1 Lissy Goralnik Published in The Fourth River: A Journal of Nature and Place—Based Writing Spring 2014 FOREDUNE: Transitions in a Shifting Landscape Foredune: the sea-ward line of coastal dunes; the in-between place that separates sand and soil; an almost-habitat for coastal critters, where sticky grasses precariously hold roots in sand and make possible the succession of more stable systems farther from the shore; a transition. I travel to the in-between so that I can make connections. I am traveling to the wilderness so that I can feel more at home, both in my human and natural communities, because I, too, have been in transition. I have been roaming for a while now, throughout western mountains and down eastern coastlines. But I bought a house and have decided to take root; I am trying to make a home in Michigan, and in order to cement my foundation, I need a tie to the land. I am a girl who knows herself through her landscape, who feels strength against a jagged Wyoming sky, who feels humble within an expanse of Alaskan tundra, who understands boundaries on a wind-hammered headland in northern California; I am a girl who learns to be decisive in a broken boat against a setting sun on the grey-chop Atlantic Ocean. In order to know Michigan, in order to know me in Michigan, I need to see me barefoot in Michigan soil, wet under Michigan skies, lost in Michigan woods. I need to meet my Annie Dillard weasel and blow my brain in his Michigan mind. And so I went to a distinctly Michigan landscape, the largest fresh water dune system in the world. * In the yellow sand on the edge of Lake Michigan pioneer plants hold fast to the shifting landscape, shaped by wind and water and time. Marram grass’s sticky stalks hold the