John Nelson
John Nelson is the author of Cultivating Judgment (New Forums Press), on the teaching of critical thinking skills, and has contributed fiction and essays to The Gettysburg Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Snowy Egret, and Birding. His essay "Brolga the Dancing Crane Girl,' on birds and dance, was awarded the Carter Prize for the best non-fiction piece published in Shenandoah during the 2011-2012 season.
Reading List
Our Birds
It was among the first birds my wife and I spotted on our first outing in Guatemala, in a busy grove beside a pond on a lush hillside. It’s not a hard bird to identify, a rich blue above, rusty-chested, …
Brolga the Dancing Crane Girl
No one knows when or why humans first danced. The original dancers may have danced to display their fitness to the opposite sex, please or appease the gods, or act out a spontaneous fit of ecstasy, but these are just …