Berry and Kingsolver

The Wendell Berry piece was interesting.  It seems that he was angry about something and that he wanted to get a message out.  He wanted to tell people to change their actions and it seemed like his goal was to get people to be more friendly to the environment.  The way it was written is poetic and while it helped drive the point, it also made it confusing sometimes with the language.

Knowing our Place is about just that, knowing our place.  Barbara talks about the little hollow she lives and how she is known by everyone, a place she can be in nature, and a place she can be in peace.  Her message is that we should protect nature for all the good things it brings us. She claims that we need wild places.  I agree with that statement and I believe we shouldn't forget about how much nature effects our lives.  The title fits perfectly as we should know our place in the world.

Fecundity

This was a weird story to me.  The way that Dillard spoke throughout the story was very pessimistic.  The whole story just seemed like a way for her to bash on humanity. Dillard seemed to ramble on a lot and the story was hard to follow.  Some of the detail like the blood fluke part was gross and kind of turned me off from the reading.  Overall here claim seemed to be that humans were later to arrive to the party, and when they did, they got in the way of other creatures out there.  She says that we are guests in their home, and that we are the ones that do not belong.   

Ecology of a Cracker Childhood

This story was interesting.  The message I got was about how the turtle was the center of the ecosystem.  When the turtle was taken out of its ecosystem,  it does not survive.  The turtle in the story makes the perfect example of a keystone.  The junkyard bit was odd with the comparison of an ecosystem.  I have been in many junkyards and can relate to the feeling that there are many different "species" living in one and they can be their own wilderness.  I didn't understand how the two really related together though.

Walden

The point of this story is about giving up all the modern day comforts and become more in touch with a simpler lifestyle.  His claim is pretty effective as he goes into detail about how he can live off the grid.  He makes the connection that he is more in tune with nature.  While he doesnt seem to live entirely on his own, he does mostly support himelf.  The detail of nature helps to make you feel that you are really there.  But the detail can be a little overwhelming and  detracts the reader form the piece.  Also the poetic sound of the writing makes the reading hard to follow.

Silent Spring

This excerpt from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring talks about the effect of pesticides.  The effect on the birds and their birth and development is a negative one.  It tells about the death rate among birds that were exposed to DDT.  It also talks about a trickle down effect and how the DDT effects not just birds, but other animals and people.  The claim of this excerpt is about the effect of pesticides on the environment.  The claim is fairly efective with the large amounts of data and numbers to back it up.  Much like the last story, this one can lose readers who do not understand the context or are confused by the number.  With todays use of pesticides, i dont think it is an issue on the current environment.  Today's applications are much more focused on where the problem lies, not over the entire area.  The use today isn't nearly as hazardous to animals and people as the past.

Omnivore's Dilemma

Pollan's claim is for people to look at the sources of their food.  He wants them to know about what they are eating and that the normal food food they eat might not have a natural origin.  This claim is fairly effective.  It is effective to those that understand the technical bits, but for the general reader, the complexity of the writing might hurt the effectiveness.  I think that the way that these farms run, returning to grass feed might not be an option, especially for the quality of beef the consumers demand.  This has not changed my feeling towards eating beef too much, as I knew about a few of these things.

Oct 14th Readings

      It  depends on the  meaning of harmful.  A wolf can be more harmful to a person.  But in terms of the environment I think the wolf is better, it cleans up everything and its population is much smaller.  I dont not entirely agree with the statement about the country losing its wilderness.  there is still a wilderness for a lot of animals and plants, but in terms of the wolf's ecology, their wilderness might be lost.  I think bass uses italics to put emphasis on certain ideas.  he uses them frequently to try to make a strong argument.  he uses quotations that make a more sarcastic statement.  The similarities between the two stories is about how the deer have a far greater impact on the environment then the wolf.

The Northern Lights

I liked this piece a lot.  The detail that Sigurd Olson went into when describing The Northern Lights made me feel like I was there.  The details in the story give a heightened sense of perception, every detail is listed.  This is something to me that is relatable because when ever I am on my bike, I get this same sense.  Colors pop out and become vivid.  Every sound is is magnified, from the sounds of nature to the sound of the bike down the trail.  This short story really summed up the beauty of nature quite well.

Is This Kansas

This reading to me is about a relation between big national events and smaller regional events.  This story is close to me because I live just north of Iowa City and I remember seeing and hearing these events.  It was big news in The Corridor until the floods in '08.  The point that the author makes is that a town that is nothing but party 24/7, doesn't even stop for much human compassion or personal gain.  While their town was damaged, they refused to change their way of life.  They still focused on the party aspect of their life.  The author says that this is a different event then what happened in New Orleans.  The people there quickly took advantage of opportunities to loot and make personal gain.  Granted, Katrina was a much larger event and it had widespread attention.  The people of New Orleans, and the rest of the country were quick to start helping them rebuild.  I know this because I went down there with my church.  But back in Iowa, people didn't rush in nearly as fast to help out after the storms probably because they knew that the college kids just wanted to drink.

Manhood for Amateures: Wilderness of Childhood

I believe the central claim of this essay is the freedom that a child has outdoors.  He says at the end that he excitedly takes his child out so she can explore the outdoors.  But in the sad reality he discovers no other children outside.  He longs for the day that she could experience the same wilderness as he did and create adventures with other kids.  It shows that the experiences of the outdoors have helped him to create an imagination and become a creative writer. I believe that children have lost their appreciation for the outdoors due to over protective parents and new influences that keep hem from going outside.  Parents know of dangers that exist outdoors and children would rather be entertained by video games or tv.

I played outdoors a lot as a child as that was where my friends were.  We would ride bikes around the neighborhood and explore the empty lots and make jumps.  We would run around the yards with plastic guns playing cops and robbers.  I would spend countless hours in the garden playing with my Hot Wheels.  Then as I got older I moved inside and played more video games.  My brother started to play games with me and didn't go outside when he was younger. Although an interesting trend has happened, over the past 2 years video games playing has been minimal as I ride my bikes and kayak and my brother has discovered rock climbing and geocaching.  I find it odd how its more fun to rediscover the outdoors and have fun then to hide inside.

Photo A Day

The first photo is the meaningful one to me.  It is a photo of a bike trail. This is something that brings peace to me when i ride it.  It is a way for me to connect with nature.  It wipes away any stress that that i might be having.

Shitty First Drafts

In "Shitty First Drafts," there was one thing that followed me throughout the entire piece.  It was how Anne Lamott write things.  Her first drafts would be every little thought that popped into her head.  She said that even the most random little thought could be the most amazing thing to include in a piece of writing.  Anne said that the random thoughts might never be seen by anyone reading her pieces, but they should be written down so any little detail could be used.

The other part that kind of stuck with me was the restaurant review.  Anne would write pages describing the food and the restaurant, but in the end she would tell herself the simple meaning, its just chicken, its just cake.  This leads to the meaning of not to forget what you are writing about.  Somewhere under all the fancy words, there is a simple topic.  When the pretty words are added, and the details continue to grow, that when you must edit to clean out the piece.