After enough complaining about being lazy/scattered/unmotivated about the millions of fragments of projects I have forming in my brain (and cannot seem to get started), my husband and I came up with this plan:
Once a week, after the baby has fallen asleep and I have a bit of time to focus, I will sit down and prepare to write. To avoid the issue of not knowing where to start, my husband will give me a random topic to expound upon, and I will have 45 minutes to let it flow. This will hopefully help to clear all the cobwebs out, for better or worse! That's it (plus some OG Angel Mackinnon photographs). GO!
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"Spider's Web"- Lake Caloosahatchee, FL
Essay #1- Trees
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"Up the Tree"- Staten Island, NY
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In many ways, it seems "the tree" is the anti-human, which is interesting, considering how many things we actually have in common. On the surface, we are both living organisms that grow from a fertilized seed. We both stand, breathe, and live to make more little baby trees. We both transform sunlight, water, and oxygen into food and nourishment for a life that can be as long as a day or as short as a lifetime. We both live in the gentle balance of the Earth and all of her children, serving as the elders for plant and animal life the world over. However, for many humans, these enormous and truly elemental similarities amount to little in the way of shared experience or comradery between species, and instead many cannot see beyond the paramount differences that set us apart from one another. Perhaps our relationship with one another has been forever plagued by sheer human envy, as "the tree", in it's enormous intricacies, seems to embody many of human's simplest desires. "The tree," you see, is the king of the forest. It stands taller than all others, and bears witness to every event, serving as sentinel and watchman. "The tree" can be a most trusted friend, who listens to the secrets of all plants and animals, never betraying a confidence, and always staying until the end of the story. "The tree" may even be the best friend any man or woman has ever had, never asking for anything in return. It provides shade for a summer picnic between lovers, and is willing to forever bare the mark carved in a heart on it's bark, proclaiming that "Jonie loves Chotchy," or "Jimmy Wuz Here." "The tree" embodies all of the most humane and steadfast qualities that any good human should want to live up to. It shows us what stability really looks like, and how to plant our roots where we stand. Strange enough, "the tree" knows more about being human than most of us could ever dream of. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that the human is the anti-tree.
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| "Wandering Roots"- Long Beach, CA |
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