Reprieve

For too long I was in the shadows of a final paper for a graduate class on ideas in media studies. And now that I am out of that shadow all I can say is, "Wow that light is really bright." The spring 2009 semester is finished and in a few months another ton of work awaits me.

Many of you may know that I and the wife have moved further into Middlesex (the smell emanating from Dunellen was just too much to take, jk) and are setting things up nicely. Even though we don't own the place and are pesky renters we still get to have the responsibilities as if we did own the place. In some odd way there is a cyclical rhythm that travels through my brain and makes me think about the concept of a house.

We've got houses upon houses in the U.S of A, so many that there are many places where they're just sitting empty where as in other places there are tents that people are living in. Don't have to go too far for that in NJ. And of course many places around the world there are houses made of refuse, land features and for some, the only roof there is are the stars above.

But I guess for all of us the only house we've really got is the earth, there's enough space for all of us, with rooms with temperatures of whatever we like and if you prefer a water bed we got 4 oceans just waiting for you. The little place I live in now is so far so good. I don't want to trash it in any way or abuse the structure in any way but for some reason the greater house that I've got isn't treated the same way as this little place in Middlesex.

I don't know about you but I wouldn't defecate in the glass I was about to drink out of or dump my garbage in all over someone else's house but in a way we all kind of do that. Then I think about what this one person said;

Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

I don't think those pioneers in American history ever did this, nor do I think the pilgrims did that upon their arrival. I'll just wonder if there's something more to this.