Marshall McLuhan

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar – a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and, above all, a communications theorist. His work is considered one of the major cornerstones of the study of media theory. Born in Alberta, Canada, McLuhan attended the University of Manitoba for his undergraduate but was truly influenced in his graduate work at the University of Cambridge where he studied New Criticism which advocated a close reading and attention to the texts themselves, while rejecting criticism based on extra-textual sources, especially an author’s biography.

McLuhan’s interest with New Criticism led him to one of his major concepts, "the medium is the message." This concept, in short, states that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message. He proposes that media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study; he said that the medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. Therefore, McLuhan argued that regardless of what is on television, the effects on society would be identical. His other main concept was that of "the global village," which explains how the electric communications media restores Western civilization through different features expressed by oral cultures. The mass media is essential in disseminating these ideas and in achieving the major goal which is to build consensus through generating public understanding.

What would McLuhan have to say about today’s society which values technology perhaps more than any other age before it? What would McLuhan have to say about YouTube or blogs? It is a society which is truly globalizing, disseminating ideas and revolutions thoroughly throughout the world. As McLuhan said, the technological age brings about a reinstituting of man’s participation in society that the literary culture of the early west took away. Technology today is creating an ever-growing global village while the media we use more and more (the internet) is shaping society as its predecessors have done before it.

Here is a video essay I helped create which stems from McLuhan's "medium is the message" theory though it branches off into a broader sort of message:

Infomercials, QVC, & HSN: Do I Really Need That?

When suffering from bouts of late night (or early morning) insomnia, nothing puts me to sleep like the smiles and promises that flash across the television screen during an infomercial. Most of us have seen them--infomercials that offer amazing deals on things we all must have, and home shopping channels that we must call right away to ensure we get the item we need before it sells out. When we see that the seller is "throwing in free gifts," reducing the number of payments if we call within the next three minutes, and boasting high customer satisfaction through "unscripted" testimonials, it's hard not to fall for such attractive offers. Each of us starts to tell ourselves, "Yes, I really do need a steam cleaner," and "I've always wanted to make my own ice cream." And of course, we're always in luck because for a limited time only, the handy steam cleaner of your dreams only costs three easy payments of $39.99 and the easy-to-use ice cream maker comes with a free, revolutionary ice cream scooper.

Why are we lured so easily into buying things we just don't need, or even want? Has our culture become so rooted in materialism that we cannot make the distinction between wants and needs anymore? Bill McKibben in The Age of Missing Information says that, "On these channels—the shopping networks, the channels that devote half their day to the ‘infomercials’—you are more and more encouraged to buy simply because the very act of buying will make you feel good” (123). This is an insightful thought that not only makes me think about where human desire might stem from, but also about people's decision-making abilities in an economic sense.

One assumption in economics is that when consumers buy something, they make a logical decision based on perceived value and the belief that the benefit they will receive will be greater than the cost incurred to purchase the item. However, many times, consumers don't exactly know if the cost of buying an item will be less than the benefit they will receive from it. This is a topic discussed frequently in the field of behavioral economics. In this relatively new field, psychology and economics meet, leading economists to better understand some of the economic decisions people make everyday that are seem irrational.

Here are some links to interesting articles about the behavioral economics:

Why We Buy What We Buy

Behavioral Economics on Why We Buy What We Buy

And here is the video I made about infomercials, QVC, and HSN:

Interpreting the Natural World: Science vs. Religion

Christ Saint John of the Cross

Salvador Dali

Which side are you on? Even in today’s headlines, the historically caustic relationship between science and religion is evident. Yet are the two really so incompatible?

Some of the tension between these two belief systems is evident simply through their definitions. Science is defined as a state of knowing, religion, a state of belief (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989). Furthermore, with the break-neck pace of technology, science is creating possibilities that, while physically possible, are thought to be morally wrong. Some argue that this dichotomy is harmonious, that the two balance and complement each other.

