Annie Dillard Imitation

Dillard talks a lot about how the human and animal interaction and behaviors are very different, but similar at the same time.

Pg.542

The lady bird lays her eggs, and one by one they begin to hatch. Her baby birds don't feed off of her as much as any type of animal would do. The baby's eggs crack and the mother bird wants no more than to eat them for lunch, but opposite of other animals, she takes one more look at her babies and realizes they are not her food, but one of her own. She cares for them like any typical parent to a child would and keeps them safe from danger.

Buffalo for the Broken Heart

I think O'Brien relates well to his environment. Someone who loves relating to his environment as much as he does, has to have a passion for what his land is all about. In the first chapter O'brien leaves his land for a teaching job in Denver to be taken care of by his renter. His renter does not fulfill his duties to keep up the land, and therefore O'Brien becomes angered at the fact that not only can he be there for his land and cattle at all times, but that he cannot trust even a renter to upkeep it for him. O'Brien is very upset when he returns. O'Brien was the type of outdoors guy where anything in the wildlife would intrigue him. In the book, there is a part where Dan is watching the buffalo herd on top of a plateau. The winds are very strong, 40 mph, he says. He seems astonished that the it doesn't even seem to bother the buffalo while they are up there. As if the wind was nothing to them.

I thought O'Brien used his land very efficiently. I think starting with cattle and converting his land to buffalo was a good idea. I think it will be much more profitable and enjoyable for him since he likes being around the buffalo and how they act. Even now that he is older, should be thinking about retirement, he has a lot on his slate and a lot of things around he enjoys doing so he won't ever stop doing what he loves.

3/23 Spring Break Post

Over Spring Break I attended the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. I haven't been to the zoo for a very long time and it was different to see how alike most of the animals interact with each other a lot like humans do. Most of all, the monkeys and gorillas "play" with each other a lot like a human would interact with another human. The two gorillas in the cage helped one another by cleaning them and playing with them. The two kinds of animals were very helpful to each other. The monkeys helped the little ones clean themselves, help them up the trees, be motherly, and show their little monkeys where the water and food is. It was neat seeing them all acting like we would to our kids or how our parents would take care of us.

Wendell Berry Response

I enjoyed reading this poem. The overall message I got from it was basically live your life to the fullest, and do things you would never dream of doing in your normal life. He talks about doing things to please others, not just yourself. What I got out of it was to do something spontaneous, something nobody would see coming. He makes it all seem so easy and so surreal. The poem was very real and inspiring to me.

Wildness Symposium

I chose to go see Rick Bass on Sunday night during the Wildness Symposium. I chose to go to his reading becasuse in class when we read Ninemile Wolves, his piece was one of the most I got engaged in. At the reading, Bass read two stories from his new book. He read, "Eating" and "Titan". I enjoyed his last reading the best, Titan. It was about going to the ocean and viewing a rare occasion called Jubilee. The reading caught my attention the most because he used more of a intriguing way to get my attention somehow. I had never been to a poetry reading or the Wildness Symposium before, but I actually kind of enjoyed it. I chose to go to Rick Bass, because out of all the writers coming to the Wildness Symposium, he stuck out the most when I was reading about him in American Earth. His readings were a lot different than those of others we read. His was a lot more detailed and is more elaborate with his descriptions which makes it easier for me, as a reader, to comprehend what he is saying. Overall, I enjoyed listening to Rick Bass speak and in the future I would probably go see him again.

Blood Dazzler

-Break the piece down paragraph by paragraph (or section by section). How does each piece act as a "building block"? How does the writer create dramatic tension or interest through these building blocks?

I chose to answer this question according to the poem, Why New Orleans Is, on pg.6

As I was reading the first half of the book, this actual poem stood out to me the most. I thought it had the most attenting getting type of language and detailed words. Reading each stanza made it more easy to understand what the author's message was. The first paragraph introduces the stereotypical type of person or woman she is trying to explain. It tells us about where they are and what it's like. It's easy to conclude they are women and/or men in a bar in New Orleans. If you haven't been to New Orleans it would be difficult to depict that it was the setting without using the title for help. The first paragraph really gives us an overall perspective of the setting and place. It also introduces us to the phrase, " breasts swag in unison to You Can't Hurry Love" which is also mentioned in the ending paragraph. The first almost seems like they are there looking for love, but can't find it.

The second paragraph then goes on to tell us readers about the atmosphere and environment of New Orleans. I kind of laughed a little while reading this paragraph, I thought it described any typical get out of town weekend. It put a picture in my mind of three single women looking for love, taking a vacation from work to go to New Orleans and get away for the weekend, do some partying, and get too drunk.

