(Posted in the Sierra Club’s newsletter, the Old Dominion Sierran, in fall 2013.) Earlier this month, reports revealed that Virginia Uranium, Inc., the company responsible for unrelenting efforts to lift our state’s 30-year ban on uranium mining, spent $572,607 lobbying Virginia officials last year – the most of any group in Virginia, and as much as Read More
Author: Laura Lee Cascada
A January in Costa Rica
(Published in my college newspaper, the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jacket, in 2008) Imagine wandering into the depths of a neotropical rainforest and taking in the sight of hundreds of plants in vibrant greens towering high above your head. Imagine inhaling a strong musk and seeing its owner, the pig-like peccary, trot past into another patch of Read More
Mathematics
I should have known all along that I was destined to be a star math student. After all, my father and I had re-invented hide-and-seek, with a mathematical flare, when I was in the second grade; I’d hide, and when he found me, I was tasked with solving a square root problem. Yet as I Read More
Man and Inhumanity
(Written for a college English course in 2005.) We take our children to Sunday school and guide them on a path of respect and the “Golden Rule,” instilling in them a sense of morality, of right and wrong. Our lives operate around ethics; these are the maxims which lead any decent human being to make Read More
Raindrops in Your Hair
November 17, 2003 – Winner of Randolph-Macon College’s Poetry and Song Contest (2008)
When the world is crumbling to your knees
The darkness through the tunnel is all you see
Ancient dynasties with roots of steel
come collapsing into the ocean
smoothly, like Dominoes, none left forgotten.
Glass Dancer
(Written November 18, 2003) You dance so gently on a stage of feathers And you tiptoe so softly, leaving only tiny wrinkles… as footprints in time like a delicate ballerina in a crystal ball encased by silence, a frozen beauty of awe But the father of time can spin you around and rewind the clocks, Read More
Pressure mounts on Governor to respect ban on uranium mining
Published in the Virginia Sierra Club’s newsletter, the Old Dominion Sierran.
This spring, thanks to thousands of letters and phone calls to the General Assembly, the perseverance of hundreds of volunteers around the state, and the support of over 100 business and organizations in Virginia, Virginia Uranium, Inc. (VUI) walked away from the legislative session defeated, as measures that would have overturned Virginia’s 30-year moratorium on uranium mining were killed by their sponsors because they didn’t have the votes.
Sweet Yesterday
(Written 2003) Popping the years into my mouth as cheery crackers so flavorful and so clear even after they’re gone. Chugging the sweet memories of paradise down my throat as the taste lingers. Yesterday rainbows were dancing Today all is but forgotten And tomorrow who knows? The damp humidity swells around me encompassing my existence Read More
6.24.12
The time since the last day her hand gripped that pen (in that special way) Two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two days. Two hundred and fifty thousand seconds. Eight years. The memories made since the last moment that pen touched the paper (ready to move mountains) Roller coasters and cotton candy in the summer. The Read More
Mary Matalin Fights “Ag-Gag” Bills
While working at PETA, I composed the script for the below video that was narrated by Republican strategist (and self-confessed meat-eater) Mary Matalin, who appealed to fellow conservatives in states around the country that were considering “ag gag” bills – bills that, if enacted, would ban the filming of horrific, often illegal abuses on factory Read More
Fairfax: Urge the Board of Supervisors to Support the Moratorium on Uranium Mining
An action alert for the Sierra Club’s anti-uranium mining campaign: As the fight to protect Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining took center stage in Southside last year, the Fairfax Water Authority published a critical report noting a number of mines that could come online in Northern Virginia should the moratorium be lifted. All of these mines Read More
Black Crow
(April 21, 2003) You sit atop the highest tree, casting rays of black elegance unto the land. You see the world through your velvet eyes, taking in every sharp detail and allowing nothing to slip past your glare. You turn heads with every swift movement, We only see your stiffening luxury. And your mind is Read More