Aspirations

To what extent do we understand nature and wilderness? For what purpose should we come to determine why it is necessary to know about nature's offerings and "her" function?

I would suggest that we search for the flora and fauna, or the "Natural World," for one reason: curiosity.

Henry David Thoreau said it best: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear, nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Sparta-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world".

With that, I begin this project with the intent that we all discover a life: one concentrated specifically around the Southern Californian wilderness, but one not too focused on experience and story. Here, with this blog, I am searching for a life that lives outside, not just outdoors, but in a space that allows the individual to gain unforgettable knowledge about themselves through the natural world, and its inhabitants, whether those be animal or vegetable, rock or soil. The explication of their findings in textual and/or photographic form, allowing for a body of work that explains what it is people seek in experiencing wilderness, provides a narrative like no other, and one that will continuously grow, preserve, and change the living natural landscape that surrounds us.

Everyone is welcome to contribute to this project, and I encourage you all to discuss these aspects of wilderness and nature that are so dear to shaping our lives.