Landscape Fabric: A Chemical-Free Alternative

There are few jobs as monotonous, back breaking and unfulfilling as digging out weeds. If you’re providing landscape maintenance services, cutting down the amount of time you spend nurturing a virtually weed-free area should be a priority. In times like these, finding ways to eliminate unsightly weeds without intensive labor will help you meet your objective to provide your clients with the best service and at a competitive price.

The economic climate over the past few years has wreaked havoc in the pricing structure of lawn maintenance services. Ways have to be found to generate more productivity. In the case of perpetual weeding, maybe it’s time to think about using landscape fabrics. Though there is an upfront cost to install a weed barrier, the benefits will far outweigh the cost.

We know why we should use weed barriers, but what exactly is a weed barrier and how does it work? To begin with, landscape fabrics— like geotextiles—are used as weed barriers. Weed barriers work by creating a subsurface that prevents weeds from growing and inhibits weed seeds from penetrating the ground, sprouting and taking hold. Many landscape contractors now rely on these fabrics to suppress weeds in commercial and residential landscape applications.

“Weed barriers reduce the amount of weeds that can grow in a yard, particularly invasive plant species that tend to crowd out and cut off nutrients to desired plants,” says Sandi Monson, owner of The Dirty Hoe in Trenton, Michigan.

“It provides plants, particularly perennials, a clean growing area, which is especially important because perennials will often compete for resources with weeds; barriers help the plants flourish,” says Yvonne Stanek, owner of Wisconsin Landscaping Company in Lake Delton, Wisconsin.

Reduction or elimination?

According to Andy Blanchford, owner of Blanchford Landscape Contractors, Inc., Bozeman, Montana, contractors need to educate their clients about maintenance rather than “telling them weed barriers will solve the problem. Weeds are a fact of life and they are geographically specific. It is important to know the characteristics of the weeds and invasive species in your area, and know what tools you need to kill them.”

“Weed barriers protect your plant investment, which is generally your biggest cost. Fabric is one step in an o v e r a l l weed reduction strategy,” says Steve Gambla, owner of Ground Cover Industries, Chicago, Illinois . “ People shouldn’t confuse weed barriers with a lack of maintenance. Just like you have to change the oil in your car, you have to do some maintenance in your beds. Fabric will help reduce and even eliminate some of your weeds, but it can’t get them all . . . because nature doesn’t work that way.”

Monson adds, “We have obnoxious weeds here in Michigan, including Canadian thistle. Many of my clients are older, and or elderly, they just can’t do the weeding the way they used to, so I explain to them that there’s no such thing as a maintenance-free landscape, but weed barriers keep future weeding to a minimum. It reduces, it doesn’t eliminate,” says Monson.

Landscape fabric benefits the landscape in a number of other ways. First, it allows air and water to flow directly to the plant. Weed barriers also provide a barrier against evaporation, thereby decreasing nutrient leaching, and reducing the duration and frequency of waterings.

The barriers don’t wick water from the soil, so the fabric creates a musty habitat perfect for soil fermentation, which helps beneficial microbes and microhizal fungi grow. Microhizal fungi benefit the landscape by developing symbiotic relationships with plants, providing mineral nutrients the plants cannot produce themselves in exchange for carbohydrates the fungi need.

“Customers want relief from weeds, so that’s why we developed our Weed-Barrier Pro, a product made of spunbond polypropylene, that is guaranteed to provide 100% weed control without chemicals,” says Larry DeWitt, founder and CEO of the DeWitt Company.

He not only stands behind his product, he put it to the test in his yard against nutsedge. “Nutsedge develops a needle-like tap root and you can imagine how most fabrics, even our earlier products, wouldn’t provide much resistance to that needle. Nutsedge thrives under most weed barriers, but not Weed- Barrier Pro,” according to DeWitt.

Choosing a product

Weed barrier comes in three basic forms: woven, needlepunched and heat-bonded, with hundreds of varieties possessing their own properties and applications. Learning how each of the fabrics can be used benefits your customer and business.

“Different fabrics have different water flow characteristics—from plastic with zero water flow to polyesters that have water flow characteristics of more than 200 gallons per square foot. For most applications, landscapers work with fabrics that are in the 15 to 20 gallons per square foot range,” says Gambla.

Installation

Weed barriers can be installed any time of the year, either prior to initial installation of the plant material, or as a retrofit. If you lay the geotextile on the ground around the plants, it will keep the weeds from sprouting. Weed seed will germinate under the surface of the soil. As it begins its upward climb, it will hit this barrier of geotextile. As long as no holes are punched in the landscape fabric, the weed will not penetrate it, therefore suppressing the weed from growing.

Site prep is crucial when installing landscape fabrics. For weed barriers, it is important to pre-weed and level out the ground’s surface, removing any debris that could puncture the fabric. Use a pre-emergent pesticide to kill any residual weeds.

Install your weed barrier “nice and tight and use longer pieces so you don’t have to worry about snagging it with your rake later on,” says Stanek. To insert plants, simply slice an “X,” folding back the corners to make the hole, insert plants and then tuck the fabric close to the plants, and secure with a pin.

Careful planning is necessary when applying a barrier to preexisting beds. “You want to plot out your holes and cut them small enough so that you can get the fabric over the plant and still maintain the fabric’s integrity,” says Blanchford.

Once the fabric is installed, you want to get it covered up. The biggest enemy to landscape fabric is ultraviolet rays. Some fabrics contain UV properties and are designed to handle a limited amount of sunlight but the more sunlight a weed barrier is exposed to, the sooner it will need to be replaced. “Weed barriers also reflect sunlight; the glare can burn some plants,” says Blanchford.

Use exceptions

While weed barriers can be used in hundreds of applications, there are a few situations where it shouldn’t be used or where additional prep is required: establishing English gardens, which require reseeding, or if you plant lots of annuals that require frequent replacing.

“We discourage the use of weed barriers for frequently-replaced small annuals, because it requires too many holes and reduces the effectiveness of the fabric,” says Monson. “It’s easier to just heavily mulch areas like that and save the barrier for larger areas with plants that are replaced less frequently,” she adds.

Share

“Landscape Fabric: A Chemical-Free Alternative” is now available in Irrigation and Green Industry Magazine’s April 2011 issue.

Maximize Your Deductions

Do you have a closet of ‘keepers?’ You know, financial records—invoices, receipts, revenue and expense reports. Are they categorized and filed? If asked, could you produce an accurate profit or loss report?

Do you know whether your company is in the green, the black or precariously close to being in the red? Are your records accurate and will they enable you to get all the available deductions come tax time?

Surprisingly, many small businesses put off record-keeping and tax duties in favor of seemingly more rewarding activities, such as installing an irrigation system or designing a new landscape. But building a beautiful landscape and preparing for April’s “tax season” have something very important in common; they are year-round pursuits. Just as you can’t just drop a few bushes into a yard and expect to satisfy your client, you can’t hand a box of crumpled receipts and disorganized files to the IRS and expect a refund.

DIY or professional assistance?

Yes, you can do your taxes yourself, but just as your clients hire you instead of trying to do a project themselves, you might be better served by hiring a tax professional. They should, whether they are an enrolled agent, a certified public accountant (CPA) or a tax attorney, be able to ensure that you get the maximum tax benefits allowed.

