Places: I Am Thinking About a New One.

"It is a burden, I'm saying, to live where I live." - Tess Gallagher in "The Leper"

That quote has little bearing on my life, as I see it now, but it got me to thinking. It comes from Tess Gallagher's story "The Leper." That story can be found her collection At the Owl Woman Saloon. I began reading the story today. Let it be a warning, then, that I have not finished it. Any importance it will take on when the story ends I cannot even speculate on. However, two days ago my boss, (Mark Murphy) set out on a trip to Tahiti. He has been tweeting pics and posting them on facebook all day. Or, rather, I have; on his behalf. I wanted to show an example, but I'm going to clutter up this post with two (thats right TWO) videos soon. Check out his twitter feed @murphytravels and you can find plenty. Point is, being a second hand reporter of the island has me thinking about places.Coincidently, I read Tess Gallagher's quote while at lunch.

What got me going about that quote? The idea of place as a burden. Anyone can, with some justification, proclaim the place that they live a burden. I could say my home is a burden, Logan Square itself. Parking is hard, there are mice that thrive in my kitchen (at least they are not rats), and, as I mentioned before, staying warm is not a matter of course. But still...

Working outdoors in the Yukon winter...where you live might be a burden. Surviving in the desert...where you live may be a burden. Deal with violent crime, death, genocide everyday...where you live might be a burden. Yet, outside of the extremes everyone can still make that claim. Places tie us down as much as people, as much as situations.They come to represent those binding pressures.

I am currently contemplating a move. I love to move. Staying put for over a year has been as foreign to me as the Trans-Siberian railroad. I've known about it, but have felt no desire to experience it. I love Philadelphia, but I hate it as well. My childhood was a fine one, yet all of the things I did not like about my life, years one through eighteen, I associate with the city. I love Colorado too, where I have spent time snowboarding and rafting, I absolutely love it, but I've spent time there dealing with depression too. When I return I can't help but find that disconsolate feelings re-emerge, even if their edge has dulled.

I've got this job, I sometimes get to do things that I like, be part of  creative process that comes to fruition daily. Do I hang around enough to feel burdened, again, by this place? Don't know. I don't know.

For now, check out the work that I have done. These are the first two in a series of four. They are from Jamaica; short videos profiling Couples Resorts properties. The first has a lot of voice over.

The second, not as much vo, and it is a little bit of an ill advised experiment.

Hope you enjoyed. Opinions encouraged. Thanks.