Photo courtesy of Meredith Leich.

Journal Articles

Peculiarly Human Faculties: Ritual communitas in the Appalachians (In Three Parts)

“Peculiarly Human Faculties” was published in the Spring 2024 issue (Volume 7, Number 1) of Portable Gray.

In the old-growth forest on Salt Pond Mountain in Virginia, a 15-minute ATV ride from the nearby scientific research station, lies a fallen silver maple tree that the scientists call the mothership. In the decade since its fall, bracket fungi—Fomes fomentarius, Ganoderma applanatum, Ganoderma tsugae—have set up shop, turning its xylem and phloem into nutrients and, eventually, back into soil.

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Image courtesy of Rachel Aka.

Image courtesy of Rachel Aka.

 
Photo by Jake Newell

Photo by Jake Newell