I grew up surrounded by people and the hustle and bustle of surrounding Boston. I spent my childhood playing on sidewalks rather than grass and, the only interaction in nature I had was Revere Beach. To be honest, Revere Beach didn’t really feel like a ‘nature-driven’ experience. It was always overcrowded and, littered with food and trash and an onslaught of people.
(Revere Beach, MA)
(Revere, MA)
When my mom married my stepfather, he began taking us on an annual month-long camping trip to the Catskill Mountains in New York. It was the first time I really felt immersed in nature. At nine years old, I was not a fan of all the bugs or sleeping in tents when I was used to a city lifestyle.
It ended up becoming some of my fondest memories. I adored the mountains, and the babbling brooks, the beautiful rivers, and all the farmland surrounding our campsite. I remember asking my stepfather why the air smelled so weird. He told me it was not as polluted up here in the mountains. It was ‘clean’ air and, that blew my mind as a child.
I was fortunate as a child to be able to take a month-long vacation with my family and, even more fortunate when that turned into two and three months. It felt like a second home to be honest and, it will always feel like a defining part of me and who I am.
(Roscoe, NY-Catskill Mountain Area)
(Fishing in the Catskill Mountains, NY with my parents)
(Stumbling across wildlife, hiking through the Catskill Mountains, NY)
I think because of my experiences spending my summers in virtually remote areas of the Catskill Mountains, I would have to agree with Barbara Kingsolver. There is something unequivocally heartbreaking about our ‘break from the land/our break from wilderness”. “With all due respect for the wondrous ways people have invented to amuse themselves and one another on paved surfaces, I find that this exodus from the land makes me unspeakably sad. I think of the children who will never know, intuitively, that a flower is a plant’s way of making love, or what silence sounds like, or that trees breathe out what we breathe in. I think of the astonished neighbor children who huddled around my husband in his tiny backyard garden, in the city where he lived years ago, clapping their hands to their mouths in pure dismay at seeing him pull carrots from the ground.” (Barbara Kingsolver, http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_smallwonder_print.html)
I think that my hometown of Revere, MA does serve as a ‘bedrock of democracy’ according to Terry Tempest Williams. As Williams said, “People + Place= Politics”. Living in such a crowded city in the East Boston Area, of course there were political motives everywhere. As for the Catskill Mountains in Roscoe, NY, I do not believe that is served in the same fashion. Roscoe, NY was virtually remote wilderness. There were almost no people for political movement and everyday politics to even generate.
I believe that I can develop a connection quite easily within the wilderness; especially the Catskill Mountains. It harbors peace and serenity in its minimalism. You can hear the babbling brooks, the mayflies buzzing around, and the trees rustling along the river. It’s almost an ethereal experience. Revere will forever have my heart but, you can’t garnish the same experiences or peace of mind in the city that you can in the wilderness.
From an ecological perspective, its heartbreaking to think that areas such as the Catskill Mountains, that I adore so much, could be subject to deforestation, and destruction. The wilderness is so important to our environment, our physical and our mental health.
Bibliography:
“With all due respect for the wondrous ways people have invented to amuse themselves and one another on paved surfaces, I find that this exodus from the land makes me unspeakably sad. I think of the children who will never know, intuitively, that a flower is a plant’s way of making love, or what silence sounds like, or that trees breathe out what we breathe in. I think of the astonished neighbor children who huddled around my husband in his tiny backyard garden, in the city where he lived years ago, clapping their hands to their mouths in pure dismay at seeing him pull carrots from the ground.”
(Barbara Kingsolver, http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_smallwonder_print.html)
“People + Place= Politics”
(Terry Tempest Williams, Home Work, pp 1)
Hi Jassy,
Great post! I love your photos of the Catskills, your images compliment your writing in that they help guide the reader visually along what you are talking about. Although you grew up in the city, you found ways to connect to the wilderness. Just like hooks explained in her writing. “no matter where we live, we can restore our relationship to the natural world , by taking time to commune with the natural world”. (bell hooks) It’s special that you were given that opportunity as a child. Not everyone can say that they ever had the chance to leave the smoggy, polluted city for a lengthy stay in the wild.
Hi Tonya!
Thanks! I definitely consider myself lucky. It’s funny at the time, I was upset I couldn’t go on a regular vacation! Two months camping-no thank you! It ended up being the most wonderful experience!
Hey Jassy,
The photos from Catskills NY are very beautiful. It is actually funny because often when people think of New York they think of the city but up state is very tranquil and peaceful, as you explain. I myself grew up in a city in Massachusetts and it is very difficult to think of where I live as one with nature and my place. I think Bell Hooks makes excellent points in the reading touching earth. that when the earth is sacred to us our bodies can be sacred too. You can feel that when you discuss your month long trips to NY. That even though you are a natural born city dweller you can still connect and bond with the earth and like myself I think that makes the connection so much stronger because we can really appreciate the break away from our realities.
Hi there!
Thanks! I definitely am thankful to have found such a strong connection to nature through my trips to New York. I found Bell Hooks writing to be so relatable to my own personal experiences.
Hi Jassy.
I really enjoyed reading your blog particularity because you offer a different perspective than my own. I was fortunate to grow up in a rural area tucked in the woods and you have a completely different relationship with nature seemingly just as connected as I feel. I wonder if you value your experience more because it wasn’t always available? Either way, I think it’s important that everyone have some sort of connection to nature. I agree that, “We need to experience a landscape that is timeless, whose agenda moves at the pace of speciation and glaciers. To be surrounded by singing, mating, howling commotion of other species, all of which love their lives as much as we do ours, and none of which could possibly care less about our economic status or running our day calendar” further, Wildness puts us in our place. It reminds us that our plans are small and somewhat absurd” (Kingsolver). I sincerely believe their needs to be a break from our overbooked, fast-paced lives that seems to have taken priority over more simple and important things. Kingsolver and Bell Hooks have certainly made very good points regarding our departure from nature and the importance of having a connection to our eco system. Not just for our psyche but also for the well being of our ecosystem.
I especially appreciate Bell Hook’s passion about how connecting with nature affects lack people. She has identified their intersectional struggle as one of race, economic status, and culture. “Industrial capitalism was not simply changing the nature of black work life, it altered the communal practices that were so central to survival in the agrarian south” (bell hooks). Its unfortunate black people alienated themselves from nature to live”freer” lives in the north. For them it seemed they didn’t have a choice. As I can identify with the opinions and convictions I can also identify with yours. As you said, nature is inclusive of “peace and serenity”. Whether people grow up in the city or suburbs the comfort of nature and the wilderness evokes a sense of well- being and connectedness you can’t find anywhere else.
You mention that the wilderness is important to our mental health. I agree as a matter of fact there is evidence that a connection to nature and the ecosystem does in fact affect a person’s mental health in positive ways. Something called ecosystem services-living nature-diversity of organisms, ecosystems, and their processes (Bratman, Anderson and Berman) has been shown to improve mental health. The article suggests this, “Many noneconomic measures of quality of life, well-being, and happiness have been developed, both in clinical settings and in sustainability science, and these may have a role in valuing mental health as an ecosystem service” (Bratman, Anderson and Berman). In addition to personal well being “economic services” can also lower economic cost by addressing mental health cases. The result is money saved that would have been spent on mental health treatment. Here is the link to the article if you’re interested in reading more. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/7/eaax0903
Bibliography
Bratman, Gregory, et al. “AAAS.” 24 July 2019. Science Advances . 24 February 2020 .