Filing and understanding taxes used to be simpler, but now there are books dedicated to explaining each tax rule and how it should be applied. It is the job of tax professionals—particularly CPAs—to “stay on top of tax rules and regulations and utilize them to benefit your business,” says Jonathan Winterkorn, a CPA with Plante & Moran, PLLC in Cincinnati, Ohio. “As a business owner, your time is best used developing and growing your business. It is unrealistic to expect that most small business owners can develop and run their business, while also knowing, understanding and taking advantage of all the tax laws, deductions and credits.”

“Small business owners can either learn through the school of hard knocks or they can find an accountant who will work with them as a partner and advisor,” says Brian Setzler, MBA, CPA and owner of TriLibrium, a firm offering accounting and business advisement services in Portland, Oregon.

“The mindset is often that a CPA is just another cost, but your CPA should be adding value to your business by helping you with your record keeping, financial and tax-related issues and finding remedies for them,” says Setzler.

“You want to look for an advisor who is going to work hand-in-hand with you on making your business grow. A good CPA is going to help you capture the value of your sales and help ensure that you are following good business practices, like keeping proper records, customer lists, etc.,” he says.

Whether you seek professional help or choose to do it yourself, keeping good records will make your business life easier at tax time and on a daily basis. Messy books “drive up the cost of tax preparation,” says Robert Tobey, a CPA and Tax Principal at Keiter Stephens in Charlottesville, Virginia. “Use a spreadsheet, a ledger, a program—whatever helps you keep your business finances organized. Quickbooks is a great place to start; many local accounting firms, including mine, offer training. The training is important because you need to know how to set it up and use it properly so that you have orderly records for you or your accountant to use at tax time.”

Getting all the deductions and credits

Every year, the IRS makes changes in the type and amount of deductions businesses are eligible to take. Below are just some of the deductions your business may be eligible for this year. For more information on these and other possible deductions, see our resource list below and/or consult a tax professional.

Charitable donations: According to Tobey, you can deduct the value of any supplies, plant materials, etc., that you donate to charity.

However, for tax purposes you cannot deduct the value of any time donated by you or your employees.

Section 179: This allows you to expense any purchases of fixed capital assets, such as lawn mowers, tractors and even computer software, in the year they are placed in service. This deduction was once limited to $100,000 worth of assets but, according to Winterkorn, the IRS has “sweetened the deal so that a company can purchase more than two million dollars in deductable assets, providing an immediate benefit, because businesses no longer have to take those costs over a number of years through depreciation.” Note: this deduction is only applicable to businesses that have turned a profit.

Bonus depreciation: If you are operating at a loss, under Section 179, you can apply 100% of equipment depreciation costs this year.

However, only new equipment qualifies.

Green Credits: A 30% credit/grant is available for installing a geothermal heat pump for heating and cooling your business, or credits for purchasing an alternative fuel vehicle for company use and even credits are also available for companies manufacturing and selling alternative fuels such as biodiesel.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: It provides a nice tax credit of up to 35 percent of the health care premiums paid by employers, says Setzler. The maximum credits are for small employers (less than 25 full-time equivalents) paying an average wage of less than $50,000 per year. Reduced credits are still available for organizations outside these ranges.

HIRE ACT, social security tax exemption: Effective from March 19 – Dec. 31, 2010, employers were eligible for a payroll tax exemption that exempted employers from paying their 6.2% share of social security tax on wages paid to previously unemployed employees. In order to be eligible, newly hired employees had to meet specific criteria in terms of the duration and quality of their unemployment period.

HIRE ACT, the retained worker credit: In addition, for each of these qualified employees retained for 52 consecutive weeks, businesses will be eligible for a general business tax credit in 2011.

The retention credit is the lesser of $1000 or 6.2% of the wages paid by the employer. Note: the qualifying employees’ wages during the last 26 weeks of the period must equal 80% of the wages during the first half of the period.

Mileage: Mileage is currently 51 cents per mile and is adjusted every December. Occasionally, if the prices go up significantly over the summer, the IRS may adjust the rate in September. Remember, the mileage deduction reflects what the IRS thinks it costs to operate a vehicle and in order to take it, you need to keep a dedicated log that reflects your business driving, every day on a notepad in your vehicle or a spreadsheet log.

Net Operating Loss: If your business lost money in 2010, you may generate a Net Operating Loss (NOL). Special rules allow you to apply the NOL to either past or future years, so a 2010 NOL could be carried back to a profitable year to offset the earnings and taxes paid in that year, resulting in an immediate refund this year,” says Setzler.

Note: NOL rules are pretty complex so it is wise to seek a tax specialist on this topic.

Preparing for 2011 and beyond: While the cost of hiring an accountant can seem expensive, the cost of doing your taxes incorrectly can be far more costly. “Business owners should see CPAs and accountants as an insurance policy,” says Tobey. “A CPA will make sure you comply with the law and meet all of the rules and regulations.” But if you insist on doing your taxes yourself, here are some tips to consider so you can avoid receiving a day-ruining audit letter from the IRS.

Properly document employees: According to Setzler, misclassification of employees exposes business owners to huge liabilities and aren’t worth the risk. “Say you hire a temp employee and pay him as an independent contractor, at $15 per hour and then write him a check at the end of the job. If that person is injured on the job, he is not covered by workman’s comp. However, depending on the state, if an employee gets injured operating a piece of heavy equipment and has no worker’s comp, you could be looking at medical bills, back taxes, interest and penalties.”

Employee or independent contractor? Businesses like to hire independent contractors so they don’t have to pay the labor burden, i.e., social security, Medicare, unemployment taxes and such on the wages. But it is crucial that employers make sure that their independent contractors meet the 20 points which classify whether you are hiring an employee or independent contractor. Make sure subcontractors give you a W-9 form so you can send them a 1099 form at the end of the year. Willful failure to file 1099s can result in a penalty of $250 per 1099 form.

I-9 workers: All employees should be documented to ensure that they can work legally in the U.S. If a worker is undocumented, employers are still supposed to pay social security, Medicare, and employment taxes on them. Workers can and are encouraged to apply for a tax ID number rather than using fake documents.

Company Set Up : To b e y encourages sole proprietors to set themselves up as a single member limited liability company. The same holds true for business partnerships. “You are still filing your taxes the same way, but you’re limiting your liability. You’re protecting yourself against mishaps that might happen in the course of business or your personal life. Without the limited liability protection, if you hit a pedestrian in a company vehicle after work, you might have to pay for the pedestrian’s injuries and medical bills personally. Becoming a limited liability company is just good business and it is not expensive to do. In most states, you can set one up for $1,000 or less, including filling fees. Think of it as an inexpensive insurance policy.”

Avoid red flags In addition to documenting employees correctly, the IRS will be curious if you do things such as purchase a luxury car and claim it as a business vehicle or funnel all your meals and entertainment through the company credit card.

