Cairn Stones: A Mosaic Memoir and Manual

These twenty essays are scraps and fractals of larger stories, windows on coming to understand the world and my place in it. Taken as a whole, the collection tells the story of a formation of open-eyed hope. Roughly, they run from 2001 to 2010, covering the same years as the terrorist attacks of 2001, the War on Terror’s beginnings and toll, Hurricane Katrina, and growing awareness of globalization and climate change. These are big topics, and the only way I can make sense of them, and my coming of age within and around them, is to tell the stories of the connections I found between world events and my own self. It’s not about me, but these are the only eyes and stories I have, the only way I know to point towards a different way. The essays are roughly chronological and do build on each other, but are not meant to fit tidily—the mosaic nature is part of the point. Partly, of course, these essays are my own efforts to grapple sense and meaning into the very bland and bleak way the world can often be. But, moreover, it is my hope that they will be read as posts and markers to guide a reader towards their own sense of belonging. It’s a manual, use it where and how you may.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Montana

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Taylor, Bethany Mason

• balance
• belonging
• environment
• essays
• hope
• place

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/165

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-1184