To The Woods - Day 4 - May 29, 2015

Day 4 of To the Woods was pretty interesting, being our third field trip in a row. We took a trip to Aulwood Audubon to learn more about Ohio's animals as opposed to the focus on plants that Cox Arboretum had. I found it amazing how many land and air animals take refuge in such a small area of land in the middle of Ohio. To start the trip, the class was introduced to the park and its history as well as the guides that would teach us whatever we wanted to know throughout the day. We were divided into four groups to travel about the park, each group with a different guide. My group's guide led us into the visitor center to take a look at some of the more rare inhabitants of the nearby woods, including snakes and turtles. We were allowed to touch and hold a black rat snake, the largest snake in the area. This particular snake was nearly ready to shed its outer scales, so the scales felt very loose and its eyes were milky white. We then looked at water and land-based turtles as our guide let one land-based turtle wander around the room freely.

Black Rat Snake

A turtle wandering around on the floor

An aquatic turtle that apparently does what a skunk does or something

Leaving the visitor center, everyone in the group grabs a pair of binoculars with which we will later use to observe wildlife, mostly birds, much more closely. The first place on our hike through the woods that we stopped to talk about things was a wide prairie with about knee-high grass. Through our binoculars we saw a deer and multiple blue birds. We heard some sort of giant woodpecker off in the distance. It was nice to stop and use most senses to observe this hazy prairie. Mrs. McDaniel pointed out spittle bugs on the blades of grass all around us. These bugs use the sap of the grass to create a protective layer of clear bubbles that genuinely looks like spit. As we walked through the woods, I found myself constantly looking for mushrooms (I was a mushroom in a simulation earlier in the morning showing the relationships between living things, so my interest was piqued) so much so that it became sort of a joke. After minutes and minutes of not finding a single mushroom, we finally found one, and the excitement was tangible. I actually really enjoyed learning about the woods by asking questions of the group's guide that I had never thought to ask before. 

A fine mushroom specimen 

Near the end of our hike, we stopped at a natural spring to scoop the water with strainers and see what kind of wildlife we could find. Immediately we noticed a couple frogs just hanging out on some logs, not seeming to care about the group of students invading their privacy.

Frog on a log over a spring

My scoops didn't pick up much wildlife, but my friends immediately began scooping out salamanders and snails. I got a few salamanders which I picked up and put in my hands. These little guys were strong, wiggling about until they got to where they wanted to be. At one point, Mrs. McDaniel scooped up a jiggling mass of clear jelly with orange dots scattered throughout. This discovery baffled everyone until she showed the group's guide, who told us that they were frog eggs. Apparently they're incredibly fragile, so the eggs were carefully placed back in the water. 

A baby salamander laying on the boardwalk

Frog eggs 

After eating lunch and heading back to the school, we did a writing exercise based on using as many senses as possible to describe a relaxing place. This description will be used as a meditation guide later in the course, so it had to be pretty nice. I did my piece on a place in Moab again, a place near to the place used in the writing exercise on Day 1. My personal writing was based on a real experience that I found meditative. I look forward to using it as a meditation guide, but writing it was very meditative in itself. I liked reflecting on this moment in my life. This is what I wrote:

You stand at an angle as the steep fin* rises up before you and drops away behind you. You feel impressed, accomplished that you scaled the steep folds in the stone up out of the shade as the sun warms your nose. It’s a cool 50 degrees outside, but the sun warms everything up at this altitude, so the coldness isn’t noticeable. You observe the adjacent fins as they rise up next to you, all pointing the same direction, an eager herd of livestock. The area of the fin you stand on is only about four feet wide and very uneven, but you feel balanced, relaxed, at peace. The intoxicating smell of juniper berries and desert pines wafts up from below the fin where green plants flourish in the shade. The blue sky above contrasts beautifully with the smooth red and orange rock that dominates the land. You decide that you need to keep ascending, driven by overpowering curiosity.

You keep going, completely blocking out the drone of campers and picnickers far below where you started, enjoying themselves in their own way. You notice that the temperature of the sandstone beneath your hands increases as you climb, so much so that you feel it through your shoes. It isn’t unpleasant, just interesting. You reach your destination, the highest point of the fin. You continue to enjoy the view of the fins around you, noticing the blue, snow-capped La Salle peaks rising up nearby. The fins seem to point to the peaks, creating some sort of wonderful natural symmetry. The final ascent was tough, but you feel strong, happy that you’ve come so far. You’re sitting in the middle of your favorite place in the world, feeling a significant connection to the physical earth below you. You seem to notice this feeling no matter where you are in Moab, but in few places is the sensation this significant. It is the most peaceful place on Earth. As you sit here, there are no wars, no famine, no strife, only natural beauty and good vibes.