Beware of tricky deductions:

In order to claim deductions for items such as a home office, telephone, computers, etc., you have to pass the IRS’s exclusive use test and other qualifications. In the case of a home office, you have to be a sole proprietor filing a schedule C. “Say you are using a bedroom in your house as the office for your business, but your Aunt Tilly happens to sleep in there when she comes visiting, even if she only comes once a year. You can’t claim it as a deduction because it fails the exclusivity test,” says Tobey. Same holds true for computers; you may use it for work but if the kids are using it to check their Facebook page or your spouse is playing World of Warcraft on it, you can’t claim it. Setzler notes that “the IRS has been pretty aggressive about people claiming deductions that don’t meet the exclusivity test. It isn’t worth the risk of an audit when there are other deductions available.”

2012 and beyond: Next year, 2012, will be the last year that we have our current tax rates, which were set in December 2009. At the end of 2012, barring any new legislation, we revert back to Clintonera tax rates. According to Winterkorn, “business owners will have to think a little counter-intuitively and may want to accelerate their income into 2012 rather than deferring income into 2013. Say you have an outstanding bill at the end of the year. Normally, if you pay that invoice before the end of the year, you get to take that expense deduction at tax time. But at the end of 2012, business owners might not want to pay that invoice until after the start of 2013, because it will allow them to take that deduction in the year where their income will possibly be taxed at a higher rate. The same holds true for the income side deductions.”

Plastic, Banks and Programs: Setzler, Winterkorn and Tobey all agree that keeping good records includes establishing a bank account and credit card for business use. “Credit cards are great because you have a concrete record of your purchases,” says Winterkorn. Using software will allow you to transfer information to your accountant quickly and easily. The software makes tracking and categorizing expenses easy and enables business owners to create complex expense, profit and loss and other reports with a touch of a button. There is also a Premier Contractor program that is specialized towards helping contractors specifically.

So, how will your tax garden grow? Will it be filled with crumpled and lost receipts and blossoming anxiety, or will it mature and grow because you took the time to apply the right tools and experts to help your business succeed?

Additional tax help resources:

Section 179: Section179.org; http://www.section179.org/index. html.

Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act: http://www.irs.gov/news room/article/0,,id=220809,00.html.

General Tax Assistance: IRS Helpline 800-829-4933 or visit http://www.irs.gov/faqs/content/0,,id=199 973,00.html.

Tax Payer Identification Numbers: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/ i n t e r n a t i o n a l / a r t i c l e / 0 , , i d =96696,00.html.

Business Tax Credits: www .irs.govbusinesses/small/article/0,,id =99839,00.html.

“Taxes: How to Maximize Your Deductions” is now available at Irrigation and Green Industry Magazine online.

Harvesting Rainwater

Water harvesting isn’t a new idea. For centuries, it has been relied upon to supply water for households and other uses. As far back as Roman times, large cisterns were built to hold rainwater. In fact, under the city of Rome an enormous cistern still exists. In the U.S., one of the earliest water harvesting systems can be seen at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

Jefferson was interested in learning how to “shelter oneself effectively and economically from the weather,” so he designed and installed extensive gutters and four rainwater cisterns to contain 15,000 gallons of water. He used the harvested water in his home for drinking, brewing ale and watering the surrounding gardens.

Today, the Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District notes that rainwater harvesting continues to offer a, “simple, sustainable, alternative water supply for indoor and outdoor use, and it protects waterways from the detrimental impact of stormwater runoff.”

Although rainwater capture has been around for centuries, it hasn’t become mainstream in the U.S. because water is still very inexpensive and is perceived to be in abundance. However, there are signs that we are beginning to run out of water.

As our population continues to grow, more people are using the same sources for water. We’re depleting potable water at an ever faster rate, and water purveyors are getting concerned. When water supplies are low, one of the first items to be regulated is landscape watering.

As keepers of the land, we should bear in mind that property owners have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in plant material, and that now we need to protect their plants from the stress, wilt and death associated with a lack of water.

“Progressive contractors have a unique opportunity to help their current and future customers become ‘more sustainable’ while increasing revenue opportunities for themselves,” said Mike Ray of Bushman Water Harvesting Systems. “The formula is really simple; it provides a turnkey system to harvest and store rainwater, incorporated with an ET-based controller and rain gauge.”

Many landscape contractors began offering rainwater harvesting into their landscaping services.

Buz Ireland of Aqua Features in Tallahassee has been designing and installing ornamental water features in Florida for more than twelve years. “Initially, I learned how to install a water harvesting system because I was interested in water conservation and was building my own backyard sanctuary.”

“I installed my system and it enabled me to water my plants, wash my car, save money and educate my neighbors,” says Ireland, who frequently teaches water conservation techniques to high school students and residents in Tallahassee, Florida. “With water prices starting to rise and weather patterns changing, I tell my clients that they need to pay attention to conservation and protect themselves from future cost increases, droughts and supply demands.”

In addition to helping clients and students realize how much water they are using, Ireland will be helping Tallahassee’s Sail High School install a rainwater harvesting system this spring. The system will be used to water the school’s agricultural practice gardens and landscaping.

As water supplies become more precarious, “counties across the United States are enacting new legislation encouraging water conservation,” says Ron Harris, owner of Darco Sales LLC & Free Water Systems. “Some drier regions are exploring rainwater to be recaptured for use in watering the landscape.”

Santa Fe County, New Mexico, now requires that a water harvesting system be installed in any new home construction. Homeowners of existing structures must retrofit according to the home’s square footage.

EcoScapes Landscaping is headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When Michael Nelson started EcoScapes, it was a full-service landscape company. Building landscapes, designing them and maintaining them were the focus.

Working in Santa Fe proves to be an exciting challenge. “The city is very progressive and on the cutting edge of ‘green,’ ” says Chris Hollis, an irrigation technician with EcoScapes. “A couple of years ago, the county introduced an ordinance that requires all new homes to recapture their rainwater. The way the company was headed, it made sense to get into rainwater harvesting as well.”

As more municipalities mandate harvesting rainwater, there’s an opportunity to offer these services to your clients. It puts you on the cutting edge and adds to the list of services your company offers.

“We’re seeing a tremendous growth in our business in regions like New Mexico, from clients who are looking for ways to live ‘off the grid,’ ” says Harris. In states where homeowners own their water rights, “clients can have total control over where their water comes from, the quality, how much they harvest and use . . . something that can’t be said for well and city water, which are highly regulated,” Harris added.

But legislation and conservation are just two of the reasons people are installing rainwater harvesting systems. Water quality, sustainability and individual style preferences are also coming into play.

“Because of the vast array of sizes and styles available, I can customize a client’s system to meet their unique water and budget needs,” says Ireland, who notes that rainwater harvesting “actually enhances most landscaping designs, as you can readily incorporate a waterfall, add an urn on top, or have it feed into an ornamental stream or pond.”

There are a number of options when it comes to installing rainwater harvesting equipment. It all depends on the size of the structure, and how much water you want to recapture. From underground tanks that can hold as much as tens of thousands of gallons to 50-gallon rain barrels, the concept is the same.

One of the easiest ways to begin is to check the roofs of your clients’ buildings. Many people don’t realize that their roof is a watershed. Most have rain gutters already installed on their roofs, so the beginning of rainwater recapture is in place. The next move is to retrofit the downspout so that it will funnel the water into a tank, wherever that tank is— underground, aboveground or into a rain barrel.