McKibben supports this in his book, Age of Missing Information when he describes a lava flow that wipes out an entire village:
"I think anyone who has worked around the lava flow has a feeling that there is a power our there greater than ourselves, and that is greater than something we can quantify with our numbers and the data we collect. There is nothing about Pele that is incompatible with science… Science hasn't undermined the feeling that God is present in the natural world- if anything, it’s sharpened it, shown scientists ever more sharply the limits of human understanding, continually increased their respect for the harmony around us." (93)
This sentiment has been echoed by many prominent scientists, even though less than 10% of them believe in God (Eukland, 2007). Sir Bacon, Galileo, Kelvin, and Einstein all echoed the aforementioned quote. There are examples in the scientific and natural world that are awe-inspiring, that make one experience what Freud called an “oceanic feeling”, that something bigger is out there. One of the most intriguing of these examples is the Fibbonacci numbers and the golden ratio.

The Fibonacci numbers work by beginning with zero, then one, and each subsequent number is the sum of the two previous numbers in the following way: 1/1=1, 2/1=2, 3/2=1.5…, 5/3=1.6666…, 8/5=1.6, 13/8=1.625, 21/13=1.61538. As the sequence proceeds, it approaches Phi/the golden ratio (1.61803399). This seemingly arbitrary number is seen all throughout the natural, art, and architecture worlds. Some examples where the golden ratio is found are shells, pine cones, the breeding pattern of bees, the Vetruvian man, the Mona Lisa, Michahelangelo’s Holy Family, the Great Pyramid, and the Parthenon . Some say that DaVinci was the first to apply this golden ratio to the perfect face, and how it is seen in the faces of those society considers beautiful.

All these examples, however, are from the past. There are no examples of this ratio in most modern art. And as time has gone by, less and less people believe in God. McKibben points out a possible explanation for this phenomenon “only with distance from the natural, larger world that this recognition (worship) begins to dim; in ancient forests, he says, there are no atheists… the awareness of god’s presence is and ever has been the most persistent specific trait of our species (93). Is this true? Does modern society distance us from nature? From religion? And is this inclination to believe innate? A previously mentioned statistic stated that only 10% of scientists believed in God, but 66% consider them to be spiritual. This is an overwhelming trend, of people moving away from organized religion and towards spirituality. What does it mean, and where do religion and science fit into our society? Your life?

More things to consider:

· The Embers and the Stars a book by philosopher Dr. Erazim Kohak, about reflections obtained from building a cottage in the woods (parallels with Annie Dillard?). Dr. Kohak discusses nature and human’s role in creation.

· “How to Teach Science to the Pope”

The Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio

Are you a cyberpunk?

Recently, at the suggestion of a friend, I wandered over to a site called I Power - I am the revolution which gave me a new found respect for media sharing and social networking sites on the internet. This medium is based on three principles of being open minded, active thinking and putting your voice into vision. Currently there are 12, 015 members of IPower hailing from Australia to Latvia to Saudi Arabia and Malaysia all sharing videos, blogs and pictures about their daily lives, what they think of the world, happiness, globalization and humanity as whole. Featured groups that member can join and have forums about include "Questions for the opposite sex," "Is 9-11 still an inside job?," "The philosophers of the new renaissance" and most popular, "Net neutrality watchdog." The general themes I noticed were discussions of conspiracy theories, new philosphies that challenge our capitalist world economy, a general concern the use of technology to beat the system and unite on all front and that someone or something is trying to keep change from happening. All relevent themes in the Cyberpunk manifesto/movement. I speculate that cyberpunk ideals have spread without its followers even recognizing they are part of it.

Cyberpunk is a term crafted by Bruce Bethke and the title for his 1983 science fiction short story "Cyberpunk" about advanced science and informational technology coupled with a radical change in the social order. Bethke's story was followed by William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer where he coined the term "cyberspace" for the artificial digital realms of the Web:
" `Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathe- matical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Un- thinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding...' "

The term "cyberpunk" is the welding of the terms cybernetics, which is science studying control and communication, furthermore, the feedback loop that gives a controller information on the result of its actions and punk, which sprang from the youth movement of the 1970s based on counterculture and rebellion. The two combined merge technology and individualism, which often reveals usually dark ideas about the two in the near future. Themes in the genre include a negative ipact of technology on humanity, the fusion of man and machine, corporate control over society, stories that focus on the underground and ubiquitous access to informaiton. The genre has also been a huge part of cinema as well with such cyberpunk films including, A Clockwork Orange, Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys and Bicentennial Man.

