Robbie Ludvigsen -- Lane's Diagram of Space and Place

The diagram Lane presents to the readers concerning the range of containment to freedom and being lost to being isolated is a helpful illustration in an attempt to identify the unknowns of certain locale. At the very bottom is the interesting phrase, “The Fear of Being Lost in Space,” and it is labeled with the word ‘Threat’ in bold type. I found the use of the word, ‘threat,’ to be a very deliberate choice by Lane. ‘Threat’ signifies, and most often, implies a certain danger. I find this interesting because, to me, the idea of being completely lost in space does not really correspond with anything ‘threatening.’ When I consider the thought of being lost in space, forced to meander the ether for eternity, it does not just threaten me. That thought petrifies me. It not only brings a momentary fear of death, but a sudden questioning of all things metaphysical. Just the idea of, ‘space,’ implies something bigger than ourselves.

Lane labels the opposite pole with the word, ‘Freedom,’ to describe, “The Wide-Open Spaces” located throughout the western regions of America. While a label of ‘Freedom’ might have fit its description in the diagram a century ago, it does not really ring true as a description that exists in the modern world. Does an “American Frontier” even exist anymore? Is there anything we have not touched? Some can argue that places like the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, or the Hundred Mile Wilderness in the Northeast are still uncharted frontiers. Regardless, the ‘Freedom’ that settlers traveling along the Oregon Trail felt is not the same ‘freedom’ that Americans perceive today. In the post-9/11 United States, ‘freedom’ has its many implications that connect itself with things like quelling terrorism and maintaining our image of being the best in light of the current successes of other nations.

I think the horizontal spectrum has appropriate labels, but I would certainly change the vertical labels. If I could reconstruct the diagram, I would label the bottom half with something like “Uncertainty” or “Self-doubt.” For the top half, I would replace “Freedom” with “Autonomy” or “Self-control.”