My Step-Father Sean died at the end of this summer. Looking back I wish I'd gotten to know him better, all I ever saw was someone who was very sick. I didn't see all the things he knew, and now sometimes I find myself wanting to know things about knife fights, or dog training, and he just isn't there. Sean was a gutter-punk, chef, husband, tree remover, a hell of a lot of other things, but most of all he was honest to a fault. I interviewed him in 2010 for my Trees class and found a side of him I hadn't know.
“I didn't particularly enjoy cutting down trees, but the ones we did cut down were sick, or dangerous. They could fall down on a house or something, I would never just run into the forest and start cutting down trees willy-nilly. Trees are every bit as much a part of the world as every thing else. Including humans... I don't mean that humans and trees are the same; you can't just go cutting down humans when they get sick. But trees can't be taken for granted either. For example I would rather that parking lots be built up around trees, especially old ones. Trees deserve to be there just as much as a parking lot. Even more.
"The most memorable tree I ever cut down was a huge old live oak. Out there you need a license to cut down an oak. The licence says that it is sick, or a danger to power lines or a house. The tree had fungus rot from the inside, so we could easily get the license. The oak was on the property of this old couple, who were afraid it would fall on their house. We looked at the tree, and I knew we could have saved it, just cut parts off. But the old couple would not understand, and were afraid that if a tornado or anything came the tree would fall on their house. So we had to cut it down.
"Cutting down trees didn't change my view on trees, it changed my view of human ignorance. I mean the oak had been there hundreds of years before the house was even built, and had lived all that time. But this old couple saw something on TV, like a tornado where a tree fell down on a house. And they got scared. On TV no one ever talks about the innumerable trees that don't fall, just the few that do. If there was a tornado strong enough to lift that tree the house damn sure wouldn't survive the tornado anyways. It was just some fungus on the oak.
"Who's Grandfather Oak? I can't believe I never took you to see Grandfather Oak. The best damn part of New Orleans. Grandfather Oak is a Voodoo and Wicca ritual site. He is a huge tree, an entity to himself. His branches are so old and heavy they bend to the ground, and among his roots you can find just the right spot to sit, it's really easy to fall asleep under him. He is very comforting, and people come from all over to see him. He is decorated all year round, with little bottles of rum, beads, and other baubles. There are always salt circles around him from Voodoo rituals.
"I first heard about Grandfather Oak through the street kids I squatted with when I moved to NOLA. I was about 19 or 20. Grandfather Oak isn't the only oak in that park, there's also Hanging Oak, Kids Oak, Dueling Oak... But you can look this all up online.
"Your mom really wants me to tell you this one story. I was up in a paper pine, maybe 60 feet off the ground. The hybrid paper pine, it grows out of control, fast tall and skinny. It was bred for paper, and that's all it's good for, it's not sturdy enough for anything else. It's really invasive, and it taking over the south, destroying the ground coverage. They would pay people 100$ per acer to plant this tree, In the 30's maybe? And then they would come back 20 years latter to cut it down. This tree is now just a weed, it attracts pine beetles, and then you just have fields of dead trees you could push over with one hand.
"Oh, but I was up in the tree with my spiked shoes and a harness. because of how weak the tree is you have to cut off a bit at a time. Well I cut off too much from the top. So it snapped and started to bend. Because of my harness, the tree started shaking me like a paddle and ball whacking me into the tree. I got some pretty bruises.
"All I can tell you now is that Cherry blossoms and dogwood are gorgeous. And nothing smells better then a Magnolia. The smell permeates New Orleans, the humidity amplifying the effects. Except Bourbon street. That just smells like shit. Oh, and the best valentines day present I ever got your mother was a tree swing I built for her."
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