Week 5

Week 5, 9/19

This week’s selection of readings was quite interesting. My favorite was Thoreau’s section about the ant battle. I really enjoyed this section because I could imagine myself as a passive observer, reducing myself to the size of an ant. As I read it, I didn’t imagine myself in Thoreau’s shoes; rather, I was a miniature-sized person. It didn’t phase me that I had basically shrunk myself, but it made the events that transpired seem more real. I think that’s why Thoreau likened the ants to human beings because in the end, they’re naturally the same. They get in fights, just like humans, but maybe not to the extent of tearing off limbs during a physical altercation. Thoreau was able to express the idea that everything in nature, no matter how big or small, is relevant and should be acknowledged. I enjoyed the level of detail Thoreau utilized, not only in this section, but throughout his writing because I was able to imagine the scenes so vividly.

Thoreau also talked about current English literature and how the wilderness has been taken out of nature, even though it’s under that umbrella. Most of the time when we read about nature, what is described are the luscious fields, beautiful gardens, and tamed animals. Rarely do we get a taste of what nature actually is in its true and original form. Man has manipulated nature to his liking, removing the unknown and cultivating the familiar. This ellicits a sense of disgust for all things wild and a sense of awe for all things refined. I believe that this has prompted many to cut themselves off from the wilderness, without first exploring it and giving it a fighting chance.

When it comes to comparing America to Europe, I think that both places have attractive and unattractive features. Both America and Europe have made tremendous gains culturally, morally (to some degree), and socially. The only way one can choose one over the other in terms of nature is once one has ventured the entirety of both regions, which is not an easy feat. Therefore, one should avoid creating a hierarchy. Nature is something that should be enjoyed, not compared. So much of Nature has already been tampered with that we can’t afford the little games of competition. Otherwise, we’ll lose sight of what we do have in the time we have left.

There is then the ever-occuring question of whether the Wild-Man or the cultivated man fares better. Which one should we try to emulate? Who do we learn from? I believe there needs to be a balance. There are aspects of wilderness that modern society could make use of, including, but not limited to to peace, preservation, harmony, and loyalty. On the other hand, the cultivated man presents order and advancement. Both the Wild-Man and the cultivated man have things in common, like competition, independence (depending on the community), and freedom (more so in the wild). Thoreau experiences a pull towards the wild and society, and he concludes that the best solution is a balance between the two. The way he presents it, it sounds like he proposes spending time in the wilderness and also allocating some time to modern society. He doesn’t suggest walking on a thin line that represents a balance between both extremes but rather, embracing both extremes.

An interesting discussion that the readings brought up was the idea of transcendentalism and more generally, the idea of nature having some sort of spiritual component. I believe that God is everywhere, so this extends to nature, including the wilderness. Just like God does not deny the wilderness (after all, he made it), why should we? Many people tend to experience God’s presence when out in nature because it’s free from worldly distractions, whether it be material things or simply people. This is why church retreats are so impactful. You go away for a week or however long the retreat lasts, and you lay aside all that the world is constantly throwing at you. This allows individuals to have a deeper spiritual connection and focus more on their own thoughts. Not everyone believes in God, but most people do believe in a higher being. It’s quite impossible to spend time in nature and not find something divine in the experience. In nature, one realizes how good and perfect the world can be and how we are just a small part of that. In that vein, it is inevitable to consider that there is something spiritual at work, either in us or around us.

Week 4

Week 4, 9/12

           

This was our second time at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. The Buffalo Trail that we were assigned had some obvious wear and tear, so it was our job to tend to it for the hour we were there. At the entrance of our trail, we saw a herd of buffaloes on the other side of the fence. We tried to discern the males from the females, and the babies were easy to identify. I snapped a picture for SnapChat and saved some pictures to my phone for the future, assuming they would be of importance at some point.

We started walking from the edge of our trail towards the site we would be working on for the day. After walking for what seemed like five minutes, a man on staff pulled up in his cart and asked if we needed a ride. Upon discovering we were only halfway there, my group decided it would be best to get in the cart. It was not a cool day. The part of the trail we were tasked to work on was about fifty meters long. I’m not sure if this is the right measurement for the image I presently have in my head, but it would be the equivalent of about three soccer goal nets.

