“The desert could not be claimed or owned–it was a piece of cloth carried by winds, never held down by stones, and given a hundred shifting names… Its caravans, those strange rambling feasts and cultures, left nothing behind, not an ember. All of us, even those with European homes and children in the distance, wished to remove the clothing of our countries. It was a place of faith. We disappeared into landscape.” ― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Content Catnip is a quirky internet wunderkammer written by an Intergalactic Space Māori named Content Catnip. Join me as I meander through the quirky and curious aspects of history, indigenous spirituality, the natural world, animals, art, storytelling, books, philosophy, travel, Māori culture and loads more.
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13 thoughts on “Dissapearing into the desert”
Have you read much of Michael Ondaatje? Never have myself…but this reads like poetry. Lovely.
Ps read your ‘demons’ post. can’t have been easy to write. Hoping that wrestling with it and laying it bare-brings a lightness and sense of clarity to the road ahead. Onward!
I have only read the English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (still not sure of the pronunciation of that surname!) I tried to read another of his Anil’s Ghost and it wasn’t as good in my opinion. The English Patient reads like one long and lush poem. Thank you so much for the comment on the other post, yes it was very difficult to write, it comes to mind sometimes and as I am ashamed of it, I tend to delete these posts relatively quickly. Yes it has helped to give me a lot of clarity for the road ahead. Thank you
Pronouncing ‘Ondaatje’ would be a lot like throwing dice! haha
Regarding that demons post, it got me thinking about adolescent/ university life in NZ. Outside of weekend binge drinking there was literally nothing much else on offer. Culturally it was a wasteland. That was the 90s so maybe better now. I remember going to Spain for the first time in 96’ lots of guys were drinking lemonade and fanta on a saturday night! The pressure to drink just wasn’t there, which suited me just fine.
It was pretty much the same in Australia too during these times. I don’t know what it is this way? It might be a British thing that we inherited in this part of the world maybe? The whole drinking culture thing. It is such a massive waste of time, health, youth and energy. I hope that doesn’t sound too dramatic, but yeah if only there were more cooler and fun things to do as a young person that wouldn’t result in such damage. I think things are changing though, young people nowadays drink much less than us
Definitely inherited from the brits, I’d say. Everyone in my family loves a beer (not hardcore at all but there are a few alcoholics in there for good measure) except me and my mum. I often thought I would have had a much better time at uni if I had drunk more! Even here in Hk the only socialising options for expats around are drinks at the pub…I may try and do something about that and create some sort of meet up but I like my own company a little too much lol
Hi Kevin, thank you so much for your message of support and solidarity, it really made me feel less alone. Also, I really appreciate that you like this blog of mine and my style of writing that is very lovely of you to say. You are right that whenever one has these kinds of issues that they can become much more compassionate and understanding of others. It can go one of two ways – make people softer or make people harder. I sort of chickened out and deleted this post which is why you saw the 404, this is because there is still a lot of shame for me attached to it all, I need to overcome it and ‘out’ myself so to speak, that’s a work in progress though. Kevin, thanks for your support and if you want to have a chat further on this or anything else you can reach me on tokyoalleyways@protonmail.com take care x
Content Catnip 
Have you read much of Michael Ondaatje? Never have myself…but this reads like poetry. Lovely.
Ps read your ‘demons’ post. can’t have been easy to write. Hoping that wrestling with it and laying it bare-brings a lightness and sense of clarity to the road ahead. Onward!
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I have only read the English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (still not sure of the pronunciation of that surname!) I tried to read another of his Anil’s Ghost and it wasn’t as good in my opinion. The English Patient reads like one long and lush poem. Thank you so much for the comment on the other post, yes it was very difficult to write, it comes to mind sometimes and as I am ashamed of it, I tend to delete these posts relatively quickly. Yes it has helped to give me a lot of clarity for the road ahead. Thank you
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Pronouncing ‘Ondaatje’ would be a lot like throwing dice! haha
Regarding that demons post, it got me thinking about adolescent/ university life in NZ. Outside of weekend binge drinking there was literally nothing much else on offer. Culturally it was a wasteland. That was the 90s so maybe better now. I remember going to Spain for the first time in 96’ lots of guys were drinking lemonade and fanta on a saturday night! The pressure to drink just wasn’t there, which suited me just fine.
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It was pretty much the same in Australia too during these times. I don’t know what it is this way? It might be a British thing that we inherited in this part of the world maybe? The whole drinking culture thing. It is such a massive waste of time, health, youth and energy. I hope that doesn’t sound too dramatic, but yeah if only there were more cooler and fun things to do as a young person that wouldn’t result in such damage. I think things are changing though, young people nowadays drink much less than us
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Definitely inherited from the brits, I’d say. Everyone in my family loves a beer (not hardcore at all but there are a few alcoholics in there for good measure) except me and my mum. I often thought I would have had a much better time at uni if I had drunk more! Even here in Hk the only socialising options for expats around are drinks at the pub…I may try and do something about that and create some sort of meet up but I like my own company a little too much lol
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Bound to change over time as globalisation lessens the influence of isolated cultures….
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Hi Kevin, thank you so much for your message of support and solidarity, it really made me feel less alone. Also, I really appreciate that you like this blog of mine and my style of writing that is very lovely of you to say. You are right that whenever one has these kinds of issues that they can become much more compassionate and understanding of others. It can go one of two ways – make people softer or make people harder. I sort of chickened out and deleted this post which is why you saw the 404, this is because there is still a lot of shame for me attached to it all, I need to overcome it and ‘out’ myself so to speak, that’s a work in progress though. Kevin, thanks for your support and if you want to have a chat further on this or anything else you can reach me on tokyoalleyways@protonmail.com take care x
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Las Vegas exists in desert, but seems bent on making the desert disappear!
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Yes it seems to be endlessly expanding 🤓
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way past what the water supply will support
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I think this is the story of every city too…there are too many people alive and not enough resources to go around 🫣
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I think Mother Nature has found a set of solutions
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Sadly…for us all
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