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.
About a month ago my roommate, Tyler, and I were going to sit down and watch a movie. Since she was getting the movie ready, it was my task to get snacks from the store. What do you have to have during movies? Popcorn!
Except that we don't have a microwave...I had lived my entire life either on movie popcorn, made with fancy machines, or the microwavable bags. So in the store when I saw a bag of unpoped popcorn, I thought "I'm great in the kitchen, how hard could making popcorn be?"
In the middle of lazy afternoon phone conversation with my grandfather, he says "Did you know they just made metallic hydrogen?" I know this is a very rare thing for me to say, but I was speechless. Of course I knew that hydrogen could become a solid at cold enough temperatures, but that is scary close to absolute zero. It never occurred to me that it could, even in a solid state, resemble anything like a metal.
Just typing 'metallic hydrogen' into Google brings up articles like this: Hydrogen turned into metal in stunning act of alchemy that could revolutionise technology and spaceflight. Bold claim, as the media is ought to do. And of course, just a few hours later, articles started popping up refuting the claim.
But digging a bit further, the search for metallic hydrogen goes much further back than a few days ago. It goes back to Wigner and Huntington.
As I am finishing up graduate school, I realized that my learning has been not very 'liberal artsy...' Of course in my studies I have had my mind expanded and shown a variety of viewpoints...but all in environmental education. Since July 2015 I have been focusing on myself as an environmental educator. Just as metamorphic rock is formed under intense heat and pressure I feel like I have been molded into this field in a fantastic way.
But I am more than just that. I want to be better at baking. Better at adventuring. Better at gaming! But those are all things I know how to learn about. What if I want to learn about something new...?
