Gretel Ehrlich: The Solace of Open Spaces.

I’ve always wondered what Wyoming was like. Growing up, my friends and I would spend our weekends at the barn watching movies about horses and cowboys, galloping into the sunset and across breathtaking landscapes. This essay was a great read for me, because it answered a lot of questions I’ve always had. I think what makes it special it the level of detail in the descriptions, as well as the raw honesty of the author. Wyoming is described as a very special place, because even though there is so much space, it feels like no one there really feels lonely. Ehrlich describes people as quiet but insightful. When someone has something to say, they won’t hold back, and will often talk just as much as they have to, never more. The conversations even become metaphorical, but the atmosphere is never cold or unfriendly. People will drive to ranches ten miles away, just to have dinner in silence. Silence is an element that is treasured by all Wyomingans. They have adapted to live alongside nature, and therefore space has become their friend.

To me, this essay uses space as a metaphor for history, sincerity and reality. Space is the embodiment of freedom, diversity, acceptance, wilderness. However, just like all of these things, too much of it can be extremely damaging and harmful. “So the dark side to the grandeur of these spaces is the small-mindedness that seals people in. Men become hermits; women go mad.” The people of Wyoming are so spread out that it is difficult for them to have an accurate perception of the world, despite their efforts to keep in contact with each other. But it is also true that they are simply a reflection of human nature. They, like the rest of us, have not yet learned how to “carry space inside [themselves] the way they carry their skins.” Few people are able to cope with space, as most resort to fillers to help them alter what we already have, and fill what we see as a void. Wyoming has a lot of physical space, which is why it is easy to see the effects it has on its people. They become more and more isolated – because physical space reminds you of all those voids inside you and everything that’s missing: it leaves you alone with your thoughts. To survive the presence space it to accept the fact that space occurs within all of us. No one has it all, and it’s up to us to learn and accept that, because the secret to finding happiness is understanding that we will probably never be completely “filled.”

 -Roxy

Joan Didion: Goodbye to All That

This essay romantically captures the essence of New York City much better than I will ever be able to. As a Californian, I look upon New York as I imagine a New Yorker in the 19th Century would look upon California. The thought is almost impossible. California is the infinity-edged pool of a continent. Its countryside wanders endlessly, with no end in sight of the opportunities which it holds until the land drops into nothingness and the Pacific consumes it. New York on the other hand, shouldn’t even exist. Many consider it the apex of human achievement, a melting pot of humanity coexisting with a patriotic sense of fraternity, all living under the banner held high that bleeds, “New York.” It is a place where ten million drums play to their own beat, yet all ring to the same harmony. Didion’s experience in the city echoes these tones. The city is indeed a place where six months can turn into eight years, and a night out can turn into a marriage. Didion wrote, “It was an infinitely romantic notion, the mysterious nexus of all love and money and power, the shining and perishable dream itself.” This essay acts as Didion’s love letter to the city, one that isn’t written from one enamored lover to another, but instead as Socrates would write to Zeus in great wonder of his almighty power. Didion sees New York as mythological Fate, plucking and cutting the strings of life which would determine her path of existence. Didion drives home the notion that New York is an idea. It stands for something. New York is synonymous with America. Opportunity. Second chances. Lost causes. It is the New Mesopotamia, the cradle of life held in its basket by the two rivers which gives it its isolated vibrancy. American contemporary essays strive to revive the romantic nature which used to drive American authors like Whitman and Thoreau to write, and she does a wonderful job of that. My question is how does Didion’s relationship with the city affect her life?

-Raphie

E.B. White: Once More to the Lake

This essay is a friggin crisis. A midlife crisis, but a crisis nonetheless. The lush lexicon which White employs to detail the lake he so enjoys truly shows how much he loved being there. Yet, this essay doesn’t maintain the quaint, reminiscent tone with which it begins. The deja vu portion of this essay details that White himself was at a tough point in his life where he no longer felt like the child which once roamed about the Maine woods. Instead, in the instances where his son went through similar experiences as him, White feels more like his father than himself. The trip to the Maine lake, a move which was supposed to return him to his youth, only augmented the unwanted paternal feelings. White wrote, “I seemed to be living a dual existence. I would be in the middle of some simple act… and suddenly it would be not I but my father who was saying the words or making the gesture. It gave me a creepy sensation.” This duality as White calls it is commonly known today as a midlife crisis. This crisis drives many of the feelings and actions White does over the course of the essay, as well as the observations he makes. He notes the overwhelming similarity the lake has upon his second visit to the lake of his youth. These feelings which White thought would comfort him only served to remind him of his aging. The essay ends in a morbid tone, with a thunderstorm raging, he notices his son putting on his trunks to go swimming. It is at this moment that White feels that even his son’s youth is ending, which to him means that his time on earth is expiring. My question is has nostalgia ever become a point of sadness for you?

-Raphie