2nd Quarter - Nature

Weather Experience

            On a hot summer day the temperatures rose above 100 degrees. Most people were trying to eschew the hot weather, but me and every other teen in Chicago wanted to enjoy it. So my friends and I decided to go to North avenue beach. When we got there everyone we knew was there. There were friends from grammar school as well as enemies. There were girls who were sun tanning, Facebook friends, high school friends, and even twitter followers, too. That day everyone was coherent as to where they should spend the day. Usually on summer days people go to the beach and the mood is a bit banal filled with a bunch of joggers and taciturn like people. But on this particular day the beach was crowded and everyone embraced the beach because it was so hot. Everyone took a dive in the waters. Even the girls who looked like it took them hours to do their hair. Everyone swam not caring about how hot it was, or their hair, or their belongings either! Because of the beautiful summer day, I don’t think any of us cared. The beach was where we all went to enjoy the weather and each other. If the weather had not been about 100 degrees, I don’t think we would’ve spent a full day at the beach. It would’ve been another regular sunny day spent inside under the ac.

The Most Beautiful (scenery)

The most beautiful scenery I've ever seen was when I went to visit Orlando Florida. It wasn't the pretty palm trees and the 100 degree weather that caught my eyes, but the view from the skies above, the view in an airplane. Boarding the plane in Chicago for the first time seemed so frightening, and taking off gave me an outrageous jittery feeling. But once we were up in the clouds beyond they surface of the ground, no longer did the plane ride worry me; it was more fascination. The pretty orange round sun and plush white clouds with the color of the sun reflecting on them was all a site to see.

            Too much to take in with just my eyes, I pulled out my camera. I had to get pictures of everything. Pictures of the fluffy popcorn shaped clouds. I needed pictures of the sun setting and the horizon; Pictures of the land splitting into green squares, both big and small. I had to have pictures of the pretty blue waters and how they separated themselves from the squares of land. It amazed me at how different things looked from so high above. Being in the plane gave me a jittering feeling, because we were so high that we couldn’t see the people below or  houses or trees for that matter. All there was to see was the sight of the beautiful colorful skies. To be so close to the clouds and sun was unbelievable. It seemed unreal, and as if I was dreaming, but it was all happening right in front of my eyes. The view from an airplane is the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever encountered and even without pictures I can vividly remember the sight.

Word Count: 310

5 Responses

            The poem Thanatopsis that we read was very calming. It made me view death in a better manner. Instead of always thinking like I know I’m going to die, but I’m scared of what’s to come! In one line Bryant says that we’ll “one by one be gathered” into death. That made me think of death like I know I’m going to die and I won’t be alone, and I’m not the only who will encounter death, everyone will. I like that the poem says don’t think of death a lot, because I’m usually the one who always questions what’s next? After death then what? But the poem basically tells me to clear my head of all thoughts and just go with the flow. Life and death will come upon us all. Thanatopsis also sprung out to me as a great poem because it doesn’t say when you’re dead your legacy will live on and everyone will know you and cry over you until they die. It basically says when you die life will go on without you. People will still work; laugh, and play and you’ll become a part of the dirt. And I rather hear the truth about death rather than a fluffed up story with a bunch of lies. But, overall I liked Thanatopsis, because it changed my scared point of view of death into a nonchalant view.

Word count: 231

         The story, The first curl of smoke, was one of the most understandable nature stories we read. Basically the author took a trip out in the Gila, fell in love with what he saw, and continued to come back every summer. But as I was overlooking the story I came to a line where the author says “She knew I was busy, tied to a desk in New York, but suggested I take a vacation and come see the country” and I thought these line related to the obligations derived in the movie we watched called In to the Wild and Transcendentalism.  In the movie Ron felt obligated to his job, and that was why he never traveled and never got to see nature. Both men belabored their everyday jobs and felt they had obligations, which are things that keep us away from nature. But in The first curl of smoke I think the author was tired of his obligation, but who wouldn't get tired of being tied down to a desk for hours to come every day. But what struck me as odd was that watching out for fires every summer was his partake in nature! Literally watching trees for miles and miles to come! That seemed far more boring than sitting in an office desk if it were up to me. Then he watched and watched all those years to only catch one fire. I think his obligations in the city would've led a far more exciting life. I wished he would've realized what Thoreau did and Chris, that basically being around others and living a normal everyday life isn't rebelling against nature, just not only being all about nature.

Word count: 277

        The story, To build a fire, to me was kind of unwonted and silly. Being that it was "fifty degrees below zero" the man should've known that it was not traveling weather and he even got a warning before he went and many evince signs on his journey as to why he shouldn't have went out. The man seemed myopic to all of the sings still wanting to travel and keep on going. But his halcyon ways summarily turned into fear which led him to death. Throughout the story he made pejorative mistakes like building the fire under a tree full of snow. Of course that wasn't going to work, snow was bound to fall onto the fire once he made it. The man seemed sort of dopey and absent minded throughout the whole story. This story also made me dislike nature, because the thought of nature killing someone is creepy. It makes me think of all the worst case scenarios that can happen while being in nature; not just while its snowing but all year around. But I liked that the author didn't give the man a name, it made me realize that generally people can be stubborn and think we don't need advice or that we can overcome the impossible. And I know that that describes me, because I never want to ask for help I usually like to think things over for myself, just as the man tried to do. But I see that trying to be so independent isn't always the best choice. Sometimes we should listen and hear what others have to say.


