#emilymoos

Process Notes:

I chose to rework the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as this is perhaps the most influential piece of legislation that details the relationship that man should have with the environment. The act is known for implementing an impact report, which prevents projects from causing a certain amount of harm to the environment. In my environmental classes, we learned that this is both the first and the most critical piece of federal environmental legislation, but it also sets a tone for how man should view himself in relationship to the environment. In reading the legislation, it becomes clear that the policy is meant to reinforce this idea that man is meant to conquer the environment. I was particularly inspired by Layli Long Soldier’s use of space and lines in her poems and so I tried to apply such techniques in my poem. Instead of completely rewriting the legislation, I chose to leave in the original text and write the poem around it. I thought it was especially important that the reader see what the text was meant to achieve and the poem is meant to represent the true intentions and results of the policy. I chose to bold the line “overall welfare and development of man” because that line highlights the intents of both the legislation and the poem. This relates to my final project as I am looking at the ways in which man has manipulated the environment, particularly water for his own benefit. Through reworking NEPA, I was able to better understand how the US views and uses the environment.

Process Notes:

I chose to rework the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as this is perhaps the most influential piece of legislation that details the relationship that man should have with the environment. The act is known for implementing an impact report, which prevents projects from causing a certain amount of harm to the environment. In my environmental classes, we learned that this is both the first and the most critical piece of federal environmental legislation, but it also sets a tone for how man should view himself in relationship to the environment. In reading the legislation, it becomes clear that the policy is meant to reinforce this idea that man is meant to conquer the environment. I was particularly inspired by Layli Long Soldier’s use of space and lines in her poems and so I tried to apply such techniques in my poem. Instead of completely rewriting the legislation, I chose to leave in the original text and write the poem around it. I thought it was especially important that the reader see what the text was meant to achieve and the poem is meant to represent the true intentions and results of the policy. I chose to bold the line “overall welfare and development of man” because that line highlights the intents of both the legislation and the poem. This relates to my final project as I am looking at the ways in which man has manipulated the environment, particularly water for his own benefit. Through reworking NEPA, I was able to better understand how the US views and uses the environment.

           I found Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas to a be a fascinating and unusual compilation of poems. I found it difficult to understand the cohesive narrative in Part I, but perhaps that was the point of that section. It seemed to be a collection of descriptions, each a little bit more jarring than the last. I really appreciated how she used space and the format of the poem to convey the feeling of the poem. In mixing up how the poems were displayed, she also used a number of different poetry writing styles. Through using mixed methods, she was able to achieve a narrative that constantly keeps you on your toes and having to reassess what each new poem means in the larger picture.

           Part II was the most powerful section of the text as Layli Long Soldier reclaimed Barack Obama’s Congressional Resolution of Apology to the Native Americans. Her choice of using whereas statements to tie the first narrative together was extremely interesting because whereas statements are intended to set up the problem before presenting the legislation. She is using some of her own life experiences and the trials of an indigenous person to set up how the US government has wronged her people. I found it really moving when she took the words from the resolution and redacted the negative ones, showing that choice placement of a few buzzwords was really what the resolution was about. In the resolutions section, she chose a few key words to highlight such as “boundaries” and “this land,” showing reclamation of the words that should be her own, but have been turned against her.

I.

 The branches of an unidentifiable willow-esque tree dip into the water.

 Shadows and reflections ripple across the pond, locked in the same dance of false perception.

 Together shadows and reflections represent visual representations of objects that deserve to be seen.

 And as the branches break the surface of the water, the reflection meets its maker and the two worlds have met through this path.

 II.

 The daffodils stand attentively by, observing the insignificance of the branches’ actions.

 The narcissus jonquilla have yet to bloom, but the wind tells tales of the pond’s secrets. Whispers fall as petals float down to the surface between worlds, cascading ripples around their entrance.

 But ripples come from below as the tiny fish blow bubbles to the surface, simultaneously sending their own message to the outside world.

 III.

