Weekly Response Page

Note:  Your responses are meant to be just that, your own response and thinking on a question.  To show how you arrived at such a point of view, it's a good idea to cite examples, and it's also a good idea to get in the habit of using MLA notation, which you must use for the papers. You will only need to cite your source (as in a Works Cited) if you're using something other than the primary text; for example, if you want to cite an internet source not listed as one of the links. 

Week 1 -- Barry Lopez, The Rediscovery of North America

Barry Lopez is an active writer who has produced 14 books in the past 20 years, half of them essays on places or environmental issues, half of them "eco-fables" that draw on indigenous narrative traditions to entertain and instruct children (some of these could be useful to you teachers out there). His readers form a mixed bag: some are drawn to his lyrical and descriptive wisdom, while others find him too pious and New-Age misterioso. For examples, see the personal Web pages maintained at The Lunar Archives and The River's Banks. On the other hand, Lopez is well-regarded by academic critics and often appears to teach or lecture: see his Three Rivers Lecture series, delivered for the Carnegie Centennial last year, or this interview. Also, be sure to check out his essay on our course theme, the literature of place. 

Beginning reflection (note:  the reflections can be written in the same way as the log, though they  need not come in before class, and they might require a little more length to reflect) -- Use your experience of reading Barry Lopez's The Rediscovery of North America to help you think even more deeply about an encounter you have had with a place, either past or present, but get in lots of details about the place--map it in words. In particular, think of the way Lopez defines the Spanish term la querencia: "a place in which we know exactly who we are. The place from which we speak our deepest beliefs" (39). For Lopez, calling a place home means developing this kind of a relationship with that place--a relationship which he contrasts with the attitude held by the Spanish explorers and by many groups within current U.S. society. Some questions/issues to think about:

Week 2 -- Mountains and Motion

Read the following selections from The Mountains of California:  1: The Sierra Nevada ; 4: A Near View of the High Sierra ; 10: A Wind-Storm in the Forests; and 16: The Bee-Pastures. Please also read one more chapter (or all of them) of your own choosing (pick any one) to discuss.

You can find Thoreau's "Walking" online as well as some other biographical information on Thoreau. Use the online versions of the texts (if you wish) to search for words or passages you wish to quote or to find patterns. A good word to search for in "Walking" (to search, hit control + "F" or "find" under Edit) would be "wild"--what does he seem mean by it? How often does he use the word, in all its manifestations? 

If you wanted an a course on the essay, "Walking" is a fine example of the genre, even as this particular essay rambles like one of Thoreau's afternoon strolls. It captures some of his well-known Walden in smaller form, especially his pronouncement that "One who pressed forward incessantly and never rested from his labors, who grew fast and made infinite demands on life, would always find himself in a new country or wilderness, and surrounded by the raw material of life" (211).   His next line, "He would be climbing over the prostrate stems of primitive forest trees," almost anticipates John Muir's "A Wind Storm in the Forests," which you might use as a point of comparison. 

John Muir is everywhere these days, including in advertisements for State Farm Insurance, which tell us that his blindness taught us to see.  Use a search engine to find out what they mean: how blind?   how see?  After searching for "John Muir," follow a link and report on this or on something else you found about Muir's life.  Then, from your reading and in your response, contrast these two writers. Do they have different styles, different senses of the wild (explain)? Different attitudes toward their respective places?   Toward their audiences?  How are they similar?

Week 3 -- Home, Sanders

I hope your were able to catch Scott Russell Sanders's visit to campus last fall.  When at his best, Sanders creates mindful, careful essays of social values. He is a master of the genre, and almost what I imagine what Henry David Thoreau to be like if he had kids. 

Option #1. In your response for this week, check out an article on the history of the essay as a form of non-fiction prose. After reading about the genre's roots (the article will have several links to follow and an outline at the bottom if you need more info), discuss how Sanders seems to be working within this genre. Learn something from the article(s), and then apply that knowledge to something Sanders is doing in Staying Put. For example, after reading the article, you will learn that one function of the essay, according to some critics, was to delight (the other was to instruct).  In what places does he seem to be doing the former? The latter? Is there too much (or not enough) of either?

