A Stranger Here Myself

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This little room of mine will not be mine much longer. A week or so and I’ll be carrying my home on my back again…

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For some time I have been threatening to use this space not only as log of my own travels and times but as a means of passing on interesting sites, stories and ideas that crop up in

California as the World

my studies and procrastinatory online wanderings. Here is a first run at it.

In the last year I have appreciated very much the manicured, historied aesthetics of Oxfordshire, and particularly watching the seasons play upon them. That appreciation has in recent months been accompanied by a craving not only for the company of family and friends back home, but also for the actual landscapes of California. The incredible wildness and diversity of my home is something I have often taken for granted, and its pleasant in my separation from it to let my mind wander the from the dunes of the Mojave to the peaks and lakes of the Marble Mountains. This map, produced by Paramount Studios in 1927 and found at the excellent Strange Maps, depicts that diversity nicely in the context of the film industry. Establishing Hollywood as its center was due in part to the fact that nearly any imaginable landscape was available for filming within a few days travel. The vistas of Siberia, Switzerland or the French Alps could be approximated in the area around Lake Tahoe, the Californian Venice bore a solid resemblance to the the Italian original, and inland swathes of the southern end of the state provided likenesses of diverse ecosystems from Sherwood Forest to the Sahara desert. Interestingly, the  map also places the Black Rock Desert in the heart of Sudan. No wonder California pulls on the heart strings from afar.

Thinking on the importance of appreciating and loving the wild places I am lucky enough to call home has also been helping me to imagine a bit what it might be like to be living in the shadow of the BP oil disaster. Without working consciously at it, its easy to allow that mess to be something abstract, confined in the mind to a cluster of ugly headlines. People continue to perpetuate such gross violations of our natural heritage in large part because they can remain abstract and intangible to those who don’t experience them directly. Images are emerging from the gulf that start to bring the tragedy of it home, that make it more personal. But given my recent musings on the heritage of my own home, the most powerful tool I have come across for making the disaster ‘real’ is an online mapping device called IfItWasMyHome.com. By entering your zip code or town name you can view a superimposition of the BP spill on your own turf. As simple as the concept may be, the application of it seems powerful in its ability to stop it from being just someone else’s problem. Below are renderings of what the spill would look like in the Monterey Bay, and in my little corner of the UK. I recommend entering your own location here.

Oil: 95062

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Oil: OX4 1HB

I do believe summer may have come and gone this last weekend in England. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Hot, sunny days and balmy t-shirt weather at 3am with all the windows thrown open. I didn’t make the most of it, locked up indoors for much of it working on a job application. Still, I was treated to a spontaneous punting adventure that was probably the most Oxfordy thing I have done over the year, complete with Pimms and lemonade, cheese and bread, and dappled sunlight through the trees. I even managed to punt without landing myself or anyone else in the questionably swimmable waters of the Cherwell. Anyhow its back to grey skies now. But here’s a few from the day…

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A few images from the day…including an example of the best use of technology ever:

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And from a stroll across Ox…

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Thinking about the moms in my life on a mellow grey day in Oxford. This last trip around the sun has been by far the most intense and challenging of my life so far, and also the most rewarding. I am very grateful to be who I am, where I am, and this is in very large part thanks to the fact that at every twist and turn in the road I have been supported, nurtured, encouraged and inspired by the most amazing women in the world.  Every day should be mom’s day. Love you Mamas.

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Before & After

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No, Heidi is not really that small. And I am not a giant. Well...ok not thaat giant...

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Here is a good little post for a study break. Dedicated to my Tia H…fellow cat lover and one of the finest humans I know.

The beautiful city of Vitoria-Gasteiz spirals outward from a high hill at its very center, upon which is perched la  Catedral de Santa María. The Cathedral shares the hilltop with an ancient and beautifully preserved neighborhood with lovely views of the city falling away below. On a drizzly afternoon while wandering in this area I turned a corner and found a rare break in the tall and tightly packed line of buildings, where instead was a massive ruin covered in patchy grass, surrounded by a high wire fence, and surrounded on all sides by colorful murals. Inside the perimeter of the fence lounged a very large number of exceedingly happy and well-fed looking cats. I soon learned that this was  the Refugio de Gatos del Casco Histórico, or Cat Refuge of the Old City. The story as I understand it is that several years ago city developers encountered this ancient ruin--a piece of the 11th century city wall-- while preparing the plot of land for new construction, and were required by law to abandon the project. Shortly after, a neighborhood association created a plan to transform the property into a sanctuary for homeless cats. Since then a few dozen such cats have been collected, given thorough veterinary care, and placed in their new home. There are, apparently, some animal rights groups who are not happy with the project, but I must say that the cats I saw looked quite content…

A subsequent internet search mostly revealed news articles from early 2009 describing a struggle by the municipal authority to bring the project to a close. As of now, however, the cat refuge is a go. Here are a few photos I took, and a few videos found online, for anyone cat-curious out there…

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Back in Oxford. Working on final projects…watching spring emerge from all corners…thinking on next moves.

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The cover of CENDEP’s summer newsletter, published today. That’s me and friends Caitlin, Anshu, Pikey and Natalie doing field work in India in January. Fun. I have a post coming at some point  describing the India trip, though at the moment I am in a fight to the death with my last coursework and have no time to think of such things. In the meantime, if anyone would like to see the report that we wrote based on our research, it can be found here. You can also find photos from the trip here.

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CENDEP News: Summer 2010

April 24th, 2009…

Outside of Golestan Palace. Tehran, Iran.

It’s been quite a journey around the sun.