Desert writers receive honors in Central Oregon

The High Desert Museum was the perfect place to host the June 27 Waterston Desert Writing Prize awards event. In its fourth year, the contest was named after actor Sam Waterston. His sister, Ellen Waterston, founded the contest in 2015 and hosted the evening's program.

Along with readings from winner Patrick Mondaca and finalist Kathryn Wilder, the event featured a panel discussion focusing on desert issues, moderated by Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis.

Panelists included experts in desert literature, geology, documentary filmmaking, farming and archeology. At the conclusion of the thought-provoking conversation, Ellen Waterston introduced finalist Kathryn Wilder who traveled from her ranch in Dolores, Colorado.

Wilder read from her submission, "These Seasons of Disappointment: Cows in the Desert." Her piece was chosen as one of two finalists in the competition. Finalist Diana Woodcock was unable to attend the event. Woodcock's submission, "The Gobi Desert and its Muslim Inhabitants," told the story of the Gobi Desert and the Hui, and the Silk Road that passed through the area on the way to the Orient.

Wilder read an excerpt from her winning piece, describing preparations for her cattle's arrival to their winter range. Outsmarting a hulking, trespassing bull, sagging barbed-wire fences and chores getting harder for her aging body gave listeners a taste of ranching life. Her family raises Criollo cattle on their desert range land. Wilder is a desert writer who writes about wild mustangs and raising beef cattle in a more environmentally conscious way.

"We raise a breed of cattle that's smaller than European breeds. The Criollo are desert-adapted; they browse and don't need grass. They're more like deer, elk or mustangs." she explained.

In her submission, Wilder asked the question, "Can we raise cattle without destroying the soil?" She admits there are similar issues for mustangs and cattle.

"We sell grass-fed, finished beef. We do it with extreme awareness of the environment. The desert is way more sensitive than huge rangelands."

Wilder described her reaction to learning she was finalist.

"I was thrilled, honored, flattered and surprised," she said. "It's important to me as a writer of desert-based literature to have my writing noticed and honored. Besides how I live my life it's how I can help the desert environments. If someone like Ellen Waterston notices my writing that's great."

The winner of this year's contest came from a very different desert experience. Military veteran Patrick Mondaca is from New Jersey. Prior to his deployment to Iraq, he was much more familiar with places like New England and Canada. His submission, "Adjustment Disorder," is a memoir about his discovery of personal peace in the Sudanese desert.

In 2003, Mondaca served in Baghdad as a sergeant with the Connecticut Army National Guard's 143rd Military Police Company. When asked how the desert landscape brought him healing, he explained that his religious upbringing imbued the desert with a spiritual element that deeply impacted him.

"Looking up into the vast space within the stars and realizing that something out there created it all. Feeling like a small speck in the middle of it and just in awe," were ways he described his experience in the Sudanese desert.

Mondaca could relate to World War I British soldier and author T.E. Lawrence's writing about the desert's powerful impact.

"I've read accounts from T.E. Lawrence about his explorations of the Arab culture. There was a healing, cleansing element to it," said Mondaca. "I wrote an essay of the healing aspect of the desert life and what Lawrence had observed."

Modern-day soldiers have many things in common with their predecessors, but today there's a deeper understanding and more conversations about the after-effects of warfare.

"Something that they couldn't know about was moral injury," said Mondaca.

Doing humanitarian work in the desert landscape of Darfur brought Mondaca relief.

"There's a soothing, cleansing feeling from moral injury after being in combat," he said.

His humanitarian work in Darfur brought healing.

"There was a need to atone somehow," he said. "Our efforts to unite the Arab tribes and learn the Arab culture brought a sense of atonement."

Mondaca received a $2,000 cash award and a residency at PLAYA in Summer Lake. He's excited about the residency and a second visit to Oregon.

"I'm looking forward to talking with other writers and meeting folks who live this life every day," he said.

For more information visit www.waterstondesertwritingprize.org.