Embracing Technology to Share One's Passion

On Saturday, February 8th at 7:00 p.m. at the Gillette Nature Center at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park in Norton Shores, Michigan, I will be introducing the second edition of Tiny Treasures: Discoveries Made Along the Lake Michigan Coast. In this artistic combination of writing and photography, I share my transition from life working for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to one pausing to celebrate, share, and protect even the tiniest treasures of Nature. 

The second edition, which includes over one hundred photographs, new reflections inspired by wildflowers, and an updated list of plants harmful to the eastern Lake Michigan region, is NOW available for Mac and iPad users on iBooks. It capitalizes on Apple's multi-touch technology. An eBook edition will be available early February from most internet book stores including iTunes, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. 

While I admit I do not own a smart phone or smart car and still purchases the majority of books from local shops, I decided to create an ebook as a way to cost-effectively share my passion for Nature’s treasures with a larger audience. A woman in my early sixties, I acknowledge the experience was akin to being dropped in a country where the majority speak a language I did not understand.

However, I believe technology is a tool Nature’s storytellers and artists must use to share with others the unique but fragile beauty of our dunes, our lakes, rivers, native plants, and wildlife found along Michigan’s shores. When we pause to celebrate Nature’s gifts, we are more inclined to find creative ways to protect them.

After discussions with Elizabeth Tillman, Park Naturalist at Gillette Nature Center, and Stephen Parent, the business manager at the Apple Store Woodland Mall, I can see a day when people swipe their phones over bar code readers near exhibits to enrich one’s experience at the park. My hope is that the center’s website will become a source of apps, ebooks, and videos that make it easy for Michigan’s residents, visitors, and children to learn about western Michigan’s many treasures. But the first step is raising money to update the antiquated audiovisual equipment in the center’s 80-person auditorium. 

Admittedly, I never noticed wildflowers until I embarked on a journey hiking, biking and camping alone up the eastern coast of Lake Michigan. But when I began photographing the wildflowers, something shifted inside me. I found my priorities changed, ideas magically appeared, the intensity of issues dissolved, and I was at peace. In sharing my writing and photography, I hope others will feel the same.

The February 8th presentation is part of the “Making Tracks” program which includes snow shoe hikes at 5:00 p.m followed by appetizers, locally-crafted beverages and presentations by Tillman and me at 7:00.

To contribute to the fund-raising campaign to upgrade the visitor center’s technology, visit the Gillette Nature Association website at http://gillettenature.org or send a check made out to the Gillette Nature Association, c/o Elizabeth Tillman, Gillette Nature Center, 6585 Lake Harbor Rd. Norton Shores, MI 49441.

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