With no kiwis in San Diego, my mission was clear. Get us to New Zealand. Thank goodness for the now beloved Spark Reward Card from Capital One and my husband’s business at the time that allowed for lots and lots of points to accumulate. We are not a family that can...

Finding a Quetzal in the Costa Rican Cloud Forest was just the beginning. Sometime after that moment Caleb found the bird that remains, to this day, one of his favorites.  The nocturnal, endangered Kiwi bird. Flightless. Long-nosed. Native to New Zealand. ...

From previous stories it’s been clear that my son Caleb is a lover of birds, and that love has guided our destinations and experiences. But he also loves wildlife in general, as well as rare places. (I say that while realizing over time that he has come to adore crows...

Throughout my adulthood I have sought what I call the “center of life.” It’s a felt thing rather than a place. It comes, I’m quite sure, from a fear of existing only on life’s periphery, rather than being inside experiences. A fear of what Thoreau called a “life of...

For the past seven years I’ve been a psychology instructor at a community college, teaching Stress Management, Child Development and Human Growth and Development to students from ages 15 to 76 (the oldest known student I’ve had). Many of my students are right out of...