Synthesis Journal 4

I. Finding "Home"

"The landing process is not always a matter of geographical turf, nor of coming to rest; it can be equally a process of change, of being sent away or of 'taking off' on a quest for home that may never be satisfied. For those in internal or external exile, landing can become a psychic image, even a vision" (p 105).

My quest for "home" began while I was married into a deeply-rooted Southern family where I always felt like a foreigner. I looked to the West, but when I finally got here, I found that my quest wasn't over…the real quest wasn't for a place at all, it was a process of becoming truly myself and learning that Home is where the Heart is. When I was finally able to work through all the "stuff" of my past, come to terms with it and who I am, accept my flaws and appreciate my beauty, only then did I "land." That landing began as a search for a place on Earth where I could find peace; it ended as a continuing nurturance of a place within myself where I found love! My journey is reflected in my art.

II. The Subjugation of Nature

"Nature is an all-encompassing force. Its power is recognized in virtually all cultures, although Euro-Americans tend to reduce and contain that power by romanticism, anthropomorphism, or association with those threatening forces rendered powerless, like women, children, and 'primitives'" (p 108).

The Western mind cannot seem to cope with the idea that it is not the most important organism in the universe. We as a dominant culture have taken our "dominance" far too seriously, forcing Our Way on every living thing around us. Not even the tiniest amoeba or the largest mammal can escape our influence, and yet we are truly powerless in the face of Nature in the long run. We ignore the reality of our powerlessness by our attempts to subjugate Nature, both in practice (with pesticides, for example) and in our images (such as cartoon characters of anthropomorphized animals, "taming" the wild beast by giving him human characteristics). As long as we continue to believe that we have The Answer, we will fail to see The Truth that Nature always wins. Even our attempts to subjugate other peoples ultimately fail because their strengths are not measured by our standards and they will always rise up against "us" in their own way.

III. The Elitism of Western Civilization, continued

"A kind of desecration/dislocation occurs when place names are erased...How different this continent might be now, had we seen the earth as sacred rather than as a suspect and secular connection to the 'pagan past'" (pp 113-115).

Whenever I think of place names, I think of Squaw Peak (in Phoenix, AZ) and how white culture has taken a word out of context and elevated it to a position that exposes our extreme ignorance or callousness. Those who are aware that "squaw" does not mean "woman" but rather describes a part of the female anatomy don't seem to care how offensive the use of this word is to the people from whom it was stolen. Adding insult to insult, we have used this word - which white men have historically used as a slur against Native American women - to rename a sacred place! In addition to dislocating the people who lived here before us, we have also desecrated their land, both literally and symbolically. And not only did we have the audacity to name a mountain after a woman's most private asset, we named a highway after the mountain and many businesses take their names from the highway, multiplying our shame many times over. Will we ever learn?