Leslie Carol Roberts is a writer
Leslie Carol Roberts
What the book wants to be about: Story. Image. Idea. Experiment. Senses. Reason. Meaning. Intimacy.
“Natura nihil fit in frustra” Nature does nothing in vain. “The unknown element in the lives of other people is like that of nature, which each fresh scientific discovery merely reduces but does not abolish.” — Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time Here Here Is Here Is Where Here Is Where We Here Is … Continue reading
International Orange
After half a day’s voyage they came to a harbor that brought to mind someplace else. Funny how that happens, how even then, when so much of the world was genuinely new, and offered a true exploration of new ideas, things never seen before, the idea was to make it all look and sound like … Continue reading
On Seeing
On Seeing May 3 2012 When I was 10 or 12 years old, growing up in then-rural Maryland, I used to spend most afternoons in a wood called Rock Creek Park. I could walk a long ways before encountering anything remotely resembling civilization. One of my more curious compulsions included walking for hours to find … Continue reading
A Perfect Day for Banana Slugs
The class gastropods to which banana slugs belong contains a vast number of named species, making it second only to insects in overall number. Their name is dreadful, from the Greek gastro (stomach) and pod (foot) because people mistakenly decided they must be crawling along on their bellies. Further research has revealed this could not … Continue reading
A Letter to the First Poet of the Presidio
Do not paddle or swim out when the ship arrives. Do not track or try to engage with the people who emerge from the smaller boats they bring to land. It will take them forever to find you, if you are careful. These are men of the sea, not men of the land. And they … Continue reading
Three Case Studies for Your Inspection
Case 1: The City of San Francisco: Here there are so few dead. Headstones exist only in our national recreation area. Land left for the active and the living. And yet. the Presidio lined with so many dead bodies. Lost under heaped soil and then a surprise: Woven over it all, rows of white tombstones, so many wax … Continue reading
On Earth Day(s)
I pause as I write this. As a child I attended a brick, one-storey school with yellow and black fall-out shelter signs prominently displayed; we skipped by these signs en route to Mrs. Whetzel’s class where we learned about a brand-new, world-wide celebration that was going to change everything: Earth Day. I now find myself … Continue reading
In Conversation with Leslie Carol Roberts
Leslie Carol Roberts was recently interviewed for a French television program, Avec L’Auteur…she will soon post the interview on YouTube. Why did you want to write a book about the Presidio? After I moved in here, I was added to some sort of email and mailing list for residents. I started receiving slick newsletters about … Continue reading
Sometimes I Agree with Kant
Kant says, Hardly anyone apart from the botanist knows what sort of a thing a flower is. I agree with Kant, and add, Hardly anyone apart from a forester knows what sort of thing a tree is. In order to write a book about the Presidio and what it means to live and walk in … Continue reading
