The Willow Who Kept the Secrets of the Heart

Authors

Ana Suarez, St. Mary's UniversityFollow

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Digital Publisher

Digital Commons at St. Mary's University

Department

English Literature and Languages

Keywords

Digital Museum Exhibit, Fairy tales, Climate change, Curator talk, Illustrations, Audio, Video, Essay, Infographic, Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica)

LCSH Subject

Fairy Tales; Climate Change

Description

This digital museum exhibit features the climate change fairy tale The Willow Who Kept the Secrets of the Heart, presented as a written narrative and recorded reading that explores the symbolic relationship between the Weeping Willow, water, and ecological care in the face of climate change. It also includes an infographic highlighting the Weeping Willow’s habitat, characteristics, and environmental challenges in Texas, along with a curator’s talk and curator’s board. The exhibit features an artifact entry using a half-filled vial of water to represent climate instability and the often-overlooked resources that sustain life, as well as a persuasive essay, Grief, Wonder, Hope & the Weeping Willow Trees: Fairy Tales as a Language for Ecological Mourning, which argues that fairy tales provide an emotional and cultural language for understanding ecological grief and climate change.

Collection

Speak For the Trees!

Format

Multiple

Size

Varying

Medium

Multiple

Document Type

Collection

Disciplines

Fiction | Folklore | Sustainability

Recommended Citation

Suarez, Ana, "The Willow Who Kept the Secrets of the Heart" (2026). Speak for the Trees!. 7.
https://commons.stmarytx.edu/fairytales2/7

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.