Origin Stories

In the origin story of Krystal-Chang-Projects-flowers-landscapes-architecture, there are these things:

1.     In Iceland, on a ill-advised trip with my architect ex-boyfriend (we broke up at the end of the trip), there was one day when we were driving through the countryside, all vastness, and wildness, and green moss on black volcanic rock, and gorgeous untamed beauty, we came over a ridge to a perfectly clear turqoise lake, and my ex-boyfriend observed: “Nature always wins.” 

2.     I read Candide for high school English. After the earthquake, rape, Inquisition, buttock-cutting, hanging, etc., etc., etc., even Pangloss is exhausted and all they can say is “We must tend our garden.” 

3.     In A Dangerous Method, that movie about Jung with Keira Knightley, (the best review of which, was that she acts with her teeth—I love her, but it’s true!), at the end of the movie, when Jung has again, a wife and a mistress (not Keira Knightley this time), and K.K. comes to visit him, he explains why: “Emma is the foundation of my house. Toni is the perfume in the air."