“A river trip in a boat is a magic carpet. It’s a ballet and you can feel in the oars what the river is saying. That’s the part that’s really hard for me to give up, that feeling of using all my knowledge and skills to dance on a river. If you’re a river runner, this is it, man…”
In the final chapter of his life, legendary river runner and activist Herm Hoops has the opportunity to take one last river trip through his treasured Desolation Canyon on the Green River. “Salad Days” gives us a rare glimpse of what it means when a person has the chance to reflect on a lifetime of passion and river running as they knowingly go through the stages of dying.

Psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason is a professor emerita at Boston University and a pioneer in the field of children’s language. Even as a child, Berko Gleason loved and connected with language. It also made a big impression on her how much her older brother, who suffered from cerebral palsy, struggled to be understood. Berko Gleason shares her Brief But Spectacular take on language.
Jessie Kanelos Weiner is a Franco-American illustrator, author and food stylist based in Paris and New York. Born and raised in Chicago, she was a costume designer in a previous life when picking up watercolor for the first time, developing her highly detailed, whimsical and instantly recognizable style. She is the coauthor of “Paris In Stride” (Rizzoli), author of “Edible Paradise”: A Coloring Book of Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables” (Universe) and 8 cookbooks published by Editions Marabout.
She is currently working on the next book in the “In Stride” series.
Seymour’s art was postmodern long before the term was coined. Yet it was resolutely modern in its rejection of the nostalgic and romantic representation, as in the acolytes of Norman Rockwell, that had been popular in mainstream advertising magazines at the time. Instead of prosaic or melodramatic tableau, Seymour emphasized clever concept. What makes the very best of his art so arresting, and so identifiable, is the tenacity of his ideas—simple, complex, rational, and even absurd ideas.
Thankfully, Willem Dafoe and Willem Dafoe’s face have used this innate recognisability to their joint advantage. To date, the actor has appeared in well over 100 films, and his prolific career can be charted through the cracks and comments — some nice, some not so nice — that those in the industry have made about his looks.