Essential questions
- How does energy production impact place?
- How do your sense of place, environmental ethic, and your understanding of our energy needs influence you perception of human's use of earth's resources and your own lifestyle decisions?
- How do your sense of place, environmental ethic, and your understanding of our energy needs influence you perception of human's use of earth's resources and your own lifestyle decisions?
project overview
For the Energy and Place project in Humanities, we used nature writing skills, environmental ethic, and a personal place to write a sense of place essay. We also used our environmental ethic to create a take action project that would allow us to respond to what is happening to our planet and what we have learned about energy production. To start this project we spent time working and refining our nature writing skills in order to “show and not tell”. By reading examples from Edward Abbey and other authors we were able to gain a better grasp of the depths and complexity of creative writing. We used journals to practice and refine our writing skills as well as brainstorm what our project should focus on. When planning our essays we were asked to think about a place that resonated with us or think about how we don't resonate with any specific place. In our essay we had describe our relationship to a place through many different relationships such as, biographical, spiritual, or ideological. We also needed to write about our community attachment, which could be rootedness, relativity or placelessness, depending on who you are and what you think about your place. For our take action project we could work with groups and over time we developed a plan and then acted on it. Some groups involved the local community, the school, or the social media community.
Sense of place Essay
This is How I Know I'm Alive
Ellen Campbell
Ellen Campbell
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” Ralph Ellison
Abstract
Ever since I can remember I have been attending the Four Corners Folk Festival, there I have created countless memories and lifelong friends. Going to this festival and being a part of its culture is a huge part of who I am and how I express myself. All of the aspects of this festival, the wild dancing, delicious food, uplifting music, exotic yet amazing people, and the beautiful place resonate deeply with me. Each and every part of the weekend allows me to connect spiritually with myself. The power that comes from the energy at the festival creates a high that can be experienced nowhere else.
Ever since I can remember I have been attending the Four Corners Folk Festival, there I have created countless memories and lifelong friends. Going to this festival and being a part of its culture is a huge part of who I am and how I express myself. All of the aspects of this festival, the wild dancing, delicious food, uplifting music, exotic yet amazing people, and the beautiful place resonate deeply with me. Each and every part of the weekend allows me to connect spiritually with myself. The power that comes from the energy at the festival creates a high that can be experienced nowhere else.
This is How I Know I’m Alive
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” Nelson Mandela
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” Nelson Mandela
It’s like the rhythm of the ocean. Moving in and out to the beat of the music. A dance, any dance really; whatever the music tells your soul to do. Letting the flow of the cool breeze move your arms, your abdomen, and then down through to your legs and feet. Swinging and swaying, letting the music control you. At festival there is no shame in moving the way you move. Dust is flying through the air as many people dance to the beats and rhythms of the instruments. Shimmy, skip, strut, spin, step and chive to your hearts content. The music whispers in my ear telling me to let go, to be me. I frolic like nobody's watching I become one with the energy of the music. Dancing at the festival generates a power within me that affects my mood and everyone’s around me, a vibe like no other.
Although I don't remember it, my parents reminisce of a diaper-clad toddler waddling to the authentic bluegrass. The budding music festival was located down along the fresh flowing Animas River in the tiny town of Pagosa Springs. The flowers decorate the dirt-covered canvas and the ice-cold mountain spring river mists the crisp, fresh cut grass around the circle of bright colored tents. The popularity of the joyous event grew over time as the free-spirit music lovers fled to the sweet weekend escape. 16 years. I have been going to the Four Corners Folk Festival for 16 years; there is not a year since that first weekend that I have missed the festival. It has become a part of me. For me this weekend is not just a vacation or break from civilization, it is a tradition, a moment in life that happens every year and its written in stone.
Every year on Labor Day weekend I go to my happy place. I leave right after the last bell of the school day on Friday with my bags packed and a playlist ready for the drive, I head off. I say goodbye to the pooches for the weekend and farewell to the obnoxious motorcycles that roll into town for 3 days. One enormous backpack full of warm clothes, bathing suits, festival attire, and rain gear. One pair of shoes, if any at all, for my weekend escape, Chacos. Most years the heavy sun peeks through the bare trees beats and down on our backs and shoulders, the vibrant colors of fall makes it an especially joyous weekend, however on occasion there are melancholy weekends of downpour. Years I have been drenched and slathered in mud shivering with not only the chills of the temperature but also the chills of the echoes from the instrumental and vocal vibrations darting through my veins.
