The Space

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Questions, Intuitions, Revisions: Storytelling as Inquiry

2005 Web Report

On Serendip

The Space

Virginia Tseng

Once upon a time
The world which we know
Was much like Lineland
That is to say
Lineland existed in our Spaceland
This Lineland was composed of Women
Women that walked
In a straight line like they were supposed to
One day
A woman by the name of Thomas
Jumped Out of Line!
out of line!
She jumped Out of Line and claimed a space for other women to jump Out of Line, too. "Here is a place where you too can jump Out of Line."
Other women too jumped
out of line.
Any women
All women could
Jump Out
of Line
After Thomas left
Who knows to where
Maybe to Spaceland squared or Cubed
The space was still there
For Women to jump
The space had no particular shape
It simply existed, it was not defined
But it was definitely there
It's existense was so strong, that it was almost more undeniable than the existence of Spaceland itself.
If you had been in this space
Then Tenoric Spaceland was your Vehilic Oyster
However
As the years went on
The space slowly was more defined
By change
Or by stagnancy
It wasn't a place where women could just jump Out of Line.
There were expectations after they jumped.
They had to jump a certain way to a particular spot at a particular time for a particular reason with a particular result.
Thomas wags her finger
up down, left right, north south, side side, time time
The space had no space for judgment
Only nourishment
Why a certain way? To a particular spot? At a particular time? For a particular reason? With a particular result?
This was out of space.
Which was not good.
This infuriated some women
"Ah! What is this?! The reinitiation of Lineland!?"
"Ludicrous!"
"Are we not all strong women? Capable of various extraordinary things, and not just one particular thing
in a certain way
in a particular spot
at a particular time
for a particular reason
with a particular result?"
"This isn't the reinitiation of Lineland!
This is the founding of Particleland!
Where everyone must be a Particle Man!"
One woman whispered, "Yes or like a Pointland."
"Yeah!" They screamed
What a hotbed of radicalism.
The space was still not quite like Pointland or Particleland or Lineland.
There was still something that set it apart.
All the women resisted the space now
This is what remained common
Between all
The women.
They felt a shift, they felt their world
Did not fit them
This they knew but nothing else.
No one wanted to be the space
And yet they were all there
All still together
All out of line
"well I would really rather do this in a triangular manner to that upper side for a short while with no result in mind."
"well I would rather do this is a circular manner and cover all sides for many years to try and get things more right"
"well I would rather do this in a hectagonal manner and all sides for 1.234 hours each and simply be as precise as possible."
And it was fine.
This was the new beauty of the space.
There were triangles
There were circles
And even hectagons
It did not matter that they were all
Different shapes.
They were there to be those shapes
In those ways
In those places
At that time
For many results.
But they were all there
Out of Line.

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