Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This
is Forest Stories. I am the Poet in the Forest,
a children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it wasn't for
this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I
talk about it so much that I thought maybe it's
time that you get to know what has inspired me
for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.
Welcome back to the forest. I just saw a neighbor
that I haven't seen in months. We've all been together
twenty five, thirty years inside this forest. And these two
who once had dogs and birds, are choosing to travel
the world, and they really do. Vietnam, Wherever, Hong Kong, Paris,
you name it. They travel the world. And so we
get the opportunity to see them maybe once every six
or seven months. And so I met up with Can
today and it was about catching up. It was about
getting older. It was about seeing how the forest has
changed so dramatically, and how new people who have moved
into it don't care and love for the trees as
much as we have. And you should see their beautiful
beautiful yard and collection of trees because they believe in
the same thing that I do, that trees are a
living thing and the plants that come with the trees
are living things as well, and you learn to respect them.
But what happened today was a rekindling of a friendship
that is twenty five to thirty years old inside this forest.
But it also brought attention to what happens when it
changes more and more, meaning we're getting old and in
the transitions of life. You can't transfer the love you
have for trees and wild weeds to those who will
gather what it is that you left behind, A thought
that has been planted inside my soul with the idea
of what can I do to help change this? And
is there anything that we as a community can do
to help change this. Of course, my long term vision
of this forest is to do one thing, to buy
up all the land and turn it into a park
for writers, for thinkers, directors, musicians a place to come
and write. But I think that's selfish of me when
I say that just because I do all of that
doesn't mean the rest of the world does. But it
is a dream. This forest in South Charlotte to allow
it to become that place of positive energy, and to
invite people who want to love the trees and the
wild weeds to come here and to help protect it
long after I'm gone. Thanks for being a part of
the conversation.