“The way to measure the amount of water an end-user can collect is easy. Calculate by measuring the footprint of the structure to estimate the square footage (multiple stories or pitch have no bearing on the calculation),” says Ray. “The quick formula for contractors to use is: Every one inch of rain on 1,000 square feet of roof yields approximately 600 gallons.”

A 2,000-square-foot building in San Diego, California, can capture 1,200 gallons for every inch of precipitation. On average, San Diego gets about 10 inches per year, and that 2,000-square-foot building could harvest 12,000 gallons annually. This water can go a long way, and be used multiple times, when drip, micro or subsurface methods are used.

After calculating the potential yield, you will need to determine the number of downspouts to be used as collection points. “Downspouts can be directed to tanks or holding units using standard PVC pipe,” Ray said. “Many people think they are limited to having tanks next to the building, but you can redirect multiple downspouts underground and offer the property owner the option to place tanks yards away from the building. Fill pipes are then run to a strategically hidden tank system behind landscape or a structure.”

Usually, a pump is installed within the tank to pump water out on demand; there are also filtration options available. Filtration is important, so drip or micro irrigation systems don’t plug up. Proper precautions early on can reduce costly callbacks.

“We began looking at rainwater recapture a few years ago,” said Brian Quill, district operations manager for John Deere’s Green- Tech. “Since then, we’ve installed quite a few systems and they’ve proven to be very effective.”

Every day in regions around the world, people survive on less water than you’ll use taking a shower or flushing your toilet. “Water in the U.S. seems endless,” notes Harris. “After all, you turn on the tap and it just flows and flows.” But in reality, there isn’t an endless supply.

Population growth and usage demands mean that water is becoming a scarce commodity.

Collecting rainwater also reduces stormwater runoff. So your rainwater harvesting system should incorporate overflow methods that direct stormwater to rain gardens or bioswales on the property. This allows nature to clean the water and redirect it back to the subsurface aquifer, where it was originally intended. Adding rain gardens and bioswales also provide unique design opportunities, and cities like Seattle, Washington, are offering incentives to residents who choose to redirect stormwater through these systems.

Rainwater harvesting has also become an integral part of designing buildings—like the Richmond Olympic Oval, a venue of the 2010 Winter Olympics—that meet LEED and other green building certification requirements.

“Thanks to permeable pavers and advanced collections systems, not only roofs but an entire corporate parking lot can be utilized for water harvesting, leading to incredible water and financial savings,” notes Quill.

According to the people we spoke with, harvested water is superior to city tap water for watering plants. “Rainwater is full of nitrogen and minerals that plants love. It’s like free fertilizer,” says Hollis, who

notes that even the smallest project can incorporate aboveground cisterns for collecting rainwater. “But the nice thing about underground collection systems is that they can be added into almost any existing building and landscaping project, regardless of size, budget or the site. Say your client wants to put a water feature in their backyard— it’s only a few more steps and some planning to have the water in that pond come from the home’s roof and be re-circulated with a pump,” Hollis adds.

Since water harvesting is a longterm investment, it pays to incorporate the service into your daily operations rather than try to sell it as a singular service, according to Hollis. “I don’t have to sell it, because it’s an integral part of how we approach landscape design. We don’t just put in a tank. It is part of a comprehensive design that includes xeric plants, irrigation, and swales and berms that mimic the natural contouring found in nature. You have to design these systems so that they not only cater to what your clients want to do with the water, but do it naturally, in a way that all the workings and natural elements work together.”

“We’ve been designing water harvesting systems for seven years.

There are hiccups and details that you have to work out, because it’s such a new idea, but it’s gaining in popularity with people who are looking for ways to save water or are more mindful of what they use,” says Hollis.

“The cost effectiveness of these systems is similar to solar. There is a payoff period that customers have to be willing to accept, but in the future, I expect to be installing a lot more of these systems,” says Ireland.

“In the future, it’s very likely that the use of potable water will be banned for outdoor landscape irrigation, so water harvesting will become an incredible opportunity to grow your business,” says Quill. “People are starting to seek out these systems and so for the right contractor, water harvesting will be the best thing since the introduction of landscape lighting. It’s a service that can be easily added on to current offerings.”

Remember that rainwater harvesting can be a win-win situation for all involved.

The planet has a finite amount of water, only three percent of which is drinkable fresh water, and we keep adding people. Something has to give. Harvesting and recycling water will have to become a way of life in the U.S. or, in the words of Mark Twain, “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.”

My article “Harvesting Rainwater” is now available in the January 2011 issue of Irrigation and Green Industry Magazine.

C.M. Mayo’s Politics of Love

C.M. Mayo

What would you do for love, power and success? Would you accept a job and travel to a distant land? What would you be willing to give up to secure your place in history? These are just some of the questions author C.M. Mayo considers in the novel, “The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire,” which was named one of the best books of 2009 by Library Journal. Based on the true story of half-American toddler Agustín de Iturbide y Green (a great grandson of Maryland’s Governor Plater and grandson of revolutionary war hero General Uriah Forrest), the novel recounts the political tumult and heartbreak surrounding the arrangement in which the child was made Heir Presumptive to the throne of Mexico by the recently installed Emperor Maximilian von Hapsburg, the former Archduke of Austria.

Read Mary J. Lohnes’ Interview w/ C.M. Mayo

MuttGear.net Featured in Today’s Oregonian!

My client Joslin Larson’s business MuttGear.net is featured in today’s Oregonian, How We Live section.

See, www.maryjlohnes.com to read more

Cha…cha…changes!

Whew! The first phase of construction is complete. We have a new theme and backdrops for some seriously good content.

Pssst, poetry is coming.

Dust Bowls and Hammers

Change is coming…as a result of my new work related website www.maryjlohnes.com, this site will be undergoing some serious edits, revisions and re-envisioning.

I have been wanting to dedicate this site to my literary work for awhile and the new website gives me the opportunity to do just that. So in the coming weeks you will be seeing more essays, fiction, poetry and of course, interviews!

In the meantime, enjoy the hammering and dust bowls!

Kay Ryan’s “Poetic Wool”

Poet laureate Kay Ryan at her home in Fairfax, CA.

We think of the poet as a man or woman alone, an artist working through their threads of thought and weaving images out of thin air but according to Kay Ryan, the 16^th U.S. Poet Laureate, it takes “a lot of wool to make a poem.” Ryan notes that wool can come in many forms; the time to reflect, the casting of an idea, an engaged student and even the belief that someone has in you, your work and your dream.

Kay Ryan was born in California in 1945 and grew up in small towns along the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. She holds a bachelor and master degree in English from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and an associate degree from Antelope Valley College. Ryan is the author of several collections of poetry, including “The Niagara River,” “Say Uncle,” “Elephant Rocks” and “The Best of It: New and Selected Poems,” which will be published by Grove Press this spring. Ryan has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Ruth Lilly Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, the Ingram Merrill Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and four Pushcart Prizes. She has been included in “The Best American Poetry” collection four times and was included in their “The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997” anthology. In 2006, she was named the chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, a post she will hold until 2012.