You focus back on the people far below, enjoying their lunches. You hear the young voices of your cousins as they play in the sand. They live nearby, so this type of place isn’t as special for them as it is for you. They’re down there, living their lives happily, and you’re up here, living your life happily. You have an urge to join them in the sand, but the ascent was steep, so the descent will be even more difficult. You start to feel a little anxious, nervous that you won’t be able to get down safely. You continue down the other side of the fin, a little more gradual than the side you climbed. Nervous feelings still dominate, overshadowing the peacefulness felt before, as this side of the fin leads far away from the picnic into the dense field of fins. You notice a sand embankment creeping high up the left side of the fin and stop, rooting your feet to the smooth stone. You carefully analyze the situation, and decide to jump down to the sand, a solid ten foot drop. Of course, the nervousness intensifies even further at the thought of dropping, but you overcome. You sail through the air for a second, wind in your face, landing with a soft poof at the top of the sand embankment. All the nervous feeling melt away into the sand, turning into happiness and pride, absorbing your new surroundings. Stumbling down the sand, you laugh, incredibly relieved but eager to do it again. It may have been frightening, but the overwhelming feeling of relief and accomplishment takes over past feelings. You hurry back to the picnic along the side of the fin, ready to enjoy the afternoon with your cousins.

*A fin is a slab of sandstone protruding from the ground, some with great vertical height and some with great horizontal width. They vary in size I guess. 

I chose to write my piece in second person because I thought it would be a unique challenge, but I didn't find it particularly challenging, just enjoyable. A good friend of mine, Cheyenne, joined the class today. It was cool having someone to hang out with, as none of my close friends were in the class previously. It'll be fun having someone to share the experiences this class will bring in the future. 

Devil's Garden, Moab, UT. from on top of a fin

To The Woods - Day 3 - May 28, 2015

For day 3 three of To The Woods, we traveled as a class to Cox Arboretum. Luckily, we had a bus this time, so we didn't have to walk all day in the hot sun. This trip took the entire day up to the last hour, so we had much time to explore the arboretum grounds. We started the day finishing up stuff from yesterday that hadn't been finished yet, and then going over the assignment for Cox Arboretum. For most of the time we could explore the arboretum, but at some point we had to take pictures of five trees, giving close-ups of their leaves and bark as well as a single wide shot from a distance. In addition, we had to take a picture of some sort of wildlife found in the arboretum. These are my tree pictures: 

 Ginkgo bark

Ginkgo leaves

Ginkgo tree (Matt for scale) 

 Hoopsii Colorado Blue Spruce bark

Hoopsii Colorado Blue Spruce leaves (needles?)

Hoopsii Colorado Blue Spruce tree

 Silver Linden bark

 Silver Linden leaves 

Silver Linden tree

 Cottonwood bark

 Cottonwood trees 

Cottonwood tree (left) 

 Red Maple (I think) bark 

 Red Maple (I think) leaves 

Red Maple (I think) tree

I had a really good time at Cox Arboretum (and we didn't do any writing workshops), so I think I'll just write about how my day progressed. When we arrived at the park, I immediately began to appreciate the sharp contrast between what I was seeing and the nearby suburban sprawl. The tall grass around the park entrance sign seemed more full and green than any other grass I had ever seen, so it captured my gaze for a long time. Stepping off the bus, I notice a group of geese waddling near a pond. Two parents leading their children along, all still wearing their down feathers on the outside. It was cool to see a group of very young beings experiencing the world, completely new to them. I can only imagine how they were interpreting what they were seeing. I walked towards the main area, nestled between two ponds and surrounded on one side by terraces covered in a wide variety of labeled plants. At first, when approaching the terraces, the smell of Spring plants is quite strong, but I got used to it quickly. I stood atop the Monet bridge, an arced bridge spanning a small stream connecting two ponds, and stared at the water for a while. The longer I stared, the more turtles I noticed floating near the surface, occasionally poking their heads above the water. I wonder if the turtles know they're in a closed-off pond, and if they even care. I'm not really an animal rights activist, but it felt weird realizing the turtles have spent their entire lives living in one small pond. 

