Reading List

Here is the list of University of Washington Libraries materials highlighted in the 'We Are Not Humanity' Focus On... exhibit, in January & February, 2010.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Too Much Light

I live in the city now.  Until a few months ago I was living in the suburbs.  One of the differences I've noticed (other than the fact that I no longer live in a relatively old forest) is that there are a lot more streetlights in the city, and a lot more people who leave porch/outside lights on all night.
 
All fear issues aside for the moment, try to imagine that as a culture we valued darkness, that we actually cultivated darkness into our lives.  What if we learned how to move in the darkness using our limited sight and hour heightened hearing, smelling, and feeling?  What if darkness were not considered 'bad' in the same way that light is considered 'good?'  What if we simply didn't use as many lights at night as we do?

When I lived in the suburbs there was a route I routinely took on my early morning walk with my dogs.  Here in Seattle, we have long winter nights; so my early morning walks were more often than not in the dark.  We would walk down the streetlight lit, paved street for a block or two, then we'd walk through a newish cemetery, and finally on this short connecting path through some woods to a neighborhood park, and finally back to the lighted street.  I would take a flashlight so I could effectively pick up the dog poop, but I preferred the rest of the walk to be in the dark.  I found I could pretty easily make my way along even the connecting path through the woods without any more light than the moon and stars provided.

When I moved to my new residence in the city, one of the first things I found myself doing (I literally noticed that I was doing this), I figured out how to move through the new house in the dark:  how to get to the bathroom, how to get upstairs (the stairs are pretty dark in this house).  I clearly was feeling that this new place to live was going to be more 'mine' once I knew how to move around in it in the dark.

Think about it.  Look within. Question your own beliefs about light and dark.

No comments:

Post a Comment