William Gibson has credited Marge Piercy's 1976 novel Woman on the Edge of Time as the birthplace of cyberpunk and it is not a shock to see why. The book deals with two alternate worlds: a potential future one where the main character sees the social and environmental revolutions of her time fulfilled and there exists equality (though war remains), and a contemporary world where the elite homogenize and subdue the population with drugs and try to control society through technology. Piercy's critiques ring loud on what is the appropriate use and ethical limits of technology, what does it mean to be human and what does life mean, but where do these questions come from? How have any cyberpunk authors in any medium, via book, movie or blog formulated their passions around answering these questions?

Marge Piercy has had a pretty troubling early life that may have greatly shaped how she saw the world including the murder of her grandfather, contracting a case of the German measles when she almost died and life on the brink of poverty in Chicago after leaving her first husband. It is possible that life experiences shape the way you see injustice and pain around you, and for cyberpunks, the best way to cope may be to find ways to work within and against the system you are trying to fight. By this, the very use of technology (internet especially) can connect us all to fight a rebellion against a corrupted world order increasingly focused on consumerism and surveillance. Listen here to see how Marge Piercy herself critiques the Patriot Act by posting a reading of her poem on YouTube:



As the Manifesto reads "the soicety which surrounds us is clogged with conservancy pulling everything and everybody to itself, while it sinks slowly in the quicksands of time." Cyberpunks have a rebellious, negative outlook on the state of the world because, the state of the world is negative, rampant with chaos, uncertainty, inequality and injustice. What makes you get to this realization is what I theorize may be biographical and experiential but to the extent you utilize the internet to surf the chaos and cope with these burdens is the degree to which you are in the movement. Are you a cyberpunk?

Bucky Fuller

Who is Buckminster Fuller? I know I had never heard of him until a few days ago when I encountered a mention of him in McKibben's 1992 reflection The Age of Missing Information. While I initially questioned why such an important figure has remained virtually unknown within our society for so many years, I quickly realized that his lack of appearance is simply based on the subject he studied and the way he went about his discoveries.

In today’s society, a formal college education is a must, however "Bucky" decided that formal education only limited his creative ability and after being expelled twice from Harvard decided not to return to college. One may wonder how someone could ever be influential without receiving a college degree. The answer is creativity, something Bucky had and many others lacked or chose to ignore. After considering suicide, Bucky Fuller decided to reevaluate his life and realized that by killing himself his life would have been essentially worthless, and decided that he should take the greater good of humanity into his own hands in an attempt to better the chance of existence of the human race. His life would be a test and he would call himself Guinea Pig B. With confidence Bucky began searching for ways to solve the problems of the world, deciding that the greatest problem would one day be sustainability.

Throughout his career Bucky made various discoveries and inventions as he put his creative and devoted mindset to work. All of his designs focused on how to make and do more with less, the idea that he later named “ephemeralization.” Most notably was his idea of the geodesic dome: a self supporting structure that maximizes space while minimizing materials and cost.

This concept alone revolutionized the design of lightweight backpacking tents, some of which weigh only 10 lbs. yet can withstand 120 mph winds.

Along with his idea of ephemeralization, Fuller was devoted to his idea of "spaceship earth." This idea focused on our world floating alone in space, one large, boundless sphere.

Spaceship earth is a completely closed off environment with limited ability to regenerate natural resources, as our earth actually is. By viewing the world in such a way, Bucky was able to understand that man must use natural resources wisely and scarcely as they are not renewable. He also believed that there is no place for selfishness within spaceship earth and all men must work together for the common goal of survival. Although Bucky worked extremely hard for the progression of his inventions and idea, few people recognized his ideas as credible and viewed him as a crazy futurist with radical perceptions of the world.

Today Bucky’s ideas still linger, however the problems he recognized over fifty years ago still exist. Why is it that we have known of these problems for so long, given possible solutions to fix them, yet have not been able to rally society as a whole in an attempt to cure the issue of human sustainability? I wonder if we would still have the problems we have today had be implemented Bucky’s ideas into our society, or are the problems we face inevitable and incurable? While one will never know, maybe we can think more openly next time a monumental figure such as Bucky Fuller comes around.

