Orion

theatlantic: 5 Charts About Climate Change That Should Have You...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:34:51 -0500

5 Charts About Climate Change That Should Have You Very, Very Worried

[Images: World Bank, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences]

Longreads: Longreads Member Exclusive: The Creature Beyond the Mountains

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:06:32 -0500

Longreads: Longreads Member Exclusive: The Creature Beyond the Mountains:

longreads:

This week, we’re excited to share a Longreads Exclusive from Orion, a publication that has been featured on Longreads in the past, with pieces from Charles C. Mann, Belle Boggs and Sy Montgomery.

“The Creature Beyond the Mountains,” by Brian Doyle, is a story about the giant sturgeon…

There are still thousands of people in the NY/NJ area still...

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:28:07 -0500

There are still thousands of people in the NY/NJ area still without electricity after Hurricane Sandy last week. One casualty of the flooding in New York was powerHouse Arena, whose main floor was flooded with over two feet of water. They’re back open, but much of their collection is ruined.

This afternoon Orion staffers packed up 127 pounds of books to donate to powerHouse Arena’s Sandy Hates Books Fundraiser, happening November 17 in Brooklyn. Check out their Tumblr for updates on the event, and if you’re in or near the city, check it out and support powerHouse!

Battening down in western Massachusetts

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:01:22 -0400

We’re just starting to feel the impact of Hurricane Sandy here at Orion HQ in Great Barrington. The view:

But the editors stocked up on emergency sushi and candles from the local co-op.

And Ginger’s working on manuscripts with the help of her Adventure Bandana.

We hope everyone stays safe and dry throughout the storm.

longreads: “State of the Species.” — Charles C. Mann, Orion...

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 21:54:39 -0400

longreads:

“State of the Species.” — Charles C. Mann, Orion Magazine

More by Orion

Hey that’s us! Thanks, Longreads!

dawnawakened: Gravity-Defying Land Art by Cornelia...

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:11:12 -0400

dawnawakened:

Gravity-Defying Land Art by Cornelia Konrads

German artist Cornelia Konrads creates mind-bending site-specific installations in public spaces, sculpture parks and private gardens around the world. Her work is frequently punctuated by the illusion of weightlessness, where stacked objects like logs, fences, and doorways appear to be suspended in mid-air, reinforcing their temporary nature as if the installation is beginning to dissolve before your very eyes. One of her more recent sculptures,Schleudersitz is an enormous slingshot made from a common park bench, and you can get a great idea of what it might be like to sit inside it with this interactive 360 degree view.

What you see here only begins to sratch the surface of Konrad’s work. You can see much more on her website. All imagery courtesy the artist.

[via This is Colossal]

Gus van Sant is directing a movie about fracking written by (and...

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:07:16 -0400

Gus van Sant is directing a movie about fracking written by (and starring) Matt Damon and John Krasinki—and also starring Frances McDormand and Hal Holbrook. It looks entertaining and we’re heartened by the Hollywood-sized attention on fracking, but can these guys sway public opinion?

(Either way: Matt Damon! We bet he’d like to go out for a beer with Orion and Sandra Steingraber.)

All Wet and Shine

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 10:46:00 -0400

It sounds like the cracks and clicks of the house settling
as the room warms in morning, it sounds like a fan
whispered up. It tastes of wood smoke—sweet and then stale.
It looks like the curve of a mountain
under streaked sky, and everything pale blue
just before sunrise, everything translucent,
even stone. The stone is blue, it tastes, after all,
like tea in a glass cup, it feels like wanting a
blanket on your lap, nesting, hovering around
a wound, no a break, where the mountain opens,
wanting to heal, to soften the gap, to close it,
like an empty room inside of me, and I want to give it fire
and fill it with humming, and make it hum
and vibrate—the resound of a chamber
opened and filled with air—with beating.
I want to fill the gap
but it keeps opening, pressing
inside to outside, unhousing
and unseeding the husk of me.
I am not a house with an empty room,
a broken window in a wall.
I am not sleep battered open by a dream,
not even a mountain turning solid again
as light rises, I am not a cave in the mountain. I
am not I—that’s what it feels like
today, waking alone in late winter. A spider
hanging her web in the doorjamb, spinning in three
dimensions—to catch what passes,
trembling with capture, all wet and shine,
moments when everything is a door.