Once packed and equipped for whichever exhilarating weekend is in store, I prepare my ears for the wondrous live music I have enthusiastically been awaiting. A trifling stack CD’s that I have gathered year after year from my beloved bands sit cluttered on the hot dashboard. The drive is not just any drive; it’s more of a voyage all in itself. The windy two-lane road carves its way along the San Juan forest passing in and out of hillsides and carries us over Lizardhead pass. Our car zooms past the slowly crawling elephants that are also voyaging in and out of the pass. Before I was exposed to the dangers of the road, my innocent self would ride with my dad, strapped in the back seat listening to the music I was exposed to. As I grew and rebelled against the ideas of childhood, one hand on the wheel and one hand out the window, I filled my parent’s car with the same people that experienced the many years of Folk Fest with me. Gliding along the smooth surface like a bee buzzing above the grass, taking it all in.
After spending numerous years going to the Four Corners Folk Festival I have recognized that it takes place on more than just a simple hill with a campground. I knew that it had more significance than just a venue for a weekend event. The trifling mountain is called Reservoir Hill, which alludes to its purpose. On the top of this hill hidden during the festival by an enormous tent rests a robust water tower, a reserve for the tiny town of Pagosa Springs. It’s decorated in a shade of ugly, bogus evergreen for means of trying to blend it in with its surroundings of soaring ponderosa pines and oak brush that layers the opulent dirt floor. The forest that continues beyond the festival boundary is greatly protected, as it is the San Juan National forest. The area is an exceptional place, safe from destruction and production. The pristine gorgeous forest holds intrinsic value that means so much to me. The extraordinary fact that I am permitted access to celebrate music for a weekend on such sacred land makes the experience that much more valuable.
Envision barefoot feet covered by a thin layer of dust from the soil of the hard beaten dance area carved out by generations of festivals. The next song is about to come on. Inhaling and exhaling, the particles that have left the ground fill the air. Dry, feet, hay, sweat, are the wafts of the dust flying above our heads and weaving in and out the whirling bodies. Gasping for breath between the cries of laughter, the acoustic instruments begin to play their soul food sounds: the most flawless jumble of melodies, hums, strums, and harmonies saturate the breathing air. Picking up your feet and lifting the weight of your mindless body and flowing to the rhythm of the pure spirit-lifting music. Every beat and every downbeat shakes your body like an earthquake that pleases the spirit, surges of power radiate from your weakened body. How peculiar that such simple rhythm can be made into such powerful energy for the soul. This music is my muse.
The pulsing and vibrations move through my body making my heart shutter with wild reckless joy. No matter where I am during my weekend getaway, whether it is the dance floor, at my camp, or under the vast tent, the music touches my ears. The radiating sounds drift through bushes and trees, weaving by tents and filling the minds of the festivalgoers. The magnificence is more than one can simply state in words, you must use your vast imagination. The beats and voices combined of the oh-so amazingly talented people, brings tears of laughter and bliss to my eyes. Tap, tap, tap. The music gets to my bones, my nervous system, its uncontrollable, the music takes charge of my body. The tunes engross my mind with endless pleasure and bring a perpetual grin to my face.
Hippies, the stereotypical attendees of the festivals; these people that I share my weekend with are more than just weed craved, unwashed, tree huggers. They share my passion for raw, upbeat acoustic music and the power that comes with it. These are not people I know. They are people that are one in the same. Out on the dance floor or beneath the tent, our lives connect for three whole days. Three days when our worlds collide into one and we relish the humble festival life. The ecstasy of the younger kids bringing ice around to all the camps shrieking “Five dollars a bag!!” At night walking around the small dwellings of the festivalgoers listening to the crafty assembly of gifted people who keep the night flourishing with the amazing reverberations of their instruments and voices. Even the old men with the earplugs who sit and close their eyes absorbing the atmosphere and the vibrations from the stage. All of these people make this little 3-day community alive. Everyone comes up on the hill to rejoice the noise of music, producing a holistic spiritual power to the atmosphere affecting everyone. The weed-crazed hippies don’t need weed; the energy of the festival provides the same powerful high.
