top of page
Writer's pictureasj

Why art matters: communicating for connection


Yosemite gave me the best birthday gift: a reminder that all the things that keep us small - gnawing anxiety, fear, the general malaise of isolation - are just temporary. 

That our human scales of time and space are only one way to experience the Earth. 

That a glacial pace, and roots, and underground communication, can bear beauty beyond our comprehension- we who often value nothing beyond going faster, rootless, bullhorning every thought.

We who have feet think roots are a burden, not realizing the connections we're missing. The sequoias know better. The granite shows us another way, too.  There's so much beautiful writing about places like this. I bought so many books at the Yosemite bookstore. And then went back to the Yosemite Conservancy website to buy more. (I'll skip buying clothes but I'll never skip a book that belongs in my home.) I'm feeling a kinship with John Muir, Rue Mapp, and all the people who find their voices, their silence, their community with nature and in nature - and it could be all of us! There are so many who have come before who passionately argue for the truth that nature is for *everyone.* That is, healing is for everyone.  I'll be adding my own nature writing on my website regularly. It's a practice I need to do for me. But I'll be looking for stories to share beyond my own. Nature connects us. And to survive, we need to connect.


The giant granite of Yosemite Valley in the background; redwoods and pines and a green meadow in the foreground.
Yosemite Valley, July 2019.

0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

seasons of transition

I'm looking out the window, the same window I've faced for the last year of the pandemic. The same window I've faced for years prior to...

bottom of page