It’s difficult to say what draws a man to the woods. No doubt the reasons lie deeply embedded in
those long helical strands of DNA that through a miracle of combinations and
fusions creates the person. Perhaps this
is where the soul resides. As such the
soul never dies but simply becomes infused once again in the genetic matrix
from which life blooms anew and passions grow once again. I cannot recall a day of my life where
anything other than the woods ruled my emotions; it was the very fever that
drove me. Society wanted to school me
according to its standards; the object of course conformity. But the woodsman seeks other forms of
knowledge. The woodsman yearns for quiet
and solitude in hidden places. The woodsman
(or woman) hears music and poetry of a different sort; and reads a language
that cannot be uttered by the tongue but only by the heart. So please allow me to introduce you to The Sand Sheet, my latest book. It’s about my life at the edge of a world
known intimately by only a few. In my
world nature is kept close, surrounded as I am by thick woods and silence. Yes, the text includes bushcraft from bows and
knives and secret camps to long treks along meandering trails. But there are also stories of the people who
cross this waterless land every year only to succumb to the heat and eventually
die of dehydration. There are stories of
the Indians who lived here thousands of years ago; and stories about my search
to learn what hardwoods they used to make their hunting implements. From the occasional wanderer I might
encounter lost and frightened and near death to Central American gang members’
intent on thievery or worse. Then there
are the coyotes (people smugglers)
who ply their trade beneath the eyes of the US Border Patrol. The occasional Homeland Security helicopter
hovering in the distance, a beam of light shooting from heaven to earth in
search of smugglers and wanderers. Most
nights, however, the only sounds are the whistles of pauraques and hoots of owls. Yes, there are the times when giant
rattlesnakes come to break hearts and steal lives. But above it all are the woods, that world
that I belong to and that belongs to me.
THE SAND SHEET
Arturo Longoria
Forward by M. Jimmie
Killingsworth
More than two million acres of sand, born and blown from an
ancient sea beginning about ten thousand years ago, stretch across eight
counties in deep South Texas. Known as the
Coastal Sand Plain, the Texas Coastal Sand Sheet, or the Sand Sheet, it is a
region of few people, little rainfall, and no water. Among the dunes and dry, brown flats, only the
hardiest scrubs and grasses provide habitat for coyotes, quail that live here.
Arturo Longoria, whose cabin sits amid the sand scrub and
desert motts of granjeno, brasil, and mesquite, knows this land
intimately. A student of bushcraft and
natural history, Longoria found refuge in this remote and hostile country as he
recovered from a rare illness. He weaves
a story as the backdrop for a steady migration of long distance “travelers,”
who cross the border and into el desierto
at great peril.
This book is about a harsh and dangerous landscape that has nonetheless
given sustenance and solace to a writer for whom the Sand Sheet became both his
home and his inspiration.
ARTURO LONGORIA is a writer and former journalist and
teacher. He is the author of two
award-winning books of non-fiction, Adios
to the Brushlands and Keepers of the Wilderness.
What Readers Are Saying:
“For those of us who treasure the natives and nature of Deep
South Texas, it is a blessing to have Arturo Longoria as our own Aldo Leopold
meets James Michener. The Sand Sheet provides personal, and
factual, insights into the nature and natural history just north of the Rio
Grande.” –Colleen Hook, Director of
Quinta Mazatlan-McAllen, Texas
“His book is a warning that “Destroy the plants and you
ultimately destroy yourself.” But he
offers hope that if a visitor can listen and wait for nature, it reveals the truth. The book is as prosaic in its rendering of a kaleidoscope
of nature as it is wise in his quest for truth.
But his special gift is the journey that he takes the reader into an experience
of beauty that cannot be imagined. His message
is that unless a person accepts this nature on its own terms, he will never
recognize it when nature reveals itself in the quiet retreat of a gray fox into
the dusk. He is anxious to warn us about
losing our earth, and he wants finally to know truth. The author
has found himself deep in the Sand
Sheet, and he is dying to share it with us.” –Andres Tijerina, author of Tejano Empire
“I knew Arturo Longoria first through his book Adios to the Brushlands followed by Keepers of the Wilderness and more
recently The Trail. Spellbound, I wanted to meet this author,
but I was told that he didn’t spend time in the public. Years went by before I finally met him by
coincidence at a native plant project where I learned that I also live in the Texas
Sand Sheet. Our love for the South Texas
native land, native plants, and all things old and natural quickly bonded us as
fast friends. Arturo Longoria
articulates what I know and love through his eloquent writing, especially in The Sand Sheet, and I always look
forward to our next contact with eager anticipation, whether phone call, text
message, or in-person visit. –Ruth Hoyt, Photographer, Friend, Colleague.
The Sand Sheet is poignant proof that Longoria’s
first book, Adios to the Brushlands was
a misnomer. He could no longer say
goodbye to the South Texas brushland than he could still his beating
heart. The harsh yet beautiful brushland
is part of his very being, a powerful p art of who he is. It explains why he chooses to live and write
about the inhospitable yet beautiful edge of the desolate South Texas sand
sheet. Though most of us would never
choose to live there, to see it through his eyes and in his words, is a
revelation and a treasure. Longoria sees
more keenly and feels more deeply.” –Jim Chapman, Chair of the Lower Rio Grande
Valley Sierra Club.
