Tag: Trees

Opinion Journalism

Oct 13, 2025

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by

Ben East

in Blogs, Book Reviews, Foreign Affairs, Government Studies, Nature, Nonfiction, Peace Corps, Podcast, Politics, Profiles in Service, Travel, Washington, Weather

A brief pivot from Peace Corps profiles to pressing matters of climate change and opinion journalism.
Poisonwood

Apr 11, 2017

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by

Ben East

in Blogs, Writing

A nightmare tree grows in the hammock jungle along Route One of Fat Deer Key. Poisonwood. Its touch will boil the skin; its toxin, when burned, will sear the lungs; its berries, if ingested, will sour the gut. At mile 56 the Poisonwood grows alongside its antidote, the Gumbo Limbo. Folk medicine has it the remedy should be…