Food carts from all over the state circle up around the water station producing delicious eatery that no one can get enough of. Melt in your mouth crepes for breakfast lunch and dinner, filled with ripe bananas, herb chicken, or rich chocolate. After several lengthy hours of dancing and singing to the energetic music, food is a superb satisfaction for the growling, grumbling stomachs that ache for gourmet food cart chow. In many years past, my mother has restricted me on purchasing food from the exquisite and ever so expensive food trucks. However, bringing my own personal favorite foods has pleased me just as well. There is nothing better than fresh, campfire cooked, and beans with hot dogs or salty hash browns in the morning. There is something different about the taste of food when it is cooked in the wilderness or perhaps it’s just the appetite from the exceedingly vigorous day of running around the festival. Either way I consume all the scrumptious food I can get while up on Reservoir Hill.
Monday morning is the gloomiest day of all. The parents are rushed to pack up and get home, but I am hesitant. My perfect weekend always comes to an end I understand, and I must hold on for next year. I shove everything into stuff sacks and empty out my little bag of garbage into the main pile by the Bob John’s. The car gets packed like it was three days ago only this time it has a thin coating of dirt that holds all the memories of the many feet that danced. I am drained. My soul will not rest but I do need a year to re-boost the energy needed for the next weekend. On the drive home on the two-lane road I contemplate everything that happened on this glorious weekend, and I realize that I learned something. I discover this something every year on the drive back, I learn that who I am at this festival in my happiest state is who I really am. I dread going home because it means going back to a person that isn’t who I want to be. And I am noticing that every year I transform a little bit to become this person that I discover at Folk Fest.
Although I don't remember it, my parents reminisce of a diaper-clad toddler waddling to the authentic bluegrass. The budding music festival was located down along the fresh flowing Animas River in the tiny town of Pagosa Springs. The flowers decorate the dirt-covered canvas and the ice-cold mountain spring river mists the crisp, fresh cut grass around the circle of bright colored tents. The popularity of the joyous event grew over time as the free-spirit music lovers fled to the sweet weekend escape. 16 years. I have been going to the Four Corners Folk Festival for 16 years; there is not a year since that first weekend that I have missed the festival. It has become a part of me. For me this weekend is not just a vacation or break from civilization, it is a tradition, a moment in life that happens every year and its written in stone.
Every year on Labor Day weekend I go to my happy place. I leave right after the last bell of the school day on Friday with my bags packed and a playlist ready for the drive, I head off. I say goodbye to the pooches for the weekend and farewell to the obnoxious motorcycles that roll into town for 3 days. One enormous backpack full of warm clothes, bathing suits, festival attire, and rain gear. One pair of shoes, if any at all, for my weekend escape, Chacos. Most years the heavy sun peeks through the bare trees beats and down on our backs and shoulders, the vibrant colors of fall makes it an especially joyous weekend, however on occasion there are melancholy weekends of downpour. Years I have been drenched and slathered in mud shivering with not only the chills of the temperature but also the chills of the echoes from the instrumental and vocal vibrations darting through my veins.
Once packed and equipped for whichever exhilarating weekend is in store, I prepare my ears for the wondrous live music I have enthusiastically been awaiting. A trifling stack CD’s that I have gathered year after year from my beloved bands sit cluttered on the hot dashboard. The drive is not just any drive; it’s more of a voyage all in itself. The windy two-lane road carves its way along the San Juan forest passing in and out of hillsides and carries us over Lizardhead pass. Our car zooms past the slowly crawling elephants that are also voyaging in and out of the pass. Before I was exposed to the dangers of the road, my innocent self would ride with my dad, strapped in the back seat listening to the music I was exposed to. As I grew and rebelled against the ideas of childhood, one hand on the wheel and one hand out the window, I filled my parent’s car with the same people that experienced the many years of Folk Fest with me. Gliding along the smooth surface like a bee buzzing above the grass, taking it all in.