A turtle 

I walked to the top of the aforementioned terrace, just wandering at this point, until I notice a pretty cool wooden tower poking out of the top of the treeline. I catch up to Matt, a friend of mine (see the Ginkgo tree) and assistant to the class, and agrees to head to the top of the tower. The tower was a pretty dominating structure, so, of course, most students headed for it first. Matt and I were the first to reach the tower, and quickly ascended to the top. 

Looking up from the base of the tower at the many flights of  beautifully crafted stairs

The tower was surprisingly high and offered a wonderful view of the surrounding areas. With good visibility, you would probably be able to see down the Miami River all the way to Downtown Dayton. Few heights I classify as dizzying, but looking straight down from the top at the brick sidewalk below made me dizzy. I enjoyed the quiet at the top, listening to the far-off rustle of leaves until the rest of the class showed up, bringing much noise with them. Sadly, they found the electrical outlets at the top more interesting than the awe-inspiring view. 

Panoramic view (about a quarter of the entire view) from the top of the tower

Descending the steps, we decided hiking the trails through the woods would be fun. Walking away from the tower towards the woods, we encountered a beautiful set of four or so absolutely massive cottonwood trees. I was amazed. I remember thinking that these four trees could have been the inspiration for the entire arboretum, they were so beautiful (see tree pictures). Matt and I soon found the path into the woods and hurried down towards a creek, swatting at bugs the whole way. We came to a bridge at the bottom of some wooden stairs and noticed another set of stairs ending in the creek. Of course, we decided to explore the creek, first by walking up it. The whole creek was covered in large rocks, some forming high shelves. The creek was very dry, allowing us to move easily rock to rock up and down the creek. We noticed the rocks had a huge number of fossils in them, from lanky pieces of coral to wide, curved shells. We occasionally came across small pools of water, almost always seeing large frogs dart away into them as we approached. Descending the creek back toward the wooden staircase, we passed under the bridge and continued on, not a chance we would go without seeing the bottom. 

Rocky creek bed just past the wooden staircase into the creek

As we descended further down the creek, the banks of the creek began to rise higher and higher. At their highest, I think they reached about 50 feet or so. This made me think of the part of the Lord of the Rings when the Fellowship is floating down the river Anduin out of Lothlorien at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring and the banks seemingly never stop rising. LOTR is my favorite book series, so any place that reminds me of a location in the book must be cool. We noticed that the fossils in the rocks increased in number as the creek went down the slope. When I was really young, I spent a lot of time collecting rocks with fossils like these, so this walk was pretty nostalgic. Eventually, the trees opened up to a wide prairie, on the other side of which sat I-75. This meant we were ridiculously far away from the park, so we quickly jogged back up the creek. I felt really tempted to climb the bank at its highest point, so that's exactly what I did. I love doing stuff like that. My feet could hardly grip the steep mound of loose dirt, so I grabbed onto the base of the occasional honeysuckle plant for stability. Reaching the top gave a great sense of accomplishment. Matt soon followed, and at the top was a crude walking trail which led back to the main area of the arboretum. Exploring an unfamiliar place like this is comparable to nothing. 

Now back at the main area, I grabbed my lunch and sat on a bench a little away from the others, hoping to listen to some music and enjoy the scenery. When I'm enjoying nature, there is a specific artist I really like listening to; Andy McKee. He uses a single acoustic guitar to develop complex rhythms by drumming, strumming, and picking. His songs are inspired by nature, one of them titled Ouray, a beautiful town in the San Juan mountains of Colorado in the shadow of Mount Sneffels, a monstrous, dominating hunk of rock with the name of a cat. Anyway, long story short, I sat and ate my lunch while listening to some good music and it was great. 

Mount Sneffels

My view from the lunch bench. What's cool about this is that all these baby trees will eventually grow up to be massive dogwoods like the ones mentioned earlier. That would be cool to see. 

Here are links for the two songs I listened to during lunch. Please listen, these songs are great, they are surely worth checking out (Drifting has a sweet video to go along with it):

Ouray - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98VcXcEDnc8 

Drifting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddn4MGaS3N4 

Following lunch was an outdoor yoga session with the same instructor, which was pretty cool. I'm not very interested in yoga, and I was pretty much incapable of doing most things correctly, but it was pretty relaxing. This has definitely been my favorite day of the class so far, and I look forward to more similar days. 

