Week 12 Reading (Ecology of a Craker Childhood)

I really enjoyed the beginning information about the tortoises. It was not only exactly the kind of stuff I'm interested in, but also a way to get the attention and interest of the audience through a personal experience of the author. It set the scene and tone well so when the author got into the issues of the junkyard it was relatable. I've never thought of a junkyard in ecological term, surprisingly for me, so this was quite interesting and relating the junkyard to the natural environment made the author's hopes to restore that natural environment more practical. If a junkyard is just part of the environment, it can be changed just like the natural environment itself. I idn't find the poem or whatever that was to be very effective or really do anything at all for the piece, but I did enjoy hearing things through the author's brother's words as well.

Week 11 Reading (Walden; or, Life in the Woods)

I think this may be my favorite reading for this class, probably because I didn't rush through it like I tend to do with the other longer readings. Almost ironically, that was also one of this reading's main messages, to slow down and do things right. I also think it was a good example of using a story to create interest in the subject matter. I definitely shared the author's point of view much more easily after reading his experiences with building his house and I could see why that kind of lifestyle should be important through his his story and descriptions that made the whole situation seem very pleasant. I definitely share his views on actually living life and that some of the best and most important learning takes place outside of the classroom. Normally I would end up bored with writers just talking about their views on life like that, but Thoreau transitioned so smoothly from the story about his house through the rest of the piece that I was thoroughly interested the whole time.

Week 10.2 Reading (Silent Spring)

I was quite excited for this reading because I already knew a little about Rachel Carson and was interested to see what "Silent Spring" was really all about. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this reading at least had a lot about DDT in it which I am also quite familiar and interested in. Carson also seems to have similar ideas in this reading as I do so that was interesting too. Another surprise was that even though this was written almost 50 years ago and the particular issues somewhat outdated, I think the same overall concepts about how people's power in the environment can end up going crazy and do more harm than intended, even and especially without that being noticed. I especially enjoyed this reading because it didn't sound old, it sounded like someone could have written it this year and the dates and facts had just been changed. I think that helped make it more effective too, even though I doubt Carson had anything like that in mind when she wrote it.

Week 10.1 Reading (Omnivore's Dilemma)

I came into this knowing absolutely nothing about feedlots so there were definitely some bits that were confusing, but the descriptions and tone really helped, especially when sanitation issues in London were brought up. The types of food given to the cattle was pretty surprising and to me doesn't seem very right, which is, I think, what the author was getting at. I like the author's use of parentheses, which he uses to basically tell the real story behind the facts that he presents besides. The most effective part of the argument is the linkages back to people and even across the world. Basically this reading makes it obvious that these are practically not even cattle any more and shouldn't even be edible.

Week 8 Reading (Thinking Like a Mountain)

I absolutely love the beginning of this reading!! The imagery just draws me in so well and that coupled with the fact that the author gave huge hints caused me to think I might know what the sound is but keep second guessing myself. That made me even more interested and surprised hen the author revealed the sound was a wolf. The fact that I couldn't quite figure out what the sound was but knew there was something meaningful behind the descriptions helped me relate to the notion of knowing there's some "hidden meaning" behind a wolf's howl that people can't really grasp. The emotion and tone really drives this reading and facilitates the transition to the author actually mentioning his point so that by the end when he practically calls people inhuman by differentiating them from men, it isn't taken as an insult but as a wake-up call.

Week 7/8 Reading (Consider the Lobster)

The beginning of this passage kept me guessing at exactly where the author was going with this. Something about the mixture of tourism and lobster was mentioned so I was pretty sure it was going to be some kind of analysis of  how the world can learn something from that. The description of all the events at the MLF made me wonder how that all came to be and ironically when the author went into all the taxonomic facts about the lobster that were supposed to be boring I was extremely interested. The author used that to transition back into the social and tourism side of eating lobster which worked well. Then transitioning back to the lobster festival  through some history of lobster eating and then going over in plenty of detail more about lobster as food, the author gives the reader all the background information that's necessary and then takes the subject to a place I didn't expect, the ethics of lobster. The details the author goes into about the actual process of killing a lobster make everything she says clear, but she makes sure to point out that her point is not whether or not it is ethical to eat lobster, which is what I like about this reading. The author wanted to make people think about it, and that's what happened.

Week 6 Reading (industrial Tourism and the National Parks)

The author did a good job at getting my attention at the beginning, especially at the mention of $1.95 per hour wages. His style of writing is very easy to read, with humor and variation such as the list of reasons for people to be happy at the bar. The fact that the description of the author's life and job is enjoyable to read makes that life appear very enjoyable so the reader can better understand the author's frustration at the changes to the parks that change that lifestyle. The author's overall writing makes his stance easier to agree with.

Week 5 Reading (excerpt from Eearth)

The biggest thing I noticed about this reading is that the author was so repetitive. He never really said the exact same thing but he did just keep spouting off statistics and basically saying that the future of the world is pretty much hopeless. I actually kind of like the beginning and the story about the astronaut seeing taking a picture of the Earth, but that's just about it. The author couldn't really keep my attention because his repetition was so annoying to read, which really kept me from caring to even think about what his point might be, although it was pretty obvious anyways.

