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elk & elevation Donna Karimian
Although Denver was only a two-hour flight,
I was baffled by the realization that land can transform from Texas’s flat plains to the soaring mountain ranges of Colorado. In my mind, land was portrayed like it was on a globe, in the same flat green shade on with no difference from one area to the other. I was welcomed by towering trees and mountains peaking over the clouds. How is it possible that within the time span of a single film, I was in a different environment? Raised in Houston, I had never seen mountains before. My closest encounter was with the automated landscape on my laptop’s background. On screen, the distance from peak to peak could be measured by my fingertips. I remember learning about proportions and scale as a child, observing and studying the distance by counting the amount of lines on a topographic map. Yet standing here at the edge of the Rockies, all perception of space and distance escaped me.
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The trees seemed to extend endlessly, with no distance or way to measure how far they reached. Walking the path, I absorbed the small details that scattered along the trail; the trees closest to me are a dark green, but beyond the foreground gradually turn to an icy blue. The lake mirrored the mountains, reflecting the ridges of the rough surface that was lined with snow. It was strangely quiet, only sounds of the melted ice dripping from the trees disrupted the lake. The air was chilled by the icy flakes, but the sun broke through the mountains and kept me warm. I wanted to sit there for hours.
The longer I looked the more questions I had. Although the questions lingered,
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Wrapping myself in layers, I sat on the porch in silence. It was a rare moment. Typically, I am surrounded by noise, but the quiet allowed me to think. Scattered thoughts did not occupy me, only one singular thought quietly rose within the calmness of my mind. This never happen, I was both confused and relieved. Nature is complex. Even though it appears chaotic, it is not forced or built — it unifies. The change in my environment structurally changed me from my usual hurried form. I imagine myself the way a person appears when captured mid-motion in a photograph. Blurred and unrecognizable, rising from the stroke of my movements. Here , however I am fully formed. I am still and the details of myself emerge.
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I relished watching the wind blow through the leaves, elks roaming graveled roads, and clouds thinly spread against the rough mountainside. In Houston I do not go outside. My domain is in front of a screen, sometimes several at once. In the Rockies, I did not want to go inside. I knew there was plenty of work to be done, and I kept reminding myself of all that I should be doing. But I let it go, sitting quietly, finally starting to process the scale and magnitude.
I sat in silence to cherish the peaceful moment—