We were given gardening gloves and tools (shovels and rakes) to transfer piles of clay onto the trail. There were four piles. My group was a little confused as to why the clay had not been dumped on the trail to begin with. It just seemed like there was an extra step being taken that just was not necessary. The truck that transferred the clay could have definitely done a swifter job than my team and I. I came to the conclusion that the reason that this had to be so was because the trail was still in use. People were walking up and down that trail daily. The staff at the Nature Center has a lot of volunteers come in to help out, and I’m assuming that instead of them dumping the clay all on the trail and spending time to make sure it was laid out nicely, they had the volunteers do all the work.

            It really felt like like I was doing manual labor, but at the same time, I was enjoying it because I was getting my workout in for the day. Every time I think about working out, I think of going to the gym, not realizing that nature offers a lot of tools for doing some exercise. I’ve heard of people lifting branches as weights, climbing trees to tone the upper body, and throwing large rocks to build up arm strength. All I could think of while I was transferring the clay, appart from how much I was sweating, was how sore my arms would be the next day. The good kind of sore.

            The clay offered a nice source of reflection for me. Initially, we thought the clay was mixed with various sizes of rocks because some of it seemed too hard to be considered clay. Then, I accidently hit one of the “rocks” with my shovel and it broke open. I thought to myself that this must be a pretty brittle rock, but upon closer examination, I realized that it was all clay. The center of the clay that I had broken open was a little wet, which made sense. The center had not been exposed to the elements, so it had not had an opportunity to dry. We started smashing some other chunks of clay to examine their interiors. Some of them were hard and difficult to break, but with enough force, the impossible was made possible. I likened all of this to a child’s brain. When babies are born, their skull is very fragile and soft, but over time, the skull becomes harder and the different bones begin to fuse together. Unlike the clay, which can become damp again with the rain, a person’s skull can’t become soft once it has hardened.

            At the end of our workday, we walked back on the trail towards the trail entrance. Unfortunately their was no ride waiting for us anywhere, so we made the relatively long but relaxing trek back. As I walked, I scanned the scenery to see what I could take pictures of. I did not see anything that was necessarily intriguing or that stuck out as something interesting and worth taking note of. I saw trees, butterflies in flight, cactii, flowers, bushes, tall grass (most likely inhabited by chiggers), and dirt. These were all things that I had seen before. 

Week 3

Week Three, 9/5

           

This was my first time visiting the Botanic Gardens, even though I’ve been in Fort Worth for the past three years. I had heard so much about it, so I was excited for the experience. I expected to see flowers everywhere, but I didn’t notice any at all. Then again, we only stayed in one part of the garden, so maybe next time I’ll get to explore a little more. I love looking at flowers, especially when there’s a huge variety packed into a small area. It gives me a feeling of freedom, and it reminds me of when I lived in Austria at a young age. There is a place in Vienna called Donaupark, and my favorite spot was the little café completely surrounded by flowers.

            We sat in the shade for class under a large tree. The weather was not too bad, around 85 degrees (it could have been worse). Flies were constantly attacking me during our discussion, distracting me from the conversation and making me look like I was having mini seizures. I reminisced about the time I went to the park with my friend one day in a similar setting. He was writing in a notebook, describing what he saw as we sat under the tree and looked up. He read his journaling out loud to me and I was taken aback at how descriptive his language was. He wrote in a way that if you were not present, you would know exactly what he was looking out, both physically and emotionally. This related to Lewis’s journals as  he explored for Thomas Jefferson. His level of detail was so precise that I could picture myself there with him, experiencing life with him. Just looking at nature, I don’t think I could describe it as well as most nature writers do. I look at nature from the surface, seeing everything as it is. I see a tree as a tree, as opposed to something that bears and sustains life, for humans and animals, alike. I found the focus on bears rather fascinating because this is not a topic that I would necesssarily hone in on while discussing nature. This just shows how many things we take for granted today. Many of the animals we have today in nature are often overlooked as just scary and wild, when there’s more to them like their distinct mannerims and often, their relatability to humans. We often forget that what is normal and commonplace today has not always been normal for those in the past.

            I thought the reading we had about the wilderness was somewhat peculiar. I’ve always been told that the wilderness is dangerous, but I used to enjoy it as a kid. I used to venture out with my friends in pursuit of new discoveries. Bears didn’t scare me. The elk and deer were something to look forward to. Back then, I had not been instilled with the fear of the darkness that comes with the wilderness. As I’ve become older, I’ve heard many stories of what happens in the forests. I think that the only reason that we fear the wilderness is because it’s something we don’t know. There is often an inherent fear of the unknown, and there is safety in knowing. This fear stems from humans not knowing what dangers lay in the wilderness. All we know is that it holds wild animals and plants, and for all we know, savages.

            It bothered me to hear of the wilderness described with such negative terms. As an obstacle to be overcome. As a place filled with evil creatures. As useless. I believe that everything was created by God, and with that being so, everything is good, including the wilderness. It’s disappointing to see the wilderness dwindiling away as humans cultivate and erect buildings, which only increase pollution. Are we helping the earth or slowly destroying it? The latter seems to be the case.

            I read a book in middle school called The Hatchet, a book which does a good job of highlighting the fact that the wilderness can be something we embrace, although not without difficulty because it forces us to embrace a lifestyle different than what we’re used to. In embracing the unfamiliarity of the landscape he crashes into while flying in a plane, the main character in the book learns to live off the wilderness. He learns to survive. What strikes me is just that. He wasn’t living. He was surviving, which is the picture that media in its many forms portrays. It then does not come as a surprise that we don’t have an inclination towards the woods. Scary movies often occur in forests, where people are often murdered. Forests are shown to be haunted and house spirits. We are products of the forces that are thrown at us, and that’s not even taking into account what history tells us. 

Week 2

Week Two, 8/29

           

I have never been much of an outdoorsy, nature person, but I really enjoyed being at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. I’ve never been camping or hiking, but when I was younger, I remember walking on trails with my sister and friends, seeing what animals we would run into and simply where the trail leads. That was back when time was at my disposal and there were no textbooks calling my name. Things have changed, and I feel somewhat nostalgic thinking about the time nature and I were more acquainted than today. I guess since I spend so much time indoors nowadays, it was something truly special to just spend time with Mother Nature for an hour. The occasional ray of sunlight through my apartment window just doesn’t suffice. This was a great time to put school aside and focus on something literally bigger than myself.

Before we got to the nature center, I had in mind that we were going to walk down trails and simply record what we saw, but that was not the case. The class was divided into groups, with each group being assigned a specific trail/section of a trail. Ours was the one with the buffaloes, so I was glad that my group could at least be kept company by our hairy friends. It took us some time to find the trail, as we drove right past it. I saw the sign of our trail as we passed, but assuming the driver knew where she was going, I didn’t mention that we were heading the wrong way. Eventually, we did find it, and as I got out of the car, I was kissed and embraced by the hot sun. I’m not much of a sun person or heat in general, so that part was not as fun. All I could initially think about was how much sweat my body will have produced at the end of this undertaking.

We got to the start of our trail, and after debating about what should be cut and what stays, we began to beautify our trail. It honestly seemed like we were being put to work without getting paid, but then I started thinking. Nature, in its entirety, is often neglected. Nature does not take care of itself. It’s humans that share the duty to this. Therefore, I knew I was doing my part in fulfilling God’s instructions in saying that we have dominion over the plants and animals. The plants don’t have dominion over themselves. I was glad I could bring religion into this situation.

Each member in my group began hacking away at the shrubbery. I, as usual, silently made this into a competition, wanting to have the highest stack of shrubs possible compared to everyone else. I guess that’s how I decided to make it interesting for me. It almost felt like a work out because the tool I was using was not the best, so I really had to put my arms into it. My biceps and triceps were feeling the burn, and I was glad  I could get the day’s workout in. I completely forgot about staying hydrated, as well as the fact that I was carrying a backpack on my back as I was cutting the branches off. Now that I think of it,  never paused for more than five seconds. I was on a mission, an no one or any conversation could stop me. It was Mother Nature and I at our finest.

It was really nice that my group used this opportunity to get to know one another, since this would be our group for the rest of the semester. I almost forgot that I was cutting branches as we continued to chat. As we talked, I accidentally cut the wrong foliage, and I could tell because it did not match the rest of the shrubbery that laid abondoned on the ground. It’s leaves were smaller, thinner, and greener. I just kicked it aside. Some parts of the trail looked like a storm swept by because I saw some pretty large branch that lay maimed on the floor.

Time seemed to fly by, and for some reason, when it was time to leave our trail, I didn’t want to go. I really wanted to stay and finish clearing the rest of the trail.  We ended up getting a lot done. The stack of shrubbery we were able to compile was quite fascinating. We should have taken a before and after picture to note the difference, but all is well. We then talked about erecting a small bench in our memory.

I’m excited to go back to the nature center to see what new things I’ll discover as we progress along the trail.