Summer

So aside from being super busy working at the animal hospital and preparing for the moving sale and for my graduation/ goodbye party I've also had time to do one of my favorite summer activities... read! When college was in session I never had the chance to read for fun because I always had a ridiculous number of reading assignments. Whenever I had a break the first thing I would do was pick up a good book. I love the late spring when it isn't too muggy out and there is a nice breeze so I can sit outside with a nice cold drink and a good read.

The first book I read was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It was a very good but extremely grim and depressing story set in a post-apocalyptic America.




Right now I'm reading Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose. It documents the journey of Lewis and Clark into the American West and is absolutely fascinating. When Tyler and I drive out to Montana we are going to actually be following some of the same route that they took. I'm still piecing the trip together, trying to make sure it's well-planned while still leaving room for spontaneity since it's supposed to be an adventure! I'm really excited to get the chance to take this trip! I hope we meet cool people along the way- that's one of my favorite things about traveling.

It seems like it's only right that I know something about the history of the land I will be inhabiting. I find fascinating the idea of so much having happened on the ground that I now walk on, and that others will walk on in the future. Sometimes when I'm hiking or walking somewhere I will wonder whose footsteps struck the very same ground; it's an intriguing thought!

I'm learning a lot from the book. Even if I do not agree with everything that Lewis and Clark did, and with my hindsight being 20/20 that comes up a lot, it is still fascinating to see what they went through. They were also the first "white" people to go as far West as they did, entering into Montana and Idaho and making it all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The descriptions of the land, ecology, and wildlife are very interesting as well because neither were highly trained scientists so although they were somewhat trained, a lot of their initial observations and accompanying assumptions are highly amusing.



It's also really sad though, to know what was to become of that land and its inhabitants, both human and not. They talk of seeing passenger pigeons, now extinct, migrating in flocks so dense that they block out the sun. Coyote and wolf populations were thriving and the Corps of Discovery, as they called themselves, obviously had no idea about the absolutely pivotal role that predators play within their ecosystems. Beavers, appearing around every turn, are a keystone species (meaning the fate of many other organisms is directly tied to their presence because of the ecosystem functions that they provide- in this case creating dams, etc). I guess beavers were the number one victim of the fur trade at the time, and their tails were considered a delicacy (I still don't get that...). From the notes that Lewis makes in his journals, detailing the daily goings-on of his men, it is easy to see how those who followed in their footsteps would take advantage of the land. There is mention, time and again, about how there is literally "too much land" in the context that our biggest obstacle is figuring out how to use it up. That aspect of this history is so frustrating to me. I wish I could go back in time and somehow convey the importance of treating the land and all living creatures with respect and not taking them for granted.

It's incredible, as well, to think about how our lives would be different today if one little thing had gone differently on that voyage. There were so many close calls during their journey. What if just one of them had turned out differently? It's a thought with tremendous repercussions that I don't think anyone could fully grasp. We destroy the natural world to make room so we can build things that will make us happy but those things don't end up making us happy at all. And we wonder why we feel a void at the end of the day, when we're sitting alone. We have everything so backwards! Those places that we are destroying are the very ones we should be protecting. If we ever want to be happy, or to have any kind of peace, we must learn to respect ourselves, each other, and the earth, including all of the life on it. We must understand the ways in which our fates are linked.

Fun Things

I bought the shoes as a graduation present for myself :)

The rest of the photos are Dior couture creations that I absolutely adore. I love the makeup on the close-up models too. I wish I could always have funky eye makeup like that!

Oh Goodness!

So I guess I took a brief hiatus from the blog. I blame it on my finals! They ruined any sense of normalcy or routine in my life! But they were the last of my undergraduate career, which is exciting. I graduated on May 17th from Binghamton University. It's strange to have such a definitive mark of change in my life. It's strange to leave the life I had with my 5 apartment-mates to whom I have grown so close. It was like having sisters, which I really enjoyed since I am an only child. I am very grateful to all of them for contributing so greatly to my senior year; what a blessing!

