My House is an Ecosystem

Circling HomeWork #23

I have been thinking about my house as the container for my whole creative ecosystem. My friend makes miniature plant terrariums inside of glass jars, and once when watching her I asked if she has to water them. No, she told me. That’s the magic. You put a few drops of water in when you start, and then close the jar and the moisture circulates within this tiny atmosphere — tiny clouds, tiny dew. Unless the moisture escapes the jar, it can go on like that almost indefinitely.

I think about that image a lot. I think of my home, my apartment, this little box that holds my life, as if it is an ecosystem — the site of both my nourishment and my productivity, my inhale, my exhale.

This is where so much of my life happens. I make art here: textiles sprawled on the floor in the guestroom/office/studio, essays like this one, typed at my laptop in my bedroom. I want it to make a place that serves me in both directions. I want it to be a place where I can be creative, but also I want it to be a …