        In the poem, Snowbound, I felt like there was a connection between this particular day and an actual snow day in Chicago.

 

        

Origins of a Lion and Lioness

            In the wild there was chaos! There was no leader, no king, no one with authority. The zebras ran wild and ate much of the grass. The elephants crushed all of the trees that the giraffes ate from and the monkeys swung in. The dear drank all of the water from the rivers. None of the animals got along. They all despised each other. They stuck with their own kind and didn’t care about the other animals or their necessities.

            Then one night while the owls were out creeping around, they found two kittens. There was a boy kitten whose name tag read Lion; a girl kitten whose name tag read Lioness. The owls thought they were brother and sister, but quickly noticed their skin tones were different and so were their eyes. They looked scared and lost, so the owls decided to take them in.

            The kittens grew up around all the animals in the wild. They ran with the cheetahs, zebras, and dear. They got knowledge from the owls that were raising them. They learned to use their claws to cling to things, as monkeys use their hands to climb. They learned a keen sense of sound by watching the dear, and they learned how to reach high places by watching the giraffes. The kittens were growing by the days, and soon grew into cats. But the owls thought they weren’t growing enough. So they took them to the elephant fairy that made them grow as large as elephants. They were so excited, but the elephant fairy told the cats to stay away from water because it mess up the fur around their heads and shrink them back into small cats.

            The cats shook their heads in agreement, but hours later forgot the fairy’s request. The dear were drinking water from the rivers when Lion and Lioness decided to jump in the waters and scare them. Lion wasted no time, and went in the water head first, while Lioness just splashed the water and chased the dear. Then they both began to laugh and joke so hard, until Lioness looked up and saw the puffiness of Lions fur around his head. They both remembered the fairy’s request and began to sob as they shrunk. But they didn’t shrink all the way just down to the size of a dear or baby zebra.

            They went back to the fairy and she told them that she wasn’t surprised that they’d played in water. She was just astonished that they’d only shrunken a bit instead of back into to kittens. The fairy suggested that Lion and Lioness should become king and queen of the wild, because they were so strong that they resisted shrinking. The other animals in the wild had no problem and so there it was Lion was crowned king and Lioness queen. And every one of their kind received the same names as them and the same role as they did.

Word count: 491

Rainy days

Most clouds are gray,

Some are white

It can happen in the day

Or it can happen at night

Some people enjoy it

And say its soothing weather

Others cannot bear it

And rather be in a dessert

If you’re out wear the proper clothes

Rain jacket, rain boots and an umbrella that folds;

If not you’ll get a runny nose

And may even get sick with a full blown cold

It does us some good

It comes down like a big shower

Turning dirt into mud

And bringing us many beautiful flowers

It washes away pains

And helps the growth of wheat and grains

When it comes don’t complain

Because the wonders it does is insane

When it comes enjoy it

For it is a blessing

It is like Thanksgiving turkey

Or Thanksgiving dressing

Let it sooth you to sleep

Let it prone you to think

Let it groom you to do well

And not to deceit

Let it come

And let it go

For after it rains

The sun is bound to show

Essay response 
     
         The three essays I read were The Sound of Trees by Robert Frost, River Driftwood by Sarah Orne Jewett, and Walking by Henry David Thoreau. In all three of these essays the authors used an aspect of nature to show their views of either people in general, themselves, or every day life decisions. In River Driftwood I think  Jewett tries to get us to think about what is to come after death and how superior are we really to other animals and things living on this earth if we're all bound to die. I think she wanted the reader to wonder about the significance of death because she asks "who can say, however, that our death is not only a linking chain?" after saying that a more preserved death is "consoling" and "satisfactory". Then in The sound of Trees I think Frost is comparing himself to nature. He criticizes himself because he's saying like a tree he "talks of going but never gets away". He's relating himself to a tree which cannot move from its roots. He compares himself to a swaying tree by saying "my feet tug at the floor and my head sways to my shoulder". But then in the end he says how he'll do the opposite of a tree and someday he'll make "the reckless choice" and leave where is rooted from and be gone. In Walking by Thoreau I think that Thoreau is exemplifying that "we're so blessed" to have the opportunity to walk and be able to see nature for ourselves but we don't. Every since there have been highways, we use cars now and no longer care to take walks in the park or out into nature. I think Thoreau is just saying we're missing out on the big world around us and nature will soon be unavailable for us to even walk in it, but we're so busy with our day to day lives that we cannot see it. We cannot see that all we have to do is walk.