RIP Barry Lopez

On December 25th, 2020, American Nature writer and essayist, Barry Lopez, died after a nearly 50 year career. He won the National Book Award for non-fiction in 1986 for “Arctic Dreams”. He “traveled to over 80 countries, writing extensively about distant and exotic landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationships between human cultures and wild nature” (Wikipedia).

On June 7th 1992, in a remote mountain town in Idaho, I graduated from high school, along with 18 classmates.

Having grown up in the mountains, we’d read Lopez’s work in school. Though famously reticent to speak at events like graduations, and with a long list of previous declines, a classmate wrote a letter asking Mr Lopez if he’s come speak at our graduation.

Apparently delighted at the humble nature of our invitation, he accepted, thanked us for our invitation to our small beautiful town in the mountains, and delivered a speech. It was understated and perhaps a bit obtuse for a class of kids itchy to get on with life and see what lay around the next bend.

One parent however, struck by what Mr Lopez had said that day, asked him for his notes, typed them up and shared them with us later.

38 Years later I came back to what he said and was struck by their urgency and relevance.

The inherent American independence streak is, at its best, a refusal to accept as given the conventional wisdom in what can and cannot be done. At its worst, it is a refusal to curb one’s own perceived liberties in service to any “socialized” collective: to wear or not wear masks; to curb business to protect the environment or allow business to thrive at the cost of the planet; to accept one’s side lost an election, or to engage in insurrection and sedition to overturn the result.

Prescient words for a new millennium. I’m full of hope for the new administration back home. But these urgent issues of me vs us; the individual vs the collective are not going to be solved overnight. And they require each of us to actively engage in the conversation beyond name calling and partisan bickering.

Reference photo credit for Lopez portrait: Peter DaSilva (@tlr_lifesquared) for the New York Times.

— Nye