"Much of the region will never have anything to offer but scenery. But scenery it has in superlative degree and extravagant forms. High Plateaus, Grand Canyon, or sandrock wilderness, the scenery is no raw material exported by a colonial dependency, but the finished product. It is not merely finished, but unparalleled; not merely superlative, but utterly new." (Beyond the Hundredth Meridian by Wallace Stegner)
This part in book is very nice. Because I feel that most of the book has a lot long and complicated words, Stegner puts his fashionation with nature in his own words. Though there are still a few complicated terms, I am able to still feel how he sees nature, and by his saying things in just pretty terms but in his own. You can still how he kind of struggles to say things sometimes, but here he definitely knows how to say what he is feeling or thinking.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Abbey
"He was camped in a sandy basin below the crest of the ridge, surrounded by juniper and pinyon pine, out of sight of all but the birds. Nearby were tire tracks in the sand, where Seldom Seen Smith had turned his truck around last night, as the old moon came up.
Waiting for his water to boil, Hayduke tore a bough from the nearest juniper and swept away the tire tracks to where they disappeared onto the sandstone. Returning, he distributed pine needles over the disturbed sand. Hard to hide anything in this ***damned desert. The desert speaks with many tongues, some forked."
I picked this passage because it was very vivid. I could actually see what was happening. Plus the part about the tire tracks reminded me of when we went to the last excursion and as we were driving on the dirt road we could see the tire tracks of previous vehicles. It was interesting to see all those different tire tracks, some were more imbedded into the mud while others, maybe older, were barely on the surface.
The use of the pine needles and the juniper tree was interesting too. He used the environment around him to help cover up his tracks. With the help of the juniper branch he erased the evidence and with the pine needles he was able to futher cover up that anyone was there.
I also liked the part, "The desert speaks with many tongues, some forked." Like how the desert has many different things and how some of those things can be dangerous or uninviting.
Waiting for his water to boil, Hayduke tore a bough from the nearest juniper and swept away the tire tracks to where they disappeared onto the sandstone. Returning, he distributed pine needles over the disturbed sand. Hard to hide anything in this ***damned desert. The desert speaks with many tongues, some forked."
I picked this passage because it was very vivid. I could actually see what was happening. Plus the part about the tire tracks reminded me of when we went to the last excursion and as we were driving on the dirt road we could see the tire tracks of previous vehicles. It was interesting to see all those different tire tracks, some were more imbedded into the mud while others, maybe older, were barely on the surface.
The use of the pine needles and the juniper tree was interesting too. He used the environment around him to help cover up his tracks. With the help of the juniper branch he erased the evidence and with the pine needles he was able to futher cover up that anyone was there.
I also liked the part, "The desert speaks with many tongues, some forked." Like how the desert has many different things and how some of those things can be dangerous or uninviting.
Muir
"How interesting to trace the history of a single raindrop! It is not long, geologically speaking, as we have seen, since the first raindrops fell on the newborn leafless Sierra landscapes. How different the lot of these falling now! Happy the showers that fall on so fair a wilderness, -scarce a single drop can fail to find a beautiful spot, -on the tops of the peaks, on the shining glacier pavements, on the great smooth domes, on forests and gardens and brushy moraines, plashing, glinting, pattering, laving." (My First Summer in Sierra by John Muir)
I really like this passage, it talks about rain, which I believe I have already mentioned that I like. Muir talks about how just one drop has it own place to go to, how it finds just a nice place to land on. Like how the raindrop knows exactly where and how it will land, whether it will splash or just sit on it's destination. Muir also talks about how each place the rain falls is so beautiful, like the rain has a variety of beautiful places to fall.
I also enjoyed how he describes showers as Happy, he gives a substance feelings and makes it more humanized. Muir in just this passage, manages to give so much detail and feelings, he puts his whole passion into his words, making his work seem almost like poetry.
