Nathan Bloom - Class Reading #5

In one chapter in Lane's book, Landscapes of the Sacred he discusses the tension between space and place. This is amusing because when I first began reading and before I took this class if someone were to have said tension of space and place I would have thought they were joking; they seem so similar and interchangeable. when Lane dissects the difference and their pros and cons on his diagram, freedom and threat, comfort and constriction, it makes you think. I am from NOVA and while it is no small town in which to find comfort it also most certainly does not give me the feeling of freedom from space, the closest feeling I can relate from it would be constriction because their are so many people always in your way or competing for the same thing, whether it be an apple at the grocery store or a job. While this is constricting NOVA also gives me a feeling of ultimate freedom because there is so much to do and so much to see. So I guess in a way this proves Lanes diagram correct, but it still leaves me wondering what NOVA is. From my above description it almost seems like an oxymoron but how can a whole group of cities be a conflicting idea? It really makes you wonder.