Down and Out: Adventures in Literature. Landscape. Life.
I thought to name this blog “Down and Out” after reading George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. I read the book while I was doing some research in Cambridge a few weeks after I had broken my ankle in Chamonix–an event that prompted me to consider what I would do when the $54.26 remaining in my bank account ran dry. In that moment, Orwell’s subject matter felt particularly relevant. I like how Orwell was able to capture in his writing the details of his life. Orwell was smart and resourceful–he wasn’t as down and out as the people he wrote about, and I sometimes wonder, myself, how possible it is to be truly down and out with a few decent job experiences and some master’s degrees. With mounting debt and no plans in the near future to procure a stable job, however, my fear of bottoming out once and for all never feels too far away.
For someone like me–someone who likes to read and write and run around in the outdoors–what does this world have to offer? This blog is an exploration of those things.