we can learn to see the desert as a place of abundant life, abundant beauty, and abundant possibilities for happiness.

About the Speaker: Gregory McNamee is a prolific writer, editor, photographer, and publisher. McNamee is a contributing editor to the Encyclopedia Britannica and a research fellow at the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona.

Free to the public.