In 2008, Ryan was appointed the Library of Congress’ sixteenth Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate position, also known as the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, is appointed annually by the Library of Congress for a term running from October to May.  The poet laureate seeks to ‘raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry’ through readings, events and the creation of a national project.

Ryan has dedicated her tenure to honoring her beloved spouse and teaching partner of thirty years, Carol Adair, who passed away from cancer in January 2009. In October 2009, Ryan unveiled The Community College Poetry Project; a three-tiered project she hopes will encourage and promote the importance of poetry and community college programs.

The Community College Poetry Project includes “Poetry for the Mind’s Joy,” a website to be launched by the Library of Congress that will feature poetry submitted by community colleges and a National Poetry Day on Community College Campuses on April 1^st that will include events, readings and a conference call/webcast. Ryan has lived in Marin County, California and taught foundation English skills at the College of Marin, a community college in Northern California, for more than 30 years.

As part of CSM’s Connections Literary Series, Ryan will read poems from several of her collections, including the forth coming “The Best of It.” The reading will begin at 7:30 p.m., April 2, at the College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata Campus Fine Arts Theater.

In preparation for CSM’s Connections program, Ryan discussed the importance of community colleges and her work and struggles as a poet.

CSM: Have you been surprised by the reception of your work since you’ve become poet laureate?

Ryan: It had started changing before that. Obviously, I couldn’t have become poet laureate if the work wasn’t finding an audience. The laureateship is a great honor and distinction in that it has an affect on people that aren’t very intimate with American poetry. It’s like if my neighbor were a NASCAR champion. I would be impressed, just as a NASCAR champion might be impressed that I am the laureate but really neither one of us knows or understands what the other does.

CSM: As someone who calls themselves a modern hermit, how has serving as the poet laureate changed you, your writing habits and your perception of your career path?

Ryan: I am pretty old. I am 64. I’m not really worried about my future career path. Being laureate has made it very difficult to write because it is very occupying – readings, interviews, travel. But this would have been a difficult time anyway because of Carol’s death. So in a way, it is difficult to sort out what’s occurred because of the laureateship and what has happened because Carol isn’t here.

CSM: The focus of your tenure as poet laureate has been community colleges. As someone who teaches at a community college, and whose partner did as well, could you talk a little about the importance of community colleges in America?

Ryan: I’ve made it my project as the laureate to simply advocate and praise junior and community colleges. I guess it’s like saying that I am really in favor of oxygen as an element needed for human happiness but I really do believe that community colleges are so essential to our country and they are taken for granted, underfunded and often un-respected. I wanted to show the nation that all these teachers and students in these community colleges are doing wonderful, life-changing work. They deserve the utmost respect. I consider community colleges as nitrogen fixing agents in the soil; they are converting people and communities into something rich and productive.

CSM: You teach remedial and introductory English classes at the College of Marin, a community college, correct?

Ryan: I always did but I haven’t been doing it the last couple of years. I did it part-time for well over 30, probably 33 years. I would teach nine units and then have a lot of undefined time to gather wool for my poetry. You know, it takes a lot of wool to make a poem.

CSM: What have you learned by teaching these classes?

Ryan: Teaching English skills is gratifying because the acquisition of the ability to read and write is the access to one’s mind, one’s self. When you learn how to write an orderly paragraph, you have not only learned to write but how to think and you’ve developed a platform for thinking further.

In choosing to advocate community colleges, I have met so many teachers/instructors who have tears in their eyes and are so grateful that we are bringing their work into the spotlight. They say their schools are exciting, gratifying places to work. What’s interesting is that so many of these teachers are in the same position that I was in, in that they are teaching evening classes and the students are coming in in their scrubs, their work clothes, or they have a child who might be in the corner of the class coloring. These are exciting students to work with, they have a terrific appetite for what they were getting – an education. The exchange in a community college classroom is like bread, giving people bread.

CSM: What is one misconception people have about community colleges?

Ryan: That the quality of education is inferior to a four year school. I happen to think it is better because the instructors and students have a closer relationship. It is very likely that a community college instructor will know your name and be more accessible. I graduated from community college in the Mohave Desert (Antelope Valley College) and I was so excited to get away to UCLA thinking I would be rubbing shoulders with Nobel Prize winners etc. but I ended up rubbing shoulders with teaching assistants. Even in upper division courses, I found it impossible to make contact with the instructors. It was very alienating and frustrating. Looking back I had a great time at that little school; it had 800 students. Carol always used to say that ‘people have little cups, all you have to do is fill their little cup with knowledge. You don’t have to have a Nobel to do it; being a good instructor is more important.’

CSM: Your poems have been labeled short, accessible and the like and yet by your own admission there is a lot going on beneath the surface including multiple meanings, inside jokes and recombinant rhymes. What are your intentions as a writer?

Ryan: I go in thinking there is something I want to understand or there’s a place I want to arrive at, something that is troubling my mind that needs clarifying and I keep writing until I have solved it or until it fails and I give up. You know, most poems don’t work for one reason or another. I write an awful lot of material that will never be seen.

CSM: Do you have any lines over the years that you have kept that you wish you could find a home for?

Ryan: I am really crazy about malapropisms (replacing a word with a similar sounding word). I have used “No Rest for the Idle” and I have a poem called “Green Behind the Ears” that came about because someone said it instead of wet behind the ears, and I thought that was a really beautiful turn of phrase. There is another title I have been saving for years which is that “I am at the end of my straw.” I thought “I am at the end of my straw” would be a great topic for a poem, but I haven’t written it yet.

CSM: You’ve mentioned in several articles that you never wanted the typical poetic life and that poetry for you has been a personal pursuit. What has poetry taught you about yourself?

Ryan: I’ve learned that I am actually less superficial than I think. Well if you talk to me in regular life, I tend to bounce things off at fairly ground level but through poems I find understandings that I am otherwise incapable of articulating. For me talking is kind of frustrating. It is hard to get at anything substantial. It is easy to say things that one has said before, you know, we sort of tar paper over things with our conversations. Poetry allows for deep exploration.

CSM: You tend to read mainly essays rather than poetry/fiction etc. How does reading essays on writing, its aesthetics, construction etc. influence your work?

Ryan: I think it influences my work in the sense that it is intellectual companionship. These writers think at an exciting level for me. It makes my brain work at a deep level and accelerates my thinking.

CSM: What does writing in free verse offer you as a writer?

Ryan: I don’t know if I would call it free verse. When I think of free verse, I certainly don’t think of something as highly rhymed as my work.

When I am writing, each word that I use in some sense calls to other words. It calls to its sound family so that all of these words come clamoring, take my mind into new directions. I am trying to do one thing, say trying to describe an aspect of loss, trying to explain it, and then all sorts of words become present in my mind that take my thinking in new directions even as I am still trying to go along that original path. So I get redirected by rhyme. It is a very fortunate thing. As Milan Kundera noted, ‘writing has to be better than our regular mind; some operation has to occur by which we are made better than ourselves.’ So for me one of the great properties of rhyme, is that it simply enlarges my thinking.

