This is some highkey nerd shit that I honestly donโt talk about much ๐ But getting into botany has changed my life and this summer especially Iโve seen some really incredible plants/habitats. I visited an โextreme rich fenโ ecosystem here in CO last month that is home to 14 rare plant species - and I got to see most of them! ๐ฅฒ Pictured below is Primula egaliksensis which only grows in two places in the contiguous U.S. Anyways highly rec wandering around outside in remote, beautiful places to look for plants. It has given me a whole other level of awareness and appreciation for the land I call home ๐
Idk plants are just everywhere, like just growing all around us and we donโt really take the time to engage with them but we should cause like, some of them are just being beautiful for our pleasure, and then some of them help grow the foods we eat, and even more of them keep our air clean Touching plants is super neat and makes you feel really good so I highly recommend taking a walk and touching every plant you feel intrigued by or curious about
I was reading Cheryl Strayed's introduction to the 2013 edition of "The Best American Essays" and I came upon this passage which really seems to have completely transmogrified my brain along with my perception of essay writing: "The word essay means 'to try', 'to attempt', 'to test'... Behind every good essay there's an author with a savage desire to know more about what is already known. A good essay isn't a report of what happened. It's a search for the stuff beyond and beneath."
It's a really beautiful approach to essay writing and I think writing and art in general. The point is not mechanical precision but discovery: to "try", "attempt", "test" in search for the essence of things, their obscured layers. I don't know, I just find this perspective SO liberating!! :))
