It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, but definitely productive! Dave and I flew to Arizona last weekend to visit his friends in Phoenix. It was so beautiful and warm and dry!
We went hiking on South Mountain (I half-heartedly begged him to take me to further into the desert; I just wanted to experience the true wasteland and all its under-appreciated riches), which was about as far as Dave was willing to go from Phoenix. It was absolutely beautiful! It was 75 degrees, and they'd had a lot of rain so the desert was green. When the sun came out, little yellow and orange flowers immediately started blooming everywhere. The desert floor was covered with the sunny little blooms, literally within 10 minutes of the sun emerging from behind the clouds. So beautiful!
When I travel somewhere new, I always try it on for size in my head. Could I live here? Would I be happy? I love the mountains, I love the coasts. I especially love New England and the capitals of eastern Europe... but I could never see myself settling there. There is something confining and claustrophobic about the rise of concrete buildings on either side, blocking out the sky - and the same goes for mountains. I love wide, open spaces where you can see for miles and miles; where you feel laid utterly open to the elements and at the mercy of nature. Places like these (the plains, the steppe, the desert) are ideal for me.
I think it can be tied to my love of the Russian word/concept пространство- vast, open space. Пространство, for Russians, symbolizes absolute freedom, beyond the confines of society and humanity itself. It can be best described as one person standing alone on the steppe, with their arms stretched wide and no other human being for miles and miles.
Conversely, пространство can also be very dangerous, as one might imagine. With absolute freedom comes absolute exposure, as there is no one to protect you from the ravages of the Earth itself. Society/civilization protects humanity from the elements, but at the same time constricts us.
Maybe we can all be divided into two sorts: those who would give up some freedoms for the protection of society, and those would give up the protection of society for the dangers of absolute freedom.
We went hiking on South Mountain (I half-heartedly begged him to take me to further into the desert; I just wanted to experience the true wasteland and all its under-appreciated riches), which was about as far as Dave was willing to go from Phoenix. It was absolutely beautiful! It was 75 degrees, and they'd had a lot of rain so the desert was green. When the sun came out, little yellow and orange flowers immediately started blooming everywhere. The desert floor was covered with the sunny little blooms, literally within 10 minutes of the sun emerging from behind the clouds. So beautiful!
When I travel somewhere new, I always try it on for size in my head. Could I live here? Would I be happy? I love the mountains, I love the coasts. I especially love New England and the capitals of eastern Europe... but I could never see myself settling there. There is something confining and claustrophobic about the rise of concrete buildings on either side, blocking out the sky - and the same goes for mountains. I love wide, open spaces where you can see for miles and miles; where you feel laid utterly open to the elements and at the mercy of nature. Places like these (the plains, the steppe, the desert) are ideal for me.
I think it can be tied to my love of the Russian word/concept пространство- vast, open space. Пространство, for Russians, symbolizes absolute freedom, beyond the confines of society and humanity itself. It can be best described as one person standing alone on the steppe, with their arms stretched wide and no other human being for miles and miles.
Conversely, пространство can also be very dangerous, as one might imagine. With absolute freedom comes absolute exposure, as there is no one to protect you from the ravages of the Earth itself. Society/civilization protects humanity from the elements, but at the same time constricts us.
Maybe we can all be divided into two sorts: those who would give up some freedoms for the protection of society, and those would give up the protection of society for the dangers of absolute freedom.
