The original idea of genus locale derived from a term used by the Romans who used "genius loci" to describe the "spirit of a place" with metaphors and/ or tangible objects to symbolize the "spirit" (both metaphysically and metaphorically) of a geographical location.

      Texas historian John Miller Morris uses that general term, genius loci, in his book El Llano Estacado to describe some "environmental metaphors" in a broad category of geographical features he found in the writings of Pedro de Castaneda's description of the Great Plains. Casteneda accompanied Coronado on his journey across the Great Llano back in 1541 and chronicled the adventure in his account The Journey of Coronado, written between 1540 and 1541. Casteneda waited twenty years to complete the Journeys and the first publication came about 1560 - 63.

      Those references, real-world objects referring to a metaphysical state, were a sort of bridge from an emotion or memory to a real object that allows one to quickly remember the essence of a place; a sort of self contained message of just a few words that contains a wealth of information without ever having to elaborate all the details of the emotions behind the "spirit."

      Morris used eight of those "metaphors" or cosas admirables, (" [Castaneda's] 'excellent things' - of this strange part of the world") elements of "genius loci" to categorize Castaneda's descriptions of significant geographical elements of The Staked Plains.

Those original Castenedaean environmental metaphors are:

The environment as an uninhabited desert region;
The sky as a separate feature;
The bison that roamed the plains in herds of millions;
The round playas that acted as run-off areas for excessive rainfall;
The steep barrancas, or canyons at the edge of the Llano;
The dead soils which are the colorful, skirted areas of the deeper canyon walls;
The mirages that deceived ones perception of the region's flatness;
The waters that gushed from from the Ogallala Aquifer and emptied themselves on    the edge of the eastern escarpment and created cool, tree-lined oases.

      Re-presented, the environmental metaphors (genius loci) becomes genus locales, or types of elements in the local geography that are selected because of their sensitive nature in the contemporary world. These elements, exactly the same as mentioned in Morris's elaboration, are brought closer to reality for visual and literary examination and are assigned metaphorical values and referred to in common knowledge mythology on a regular basis by both the examiners and other voluntary participants in the "commons." Perhaps too, these metaphors of the genus locale, these sensitive elements and items of the Llano's geography, will be carried by subsequent generations as elements of specifically targeted preservation thus becoming sacred genius loci once again.

These new environmental metaphors, genus locales, of the Llano Estacado are:

1. Desolation and the tragedy of Occupation and Disappearance;
2. Infinity and an infinite window into the universal community;
3. The Plains are tributaries to nowhere;
4. Canyons and Escarpments: the end of the endless horizon and back again;
5. Geographica of Color and Shape, the earth speaking as the ancient Greeks would     understand;
6. The next big, near-extinction after the wolf (c. 1926);
7. A reflection of the pre-existing or non existing or amplified simplicity;
8. A ticking clock representing everything and nothing;
9. Simultaneous destruction of the Llano as a complete and contradictory endeavor;

What is a living documentary:

      A document for life as it is and for life that must never end; a continuously unfolding series of stories where the metaphorical elements become iconic values institutionalized as regenerated and pure genius loci once more, cared for and nurtured perpetually …. These elements, once metaphorical, become metaphysical in their ultimate magnitude.

Methodology and End Result

      Coloring the metaphor with visual and literary eloquence is the objective of a living documentary, hoping that a perpetual unfolding will help to sanctify and preserve each element.