After spending numerous years going to the Four Corners Folk Festival I have recognized that it takes place on more than just a simple hill with a campground. I knew that it had more significance than just a venue for a weekend event. The trifling mountain is called Reservoir Hill, which alludes to its purpose. On the top of this hill hidden during the festival by an enormous tent rests a robust water tower, a reserve for the tiny town of Pagosa Springs. It’s decorated in a shade of ugly, bogus evergreen for means of trying to blend it in with its surroundings of soaring ponderosa pines and oak brush that layers the opulent dirt floor. The forest that continues beyond the festival boundary is greatly protected, as it is the San Juan National forest. The area is an exceptional place, safe from destruction and production. The pristine gorgeous forest holds intrinsic value that means so much to me. The extraordinary fact that I am permitted access to celebrate music for a weekend on such sacred land makes the experience that much more valuable.
Envision barefoot feet covered by a thin layer of dust from the soil of the hard beaten dance area carved out by generations of festivals. The next song is about to come on. Inhaling and exhaling, the particles that have left the ground fill the air. Dry, feet, hay, sweat, are the wafts of the dust flying above our heads and weaving in and out the whirling bodies. Gasping for breath between the cries of laughter, the acoustic instruments begin to play their soul food sounds: the most flawless jumble of melodies, hums, strums, and harmonies saturate the breathing air. Picking up your feet and lifting the weight of your mindless body and flowing to the rhythm of the pure spirit-lifting music. Every beat and every downbeat shakes your body like an earthquake that pleases the spirit, surges of power radiate from your weakened body. How peculiar that such simple rhythm can be made into such powerful energy for the soul. This music is my muse.
The pulsing and vibrations move through my body making my heart shutter with wild reckless joy. No matter where I am during my weekend getaway, whether it is the dance floor, at my camp, or under the vast tent, the music touches my ears. The radiating sounds drift through bushes and trees, weaving by tents and filling the minds of the festivalgoers. The magnificence is more than one can simply state in words, you must use your vast imagination. The beats and voices combined of the oh-so amazingly talented people, brings tears of laughter and bliss to my eyes. Tap, tap, tap. The music gets to my bones, my nervous system, its uncontrollable, the music takes charge of my body. The tunes engross my mind with endless pleasure and bring a perpetual grin to my face.
Hippies, the stereotypical attendees of the festivals; these people that I share my weekend with are more than just weed craved, unwashed, tree huggers. They share my passion for raw, upbeat acoustic music and the power that comes with it. These are not people I know. They are people that are one in the same. Out on the dance floor or beneath the tent, our lives connect for three whole days. Three days when our worlds collide into one and we relish the humble festival life. The ecstasy of the younger kids bringing ice around to all the camps shrieking “Five dollars a bag!!” At night walking around the small dwellings of the festivalgoers listening to the crafty assembly of gifted people who keep the night flourishing with the amazing reverberations of their instruments and voices. Even the old men with the earplugs who sit and close their eyes absorbing the atmosphere and the vibrations from the stage. All of these people make this little 3-day community alive. Everyone comes up on the hill to rejoice the noise of music, producing a holistic spiritual power to the atmosphere affecting everyone. The weed-crazed hippies don’t need weed; the energy of the festival provides the same powerful high.
Food carts from all over the state circle up around the water station producing delicious eatery that no one can get enough of. Melt in your mouth crepes for breakfast lunch and dinner, filled with ripe bananas, herb chicken, or rich chocolate. After several lengthy hours of dancing and singing to the energetic music, food is a superb satisfaction for the growling, grumbling stomachs that ache for gourmet food cart chow. In many years past, my mother has restricted me on purchasing food from the exquisite and ever so expensive food trucks. However, bringing my own personal favorite foods has pleased me just as well. There is nothing better than fresh, campfire cooked, and beans with hot dogs or salty hash browns in the morning. There is something different about the taste of food when it is cooked in the wilderness or perhaps it’s just the appetite from the exceedingly vigorous day of running around the festival. Either way I consume all the scrumptious food I can get while up on Reservoir Hill.