— Cynthia Huntington

Congratulations to Orion contributor Cynthia Huntington, who is among the finalists for the National Book Award for Heavenly Bodies. Her poem “All Wet and Shine” appeared in our January/February 2010 issue.

“At ten o’clock in the evening we came to anchor in the...

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:43:38 -0400

“At ten o’clock in the evening we came to anchor in the midst of huge cakes and blocks about sixty-five feet thick within two or three hundred yards of the shore. After so many futile efforts had been made last year to reach this little ice-bound island, everybody seemed wildly eager to run ashore and climb to the summit of its sheer granite cliffs…”

John Muir, “Herald Island,” 1881.

hydrogeneportfolio: Minimal Posters - Six Women Who Changed...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:57:22 -0400

hydrogeneportfolio:

Minimal Posters - Six Women Who Changed Science. And The World.

We’ve got a sudden urge to redecorate the Orion office.

M.O. & Geothermal MC, “DRIVE” We’re...

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:27:00 -0400

M.O. & Geothermal MC, “DRIVE”

We’re promoting “Ice Ice Baby,” an article by Justin Nobel on arctic hip-hop in the current issue of Orion, by sharing a few of our favorite examples of the genre.

(Of course, a board member just walked into our office and asked what we’re up to. “Oh, posting a rap video on Orion’s Facebook page …”)

Happy 30th!

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:28:37 -0400

Celebrating a 30th birthday in 2012? So is Orion, and we’re giving away back issues of the magazine as a special gift. E-mail marketing [at] orionmagazine.org with your birthday and address, and we’ll send you a box.

thetinhouse: Inspired by one of the world’s greatest novels,...

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:30:37 -0400

thetinhouse:

Inspired by one of the world’s greatest novels, Ohio artist Matt Kish crafted an original piece of art for each page of Moby-Dick. In doing so, he created a visual masterpiece that echoes the layers of meaning in Melville’s narrative.

Gorgeous.

"Good writing helps you remember what it means to be human, what it feels like to feel, and why you..."

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:28:59 -0400

“Good writing helps you remember what it means to be human, what it feels like to feel, and why you got involved in the first place,” said Blake. ”So much happens to us in the world that can be a show-stopper when it comes to feeling and caring. Even people who feel deeply about social change are faced with statistics that make it seem hopeless. Hope is not about data. It’s about a feeling.”

- We were at Ecotrust in Portland, Oregon, last night for a conversation with Cheryl Strayed—yep, that lady who wrote Wild—and Brian Doyle, editor of Portland Magazine. Read more about it and see photos here.

wwnorton: Happy 193rd birthday, Herman Melville! May all your...

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:57:32 -0400

wwnorton:

Happy 193rd birthday, Herman Melville! May all your fowls be judiciously buttered.

See a slide show of quotations from Orion’s new book,...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:52:00 -0400

See a slide show of quotations from Orion’s new book, Thirty-Year Plan, available now.

Higgs Bison particle? Why, we found that months ago, in South...

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:07:58 -0400

Higgs Bison particle? Why, we found that months ago, in South Dakota.

Orion’s Erik Hoffner discovers… potatoes at the...

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:53:01 -0400

Orion’s Erik Hoffner discovers… potatoes at the farmer’s market.

Orion’s Erik Hoffner discovers… carrots at the...

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:57:35 -0400

Orion’s Erik Hoffner discovers… carrots at the farmer’s market.

What’s at your local market, or in your garden?

Orion’s Erik Hoffner discovers… wildlife at large!

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 09:55:43 -0400

Orion’s Erik Hoffner discovers… wildlife at large!