Jackie Stallworth - Environmental Interaction

 I’ve never been one to enjoy being outdoors very often, especially on hot days with so many people talking at once. The times I do enjoy being outside in nature happen when it’s cool and quiet and usually by myself. So, when we had class on the Nolan trail, it was difficult to enjoy it. I was sweating, I was carrying my heavy backpack, and everyone was talking all around me. While I did enjoy talking to people from class that I hadn’t talked to or met before, I got off that trail as soon as I could. 

    I’ve lived in Virginia for my entire life, but I grew up in NOVA. While I have seen the various outdoor spots up there, it is very different than anything I’ve seen in the Newport News area. There is a trail by my house that runs parallel to a creek, and it’s where my family and so many other families in the area walk our dogs. However, I’ve always hated that trail because so much is flooded. In the heat, the trail has are swarms of gnats that fly into my nose and ears, and in the cold, the air by the trail is so dry that I get rashes all over my body.

    I went back to the Nolan trail with my parents when they came for family weekend. It was much cooler, and easier to enjoy, so we walked longer. The Nolan trail was much different from the trail by my house, it was comfortable to walk on (when I went the second time) and it was by actual water, not a rocky, shallow, creek. Although I grew up that way, currently, I’m not at all religious or spiritual in any way, so I don’t ever feel a “connection” with nature and it was no different this time around. I’ve never considered nature a place to connect or interact with a higher power, or a place of healing because that’s not what it has ever been in my personal experience. I will say, it was extremely peaceful. It was a beautiful day, and it felt nice to be out there, but that was about it. It was nice to take deep breaths of the clean, cool air and not have to worry about any pollution or annoying pests. Though, I’m guessing the latter depends on the time of year. It was nice to not have to worry about the time or look at my phone, and just enjoy my surroundings. And I say enjoy my surroundings because I couldn’t reach that level of connectedness with them. I think it’s completely possible to enjoy nature without needing to connect or have a conversation with it. Perhaps, if I had gone on another day by myself, in the complete silences of my thoughts, it might have been easier to feel something.

    Also, I would like to point out (and I may be overthinking it a bit) that I don’t think I would ever be able to fully lose myself, or experience this sort of dissociation that we’ve talked about previously in class, on a trail like this. My parents have always taught me to be super aware of my surroundings, especially because of age and gender. Being a young woman in a place that I’m not the most familiar with, especially if I’m by myself, I have to be hyperaware of everything, in case something bad were to happen because unfortunately, that’s the kind of world we live in.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lion's Bridge

 I really enjoyed being able to spend class outdoors. The classroom is a very cramped, overly formal, and monotone environment, where everything is grey and dull. This is in stark contrast to the outdoors, where vibrant colors, especially as we near the seasonal change, pop out and draw the eye. The water, and the sound of it lapping against the shore keeps us awake, and keeps us stimulated. When walking the trail I observed a lot, but something that particularly stuck out to me was the wild grapes that were pointed out at the start of our walk. The grapes were smaller and denser than store-bought grapes and had a much more sour and then bitter taste relative to the grapes we buy at the grocery store. They weren't bad, but they weren't tailor-made for our taste buds the way most products we buy in bulk are. They existed as they do in nature, and they really do indicate that nature was not made for us, but made to exist on its own. Nature will most likely outlast us and will con...
Read more

Kirstin Timmons: Reflection on phenomenology of prayer pp. 1-29

 I personally am non-religious. I was raised in a household where my parents are both  agnostic in their beliefs and my grandparents are religious. My mother’s side is catholic and my dad’s is christian. To me I never really understood prayer. Page one already states “Perhaps the most important answer is that prayer connects us to the divine, to something beyond ourselves and beyond immediate reality,” however I find this hard to relate to. Why would prayer be that one source? Many of those I know who are even a little religious find other ways to connect to the divine without praying. For example, many of my wiccan/pagan practicing friends find their connection through ancestral guides. They find this connection through meditation and tarot as opposed to prayer. I also find the idea of it being practiced in groups quite fascinating. Though I can understand why groups may pray for a similar reason like hoping for well-being after a detrimental event, or praying for the sa...
Read more