{ "blyg": "0.3", "id": "3fcjh6mk3xz4bwnrq1s7epcasj", "kind": "fragment", "origin": "https://www.msweet.net/notes/", "page": "096-teal-owls", "author": { "name": "Matthew McDowell-Sweet", "url": "https://www.msweet.net/" }, "created": "2026-09-30T06:35:14Z", "updated": "2026-09-30T06:35:14Z", "version": 1, "content_md": "As a result of an Irish road trip in the summer, I’ve been reading a bunch of books about the culture and history of Ireland. Most recently, I finished [Tim Robinson’s]() awe-inspiring Connemara trilogy, which is quite unlike anything else I’ve read.\n\nI’m now reading about the different Irish words for “[field](https://www.manchan.com/32-words-for-field)”, and in this text, Manchan explicitly makes the point that Irish cultural heritage should be treated as indigenous, as opposed to a branch of European culture.\n\nIn 2024, I travelled around portions of Australia. Naturally, the indigenous heritage of the place is a big deal. So when Manchan pointed out the Irish-Australia indigenous simultaneity, I think it was the first time I really *got* the notion of place. Like, in my bones.\n\nOriginally, it was Aneesh Sathe who put me onto the salience of place and space, and the conceptual underpinnings developed by Yi-Fu Tuan. For example, in his post on [Nakatomi Drift](https://aneeshsathe.com/nakatomi-drift/), Aneesh writes:\n\n*“Yi-Fu Tuan was a philosopher and geographer who wrote, “Place is security, Space is freedom.” For Tuan, Space and Place are not simply large versus small geographic areas. Space is associated with movement, openness, freedom, possibility, and exposure. Place arises through pause, familiarity, value, and orientation. Crucially, each requires the other: movement through Space produces Places, while established Places allow us to perceive and venture into Space.”*\n\nThis matters because there’s a chance—small, precious, fleeting—that [Blygs](https://blygger.org/) become places. We may end up with rich, storied equivalents to places like the Connemaran *Magairlí an Deamhain*, [the demon’s testicles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devilsmother).", "content_html": "

As a result of an Irish road trip in the summer, I’ve been reading a bunch of books about the culture and history of Ireland. Most recently, I finished Tim Robinson’s awe-inspiring Connemara trilogy, which is quite unlike anything else I’ve read.

\n

I’m now reading about the different Irish words for “field”, and in this text, Manchan explicitly makes the point that Irish cultural heritage should be treated as indigenous, as opposed to a branch of European culture.

\n

In 2024, I travelled around portions of Australia. Naturally, the indigenous heritage of the place is a big deal. So when Manchan pointed out the Irish-Australia indigenous simultaneity, I think it was the first time I really got the notion of place. Like, in my bones.

\n

Originally, it was Aneesh Sathe who put me onto the salience of place and space, and the conceptual underpinnings developed by Yi-Fu Tuan. For example, in his post on Nakatomi Drift, Aneesh writes:

\n

“Yi-Fu Tuan was a philosopher and geographer who wrote, “Place is security, Space is freedom.” For Tuan, Space and Place are not simply large versus small geographic areas. Space is associated with movement, openness, freedom, possibility, and exposure. Place arises through pause, familiarity, value, and orientation. Crucially, each requires the other: movement through Space produces Places, while established Places allow us to perceive and venture into Space.”

\n

This matters because there’s a chance—small, precious, fleeting—that Blygs become places. We may end up with rich, storied equivalents to places like the Connemaran Magairlí an Deamhain, the demon’s testicles.

", "content_hash": "sha256:3d01d4b9cc8909bbed063683e3b1b073b171c5819a0c4a5233cd6ff8adff5223", "media": [], "changelog": [ { "version": 1, "at": "2026-09-30T06:35:14Z", "note": null } ] }