A Duluth Dusting

I have exciting news! A short story I wrote is one of 10 semi-finalists, from among hundreds of submissions, in the annual WriteMichigan competition. I could use your help! If you happen to enjoy my short story (see below link), please consider voting for it to improve my chances of getting it published and winning prize money ($250 for Readers’ Choice; which would be very helpful!). My guess is that several of the other semi-finalists have much bigger followings than I do and that I could use all the help I can get for the Readers’ Choice portion of the contest. Here is where you can read my short story, A Duluth Dusting, and vote:

Gallery View: 2023-24 Write Michigan Adults (age 18+) (submittable.com)

**Note, after clicking on the ‘vote’ button, you’ll be prompted to create a Submittable account if you don’t already have one. Having a Submittable account is required to vote. Deadline to vote is February 12, but the sooner the better.

From the above link, you might be interested in clicking ‘view other submissions’ to see stories of the other semi-finalists**

A little background about my story:

A friend and I were in a city park on a frigid day in March last year when we noticed an old man brushing snow off a bench. Then he did the same at another bench, then another, as he approached us. We had a brief conversation with him. It struck me as a kind thing to do: to clear off benches for others. Five months passed and, for whatever reason, I thought back on that day in the park. During an early morning writing session, I let that thought grow; over the span of a couple weeks, it had become A Duluth Dusting.

For me, there are few joys that match discovering a story that I can tell. I have been putting serious effort into writing short stories for about eight years. I think I have gotten much better along the way, though finding inspiration still isn’t easy. When trying to write, it’s almost like I’m a poor excuse for a hound, constantly checking the air but usually not smelling anything worth following. But when I do catch the scent of something good—a story worth telling—it is more or less all I can think about. I’ve been in the good company of hounds my whole life—actual canines, five of them—and I think that when locked into writing fiction I might feel somewhat like they do while on the trail of something. It is exciting following that path and then a real honor to be able to show what I found to others.

A Duluth Dusting is one of those stories that I’ve enjoyed ‘sniffing out.’ I think I found where this story had to go and hope you get something out of what I discovered.

A hound who I’ve joined on many ‘hunts.’

Que Sora, Sora

What will be, will be. This is a sentiment that I generally agree with and try to remind myself to remember, to avoid needless worry. However, the idea seems like it could also lead to inaction and passivity. Might someone who lives their life with a ‘what will be, will be’ philosophy lose their ability to influence outcomes that are important to them?

Take the Sora, for example. I realize that the title of this post may look like a typo to most people. However, I did intend to make a pun here. The Sora is a secretive marsh bird. A species that is rarely seen, and often not heard, which tends to be found in wetlands in dense vegetation. It is one of the species that I focused on as a part of my dissertation research. They are quite handsome, at least to my eye. This is what they look like:

A Sora. Photo from WikiCommons, contributed by Mike Baird.

Soras, like many other wetland birds, have lost a lot of habitat due to the draining of wetlands by humans for agricultural and other purposes. One study estimates that the world may have lost over 80% of the wetlands that had been present in 1700 due largely to human activity. This is problematic not only for species like the Sora that depend on wetlands, but also for all of us, including those who would never go to a wetland to explore and appreciate the biodiversity that exists there. Wetlands are crucial for controlling floods, cleaning water, and sequestering Carbon, among many other functions.

Like many other wetland-dependent species, there are a lot less Soras than there used to be, even if they are doing better than some other wetland birds. To me, wetlands are important, as are Soras, muskrats, crayfish, and the many other species that depend upon them.

What I would ask you to consider is, what would happen if we took a ‘what will be, will be’ attitude regarding something like wildlife conservation? We probably would have lost many more species than we already have due to human activity. Bison would likely be gone, as would California Condors, and Black-footed Ferrets, along with many other species that remain with us today.

Thankfully, so far as Soras are concerned, there are now regulations to protect wetlands in the U.S., even if those regulations are often attacked and scaled back (as has been the trend recently). Many other factors affect the fate of Soras, including how wetlands are managed. It will take curious people who think they can make a difference to help maintain the mysterious and beautiful life that we share this world with, including Soras and other secretive marsh birds.

Maybe it is true that everything is pre-determined. Que sera, sera. I really don’t know, and am sure that no one else really knows either. Regardless of whether I can do otherwise, it seems right to try to keep beautiful things like Soras from disappearing due to often-greedy motives that some may want us to think will inevitably succeed.

If this post accomplishes anything, hopefully it will remind you of a bird that maybe you hadn’t heard of the next time that someone says ‘que sera, sera.’ And if you decide that ‘what will be, will be’ is the philosophy that you will embrace, consider that maybe your path includes offering a helping hand to amazing creatures like the Sora that quietly share this amazing but fragile world with us.