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The Edge of Propinquity

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Hidden City Archives
By
Ryan Macklin

A city is defined not by its buildings, by its history, or even by its citizens, but by the connections between all those elements. Buildings are connected by roads, people are connected by relationships, buildings and people are connected by history. It's these ties that bring a city together during times of crisis, tear it apart in decadence and corruption, or simply cause it to wither and die.

Those who understand this see the hidden holy shrines; the places where connections new and old weave through the city. They know that moored steamboats and disused railroad tracks are just as important as freeway interchanges and telephone switches. These people can see the true city, feels its pulse, hear its desires, and bask in its full glory.

In the middle of a valley, right smack where two large interstate highways collide, above two major rivers, sits one rather odd city: Sacramento, California. Live here long enough and you'll start to see what strange things can happen. For most of us, Sacramento serves as a reminder that all people are connected. You might run into your old college roommate from back in Chicago, neither of you knowing the other moved to Sacramento; or a co-worker from years back who still remembers you and has an opening just as your last employer went out of business. Sometimes, the connection isn't even about you -- it's about the city using you to remind someone else that they cannot escape their fellow man.

For a select few, though, Sacramento does more than just bring people together -- it remakes them. One man is about to discover this as he is thrust into the strange, unseen world upon which cities are built.

If you are truly faithful, the City will provide.

01 - Good Friday
02 - Open Wound
03 - Crossroads
04 - Quitting
05 - Price
06 - New Direction
07 - Confrontations
08 - Merge
09 - Tuning In
10 - Road Less Traveled
11 - Blind Intersection
12 - Head On 

Danyael Archives
By
Nick Bergeron

Our world moves around us, ordinary and complacent.  Only when change hits us suddenly do we push ourselves onto it, changing the world in turn as it has changed us.  We act through agents - religion, ethics, morals, traditions, habits ... directing each of these to accomplish the ends our inner selves need and desire.  We shield our psyches from the raw universe via these agents, existing always as innocents within the protection of our defenses.  As with the Almighty, our agents act as angels, enacting our will upon the world around us.

However, when we grant our agents a will and momentum of their own, and the ability act of their own accord, the world becomes a strange place.  The natural becomes supernatural, things once familiar become twisted and alien as we spiral out of control.  Trapped and helpless in the face of the power we have granted the things that were once created to serve, our individuality shrinks until it disappears.  We are left a simple machine making no true decisions, only following the commands of a dead creator.  In a world of freedom and choice, though it be mundane and unpolished, a place in which millions pray everyday for a sign of divinity and and escape from our mediocrity, would you really wish to see an angel?

01 - Dumpster Diving
02 - A Case of the Mondays
03 - Communion
04 - Scorched Earth
05 - Call to Adventure
06 - If At First You Don't Succeed
07 - Try, Try Again
08 - Burning Down the House
09 - The Power to Change the World
10 - Flight
11 - Winter's Night
12 - Revelation

Photo by Jeremy Tidwell, Copyright 2005

Last updated on 2/4/2010 10:55:30 AM by Jennifer Brozek
Return to the Library.
Go to Archives.

Other documents at this level:
     Guest Quarters Archives
     Kendrick Archives
     Luminations Archives
     Santa Maria Archives
     Solstice Archives
     Vorare Archives
     Windows to the Soul Archives

Documents below this one:
     01 - Good Friday
     02 - Open Wound
     03 - Crossroads
     04 - Quitting
     05 - Price
     06 - New Direction
     07 - Confrontations
     08 - Merge
     09 - Tuning In
     10 - Road Less Traveled
     11 - Blind Intersection
     12 - Head On
     Danyael 01 - Dumpster Diving
     Danyael 02 - A Case of the Mondays
     Danyael 03 - Communion
     Danyael 04 - Scorched Earth
     Danyael 05 - Call to Adventure
     Danyael 06 - If At First You Don't Succeed
     Danyael 07 - Try Try Again
     Danyael 08 - Burning Down the House
     Danyael 09 - The Power to Change the World
     Danyael 10 - Flight
     Danyael 11 - Winters Night
     Danyael 12 - Revelation