This weekend's postcard, and the half anniversary of The Daily Rhubarb

August 5, 2023

Aug 06, 2023

“Three hours to home.” Anvil-cloud forming north of the Drumheller Channels in Grant County.

The first six months

That went by fast.

If I were to do it over again, I’d reconsider the word “daily.” But if The Daily Rhubarb is not exactly a daily, neither is it a weekly. It’s something in between—publication at a decent interval that accounts for the proper gestation of an idea but with the necessary urgency of the times. We live on a baking planet in a nation where approximately half the voters would casually end democracy and repeal The Enlightenment because apparently these trends are too “woke” for comfort. So languishing is not an option.

Importantly, today marks half an anniversary for TDR, today, so I would like to:

• Thank all of you who’ve become paying subscribers and donors to help support this work. Sincerely. It’s a pleasure to work directly for you, for readers, and your encouragement sustains me. Thanks, too, to those of you who’ve recommended me to other readers and photography lovers.

• Offer an editorial Whitman sampler, of sorts, of some of my favorite posts and photo essays, especially for those of you who’ve signed on recently and may have missed some of the earlier installments.

•Overcome my inherent reluctance to nudge and encourage you to become a paying subscriber (if you’re not already). If it’s any help toward that end, the best is yet to come, an evolving buffet of beautiful places, fascinating terrain, unraveling mysteries, and a closer look at local, national, and world-wide problems that need attention. Let’s face it, citizenship isn’t easy, and it’s important to bring love, wonder, and joy to leaven the hard work.

I’m sprinkling “subscribe,” “share” and “gift subscription” below. I realize there were all sorts of problems this spring getting the buttons to work correctly (long story) but they should be in order now. Also, it’s free to visit the mothership website, Rhubarb Skies, where you can find a host of photo galleries and some of my deeper journalism, on all sorts of things, from nuclear tragedies, how to sing to your mother, to the most environmentally benign dish soap.

Become a paid subscriber

A small section of the Carina Nebula known as the Cosmic Cliffs, where stars are born. Photographed by the James Webb Telescope Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI

I. From Whence We Came

The Geology of Us , and the Provenance Project, including a primer on how the physical State of Washington was assembled along the western margin of ancient North America (Laurentia). Visit the Provenance series.

II. ‘Forever Chemicals’

How dangerous levels of nefariously toxic synthetic chemicals wound up in public water supplies west of Spokane, and the threat they pose locally, and nationwide.

•A problem on the West Plains, April 27th

•Scoping the “forever chemical” story on the West Plains, June 4th

•A primer on the “forever chemical” problem haunting communities from coast-to-coast, June 25th

•A postscript to the “forever chemical” primer, June 27th.

•Rough Landing: State confronts Spokane International Airport over unreported, “forever chemical” contamination of West Plains groundwater, July 8th.