Life Out Loud

#ORWinter, Diversity, Life Out Loud, Millennials, Outdoor Retailer / 20.01.2017

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the last day of the 2017 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market I stood thumbing the screen of my iPhone. My 2:45 appointment was running a bit late, so I waited patiently killing time like a teenager slouched over my Twitter feed in front of The North Face booth. Looking up as he approached I caught the attention of Gear Junkie editor Sean McCoy. He strode over to ask me a question. “We’re still trying to give away the last of our Best-In-Show Awards,” he said. “What was the most...

Diversity, Interview, Life Out Loud, National Parks, New Century Vision, Public Land, Yosemite / 18.08.2016

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='#eb9617' background_color='' border_color='']W[/dropcaps]   hen visitors arrive at Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson is there to greet them. With a broad smile and a twinkle in his eye he extends a warm hand of welcome to all who enter into this remarkable landscape that is a wonder to all the world to behold. Shelton is among the many dedicated professionals charged with the task of protecting this and other areas of public land across the United States so that they might be enjoyed for...

Commentary, Life Out Loud, National Parks / 09.05.2016

People tell me I have a problem. When I go out with friends or whenever I'm alone I am constantly working the buttons of my iPhone. Texting, updating my Facebook status, posting photos to Instagram I'm constantly plugged into to the Internet world of Social Media. But despite being so thoroughly connect with thousands of people around the planet I have never been so disengaged from the world in which I live. As a communications professional I enjoy the excuse of endulging this online obsession as acts of necessity....

Children In Nature Initiative, Diversity, Healthy Living, Kids in Nature, Life Out Loud / 18.04.2016

The City of Madison is on course to start an exciting initiative. With a planning grant of $25,000 from the Children & Nature Network in partnership with the National League of Cities Institute for Youth several public, non-profit and private institutions are working together to formulate a program to make the many outdoor recreation resources of our community more accessible to kids. With a few organizational meetings already concluded and a collaborative process set in motion, efforts are now underway to make Madison a national leader in nature-based...

Alpinist, Climbing, Expedition Denali, Fiction, Life Out Loud, Magazines / 20.05.2015

As luck would have it I just happen to be in Boulder, Colorado the same week the latest edition of Alpinist Magazine hit the newsstands. With time to kill between a conference in Yosemite and the MountainFilm Festival in Telluride I strolled the mall on Pearl Street in the hopes of buying a copy. There at the Boulder Bookstore Golden Issue #50 sat smack in the middle of the rack. The exquisite cover designed by my good friend Jeremy Collins featured an illustrated portrait of another buddy, climber...

Africa, Life Out Loud, National Parks, Tanzania, Travel / 30.03.2015

The great writer and environmentalist Wallace Stegner put into perspective a profound notion that has changed the world. “The national park idea, the best idea we ever had,” he once wrote, “was inevitable as soon as Americans learned to confront the wild continent not with fear and cupidity but with delight, wonder, and awe.” In 1903 when President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the opening of the world’s first national park the entry was marked with a monument to the understanding that the natural world is where everyone can find the basic...