It had been a long winter, gray skeletons scraping a gray sky on my drive over the gray mountains to North Carolina to visit my gray, dying granddad
Gray skeletons being clouds? Also does she not mess with her granddad or something like damn. Edit: No, I guess she cares. He was just sort of there to set up the scene.
Misogyny dictated these bounds, but one beneficial side effect was that common plants were preserved by women even as they were dismissed by male scientists.
Everything is worth archiving! I'm glad these women were able to conserve "common' plants disregarded by their male counterparts. We never know how impermanent seemingly permanent things are. It reminds me of chestnut trees! Once everywhere in Appalachia, they nearly all died due to chestnut blight.
Made by amateur women collectors in the 1880s and 1890s
Yes girls yes!!!
I needed to make my home here. To me, home means knowing the names of my neighbors, human and plant, and learning their stories and habits, caring for them like I hope they’ll care for me.
This made me realize how different the priorities of others are in relation to their environment. Each of these essays has been about how people relate to and comprehend their existence in a given environment or area. This makes me realize how little I know about the town I live in, its geography or its plants.
Hangout Zero
Why is it called hangout zero? (I think it's because no one hangs out here)
who get excited when they see you.
This line is so sweet!
I certainly wasn't expecting to hear a preference for less drama from Mr. Bread Knife Machete
I like this line!!! I think it gives this man a lot more dimensionality, something I myself probably wouldn't ascribe to someone I saw with a bread knife on the bus.
but because the international nature of the conglomerate requires a universal communication choice.
All types of people!!! Very diverse
Getting rid of the benches there hasn't gotten rid of anybody so much as simply prompted them to stand, blocking doorways to businesses and tunnel entrances, creating far too much street denizen-passersby friction.
So sad, I wish those benches were never removed. People are never going to vanish from Seattle and we need infrastructure for people to congregate and rest.
Grand Poobah
I haven't heard of this either. It's a satirical label given to self important, or locally important people, or in this case a place.
English is the language of choice on this corner
Distinctly different culture between this square and Hangout 1. As most people speak Amharic on hangout 1.
Bukowskiesque
I had never heard of Charles Bukowski which is probably shocking but I think this is a perfect way of putting it. He often depicted the lives of poor Americans, and the depravity of urban living according to my quick google search.
It's shady and concentrated, a small staircase of sorts under cover of the weather, suitable for furtive transactions and exchanges.
I get the vibe from this. I have never heard the word furtive but I understand that this is a crowd of people I feel like I see in a lot of corners in Seattle.
while we both listened to the rain.
I liked this article a lot! I like her overall tone. This has opened my eyes to geography in general, something I considered less than interesting. I think her humble voice here really makes you want to inquire, to listen and learn.
it seemed to speak to me of me, not of itself
I think that there's nothing necessarily wrong with going to a beautiful place in nature to ponder, but reading this I do understand what she means. It makes me want to connect with and learn more about the world I live in! The PNW is so diverse.I think I lose myself in my own world without considering the earth around me.
no proper sidewalk
A neighborhood this affluent and yet it doesn't have proper pedestrian infrastructure. Disappointing!
a kinglet or a bushtit
im assuming these are birds ?
culverted
I didnt know this word, It's when you build channels under your structures that pass through water.
my beloved wrinkles.
OH. she meant streams of water... That makes sense.
It’s as though I’m unprepared for meaning to appear out of what was previously noise.
As someone learning a new language I have had this exact experience! I started playing a game in Japanese when I was younger without speaking any. I recently started playing again and not only can I understand so much more, I can read and use context to learn new stuff!! It's been such a cool experience!
a language manual for the much vaster text I live within.
I think this is so beautiful! It's such an eloquent way of putting it. It's easy to pass by nature and it's intricacies without a second glance, but you can analyze almost any aspect of our world in greater detail!
For most of those eight years, my restless mind and body appreciated this folded terrain without really knowing how to explain it.
I am curious what she means by folded? My thinking is either hilly or with many tree roots bursting through the ground.