This was lovely listening to it while I was on my way to work ☺️ your car thoughts definitely sound smarter than mine 🤣 Your thoughts about the piece of land and the travelling life resonated with me (for obvious reasons) and I was thinking how there's also freedom in settling down on a piece of land, even though I would never have thought so a few years ago. It becomes somewhat liberating because all of a sudden you don't have to think about where you will live anymore, so your mind has space and freedom to think about other things.
The flow of your thoughts is like the ocean. Rising and falling, sometimes still, other times blown about. Overall it is deeply kind, provocatively insightful, and delightful to follow.
I wish for you a place from which you’ll never have to flee. There will most likely be tall trees with deep roots, a river nearby, I imagine it with seasons, tho none so extreme, close enough to a city when you need those zydeco dancing moments, far enough away that you can see the Milky Way. It will find you when you are seeking it. And you’ll be safe, as I feel, in my humble little spot. Never stop your dreaming
I always love what you have to say. I enjoy looking at the world through your lens and it is one I often fine very relatable. Like friends I’ve had who were stronger, more articulate, smarter and more independent than myself.
But what I came here to say is the isolation the going insular and the cost of it (which none of us can pay) is something that i experience and see to an overwhelming degree. To the point of where I have gotten soft but also defensive and feel I the risk of letting anyone close to be too high.
Friends of 20, 30 years are suddenly no longer friends over not even fights.
If a person is in a low spot it seems that the option is to only pay a therapist to talk about it and be quiet about it while you do.
I think this is due to many things, part of it is the running. The running is tiring and seemingly unending, even from a more privileged than many, it is exhausting. The rising cost of anything. Everyone is struggling then why is it crossing a boundary (this I have not only experience but read about heard of seen) to speak it.
And then the transactional nature of this country and the one to our north has bled so into everything that it becomes, you can talk to me about your woes, friend but you have to pay me? Confusing. Bewildering. I wish I had the capacity to hope to understand it.
I would benefit greatly to be not the fool but the jester and yet I cannot seem to do it..
Wow too much of MY rambling, I am sorry, I mean to say just thank you for writing and speaking and sharing cause somehow I feel less alone when you do.
Phew! This is affirming, if a bit unnerving at the same time. A kiddo of mine moved from NM to AZ this year, and I have a bit of longing on her behalf for the magic of the place she left behind. Then again, there's magic and heartache everywhere. I shared this with her. I think it will resonate.
I'm in such strong agreement with you on the imperative of breaking through our insularity and of holding fiercely to kindness. But so often, when I mention it, I'm met with those who feel beat down by having [they feel] tried that route only to be met with disdain. It's hard to know how to convince them to keep trying.
Safe travels, Marya...hope you and your dad have a grand time!
As a desert rat, the desert speaks to me of salvation, extreme honesty, living and dying. My eye returns to the distant sky islands again and again, their stark, rocky folds beckon to me in invitation. Hating modern Murka, I want the monstrous beast as far away as possible, I'm at home in the desolate landscape. I could never live anywhere else but the here in Apacheria and will continue to live here until I die.
You restlessly ponder things philosophically like Jack Kerouac did, you've a cool mind.
So many of the things you touched upon or delved into more deeply, I think about regularly, though not necessarily sustainedly. I think one could use a single word to characterize America: "freedom." But what that means, and how such a concept can be carried or miscarried, upheld, enforced, defined, is of course, a matter of great, perennially un-agreeable terms.
If someone asked me to describe myself with one word, I'd say without hesitation "reader" knowing that that fully encompasses me even while it reveals nothing, only elicits questions and elides firm, graspable answers.
I know this and still stick to that answer. Is it possible to identify America more deeply than that? I feel like we ask this question, at least partially, because other people tend to attribute their countries of origin with some definitive quality of being. I'm pondering this, not asserting. Italian people, I've heard, are passionate, French people outside of France, affably pastoral. I don't know where this comes from. These are just things one hears. Lol. But is it because these older European countries carved themselves into existence over a much longer period of time, shaped by historical eras, formed into geopolitical entities defined as much by their aversion to the inhumane suffering of global warfare as by their engagement in it?
Versus the United States of America, a country that purposely set about to define itself on a revered document that centered the concept of "freedom" WHILE it built its economic foundations literally on slavery? These are suppositions. It feels like thinking about this can be helpful, and then one looks into the faces of fellow suffering Americans, and self-righteous ones. Then the mental trappings of how and why fall away and I am again left with simply wondering if the things I know will in any way help my children deal with their own futures.
Thanks, as always, for shining attention on things that matter.
What a welcome surprise to be able to hear your lovely voice on Riffs & Rants. The border guards conversation must've been so interesting. Those are the kinds of conversations I'm interested in having. Trying to listen to understand. I'm finding I'm seeking that out more and more by reading and not automatically tuning anything out that I don't agree with. We only have one car, and I have it tomorrow. You've inspired me to take a drive, although I live on an island so there's only so far I can go and one direction...up! So perhaps I'll head up island and visit my dad who has dementia and is living in Ladysmith. Not too far, but far enough to feel like I've had a bit of a road trip.
