Hope in Dark Times

I'm in Berkeley, California on business. Every time I come out here, I usually spend some time in Moe's Books. Tonight, they had a special event titled Hope in Dark Times: Beyond Bush. Eddie Yuen, David Solnit, and Rebecca Solnit read from their books and moderated a discussion on globalization, capitalism, and activism. If you're not familiar, all three are authors and activists. Since the event was in Berkeley, the crowd was quite diverse: there were both progressives and liberals in the audience ;-).

If you're not familiar with Rebecca Solnit, she's a prolific writer, art critic, museum curator, and political activist. I was first exposed to her work when I read Savage Dreams: A Journey into the Landscape Wars of the American West. In Savage Dreams, Rebecca explored ongoing land wars in two very different places: Yosemite National Park and the Nevada Test Site. I thought it was brilliant. I read it just as I moved to Arizona; it shattered some popular myths about the West, and helped me to understand the tragedy behind the beauty.

I got to meet Rebecca after the event; we had a pleasant chat, and she kindly inscribed a copy of River of Shadows for me.
If you're a Rebecca Solnit fan or just curious about her work, she'll be in Tucson, Arizona this Wednesday (October 6th) at the University of Arizona to read from her latest book (Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilites).