o pioneers

"But the great fact was the land itself, which seemed to overwhelm the little beginnings of human society that struggled in its somber wastes. It was from facing this vast hardness that the boy's mouth had become so bitter; because he felt that men were too weak to make any mark here, that the land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty, its uninterrupted mournfulness..."  -Willa Cather

This passage seems strange today, for humankind seems to have conquered the land, and now we must come to terms with biting off more than we can chew. Images of my pioneer self, the Grand Tetons from National Geographic's American Wonderlands, and the radiant colors of Pioneer Boy.