The shimmering is all there is : on nature, God, science, and more / Heather Catto Kohout ; edited by Martin Donell Kohout.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kohout, Heather Catto, 1959-2014, author.

Contributor:

Kohout, Martin Donell, 1959- editor, writer of introduction.

Jones, Nancy Baker, writer of foreword.

Series:

Women in Texas history series

Women in Texas history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kohout, Heather Catto, 1959-2014--Philosophy.

Kohout, Heather Catto.

Human ecology--Texas--Texas Hill Country--Philosophy.

Human ecology.

Human ecology--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Human ecology--Texas--Texas Hill Country--Poetry.

Environmental ethics.

Ecotheology.

Human ecology--Philosophy.

Philosophy.

Texas--Texas Hill Country.

Genre:

Essays.

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xiv, 267 pages: illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"The Shimmering Is All There Is: On Nature, God, Science, and More is a collection of essays and poems by the late Heather Catto Kohout. A native of San Antonio, Heather was a disciplined and original thinker and writer. Her education, experience, and temperament-as a loving wife, mother, and daughter; a proud Texan; a teacher and scholar with graduate degrees in English literature and religion; and the founder of a residency program for environmental writers and artists at a ranch in the Texas Hill Country-permeate every word she wrote. She had a unique combination of empathetic imagination, profound spirituality, cosmic sensibility, and an ability to laugh-gently-at her fellow creatures and, especially, herself. Heather Kohout's essays and poems are thoughtful, profound, and generous, shifting constantly between the specific and the universal and carrying throughout a message of stewardship. She was an environmentalist at heart, but her writing explores so much more: nature, art, theology, science, food, and family. She wrote about Mexican teenagers who dress as angels in an attempt to halt drug-related violence; the perils of industrial agriculture; the pleasure of letting the chickens out of their coop in the morning; and the battle to save the Georgetown salamander. Always, she wrote about what it means to try to live an ethical life and to be fully human as a part of, not in opposition to, nature. These essays and poems exemplify the best of Texas womanhood: stubborn independence, fierce conviction, good humor, and instinctive generosity and kindness"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ESSAYS

1. The Wonder And Power Of Water

2. Dreaming Time

3. A Mother's Legacy

4. Growing Hope

5. "Everywhere There's Lots Of Piggies ..."

6. Carnivorocity

7. James Cameron, Alexis De Tocqueville, And The Nature Of Nature

8. Massachusetts, Part I: Of Books And Houses And Hospitality

9. Massachusetts, Part II: Take A Walk On The Wild Side

10. Mapping The Geography Of Hope: Our Place In The Wilderness

11. Sorry, Dad: Wilderness And Government Regulation

12. Purity, Ambiguity, And The Investment Portfolio

13. The Devil's Bargain: On Gardening And Violence

14. Still More On Violence: There Will Be Blood

15. Home With The Armadillo: A Love Letter To Texas

16. The Gift Economy

17. Made For You And Me: Some Thoughts On Private Property

18. Double Vision: Prophets, Tribalism, Eugenics, And The Environment

19. Cleaning Out The Mental Refrigerator: Niebuhr, Mckibben, And Band-Aids

20. "A Cup Of Tea, A Warm Bath, And A Brisk Walk"

21. Stubbing The Giant's Toe: Thoughts On Midwestern Agribusiness

22. Hall Of Mirrors: The Lost Art Of Conversation

23. Of Mothers And Mountains

24. Barbers, Bison Meat, And The Invisible Hand

25. "Sit. Stay. Stay! I Said Stay, Dammit!"

26. Faith, Bureaucracy, And Sheep: Thoughts On Changing One's Mind

27. Hosts, Guests, And Strangers: Thoughts On Hospitality

28. Singing In The Dark

29. The Rising Light

30. Shooting Holes In The Constitution: Some Thoughts On Guns And Violence

31. Meat And Flourishment: Carnivorocity, Take Two

32. A Field That Don't Yield: Writer's Block And The Language Of Community

33. Lenten Reflections: Dead Trees, Bafflement, And Submission

34. Tragic Waste: Thoughts On The S-Word

35. Dorothea Brooke, Betty Friedan, And Big Ag

36. The Power Of Poetry: Peace, Demons, Sonnets, And Resurrection

37. Learning To Listen, And Love

38. Gratuitous Beauty

39. Signs Of The Times: Billboards, Property Rights, And The Enlightenment

40. Field Notes From Madrono Ranch: Bison And Birds

41. Silos: My Beef With Freeman Dyson

42. Food Science: Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, And The Old Testament

43. Children Of Dawn: Sin In The Twenty-First Century

44. A Furry Flurry Of Fully Furrowed Brows: My Beef With Freeman Dyson, Part II

45. Re-Wilding The Monocultural Self

46. Edsels And The Enlightenment: The Downside Of Corporate Personhood

47. Field Notes From Inside My Head: Connecting Art And Commerce

48. Angels In The Dark

49. A Father's Legacy

50. Submission Guidelines

51. Take Me To The River

52. Bonfires In The Soul

53. Spring Creed

54. Microbiomes And Individual Identity: Alexander Pope And The Archbishop Of Canterbury

55. Jellyfish And Revelation

56. The Cliff Of The Unknown: Desire, Tolerance, And Identity

57. Poetry And The Pelvic Bowl

58. A Tale Of Two Kitties: Thinking About Predators And Cancer

59. This And Not That

60. The Unsteady Rock: Descartes, Salamanders, And The Nicene Creed

61. Mind The Gap: Ghosts, Trees, And Goodbye To A River

62. Repairing The World: Beatles, Alaskan Mountain Goats, And Asiatic Cheetahs

POEMS

Invocation

Prophet

Compunction

What She Knew

Sacrifice

Proof

Within

With

Ordination

Ordination: Piedras Negras

Beside

Beneath.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781623499501

162349950X

OCLC:

1223072081