Gabriel Coleman: The Midwinter Almanac

Gabriel holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and is currently finishing a M. Phil in Environmental History at Trinity College Dublin. They are an avid runner, bike-commuter, cook, and musician and write a weekly column for the newsletter Digestable. Whether farming veggies, making art and music, or conducting historical research Gabriel’s work is consistently motivated by a drive to connect people to one another and the world that surrounds us through environmental conversation.

Submission:

“The Midwinter Almanac” by Gabriel Coleman

I compiled this piece last year after experiencing my first birthday without snow on the ground. Growing up in a changing climate, the loss of the world I grew up in mingles with my loss of childhood to form a hybrid grief/nostalgia for a simpler time and a more predictable climate. The Midwinter Almanac is a small archive of snowy memories created in collaboration with friends and family from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York. It attempts to preserve what we’ve already begun to lose, like holding snow as it starts to thaw from the heat of your hand.