Literature Appetizer
Ben Kusserow
A Northern Appalachian's Journey

Recently I just finished Appalachia North by Matthew Ferrence. In it, he recounts the complex relationship he still has with the land as a Northern Appalachian. Typically when I finish a book I write a Literature Appetizer to get people a taste of what they will find. Since his book is such a personal journey, I would not do it justice by recounting his life.

Many of his experiences reflect my own experience growing up in Western PA. So instead of condensing his journey, I thought I would condense mine.

The Hero’s Journey is a common literary structure where the hero of the story departs home to do a great act, and then returns victorious. My Northern Appalachian Journey is a bit different, but has a similar structure of three parts; Living in Water, Succeeding by Leaving, and The Mountains are Calling.

A Northern Appalachian's Journey

Fall '24: Literature Appetizer

Fall '24: Literature Appetizer

I have seen pictures of Pittsburgh back in the day and know the famous “Hell with the Lid Off” quote about the city. But something that doesn’t get mentioned as often is how treeless the city used to be.

While going over these pictures, I found myself asking “but where are any plants? It is just soil and concrete.” Pittsburgh now isn’t as forested as I would like it to be, but it seems like a dense forest compared to what it used to be. Reading this alongside Pittsburgh Steps gave me a new appreciation of the city I call home.

Free the Unicorn

Free the Unicorn

Our first stop on my family’s trip to Scotland this past spring was to Edinburgh. We woke up extra early and grabbed our tickets to see the Edinburgh castle, which is almost 1000 years old. As we were walking up with the rest of the tourists my eyes looked upwards and saw this.

Take a close look. Do you notice anything wrong in this picture? If not, let’s try another one.

Jurassic Park Problem

Jurassic Park Problem

In early 2022 my partner and I decided to watch Jurassic Park together. It had been years since we had seen it and we just needed a movie night. After the film was over, Fina turned to me to ask “How did you like it?”

“Oh I loved it. Except it always makes me feel a little sad after watching it.” -me

“Wait, you are feeling sad? Why?” -Fina

“I just feel like they gave so much screen time to humans instead of the dinosaurs. Yes, I know dinos were on screen part of the time but the edit feels like the story is about humans.” -me

“…Ben, this is a horror film with dinosaurs as the antagonists.” -Fina

Summer '24: Literature Appetizer

Summer '24: Literature Appetizer

Back in ‘17, I was looking at completing my grad school experience at the North Cascades. At the time, I was the “blog writer” for NCI. Because of that job I had discovered that I did enjoy writing, especially in the less formal “blog” format. So I bought my own website to make Rooted in Dreams.

One of the series of blogs that I wanted to focus on was Literature Appetizer. It became a good way for me to process the books I read, even if no one read those posts. But I always felt weird when I read “smaller” or not Environmental Education based books. Should I put that on the website, even if it is only a few sentences?

This is an experiment; combining all Lit-Apps for a season into one post. Let me know your thoughts!

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: Literature Appetizer

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: Literature Appetizer

Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I was told that the “Indians used to live here, but now they don’t. There was some fighting but not a lot.” I never serious questioned the history I was told until I went to the North Cascades. One of my cohort mates belonged to a federally recognized tribe and started to show me how lacking my education was.

I learned more from An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz than I learned throughout my 14 years in public education. While I think it is a great book for folks around the world to read, I fully believe this should be required reading for all American students in our Public School system.

Around the World in 80 Trees: Literature Appetizer

Around the World in 80 Trees: Literature Appetizer

Charismatic Megafauna is a classification of animals that environmentalists and conservationists use to simplify a complex issue. There is a reason “save the polar bears” or “save the whales” are easier rallying cries for the public than “we need to limit CO2 emission by a certain percentage.” It is easier for the general public to see and understand a problem by describing how it impacts the large animals on our planet.

This is an odd classification because the only thing they have in common is “being big.” You wouldn’t say a lion is more closely related to an elephant than a housecat, but housecats are not in this category. What makes it odd is we classify all ‘charistmatic megaflora’ into one word: trees.

Forest Shuffle

Forest Shuffle

While on a four hour drive along the forested roads of Pennsylvania, I was listening to an episode of Talk Cardboard. Their board game recommendation for that episode was Forest Shuffle. That night, when I finally had time to look more into the game, was when I realized this game was designed specifically for me.

Before diving into the game, come take a stroll along the paths that converged into this experience.

The Cult of Pawpaw

The Cult of Pawpaw

In fall of 2021, Serafina came home from a festival out in York, PA with a strange fruit. She called it a Pawpaw, and said it is a native fruit to this region folks are trying to bring back. I had never heard of it before, and she shared some with me to taste. It is a ‘lima bean’ shaped fruit, green skin, with a custard like inside.

Jump to 2023, where we were both standing cold and wet in the freezing rain, to bring back a bounty of Pawpaws to Pittsburgh. Just what is it about this fruit that folks go crazy for?

The Mountain Dulcimer

The Mountain Dulcimer

In the summer of 2015, I was sitting on the edge of Diablo Lake. My first assignment of my residency program was to write a poem titled “Where I’m From.” While my cohort talked about this mountain range, or that river valley, mine was completely devoid of any physical place. I mentioned the music I grew up with, my family, and the things I had done. But I didn’t think of myself having a connection to the land.

That poem started my search into what it means to be Appalachian. In trying to reconnect with my heritage, I found the only instrument “born from these hills”: the mountain dulcimer. So in the summer of 2020, while the world was on lockdown, I bought a cheap one and started to play. Worst case scenario I spent $80 on something to hang on my wall. Fast forward to last month where I spent a week playing the dulcimer with others and learning about the deep history of this instrument.

Habitats of the World: Literature Appetizer

Habitats of the World: Literature Appetizer

Burnout is a serious issue among educators. It is also a serious issue among those studying the Climate Crisis. During my time on the Left Coast we had many discussions on how to prevent burnout as Environmental Educators.

While I stand behind everything I have said on this blog, over the past year my tone has become more and more frustrated when talking about the planet. I noticed the signs of burnout, and set about the following courses of action: