Sophia Weinstein's blog

In the few hours that I have spent in Camden, it is difficult to fully and truly comprehend that 'America's Most Desperate Town' and Camden are one and the same. I had a pretty strong reaction to reading Matt Taibbi's article. I was struck by how suprised I was to read the horrible things that happen in/to Camden, despite the fact that I 'know', or am at least aware of, the devestation that exists there. How can the home of the CfET and the official "most dangerous place in America" be the same city? I am quite aggravated at the way Taibbi chose to portray Camden, and I feel defensive of a city that I barely know. Mostly, I am confused as to what to think about the benefits and detriments such an article can have for Camden. On one hand, the article brings to light the injustice that has been done to Camden by way of external forces such as funding cuts that essentially halt their entire Police department. It is important for people to know how New Jersey chose to deal with Camden's safety problems, such as the "new $4.5 million command center". On the other hand, Taibbi paints a picture of the people of Camden that is only detrimental to the reader's view of the city. He shows a dwindling community that is exploiting the lack of police force, one that is "celebrating the tranfer of power from the cops back to the streets".

Porous: “having small holes that allow air or liquid to pass through; easy to pass or get through” (Merriam-Webster). Being porous is being open, understanding that we are not just one, standalone, unchanging, impenetrable being. It is understanding that nothing in our world ever is. However, the other aspect of being porous is that to be ‘easy to pass or get through’, it needs to be separate, distinct, and individual. It must, in some way, be nonporous. Can gas be porous? How does gas be considered porous if it is entirely penetrable, and in no way can it be nonporous? In order to be porous, one needs to be an individual entity. With porosity always comes distinction and self-identification. It is in some ways a given in our lives, but it can also be a choice – to see, experience, and interact with the world from different perspectives and vantage points of life. It helps determine who we are as people, and how we function as a society. I feel I have come to my own definition of the word, and my own understanding of the relevance of porosity in our lives to finding our homes and ourselves.

The Story of May by Mordicai Gerstein was always a favorite of mine as a kid. This short and sweet picture book tells the story of a little girl, the month of May, and her journey through the year to meet her father December. She leaves her mother April’s side and meets all of her relatives in an “exuberant story of familial love set in the richness of the passing seasons” (HarperCollins Publishers, inside cover). I choose this book because of the wonderment of earth, nature, and the seasons it helped instill in me as a young girl. I so easily connected with May, and I believe her journey of play and independence helped me ‘access’ a new version of the world, one in which nature and the environment are paramount, and everything flows together calmly with time. The stunning watercolor illustrations came to life in my head; when I see them now, I’m surprised that the pictures end where the page does, and don’t all carry on endlessly.

Colors, Patterns, Stillness and Liveliness, Wheelchair and Stilts, Conflicts and Companionship. So much is happening simultaneously in the Shonibare’s Magic Ladders exhibit. It is difficult to narrow in on one element of such an intentional, “provocative examination of European colonialism and European and African identities” (Media Preview, scan 6), but I think what struck me most was the representation of children and adults, and the contrasts between the roles they embody. The adult figures are purely embodiments of their roles in society, pre-defined by their profession and achievements. Of the 24 adult figures (including the five men in the aluminum prints), 22 are seated. All of the adult statues are headless. Perhaps this is representative of their fixed roles in life. They have reached their destinations and rather than strive for progress and knowledge, they have relaxed into their roles, unporous to discovery.

I meant to post this the other week when we were talking about fibonacci in nature. Enjoy :)

"Ecology equals living minus Nature, plus consciousness." This is the first sentence of Morton's last paragraph in his introduction to The Ecological Thought. I start here because I am unsure if I understand what this means. He capitalizes Nature, and says that nature is "like a reflection, we can never actually reach it and touch it and belong to it". How is nature separate from ecology? Isn't our search for "Nature" a driving force in our modern consciousness, living, and thought that define ecology? Our fascination with Nature connects our society to issues of the environment and our impact on it. How does one subtract nature from life and from consciousness? Perhaps my definition of nature is different from his meaning of Nature. He says that "what we call 'nature' is a 'denatured', unnatural, uncanny sequence of mutations and catastrophic events". But isn't this ideal and unattainable concept of Nature something that defines us as humans and defines our interactions with the environment? I suppose I am getting caught up in a definition. Perhaps the "artificial construct" of Nature is a counterthought to ecology?

 It is strange to realize that in my first essay for a course on Eco-literacy, an essay on home and belonging, I never once entertained the idea of the environment, or the ‘outdoors’, as home. I unearthed one of my homes, “the body as home”. However, the body as home is not just one home, but many different factors coming together to form a whole. Your body encompasses your physical being, your consciousness, your emotions, your memory, where you have been and where you are going. I suppose that nature is in intrinsic part of the whole of ones body, and how perhaps the body is not the only home. For there two things that are always with me: my body, and the environment.

 The moment of my life that this picture captures is a crisp and happy memory for me - a combination of things that I love. Looking at it brings me to a time and place that I feel happy and at one with nature, so it felt like a very 'natural' fit for my Eco-Literacy avatar. It brings me to that magical time of year between winter and spring where the flowers are just beginning to bloom, and you can't help but to start wearing shorts and t-shirts even though it's still too cold outside. The air smells different and new, and for a few short weeks, the park by my house becomes a sea of buttercups. This photo encapsulates a 'perfect' and unshatterable memory for me, where I felt like a kid again, and could truly feel the magic of nature.