(n.); the condition or quality of being in a place, of being located or situated; whereness or ubication; from the Latin ubi (“where”)
“I love repetition. I love doing the same thing at the same time and in the same place, day in and day out. I love it because something happens in repetition: Sooner or later, the heap of sameness, accumulated through all the identical days, starts to glide.”
—Karl Ove Knausgaard, “The View from My Window is a Constant Reminder”
Sit down for a moment. Granted, if you’re reading this, you’re probably already sitting, but take a moment to really sit, to feel your own whereness, the whereness of what it’s like to be in a particular place or space or situation. Going about our everyday business, rushing from one location to another, always concerned with where we have to be next—it’s all too common in our fast-paced society, but how often in a day do we step back to feel our own ubeity? Today’s reads, from Knausgaard’s brief but poignant reflection on the repetition of place to children’s author Robin Etherington’s essay on the importance of where one writes, are a celebration of space and what a place can mean.
