False Idols

Even though I've lived in Portland for a decade, I'd never been to central Oregon, because 1. You need a car to get there, and 2. You need someone willing to cover your shifts at work. After a year of pleading for an understudy, and weeks of training the new guy to make pizza dough and put onions in a container, I finally made it. The Oregon desert was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. However, the main thing that struck me was my own complete alienation from the land. I had no point of reference for it other than media. Despite my best efforts, I mainly just kept thinking about the game Spore. That game did inspire reverence and awe in me as a kid, but the comparison felt deeply profane.

The hills looked somehow even more real through my friend's red-tinted sunglasses, and I kept asking for a turn with them. At one point I saw a bird flying in the distance and thought it was a drone. I felt ashamed. I wished I could experience creation naked for what it was, not twisted and filtered through representations of it. But I just kept thinking about Spore. It was still very beautiful.

I've always found it strange when people leave Google reviews for things like forests and geologic sites, as if Nature might appreciate the feedback.

Written July 2026, edited Sept 2026.