In researching Fuller I was amazed by his quirkiness yet ability to think so freely against the norm and strive for unimaginable goals. While I admire him, I do not feel the same about Bill McKibben, who mentions Bucky in his work The Age of Missing Information. While McKibben agrees that mans problem is sustainability he seems to follow Bucky's contemporaries by viewing him as a “crank” with “victorious” yet unrealistic goals and ideas. Will our society ever reach a point where we can come together as a whole and fully accept a person’s ideas or has our individualistic nature been too deeply instilled to escape our own trap?

A video of Bucky Fuller describing his idea of the dymaxion car.

Richmond Riverside Safari

One of the best things about the City of Richmond is the James River Park System that offers over 500 acres of parkland laced with a variety of trails along the banks of the river.

On a crisp, clear fall day after hard rains had scoured some of the color from the trees but opened the view of the river, a hearty duo took a spectacular hike along some of these trails.


The "Richmond Riverside Safari" is a 7-mile loop hike that begins at Reedy Creek and continues upstream on the Buttermilk trail through Netherwood Quarry and then up along the bluffs overlooking the river. The geology of the James River is significant for a variety of reasons, but today, it was the sparkling view provided by our elevated position. We could see the Maymont mansion peeking out from the trees just before we crossed the river on the Nickel Bridge a.k.a. Boulevard Bridge from which we could see the Roman arches of the railroad bridge upstream.

Once on the other side of the river, the trail bears left and loops around under the bridge, ultimately passing along the back fence of Maymont Park from the Bear's Den to the Japanese Gardens.

About a mile further, the trail passes behind the biggest cemeteries in Richmond, The Mount Calvary/Riverview Cemetery and Hollywood Cemetery. Along the way, the trail was even dotted with the occasional scrapped tombstone, cooly conveying a reminder of our source and our mortality.

By the time we passed by the spring that gave the Buttermilk Trail its name, my blister was screaming - can you see my grimace? This spring was once surrounded by a wooden tub and farmers heading to the market at 17th St. would keep their buttermilk cool here. Less than a mile beyond this we arrived back at the starting point in the Reedy Creek parking lot. The entire loop takes about three hours to complete and there are more interesting sites along the way!

Annie Dillard

Despite her initial suspicion that her work would not be
taken seriously, Annie Dillard has become an author of
critical acclaim. Her first work, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize marking Annie Dillard
as a renowned author. Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
reads like a flow of consciousness, structured only by the
seasons; it mixes a varied amount of knowledge with
thought-provoking spiritual insight. After her near-death
experience due to the pneumonia, Dillard decided to truly
experience life. This decision led her to Pilgrim Creek where
she complied nearly 20 volumes of journals into a cleverly
crafted Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The transcendentalist thoughts
expressed through Pilgrim at Tinker Creek were highly influenced
by Dillard’s two favorite authors: Henry David Thoreau and
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Through her degree in English from
Hollins College, Dillard searched for meaning in writing allowing
herself to be molded by the writers she was reading. In addition
to this, Dillard’s writing was also influenced by her affluent
childhood, allowing her to indulge in post-materialist concerns
such as the environment and religious beliefs. Dillard’s religious
curiosity is also expressed through Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
Raised Presbyterian, Dillard rebelled against the fundamentalist
summer camps her parents forced upon her and searched for her
own enlightenment. She has been influenced by many religions,
such as Buddhism and Judaism, but now considers herself part of
the Catholic order. Dillard has continued to produce well-received works,
including an autobiography, An American Childhood, a book of poetry,
Tickets for a Prayer Wheel, and fiction, The Maytrees and many others.


Here is a video on Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, that I thought was very interesting.

burning beneath the town

Centralia, PA

When I read about Centralia in “A Walk in the Woods” by Bryson, I was astonished at how it was possible for a fire to be burning beneath the town since 1962. This sparkled my interest to do a research on the phenomenon and find more about the history of Centralia and where it all started from. In Colonial times civilization was making huge steps towards progress and discovering the benefits from mining.
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Colliery in the Centralia area from 1864.

Lehigh Valley Coal Company, Centralia Colliery, 1928

********************************************
Coal strip Mining in Centralia, 1963

Between 1856 and 1863, 5 anthracite coal mines opened in Centralia. Men working in the mines could earn money and provide for their families until the market crash of 1929 caused all 5 mines to close. Struggling to make both ends meet, some of the laid off miners became bootleggers – they would take out the pillars of the idle mines and as a result the roofs of the mines would collapse. This practice would make fighting the fire in the coal mines very difficult.






