"Kimmerer sees this 'grammar of animacy' come alive in her lessons in Ojibwe, which treats nouns as verbs—as acts of being. Instead of saying “It is a lake,” one says: “It is being a lake.” Instead of a bird, something—or someone—is being a bird. Kimmerer’s grammar of animacy underscores our connectedness, our status as a universe of intertwined beings."
~ Larissa Pham
"The Names of Things: Larissa Pham on Nature Walks and the Grammar of Animacy" ‹ Literary Hub
https://lithub.com/the-names-of-things-larissa-pham-on-nature-walks-and-the-grammar-of-animacy/
"So when I feel disconnected from the real; when I’ve spent too much time online, or gossiping, or been caught up in some tricky, formal fiction problem, there’s a way out. It’s slow. It means going outside, and letting my eyes adjust to the minute movements in the trees. But it’s there, if I wait for it, allowing my ego to recede into the background and make room for other selves—other animate, living creatures, taking up space in the universe alongside me."
~ Larissa Pham
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