July 16, 2005

• Although it's a beautiful essay, he seems to have gone to a lot of trouble to construct his sexless arid psychoparadigm. I can relate to his love for desert regions but find his active distaste for other environments odd. Thank you languagehat. one of these days...I will go do 'my desert time' out in the red centre - it's not just the original inhabitants of this wide brown land who feel an affinity for the land...one of these days
• Thanks languagehat :-) I do think desert are awesome, or perhaps, awe-inspiring. A little scary, too.
• I grew up in the Mojave. It's the major reason I wanted to become a geologist. The desert people, on the other hand, leave a lot to be desired.
• zyzelle: Can you explain that statement, please?
• Uh oh.
• *buckles seatbelt*
• Can you explain that statement, please? I'm assuming you mean the part about the desert people? Based on my experience extremely isolated desert communities, people who retreat to the desert are either A) hiding out from the law; B) hiding out from society; C) genuinely love living out the the desert (but that is a very small percentage). I speak from considerable experience. I spent 25 years in a little desert town of Newberry Springs where the standard of living was very low and the masses at large had a shiftless and defeatist mentality. The various other little desert towns I've visited (either for pleasure or for work) display the same sort of tendencies. The pattern is pretty prevalent.
• I spent 25 years in a little desert town........desert people, on the other hand, leave a lot to be desired. *blink*
• There's no contradiction there. I left as soon as I could. Darn blasted parents and their isolationist ways. But yes, even I have my moments.
• Welcome, zyzelle. *glances nervously at desert-dwelling monkeys* Interesting stuff, languagehat. I suppose circumstances and attitude alter one's experience of the desert. I believe Thesiger, in his book about crossing the Empty Quarter with a party of arabs, remarked that he had driven through some of the same territory in a jeep during the war - but that was an entirely different, inconsequential matter.
• I made an animated film once. In th pre-digital era so it's not as smooth as I would have liked it to be. It's only 2.5 minutes
• Hi, zyzelle!! Desert is breath-taking after rainfall, when everything from yourself to the horizon becomes flowers. Suspect living in deserts is the main cause of air conditioning. /mountain dweller by choice
• Suspect living in deserts is the main cause of air conditioning. Nah, it's a dry heat. Give yourself a couple of weeks to acclimatize properly and you won't need aircon, given sufficient ventilation, hydration, and shade. It's humidity that kills me. find his active distaste for other environments odd But he's up front about it, which I admire. And I can too well understand falling in love wth a landscape. As another mountain dweller.
• I just wanted to say that I ran into Dr. Tuan on the street here in Madison yesterday. He's a very nice guy, and he used to be a regular at the bookstore I worked at while I was in school.
• Hello Plegmund and beeswacky! The air is hot and dry, but even I love my air conditioning. Maybe it's my Norwegian genes...
• deserts are dry and unfailing hot so a fellow like me sweats a lot seashores are shingled or else they're sandy and saline water though it's handy is not so great for getting clean by which I mean after a bath ye itch the prairie's legendary for being flat and there's nothing much to see but a lack of trees and variety some swamps are Dismal the footing's often shaky if not abysmal beneath your feet there's so much sludge that walking anywhere's a laborious trudge so I'll take mountains every time where eye and spirit both are led to climb
• I can understand the ties to place. When I was overseas, I used to ache with homesickness for the Great Basin Desert. I don't mind the heat, but as I get older the glare of the sun at mid-day bothers me. That's why all us desert critters tend to hole up in the middle of the day. Siesta is the ultimate in cultural refinement anyway. Zyzelle: I will agree with you that there are some not-so-nice people in the desert, but there are some mighty fine folks, too. I think a lot of your distaste may be because there's no dilution. If you only have a few people to interact with, you better get along with everyone. If not, you're going to get pretty sick of each other. At times I long for trees and mountains, but after a day or so, I get twitchy because there's no horizon.
• We are all in the desert.
• *seizes his desert spoon purposefully, licks lips*