Glossary & Guide

A GLOSSARY & GUIDE FOR FELLOW FIELD RESEARCHERS

NOWHERE: An intangible location. A state of exile, rebellion, dreaming. Also known as the Void, the Edge, the Origin. (See also: NOWHEREISM.)

NOWHEREISM: Existing in the state of Nowhere. A belief system. A ritual. A revolt. A research method. A survival strategy. The act of choosing the unknown instead of the expected. An exercise in fleeing what you’re supposed to be in order to become what you are.

SOMEWHERE: The small town. The big city. The clean apartment. The place which always promises more. A place of arrival but not always belonging. Dangerous when overstayed. (SOMEWHEREISM: the illusion of arrival. Often mistaken for Everywhereism.)

ANYWHERE: Transit. Drift. The in-between. A hitchhiker’s haven. Hotel beds, train platforms, airports at midnight. Living out of a suitcase and using a fake name. No plan. Pure feeling. Often executed out of sheer desperation. (ANYWHEREISM: a pilgrimage. Often mistaken for Nowhereism.)

EVERYWHERE: The ultimate objective. The light at the end. The resting place. When you belong to no place and therefore to all of them. Rare. Sacred. Found only in moments. Often mistaken with delirium. (EVERYWHEREISM: omnipresence. Something God-like.)

FIELD: A physical place (often rural) but more often a metaphor. A place of research and respite and returning-to-self. An area of open land and the space where life and myth intersect where the only witness is two magpies or an angel.

FIELD NOTES: Notes written amidst Field. Fragments, reflections, mythologies. Dispatches from place. Glorified journal entries.

FIELD TRIP: A momentary relocation. May involve flight, heartbreak, caffeine withdrawal, or revelation. Not a holiday, but a mission. Often conducted for Field Research.

FIELD RESEARCH: The act of living, breaking, creating, and noticing on purpose. Often conducted for upcoming novels or pathetic blog entries. Hazardous - beware.

FIELD RESEARCHER: The person conducting the Field Research. You. Me. Not a scientist, not a tourist, something worse. A glorified runaway.

FIELD COMPANION: You. A reader. A witness. One who receives the dispatches and sometimes sends one back. Very important person. The world rotates on their axis.

NOWHERE GIRL: Me. Alias. Avatar. Origin myth. Poet and void-screamer. Part artist, part archivist, part oracle. Birthed from Nowhere. Still running.