The Legacy of Luna

Friday, April 24, 2009

HAPPY ARBOR DAY DEAR READERS

Have you hugged any trees today dear readers? Or planted any? I didn't, I was lazy today (other than reading today's book).

Today's book; "A young woman named Julia Butterfly Hill climbed a 200-foot redwood in December 1997. She didn't come down for 738 days. The tree, dubbed Luna, grows in the coastal hills of Northern California, on land owned by the Maxxam Corporation. In 1985 Maxxam acquired the previous landlord, Pacific Lumber, then proceeded to "liquidate its assets" to pay off the debt--in other words, clear-cut the old-growth redwood forest. Environmentalists charged the company with harvesting timber at a non sustainable level. Earth First! in particular devised tree sit-ins to protest the logging. When Hill arrived on the scene after traveling cross-country on a whim, loggers were preparing to clear-cut the hillside where Luna had been growing for 1,000 years. The Legacy of Luna, part diary, part treatise, and part New Age spiritual journey, is the story of Julia Butterfly Hill's two-year arboreal odyssey."

Shallow (and totally immature) thoughts:

  • From the very first page all I could think about was Where and how did she go to the bathroom while up in that tree. In other words, when I read I think like a third grader. I can't seem to focus on the point of the book and instead get distracted by insignificant details. I just kept thinking Two years in a tree with no running water? No toilets? No Dallas dvd's. It's unthinkable.

  • Finally, after about forty pages of wondering, my questions was answered (the "toilet" was a jar, eeeeewwwww). Having that question answered led to me wanting to gag and also to have a few new questions: What about toilet paper? What happens if someone walks under the tree at the exact time that she was emptying the "toilet." The mind reels and goes flying in all sorts of disgusting directions. Or maybe that's just me. Maybe I just need to start acting more like a grown up when I read books like this.

  • The other part that I was horrified by was the paragraph that discussed how difficult it was for the author to wash her hair and so after a while she just stopped trying. I think it's time for another eeeeeewwwwww. Clearly I'm not mature enough to read a book like this. I should stick to reading light, fluffy books that don't have a point to make.

  • And my final thought on the book, which I promise has nothing to do with being grossed out by anything: I wish the book had included more pictures of the platform that the author lived on while inhabiting Luna. I'm a very visual person and I had a hard time picturing exactly what the whole thing looked like - so some pictures and a floor plan would have been nice.

Please join me tomorrow dear readers, for Suggestion Saturday - and I promise I will not talk about anything gross.