Option #2. Sanders has been outspoken for the need to reconcile Christianity with the environmental movement.  1) Why would he need to do this? What does the Judeo-Christian Tradition say about our relationship with the land. For help, see the Book of Genesis and search for the word "dominion." 2)  What does Sanders actually say about this issue, or about issues of faith and religion, in Staying Put? 

Option #3.  The other cultural myth that Sanders is up against is that of moving and mobility. From from Daniel Boone to Natty Bumpo to Huck Finn, from Whitman to Steinbeck to Kerouc, American literature is often about motion, the love of the road, the gear-grinding fantasy that a vehicle and a stretch of road will set you free.  Do you move to a new place to make everything alright or does that seem to be a cultural myth?   How does Sanders seem to be countering this myth?  Does his kind of "staying put" imply stasis?  Growth? What?

Week 4 -- Great Plains, Ehrlich

Gretel Ehrlich went to Wyoming from New York in 1976 and never went back (brief bio). The book seems a loving look at the people she met and the landscape that helped form them--and herself. She addresses the culture of Wyoming, writing about the Western Code and and the Sun Dance of the Plains Indians. She describes many of the eccentric shepherds she's worked with, and debunks the myth of the hard-hearted, laconic cowboy.

Week 5 -- Southwest Desert, Abbey

1.  In his "Author's Introduction," Abbey calls his book "a guide and an elegy." What's the difference between the two terms, and how do they affect his narrative? See the Encyclopedia Britannica article on elegy and on prophet, a traditional guide to the future. Does this virtual guide of Arches National Park fulfill his fears?

2. "Polemic" is a famous attack on eco-tourism, the National Parks, roads and vehicles. Do Abbey's various policy proposals strengthen or weaken his attack? See the following sites for assistance: National Park Service, Abbey's Web, Earth First! Journal.

3. "The Heat of Noon" offers another list, this one a plan for imposing "a dictatorial regime upon the American people." Do you read this as serious or ironic? Defend your choice with reference to these sites: Greenpeace International, Abbey's Web, NRDC Online.

4.  In his closing chapter, "Bedrock and Paradox," does Abbey give something away by admitting that he is going home to Hoboken, NJ (where he wrote much of his book)? Defend your stand with reference to Hoboken and Moab.

Week 6 -- Great Salt Lake, Terry Tempest Williams.

For this week's response, you should attempt to ask and answer your own question, such as the following:  How and why does Williams bring together two seemingly disparate events:  the rise of the lake and the decline of her Mother? Use the question as a way to focus your response.  You should also, for this week, end your response (due Friday) by hinting at the direction you will likely go in your paper.  I have suggested some paper ideas, and you should read the relevant articles on reserve or look at the entry on your writer at Contemporary Authors.  You might wish to see this entry on Williams.   

Week 7 -- Richard Hague, Appalachia. 

Read the appropriate selections, then write a response for Monday, February 21.   You can turn in your response at class time.  Get your draft ready for Wednesday.  You will meet during your group's meeting time only. Use the peer review sheet to comment on drafts.  Write your comments as if you were writing a log, as you will get a credit for doing them well:  specific, analytical, helpful.  With the final draft (due before Spring Break), hand the comments you received from your writing group.

Week 9 -- Henry Beston, The Outermost House

Henry Beston went to spend a "fortnight" at his newly-built house on Eastham Beach, but he stayed longer to write The Outermost House, what has become a classic in "nature writing" circles. For more information (and a pic or Beston's house), check out The Outermost Web Site, or find out more about the nature and environment of Cape Cod.   

Send one response to <rvannoy> and one to Matt Crumpacker at <mcrumpac>.  

1. Beston carries on the tradition of exploring and describing nature. However, his environment is much different than that of the other authors we have read. Why do you think Beston chooses to write about his experiences at the beach?  How is does that difference manifest itself in his writing style?

