Mary Austin

I really want to be kind here because this woman had quite a hard life. Father died, several siblings, died, and she was treated indifferently by her mother who hero worshipped her oldest son. 

I really wanted to like this autobiography. Land of Little Rain was pretty interesting if disjointed and mystical in expression.

The hardest thing about this was the way she referred to herself in the third person and then would occasionally revert to the first when things got emotionally intense.

Her perspective about her childhood in the post civil war Midwest was the most interesting part - also her pioneering days in this area (Kern County).

The whole theme of the book was a manifesto about her being a someone. To me, when a person goes out of their way to outline their accomplishments and lists all the influential people that they met even briefly, it is indicative of a deep cavity within that feels unrecognized. This makes sense in light of her father's early death and her mother's total lack of affirmation or recognition for the gifts of this bright unique woman. Her husband also was stuck in a time capsule and had no vision for her contribution. They eventually went separate ways.

I think Mary's encounter with Indian culture is what most fascinates me. It spoke to her at a deep level and helped bridge the gap between her convention loving Midwest upbringing and her creative spirit - also how to connect with God outside of organized religion. Perhaps this is where she and I meet. I've never had a direct connection with an indigenous culture (sadly) - perhaps my visit to a Oaxacan village in southern Mexico would be the closest thing - but it was superficial at best. However, I do encounter God best outside of organized religion though I'm not against religion, persay. This is one of my favorite passages from Earth Horizon: "There was a small campody up George's Creek, brown wickiups in the chaparral like wasps' nests. Mary (why not just say I?? - oh maybe she hoped someone would have written her biography and no one did so she wrote it herself.... ooohhhhh). Mary would see the women moving across the mesa on pleasant days, digging wild hyacinth roots, seed gathering, and as her strength permitted, would often join them, absorbing women's lore, plants good to be eaten or for medicine, learning to make snares of long, strong hair for the quail, how with one hand to flip trout, heavy with spawn, out from under the soddy banks of summer runnels, how and when to gather willows and cedar roots for basket making. It was in this fashion that she began to learn to get at the meaning of work you must make all its motions both of body and mind. it was one of the activities which has had continued force throughout her life. 

I also liked her description of her artists' colony in Carmel. They were a band of nature worshippers - sense seeking through outdoors stimuli. I can relate to that pursuit. I try not to worship it though, the creator doesn't like it. He likes to be celebrated through his creation. He does like it to be appreciated. Am I too brazen, speaking for him? I'm just too lazy to profess it as my opinion. It is my opinion. 

At one point, she confesses that she really missed out on being cared for by a man. I thought that was interesting. She associated with and admired women who were  at the forefront of feminism - she herself lived an unconventionally independent life for a woman of her day, yet felt that there was an intrinsic role that she was not privy to.