X/Y

It's 10 am on Sunday and the church bells are ringing, a signal that at this time one is supposed to be in a certain place and time and place are tied to each other. In the question what is place? and what is space? I feel like place is a geographic location ie. home, school, church, the sidewalk. Space is something less defined. But all places are spaces as well. Kind of like all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. An apartment or store is a space as well as a place. But spaces can also be intangible. One can feel like she is in a "good space" or a "bad space." This claim may be based on energy flows or karma. You can also share space with someone. For example living with someone. Physically and geographically you share a "place": furniture, plates, the bathroom. But you also share "space" with each other which is something much more complex. When you live with some one you know their habits, what they like, how not to piss them off, you exist in a shared space where two individuals have to exist together on a plain (side note I just had to look up if it should be "plane" or "plain" in this context but couldn't find the answer) elevated from the physical. If a roommate leaves and a new person comes there is an undoubtedly an awkward transition period where even though the place and physicalness of it has not changed, the space has changed. Now you have to learn all over again how to function in this new space with a new person.

When you add the equation of time then your mind is blown all over again. Right now its 10:26 am Eastern Standard time. It's also 5:26 pm in South Africa or 17h26 because they use the 24 hour clock. My mind exists in both spaces. I am always consciously aware of what time it is in South Africa and what the people I care about are doing. I imagine schools, apartments, roads, parks that I know exist on the other side of the world and can transport myself not to the geographic place but into the space that I remember feeling there. I go back and forth wishing my mind wasn't split into these two time zones and loving the idea that a part of me still longs to be someplace else and working to fulfill that longing and return. This gives me a sense of balance but also a sense of instability and open-ended confusion.

I think people can find stability in spaces and places but can also feel instable and off balanced if a shift occurs. NY I think is a place where people find great comfort and great fear. It's also a city where everyone seems to be in transition from one place to the next. When I leave the city and then return I feel a sense of comfort returning to a place that I am familiar with and also the space of the ciy and the energy that comes with it. I was at Whole Foods the other day and a man in line behind me struck up a conversation about the Soy milk I was holding. We ended up leaving the store together and walking to the subway (the greatest example of a transitional place) talking the entire time about Soy Milk! After we parted ways I felt the space around me was altered. Everyone seemed to be smiling. Do you ever notice that all of NY shares the same mood. On the subway people are all really pissed off, or happy and polite and this sets the tone for the rest of the day.

.............I don't think this makes any sense at all!