Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
EcoLit 313
![Anne Dalke's picture Anne Dalke's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-39.jpg)
Welcome to the on-line conversation for Ecological Imaginings, an English, Environmental Studies and Gender and Sexuality course @ Bryn Mawr College in which we are re-thinking the evolving nature of representation, with a focus on language as a link between natural and cultural ecosystems.
This is an interestingly different kind of place for writing, and may take some getting used to. The first thing to keep in mind is that it's not a site for "formal writing" or "finished thoughts." It's a place for thoughts-in-progress, for what you're thinking (whether you know it or not) on your way to what you think next. Imagine that you're just talking to some people you've met. This is a "conversation" place, a place to find out what you're thinking yourself, and what other people are thinking. The idea here is that your "thoughts in progress" can help others with their thinking, and theirs can help you with yours.
Who are you writing for? Primarily for yourself, and for others in our course. But also for the world. This is a "public" forum, so people anywhere on the web might look in. You're writing for yourself, for others in the class, AND for others you might or might not know. So, your thoughts in progress can contribute to the thoughts in progress of LOTS of people. The web is giving increasing reality to the idea that there can actually evolve a world community, and you're part of helping to bring that about. We're glad to have you along, and hope you come to both enjoy and value our shared explorations. Feel free to comment on any post below, or to POST YOUR THOUGHTS HERE.
![sara.gladwin's picture sara.gladwin's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-966.jpg)
weather and feelings?
“I don't know. Poets are always taking the weather so personally. They're always sticking their emotions in things that have no emotions” – Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye
I brought a lot of guilt into my space today. I felt guilty for not having yet finished writing an essay due today, guilty for feeling behind. I felt guilty for having to set aside time to sit when I hadn’t finished all my other work; for not managing my time well enough to give all my work the equal attention it deserved. Everything seemed to serve as a reminder of this guilt; the breeze that made my attempts at keeping my papers together futile, the people who stopped to talk to me reminded me of the distractions I allowed to take precedence in my life. I began to really think about the way we impose emotions in a space. I thought about the way I perceived the weather almost as a malicious bully, working against me. While I doubt the weather itself had very little mal-intent toward me… I resented it, and the almost playful way the wind would pick up my homework and scatter it across the grass, as if to tease my attempts at being a good student. What on earth are you studying for? I imagined the bully to say, giving some of my index cards a hefty toss away from me, and laughing as I scrambled to catch my precious study cards.
![r.graham.barrett's picture r.graham.barrett's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1127.jpg)
My Bench, its Isolation, and a Fox
My latest observation at the Miller Memorial bench really put into perspective how isolated the spot really was. True for the most part the spot and the surrounding area was not as lonely as it had been. Seeing how it was early afternoon on a day with fairly warm weather for an October day, I saw plenty more hikers, dog walkers, and runners (especially one who streaked across my field of vision 4 times in a 20 minute period) than there had been on my previous observation periods. Yet while it was more common to see people nearby than before, surprisingly there were huge spans of time where I was completely alone in the area and quite frankly enjoyed it. It was quiet and peaceful and made it hard to believe I was close to a busy road nearby and with a hugely populated college campus no more than a football field behind me. I was not only one who seemed to finally accept this spot as a quiet little bubble to get away from it all. When I first arrived, there was another observer, a local resident it seemed like, on a bench nearby, and it was only my arrival that forced him to reevaluate his position and leave, his content isolation apparently shattered by myself. But for me the highlight of the hour ( and perhaps of all my observations so far) was seeing a fox move out of the bushes bordering the Nature Trail and quietly slip back in after a few minutes.
![Smacholdt's picture Smacholdt's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-783.jpg)
Wildflower Area History
Taking a historically themed tour of Harritan house inspired me to focus on my site with a historical lens. I had success with the Bryn Mawr website (http://sustainability.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2012/07/09/wild-flowers/), in finding some useful information on the wildflower restoration area.
It turns out that reason for the wildflowers is simply that Ed Harman, director of grounds and facilities at Bryn Mawr, had a hard time maintaining that area due to the spring that left the area moist. Then, three years ago, one of the first trees planted on the campus (a 250 years old sycamore) died and Harman decided that he needed to improve the area. Harman was inspired to “bring back life to a historic planting.” The grounds committee planted a mix of 30 native wildflowers in the area (this was apparently inspired by the success of the Atlantic City Expressway’s median strip flower-planting program.) Facilities also planted a new sapling inside the stump of the sycamore to symbolize rebirth.