Monday morning is the gloomiest day of all. The parents are rushed to pack up and get home, but I am hesitant. My perfect weekend always comes to an end I understand, and I must hold on for next year. I shove everything into stuff sacks and empty out my little bag of garbage into the main pile by the Bob John’s. The car gets packed like it was three days ago only this time it has a thin coating of dirt that holds all the memories of the many feet that danced. I am drained. My soul will not rest but I do need a year to re-boost the energy needed for the next weekend. On the drive home on the two-lane road I contemplate everything that happened on this glorious weekend, and I realize that I learned something. I discover this something every year on the drive back, I learn that who I am at this festival in my happiest state is who I really am. I dread going home because it means going back to a person that isn’t who I want to be. And I am noticing that every year I transform a little bit to become this person that I discover at Folk Fest.
Take action!
The Aspen Collective
Lyle Bryson, Ellen Campbell, Ellie Gervais, and Lia Henriksen
Lyle Bryson, Ellen Campbell, Ellie Gervais, and Lia Henriksen
The Aspen Collective Explained:
We chose to name our Take Action Project the Aspen Collective because although aspens uphold an image of frailty against the weight of the world alone, they have strong root systems that can expand up to 40 feet underground and have the power to break through sidewalks and sewers in urban areas. We believe that this tree is a metaphor for the power balance that each human experiences in their walk through life. Alone, we are ultimately powerless in the quest to bring about change. But, if we connect to others and form a network, we can truly shape our experiences and set a foundation for generations to come. This is the basis for our project, and we hope to bring these values into all of our endeavors.
Project Description:
For our project we will be creating a group/program that uses social media and graphic campaigns to bring awareness of environmental organizations that are trying to help the earth. By advertising with stickers, Instagram, and a website with a blog, we will be showing the community that change is happening and how they can join. We will be putting QR codes in our logos/stickers that will allow for people to access our website/blog and our Instagram account. This will give people a fast easy way to see what our mission is and what we are up to.
Along with spreading the awareness on everything that is going on to save the planet, we will be looking into working with businesses and maybe even other companies to promote what they are doing and/or give them away to spread the awareness. This will be away to spread our branches and roots out into the community so more people know what's going on and so that they can learn about what they can do to help. Follow us on Instagram @theaspencollective and on the web at theaspencollective.weebly.com.
Mission Statement:
Our mission is to create a movement that encourages people of Durango (and hopefully one day the world) to care for and take responsibility for the environment, as well as spread environmental awareness through social media and popular culture.
Vision Statement:
Eventually, we hope to make people of Durango and the surrounding community more aware of environmental protection methods and change the way they think about their environment in general by taking active part in a social movement.
Why?
We chose to name our Take Action Project the Aspen Collective because although aspens uphold an image of frailty against the weight of the world alone, they have strong root systems that can expand up to 40 feet underground and have the power to break through sidewalks and sewers in urban areas. We believe that this tree is a metaphor for the power balance that each human experiences in their walk through life. Alone, we are ultimately powerless in the quest to bring about change. But, if we connect to others and form a network, we can truly shape our experiences and set a foundation for generations to come. This is the basis for our project, and we hope to bring these values into all of our endeavors.
Project Description:
For our project we will be creating a group/program that uses social media and graphic campaigns to bring awareness of environmental organizations that are trying to help the earth. By advertising with stickers, Instagram, and a website with a blog, we will be showing the community that change is happening and how they can join. We will be putting QR codes in our logos/stickers that will allow for people to access our website/blog and our Instagram account. This will give people a fast easy way to see what our mission is and what we are up to.
Along with spreading the awareness on everything that is going on to save the planet, we will be looking into working with businesses and maybe even other companies to promote what they are doing and/or give them away to spread the awareness. This will be away to spread our branches and roots out into the community so more people know what's going on and so that they can learn about what they can do to help. Follow us on Instagram @theaspencollective and on the web at theaspencollective.weebly.com.
Mission Statement:
Our mission is to create a movement that encourages people of Durango (and hopefully one day the world) to care for and take responsibility for the environment, as well as spread environmental awareness through social media and popular culture.
Vision Statement:
Eventually, we hope to make people of Durango and the surrounding community more aware of environmental protection methods and change the way they think about their environment in general by taking active part in a social movement.
Why?
