Great review! Thanks for the gift idea for my husband. We spend as much time as we can in the northern Maine woods in one of those 'dark spots', a silent and healing place.
Great review. I grew up in the big empty (other wise know as the plains of South Dakota). In fact, I am heading back next week for a family reunion. When I have the time I travel there by car rather than fly. I find the long lonesome highway with no cars for miles comforting. The road provides oportunities at stops to meet the people. I don't think many are much different than those of your shanty town.
I remember as a kid we moved to a new town following my fathers job and before we had unloaded or moving van a neighbor had already baked a cake and brought it over. In another case I went to the local market for the first time on our first day in town. I grabbed some candy and went to the counter to pay. The clerk said, "Hello young man. You must be the Wood boy?" My jaw dropped and my head affirmed that I was. The big empty is that kind of place.
Another great book about the plains is "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography" by Kathleen Norris.
Nice article. As someone who has grown up in Oregon, I can confirm that America is indeed much different that would appear if one only thought of Disneyland, skyscrapers, designer jeans, and such.
I am struggling to describe the effect visiting these undeveloped places has on a person. It allows one to experience another side of the Maker, which is harder to feel in the city surrounded by people and artificial stimuli.
There are places where you can see mountains and trees and grasses for miles and miles, and often cannot see any man-made structures, or perhaps only a road or incomprehensibly long power transmission line in the distance. For me, the presence of these simple structures running through vast undeveloped territory makes it all the more interesting.
Americans (particularly in the west but also elsewhere) are saturated from youth with stories of the early settlers, gold miners, and Native Americans, many of whom we name our towns and streets after. When we explore undeveloped places, I think we adopt a bit of mindset that we are re-enacting the adventures of our forebears.
It occurs to me that this thread can easily be seen in our common language. In normal conversation we frequently use words evoking this heritage, such as navigate, explore, peak, climb, wide-open, passage, settle, caravan, landscape, pioneer, chief, straight arrow, camp, smoke signals, wild, rush, and gold mine.
4 comments:
Great review! Thanks for the gift idea for my husband. We spend as much time as we can in the northern Maine woods in one of those 'dark spots', a silent and healing place.
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Tahir:
Great review. I grew up in the big empty (other wise know as the plains of South Dakota). In fact, I am heading back next week for a family reunion. When I have the time I travel there by car rather than fly. I find the long lonesome highway with no cars for miles comforting. The road provides oportunities at stops to meet the people. I don't think many are much different than those of your shanty town.
I remember as a kid we moved to a new town following my fathers job and before we had unloaded or moving van a neighbor had already baked a cake and brought it over. In another case I went to the local market for the first time on our first day in town. I grabbed some candy and went to the counter to pay. The clerk said, "Hello young man. You must be the Wood boy?" My jaw dropped and my head affirmed that I was. The big empty is that kind of place.
Another great book about the plains is "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography" by Kathleen Norris.
Dave Wood
Del Mar, CA
Nice article. As someone who has grown up in Oregon, I can confirm that America is indeed much different that would appear if one only thought of Disneyland, skyscrapers, designer jeans, and such.
I am struggling to describe the effect visiting these undeveloped places has on a person. It allows one to experience another side of the Maker, which is harder to feel in the city surrounded by people and artificial stimuli.
There are places where you can see mountains and trees and grasses for miles and miles, and often cannot see any man-made structures, or perhaps only a road or incomprehensibly long power transmission line in the distance. For me, the presence of these simple structures running through vast undeveloped territory makes it all the more interesting.
Americans (particularly in the west but also elsewhere) are saturated from youth with stories of the early settlers, gold miners, and Native Americans, many of whom we name our towns and streets after. When we explore undeveloped places, I think we adopt a bit of mindset that we are re-enacting the adventures of our forebears.
It occurs to me that this thread can easily be seen in our common language. In normal conversation we frequently use words evoking this heritage, such as navigate, explore, peak, climb, wide-open, passage, settle, caravan, landscape, pioneer, chief, straight arrow, camp, smoke signals, wild, rush, and gold mine.
Luke
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