Dec 27, 2023
Buckle up! We are heading down to the fields of Clemson, South
Carolina!
I got an email from 3 Booker Rumble D. back in February which
said “Neil, I have a guest suggestion for you. J Drew Lanham is a
2022 MacArthur fellow and an American ornithologist. I loved his
book and would love to hear you interview him (maybe while you guys
go birding?)” Intrigued, I looked him up and discovered I … sort of
already knew him? I had read and loved his wonderfully thoughtful
and nuanced essay last year called "What Do We Do About John James
Audubon?" and his viral YouTube clip called "Rules for the Black
Birdwatcher". (“You’re gonna need at least two pieces of ID. And
never wear a hoodie. Ever.”)
So I bought Drew’s memoir 'The Home Place' and found it
completely entrancing. His writing is poetry — vivid, transportive,
meditative. After that I reached out to Drew and we set a time to
make the 10-hour haul down to Clemson farm country, wake up at the
crack of dawn, and then get picked up by Drew in his Dodge Ram to
spend a morning together — birdwatching.
J. Drew Lanham is a naturalist, birdwatcher,
hunter-conservationist, MacArthur 'Genius' Grant-winning
distinguished professor. He is a meditative, philosophical, nature-
and wild-loving soul who has deeply considered our long
relationship with the natural world and is never afraid to confront
harsh truths. “European Starlings are a dark-plumaged being brought
over the Atlantic for the services of others,” Drew says at one
point. “Hmmm, where have I heard that before?”
You’ll be riding in the middle seat of the truck, getting out
with us between fence posts and grassy meadows, hearing Blue
Grosbeaks, Eastern Meadowlarks, and Red-Shouldered Hawks, and
listening to Drew’s endlessly wise observations about everything
from South Carolina’s slavery past, why there’s blood in tofu, what
your birdwatching ‘starter kit’ should look like, how to observe a
land ethic, how we might behave differently if Chicken Nuggets
blinked at us, formative books (of course!), and much, much more.
“You can’t see everything at once,” Drew reminds us. “So learn to
see the everything in one.”
With birds serving as a metaphor for
everything in life I think you’ll love this slow, soul-fueling,
wisdom-stuffed conversation with Professor J. Drew Lanham. I left
his truck that morning thinking “I want to be more like Drew.” I
think you’ll feel the same way.
Let’s flip the page into Chapter 131
now…
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