Want Less

There seems to be an unquenchable thirst for any kind of small structure like a cabin, shed, hut, or hideaway. Michael Pollan wrote an entire book about building a place in the woods for writing entire books.

You can’t throw a rock without hitting a story about a tiny house. If that kind of mini living offers too much elbow room you can get on the #vanlife bandwagon.

These small places really call to me. I’ll take architectural snugness over smugness any day. Keeping one’s foot out of the super-sized trap can save a lot of future gnawing.

Kurt Vonnegut turned an encounter with author Joseph Heller into a poem of sorts for the New Yorker on the topic of scale.

I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

Every time I find my way back to these words, I think of this modest little building in Elsah, Illinois.

About the author: I am Stephen Kennedy, an experienced photographer with more than 2500 completed sessions in all 50 US states.