JBA Programs

May 17, 2008: Spring Sladsides Day

John Burroughs Association (JBA) members will conduct a tour inside Slabsides, John Burroughs' rustic cabin retreat.
Featured speaker:
Robert Titus, Professor of Geology at Hartwick College
"John Burroughs's Pursuit of Education"

The John Burroughs Sanctuary is open without charge to walkers every day all year. Slabsides cabin opens for tours for schools and groups by pre-arrangement with Resident Naturalist Jason Dempsey at 845-384-6320.

The Sanctuary is located about a mile west of Route 9W at West Park. Turn West onto Floyd Ackert Road at the West Park Post Office and Marcel's Restaurant; cross the railroad tracks. Continue up hill to a hard left onto Burroughs Drive to parked cars along the roadside.

Directions

Previous Slabsides Days:

Upcoming events at other organizations:

Ulster County Community College Course
The Life & Writings of John Burroughs
In this course you will explore the life and writings of local nature writer John Burroughs, also known as "John O' Birds" and the "Sage of Slabsides." Incredibly popular in the United States during his lifetime (1837-1921), Burroughs was hailed as not only the most important author of natural history, but also as the most popular American writer. Friends with famous literary figures such as Walt Whitman, industrial magnates like Henry Ford and even Theodore Roosevelt, Burroughs offers an intimate glimpse into life in the Hudson River Valley at the turn of the twentieth century. Wearing many hats, Burroughs wrote diverse essays on natural history, literary criticism, poetry, and evolution. We will also consider ideas from a variety of Burroughs’ critics. The instructor will also supply handouts that will include biographical material and additional essays. Stephen Mercier received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Rhode Island in 2004. His dissertation is titled: "Revaluing the Literary Naturalist: John Burroughs Emotive Environmental Aesthetics." He has taught works by Burroughs at SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Oneonta and at Sullivan CCC.

Saturday, April 5 - 26, 2007 • 10 - 1 pm
4 sessions • $79
NCC 297-02 • Stone Ridge Campus
Note: Saturday, April 19 class will take place (weather permitting) at John Burroughs' Slabsides in West Park.

Required textbooks:
Burroughs, John, Signs and Seasons. Jeff Walker, ed. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2006. [ISBN: 0-8156-0875-6], $25.

Suggested texts:
Renehan Jr., Edward J., John Burroughs: An American Naturalist. Black Dome Press, 1992, $55, and
Walker, Charlotte Zoe, The Art of Seeing Things: Selected Essays by John Burroughs. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2001. [ISBN: 0-8156-0678-8], $25

For those who wish more information:

E-mail: ceinfo@sunyulster.edu,

Phone: 845-339-2025

Sharp Eyes V / An Asle Affiliated Conference
John Burroughs:
Nature Writing and Nineteenth-Century Science
June 15-19, 2008
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

This gathering will be the fifth in the John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference and Seminar Series. For the 2008 conference, we will consider the effects on literature of some of the scientific revolutions of the nineteenth-century, such as biological evolution, the magnitude of geologic time and consequent interpretations about the history of the earth, and the emerging sense of the environmental limitations of the planet.

Click here for more details

Fifth Environmental Writers' Conference in honor of Rachel Carson

The Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine,
June 10-13, 2008.

The 2008 Conference will include presentations by featured speakers, scholarly and creative sessions at which selected participants will read from or present their work, writing workshops, and a variety of guided outdoor activities. Presentations at the event will be eligible for inclusion in the Archives at the Thoreau Library at Walden Woods.

The Keynote Address will be delivered by Verlyn Klinkenborg who has been a member of the editorial board of The New York Times since 1997 and is the author of a variety of books and articles. Other featured speakers will include environmental historian and award-winning biographer, Linda Lear, poet Alison Hawthorne Deming, and authors John Elder and David Gessner. In addition, Jennifer Sahn, editor of Orion magazine, will be editor- in-residence, reviewing a select number of works-in-progress.

The program will also include a guided tour of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens; tide pool explorations with a marine biologist from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; and a trip to the Burnt Island Lighthouse.

For further details about the 2008 Conference and for a description of our Call for Submissions, please visit the event website at http://www.new-cue.org, contact info @ new-cue.org, or telephone the registration co-ordinator at 317-919-1419