Recently I just finished Appalachia North by Matthew Ferrence. In it, he recounts the complex relationship he still has with the land as a Northern Appalachian. Typically when I finish a book I write a Literature Appetizer to get people a taste of what they will find. Since his book is such a personal journey, I would not do it justice by recounting his life.
Many of his experiences reflect my own experience growing up in Western PA. So instead of condensing his journey, I thought I would condense mine.
The Hero’s Journey is a common literary structure where the hero of the story departs home to do a great act, and then returns victorious. My Northern Appalachian Journey is a bit different, but has a similar structure of three parts; Living in Water, Succeeding by Leaving, and The Mountains are Calling.
Our first stop on my family’s trip to Scotland this past spring was to Edinburgh. We woke up extra early and grabbed our tickets to see the Edinburgh castle, which is almost 1000 years old. As we were walking up with the rest of the tourists my eyes looked upwards and saw this.
Take a close look. Do you notice anything wrong in this picture? If not, let’s try another one.
In early 2022 my partner and I decided to watch Jurassic Park together. It had been years since we had seen it and we just needed a movie night. After the film was over, Fina turned to me to ask “How did you like it?”
“Oh I loved it. Except it always makes me feel a little sad after watching it.” -me
“Wait, you are feeling sad? Why?” -Fina
“I just feel like they gave so much screen time to humans instead of the dinosaurs. Yes, I know dinos were on screen part of the time but the edit feels like the story is about humans.” -me
“…Ben, this is a horror film with dinosaurs as the antagonists.” -Fina