I have submitted a single author abstract on “Water, purity, politics and radical ritual transition in early Roman Christian art” to the annual American Academy of Religion meeting for 2008. The abstract discusses the early Christian preference for displaying baptism in natural, free flowing water sources, and suggests that images related to urban, developed water sources are not as common.
Monthly Archives: January 2008
Kenna Lang submitts article on Cameron Park
Kenna Lang, with myself as second author, submitted an article to Castanea on the history of the forest in Cameron Park. The article is an edited summary of the vegetation portion of her thesis – the title is Forest History and Succession in William Cameron Park, an Urban Natural Area in Waco, Texas.Â
Update on Rachel Carson chapters in press
A chapter on Rachel Carson in the book published by Equinox Press, Deep Blue, on spirituality and water is currently in page proofs, indicating the volume should be available sometime later this spring.  The chapter is entitled “The spirit of the EDge: Rachel Carson and numinous experience between land and sea”. Meanwhile, the editors for The Egg Shell Earth have made final corrections the book chapter on Rachel Carson still in press. The volume should be released sometime in 2008. :  Bratton, S.P. editor’s request, in press for 2008, Thinking like a mackerel: Rachel Carson’s Under the Sea Wind as a foundation for a trans-ecotonal sea ethics, 25 manuscript pages.  For inclusion in Lisa Sideris and Kathleen Dean Moore, The Egg Shell Earth, press changed, now at SUNY.
Summer at Environmental Law and Policy Scholarship Program at Vermont Law School
Vermont Law School has offered me support to attend a summer environmental law course as part of their Law and Policy Scholarship program. The application to the program is by invitation and admission is based on resume and a formal application.  I hope to take a course in marine or water law to improve my background in these areas.  The program is for adminstrators of environmental educational programs at the university level. Two weeks in Vermont with some of the best environmental law faculty in the country should both improve my teaching and give me better background for advising pre-environmental law and pre-environmental policy students. Â
Paper on honeysuckle control presented
M.S. student Song Gao has presented a paper from his study testing methods of controlling Japanese honeysuckle and on the ecology of the plant on Texas floodplains: Gao, Song and S.P. Bratton, submitted Dec. 2007, abstract for the presentation, Support host selection of Lonicera japonica and its interaction with different environmental factors in Cameron Park,
Waco, TX to Texas Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting for 2008. The paper is accepted for presentation as of Jan. 2008.
Undergrad research team starts in park
The URSA funded research project team has formed with three students participating. One will specialize in vegetation impacts of exotic shrubs, and two will work on impacts on animals. Field work and data input began this week, with everyone looking forward to a great spring project run in Cameron Park.Â