Notes
Globe: Inspired by a celestial globe I saw at the Teylers Museum of Wonder in Haarlem, the Netherlands, which opened in 1784 (it bills itself as the oldest museum in the Netherlands) and houses a fantastical collection of Enlightenment-era scientific instruments, fossils, minerals, coins and artwork.
The world we share: Which, of course, contains our multitude of unique experiences, responses and chains of learning and narratives. I want to acknowledge both the expansiveness contained in that, and my own limitation in understanding it. My son’s unreserved joy in strawberries when he was small felt to me like a metaphor for this – and, thinking that one through led me to this resonant quote from Harold McGee’s Nose Dive: “How we register and name and think about smells depends on where we’ve happened to encounter them first. That’s a tremendous limitation on our thinking – and on our potential for enjoyment! Not just because there’s no way to experience everything in the world, but also because experience itself is limited.”
Diving bell: I really do wish that it was possible to see a magma chamber inside a diving bell. Maybe someday! In the meantime, the delightful Diving Heritage website, which seems to be a passion project that maybe hasn’t been updated very recently, includes an interesting page about the history of diving bells.
What’s your story: Here’s mine, or at least part of it. And to reiterate, I would love to hear from you!