Finding connection in the nature of urban edgelands
Christopher Brown’s “A Natural History of Empty Lots” offers a dose of optimistic realism to amateur naturalists of dystopia
“The first case I read in law school, and one of the first cases almost all American law students read, is about how foxes have no rights in the eyes of the law, and no real legal existence until they can be made into the personal property of a human being. […] The case is used as a lab experiment to program future lawyers to believe in the property rights we acquire by bringing the things we find in nature under our control.”
– Christopher Brown, A Natural History of Empty Lots (also the source of all quotes that follow)
I finally saw a rattlesnake. We were walking between hangars at the municipal airport in the dark. Liesl was leading the way to the right on her little doxie legs; Jason was also on my right and called, “Snake!” just as I saw it to the left and jumped. We heard a sound like rustling leaves, even though there were none on the pavement. I was thrilled to see the snake, able to make out the contrasting bands of its tail in the dark. I was less than thrilled about nearly stepping on it — or having my oblivious little dog come upon it.
