Other-Magazines

Bird Tracks

Occasionally I find the time to write invited or freelanced articles for magazines.  Though listed on my vitae, I reproduce the highlights below:

GENERAL INTEREST MAGAZINES

“New England stone walls deserve a science of their own,” UConn Today, January 3, 2004, (reprinted from The Conversation).

“New England stone walls lie at the intersection of history, archaeology, ecology and geoscience, and deserve a science of their own.”  The Conversation, Dec 4, 2003.

“How stone walls became a signature landform of New England,” Smithsonian, November 14, 2023.

“Forces of Nature”  Note: The bulleted 10 short essays were discrete and separately titled columns that the editor chose to print simultaneously under the heading “Forces of Nature,” the cover story for the November, 2022 issue of Connecticut Magazine titled “The Land.”

  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “Our Land,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 50-52.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “The Straits,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 52-53.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “The Shore,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 53-54.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “Diamond Pixels,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 54-55.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “The Hills,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 56.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “Rock Stars,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 57.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “Lakes Lost and Found,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 58.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “Crushing Insights,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 59.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “Revealing Climate’s Story,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 60-61.
  • Thorson, Robert M. 2022, “Land of Steady Habits,” Connecticut Magazine 85:11, 61.

“UConn Geoscience:  Earth’s Dynamic Planet,” UConn Early College Experience Magazine, (Brian Boecherer, Editor, University of Connecticut, Summer 2021, v 7, p. 8-9.

“What ‘Walden’ can tell us about social distancing and focusing on life’s essentials.” The Conversation, Dec 4, 2023.

“The Shape of Storrs,”  UConn Magazine, V 20, No 3, Fall, 2019, includes technical addendum online (About why glacial soil led to the foundation of the university).

“Thoreau’s great insight for the Anthropocene: Wildness is an attitude, not a place.” The Conversation, March 12, 2019.

“Walden’s Sense of Place,” Country Magazine, September, 2018.

“Rock On,” UConn Magazine, (online and print) and UCONN Today, online only, May, 2016, (This article is about former UCONN President Homer Babbidge, Jr., and his love for New England’s historic stone walls.)

“Loving Lakes to Death,” Natural History, July/August 2009, p. 48.

“A Revolutionary Wall.” Special Places: Quarterly Magazine of the Trustees of Reservations, 2009, v. 17, No. 3, p. 12-13.

“The Stone Walls of Hill-Stead,”  Hill-Stead Plant Book: Beatrix Farrand’s Sunken Garden. Copyright 2009 by Hill-Stead Museum, Paula Brisco, Ed., p. 29-30, ISBN 978-0-974445-6-9.

PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINES

“The Spirit of Kettle Lakes.”  LakeLine V. 30, No. 1, Spring 2010, p. 19-22.

“Did Thoreau Have Aspergers Syndrome?”  Thoreau Society Bulletin, 262, Spring 2009, p. 9-10.

“Meet the Lakes of the Northeast,”  Lakeline 27 (4): 25-29, 2008, by Samagugla, Amy P., Robert M. Thorson, and Neil Kamman. 2008,  ”

“A Mammoth Fascination with Proboscideans,” Cross Paths (Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center), v. 9, Issue 2, Summer, 2006, p. 6-7.

“Stone Walls Disappearing,” Connecticut Woodlands: The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, v. 69, No. 4, Winter, 2005.

“Jailhouse Rock,” GSA Today (Geological Society of America’s monthly magazine), Volume 14, No. 9, p. 30, 2004

“Preserving Stone Walls,”  Connecticut Preservation News, Vol. XXV, No. 5, Sept/Oct 2002, p. 11 and 16.

“The Perfect Flood?” (On the public sense of threat). National Public Radio News (WNPR) News Highlight, electronically published/archived at http://news.wnpr.org/xpr/feature.jhtml. p 1-4. May, 2001.

Photo:  Bird tracks in cement at Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, MA