Final Reflections

To begin our final class, I would like you to reflect on what you’ve learned in the last five weeks about yourself as writer. What insight have you gained into your own writing process? What’s been especially rewarding for you as a writer? What’s been especially challenging? What have you learned about doing research as a college student? What will you take away with you as continue on at DU or move into your next phase of life?

Update on your draft for "Mapping Denver"

Take a few minutes to reflect on your mapping project. Give us an overview to what you’ve done so far. Then tell us what you like most about this project. Conclude by letting us know what you think needs the most work.

City I live in

Last monday we went downtown, between Lincoln and Broadway. Many streets in many towns correlate to downtowns across the country. How is the grid-pattern of Denver City like your hometowns? or how does the layout remind you of home (ex. 1st St's across America, Speer Blvd alongside the river)? How has getting out of the class to roam the city of Denver been proactive to your activity in this city? Have you found yourself more interested in the local parks or the daytime bustle of 16th Street Mall?

As we continue to learn at DU, what is our responsibility to the city? Should i get more involved?... I dunno. Du has graciously included bus fares and other RTD transportation in our tuition, so are you taking full advantage of the free transportation around the city?

City I live in

Response to Lopez: Losing Our Sense of Place

Here is Lexie's post for Monday, July 7. Please respond to it before the end of the week.

“It is through the power of observation, the gifts of eye and ear, of tongue and nose and finger, that a place first rises up in our mind; afterward, it is memory that carries the place, that allows it to grow in depth and complexity.”

When reading this article I reflected upon my own ideas about geography. When I thought of particular places, what came to mind? How had I created that image originally? As someone who does a lot of reading, it was hard for me to say that reading hadn’t shaped this image at least partially. Could I really say that this image is inaccurate then? The quote above, struck me the most because when I began to really contemplate its meaning, I began to agree with Lopez more and more. First I thought about my parents home, the house and area in which I grew up. Obviously, after having lived there for the majority of my life, I observed and created a database of images and information. Now after having been away for almost 4 years, living on my own, there is a certain nostalgic connection with it. I have a particular memory of how the place should look, because that is how I remember it. However, I know that my parents are changing certain things; they are remodeling a bathroom for example. This section of the house in my mind looks the same as it always did, but I know if I were to return, I would be surprised by the change, and my image would be shattered. Memory is what makes this place special to me. If I had no memories connected to it I would most certainly not remember it. Do you agree with Lopez’s statement above? Why or why not? Do you agree that you can only understand a place if you have lived there?

Recalling your personal geography

Here is the writing exercise that we competed in class today (July 2):

Choose a spot that brings back a rush of sensory details—sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes. It doesn’t need to be an enormous natural wonder like the Grand Canyon. Try describing a private spot—a certain tree in your backyard, a basketball court, a relative’s dining room, the corner of a city lot, the interior of a closet, or a window seat that catches sunlight. As you think about the specifics of this place—its details and sensations—you’ll probably remember a dominant impression, a cluster of images, or a person connected to the place. These are all part of your internal landscape. Write a few short descriptive paragraphs with as many details as you can.

Read your response to your partner. As you listen to his/her description, identify the details that strike you as the most vivid. Find a phrase or an image or a detail that could be elaborated on. What questions do you have for the writer about it? What do you think this description says about the writer’s worldview? When you finish your discussion, post your description to our course blog.

Sex and Nature

Willa Cather felt a very deep connection to nature and felt most comfortable being outside, much like Alexandra in O Pioneers! She chose to have interviews outside and she thought that the air in places where the land was untouched by humans was better than any other air.

While doing some research for my paper, I came across a quote in an article by Melissa Ryan which discusses the image that Alexandra has of being carried away by an unidentified man. “The threat of this figure is linked to his emphatic heterosexuality (in contrast to the lesbian eroticism of Alexandra’s relation to the land). Indeed, he is the land bodied forth in masculine sexual aggression...” I agree that Alexandra has a clear, strong connection to the land, but I was shocked when I read this that it would be viewed as sexual at all, and especially as “lesbian eroticism.” I had been thinking that this fantasy she had was about being lonely and wanting for once in her life to be taken care of instead of always taking care of everyone else.

Sexuality and passion are barely visible in the novel. It is only with Emil and Marie that we see any at all. Ryan says that “Alexandra experiences this desire as traumatic.” What do you think is the connection between sexuality and nature? What do you think about the contrast between “masculine sexual aggression” and “lesbian eroticism” in Alexandra’s life? In Cather’s life?