Nature Journal: Part 1

On September 17th, I started my reading on Henry David Thoreau in Nature Writing. Although I was somewhat familiar with Thoreau and his work, it was not until reading his piece in Nature Writing that I started to develop an understanding of who he was as a writer. As we discussed in class, Thoreau tends to take extreme stances on issues that are important to him. Thoreau had a desire to live deliberately and the only way he saw himself being able to live a life of only essentials was to leave civilization and live in a small cabin in the woods of Walden. Although Thoreau was not the most traditional writer of his time, I find his decision to look for a way to live deliberately fascinating. I often wonder what life would be like today if we only lived off what was necessary. Personally, I am weighted down most by the things I do not need. I find myself getting caught up in the wants of life to the point where I forget to live life deliberately. It is spectacular that the work of an author nearly 175 years ago is still applicable today. Although I do not think we all need to get up and go live in a cabin in the woods, I think there is a lot of value in trying to find a way to live deliberately. We are only on this earth for such a short time and the idea of spending most if not all of it unintentionally makes me sick. Furthermore, I admire that Thoreau was not just searching for a deliberate way to live for himself, he was hoping to pass on what he learned to those around him. Those who argue that his stance is too extreme fail to see the purpose in his message. He is urging each one of us to take advantage of what we have on this earth. He wants each one of us to “live deep and suck the bone marrow out of life.” Although I would agree that his writing is hard to understand at times, the overall message is clear. Thoreau’s decision to take an extreme stance on the topic was simply to help us start the conversation we are having today. Sometimes opening the door is the hardest part and Thoreau slammed it wide open. There are too many people living life without purpose, especially on college campuses. Writers like Thoreau and classes like this help students take that step into living a deliberate life.

Nature Journal: Part 2

            On September 20th, I walked from my house to the concrete patio in my backyard. The previous tenants of the house left us some patio furniture that my roommates and I have found quite useful. As a matter of fact, it has grown to be one of my favorite places to sit and relax after a long week of class. My backyard is not all that pretty. The grass is usually long and yellow looking. My house backs up to overgrown tree-line that has consumed a chain-link fence. All the trees appear to be saplings from larger trees elsewhere that have just somehow found their way into my backyard. They are growing in all different directions and some even wrap around one another. As if that were not enough, the trees are tangled in some type of vine that makes a fence of its own. If you focus your ears you can start to hear the sounds that come from beyond the fence. The sound of cicadas is overwhelming. It almost makes it hard to hear anything else. However, if you listen closely you can start to hear the sound of crickets and if you are lucky the sound of squirrels climbing through the branches. I often look for signs of life closer to the house. Along the roofline, there are dozens of wasp’s nests. They swarm angrily but are thankfully far enough away not to be considered a threat. I start to imagine what kind of life lurks beneath my overgrown backyard. The grass is almost knee height at this point which means any kind of being could be living below. I am always surprised to see the amount if lizards that call the brick wall of my house a home. However, the number of lizards makes me think there must be even more insects for them to feed on. During that afternoon I did not see any birds or animals larger than a rodent, but I did hear the sounds of something else coming from behind the fence. My roommate has previously seen a family of raccoons and we came across a dead coyote the other day on the street across from our house. I find the fact that there is so much life around my house which is located in one of the biggest cities in America fascinating. People often go on with their everyday life without ever realizing there is another world around them. A world right beneath their eyes. Even myself, who took the time to seek out this other world knows that there are parts, even those beneath the grass line and beyond the fence that I have still yet to discover.

Nature Journal: Part 3

            On September 28th, Christian and I started to research in order to prepare for our presentation on Edward Abbey. Up to this point in the semester the reading has been difficult for me to relate with. The writings of Clark, Carson, Stegner, and Merton seemed to go right over my head. It was not until the second or third time through that the reading started to make any bit of sense. In the end, it was not just that the reading was hard to understand, but it was unrelatable. The method in which these writers describe nature is vastly different than anything I had ever come across before. Regardless of whether I could understand them or not, I had never experienced this type of interpretation. However, there was something about Edward Abbey’s writing that connected with me. Like several of the other nature writers mentioned above, Abbey was born in a small town where he first developed a passion for nature. Although rather than write about nature as an observer, Abbey wrote about nature as a part of it. This introspective aspect is what first caught my attention. Somehow, Abbey was able to describe nature while at the same time interacting with it. I believe this aspect of his writing allowed readers who do not have much experience with traditional nature writing to get their toes wet before diving into the likes of Clark. In fact, I think Abbey does an even better job at not only connecting with his readers but also influencing them. The way Abbey portrays himself as no different than you and I are appeals to me in a way none of the other writers have been able to do. Specifically, when he talks about killing the rattlesnake, he mentions that his first thought is to kill it but after taking time to think about it he decides against killing it. Additionally, Abbey’s use of humor throughout his pieces allows him to talk about topics that might otherwise rub people the wrong way. A lot of the time the reason people are unwilling to change is because the person in charge does not approach it in the correct way. Abbey ties humor into environmental conservation and opens the door to a conservation that needs to be had without stepping on anyone’s toes. Above all, Abbey presents himself as a real person to the readers. Someone you and I can see and imagine. As with Clark and the other writers, they way they talk and the way they think are too foreign for most of us to understand and as a result we are unable to connect with them in the way I did with Abbey.