And of course, Canada is always an option for you. Just point Scamp UP. :) xo
This was lovely listening to it while I was on my way to work ☺️ your car thoughts definitely sound smarter than mine 🤣 Your thoughts about the piece of land and the travelling life resonated with me (for obvious reasons) and I was thinking how there's also freedom in settling down on a piece of land, even though I would never have thought so a few years ago. It becomes somewhat liberating because all of a sudden you don't have to think about where you will live anymore, so your mind has space and freedom to think about other things.
The flow of your thoughts is like the ocean. Rising and falling, sometimes still, other times blown about. Overall it is deeply kind, provocatively insightful, and delightful to follow.
I wish for you a place from which you’ll never have to flee. There will most likely be tall trees with deep roots, a river nearby, I imagine it with seasons, tho none so extreme, close enough to a city when you need those zydeco dancing moments, far enough away that you can see the Milky Way. It will find you when you are seeking it. And you’ll be safe, as I feel, in my humble little spot. Never stop your dreaming
I always love what you have to say. I enjoy looking at the world through your lens and it is one I often fine very relatable. Like friends I’ve had who were stronger, more articulate, smarter and more independent than myself.
But what I came here to say is the isolation the going insular and the cost of it (which none of us can pay) is something that i experience and see to an overwhelming degree. To the point of where I have gotten soft but also defensive and feel I the risk of letting anyone close to be too high.
Friends of 20, 30 years are suddenly no longer friends over not even fights.
If a person is in a low spot it seems that the option is to only pay a therapist to talk about it and be quiet about it while you do.
I think this is due to many things, part of it is the running. The running is tiring and seemingly unending, even from a more privileged than many, it is exhausting. The rising cost of anything. Everyone is struggling then why is it crossing a boundary (this I have not only experience but read about heard of seen) to speak it.
And then the transactional nature of this country and the one to our north has bled so into everything that it becomes, you can talk to me about your woes, friend but you have to pay me? Confusing. Bewildering. I wish I had the capacity to hope to understand it.
I would benefit greatly to be not the fool but the jester and yet I cannot seem to do it..
Wow too much of MY rambling, I am sorry, I mean to say just thank you for writing and speaking and sharing cause somehow I feel less alone when you do.
Wishing you well,
Lysandra
Phew! This is affirming, if a bit unnerving at the same time. A kiddo of mine moved from NM to AZ this year, and I have a bit of longing on her behalf for the magic of the place she left behind. Then again, there's magic and heartache everywhere. I shared this with her. I think it will resonate.
I'm in such strong agreement with you on the imperative of breaking through our insularity and of holding fiercely to kindness. But so often, when I mention it, I'm met with those who feel beat down by having [they feel] tried that route only to be met with disdain. It's hard to know how to convince them to keep trying.
Safe travels, Marya...hope you and your dad have a grand time!
As a desert rat, the desert speaks to me of salvation, extreme honesty, living and dying. My eye returns to the distant sky islands again and again, their stark, rocky folds beckon to me in invitation. Hating modern Murka, I want the monstrous beast as far away as possible, I'm at home in the desolate landscape. I could never live anywhere else but the here in Apacheria and will continue to live here until I die.
You restlessly ponder things philosophically like Jack Kerouac did, you've a cool mind.
So many of the things you touched upon or delved into more deeply, I think about regularly, though not necessarily sustainedly. I think one could use a single word to characterize America: "freedom." But what that means, and how such a concept can be carried or miscarried, upheld, enforced, defined, is of course, a matter of great, perennially un-agreeable terms.
If someone asked me to describe myself with one word, I'd say without hesitation "reader" knowing that that fully encompasses me even while it reveals nothing, only elicits questions and elides firm, graspable answers.
I know this and still stick to that answer. Is it possible to identify America more deeply than that? I feel like we ask this question, at least partially, because other people tend to attribute their countries of origin with some definitive quality of being. I'm pondering this, not asserting. Italian people, I've heard, are passionate, French people outside of France, affably pastoral. I don't know where this comes from. These are just things one hears. Lol. But is it because these older European countries carved themselves into existence over a much longer period of time, shaped by historical eras, formed into geopolitical entities defined as much by their aversion to the inhumane suffering of global warfare as by their engagement in it?
Versus the United States of America, a country that purposely set about to define itself on a revered document that centered the concept of "freedom" WHILE it built its economic foundations literally on slavery? These are suppositions. It feels like thinking about this can be helpful, and then one looks into the faces of fellow suffering Americans, and self-righteous ones. Then the mental trappings of how and why fall away and I am again left with simply wondering if the things I know will in any way help my children deal with their own futures.
Thanks, as always, for shining attention on things that matter.
What a welcome surprise to be able to hear your lovely voice on Riffs & Rants. The border guards conversation must've been so interesting. Those are the kinds of conversations I'm interested in having. Trying to listen to understand. I'm finding I'm seeking that out more and more by reading and not automatically tuning anything out that I don't agree with. We only have one car, and I have it tomorrow. You've inspired me to take a drive, although I live on an island so there's only so far I can go and one direction...up! So perhaps I'll head up island and visit my dad who has dementia and is living in Ladysmith. Not too far, but far enough to feel like I've had a bit of a road trip.
And of course, Canada is always an option for you. Just point Scamp UP. :) xo
Lovely to hear your voice, Marya!! I hope you enjoy time with your father.
The sunrise blooming orange behind you and then being absorbed into the grey sky serves as an apt metaphor…