author Archives - Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy

Film Screening – ‘Meet Me at the Creek’ & ‘Mothertown’

Loren Waters and Robert L Hunter will screen their films MEET ME AT THE CREEK and MOTHERTOWN (directed by Anthony Sneed) at the Cowee School in Franklin, NC on Sunday, August 4th at 3:00pm.

Cherokee elders, like Rebecca Jim, believe that what happens to the water happens to us. Without it, we cannot move culture forward and we cannot exist here.

ᏗᏂᏠᎯ ᎤᏪᏯ (Meet Me at the Creek) tells a story of interconnectedness and Cherokee values through the lifelong fight of Rebecca Jim, a Cherokee Nation citizen and Waterkeeper Warrior, as she leads the effort to restore Tar Creek located in Miami, Oklahoma. U.S. government officials have designated Tar Creek as “irreversibly damaged,” but Rebecca refuses to accept that.

The site of the original settlement of the Cherokee, the Kituwah mound, was thought lost for centuries. In her moving retelling of the efforts to reclaim the tribe’s land, former Chief Joyce Dugan and fellow tribe members foreground the spiritual, emotional, and social impact of Kituwah’s legacy. MOTHERTOWN is the story of how the Cherokee finally took their “land back.”

LOREN WATERS is an award-winning Cherokee and Kiowa filmmaker whose creative work spans several disciplines including Directing, Producing, and Casting. She’s worked on notable films and television shows including RESERVATION DOGS, FANCY DANCE, and KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. Her short documentary “ᏗᏂᏠᎯ ᎤᏪᏯ (MEET ME AT THE CREEK)” is screening at several Academy Award-qualifying film festivals internationally in 2024. Loren continues to tell socially relevant stories rooted in cross-cultural Indigenous experiences and community collaboration.

ROBERT L HUNTER — Blackfeet, Shoshone-Paiute and Washoe — is a storyteller currently based in Tongva and Chumash territories, otherwise known as Los Angeles, CA. Born and raised in Montana, Hunter has navigated many paths in two worlds, which ultimately led him to possess a unique perspective in image making. Robert wholeheartedly believes our optics have the power to influence the culture and shape our societal narrative. His aim is to use that power in positive service to the community. Hunter’s 35mm short film “BLACK BOYS CAN’T CRY”, supported by Panavision, Kodak and Fotokem, recently won the Social Impact Award at the Oscar Qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival. His short film “HALLELUJAH” is an Official Selection at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. He is a recent Cinematography graduate of the American Film Institute. Phenomenally Indigenous.

You can learn more about Loren at lorenwaters.com and Robert at robertlhunter.com.

Bartram Writers Series: A Conversation with John Lane about “Gullies of My People”

Please join us for a discussion with our friend John Lane, for our next Bartram Environmental Writers Series event. John and Brent Martin will discuss and read a bit from John Lane’s new book “Gullies of My People.”

This event will be held at the Cowee School on January 28th at 2pm.

You can find more details about John’s book on the UGA Press website: https://ugapress.org/book/9780820365442/gullies-of-my-people/

John will also have books available at the event for purchase and signing.

There’s no limit on attendees, this event will take place in the auditorium. But, please RSVP below if you plan to come to help with setting up chairs.

We look forward to seeing you there!

About the Author: John Lane, an esteemed professor emeritus specializing in environmental studies, formerly served at Wofford College. His notable achievements include being inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2014. Lane is a prolific author, with notable works like “Circling Home,” “My Paddle to the Sea,” and “Coyote Settles the South,” all published by the University of Georgia Press. He has also co-edited “The Woods Stretched for Miles: New Nature Writing from the South,” adding to his extensive portfolio that encompasses a variety of poetry, essays, and novels. His previous contribution to literature was “Coming into Animal Presence.” John Lane resides in Spartanburg, South Carolina, continuing his life’s work in literature and environmental advocacy.

You can watch John’s last Bartram Writers Series discussion with Brent Martin, held at the historic Rickman’s Store, on YouTube.

June 2, 2023: The River Runs On – Documentary Screening

Please join us in exploring the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests through the new feature documentary, The River Runs On. The hourlong screening will begin at 7pm with a Q&A following with the filmmaker, Garrett Martin. This is a free event with a suggested donation of $10 going towards the distribution expenses of the film. The event is sponsored by Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy who will be tabling at the event.

Website: www.theriverrunson.com
Official Trailer: https://vimeo.com/764170588

Synopsis: THE RIVER RUNS ON follows conservationists as they struggle to manage two of the most important national forests in America – the Pisgah and Nantahala. The film revolves around the release of the Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Plan as the US Forest Service decides how these two national forests are managed for the next twenty years. The result is a meditation on our relationship to nature, our role in managing lands and what it may mean for the future.

More information about this event can be found on the Macon County Public Library website: https://fontanalib.org/events/river-runs-documentary-screening

Bartram Writers Series: Coming into Animal Presence – Q&A with John Lane

We’re excited to offer another installment of the Bartram Writers Series! Please join us for this book release discussion and Q&A with John Lane, hosted by Brent Martin. This event will be held at the historic Rickman Store in Cowee Valley on March 15th, from 6-8pm. Light refreshments will be provided. Copies of this book will be on sale at the event and John will be available to sign them.

Please RSVP below to help with planning and refreshments.

In his latest book, Coming into Animal Presence, John Lane continues his exploration of the intersection of the human imagination with the world of other animals in a companion volume to COYOTE SETTLES THE SOUTH (2016) and NEIGHBORHOOD HAWKS (2019). Each of these fifteen pieces–some more formal essays, some journalism, and some stories of Lane’s encounters with wild animals in wild places–explores the diversity and the mystery of what’s often been called “the more than human world.” In each piece there is always animal presence, sometimes central and sometimes peripheral. In one piece the Columbian mammoth comes back to trouble the contemporary political landscape of South Carolina. In another, he ponders the fate of a wing-shot goose finding a last refuge in the Lane family’s tiny frog pond. In another, Lane ventures into an abandoned Zimbabwean gold mine alone to check on the status of a common genet, a shy carnivore.

John Lane is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Dead Father Poems. His latest, Anthropocene Blues, was released by Mercer University Press. His Abandoned Quarry: New and Selected Poems won the SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) Poetry Book of the Year prize in 2012. He was inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2014. He co-founded the Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and teaches environmental studies at Wofford College there.

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