 Far off, over the bridge, and across the grass sits the wild anas platyrhynchos minding his own business, checking the temperature, and waiting for crumbs.

 The duck dips into the water, exerting his own power over the above and below.

 And a cardinalis cardinalis flies into the tree with its branches dipped into the water touching the fish that blow bubbles to the surface that cause ripples in the water like the petals that float down from the trees above that the wind whispers to the stalks of the daffodils, listening attentively.

 IV.

 And the breeze blows so the surface of the pond reverberates disturbing the shadows and the reflections all the same.

 Everything in and around the pond is connected. And all the species know the shadows from the reflections from their friends.

 And the divide between the two worlds is really the conclusion of an outside observer looking in.

 Do not classify what you know. Understand the illusions are a part of the fabric. Look at the pond and all its inhabitants as one.

  Process Notes:

 For this week’s assignment, I was particularly inspired by Mei Mei Berssenbrugge’s poem “Glitter.” Although Berssenbrugge’s poem focused on sunlight and interconnected thoughts, the idea that everything is connected stuck with me. I decided to go to Botany Pond because my final project focuses on the manipulation of water. I observed several types of plant species, which I couldn’t identify, such as the tree, and a few that I could. Additionally, I kept my eyes open for potential birds and was fortunate enough to spot both a male duck and a red cardinal. In putting the poem together I tried to use the notions of shadow and reflection, which traditionally represent illusions of the real thing to depict a divide between life above and below the water. I first came at the poem from an outsider’s perspective, but after observing the water and watching the fish air bubbles come to the surface, I realized that everything is connected and shifted my focus in the fourth section of the poem. Berssenbrugge also incorporated human thought her piece and so I tried to depict my resounding as I realized what even appear as illusions are all a part of the pond’s ecosystem and balance.

In reading the texts for this week, it became clear that the ways in which humans classify nature and phenomenon around them are based on the perceptions of the senses. For instance, in Ruskin’s “Storm Cloud of the 19th Century,” he paints a picture of two very different clouds that create different moods when they fall over the city. He describes the “ceaseless action of the calamitous wind” and the visual depictions that accompany it such as the clouds growing to twice their size. In his description, the reader can feel the presence of the clouds above as if the reader was in the storm. It becomes clear that the human way of classifying information is through relating it to the senses and tying it to previously experienced feeling.

 A similar notion is presented in a much scientific form in Will Alexander’s “On Scorpion & Swallows.” Alexander describes the physical characteristics of the scorpion as it fits into scientific classification. Each description of the scorpion’s “five-segmented posterior” or its “seven-segmented preabdomen” fits into this notion that humans categorize based off of previous human experience. The scientific classifications are simply another way of understanding the natural world and our attempt to classify it is our way of defining species based on physical observations. Each of the poets creates their own way of cataloguing the world whether it’s through Berssenbrugge’s description of a wood violet that is tied to an emotional response or Spahr’s poem of how we come to understand the world.

Water Map: The Path of Water

Process Notes:

           The map I created represents the path from the Great Lakes region to the Atlantic Ocean. I cut out each of the Great Lakes and traced the rivers that would that would connect and lead them to the ocean. This relates to my final project as I aim to show that everything is connected, especially bodies of water. I want to look at the journey a fish might take after being displaced from its ecosystem. I chose the method of collage because I could integrate both accurate depiction and of the lakes as well as my own interpretation of the waterways connecting them together. I also included the legend to show the differentiation between freshwater and saltwater. I attempted to use the sense of taste to depict the difference between the two. I was particularly inspired by Denis Wood’s work in creating nontraditional maps. His work made me think about how everything is connected and geographical landmarks have different meanings to both people and animals. I tried to incorporate both human senses and uses of the waterways as well as the ways that the water and marine life might travel. The only thing that I couldn’t depict, but wanted to, was how rain would affect the system. Given that everything is connected, the water cycle could bring water from the ocean to the Great Lakes and vice versa. I couldn’t figure how to include rain for this map, but it is something that I will be thinking about for my final project.