open spaces

"Space has a spiritual equivalent and can heal what is divided and burdensome in us. My grandchildren will probably use space shuttles for a honeymoon trip or to recover from heart attacks, but closer to home we might also learn how to carry space inside ourselves in the effortless way we carry our skins. Space represents sanity, not a life purified, dull, or "spaced out" but one that might accommodate intelligently any idea or situation.

From the clayey soil of northern Wyoming is mined bentonite, which is used as a filler in candy, gum, and lipstick. We Americans are great on fillers, as if what we have, what we are, is not enough. We have a cultural tendency toward denial, but, being affluent, we strangle ourselves with what we can buy. We have only to look at the houses we build to see how we build against space, the way we drink against pain and loneliness. We fill up space as if it were a pie shell, with things whose opacity further obstructs our ability to see what is already here."

--from "The Solace of Open Spaces" by Gretel Ehrlich.

The essay as site: literature and philosophy. I read it and I love it and I want it and I want to do it. Somehow, I'm still hesitant to take the philosophical step. I'm building my references here. SRS, Gretel Ehrlich, Anne Fadiman, EB White,

crafting

I should be grading or critiquing something. Instead, I'm crafting. Well, for the last hour I have been planning my classes for the rest of the week, but now I'm going to finish my crafting. It's really lovely to create something visual, tangible, sometimes. And then go back to writing. But, you see, I got this new book: The Big-Ass Book of Crafts. I put post-its on every page, every craft, I want to try. So far I've done two. Only twenty or more to go. Too bad crafting costs money. Not writing--well, just the ink and the paper. Perhaps I'll post pics of my crafts for you.