My high school classmate Betsy Johnson-Miller, who teaches in the English department at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, has published a volume of poetry titled Rain When You Want Rain. First off, congratulations go to Betsy on the publication of her book! It’s always a great achievement.

I have a bit of pride in this publication for myself as well, for I too have been published in a quieter way.  Perhaps, in the spirit of the schools at which Betsy teaches, I should remind myself how St. Benedict urged the artisans of the monastery to conduct themselves: cum omni humiltate faciant ipsas artes—with all humility they are to practice their craft.  Perhaps, however, some excitement can be allowed.  I’m proud and pleased that Betsy and her editors chose one of my photographs to grace the cover of her book. I hope it does the book justice and invites readers inside.

Information on Rain When You Want Rain can be be found on the publisher’s website.

About the Photograph

The photo is from a set taken on April 24, 2009. A series of strong thunderstorms were passing through. Along the way they were creating quite the light show with lots of very active lightning. I set up my camera on a tripod and began taking photos. The photo that is on the cover of Rain When You Want Rain was taken after the storms had moved on to the east, closer to Wausau and Stevens Point. But now instead of seeing many cloud-to-ground lightning strikes and intense, branching bolts of lightning within the clouds, the clouds were being lit from within by the now almost mysterious light of these intense electrical storms.

My set of lightning photos from that night can be seen in my Lightning gallery, or click on the image below to see a larger version of the cover image in my photography galleries.