Week 4 Reading (Northern lights)

I love the imagery in the beginning of this. The author starts of with a very broad view of movement that, as he gets farther down to where he's standing by the ice, is very similar to the movement and imagery of the ice. Of course, the ice and the lights have different feels to them but he describes both as never ceasing and never the same, which gradually gives the overall setting for the scene and brings the reader deeper and closer to what the author is about to do. The similarity between the lights and the ice soon becomes important as the author uses the imagery he created at the beginning to merge himself, the ice, and the lights together to communicate to the reader effectively what the experience felt like to him. That also makes it easier to understand his references to more similar experiences he has had. Even the exhausted exhilaration the author feels laying down on the ice is explained well by his choice to ramble on about science that just makes me want to read it fast but excitedly, like he probably was writing it. As the author gets into more specific examples about the paintings and the Chippewas, the previous experience the reader has had with the earlier descriptions helps with understanding the examples that probably otherwise would have seemed more like cliche northern lights descriptions. This is where the author can really start to persuade the reader of his views of the northern lights as a mystical and not scientific occurrence. The author comes back to some of his previous imagery at the end, but without the lights, which gives the reader the feeling that the experience was a special one that not many people get a chance to have. The reader, however, after reading this has had that privilege and leaves with the same mindset as the author.

Week 3 Reading (Is this Kansas)

This reading seemed to start off very clearly and simply. The author was disturbed by how college towns have a certain disregard for the laws and norms of behavior that the rest of society must abide by, and she used descriptive language and specific example to relate to her audience and illustrate her point. She briefly mentioned that the hope was for the students to grow into perfectly reasonable members of society like the other midwestern adults and I thought that was going to be one of her main points.Then I was quite surprised to find that one of her examples that seemed just like the others turned out to reverse that idea and surprisingly turn the situation around and regrasp my attention. The reading now seemed to be focused on the naivety of the students which came from the area they live. Then there seemed to be random racial references that I didn't really understand the point of  and the point the whole reading just became unclear with the Katrina references. With the storm coming to the college, however, came back the idea that the students had a way of life that was different and naive with the disregard shown in the beginning of the reading. This time the student's reactions to the Katrina provided a good background to make that point.

This is the beauty of campus that most people look past in order to get a bigger picture. Last year I started a habit of taking fairly long walks whenever life just got too busy of frustrating, or not busy enough. It gave me the chance to think and relax in my favorite kind of environment, the outdoors. A nice little side effect of these walks was the fact that I never planned out where I was going, but I didn't take the exact same route each time either, so I got to know the campus very well. One thing I learned from these walks, though, is that no matter how much I thought I'd seen it all, there were always little surprises here and there. My favorites were the animals that seemed to pop up everywhere, but I loved all the simple natural sights as well. With this photo project I tried to show a little bit of these experiences and the beauty I see in simple, unexpected places. For each picture except the last day there were animals I tried to get pictures of but after the first failure at that I learned that wasn't going to happen. Like I said previously, though, I consider the pictures I ended up with just as good. So far I haven't really learned anything about visual communication because communication is a two way process and no one's seen these yet. I do know that visual communication can be tough, especially without explanation, because two people can look at the same thing but see something different. I think the main goal is to try to show things the way I see them and maybe someone else will see them that way too, or just that it will make an impact in a positive way.

Week 2 reading (Wilderness of Childhood)

From the very beginning of this reading I was simply enjoying it, which I think was the intent of the author. He used old-fashioned yet familiar descriptions of childhood that would make anyone feel good but also introduced his point through that childhood is a wilderness even in the normal everyday world. I like how he used the comic strip as a segue into the world of childhood in fiction too and then brought it back to reality just as gently with the fictional biographies. When he started talking about how someone really gets to know a city that just struck me as all too true because his description of overprotective childhood sounded sadly a lot like mine. After that all I could do was agree with him, simply because of the fact that my dad's childhood definitely had the wilderness as described at the beginning of the reading, and when he was my age he was completely on his own and fine. Yes I'm away at college not even in my own state, living on my own and not even homesick, but my parents helped me move in and out, they buy my plane tickets for breaks, and I still don't even know how to change a tire. One last note: It's easier to try new things on your own when you're a kid, there's fear but unless there's something really seriously dangerous going on there's also an underlying sense of having nothing to loose, even if it's subconscious. That's just what I think and I also think that adults shouldn't be so quick to forget that.

Week One Reading

From the beginning of the reading I could plainly see that it's purpose was to show it's readers that a first draft doesn't have to be perfect. It worked for a few seconds because the author immediately introduced a novel idea that I'm sure at least most people can relate to. I understand wanting a short assignment but the new part is that a bad beginning can be a good thing. Now that sounds like a great idea, and apparently it's true and I know that because I feel I can trust the author. She's relating to me and using interesting images and a little bit of humor, so I decide to give her a chance. All of a sudden, though, the only thing that stands out to me is the fact that I don't care about how good of a writer I am if I'm going to have as hard a time as the writers she's talking about, but even that doesn't make me want to stop reading. The author is so open and relatable, and even random, that I hear her out for a little longer. I realize that maybe it could be fun and even beneficial to let my first drafts be crazy and just not good. Fun, just like the reading itself.