Our Cathedral In The Desert

Gram Parsons / Emmylou Harris: Return of the Grievous Angel

Emmylou Harris: Return of the Grievous Angel...11/28/75

The English novelist
J. B. Priestley once said
that if he were an American,
he would make the final test
of whatever men chose to do
in art, business, or politics
a comparison with
the Grand Canyon.
He believed that whatever
was false and ephemeral
would be exposed
for what it was
when set against that mass
of geology and light.
Priestley was British,
but he had placed his finger
on an abiding American truth:
the notion that the canyon
stands as one of our

most important touchstones--
a kind of roofless tabernacle
whose significance is both
natural and national.
It is our cathedral
in the desert,
and the word our
is key because
although the canyon
belongs to the entire world,
we, as Americans,
belong particularly to it.
--Kevin Fedarko
The Emerald Mile:
The Epic Story
of the Fastest Ride in History
Through the Heart
of the Grand Canyon