Fall 2002, #24

The language of landscape prompts us to perceive and shape the landscape whole. Reading and speaking it fluently is a way to recognize the dialogues ongoing in a place, to appreciate other speakers’ stories, to distinguish enduring dialogues from ephemeral ones, and to join the conversation. The language of landscape reminds us that nothing stays the same, that catastrophic shifts and cumulative changes shape the present. It permits us to perceive pasts we cannot otherwise experience, to anticipate the possible, to envision, choose, and shape the future. - Anne Whiston Spirn

Editors Note: On the Horizon
From sprawl, to erosion, to slow motion terrorist attacks, we understand the infinite number of ways that space can be effected by time. And conversely, as Einstein pointed out, time is effected by space. It is with this mathematic mutuality in mind that this newsletter goes to press. While much time has indeed elapsed since the last Lay of the Land, much space has been covered by the CLUI as well, as is evidenced by some of the stories in the newsletter. On the ground over 24,000 miles have been traversed by CLUI field researchers since the last newsletter, 3,000 miles of that in Ohio alone. Time and space were also covered in the air by CLUI agents (less time, more space), for aerial photographic sorties, and to travel between places (as far from the U.S. as Germany and the Antarctic). Our readership is hereby notified, however, that this is the most space that will be allowed to pass between newsletters. We have established a 10,000/50,000 ground/air mile limit, after which not another furlong will be spanned until a newsletter is dispatched. Appropriately for an organization such as the CLUI, concerned with the contemporary and the landscape, instead of being dependent on the periodic pulses of time, issues will be distributed as space elapses. Thank you for your continued interest, support, and understanding. Best wishes for the New Year.
- Lay of the Land Editors