To The Woods - Day 2 - May 27, 2015

Today is the second day of To The Woods, so we are starting to settle in to the routine of things. We started the day with another reading, this time by Tom Brown Jr. He wrote about tracking something through the woods and having to bend down to the ground to get a closer look to keep the trail. He imagined that he was a tiny being, exploring the tall blades of grass and the soaring cliffs left by the bottom of someone's shoe. I found it interesting that he referred to the areas he observed as "miniature wildernesses." It was pretty thought provoking. Later, we did an entire activity based on this concept of the miniature wilderness, but I'll go into more detail on that later. After finishing introductory activities, we prepared to walk to a nearby park. This early morning walk was pleasant, as it had stormed the night before and everything smelled of rain and earth. After arriving at the park, we were introduced to Rob Boley, a local author and teacher who talked to us about creative writing.

Rob Boley assisting students with the prompts he gave 

He began his presentation by telling us that words are not bricks like most people think; they are malleable, easy to manipulate. He made this point by passing out random pages from a nature newsletter, instructing us to select a random three word phrase from anywhere in the newsletter with which we had to make a haiku using each of the three words as the start of a line. The three words I selected were "was deeply satisfying." If you don't know, a haiku is a three line poem. The top line has 5 syllables, the middle line 7, and the bottom line 5. This is my haiku:

Was the wind not strong? 

Deeply swaying the firm trees?

Satisfying Spring.

This haiku may not make much sense (due in part to the difficult prompt), but I think this is the beauty of the haiku poem structure. Being able to express an idea or story in so few words takes serious creativity (I'm lacking a little bit, but that's okay). The product doesn't even have to adhere to common grammar conventions. It's just a cluster of words with a very loose meaning. The next prompt Mr. Boley had us write about was similar to the first, but a little more difficult. Instead of randomly selecting a three word phrase, we had to randomly select an entire sentence. We were to use each word in the sentence as the beginning of a line of dialogue between two people. This is the sentence I had chosen: With the absence of livestock, red cedar reclaimed the gorge and the name Cedar Narrows became affixed to the farm as a genuinely descriptive term. This is the dialogue I came up with using each word as the start of a separate line: (verb tense was allowed to be changed)

"With Annie gone, I don't know how we'll get our milk."
"The poor cow; she worked so hard."
"Absence of milk through the winter could be bad; we may need a new cow."
"Of course, we could just get milk from the market."
"Livestock's milk is much more natural, a bit of the comfortable old world in the modern age."
"Red Barn Dairy makes some good milk, are you willing to try it?"
"Cedar Woods Dairy also does, but nothing compares to Annie's milk."
"Reclaiming Annie would be ideal, but we have to make a compromise."
"The idea of a new cow intrigues me, would it be any more expensive?"
"Gorging ourselves by buying another new cow seems frivolous and unneeded."
"And we could name her Annie 2!"
"The idea of a new cow is not realistic, we don't have the immediate funds, so please drop it."
"Naming new cows is fun though."
"Cedar Woods Dairy will do just fine; why don't you head into town and check the price?"
"Narrows Construction has the road into town blocked. I really don't want to confront them right now, especially after what happened in high school."
"Becoming confident enough to face your high school bullies is tough, but I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Affixed on the milk a little too much honey, consider my feelings."
"To err is human; please just go get the milk."
"The best thing to do is buy a new cow I swear."
"Farm animals are cool and helpful but we just can't afford one."
"As much as I love you honey, maybe we need some time apart. We cannot keep arguing like this."
"A divorce? You want a divorce? Over a stupid cow?"
"Genuinely I love you, but cows are my life. I have suspicions about you being Annie's killer, ripping her apart in the stables to make it look like a wolf attack."
"Descriptive, aren't you? Well you've found me out."
"Term-long term-separation is in order."

I found it fascinating that I could develop a story that had nothing to do with the original sentence whatsoever. The cool thing about writing dialogue like this is that, again, proper grammar didn't really matter. Think about how people talk; we often don't use proper sentence structure. Keeping this in mind, we could write sentences that worked well in a dialogue, but may have been grammatically incorrect. This was especially helpful when getting stuck on a word (such as 'affixed'-see above). This was the last portion of Mr. Boley's presentation, so we quickly prepared for the next activity. This activity is based off of the reading done at the beginning of the day about the idea of miniature wilderness. We were to mark off about a square foot of land to analyze using sticks or whatever. We started from a standing position, looking down at our patch of ground, taking notes on what we saw. We then knelt close to our patch of ground, once again taking notes on observations. Finally, we had to lay on our stomachs and observe the miniature wilderness as closely as possible for as long as we wanted, taking notes shortly after. Some things that stood out to me were ants that stood on the top of blades of grass, cleaning their heads, the dark areas between the blades of grass, the contrast in grass sizes, and the way some blades of grass quivered in the wind. This activity introduced me to a new aspect of nature, something I had never thought of before. It showed me what goes on in the places we walk over everyday, not sparing a second thought. It was nice to slow down and enjoy the small things (literally).

