Emerson’s circles: seen at Conway Library as the hail hit the tin
Yesterday, Springfield got its roofs ripped off by at least two tornadoes. Our hearts feel pain for those who are suffering as a consequence, and our minds try to grasp how and why such climate-violence has come to disturb the middle CT River Valley.
I was @ Warm Colors Apiary in S. Deerfield when the sky ripped open, listening to Dan Conlon describe how he has developed the ability to read the dancing of his bees, in part by working w/researchers @ Cornell, in part by being so close to the bees. He is truly one of the most attuned, and at ease w/that status, people I have ever met. So much too learn!!!
My car windows were open, so our discussion ended very abruptly. I dashed off; I was on my way to the Ashfield highlands to do some field work. As I passed through Conway, the downpour was terrific; folks were pulling over b/c highspeed wipers were no match. I didn’t—but, when I noticed the library was open, I decided it was a perfect time to pay it a visit.
Built in 1900 out of the most expensive and beautiful materials, the Conway library is a masterpiece of Roman Revival architecture, and it is semiotically dense.
As the winds howled outside, I was—inside the library—completely blown away. The structure is a shrine, a temple, a sanctum sanctorum, for the logo-vore. You must visit it—if only to admire its oculus:
A child burst through the entrance, announcing “There’s a tornado alert!!” just as I took this picture:
wholesome counselor emerson
Bizarrely enough, b/c of the oculus, I was thinking about Emerson’s essay entitled Circles. He never mentions tornadoes, but he got this right:
“The natural world may be conceived of as a system of concentric circles…”
Related posts:
