Story Info
Story Info
Christi Strickland
Ridgway, Colorado, USA
2018
Type of Wounded Place
Story & Experience
SW Colorado is facing a fierce drought. The fire known as the 416 fire rages on, now at 54,000 acres burned. For our Radical Joy for Hard Times day I decided to spend time with the dry, thirsty earth on a neglected lot near the center of town. A friend and I walked the dusty, crackling underfoot land. We listened to ourselves and the beings there. We picked up trash and made our RadJoy bird. We offered water to the plants. The time spent seemed to be about connection. My friend and I caught up on our lives and the challenges of living and working and finding a way to make your way in the world. We both noticed that we have rarely paid attention to this lot. By the end we felt a bond with the land, saw the signs of deer walking through it, noticed the birds in the trees. We became curious about its past and we learned that there is a housing development planned for its future. And so in the end, we felt glad it had some time being “neglected”—as if it has a chance to rest and just before it becomes another soldier bearing the weight of human expansion, growth and development. We agreed to check in on it from time to time, and bring an act of beauty—even if that is just a moment of noticing and appreciation, and a drink of water. And indeed, as I write this, the rains have arrived and the land has had some relief and nourishment.
SW Colorado is facing a fierce drought. The fire known as the 416 fire rages on, now at 54,000 acres burned. For our Radical Joy for Hard Times day I decided to spend time with the dry, thirsty earth on a neglected lot near the center of town. A friend and I walked the dusty, crackling underfoot land. We listened to ourselves and the beings there. We picked up trash and made our RadJoy bird. We offered water to the plants. The time spent seemed to be about connection. My friend and I caught up on our lives and the challenges of living and working and finding a way to make your way in the world. We both noticed that we have rarely paid attention to this lot. By the end we felt a bond with the land, saw the signs of deer walking through it, noticed the birds in the trees. We became curious about its past and we learned that there is a housing development planned for its future. And so in the end, we felt glad it had some time being “neglected”—as if it has a chance to rest and just before it becomes another soldier bearing the weight of human expansion, growth and development. We agreed to check in on it from time to time, and bring an act of beauty—even if that is just a moment of noticing and appreciation, and a drink of water. And indeed, as I write this, the rains have arrived and the land has had some relief and nourishment.
Ridgway, Colorado, USA
RECENT STORIES
For the Gulf Coast
Our beaches are being bombarded almost daily since the end of the first week of the sinking of the Deep Water Horizon with gatherings of people or all stripes: protests, prayer groups, volunteers, rallies for [...]
Remembrance Day for Lost Species in Helsinki 2023
On November 30th, there was first a session organized by the Finnish social and health sector project about eco-anxiety and eco-emotions (www.ymparistoahdistus.fi). This “morning coffee roundtable”, a hybrid event, focused this time on ecological grief [...]
Ashdown Forest
Ashdown Forest is an area of natural beauty in West Sussex, England. It is also one of the very few remaining areas of extensive lowland heath left in Europe. This rare and threatened landscape is [...]