CSM: Did you have problems when you were first incorporating rhyme into your work, because for a long time it was considered a faux pas?

Ryan: Two things were great impediments to my reception as a poet. One was my deep affection for very playful, unpredictable rhymes. The other was that I like jokes and amusement in my poems. I don’t know if my poems are as amusing as they used to be but I always need to amuse myself in some way. So the tone of my poems might have seemed not sufficiently grave to those who need poetry to be this serious pursuit. I think poetry can deal with grave matters without being grave.

CSM: Many of your poems seem to lack descriptive adjectives. Is this intentional?

Ryan: Is that right?

CSM: You don’t describe things extensively, though you do use some adjectives like “green” regularly.

Ryan: I love to hear this–did you count my words? You know somebody did that once; they had a computer program that analyzed word usage. It is so weird. I don’t remember what they found but I would love it if green showed up as a major word. I was thinking of Elizabeth Bishop recently and she uses the word pink a lot.

CSM: What is your favorite thing about being a poet?

Ryan: Having access to parts of my mind that I can’t reach in any other way. I love writing and it is still a perfect source of private amusement for me.

CSM: You took on the second year of the laureateship in order to help you get through the loss of Carol, and I was wondering if the poetry is still coming to you anyway, if there are poems at the back of your brain going ‘ok, let’s write/talk about this?’

Ryan: I am the kind of writer that…I don’t know if I have anything to write about until I sit down to start. I don’t seem to be the type of person who is knitting away at some project in the back of my mind. It may be that I am but I am lucky that if I sit down and put a few words down, I have a general direction to proceed.

CSM: What is the hardest thing for you to do as a poet?

Ryan: Interesting. I don’t know if I have ever been asked this before. I think the hardest thing is giving up on a poem that isn’t working. I often get invested in an idea and what I try to do is recognize when something has gotten blogged down, overly elaborate, stiff, or if it smells too much of the lamp, in other words, it is overworked. I’ll put away those pages and I try to start completely over on that same idea but I go about it in another way. Sometimes after all of that frustration, I will be able to do something simpler that works.

CSM: You have said that your late spouse, Carol Adair was your “strongest advocate and your single companion in your poetry life. How did she support and sustain your work as a writer on a daily basis and how has her death affected your work?

Ryan: You just asked a question that will take me the rest of my life to answer but I will try to answer it superficially. She helped me over the almost endless hump of trying to get my work accepted. We started living together in 1979, and there were many years, probably half of that time, I was getting nowhere. Carol would insist that I give her packages of my work, a list of publications and she would send them out for me because it was so discouraging for me. She would say ‘ok, we’ll send out 100 packages and hope for one acceptance; one in a hundred that would be our goal. Harden your heart, she’d tell me.’ Carol made it possible. I would just be too discouraged. She helped me continue. She was the backbone. She always believed in the work and never doubted it, even the early work that I, myself, didn’t think was very impressive. There are times I wonder why she believed in it . I don’t know what would have happened to my life and work had she not been there.

Since 1990, the Connections Literary Series has held readings featuring national award-winning contemporary writers, poets and artists who share their work and time with residents of Southern Maryland. All readings begin at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $5, general admission. Tickets are available through the CSM Box Office, 301-934-7828. . For information call, 301-934-7864 or 301-870-2309, Ext. 7864 for Charles County; 240-725-5499, Ext. 7864 for St. Mary’s County or 443-550-6199, Ext. 7864 for Calvert County or visit http://www.csmd.edu/Connections/.

“Wandering Souls” Finding Peace

Mary J. Lohnes, Writer – College of Southern Maryland

In war, promotion is easy; conquer and destroy while avoiding the bullets, the bombs and the treacherous terrain. At home, there are no promotions or awards for navigating through the landmines of war. It is a journey of memories, a battle of “Wandering Souls.” College of Southern Maryland professor and author Wayne Karlin’s newest book “Wandering Souls,” reflects on the struggle of veteran Homer Steedly Jr. to find peace for himself and the family of Hoang Ngoc Dam, a man he killed in Viet Nam.

Wayne Karlin is the author of ten books including “Wandering Souls,” “Marble Mountain,” “War Movies” “The Wished-For Country,” “Prisoners” and “Rumors and Stones.” He has been the recipient of numerous awards including five State of Maryland Awards for fiction, two National Endowment of the Arts Fellowships, the e Paterson Prize for fiction and an Excellence in the Arts Award from the Vietnam Veterans of America. His work has appeared in numerous media forms including journals, newspapers and movies. Karlin, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including a tour in Vietnam in 1966-1967 as a helicopter gunner, has taught at the CSM for more than 20 years.

Homer Steedly, Jr. started his Vietnam combat service as a second lieutenant leading the 1st Platoon of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. In October 1969, after a series of promotions and reenlistment, Steedly assumed command of Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

On March 19, 1969, Steedly turned a bend in a trail in the Pleiku Province and came face to face with a North Vietnamese soldier. Armed, they stared at each other for a split-second, before Steedly shot first, killing the 24-year-old medic Hoang Ngoc Dam.

Searching the body, Steedly found several small notebooks and papers which he took and sent home to his mother in North Carolina. For thirty-five years, Steedly’s memories and Dam’s papers stayed hidden until his mom returned them to him. Karlin, a friend of Steedly helped him locate Dam’s family.

As part of CSM’s Connections Literary Series, Karlin will read from his new book “Wandering Souls,” which tells the story of Steedly and Dam’s fateful meeting, the returning of Dam’s documents and Steedly’s return to Viet Nam to meet the family of the man he killed. The reading will begin at 7:30 p.m., March 5, at CSM’s Leonardtown Campus, Building A, Auditorium.

In preparation for CSM’s Connections program, Karlin and Steedly discussed memory, confronting your past and how to help veterans work their way through the healing process.

CSM: Wayne, you once asked fellow writer Tim O’Brien why he continues to write about Viet Nam and it’s effects, and his response was “it validates my memory.” Why do you keep returning to Viet Nam as subject matter?

Karlin: For one thing, because war and its aftermath provide a writer with intense situations which dramatize basic human dilemmas. For another, the mind-sets and kind of decisions that got us into the Vietnam war, the particular situations of that war and the kind of damages it caused, are all are being repeated; and finally, when you are a writer, and when part of your own experience stemmed from an experience which was seminal and self-defining for your generation and your country, I believe there is a responsibility to write about it.

CSM: Wayne, as I was reading I was very touched by your concern and caring for Homer, esp. when you brought him back to meet Dam’s family. Were there times when you almost abandoned writing this book?

Karlin: Many times, particularly after I brought the documents back–without Homer–and then he decided we should go back and he should meet the family. It seemed he had come to peace with many things after he saw (through film and my description) how much the document return had meant to and helped the family come to their own peace, and I was constantly afraid that actually meeting them, and then going back to the former battlefields, would undo that healing. As it turned out, my fears were unrealized.

CSM: You have worked on this project for more than five years, after all this time what is the thing that surprised you the most and why?

Karlin: The grace and courage of Homer in his effort to face the past, to carry its weight and make something good come from it, and the grace and courage of the Hoang family and a Vietnamese village, so willing to take into their hearts a former enemy and bring the war to an end.

