Field Notes: August 17, 2025 Location: Scree terrace below Greater Chimgan, Western Tien Shan, Uzbekistan ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Encounter Summary: High on the pale gravel I met Tripudiflora aurumtaeniata, known to goat herders as “Goldstep Trio,” each creature palm-sized, lacquer-yellow limbs and a saddle set with maroon pods veined like filigree. The first walked from the shadow of my pack; two more stepped from the rocks as if drawn by a cue only they heard. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ They approached one another a

In partnership with Huston Tillotson University, Highlander presents a free screening of “SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT” by Johan Grimonprez (2024) From the Congo to Harlem and back again, Johan Grimonprez’s kinetic, urgent documentary delivers the politics of decolonization in jazz form, replete with virtuosic archival riffs, historical text in the form of Blue Note album covers, and musical performances by jazz legends (Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone) who in the ‘60s doubled as cu