The grounds committee has been experimenting with more wildflowers on campus including behind Haffner, Ward, and around Rhoads Pond. (The same mix of wildflower seed has been planted everywhere.) This allows grounds not to have to mow on dangerous slopes, but to save money on fertilizer. Additionally, wildflowers attract pollinating insects and provide mini ecosystems for wildlife on campus.
I just have one question. How come facilities haven’t been experiencing the terrible trouble with weeds that Michael Pollen describes in his NYT editorial?
![Nan's picture Nan's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1129.jpg)
Night Beech
Night Beech
Trunkbeat.
Cricketbeat.
Leafbeat.
Elephant foot.
Webbed arc.
Wet bark.
Nightpulse.
Winged dark.
Softsweeping.
Lymph pulse.
Windrenter.
Black heart.
Stillstanding.
Unsleeper.
Windriding.
Heartbender.
![rachelr's picture rachelr's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-696.jpg)
Portraits
In our representations of this campus, our images were starkly bare of humans. Usually from my spot near the end of senior row I can watch a trickle of people either making the trek up-campus from Brecon or down-campus to the gym or Park.
Perhaps the week before break at 7am was not the best time for this site-sit experiment, but as ekthorp said when she held onto her decision to have class outside, I wanted to stick to my plan.
So here is a view of human activity from my site-sit. People were staying on the sidewalks, following the man-made paths and giving me what felt like a distant vantage point. My photo quality is testament to that, although it works to my advantage for maintaining the anonymity of my subjects.
The squirrels and I were in cahoots here; they, unconcerned with me and my stillness on the bench, kept their distance from the people passing by, just as I did. Watching.
At 7:43am the lampposts all blinked off in unison and I noticed that the foggy mist had lifted considerably.
I felt voyeuristic at first, but then realized that although these people were not looking at me, they could be. I wasn’t hidden, peering out at them; they just weren't looking.
I have to say that I got bored with the people. They were just going. The squirrels were doing. Although I don’t know how many people would want to watch the trees, the bench, the grass, and me just being.
![sarahj's picture sarahj's picture](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8677dfd40888c5ca340f68264da0938d.jpg?d=https%3A%2F%2Fserendipstudio.org%2Fexchange%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2FSerendipStudioAvatar.png&s=85&r=G)
Horizons: Rethinking Blurred Boundaries
The original version of my first Web Event is titled "Blurred Boundaries" because on that walk I felt a significant blurring of boundaries of time and ownership of space. I talk about the lanterns that stand for past, present and future Mawrters, the gateway to the entrance to the Wyndham estate, the pathway between Shipley and Bettwys y Coed and the college property that was mine, but I was not welcome on it unless invited. I would like to attempt to rewrite some of my web paper in a mode that reflects the blurring, so I'm just going to start writing and see what happens...
Now, is then
then is now
&n
![Anne Dalke's picture Anne Dalke's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-39.jpg)
"What sort of insects do you rejoice in?"
[more from Through the Looking Glass:]
"What sort of insects do you rejoice in, where you come from?" the Gnat inquired.
"I don't rejoice in insects at all," Alice explained, "because I'm rather afraid of them -- at least the large kinds. But I can tell you the names of some of them."
"Of course they answer to their names?" the Gnat remarked carelessly.
"I never knew them to do it."
"What's the use of their having names," the Gnat said, "if they won't answer to them?"
"No use to them," said Alice; "but it's useful to the people that name them, I suppose. If not, why do things have names at all?"
"I can't say," said the Gnat. "In the wood down there, they've got no names -- however, go on with your list of insects."
"Well, there's the Horse-fly," Alice began, counting off the names on her fingers.
"All right," said the Gnat: "half-way up that bush, you'll see a Rocking-horse-fly, if you look. It's made entirely of wood, and gets about by swinging itself from branch to branch."
"What does it live on?" Alice asked, with great curiosity.
"Sap and sawdust," said the Gnat. "Go on with the list."
![Anne Dalke's picture Anne Dalke's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-39.jpg)
Through the Looking Glass
"O Tiger-lily," said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, "I wish you could talk!"