CSM: Wayne, you appear in the second half of the book and periodically in the beginning. As a fellow vet, how hard was it for you in the first half of the book to not include your own experiences of Viet Nam?

Karlin: I wanted the book to be primarily the story of Homer and Dam–the American G.I. and the North Vietnamese soldier he killed, and I wanted as much as possible to stay out of the story. I only intrude into the second part of the book because I had to become part of the story, when I returned the documents Homer had taken from Dam’s body to the Hoang family and when I went to meet and travel with them and Homer. At that point, some of my own experiences were relevant.

Steedly: I think there is a lot of personal story there for Wayne as well. I think my return to Viet Nam affected him almost as deeply as it did me. It was a healing experience. We all have demons to put to rest.

CSM: Wayne, in the book, you respond to Dr. Jonathan Shay’s theory that what keeps some soldiers from committing atrocities is “moral luck” by arguing that “What you do depends on not where you are but on what you bring with you to that place.” Could you discuss this idea further?

Karlin: Shay contended that under the “right” pressures, anyone would commit an atrocity. Yet we see that even in the worst incidents, such as the My Lai massacre, there were soldiers in the exact same environment, under the same pressures, who resisted participation. If we accept that something in their background helped them to do so, we can ask what kind of training and pre-conditioning might be cultivated systematically. If we accept such behavior as inevitable for everyone, then there is nothing we can do about it.

CSM: In this same passage Karlin writes, “What you do depends not on where you are but on what you bring with you to that place.” Homer, what did you bring with you when you returned to Viet Nam that allowed you to confront your past and meet with Dam’s family?

Steedly: The sense of doing the right thing more than anything else. There is a family that didn’t know what had happened to one of their family members. It was only right that I go back and explain as much as I could about it.

CSM: Wayne, time and memory play a large role in this book and you even include a discussion with the Vietnamese writer Bao Ninh who describes early Viet Nam war literature as being “the ghost of war.” Do you feel like the passing of time allows for greater truths to be told or do you feel like time is a hindrance to memory and truth?

Karlin: Time, of course, is the great enemy of memory. But on the other hand it can allow for contemplation of meaning. Homer had forgotten many details of his service;  it was a survival mechanism–he’d even put out of his mind the fact he had sent home to his mother the documents he’d taken off Dam’s body. But the reality was that all of it had just stayed buried, and still affected him deeply. When he saw the documents again, after 35 years, as when he saw some of the battlefield where he fought, it all came back vividly, was all just waiting beneath a thin membrane of memory.

CSM: Homer, when you returned home, you didn’t talk about the war because you were afraid people wouldn’t believe you or would discount your experiences. What would you say to our current returning vets about your years of silence?

Steedly: They should find other vets, not necessarily even from the same war, but find other vets because those are the people you can talk to. You can’t talk to civilians about combat. You just can’t’. It horrifies them to even think that you did those kinds of things and are now walking around loose. It doesn’t work. You need to find someone you can talk to without having to couch your words, or hold back your thoughts or tame up your language. Another vet can read between the lines, knows what you are talking about and has had the same feelings you’ve had or are having. I recently went to the 4th Infantry Division Reunion in St. Louis and met with 150 or so vets from the Viet Nam war and within five minutes you are talking openly and in detail about things you haven’t spoken of in 40 years. You feel comfortable because you don’t have to explain yourself or justify yourself. They know where you have been and that is what these vets need so I encourage them to go to the Veteran’s Administration and vet centers and talk with people who have been in your shoes and talk your language and don’t do what I did and wait 40 years to do it.

Also, I do think that of all the tragedies, the biggest tragedy of war is not the affect it has had on the vets, tragic as that is, but the effect it has had on their friends, families and spouses because when these vets came back they were different and it affects everyone around them. Any woman who stayed with a man who has lived through combat, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and all it brings deserve a medal.

CSM: Wayne, as we see the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veteran suicides increasing, how can a story like this change the public and the military’s response to those who are afflicted? How would you like to see this disease dealt with?

Karlin: Like Homer just said, when he came back from the war, he tried to talk to people about it, but soon found that no one wanted to listen, either because they were indifferent–felt it had nothing to do with them, or because he disturbed the more comfortable images they wanted to have. Because of this, the experience always remains inside, creates in oneself the feeling of being a pariah, outside the community–one can’t come home. In his case, as in many, it led to self-destructive, suicidal behavior. When Homer and I went to Vietnam last year, we helped the Hoang family find, disinter, bring to light, commemorate, and then rebury in peace the remains of the man Homer killed. That process–not literally of course, but in essence and pattern, is what an individual, and a country, has to do to bring men and women home from war. The community has to be willing to listen, to share the experience and be changed by it–and even to make something positive come out of it–in order for the soldier to truly come home.

CSM: Homer, how do you think families and the public can help returning soldiers?

Steedly: Good question, not sure I know the answer. Talk with another vet. Of course, when you come back that is the last thing you want to do. You want to return to a normal life. I think the military does a better job of encouraging vets to attend counseling which is a good idea because you aren’t going to do it voluntarily. It is too fresh and painful for you to want to go there. But at some point they really do need to talk about and touch their emotions. I was afraid of my emotions. I had so much anger and rage in me that I was afraid that if someone said something wrong to me I might go and kill someone. When I first came back, I never had a weapon far away and I had a real fortunate incident where I realized that my combat instincts might lead me to kill someone, but stopped in time and realized the danger.

Try to understand that it is scary coming back. You are coming back from a place with no rules and you are coming home to a place of rules. My solution for PTSD was that I became a workaholic. I worked six of seven days a week, twelve-fourteen-sixteen hours a day. I loved working with computers, was good at it and didn’t mind working like a maniac but that is how I dealt with it. I was so busy I didn’t have time to think about Vietnam. I think that is how a lot of veterans handle it.

Sooner or later, it has to be dealt with because the littlest of things can bring it back. I thought I was perfectly normal; just a shy farm boy living 30 miles out-of-town in the country in a trailer by myself, who didn’t make eye contact or talk to anyone. I thought I was coping well but now I know I had all the classic symptoms of PTSD. Of course, if someone had talked me into seeking counseling I might have gone once or twice to be polite but that would have been the end of it.

My healing has been quite dramatic and I am now in touch with hundreds of vets via email and phone. It has gotten to the point where I feel like I am back in a leadership role, back helping my troops.

When I returned to Viet Nam and talked with two North Vietnamese vets I had fought with in battle (against one another). I learned that they see themselves as freedom fighters fighting against a corrupt government. They have no animosity toward me or other soldiers now even though at the time they saw us as a foreign invader. They understand that my country sent me over there and that soldiers do what they have to in combat. It’s something to return forty years later, trade rice wine and opposing views of the same battles with your former enemy.

CSM: Homer, how do you describe your return to Viet Nam to fellow veterans who may be too scared or filled with anger to return?

