A one mile wide stretch of land is before you, coursing directly east into the far horizon at sunrise.
This land is like a path, although it includes many paths. Streams, fields, forest, rivers, streets, city markets, towns, backyards, fences, gardens, farm stands, grazing animals, wildlife, festivals, traffic, signs, desolation, desert, languages, cultures, faces, locals, communities, groceries, junk, trash, machines, industry, music, homes, voices, children, laughter, schools, basketball courts, parks, cafes, and ocean, endless stretches of ocean, shores, windswept places, quiet and raucous places, fields upon fields again and sprawl, suburbia, islands of all kinds, mountains majestic and small hills with bicycles and pedestrians, belching buses and trucks, fires, storms, tumult, and peace, and there before you along this long, long stretch east, is your own place again, the place you started, the place you call home.
The world along one minute of latitude, that is what the latitude movement bring us, an amazing slice of the world, specific and at the same time vast, a much smaller slice of the world, and yet infinite possibility for exploration.
All along this stretch of the world, east and west, the sun follows the same path. This is what makes this one-mile wide stripe special- that very same latitude means a consistent relationship with the earth’s axis all along that latitude, and therefore, the same day length and relationship with the sun in every place along that line.
So the journey along the mile wide stretch of land is specific indeed, and every place and person on that line, whether farmer, or field, or artist or teacher, or garden, all experience the exact same length of day, each and every day.
And from this common light, there is connection, there is a sharing of rhythm and seasons and foods too. At the same time, there is diversity and difference and rich cultural distinction along that one mile wide stretch of earth east-west around the world. So there is the opportunity to connect, converse and exchange along that latitude line, broadening horizons and elevating possibilities for a latitude community both global and local.