"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily: "when there's anybody worth talking to."
Alice was so astonished that she couldn't speak for a minute: it quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice -- almost in a whisper. "And can allthe flowers talk?"
"As well as you can," said the Tiger-lily. "And a great deal louder."
"It isn't manners for us to begin, you know," said the Rose, "and I really was wondering when you'd speak! Said I to myself. "Her face has got some sense in it, though it's not a clever one!' Still you're the right colour, and that goes a long way."
"I don't care about the colour," the Tiger-lily remarked. "If only her petals curled up a little more, she'd be all right."
![froggies315's picture froggies315's picture](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1cf8ee34fbc942ecfa942183e29bfb4d.jpg?d=https%3A%2F%2Fserendipstudio.org%2Fexchange%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2FSerendipStudioAvatar.png&s=85&r=G)
starting with what we need.
In my education class, one of our weekly assignments is to listen to a recording of a group of high school students talking about teaching and learning. The dialogue I just finished listening to seemed very related to the conversation we had in class today about Berry’s proposed college curriculum. His writing communicated to me that he had no understanding of what many students need to get from school. For example, in class I wrote: “for me, all signs point to a job with health benefits and a 401K. This curriculum probably wouldn’t get me that.” I so appreciated hearing what these high school students had to say about what they wanted/needed from school because it provided relief from Berry’s esoteric text. Here are a few quotes which I found particularly shiny. The prompt was: What do you want to see in your classrooms?
![ekthorp's picture ekthorp's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-866.jpg)
Thoreau Children's Story
Henry Takes a Walk: A Thoreauvian Storybook
Written by: Emma Thorp
Illustrated by: Sara Gladwin
Henry began to walk at the top of the long hill above the pond. Directions and destinations were not on his mind. He decided to see where this grassy slope would lead.
Henry wandered along side the pond’s banks, wondering where the ripples came from below the surface.
Several flat, gray paths lead him to a white house hidden among a green jungle. Instead of going through the front door, he followed a steep slope down to a small, muddy bank by a trickling creek.
Someone was leaning over the creek, watching the water skim over the slippery pebbles
Henry knelt down beside Someone, as they stared at the water’s clear surface. They wondered where it came from, and where it was in such a rush to get going.
![froggies315's picture froggies315's picture](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1cf8ee34fbc942ecfa942183e29bfb4d.jpg?d=https%3A%2F%2Fserendipstudio.org%2Fexchange%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2FSerendipStudioAvatar.png&s=85&r=G)
sit spot.
I usually visit my sit spot in the mornings. I only lasted a little while today...I came out of the woods and wrote! a poem?? I haven’t written a poem since the glory days of acrostics in elementary school. weird. All this talk about words must be rubbing off on me.
That year,
when I leaned against your trunk
and felt your rough bark in my back
![et502's picture et502's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-977.jpg)
Revising form, and maybe genre?
Original Paragraph (from "Wandering & Wondering," Section IV): I've been thinking about Yeat's poem, Adam's Curse. Just those few lines - about our labor to be beautiful, the construction of beauty. More specifically, I'm thinking about the post-Garden of Eden collapse, of how, in Genesis, all of Creation becomes wild, is infected with sin. It's uncontrolled, it's imperfect and strange. And the human relationship with nature is uncertain, there is a divide. Thrown out of the Garden, we must work the land in order to produce anything beautiful. We must re-define beauty for ourselves - we must re-create whatever we think beauty should be.
Notes/analysis: Since the paper was called “Wandering and Wondering,” I tried to enact those things in my style of writing – not landing on any one point of view or type of writing, not drawing definite conclusions, but leaving room for changes. With this being a series of observations – not personal reflection – I lost a directed commitment to one view over another. So now I’m struggling with deciding on the ‘genre’ for this piece/paragraph. I think it is more tragic than comedic – with the “we” positioned as a kind of hero, a portion of the “Created” that is actively working against “division.”
![mturer's picture mturer's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1137.jpg)
A Thoreauvian Fairy Tale?