The last paragraph is built upon the first two. The whole poem kind of tells us a story about the girls going to New Orleans, looking for love, drinking a lot, going home, and not conquering finding the love they wanted. The end paragraph is like the end of the story. It tells about them going home, and that everybody needs a crazy couple nights every once in a while. This particular poem really interested me. I didn't quite understand it the first time I read it, but after reading it in class I understood it more and what the author was saying.

3 50 Word Snapshots

Mexico: Last year for spring break I went to Mexico. It was a new experience and visual that I hadn't ever seen before. Everything was so fresh and clean looking( not like the sterotype of dirty Mexico that most people have.) It had such a relaxed look and it wasn't intimidating to be there. I wasn't afraid of what was around me since it looked so relaxed. The sun was always shining and it was always warm. The ocean was sky blue, not brown and dirty.

Colorado: I used to travel to CO with my family every year for Thanksgiving. Colorado usually looks the same year round, only this year it was a blizzard. Everything was a white out and the visibility was short. On the road it wasn't pretty, dirty snow and disgusting slush, but on the mountains was soft, cotton ball like snow laying on the mountains. It was one of the most beautiful sights I had seen.

Minnesota: I took a family vacation to Lake Vermillion in MN. It was the middle of August and sweltering hot. The view was nothing like the view in MX or CO. It had a way more relaxed view and atmosphere than MX did. It was silent during the day and silent during the evening. Looking out of our log cabins were docks and the lake. Every night you could watch the sunset right outside of the cabin and see the reflection on the lake. I had never experienced something like that before and it amazed me to see the reflection. When the sun was the highest, it covered the whole lake and when it was the lowest it only covered 1/4 of the lake. It was relaxing to watch and a wonderful sight to see.

Hometown Map

This is the map I chose to represent my hometown, Johnston, IA. There isn't much included in this map besides, the state, and a few towns labeled, Johnston, Lincoln, Omaha, Cedar Rapids, and Sioux Falls. The blue outlines on each side of the state represent rivers. A lot of stuff is not represented in the map. It is very vague and not much detail. It doesn't show roads, interstates, or highways. It doesn't include lakes or show elevation. When i clicked on this website this picture was found, it was a web page about the city of Des Moines an Johnston. The photo does a good job representing the town and the placement of it and it was a good picture for the web page, to inform people where it is located. I don't think that it goes too much into detail because it's more of an informative web page about the state of Iowa, rather than getting into depth about just the city of Johnston.

Questions for Bass and Williams

What or who inspired you to be a writer?

How do you think of the topics and ideas that you write about?

Johnston, IA Middle School

This is a picture of the 8th/9th grade building in Johnston, Iowa. This is where I attended grades 6-9. The year i was going into 8th grade the school decided to change it into an 8/9th grade building only. I attended this school four years, the longest I had attended of any of the elementary and high schools in Johnston. This image shows that my hometown was fairly large. Since it had to be changed into just an 8/9th grade building shows that it was overly populated with no room. After this made into the 8/9th grade building there was a 6/7th grade building being built. Our town was growing very rapidly, with just over 400 kids in my graduating class. This is represented to be a place of learning, I belive it was also a great place for social and sports interaction.

Terry Tempest Williams; Reading Like a Writer

-Find specific examples of absract and concrete language. What are the effects?

I found an example in the book using specific details; on page 740, she explains an experiement she recalled doing at the school she attended. The description was full of detail and is important to the text because it shows an analogy of the cup and water she did her experiment with to relate to the Great Salt Lake. The author gives a lot of good examples using abstract and detailed sentences. For example, when she is talking about the birds with their prey before them she says, "Adult burrowing owls will stand on top of the mound with their prey before them, usually small rodents, birds, or insects. The entrance is littered with bones and feathers. I recall finding a swatch of yellow feathers like a doormat across the threshold-meadowlark, maybe. These small owls pursue their prey religiously at dusk."I chose this paragraph to represent good absract ideas. It is a very detailed sentence, and paints a picture for the reader's mind.

100 Word Photo

Stacks of large corpse, not all but the head. One piled on another, dead, lifeless, helpless animal. Hunters watch without remorse. Maybe they kill for food. Show no courtesy, stand on top; king of the hill. Middle of nowhere, only few people surround, to show off their work or to others their a dissapointment. Stacks and stacks of nothing but death. Sad air; foggy and gloomy. Nobody can help the helpless buffalo now. Ground looks soft, fertilized and clear for hunting or storing. Lifeless, laying there like nothing. A huge graveyard of dead animals. But, what for? For what purpose?