I really like this passage, it talks about rain, which I believe I have already mentioned that I like. Muir talks about how just one drop has it own place to go to, how it finds just a nice place to land on. Like how the raindrop knows exactly where and how it will land, whether it will splash or just sit on it's destination. Muir also talks about how each place the rain falls is so beautiful, like the rain has a variety of beautiful places to fall.
I also enjoyed how he describes showers as Happy, he gives a substance feelings and makes it more humanized. Muir in just this passage, manages to give so much detail and feelings, he puts his whole passion into his words, making his work seem almost like poetry.
Melendez
"Places and past are simultaneous places and times in the open mind." (Collections of Nearly Unlovable Spaces by Maria Melendez)
I like this little line, it kind of makes sense. Like to those who are open minded and see the world differently from everyone else, the way they perceive the world from a different point of view. These type of people can live both in the present and past, reliving all their happy or sad memories while still making new ones. I don't know that's what I got from it.
"5. The kid who finally found the body
fell off a mountain bike along the fencerow,
told the police that, at first glance,
he "thought it was a scarecrow." " (Buckrail by Maria Melendez)
I thought this except was interesting. It reminded me of Stephen King's The Body, the way a kid finds a body. For a child to see a body would be horrifying, they would probably remember that for the rest of their lives. So this little except is a little bit morbid, especially how the child tells the police that he thought the body was a scarecrow at first.
I like this little line, it kind of makes sense. Like to those who are open minded and see the world differently from everyone else, the way they perceive the world from a different point of view. These type of people can live both in the present and past, reliving all their happy or sad memories while still making new ones. I don't know that's what I got from it.
"5. The kid who finally found the body
fell off a mountain bike along the fencerow,
told the police that, at first glance,
he "thought it was a scarecrow." " (Buckrail by Maria Melendez)
I thought this except was interesting. It reminded me of Stephen King's The Body, the way a kid finds a body. For a child to see a body would be horrifying, they would probably remember that for the rest of their lives. So this little except is a little bit morbid, especially how the child tells the police that he thought the body was a scarecrow at first.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Thoreau
"July 17, pm
A summer rain. A gentle steady rain, long a-gathering, without thunder or lightning,- such as we have not, and, methinks, could not have had, earlier than this.
I pick raspberries dripping with rain beyond Sleepy Hallow. This weather is rather favorable to thought. On all sides is heard a gentle dripping of the rain on the leaves, yet it is perectly warm. It is a day of comparative leisure to many farmers. Some go to the mill-dam and the shops; some go a-fishing." (Quote from The Journal 1837-1861: Henry David Thoreau)
I picked this quote because I really like the idea of rain without thunder and lightning. I don't mind lighting so much but I am afraid of thunder, I don't know why, but I have been ever since I was young. But I really love the rain, the way Thoreau talks about it, as though it's some beautiful rare phenomenon is really deep. I felt that we have that in common, seeing the rain as something really special and something that should be appreciated. I also really loved the reference to Sleepy Hallow, even though I know he is just referring to the town, but I really liked that movie, so the fact that it's mentioned is cool.
A summer rain. A gentle steady rain, long a-gathering, without thunder or lightning,- such as we have not, and, methinks, could not have had, earlier than this.
I pick raspberries dripping with rain beyond Sleepy Hallow. This weather is rather favorable to thought. On all sides is heard a gentle dripping of the rain on the leaves, yet it is perectly warm. It is a day of comparative leisure to many farmers. Some go to the mill-dam and the shops; some go a-fishing." (Quote from The Journal 1837-1861: Henry David Thoreau)
I picked this quote because I really like the idea of rain without thunder and lightning. I don't mind lighting so much but I am afraid of thunder, I don't know why, but I have been ever since I was young. But I really love the rain, the way Thoreau talks about it, as though it's some beautiful rare phenomenon is really deep. I felt that we have that in common, seeing the rain as something really special and something that should be appreciated. I also really loved the reference to Sleepy Hallow, even though I know he is just referring to the town, but I really liked that movie, so the fact that it's mentioned is cool.
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