The genre of my Thoreauvian walk is not obvious. My description of the ecological aspects of Bryn Mawr is very pastoral as I mention feeling "at peace with my surroundings," incorrectly portraying them in an idealized fashion. However, while reading my essay a second time, I noticed that I casually include some elements of the supernatural in a work that is intended to be nonfiction. Trees are able to fight back when humans alter them and a force only named as "nature" is able to guide me, the protagonist, on my walk without my influence. Because of this, I have chosen to rewrite my Thoreauvian walk as a fable or fairy tale.
Original:
![Srucara's picture Srucara's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1126.jpg)
Difficult to Be Really Present With a Headache - Tragedy Vesion
Difficult To Be Really Present With a Headache
ORIGINAL VERSION: GENRE: NONFICTION
I'm currently sitting on the third step from the front of the fountain at taft garden. I have never noticed these peculiar bugs before but they are tiny, tiny flies or mosquitoes of a creamy tan color. They are floating so gracefully, so carefree, gliding around in circles. I wonder if they have any agenda or if they are simply enjoying themselves, enjoying their life. They don't seem in pursuit of anything but rather just trailling around and around in a random motion. But of course I'm not certain. The sun is peeking through the clouds, trying to force its way through so that although the light around me is a grey-white, I still cannot comfortably look up because the sun is still bright. Maybe I could find a deeper meaning in that. I wish I could but at the moment, it is difficult for me to be truly present because all I can feel is either
![r.graham.barrett's picture r.graham.barrett's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1127.jpg)
My (Science-Fictionized) Thoreauvian Walk
Looking back at my first web paper, the account of my Thoreauvian walk around Bryn Mawr, I wrote the piece in a pastoral from. Specifically, I wrote the essay as a non-fictional, 1st person account of specifically what I saw and what I was thinking at the time of the walk. Although the style I wrote in accurately retells what had happened, I could have easily changed the style so as to be not as dependent on reality as it had been. Instead of writing in the genre I did, I could have used the experiences of the walk to serve as the inspiration for a fictional story set in a science fiction setting just as Le Guin had done in her story. Doing so would allow me to use my imagination to create new visuals for the reader to experience, similar to what I had experienced on my Thoreauvian walk.
Original
![hirakismail's picture hirakismail's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1142.jpg)
Genre of Thoreau Walk
To examine the genre of my written Thoreuvian Walk is difficult. I don't know whether I can quite name it in a specific genre. It is not a tragedy, it's not a comedy. Is a reflection a genre? I think my "walk" is still quite like a pastoral, but it does explore partially the idea of the hidden and the parts of the earth that are difficult to navigate. So maybe it's slightly Gary Snyder-esque? That's what I will call it now, a pastoral with hints of Gary Snyder. So now to write it into a different genre. Not sure what to call it? Not exactly a tragedy, but sort of leaning toward it.
Original:
![Smacholdt's picture Smacholdt's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-783.jpg)
Narrative Ecology??
I began this post by looking up a list of genres on Wikipedia. What I was specifically looking for was one that encompassed science, but still told a story. I have a friend who is interested in the emerging field of narrative medicine, and I had hoped that I would be able to find something along the same lines pertaining to ecology. The general idea behind narrative medicine is that you treat a person as a whole, and not just a cluster of symptoms. You allow people to contextualize their ailments in terms of the schema of their lives as opposed to the often cold and impersonal jargon that is so common in medical fields. See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03narrative.html.
This made me wonder, could we solve more of our current ecological problems by taking this sort of approach to the environment. This is very closely related to what Berry and other authors we’ve read this semester have said; Recontextualize how we think about “nature” (a slippery term in itself.) This would not automatically solve any of the problems that we have created for ourselves, but just thinking in terms of different stories would give us the necessary insight to work on these problems.
I had the goal of rewriting this post: /exchange/“traditional”-ecology-field-guide-flowers in a more narrative way. Right now it seems very straight forward and scientific, so I think I need to make it more inviting for the reader.
![Anne Dalke's picture Anne Dalke's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-39.jpg)
Who's in charge inside your head?
From yesterday's NYTimes: Who's in Charge Inside Your head?
"Buddhists note that our skin doesn’t separate us from the environment, but joins us, just as biologists know that “we” are manipulated by...the rest of life....Where does the rest of the world end, and each of us begin? Let’s leave the last words to a modern icon of organic, oceanic wisdom: SpongeBob SquarePants....'Absorbent and ...and porous is he'...are we, too."