- To spread awareness about current ecological and environmental organizations that are trying to instigate systematic change nationally and internationally
- Because a large portion of the U.S. and many other citizens in foreign countries aren’t informed about current environmental issues
- To inform the local and national public on what is happening with the environment right now, and what they can do to help
- To show people that there is something that they can do
- To give people many options on how they can reach out or contribute to organizations that are working towards helping the environment
- To bring people and communities together online
- To involve and inform the younger generations
- Because we believe in spreading awareness via creative outlets
- We believe in spreading awareness via creative outlets because this a relatable way for the public to access our topic #trendy
You can connect with us on:
Take action reflection
For our take action project we designed a group that uses social media and graphic campaigns to bring awareness of environmental organizations that are working to help the save earth. By advertising with Instagram and a website that includes a blog, we will be showing the community that change is happening and how they can join the change. We put QR codes in our logos and post that will allow for people to access our website/blog and our Instagram account.
Our mission is to create a movement that encourages people of Durango (and hopefully one day the world) to care for and take responsibility for the environment, as well as spread environmental awareness through social media and popular culture.
Our vision is to one day make people of Durango and the surrounding communities more aware of environmental protection methods and change the way they think about their environment in general by taking active part in a social movement.
The Aspen Collective project connected with the essential question, " How do your sense of place, environmental ethic, and your understanding of our energy needs influence you perception of human's use of earth's resources and your own lifestyle decisions?" by bringing awareness to our energy needs and our earth's resources while making people consider their own environmental ethic. Our project will help people to see the environmental problems that are happening today on our planet and will allow them to recognize their personal environmental ethic while providing opportunities to take action with the organizations shared.
Over the course of this project I have been able to take a step back and see the bigger picture. I have been able to research and find many very helpful programs and organizations that are working so hard to make a change for our planet. Seeing how much effort and consideration is going into fixing our problems allows me to reflect on not only what I can do but also what I have done. I know I am environmentally conscious but now that I have enveloped myself in my project and seen all that is out there I am working extremely hard to save our Earth.
Our mission is to create a movement that encourages people of Durango (and hopefully one day the world) to care for and take responsibility for the environment, as well as spread environmental awareness through social media and popular culture.
Our vision is to one day make people of Durango and the surrounding communities more aware of environmental protection methods and change the way they think about their environment in general by taking active part in a social movement.
The Aspen Collective project connected with the essential question, " How do your sense of place, environmental ethic, and your understanding of our energy needs influence you perception of human's use of earth's resources and your own lifestyle decisions?" by bringing awareness to our energy needs and our earth's resources while making people consider their own environmental ethic. Our project will help people to see the environmental problems that are happening today on our planet and will allow them to recognize their personal environmental ethic while providing opportunities to take action with the organizations shared.
Over the course of this project I have been able to take a step back and see the bigger picture. I have been able to research and find many very helpful programs and organizations that are working so hard to make a change for our planet. Seeing how much effort and consideration is going into fixing our problems allows me to reflect on not only what I can do but also what I have done. I know I am environmentally conscious but now that I have enveloped myself in my project and seen all that is out there I am working extremely hard to save our Earth.
Energy and place project reflection
For the Energy and Place project in Humanities, we used nature writing skills, environmental ethic, and a personal place to write a sense of place essay. We also used our environmental ethic to create a take action project that would allow us to respond to what is happening to our planet and what we have learned about energy production. To start this project we spent time working and refining our nature writing skills in order to “show and not tell”. By reading examples from Edward Abbey and other authors we were able to gain a better grasp of the depths and complexity of creative writing. We used journals to practice and refine our writing skills as well as brainstorm what our project should focus on. When planning our essays we were asked to think about a place that resonated with us or think about how we don't resonate with any specific place. In our essay we had describe our relationship to a place through many different relationships such as, biographical, spiritual, or ideological. We also needed to write about our community attachment, which could be rootedness, relativity or placelessness, depending on who you are and what you think about your place. For our take action project we could work with groups and over time we developed a plan and then acted on it. Some groups involved the local community, the school, or the social media community.
