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WildLink has a new look! Thanks to Matt Moore and Stinkbait.net. Some of the links will still lead you to pages with the old design, so be prepared...

Expedition V: May 26-31

9 students from Atwater High School, Detroit Metropolitan Community Center, and Owens Valley High School converged in the Yosemite wilderness in May, approaching the wilderness from hugely different cultural and geographic backgrounds. Illilouette Creek, the Panorama trail and Glacier Point were the backdrop as they learned to break through the barriers of 'I can't', and 'I don't know' to make friends for life.

They explored the alien world of stream macroinvertebrates, made homes of simplicity and comfort in the backcountry, and commemorated May 30 as Wild Bunch Wilderness Day. Their journals, drawings, and pictures, are now available online.

Thanks to all the WildLink students and teachers who have become part of our family through the expeditions. Our wilderness experience continues to be shaped by your stories.

WildLink Teacher Expedition
June 7-9, 2002

Teachers from all parts of California came to Yosemite for a WildLink Expedition of their own! They explored why and how to teach about wilderness by spending a day in Yosemite Valley, learning both from the wealth of knowledge and talent that we have both locally and amongst our teachers. Thanks to our partners, Yosemite Association and Yosemite Institute, as well as to Laurel Boyers, Kimberly Cunningham-Summerfield and her family, Garth Holman, Moose Mutlow. Beth Pratt, Anthony Silva, Art Velarde and Erik Westerlund for their brilliant programs.

Thanks also to our teachers for making the weekend a truly memorable experience. We look forward to next year, when a whole new set of WildLink students arrive in Yosemite, with shining eyes and mouth wide open. It is your commitment and inspiration that bring them here.

What did they have to say? Read your teacher's journal!

September 1, 2001
Yosemite Valley

My first weekend in Yosemite. I had the thrill of not knowing exactly where to go but time enough to figure it out. I wanted to stay far away from the crowd of Labor Day visitors, but I was sure that Yosemite Valley had a wealth of treasures to discover. I could stay in my house (not yet a home) and look at maps and guidebooks, or I could go outside and wander. I could be John Muir, I could be a hungry black bear, I could be the first woman to walk on Mars…I could be--myself.

February 4, 2002
Ahwahnee Meadow

THE YOSEMITE PAGEANT

the cast: 10 fearless high school students
the setting: half dome, glacier point, royal arches
special appearances by: coyotes, a woodpecker suite, and the one, the only, ponderosa pine!

Every trip that I go out with is so special, but in different ways. Yosemite overwhelms time after time, but these students' reactions have reminded me how sweet it is to see it for the first time.

I hope that I will be able to let the wilderness speak for itself, knowing the lessons of nature are a far greater teacher than I could ever be. Despite that, and humbled now, I want to do my best to share my love and knowledge of this place. It is worth nothing less than my every effort.

February 5, 2002
Hite's Cove

My background and how it affects my wilderness perspective: Funny, how I ask the question without thinking about how myself would answer it. My background. The first thing that comes to mind would be where I grew up. I have lived in one place for most of my life and I guess that explains why place is so important to me. The first thing I ask people when I meet them is where they're from. Where am I from?

I've spent most of my life growing up in a 10-story, sewing-factory-converted-into-apartments, hi-rise in New York City, complete with fire escapes and elevators. I would go trick-or-treating from floor to floor…the old lady on the 3rd floor would hand out inflatable footballs. I used to be able to see the Empire State Building on my way home, but in the last two years, they've built a new 30-story building with luxury condominiums (and a Starbucks to boot!) on the corner. I don't like that building much.

I used to take the train to school and I would run with my track team to Central Park in the afternoons. Central Park was a haven, a place to run, to work, to think, to play. Sometimes, green space is all the more valued when there's less of it.

more 'WILD' is the Sierra Nevada? I am still soaking it all in.

The next thing I think of when it comes to background is my culture….where my parents are from, and place is all important yet again. My parents immigrated from southern China and have lived in the U.S. for over 30 years. I have inherited their stories of struggling with a new language, living in the crowded apartments of Chinatown, even of my mom's first experience with yogurt! (She didn't know there was fruit on the bottom). My grandfather would grow wintermelons and honeydew in his backyard in Brooklyn. There are fruits and vegetables on sale in Chinatown for which I do not know the English names.

I have always wondered what wilderness is like in China and how it is different from the country that I am so familiar with. This place is special to me because part of my parents struggle, and my struggle as well, is connected to the Chinese workers who built these roads and mines.

June 14, 2002
With More Adventures Ahead

I want to remember the backcountry soul train we held, showing each other how different cultures dance to the music of silence and solitude. I want to remember their sheer incredulation as we talked of snow camping and Sequoias. I want to remember an Earth Speaks open mic at the Merced Grove cabin. I want to remember their wonder and gratitude as they looked past the night sky into starlit oblivion. I want to remember sharing greatest fears as the rain rattled against our tarp: I am afraid of the dark. I want to remember watching, as they overcame doubts, weaknesses, stereotypes to develop a group bound by strength and love.

I want to remember the glow on her face as she realized how much she was capable of, and how much was available to her. I want to remember his quest to find goodness in the wild, in spite of the turmoil of the world around him.

What a privilege it is to work in a place such as Yosemite. I have seen Yosemite Falls grow from a trickle to a roar, I have waited in anticipation as first the rebbud, then the apples, and finally the dogwoods bloom in announcement of spring. I am all the more blessed to be in a position where I can share this mystery with others. Every student leaves a part of themselves in Yosemite as they go; I was fortunate enough to embark on a year-long WildLink Expedition. It is at this point that I stand at the trailhead, knowing that I could never truly leave, but also resolving to share the spirit and truth of these lessons with the worlds that I know and the worlds that I have yet to know.

The fullness of my experience would not be possible without the people that have shaped it. Thanks to the students for being themselves, thanks to the teachers for being such committed partners in our endeavor, and thanks to the people of Yosemite who inspired me with their love for this place and its people. Barb, I admire you for your ability to see past obstacles and work miracles. Thank you.

There is something here that makes things beautiful. I strive to surround myself with it.

Take care, all!

Jamie