SO, now I'm back on Long Island preparing for the big garage/moving sale next weekend, for my graduation party the following weekend, and finally for the roadtrip on which I will embark with my boyfriend, Tyler, to Montana where I will be residing. I guess it is a big deal that I am moving across the country and away from my family but the way I see it, I'm just doing what feels right and I've just got to trust that. I have definitely been getting a lot of flack about the move. I cannot even count how many times I've been asked, "but why MONTANA?" I am seriously thinking about writing up an FAQ sheet to which I can refer people when they ask! I don't know why so many people need me to justify myself to them. It's life! That is my short answer. I'm living! And Montana is beautiful!

Since I've been home I've been very lucky to get a bunch of hours at the animal hospital. It is very comforting to have that income to help pad the move. It's soon going to be me and my man and my dog on the road... so exciting! We're thinking we'll go down through Maryland and Virgina to Ohio, Georgia, and Alabama, and then up into Tennessee, where we'll stop in Nashville to visit some family. From there we'll go through Kentucky to Missouri and ride along the Iowa/Nebraska border until we reach South Dakota, Wyoming and finally... Montana! Tyler and I plan to spend most of the nights either camping or couchsurfing but we want to stay in a nice, old fashioned B&B for one night as a treat.

On a Lighter Note...

The above are photos from the Bloodnick Family Farm run by Lisa and Brendan Bloodnick- a very nice couple. I was absolutely amazed because they had such an incredible operation set up and, wait for it... they are DEBT FREE. Oh My Gosh. I didn't even think that was possible with farming, haha. I made sure to ask them a bunch of questions and tried to really understand their operation so as to learn from them.

If I was going to be in New York state this summer I would definitely intern with them! Unfortunately that won't work out though because I will be moving to Montana. I can't believe I'm graduating in a month and then moving across the country! It's scary because the job market sucks but it's exciting because I know something will work out since I work hard. It's overall pretty exciting!

My agriculture class has visited a couple working farms to get a better idea of how they function holistically. I find it fascinating to look at the farm system as a closed loop and account for all of the inputs and outputs that make the farm viable in the long run. I love visiting new farms to see the different techniques farmers use to manage their unique set-up. I've really come to understand that there is no by-the-book technique that every farmer could follow in a fail-proof manner. Farming techniques are very unique to the geographic positioning, type of land and soil, predators, etc. I cannot wait to have some land of my own so I can really start to grow a good amount of my own food and have animals. I love baby goats and lambs so much! They are so cute and cuddly! eeeeeck!

Tragedy in Binghamton

I got home Thursday night for spring break from Binghamton, NY where I go to school. Thursday morning I found out about the terrible events that were taking place at the Civic Center in downtown Binghamton. I guess a middle-aged Vietnamese man who'd recently been laid off from IBM parked his car against the back entrance to the Civic Center so no one could enter or leave and then went inside and started shooting people. He killed 13 people and held 37 people hostage for a few hours before killing himself.

The saddest part is that even though this is extremely tragic, and certainly out of place in Binghamton, it isn't uncommon. This phenomenon of an individual going into a public place like a school or church or community center and blindly shooting anyone in his path is becoming more and more frequent. It's not even about avoiding certain bad neighborhoods anymore, either. These shootings are happening in the places that are universally visited like schools, churches, etc. With the added pressures of job losses that are also increasing there have been a lot more incidences of people freaking out. It's been happening just these past few days with the three police officers slain in Philadelphia and the father who killed all of his children and then himself in Washington state. What is this world coming to?? I don't understand why people don't see the connections that the emotions and feelings that spur such terrible actions have to the disconnect that we experience from things that are truly meaningful.

This is not meant at all to excuse or validate in any way what Wong did to the immigrants in Binghamton. It was a cruel and heartless act that was committed that day. I'm just saying that things are not as black and white as some people make them out to be. There is a long and deeply rooted history with an associated psychology that makes people do the things they do. I don't believe that someone is just born bad and that's one of the reasons that I can have hope that we can change. I try to do that everyday by staying positive as much as possible and leading a compassionate life with appreciation for all that I have and a true yearning to live as close to the land as possible.