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Transcript

Memory Lane · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is David B.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
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  Every week I share my observations and adventures with the
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  human and natural world
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  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 0:19
  Today's episode travels to Boston for some of my early urban
• 0:22
  naturalizing.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website, geologywriter.com,
• 0:28
  You'll also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my
• 0:31
  previous four years of
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: newsletters,
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: as well as images tied to this week's episode.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 31 of the Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Memory Lane,
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  SPEAKER_00: July 3rd,
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  SPEAKER_00: 2025.
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  We recently spent some time in Boston,
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  where Marjorie and I lived between 1996 and 1998.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was a trying time then.
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  SPEAKER_00: We had moved from Moab,
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  SPEAKER_00: Utah,
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  SPEAKER_00: a geological paradise,
• 1:01
  to a place where the sum total of my geological knowledge was
• 1:04
  Plymouth Rock.
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  SPEAKER_00: For the first many months,
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  SPEAKER_00: I had no connections to the place,
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  SPEAKER_00: to the natural world that inspired and grounded me,
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  SPEAKER_00: as it had done in Utah.
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  But then one day I was on the Harvard campus looking at Harvard
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  Hall,
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  built in 1766.
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  SPEAKER_00: At its base was a rock that Bostonians and New Yorkers call brownstone,
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  SPEAKER_00: oddly in reference to its color,
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  SPEAKER_00: which seemed more reddish than brown to me.
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  SPEAKER_00: not having a rock hammer with me,
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  and figuring that those august Harvardians might not appreciate
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  that I was simply
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  SPEAKER_00: doing what geologists do,
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  SPEAKER_00: that is,
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  SPEAKER_00: whack rocks off bigger rocks to make smaller ones to inspect,
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  SPEAKER_00: I simply rubbed my hand on the sandstone.
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  SPEAKER_00: In my half-galpan, grains of red sand accumulated.
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  It was then that I realized that an Easterner's brownstone was
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  a Westerner's red rock.
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  SPEAKER_00: Both are sandstone with small amounts of iron that is oxidized or rusted,
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  SPEAKER_00: bestowing a reddish hue.
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  Basically,
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  the grains of sand are like red apples with a red rind around a
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  whitish interior.
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  SPEAKER_00: This epiphany finally gave me a connection to East Coast geology.
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  Most of the brownstone used across New England came from
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  quarries in Connecticut
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  SPEAKER_00: composed of a 200-million-year-old sandstone.
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  SPEAKER_00: formed during the last significant geologic event in the east,
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  the rupture of the supercontinent of Pangaea and the opening of
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  the Atlantic Ocean.
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  SPEAKER_00: Transformed by this knowledge,
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  I began my long love affair with Building Stone and the
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  geological and cultural
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  stories told by examining the geology of rock used in the urban
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  environment.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is a path I continue to follow,
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  SPEAKER_00: value,
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  SPEAKER_00: and appreciate,
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  SPEAKER_00: which allows me to draw connections between two major aspects of my life,
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  SPEAKER_00: the urban and geological realms.
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  Walking around Boston recently reminded me of two other aspects
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  of the town of
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  SPEAKER_00: Beans that fascinated me when we lived here.
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  The first is the lack of a centering high point,
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  such as Mount Rainier is in Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: When we lived in Boston,
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  this was the first time in my adult life I lived somewhere that
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  wasn't next to a
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  SPEAKER_00: mountain range.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was nestled at the foot of Pikes Peak in college,
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  followed by nine years in Moab at the base of the LaSalle
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  Mountains and my 28 plus
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  SPEAKER_00: years in Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Boston,
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  SPEAKER_00: the high points were two buildings near each other,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Prue and the John Hancock Towers,
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  SPEAKER_00: the latter which topped out at 790 feet.
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  Tall shafts they are,
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  and observable from many places in the relatively flat
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  landscape.
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  The two towers would barely register against the 14,410-foot
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  Mount Rainier,
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  SPEAKER_00: the nearly 13,000-foot La Salles,
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  SPEAKER_00: or 14,115-foot Pikes Peak.
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  SPEAKER_00: Plus,
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  SPEAKER_00: because they were in the middle of the city,
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  SPEAKER_00: the towers seemed to move,
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  SPEAKER_00: never anchoring me to direction.
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  SPEAKER_00: This was not an issue for the mountains.
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  SPEAKER_00: Visible for hundreds of square miles,
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  SPEAKER_00: they may have popped up in unexpected places,
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  SPEAKER_00: but they were fixed in place,
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  SPEAKER_00: always providing a reference point.
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  I think that part of my unease in Boston centered on my lack of
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  centering.
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  SPEAKER_00: I never felt like I had my bearings.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was also always searching for a way to connect to the city.
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  Building stone did provide some of that grounding,
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  but never truly enough to satisfy my needs.
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  SPEAKER_00: Winter brought the other never-before-encounter phenomenon.
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  SPEAKER_00: Snowline based on the interstate and not on elevation.
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  SPEAKER_00: For instance,
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  SPEAKER_00: Weather reports regularly describe the I-95 and I-495 snow lines.
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  SPEAKER_00: Both roads ring Boston,
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  SPEAKER_00: with I-495 further inland,
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  SPEAKER_00: about 25 to 30 miles,
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  SPEAKER_00: versus 10 to 15 miles for I-95.
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  SPEAKER_00: This was nutty and novel to me.
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  What ghost of Robert Moses it be that allowed interstates to
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  control the weather?
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  SPEAKER_00: In Seattle and much of the West, snow line depends on elevation.
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  SPEAKER_00: The higher the land, the colder the temperature, and thus high.
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  The snow line,
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  Boston,
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  and many parts of the East,
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  in contrast,
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  follow a different principle.
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  SPEAKER_00: Distance from the coast and the ameliorating influence of the ocean,
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  SPEAKER_00: as well as topography,
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  SPEAKER_00: drives temperature and thus snowfall.
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  This connection between land and water and snow makes perfect
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  sense and is
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  SPEAKER_00: partially coincidental with the location on the roads,
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  SPEAKER_00: but still seems odd to my Cascadian soul.
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  SPEAKER_00: Although I never cottoned to Boston as a home,
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  I was glad that I spent enough time there to begin to
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  appreciate the rhythms of
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  SPEAKER_00: place and some of the natural history that helped define the hub.
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  SPEAKER_00: For me,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I think for many people,
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  stories such as these are essential to their happiness and how
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  they relate to their
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  SPEAKER_00: home place.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that I now have had
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  more than 40 years to learn about and from the amazing and
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  wonderful landscape of Seattle.
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  The stories continue to bring me joy and strengthen my ties to
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  my home place.
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  SPEAKER_00: I hope they do with you as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
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  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of the Seattle Street Smart Naturalist,
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind,
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  a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and
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  natural world around
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  SPEAKER_00: Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more details about my books,
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: walks,
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: and talks,
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
• 6:31
  And don't forget to slow down,
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  pay attention,
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  and enjoy the world around you.