Space Cowboys

Link to the FALL22 OTC ISSUE: https://issuu.com/offthecuff/docs/finalmagmixamprint

The romantic conceit of the Wild West painted by Hollywood – the untrammeled land, the vile outlaws, and the heroic cowboys – belied the unpredictability of wildfires, the paucity of food sources, and the inevitable loneliness of the American West. Cattle drives signified the Old West during the late 1800s: a major economic activity for cowboys to herd up to three thousand cattle from San Antonio to California over a three-to-five-month travel period. Regardless, in the 21st century, we romanticize the endeavor of shuttling across the country as an exploration of the unknown – more precisely, escapism.

But the seemingly boundless journey wasn’t forevermore. The mechanization of the ranching system led to the demise of cowboys. The invention of barbed wire and railroad expansion closed the open-range era. The vast land that once allowed these grazing activities was then confined and constrained by barb-wired fences. I couldn’t help but question if our idealization of the Wild West is the repercussion of the automated, mechanized world we live in today. What if the cowboy spirit in us was never tam ed? What if we are all some form of a space cowboy, yearning for an uninhibited and uncharted place?

Space cowboy is an undefined term – space is not entirely fixed in the astronomical sense but rather an expanse to divert unpleasantness or disaffection with the status quo. It could also be the imagination of the fourth dimension, a virtual tour in Paris, the attic in your grandma’s house, a fantasy world in literature, or even the dance songs from the 90s. The dream world seemed so vast and alleviating than the autopilot 9-to-5 rut and the success sequence (get a full-time job, get married, and have kids) that’s built upon the social norms, at least for the moment.

Fear of abandonment

Automation anxiety aside, as the forced shutdown came unannounced during the spring of freshman year, I feared a part of me would dissipate with the lost time that I could never claim back. The 16-hour flight back home to Taiwan was unprecedentedly excruciating and surreal. I was flipping through my photo album countless nights trying to capture real-time – the Friday skating ritual at Steriti, the sleep-over movie nights during weekends, and even lecture slide pictures that I never thought I’d revisit. It was almost counterintuitive to think that the time I lived in was false and that the time I tried to seize was true. It felt like I was abandoning real life as the world left us behind, and only the photos on my phone would bring solace. However, the lockdown also stimulated our creative minds and our identity as space cowboys.

Exploration v.s. Exploitation

When Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon in 1969, the nation praised him as “the first human being to walk on another world.” He fulfilled our fascination with outer space. During the time, no one really questioned the motive behind the Apollo mission and considered it an exploration. On the contrary, when Elon Musk announced his Space X Mars Program, it was exploitation. Is there a right or wrong in escapism if they all stem from the desire to explore? If you go onto Space X’s website, it’s quoted by Elon Musk: “It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”

We think these tech billionaires trying to colonize another planet while abandoning the Earth is unethical. This sure is contentious when you think the abundant resources are not going into saving what’s around us but what’s above us. Therefore, this brings the extent of exploration into question. If railroads were meant to explore new bounds yet ended the cowboy era, is that regarded as corruptive or inevitable? What if Musk announced that the exploration of Mars is for saving the Earth, which would unavoidably exploit the resources on Mars? Is that still virtuous or evil?

A Coping Mechanism

Whenever my inner peace is threatened, whether from heartbreak or confronting the dissonant values I hold against society or my family, I put on the imaginary cowboy hat and turn to songwriting and poetry. I get lost in the sea of words and the streams of melodies to escape the hecticness for one night. It’s almost cathartic to construct words and vitalize them by tying them together with music. At that moment in time, I allow my intuition to guide the subsequent note and word. Escapism is never an excuse for avoidance to me but rather acts as a conscious choice and a reset button. I remember a particularly stressful week when I almost cried halfway through the midterm. A voice kept saying, “I just want to disappear for three days.” Without a second thought, I went straight to Daily Catch in Brookline (my favorite restaurant) after the exam. The gloomy, rainy weather contrasted with the warm tone inside the restaurant, which made it even more appealing. I ordered the calamari pasta and pulled out my comfort book –Chinese prose poetry. It was a short yet necessary alone time escaping to the author’s created worlds. It was then I felt revitalized.

As space cowboys, we live in the moment. Escapism is like a two-day getaway to New Hampshire – we’re running away but just for a short term. If we’re lost forever, the concept might not be sustainable, but as long as we keep questioning: where do we go next?