Chera
Van Falcon Burg
Chera Van Falcon Burg (aka Chera Van Burg) is a poet, filmmaker,
photographer and psychologist. Her poems are published in poetry journals, newspapers, calendars, CD jackets and posted on nature
trails. Chera's first book of poetry, What We Can See, is forthcoming
from Four Windows Press.
Chera has performed her poetry with musicians in the US, Mexico
and Europe, including with Grammy nominee, Hans Christian,
Grammy winner, David Rothenberg, renowned bassist, Kai Eckhardt,
and prolific pianist/composer, Colin Farish.
Chera produced and co-wrote the award-winning film, Call Of Life,
about the drivers of the current mass extinction crisis and the cultural
and psychological underpinnings that contribute to it. The film won
The Best Science Communication Film Award at New Zealand's
Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, the Earth Vision Jury Award
at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, Finalist Award at the International
Wildlife Film Festival, and the John Muir Gold Award at the Yosemite
Film Festival. Chera was also given the Humanitarian Award for film producer from the Accolade Global Film Competition.
The journey of a woman
and the mysteries she finds
is the alchemy of seeing beyond.
Chera describes herself as a wanderer given her tendency to move from place to place, which she considers might be ancestral or perhaps some stirring of her own making or maybe, it is simply her destiny.
Whatever her intrinsic or self-motivations might be, in the last several years her movement, like many others, has been in response to a rapidly changing world – a world of burgeoning progress that comes with over population of people and vehicles that crowd out nature and cause untold environmental devastation. At the same time, it brings economic disparity and the cultural unrest and hardship that comes with it.
Chera often wanders with a camera to document the beauty she finds in the natural world as she seeks landscapes, water, trees, birds, and other wildlife in the regenerative solitude of nature.
For her, this practice is a means to see beyond our conditioned ways of perceiving the world, which allows us to discover new ways of knowing and being – ways that consider beings other than humans and connect us with the deeper essence of life.
Chera views her creative work, particularly writing poetry, as a way to navigate the mystery of being alive on this planet as part of the natural world in relationship with all other beings here.
Header photo of Lake Michigan sunrise in Sturgeon Bay, WI taken by Chera. Top left photo of Chera overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Marin County, CA taken by Susan Robinson. Top right photo of Chera at Tennessee Valley Beach in Marin County taken by Melissa K. Nelson. Middle right photo of Chera on Tomales Point Trail at Pt. Reyes National Seashore in Marin County taken by Susan Robinson. Lower right photo of Chera at Rodeo Beach in Marin County taken by Colin Farish.
What's In A Name?
Chera shortened her last name to Van Burg when she became a psychologist many years ago because she thought Dr. Van Burg would be easier professionally than her longer name, which was Van Valkenburg. The truth is she had trouble with her name since elementary school when teachers would call her 'the little girl with the big handle' and most people couldn't pronounce it. When she married at a young age, she changed her name to her married name, but when she divorced several years later, it was a turning point for her. She is a feminist by nature, or more accurately, she is for both women and men being less restricted by gender and socialization. Her given last name is from her paternal line as is common practice in Western culture, and it is Dutch, which according to her DNA tests is a smaller percentage of her ethnicity than other ethnic groups. It also didn't consider her maternal lineage. Then there is the name itself, which means 'from or of falcon castle' and refers to falconry. Being a bird lover, Chera considered this domination over falcons unacceptable. So, taking out the part of her name that means falcon (Valken or Falken in Dutch) seemed to be the answer. However, more recently she began to feel that by taking the bird out of her name, she was dismissing
a vital connection with the falcon. So, as her first book of poems is about to be published, she put the falcon back in her name and it is now the name she uses as an author. Being from an English speaking country, she decided to use the English spelling. So, her name has evolved from
Van Valkenburg to Van Burg to Van Falcon Burg.