Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Woeful Spotlight: Carol Raitt

This week's woeful contributor is Carol Raitt. Her Woe of the Road essay, "Move Fast. Strike Hard. Avoid the Crunch," details a night in a notel motel with several....let's just say...small roommates.

In your essay you mention once having to "extract a blood-sucking tick from my neck." Care to elaborate?
What can I say? Arachnids find me irresistible. Or, was it my sweaty, exposed skin that screamed "Bite Me!?" By the time I discovered the raised bump on my neckline the tick had consumed what I knew would be its final meal. With one good slap of my hand its engorged body exploded and I removed the annihilated (now flaccid) tick with a tissue.

If you had to pick an insect to share a room with, what would it be?  
One that is quiet, unobtrusive, and respectful of my space; a ladybug might be the perfect roommate. And, ladybugs eat aphids and other smaller insects that harm plants.   

Promote yourself -- where can we find your work?
My work has been featured in GREENPRINTS -- The Weeders Digest and in 2011 my non-fiction essay, "The Kill" received honorable mention and was included in the Outrider Press Literary Anthology: A Bird in the Hand. Visit any of these three national park visitor centers -- Great Sand Dunes NP, Lassen Volcanic NP or Wrangell-St. Elias NP -- and you'll see another side of my writing. As a writer-naturalist I have written hundreds of interpretive signs about geology, plants and animals. I am currently working on a collection of nature essays about birds and other wildlife that visit my urban, native plant garden in Seattle, WA.    

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