032 // Where we live now: a sense of place in a changing world

Kathryn Exon Smith -

How much are we defined by the size of the places we live? After a year in which many wished simply to get out, move away, and find a small patch of land outside the city, this question has become more pertinent than ever. When we can be connected by internet cables, what does it mean to be a suburb, and exurb, a city?

2020 offered a glimpse of a different way of living and working. When we — at least temporarily — don't need to be tethered to our physical workplaces, how do we choose to live? Is this sustainable? Will 2021 and beyond see a change in our relationship with commuting?

This salon will discuss the relationships places have with each other, and the relationships we have with them.

James is the author of several nonfiction books that explore what it means to be human in the natural world, including My Backyard Jungle (Yale) and the forthcoming Naturebot: Unconventional Visions of Nature.

He currently teaches creative nonfiction and environmental writing at the University of South Carolina. He earned a PhD in English from the University of California, Davis, and an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana.

Before becoming a professor of creative writing, James held a variety of posts in wildlife research and management, crossing paths with wolves and mountain lions in remote wilderness and promoting “mini-beast”habitat in urban schoolyards in England. Here, surrounded by sheep on the ancient Yorkshire moors, he began to recognize the deep and enduring influence of domestication on human existence, and the value of experiencing this kind of nature in an increasingly wired world.

This salon took place January 22, 2021.