A lightening of a great weight...

Waking in the early morning darkness I left Virginia on a North-bound train to Washington D.C. Something about train travel is so classic and timeless. Waiting on the train platform in the low winter light watching my breath steam in the cold air felt genuine...

Whisked away watching the Virginia farmland fall by outside the window. Corn stubbled fields covered in snow, frozen marshes brittle with cattails rustling in the breeze. Cozy beaver dams and groups of mallard ducks huddled for warmth. Sleepy little railroad towns and groups of cattle huddled under a lone oak tree, breath steaming in a cloud over their heads. A frozen creek with a single Canada goose walking over the ice. And shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds crossing over the Potomac River to arrive in Washington...

These were the sorts of images I saw passing along the artery of the railroad to the capital this cold December morning. For me the simple earnest act of traveling from one point in space and time to another is always a lightening. An act of unburdening and reflection. Maybe too I finally feel resolution coming to this suspended crossroads in my life.

Good news. I was accepted into the University of Otago Film Program in New Zealand. Bad news. I don't have funding worked out for this year and still waiting on Fulbright. As much as I want that more than anything right now I'm going to have to defer until this fellowship (hopefully) comes through for next year. The decision has been figured out for me. I'm heading away again -- Southeast Asia down through the Malay Archipelago in Alfred Russel Wallace's footsteps with the new year. More good news, I think Smithsonian Magazine is supporting my project!