the atlantic was born today

if you've ever had someone you care about on the other side of an ocean (especially the atlantic), this song will probably mean more to you than can be expressed in words. it's amazing. truly.

i mentioned this in one of the first posts, but i didn't say much about it. my great friend emily is far away now, and i am quite happy that she's doing well and having a great time. but i do miss talking to her sometimes. i'll go visit her sometime. that will be fun and nice.

i haven't had time to think or relax much today, except for my time playing frisbee and making/eating a great dinner. so i am not going to reflect on things too much. i'll save that for time when my brain has worked a little bit less. the main thought for you to take away from this message is that clarity comes with writing, thinking comes with listening, the best experiences have a strange way of showing up. i think one of my most frustrating (at the time), but interesting experiences was this summer when i was lost in a south dakota prairie. my job was to go around looking for small pvc pipe wells that stuck up out of the ground a foot or so. unfortunately, the first time i tried finding them by myself, i didn't have a compass, the grass was tall, and i couldn't find anything. i didn't know where i was, where i should go next, or how to get wherever it was i was supposed to go. and this is in mixed (short and tall) grass prairie, not in the mountains or a forest. it wasn't the first (or last) time i've been lost. but it was probably one of the moments of my life i'll remember most clearly - it is leading me to reconsider ecology as a thing to study (being able to be outside, doing things, etc).

while i could write about times i've felt emotionally lost, intellectually lost, comparing them to this - i think that would fail to consider fully the importance of the experience of being lost. to some extent, it forces a person to recognize personal limits and confusion, paradox and lack of power. perhaps it just proved i'm not as clever as i might wish. i can't escape experiences like that. they're incredibly important to me, just like being able to smell like wetlands, be eaten by mosquitoes and ticks, avoid the smell of exhaust and humans. if i could redo the experience, i'd probably camp out there and experience the place over night if i could - i guess soccer keeps me in brookings, keeps me tied to civilization, tied to a schedule during the summer. that and the fear of vector-borne diseases i suppose (or just annoyance by them).

but few people can probably say they've been around ticks enough to observe them when they're not on humans or other animals, when they're living the other part of their life and not on a host. it was quite enlightening - i encourage people to take some time out in tall grass in june in south dakota - pick weeds, check water levels of wetlands, whatever - you'll experience a ton of ticks, but if you are lucky, you'll get to watch a tick walking around on the ground or on a leaf or making the transition to one's shirt sleeve. you'll realize something then. i did.

and i'm excited because tomorrow i'm going to a rilo kiley concert - definitely check them out if you get a chance. i promise i'll give a quick review of the concert - hopefully my travel plans to get there and back work out. we'll see. in the evening, i wish you all well and good. it's time for my sleep before waking to teach and learn.



The atlantic was born today and i'll tell you how...
The clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole.
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean,
Making islands where no island should go.
Oh no.

Those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats.
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.
The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flood lands to your door have been silenced forever more.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before
Oh no.

I need you so much closer

I need you so much closer
So come on, come on