El Malpais National Monument is an astounding area of New Mexico covered by the black basalt of ancient lava flows. Brian Miller took us there on a field trip, on one of the last days Flemming and I had in New Mexico.
We met another nomad there. At that point in space-time, Kwang (in the picture) had been living out of his car for a number of months, travelling around the USA.
It was a fortuitous meeting of wanderers. People often tell me my present itinerant life is an unusual one – some wistfully, others accusingly, most in bewilderment. I am starting to think these comments don’t come from the actual desire to travel, as much as they do from the acknowledgement of how much it takes to free ourselves of all that conspires to hold us down: our individual fears, our understanding and expectation of life, our culture, communities and complex social contracts, the fragility of our bodies, and almost every aspect of what happens to a person who is lucky enough to examine their mortality by living it out.
charlene winfred 