Steedly: I come across two types of veterans; some are in tune with what I did and applaud me for it and yet there are others who still see the Vietnamese as an evil hoard, as inhumane killers and monsters and that is the way they have to see them because if they didn’t they can’t live with the things they did. They can live with it as long as they believe that those people deserved to die. Think about this, I was a Christian and seriously believed in the tenant that ‘thou shall not kill’ and suddenly I was half-way around the world in a situation where people were trying to kill me. In order to survive, I had to kill. When I came back to the states, I was a killer out on the street but no one knew it. War changes you forever. It is a break in your sense of reality and it is hard to get back from that.

CSM: Homer, how does working on your website (http://www.swampfox.info/) and sharing your war experiences help the healing process?

Steedly: On the website, I try to give enough personal experience to give people a feel for combat but I try to concentrate on the stories of day-to-day military life. I try to give the veterans a forum to help them tell their story, many of whom are still deeply suffering from PTSD, having flashbacks, nightmares etc. I don’t think most people realize how few Americans actually went to Viet Nam. I want people to understand how futile and irrational and horrible war is but at the same time see what incredibly brave and courageous and good-hearted people were on both sides of that war.

I try to focus the stories on the camaraderie and big snakes anecdotes we all experienced. The day-to-day stuff they don’t remember because when you come back from combat and you try to think about that time, the memories that come back immediately and that overwhelm you are the horrors, the terrors and tragedies because they are the most deeply engrained. Most vets get flashbacks and then try to back away from remembering. You don’t want to think about it anymore. So I try to focus on the good times and we did share good times and amazing experiences together. Good bonding experiences. When vets read those, then they are encouraged to share and this is what they need to do, they need to work slowly through the times. They need to remember the good friends they had. You know the bonds we made over there are stronger than most of us experience in our lifetimes, with the exception of maybe your spouse or your parents. You trust your fellow soldier implicitly. If you turn your back, you know that the man behind you will give his life if necessary. Those kinds of bonds are hard to explain. I like to tell them that if they will meet with other vets they will feel that bonding and sense of belonging again. I think veterans miss that feeling because we lost that bonding, we returned to the world but we didn’t belong here either; we weren’t the same people who left. We walk among you but we are different.

My hope and dream is to live long enough that the last war will be something that old people remember and young people think is something quaint they study in history class. There are better ways of solving problems; war creates more problems than it solves. Think of all of the incredible people who have died in war on both sides and imagine what they could have contributed to the world if only they had been able to live. What a waste.

© College of Southern Maryland, 2010

Andrew Wodzianski Mimics Horror Flick

 This year marks the 50^th anniversary of William Castle’s classic B-horror flick “House on Haunted Hill,” a movie in which five guests are invited to spend the night with a man and his wife in the house they share; a house full of secrets, deception and murder. If they survive, they will each receive $10,000. Artist Andrew Wodzianski has survived more than a night with the haunted house, producing the exhibition “House,” and will treat five guests to his own form of reward as part of this month’s gallery show, costume party and fundraiser at Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, D.C.

CSM Associate Professor Andrew Wodzianski has produced 13 pieces of artwork, 11 of which are paintings which depict the sets and props of William Castle’s classic B-horror flick “House on Haunted Hill.” His exhibit, “House,” runs at Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, D.C. Oct. 8 – Nov. 7. For information on Wodzianski’s show and other Flashpoint Gallery events, visit http://www.flashpointdc.org/ or contact Emma Fisher at 202-315-1312 or emma@culturaldc.org.

  

“I want to mimic the complexity of guest manipulation that is depicted in the film,” said Wodzianski. “Art lovers being pulled through the city looking for riches. It is going to be a deathly fun party,” said Wodzianski, an associate professor at the College of Southern Maryland’s Prince Frederick Campus since 2005. He believes art should encourage a conversation with its audience, and often incorporates interactivity into his exhibits.

 

For his current exhibit, Wodzianski spent months during the film’s anniversary year exploring its underlying tones portrayed through the film’s interior sets and props. His efforts have resulted in 13 pieces of artwork, 11 of which are paintings which depict the movie’s sets and props and which will be on exhibit at Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, D.C. Oct. 8- Nov. 7.

 

“I had wanted to do some work based on old film stock but I didn’t know how I wanted to handle it. The film is humble but its themes of decadence, greed, turncoats and depravity resonate and remain relevant today and even though it is a “B-flick” there is a moral lesson underlying the story,” he said.

 

 “Nothing over the top, no moments of obviousness,” Wodzianski said of the paintings, just closing doors, a set of gates, the chandelier and its spider web of shadows. “I wanted to grace these paintings with a sense of macabre, something subtle and eerie; that quality of dread you feel in a dark hall or an empty street.”

 

Since the movie is public domain, Wodzianski could play with the images as much as he wanted. Viewing the movie projected on a wall, he would pause it whenever a sequence caught his eye and take a picture, which he would make into drawings and then back into photos. All of the images were blown up, manipulated, cropped, elongated and tightened multiple times in the process. “I was interested in the distortion that takes place, when you take an object and show it in a new context. When you manipulate an image over and over again, it becomes something singular,” he said.

 

While the film is in black and white, Wodzianski applied white paint onto pastel tinted canvases. The pastel was applied so minimally and specifically that the result is that the paintings look like an overexposed world where “horrific little flowers disappear depending on the angle and distance at which you stand. There is something truly ethereal about the paintings and it seems fitting since the movie is about a haunted house and all the little secrets we leave buried,” he said.

 

According to John Cozzoli at Zombos Closet of Horrors, Castle was the ultimate gimmickmister who took”film distribution seriously: his melodramatic send-ups of spook show horror clichés, done in remarkable shadings of darkness and light, accompanied by shrill screams and throaty groans, were family friendly terrors Joey and Janey could enjoy while their older siblings smooched in the back rows with their boyfriends and girlfriends. The film’s haunted-house-ride styled opening, with the screen staying dark as a piercing scream rips through the theater, followed by moaning and chains clanking, was astutely tailored for those smoochers.”

 

As a tribute, Wodzianski will engage in some gimmickery of his own. As part of the opening reception for his Flashpoint Gallery solo “House,” on Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C., he will mirror the actions of the film’s star Vincent Price and invite the public to spend the evening in the gallery and participate in their host’s possibly sinister scavenger hunt. Clues will be made available on opening night through the reception “stewards,” (several nurses and a funeral director) with additional clues given to guests that register for their host’s (Wodzianski) Twitter feed http://twitter.com/househuntDC.

 

Clues will come in the form of five riddles over three weeks. Solved clues will lead the scavengers to five secret physical locations; the first person to arrive at each location will receive an invitation for them and a guest to attend Flashpoint Gallery’s fund-raising costume party and a special Halloween After-Party Oct. 30. The after-party will include a private screening of “House on Haunted Hill” and the five attendees will receive a painting from the exhibit.

 

Wodzianski’s “House” exhibition runs at Flashpoint Gallery Oct. 8 – Nov. 7. For information on Wodzianski’s show and other Flashpoint Gallery events, visit http://www.flashpointdc.org/. For information on Wodzianski’s third solo exhibit at the Fraser Gallery, “Abra Cadaver,” Oct. 9 to Nov. 14, visit www.thefrasergallery.com. To view Wodzianski’s other paintings, visit http://www.wodzianski.com/. For information on CSM, visit www.csmd.edu.

 

©College of Southern Maryland, 2009