Why Am I Here?

leaf shadows

Elm leaf shadows on a misty window

The profound alienation I often feel has raised its faceless head again. It always comes on suddenly. This time the trigger was another couple our age, retired of course, who moved to Taos a few years ago and love the concerts, readings, and gallery openings… Just wait, I think. I never came for those, although we used to go to most. Now we don’t do anything but buy groceries and hike. Well aware of the great co-opted culture myth, a friend of mine once told me, “You know, John, all we really have here are the mountains.” He knew.

Sign up for email delivery of JHFARR.COM posts via Substack! Same content sooner with bigger photos! ⬇︎

John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on About page. For a complete list of all John’s writing, photography, NFTs, and social media links, please visit JHFARR.ART  

  • Rita November 24, 2018, 8:47 AM

    I get it. I have Oregon mountains that I love. A lot of us van dwellers go south in the winter but I am loath to leave my mountains. I have a spring where I fill my water jugs with raw water and one to soak in. I think I am home maybe like an old indigenous woman who knows she has moved camp for the last time.

    • JHF November 24, 2018, 3:04 PM

      I’d like to be “home” like that, but first we do have to move at least one more time. I was just looking at Montana DOT webcams, BTW. Holy God.

  • marti2013 November 24, 2018, 11:28 AM

    I came from mountains, grew up with mountains and didn’t come for the mountains although I don’t know how anyone can tell directions on a cloudy day without mountains. I came and stay for the lack of social classes. I could be a low income artist and hang out with the homeless and the rich and famous and nobody seemed to know the difference. I don’t know that this is still true because we don’t go out that much anymore.

    • JHF November 24, 2018, 3:13 PM

      I know what you mean about the (relative) lack of social classes. That’s how I felt at first. I think it’s changed, though.

  • Carmel Glover November 24, 2018, 5:47 PM

    I love that photo

  • S. R. Barrett November 25, 2018, 3:34 PM

    I’ve only lived here six months, but I can definitely see there are social classes in Taos. The thing is, we’re not required to buy into them. One of those classes is “everybody else.”

    • JHF November 25, 2018, 8:52 PM

      Welcome! What you say is true. We’ve been here almost 20 years. I’m finally ready to commit or run the hell away, and every year has felt like that.

Previous post:

Next post:

Browse ARCHIVES

Browse CATEGORIES

Latest Posts

Discover more from JHFARR.COM

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading