Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen When We’re in the Middle of the Story (Terry Tempest Williams)
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Mar 5, 2026 Terry Tempest Williams, author and conservationist celebrated for lyrical nature writing, joins to discuss The Glorians and the lessons it grew from. She recounts a pandemic dream that sparked the book. They explore grief, grace as unexpected gifts, community response to environmental decline, and the surprising people and rituals that sustain collective care.
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How A Pandemic Dream Sparked The Glorians
- The Glorians concept began from a pandemic dream that named an obligation Terry Tempest Williams felt to remember a vow and notice moments of unexpected grace.
- The dream on May 20, 2020 prompted a book-length quest to name everyday instances where attention fuses with another being.
Faith With Works Over Abstract Hope
- Terry distinguishes faith from hope, arguing faith plus action matters more than hopeful desire when facing environmental crises.
- She invokes her great-grandmother's saying “faith without works is dead” to justify engagement like 'all hands on deck' for Great Salt Lake.
A Community Walk That Shifted Priorities
- Castle Valley neighbors of different politics walked the 'path of water' together after five flash floods, shifting from property arguments to collective care.
- A Mormon patriarch asked “where does the water want to go?”, drawing ~70 people to map solutions across rugged terrain.
