Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Cycle
There is an archaeologist in Minnesota who has thoroughly studied the journals of explorer Zebulon Pike. Lt. Pike was sent to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River in 1805-1806. While doing so, he kept a journal of his trip, making almost daily entries about the weather, the terrain, the people, and the animals of the territory, along with his travails. In analyzing Pike's journals, this archaeologist (his name is Douglas Birk) discovered something quite astonishing. Birk realized that the lengths of Pike's entries varied on a regular basis. After a bit of study, he found that Pike wrote more when the moon was full. Of course! Brilliant observation.
Here's what I've noticed about my own writing and the map of my mind. They, too, alter along a cycle, and while I couldn't call it a literal moon cycle, it is no stretch to say that they run on a figurative moon cycle. When some historian comes along and reads my daily journals and the print-outs of my blog, will he/she see this cycle?
Here's what I've noticed about my own writing and the map of my mind. They, too, alter along a cycle, and while I couldn't call it a literal moon cycle, it is no stretch to say that they run on a figurative moon cycle. When some historian comes along and reads my daily journals and the print-outs of my blog, will he/she see this cycle?
Labels: archaeologist, blog, doug birk, journal, minnesota, moon cycle, writing, zebulon pike