Setting up my small patch of land 

After the long, hot walk back to the school (and a quick lunch), we began another activity involving focusing on a small thing and recording details about it, this time with a Hershey's Kiss. We used all senses to analyze the kiss, recording observations as we went. After taking notes for each sense, we composed a poem using our notes, which we wrote on a paper Kiss. For some reason, I didn't find this activity as immersive as the miniature wilderness activity. I didn't feel like I focused in on the Kiss and learned new things about it like I did with my small patch of land. This activity was followed by our first yoga session with a guest instructor, which was surprisingly intense. Yoga really isn't my thing, but it was a pretty good way to relax after a busy day. 

A group picture taken at Delco Park 

To The Woods - Day 1 - May 26, 2015

Today was the first day of STEMmersion at the Dayton Regional STEM School, the start of the Into the Woods class. We began the day by discussing the quote that would drive this class for the next few weeks; "I went to the woods because I wish to live deliberately." - Henry David Thoreau. We analyzed the meaning of this quote along with a short passage about awareness; awareness of other people's lives, awareness of your personal surroundings, and awareness of the beauty of nature. This was done as a whole class along with a short discussion. Following this, the class spent some time getting to know each other by drawing their hands on a piece of paper, writing something about themselves in each finger, and sharing papers with other students. After meeting everyone, we began a team-building exercise in which two teams competed to cross the hallway the fastest. No one was allowed to touch the floor, so students had to work as teams to use four boards and get the whole team across. My team lost due to some bad decision making, but it was fun either way. 

Students trying the waddling tactic, shifting their weight to slide across the floor.

Soon after finishing the team-building exercise, we spent time setting up these blogs, which really wasn't all that exciting, but I feel like I need to mention it. We took a quick break and prepared for our guest speaker. Scott Geisel, an instructor at Wright State University, came in to give a presentation on nature writing. His presentation helped students to think critically about their experiences in nature and translate them into a meaningful writing piece using symbolism and metaphors. I personally found is presentation to be extremely helpful, and I plan to use the notes I took throughout the entirety of this course. At the end of the presentation, Mr. Geisel had students do a free-write about an experience they had in nature. I decided to write a paragraph about an experience I had in Moab, Utah (Klondike Bluffs - Tower Arch) using the techniques Mr. Geisel described in the presentation. This is what I wrote:

I can remember rolling up on the trailhead, quickly stopping and watching the dust settle around me. The dusty air had a distinct smell of dry, desert rock, something that can't be described, only experienced. Squeezing between the slickrock and feeling the sandstone grinding against my hand and hard against my shoes, I emerge under the main arch. I look up, seeing the two arch sections and the tower of sandstone looming intimidatingly behind them. The rough expanse of rock is interrupted by tufts of grass poking out of crevices. The remains of a collapsed arch sit crumbled adjacent to the main arch, comfortably nestled between stone walls, a fantastic display of the relief of stress. Thousands of years of erosion constantly boring a hole through a wall of rock, building stress, finally caused the wall to give way, reducing it to a neat pile of rubble, allowing new vegetation a place to grow in this otherwise barren place. Climbing up the folds of the smooth-looking but rough-to-the-touch sandstone reveals the area from a different perspective (see picture). The sandstone appears darker in some places, showing the path the water from a rare rainfall takes as it cascades over and defines the shape of the stone. - I hope to use this paragraph to gauge my improvement in nature-writing skills over the course of this course. 

The photo from which I drew inspiration for my free-write. 

Mr. Geisel conducting his presentation in front of the class. 

After thanking Mr. Geisel for teaching us nature writing skills, we took a break for lunch. After lunch, we set up in the gym for yoga. Unfortunately, the yoga instructor was a no-show, so we sat and developed a list of guidelines for the class. We collaborated as a group to develop a list including a time-out punishment strategy (so good, right? I love it) and other general rules. After cleaning the yoga mats, we began writing entries for our blogs, which I am still writing. So I guess I'm done for the day.