John Daniel wrote an essay in 2008 arguing that rootlessness, or not staying in one place, has benefits. He discusses how living in multiple places can widen one's perspective of the world, as staying in one place may limit impressions. He acknowledges both sides, noting rootlessness is not always better but that travel provides useful outside views. Daniel supports his point through his own varied work history and references to others like John Muir who found joy in movement rather than staying put.

1. A Word in Favor of Rootlessness
By John Daniel

2. John Daniel
• Born in South Carolina, but
Raised in Washington D.C.
• Dropped out of Reed
College (Portland, Or)
• Worked as a logger, railroad
inspector, rock climbing
instructor, hod carrier, and
poet-in-the-schools (all in
Oregon)
• Got M.A. at Stanford
University in
English/Creative Writing

3. Writing Career
• Got M.A. at Stanford
University in English/Creative
Writing
• Taught Freshman English for 5
years now full time writer
• Wrote this book in December
of 2008

4. Topics Addressed
• Main purpose addressed in the essay is that
rootlessness is not always a bad thing
• It can be better as it widens a person’s view of
the world
• Staying in one place can limit your impressions
or knowledge of the world
• Outside impressions/opinions can be very
useful

5. Topics Addressed
• John Daniel is not against staying in one place
but he recognizes the benefits that travelling
brings people
• He also says many people who live in one
place their entire life can lose sight of the
beauty that surrounds them

6. Quotes
• “I address some of the less salutary aspects of
living in place and some of the joys and
perhaps necessary virtues of rootlessness.”
(160-161)
• “… that place is to inspire in hummingbirds a
fiercely intense desire to impale one another
on their needlelike beaks… It is merely a
demonstration of over identification with
place. Humans do it too.” (161-162)

7. Quotes
• “Motion for him (Muir) was not a pathology
but a devotion , an essential joy, an ongoing
discovery of place and self” (163-164)
• “It infects all of us to one degree or another.”
(164)
• “As followers of the Grateful Dead like to
remind us, quoting J.R.R. Tolkien, ‘Not all who
wander are lost.’” (164)

8. Writing Strategies
• Author uses his life stories to help prove his
point, which adds creditability to his argument in
favor of rootlessness
• Does not say that rootlessness is always the right
way to do things, but supports both sides of the
argument
• Provides examples from other people’s lives like
John Muir and Hank Williams to show how
people still have a passion for “place”, where ever
that might be

9. Discussion Topics
• What are some interesting places you have been to?
• How have these shaped you?
• Where are places you would like to go?
• Do you want to live in multiple locations or find one
place and stay in it?
• Do you look at the places you see everyday the same
as someone who is just seeing it for the first time?
• Where would be your dream place of living? (city, small
town, middle of the country, bustling metropolis, etc. )