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Otherwise

Otherwise

a few hundred membersearthlyhours.com

For a year, I am researching and curating one species of plant, animal, or natural phenomena per week. I am also building an “earthly book of hours” with reading and images that change across the day.

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About

Welcome to my corner of the dark forest.

I'm Ryan, an independent researcher and writer. Otherwise is my workshop for experimenting with old ideas, practices, and media forms. I'm interested in the relationship between nature and culture and in finding new ways to connect with both (and with other people).

Although this has been a personal project, I daydream about forming a sort of digital research library, like the Warburg Institute or Boston Athenaeum, with program areas and collaborating fellows--but a bit more homespun and DIY.

Current projects in the space include:

  • Lectio Terra - a weekly newsletter of species studies, collecting readings and art about a single plant, animal, landform, or natural phenomena. For example: lilacs and argillite!
  • The Earthly Book of Hours - a contemplative archive of images, readings, and natural phenomena that changes throughout the day (and night).
  • An Almanac of Impressions - a collaborative repository of observations meant to document the poetry of the seasons; inspired by the saijiki tradition of seasonal keywords. An open chat, with one weekly reminder for the group: details here.
  • The Timeshed Project: Field Notes - an invitation to reflect on how time flows through your life; inspired by the ecology of watersheds. An open blog, to share posts of any length, format, or media: details here.
  • Laurentia Kitchen [ON HIATUS] - my digital scrapbook/zine related to cooking, eating, and bioregional placefinding.

Latest from Otherwise

Week 37: Northern Red Oak (Susan Fenimore Cooper, George Francis Heath, James George Frazer)

Fig. 1. Piet Mondrian. Field with Oak Trees at Dusk (1907-1908). “Owned” by some rich person. Waxing Gibbous Moon - 6 Days to Full; 2 Days to Fall Equinox Headnote Welcome to the woodlands. There is,...

Sep 2031

Week 36: Watermelon, Sylvia Plath, Pliny the Elder

Fig. 1. “[Man Cutting Watermelon]” (c. 1898-1903). Johnson Photography Studio. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New Moon; 12 Days to Fall Equinox This week's post is dedicated to my dad, who always...

Sep 1330

Sharing My Archive

Cover Image. From Francis Macbride. Autumn Flowers and Fruits (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1924). 103. A Look Back I hate to miss a beat in the weekly species studies, but sometimes...

Sep 623

Week 35: Cucumis, Robert Hass, Marcus Aurelius (and William Cowper, too)

Fig. 1. Fede Galizia. Still Life with Apples, Pears, Cucumbers, Figs, Plums, and a Melon (c. 1625-1630). Waning Gibbous Moon — 11 Days to New; 23 Days to Fall Equinox Headnote Which is messier, the...

Aug 3016

Week 34: Cucurbits, Marge Piercy, Padgraig Regan

Fig. 1. “Courd, Courge, Der Kürbiss.” Eugène Grasset and M. P. Verneuil. La plante et ses applications ornementales. Paris, France: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1896. Plate 14. Waxing Gibbous...

Aug 2321

Week 33: Perseids Meteor Shower, Han Dynasty Scribes, Henry David Thoreau

Fig. 1. W.F. Denning. “Positions of the Perseid Radiant Point, July 15, to August 20.” From “The Observed Motion and Duration of the Radiant Point of the Perseids.” Monthly Notices of the Royal...

Aug 1613

Week 32: Dog Days, Horace, Heraclitus

Cover Image. Illustration of the Constellation Sirius, with text. From The Harley Aratus (c. 820-840). Rheims, France. From the British Library, Harley Collection. Waning Crescent Moon; 46 Days to...

Aug 903

Week 31: Butterfly Weed, Paul Muldoon, Nathaniel Lord Britton

Cover Image. William Clark, “Asclepias tuberosa. Tuberous Swallow-wort.” From Richard Morris, Flora Conspicua: A Selection of the Most Ornamental Flowering, Hardy, Exotic and Indigenous Trees,...

Aug 210

Week 30: Blueberries, Joseph J. White, Inc., Alix Beeston on Ellena Savage

Cover Image. “Vaccinium corymbosum: Stanley.” J. Marion Shull, USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection. Waxing Gibbous Moon; 6 Days to August Cross-Quarter Day. Headnote Rounding out my quartet of...

Jul 2620

Week 29: Corn, Haudenosaunee Storytellers, Emily Pauline Johnson

Cover Figure. Nasca artist(s), Corn Stalk-Shaped Vessel (c. 1-600 CE). Waxing Crescent Moon; 13 Days to August Cross-Quarter Headnote In my personal opinion, much resisted by the chatbots I...

Jul 1900
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