Web Paper or Special Event

Emily Kampmeyer

Paper #9

November 7, 2014

            On a brisk, windy Sunday afternoon, I headed to the outskirts of Bryn Mawr College’s campus to the nearby Morris Woods. I trekked around, finding myself engaged in the quiet solitude of the forest. Walking through the beaten path, coming across several trees with names and messages carved in the trunk, I was inspired to grab a rock and write EGG with muffled snickers. Seeking to make the most of my forest excursion, I continued on, belting out Disney songs without any apprehension that someone might overhear. The forest, with its all-encompassing branches and leaves, seemed to me bubble of free expression that could exist separately from anybody’s—or more specifically, the college’s—standards.

Alisha Clark

Professor Jody Cohen

November 6, 2014

Procedure of a Constructing a Metaphoric Creation

    Early in the morning, when the sunlight is peaking through the window shades, the gardeners are at work. The faint sound of the law mower mowing becomes a soothing rhythm as you pull up your favorite pair of jeans. At Bryn Mawr, when Summer was still at play, so was the incoming class of First Years. 

Selena Martinez

Esem

Paper #9

11/7/14

Hanging Out with Nature’s Friends

There was a certain connotation of melancholy and ghosts that I associated with the idea of visiting Morris Woods. My feet paused behind a fallen tree as my eyes took in the scenery and within seconds I fled back towards Bryn Mawr civilization. But today I returned. The man made paths, buildings and flower beds on campus allows for a spacious feel and sense of organization, but Morris Woods surrounds a person engulfing them closer towards nature with hidden surprises around every corner. The difference between civilization on campus and Morris Woods is the difference in how one interprets civilization.

In the busy community of Bryn Mawr, students are driven to express themselves and are given the trust and independence to govern both themselves and their educations.  That being said, the physical community of Bryn Mawr’s college campus reflects this independence through the intimate spaces students are able to retreat to.  Staff Writer for the Bi-College News, Rachel Ohrenschall, writes “Stressed out by midterms back in October, this author felt a Thoreauesque need to be one with nature.  As such, I stumbled across Bryn Mawr’s own special oasis—the Morris woods,” (Ohrenschall).   This isn’t the only place of retreat for Bryn Mawr students, in fact, even the college’s construction itself acknowledges the important roles of privacy and independence in a place for cultivating minds.

Weilla Yuan

Esem Paper 8

Nov. 6^th, 2014

Embrace the Future

Boyang Su

ESEM#9

Jody Cohen

6, November, 2014

The Complexity of Human and Nature

In her poem Meta/phor, Andrea Friedman wrote about how rocks can represent McBride students. A walk in the Morris wood, looking at the trees and leaves on it also struck me with the idea that how nature resembles people. Looking further into Horowitz’s piece, A Certain Style of “Quaker Lady” Dress, narrated the history of Bryn Mawr College and showed how different Bryn Mawr is now compared to goal of the initiator and the view of M. Carcy Thomas, which also led me to reflect on how the environment and human shape each other mutually.

When going out into the beauty of the world that so abundantly surrounds us, we always speak outside of ourselves. When we talk about landscapes, we focus on the trees and flowers. We so often find ourselves as something added onto the backdrop of the environment. In doing this, we subject ourselves to the idea that nature is something outside of ourselves. We get it in our heads that we taint the natural world and, in doing so, ignore our position in the natural world. I assert that the environment is defined by the variation it can exhibit, includes life in all forms, and is subject to change due to its inhabitants. Nature is not simply a construct of man but a manner by which life can manifest.

Rosa Nanasi Haas

Jody Cohen

Emily Balch Seminar: Changing Our Story

November 7, 2014

Breana Genaro

ESEM

Jody Cohen

7 Nov 2014

The Path Not Taken

I decided to explore the Morris Woods behind the English House. When I first got there, I was confused because I couldn't locate a clear trail like I was expecting. After searching and walking around for about ten minutes, I decided to just explore the overgrown brush and make my own trail. After treking through crunchy fallen leaves and climbing through branches and twigs, I found a small, makeshift trail. I could tell that a few people had been back there, but not many. Finally I found the bench and the plaque, and I sat. I noticed the periodic silence, when there wasn't a car driving by on the nearby road. I noticed the load crunching sound when a squirrel would run by on the leaves. I noticed the wind blowing the bare tree branches and redistributing the fallen leaves.