Kathleen Yale

Jun 25, 2024 | scientificamerican.com | Kathleen Yale

The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsessionby Amy Stewart. Random House, 2024 ($32)“Growing fruit trees is a very simple way to stay in love with our world,” says Vivian Keh, playwright and daughter of immigrants, holding a basket of persimmons she’s cultivated to feel connected to her Korean ancestors.

May 13, 2024 | orionmagazine.org | Kathleen Yale

fromSwimming Lessons: Staying afloat in our flooded futureLONG BEFORE you encounter one clambering across the trail, before you’re tempted to catch it with both hands and gently trace that thin, pale line down their knobbly back, you might meet a boreal toad (Anaxyrus boreas) in a different form, in a fleeting place. Head for a low bench or valley bottom in spring. Aim for the trees and look for a clearing.

Jun 8, 2023 | orionmagazine.org | Kathleen Yale

SOMEWHERE IN THE reefy waters of the Indo-Pacific, a daisy parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) is feasting on coral. She crunches up the hard knobs of calcium carbonate with her tough beaklike teeth, digesting the algae that once covered it and expelling the rest as tidy piles of fresh sand in her wake. It’s relentless work, and by the day’s end, having chewed through enough coral to create several handfuls of sand, our fish is exhausted. But she has more work to do before she can rest.

May 1, 2023 | orionmagazine.org | Kathleen Yale

Will it be Snoopy, the multi-generational canine king of comic strips? He of the bulbous nose and knowing gaze. Snoopy is an imaginative beagle, a frustrated writer, expert napper, and a bittersweet philosopher. Generous with the smooches, this guy’s gratitude for dinner and ubiquitous happy dance swells the human heart. Or will it be Hedwig, the magical snowy owl, resplendent in white feathers? She of the piercing yellow eyes and unfathomable ability to find anyone, anywhere.

Feb 21, 2023 | orionmagazine.org | Kathleen Yale

In which we discuss our mutual fascination with wolves, Erica’s new book Wolfish, fear, linguistics, wonder, our favorite werewolves, and the best wolf song to sing at karaoke night. (Spoiler: It’s Duran Duran.) Katie Yale: So were you a kid with a couple of wolf-howling-at-the-moon T-shirts in the closet? Erica Berry: Oh, you know it.