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The absence of this, at least in the US, is that there's essentially no country side properly understood. A bucolic permeable area that a city person can integr
by trgn 4y ago
The absence of this, at least in the US, is that there's essentially no country side properly understood. A bucolic permeable area that a city person can integrate in their daily life.
The only way to enjoy the outdoors in America is as an activity. Drive there, park there. Do your thing. Come back. There's no osmosis or liminal space between urban and wilderness. It's either mechanized space for cars, or fenced off space for outdoor activity on the other (and even that you'll often end up sharing with off-road motorsports enthusiasts).
It shocked me for example, living in western europe, how easy it was to leave a bustling city center and enjoy rural serenity, and integrate this day2day. A bicycle commute through farmfields; a longer weekend hiking trip between cities; a trainride to a neighboring town; ... Whereas, I live in a state now that's by all measures a lot more rustic, access to the outdoors is completely packaged. It feels as if it is a product (even though access could be free).
I try to explain this difference here, and it is as if people genuinely cannot comprehend. There's this veil, a mist between us, I cannot articulate this difference. When my compatriots drive on the highways, they see mountains and vistas, and to them, that alone, is the experience (and definition) of rural life. But then, that nature is not integrated at all in daily experience. only as part of a movie playing through a windshield. I guess I need a better way of explaining this integration of town and rural life, I haven't found a way to characterize it. Muir for example was very much of the escape-to-wilderness variety. I guess I'm talking more about Jane Eyre walking country paths to deliver a letter in town. If anyone has good literature on the topic that gets at this difference, how it is possible that a much denser populated area in western-europe end up feeling more serene and bucolic than sparsely populated woodlands in the US, would love to hear it.
- whycome 4y agoI don’t have words or additional literature to share but you’ve eloquently shared a lot of what I’ve been trying to articulate forever. The idea of the outdoors having become a “packaged experience”… to be experienced during daylight hours set by some municipal corporation…
- pricklybear 4y agoThe book Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit digs into this -- I'd recommend it
- trgn 4y agoThank you, ordered!
- twosdai 4y agoThere are a few places around the US where I feel like this idea generally doesn't hold up, However I totally understand what you mean and it is the truth for many people living in the US. My examples would be communities situated near or around State/National parks. There is very much a just walk around in the integrated nature sort of feel there. Specific example towns: Keene Valley, NY Joshua Tree, California To a lesser extent in the bay area east, and North along where the towns butt up against parks, and accessible areas. Additionally I've found that towns/cities which have a major university that has open access for the public typically has the ability to wander and "lose yourself" feeling Berkley in CA has this feeling for me.
- trgn 4y agoThank you, I'll check those out on future trips!
- petsfed 4y agoI'm not sure where you're living that you haven't experienced easy access to countryside. It's always been in easy reach in the 7 western states I've lived in, even in the Bay Area and the very center of Boise. In fact, if the land wasn't set aside as agricultural land, it was pretty rare that it was fenced off, even. Granted, you do see fences to keep vehicles out, but that might be an artifact of our car-centric culture: if a path looks arguably driveable, eventually someone will try to drive it, regardless of whether or not they can get the vehicle out.
- trgn 4y agoMidwest, mid-size city. Lived eastcoast too, was the same.
- iudqnolq 4y agoIn CO I routinely see signs saying things like "This Property Protected by the Second Amendment" and "Trespassers will be Shot". I take such threats seriously. I've only walked onto such a property once. (It would have been very inconvenient not too, I knew that the person who posted the sign was lying about the area being off limits, I had very good reason to suspect they weren't on the property, and I'm usually read as white)
- sriacha 4y agoYou might be interested in the essay by William Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness", about the : https://www.williamcronon.net/writing/Trouble_with_Wilderness_Main.html https://www.williamcronon.net/writing/Trouble_with_Wildernes...