HEADED INTO THE WIND

University of New Mexico Press, 288 pages, $27.95 The legendary Jack Loeffler penned a memoir that whisks through decades of his life as an environmentalist, historian, writer, and radio producer, as well as a husband, father, and friend. The West Virginia native divides his book into two parts, the first of which is a personal narrative and the other focusing on the voices of thinkers he admires on topics such as the counterculture movement, anarchy, and environmentalism. In short chapters, he offers snapshots of living in various regions: at a southern Arizona wildlife refuge; in California among bohemians; in a hogan with his first wife, Jean, among the Navajo; and in Carson National Forest as a fire lookout, where he fell in love with the Earth and all of its changing moods. His descriptions of the Southwestern ecosystem shine throughout. Other chapters delve into his thousands of field recordings of the songs and stories he captured of Hispanic and indigenous people of New Mexico. Two highlights are his transcriptions of conversations with environmental and literary luminaries (and friends) Gary Snyder and Edward Abbey. grew up in Oxford, England, the son of academics, though he eventually broke away from academia himself. At 18, he had an indescribable mystical experience that changed his life forever. Soon after, while traveling the world as a writer, he began studying and practicing meditation. His memoir takes us on a pilgrimage that landed him in New Mexico. His story is not short, he says. There are no shortcuts on the spiritual path. There may be moments of grace, like the one he experienced as a teenager, but his spiritual journey is one that stretches across decades and continues today. It’s also a healing journey. He says that along the way, his meditation practice cured him of eczema that plagued him in his youth and quieted his mind, eventually eliminating lifelong anxiety and depression and ultimately leading to inner and outer peace. of black coal that resemble Appalachia circa 1930, rather than the sunny Southwest he’d heard stories of. Wilson would go on to earn a master’s degree and Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico and work as a journalist at the Although he also taught journalism at the University of Cincinnati for 30 years, he eventually returned to Santa Fe, his city of refuge.