Category: United States

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Promoting silence

Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton is trying to designate Hoh Rain Forest (in the Olympic National Park in Washington State) the first National Quiet Place in the U.S.

Hempton is touring the country promoting his book, “One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Search for Natural Silence in a Noisy World.” From an article in The Peninsula Daily News. His blog is One Square Inch.

How did Hempton come to such a calling?

A scare drove Hempton to take up his mission with fresh fervor five years ago. His hearing started to disappear for reasons his doctors couldn’t name. It was as if he were foreshadowing Beethoven, about to be robbed of his symphonies.

Hempton has his suspicions as to the triggers of his hearing loss. He worked on a loud train-recording project and has had infections — but never learned the cause of the problem that turned out to be temporary.

He regained 100 percent of his hearing after several months.

“I am thankful every day,” he said.

Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.

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Everglades hermits

The Butler and Bagman Chronicles is a blog by Mark Cowell about his personal interests. But he is also the son of Al Seely, an Everglades hermit mentioned in our 2004 article on the Florida Everglades hermits. In a set of entries with keyword “hermit”, Cowell notes that Al Seely was an alcoholic, and that his hermiting adventure was motivated by a diagnosis of fatal liver cirrhosis; he ventured to the Everglades to either survive or die — and he survived. A blog entry also mentions E. F. Atkinson, another hermit profiled in the 2004 article.

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Martha Ainsworth: Episcopal solitary

Article by Paul O’Donnell in New York Magazine titled “Hermit of the Heart,” with subtitle: “With no convent but the city itself, one woman finds a prayerful solitude as a contemplative order of one.” About Martha Ainsworth’s attempt to define a religious vocation as a solitary approved canonically by the local Episcopal bishop. Interesting example of being a hermit in the crowd.
URL: http://nymag.com/guides/mindbody/2008/42818/