“I hope you live without the need to dominate, and without the need to be dominated. I hope you are never victims, but I hope you have no power over other people. And when you fail, and are defeated, and in pain, and in the dark, then I hope you will remember that darkness is your country, where you live, where no wars are fought and no wars are won, but where the future is. Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing — instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls.”
—
Ursula K. Le Guin, “A Left-Handed Commencement Address” (Mills College, 1983)
this passage planted itself in my consciousness when i was 24, and 10 years later, it informs so much of my approach to living, thinking, creating.
From the files of “Well, damn, cold-bloodedness makes for strange bedfellows,” I discovered this odd pairing on Snake Hill during a late afternoon hike earlier today. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. That’s a gorgeously-patterned timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) wrapped up in a molting eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis). The two snakes were coiled up on rock ledge overlooking Cheat River Canyon. This was the best shot I could get given the awkward angle of the ledge. I assume the garter snake, which is blind while it molts, simply sensed a (somewhat) warm body to cuddle with and took advantage.