During this project I had a hard time being decisive because I felt very passionate to close to many places in my life, so making a decision on one place was a challenge. I could have written an essay on all of the places I’ve been but I felt that putting more time and effort into one place would have allowed me to produce a better result. During the journaling process of the project I thought about all the places I love and the places that mean a lot to me, and I was able to draft a few small blurbs about the one place that stuck out the most for me. After I drafted my essay on the Folk Festival I realized how much refinement it needed. I had a deep reflection at the moment, I felt really down about myself as a writer because my essay nowhere I wanted or needed it to be. But after many conferences with Jessica and rewriting sentences with what I thought was extreme descriptive language, I was able to craft an essay I was happy with. Grouping with some people from my class and coming up with an action plan was an easier aspect of the project for me. I basically knew that I wanted to spread awareness to promote saving the planet we just had to design a project around the idea. Overall the process was difficult but in the end I was proud of the project.
Looking back on the process and the project I am most proud of my completed essay. I feel that now that my essay is done and that it has been exhibited, that I did a good job reflecting who I am and my experiences at my place. I’m thrilled about some of the creative writing that I was able to put into my essay. A section that sticks out for me is the first paragraph of my essay where I describe the dancing at the festival by starting with “It’s like the rhythm of the ocean.” I felt that by starting my essay with this image that I was really pulling me readers in and creating an image for the people that haven’t experienced what I have. It was a very hard process for me but all in all it feels so good to work so hard for this piece of writing that allows me to reveal myself and thing that makes me the happiest.
Well I believe that energy production and the dirty industrialization of places is destroying our beautiful earth. I also think that the protection and conservation of our resources and beauty is vital to not only the survival of our species but also planet itself. My everyday life is influenced strongly by my personal opinions of what I think the human race should do to save our drowning and burning Earth. By filling our land, waters, and homes with companies, power plants, and cars we are destroying our only home. This project allowed me to think about how special my place is and how much I love that place; it made me think passionately about saving my place. I was able to reflect back on my take action project and think about the millions on millions of things that I could take action on to save my place and other places that are just as special. I hope to continue thinking like this because I believe that everyone should have a place and at the rate the we are going right now, the next generation will have a limited special place selection.
During this project I had a hard time being decisive because I felt very passionate to close to many places in my life, so making a decision on one place was a challenge. I could have written an essay on all of the places I’ve been but I felt that putting more time and effort into one place would have allowed me to produce a better result. During the journaling process of the project I thought about all the places I love and the places that mean a lot to me, and I was able to draft a few small blurbs about the one place that stuck out the most for me. After I drafted my essay on the Folk Festival I realized how much refinement it needed. I had a deep reflection at the moment, I felt really down about myself as a writer because my essay nowhere I wanted or needed it to be. But after many conferences with Jessica and rewriting sentences with what I thought was extreme descriptive language, I was able to craft an essay I was happy with. Grouping with some people from my class and coming up with an action plan was an easier aspect of the project for me. I basically knew that I wanted to spread awareness to promote saving the planet we just had to design a project around the idea. Overall the process was difficult but in the end I was proud of the project.
Looking back on the process and the project I am most proud of my completed essay. I feel that now that my essay is done and that it has been exhibited, that I did a good job reflecting who I am and my experiences at my place. I’m thrilled about some of the creative writing that I was able to put into my essay. A section that sticks out for me is the first paragraph of my essay where I describe the dancing at the festival by starting with “It’s like the rhythm of the ocean.” I felt that by starting my essay with this image that I was really pulling me readers in and creating an image for the people that haven’t experienced what I have. It was a very hard process for me but all in all it feels so good to work so hard for this piece of writing that allows me to reveal myself and thing that makes me the happiest.
Well I believe that energy production and the dirty industrialization of places is destroying our beautiful earth. I also think that the protection and conservation of our resources and beauty is vital to not only the survival of our species but also planet itself. My everyday life is influenced strongly by my personal opinions of what I think the human race should do to save our drowning and burning Earth. By filling our land, waters, and homes with companies, power plants, and cars we are destroying our only home. This project allowed me to think about how special my place is and how much I love that place; it made me think passionately about saving my place. I was able to reflect back on my take action project and think about the millions on millions of things that I could take action on to save my place and other places that are just as special. I hope to continue thinking like this because I believe that everyone should have a place and at the rate the we are going right now, the next generation will have a limited special place selection.