New Mexico writer has a new word for rural life

Sharman Apt Russell (right) writes an essay on rural life for the Natural Resources Defense Council's magazine On Earth. Russell uses a newly coined word, soliphilia, which she says is "the love of and responsibility for a place, bioregion, planet, and the unity of interrelated interests within it." Russell believes the word best describes the "diversity of the rural West, perhaps of all rural America. ... We're Baptists and pantheists; we eat beef and drink soy milk; we like wolves and hate wolves and we're new and old and rich and poor. What we have in common is a feeling that some of us would be uncomfortable talking about, and some of us talk about all the time. We love this place. We are the bride of this place and we are the groom."

She adds, "Soliphilia has its own dangers ... Love of place can lead to xenophobia, with longtime residents resenting newcomers, even (perhaps especially) when they come with good ideas. Whether 'old' or 'new' to the rural West, we are all in danger of becoming provincial, caught up in the intricate pleasures of home and ignoring our connections to the rest of the world."

According to the magazine, Russell is an award-winning nature and science writer whose most recent book is Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist (Basic Books). She teaches creative writing at Western New Mexico University in Silver City and Antioch University in Los Angeles. (Read more)