The most memorable community event that I have ever attended through Fountain Valley School was An Evening with Barry Lopez. I was in my sophomore year and attended this event with three other Fountain Valley Students and Dr. G. We took a suburban to the Colorado College auditorium. The event was a couple of hours. Lopez started by reading an excerpt from his book Arctic Dreams and then answered questions from the audience.
His death in 2020 reminded me of my time at the event and gave me a moment to reflect on his legacy. Lopez advocated rebuilding the connection between the land and culture. His poetic ability to guide a reader to empathize with animals, people, and the earth remains. Lopez explored the world and looked at cultures through the lens of both suffering and diversity. He has taught many about the relationships between cultures and the earth. I recently read a book called Braiding Sweetgrass which taught the value of the cultural indigenous relationship with the land. This relationship is built on reciprocity. Lopez provides evidence of many cultures fighting to restore a similar reciprocal relationship because of how the widespread capitalistic society makes the re-establishment of this relationship practically unfeasible. This event sticks with me because Lopez was one of the first people to point out to me that many cultures were successful in maintaining an equitable and sustainable community in the past.
The Evening with Barry Lopez was an informal interview. The host was a long-time friend of Lopez’s. I appreciated the informality of the interview. The two laughed and answered questions with the smallish audience. The venue and demeanor of the event told me that Lopez deeply cared about sharing and educating anyone who wanted to listen. I value this global event because of Lopez’s legacy and kindness.