A walk across North America
IN THIS ISSUE
News from Wild Wind office/ introducing Listen to the Earth
Kid for the Wild Scholarship winner for 2020
New on the WalkinJim website
Words to Ponder
News from Wild Wind office and introducing Listen to the Earth
Welcome to 2021 everyone. A new year that offers hope. Hope is what we need to hang on to for now. Many uplifting events and conversations have happened with Wild Wind.
Jim was voted into the Appalachian Trail Museum Hall of Fame (info on that can be found on the Walkin Jim website, as well as the Appalachian Trail museum website). The text of his book, Searchin’ for the Road Not Taken, (written in 1977, when he was a lad who had just finished an ocean to ocean walk that took him a year and a half) is now available to read on the website www.walkinjim.com . M.U.S.E has evolved with new energy into another entity called “ListentotheEarth”. www.Listentoearth.org
Thanks to that board. They have spent hours making this happen.
We are listening to talk from our leaders that suggest that climate change is being taken seriously. A new generation of young people understands how significant a healthy planet will be for all of our future. Covid vaccines are available and although it will take time to be available to the majority of us, it is starting. All of these events bring me hope.
Many thanks to all of you who have contacted me with news of your lives, or requests for Jim’s music to share with young and not so young , and to all of you who spend countless hours working, lobbying, writing, or just being in and about wild places with the intent to keep them intact.
Let’s keep doing what we can to keep it Forever Wild
Leslie
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Kid for the Wild Scholarship Winner for 2020
As many things in 2020 have gone, the announcement of a Scholarship comes later than usual. It seemed this would be postponed to 2021 when young people could be out and about a bit more. In the fall, a request came in from a family in Tanzania for help with tuition for their daughter to continue her schooling. She is in her last year of secondary school and has taken on a roll as “Naturalist leader” for her class.
As a naturalist leader, Hafsah Kundu has taken this on to work with fellow students in addressing major environmental issues such as ensuring safe, resilient, and sustainable communities, monitoring consumption and farming, combating climate change and preventing impacts from misusing resources. In seeing these as values to be promoted into the future, a naturalist leader helps stimulate conversations about ideas such as finding ways to balance economy, ecological integrity and society. Hafsah’s goal is to go on to Medical school when she finished secondary school. These will be significant values she will take with her into this much needed profession. Congratulations Hafsah. We wish you great success from all of us and our donors at Kid for the Wild.
Kid for the Wild Scholarship Applications for 2021 are due March 30, 2021 and recipients will be contacted no later than May 1 about the results. Instructions for applying are on the walkinjim.com website. https://walkinjim.com/kid-for-the-wild-scholarship/
If you do not want to put the application in USPS, they can sent online at: https://listentoearth.org/scholarshipapplication/
Listen to the Earth is the next generation of Musicians United to Sustain the Environment that was cofounded by Jim, Craig Wagner and Joyce Rouse. This comes with new energy and new ideas. Some of Jim’s family and some colleagues with passion for holding the integrity of ecosystems intact are now on the board. We need to go forward with how we think about advocating for the future of this planet and here is our offering. The website www.listentoearth.org is a good place to find out what the mission and goals are for this project. Please check it out. Wild Wind foundation is collaborating with Listen to the Earth with the intention this would be how Jim would be supporting his efforts. The next newsletter you receive will be collaboration between Wild Wind and Listen to the Earth. It will come to you from the email address info@listentoearth.org so be sure to add that to your contacts so it won’t go to spam. Wild Wind news will be on the website still and a link to that newsletter will be included in this email. Walkinjimmusic@gmail.com is still a good address to contact me about any questions regarding the scholarship, Walkinjim music, or anything Walkinjim. Many of you have asked for permission to use some of Jim’s work. Please keep in touch with me with any requests or stories!
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New items on Walkinjim.com
When you look at Walkinjim.com these days, you will see some new additions to the website. After Jim’s death one of the interviews about Jim was aired on Northern Spirit Radio out of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Their mission statement is this:
Northern Spirit Radio promotes world healing by broadcasting inspirational and educational voices of peace and social justice using the language of personal story, music, and spirituality.
Host, Mark Helpsmeet interviewed me (Leslie), sister, Susan Grace and long-time friend, Scott Carpenter. You will find a link to this interview on the home page. Consider sharing this on your social media so others can hear it as well!!
Also, don’t forget to keep checking the latest editions of the blog, Nature News from Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem! A recent post has some great photos from a 3 day excursion into the deep winter of Yellowstone Park. It’s on post 21 now, so lots to experience and learn from this. It’s pretty fun! This has been a very fun way to share what’s happening out here in Greater Yellowstone where the snow keeps accumulating at my new home!
Words to Ponder
We can’t always see the ways trees are in relationship because their complex world of roots lives underground. We, the human family, are also inextricably interconnected. Richard Rohr
If you are interested in Jim’s music, it is available from Amazon.
If you would like to order by mail, send a check or money order to:
Wild Wind Foundation
PO B 866 West Yellowstone, MT 59758
As always, send a note to walkinjimmusic@gmail.com if you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter