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Let's take a walk.

2020-03-31 · letter vlog · John · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Science & nature, Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic, on location

With his anxiety overwhelming in early spring, John takes Hank and viewers on a calming walk through Indiana woods, creek and floodplain, quoting Annie Dillard, Leanne Shapton, Wordsworth and Lucille Clifton; he ends calmer, finding hope in 'the future is possible' and the feeling of being really here, alive on this intricate earth.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Life feels vastly different; John's omnidirectional anxiety; let's take a walk

  • ★★★ In early spring in Indiana, John says life feels vastly different than a few weeks ago and his omnidirectional anxiety is often overwhelming, so he suggests they take a walk together. — 00:00:00 · Indiana

00:00:23 — The walk: honeysuckle and sycamores (Annie Dillard), the creek and the White River's journey to the Gulf, Leanne Shapton on water, Glory of the Snow and Wordsworth's faith

  • ★★ John says the honeysuckle, a wildly successful invasive species in the Midwest, has begun to leaf out. — 00:00:23
  • ★★★ Recalling Annie Dillard's line from under a sycamore by Tinker Creek, John says looking up at tree branches lets him feel he is really here, alive on this intricate earth, one of his favorite feelings. — 00:00:48
  • ★★ John says the sound of water on the move is one of his favorite sounds. — 00:01:23
  • ★★ John says the stream flows into the White River, now muddy, flooded and 30 feet deep, which in a dry summer he can walk across without getting his shorts wet. — 00:01:23
  • ★★ John traces the water's path: the White River flows into the Wabash, then the Ohio, then the Mississippi, and into the Gulf of Mexico. — 00:01:44
  • ★★★ John finds it deeply comforting that the water keeps going, freezing, melting, evaporating, raining and flowing, being neither created nor destroyed. — 00:01:55
  • ★★ At the creek John thinks of Leanne Shapton's line in Swimming Studies: water is elemental, what we are made of, what we can't live within or without. — 00:02:06
  • ★ Down the creek, a swampy floodplain has early flowers in bloom, including Glory of the Snow. — 00:02:22
  • ★★★ John recalls Wordsworth's Lines Written in Early Spring, believing as an article of faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes; if you must have a faith, and he does, that seems a good one. — 00:02:34

00:02:53 — Feeling calmer, Lucille Clifton's 'The future is possible', and being really here, alive on this intricate earth; sign-off

  • ★★★ John feels calmer than when he started, though not calm; he knows the feeling won't last, as nothing does, but is grateful for it anyway. — 00:02:56
  • ★★ Calmer, John finds it easier to have thoughts: his brain is less like the flooded White River and more like the little stream feeding it. — 00:03:12
  • ★★★ John thinks of a Lucille Clifton poem that ends 'The future is possible' and feels hope in it. — 00:03:25 · hope
  • ★★★ Taking a long breath and enjoying the air, John tells viewers they are really here, alive on this intricate earth, under trees. — 00:03:41

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description and John's comment recommend Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek: if you haven't read it, you must. — video description
  • ★ The description calls Leanne Shapton's Swimming Studies also excellent. — video description
  • ★★ In a comment John asks viewers who found the video calming to pass it to someone who might benefit from four minutes of calm. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John recommends Sarah's book You Are An Artist, out April 14th, for anyone seeking more ways to be calm and engaged with the world. — creator comment · You Are an Artist, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ In a comment John says he thinks he got the Annie Dillard quote wrong. (hedged) — creator comment
  • ★★ In a reply to a struggling high school student, John says this will end and we will get through it. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: Annie Dillard · Leanne Shapton · Lucille Clifton · William Wordsworth

Works: Lines Written in Early Spring · Pilgrim at Tinker Creek · Spring Song · Swimming Studies

Concepts: anxiety disorder · Chionodoxa · hope · invasive species · water cycle

Places: Gulf of Mexico · Indiana · Midwestern United States · Mississippi River · Ohio River · Wabash River · White River (Indiana)

Only in the description or credits: Sarah Urist Green · You Are an Artist

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