4. How does Beston present humans' relationship to the earth? How are other living creatures present in relationship to the earth and humans? If necessary, refer to pages 24-25. 

Week 10 -- Janisse Ray

There's little out there yet about Janisse Ray, but you can read more about her book at Milkweed's website (the publisher), or read some more reviews (a good question for her might come from, "one reviewer has said that . . . How would you answer or respond?"). Of course, we know much about her life from the book, a memoir, so there may be little need to read more about her.

Presenters have these questions for you.  Please send a (you can keep it short) response to <clilly>, <shlking>, <bemorris>, <takers, and <rvannoy>. 

1.  Is Janisse Ray ashamed of her background?   of the junkyard?  Does she show this shame to others, or wear it inside?  

2. What question would you like to ask Janisse Ray at the Thursday night reading?   Justify your choice.

3.  Did the shorter "nature" chapters fit well with the "memoir" chapters?  Do these shorter chapters add significance in any way?  Did they help your understanding or reading?

4.  Ray says that "culture springs from the actions of people in a landscape" (271).  Since the landscape Ray inhabits is deteriorating with time, does this mean the culture is also disappearing?  Does the landscape define us?  How would Ray answer?

5.  Janisse Ray refers to the people of the south as "crackers," but does she include herself in that moniker?  Does she see herself as a "cracker" or just someone who grew up among "crackers."  

Week 11 -- Charles Siebert, Wickerby

Presenters have these questions for you. Please get your response in to <kmathiso> by Wednesday night (and one to rvannoy). Find out more about Charles Siebert in Contemporary Authors, including snippets of critical reviews.  Find even more, including customer reviews, at this online bookstore.

1.  Where does Siebert prefer to live?  He appears unhappy in the city and often complains about the country. Which does he call home?

2.  Siebert talks about a hole throughout the first half of the book. Why do this?  What does it resemble? (See page 56 for help).

3.  What do you think the purpose is of Wickerby?   Why do you think Siebert wrote it?  Why do you think he went to Wickerby?   In your answer, see if you can draw on any of the other texts we have read (that is, is there contrast between the other works). 

Week 12 -- Bill McKibben, The Age of Missing Information

Bill McKibben tackles environmental issues with the zeal of a born crusader. As a staff writer for The New Yorker in the 80s, McKibben wrote attack pieces on Reaganism, earning a reputation for righteous indignation and relentless, hammering argument. This style did not appeal to incoming editor Tina Brown, who sensed that the 90s were mainly about glamour, sex, movies, and money. Nature was out, and so was McKibben. Since leaving in 1992, he has written five books, all with the message that we are trashing the earth through selfish greed and must turn back to a simpler, low-impact life style. He has warned about global warming, argued that one child per family is enough, and urged readers to spend no more than $100 on holiday gifts. He dotes on Thoreau, and in a preface to an edition of Walden, argues that it is a primer for our times.

The Age of Missing Information is not just an attack on television, but on global electronic media and the "virtual" environment they create, which McKibben says promotes consumerism and indifference toward the natural world. The sales pitch for his book, itself a consumer item, seems to count on a backlash among readers who are seeking alternative life styles. While the book is flawed, it also taps a deep vein of concern about the pervasive influence of media upon contemporary life.

Presenters have these questions for you.  Please send one to rvannoy and "cc" one to sgnelson and ecash. 

1. How pervasive is the media in our lives? Do you have the sense that technology has gone too far?

2. Do you think technology has made us lazy (including the internet, TV, QVC, etc.) Do we choose TV and Internet over going outside to enjoy nature?

3. Is McKibben correct in stating that "The nature documentaries are as absurdly action-packed as the soap operas, where a life's worth of divorce, adultery, and sudden death are crammed into a week's worth of  watching--trying to understand 'nature' from watching Wild Kingdom is as tough as trying to understand 'Life' from watching Dynasty"? Support your opinion.