Latisha Rosabelle '22

I went hiking in Central Java with two family members during my online semester at home. My sister-in-law told me a story as we drank coffee in that little hut to the left.

She said in between the structure to the right and the hills beyond (in the above photo) lies a village wherein only seven families are ever allowed to settle. Any more than that and someone dies. Any fewer, people rush to fill it. Here on the most populated and urban island in Indonesia, there remain dwellings in tune to the ebbs and flows of nature—the balance necessary to maintain it. I was in awe.