Later, in 1962 the Centralia Council decided to clean up the landfill so the city looks nice for Memorial Day. All holes in the pit were filled with combustible material but one – the one leading to the old coal mines. Since then fire has been burning and every attempt to extinguish turned out to be futile.

A video of the tragedy can be seen here:

The story of Centralia makes me ponder on the numerous ways such a tragedy could have been avoided. With more strict regulations the bootleg practice could have been restricted. With a moderate use of natural resources there wouldn’t be so many mines concentrated on such a small region. If the Centralia Council were more careful when making the decision to clean up the landfill and the filling of the holes in the pit were executed more precisely, then it’s possible that the tragedy would have been avoided. The few people still living in Centralia foster hopes for the fire to be extinguished, but there are no current plans for this to happen. These people have roots in the town, but these roots can burn out every moment – metaphorically and literary. I think that what makes it a huge tragedy is that the fire in the mine is a result of human error and negligence.

Author close-up: Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson’s 1998 travel memoir A Walk in the Woods achieved such popularity largely due to its comfortable, conversational style. The novel reads like a letter from an old friend, and works equally well read to oneself or aloud, perhaps around a campfire or elsewhere in nature. Equal parts encyclopedic fact and hysterical farce, A Walk in the Woods illuminates the lazy, artificial and consumer-driven modern American lifestyle, and the average man’s sore disconnect from nature: As Bryson puts it, the trail taught him to appreciate “low-level ecstasy – something we could all do with more of in our lives” (page 125).

Bryson’s hysterical, informative writing style is the result of years of experience. He wrote for The Times and The Independent while living in North Yorkshire, England for nearly 20 years. He is also a scholar of the English language itself, having written several books on the linguistics and usage of English and the language’s development throughout history.

In 1995, Bryson moved to Hanover, New Hampshire with his wife Cynthia and four children. It was from Hanover that Bryson spent a summer hiking the Appalachian Trail with childhood friend who appeared under the pseudonym Stephen Katz. This Katz is also featured in one of Bryson’s most recent works, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. This autobiographical memoir is Bryson’s wry account of just about the most all-American childhood you could get: growing up in the mid-century Midwest. Click here to watch the neat flash animation he created to promote the book.

Expect the same rapid pace and hilarious, informative and lively discourse in all of Bryson's works. I'm definitely going to check out that one, and "Mother Tongue", next.

Ramsey's Draft Virginia

Ramsey's Draft Wilderness Area is about 21 miles northwest of Staunton, VA and it is one of the more rugged hiking areas in the state. A "draft" or draught is a flowing source of water Ramsey's Draft is far more than a simple mountain creek. Over the years, the small valley through which it passes has been ravaged by hurricane caused floods such that old jeep trails and foot paths were wiped out or re-routed. The trail is rugged but beautiful and since it doesn't have trail markers, hikers must pay close attention.
According to the US Forest Service website:
Ramsey's Draft Wilderness encompasses 6,519 acres of the North River Ranger District. It was legislatively designated as Wilderness on October 30, 1984 under the Virginia Wilderness Act. Ramsey's Draft (draft and run are local names for creeks) is classified as rugged and steep with elevations from 2,200 feet to the top of Hardscrabble Knob at 4,282 feet. The area of Ramsey's Draft was included in a 38,399 acre tract purchased in 1913. About 1,794 acres in the headwaters of Ramsey's Draft and around Hardscrabble Knob have been managed essentially as wilderness since 1935. This area of Ramsey's Draft is considered one of the few virgin forests of its size in the East. A Civilian Conservation Corp Camp (CCC) was located just outside the present day wilderness boundary during the 1930's. CCC crews improved the road that crossed Ramsey's Draft, working on many fords, and constructed several of the trails in the area.

Ramsey's Draft has 30 miles of trails on the 6,518 acres and its Shenandoah Mountain trail starts at the historic Fort Johnson Confederate Breastworks and traverses the mountain with spectacular views of the valley. In the photo above, I am standing by an old chimney that was once part of the PATC Sexton Cabin which was dismantled and hauled out by draft horse when the area was given Wilderness status in 1984.

I have many wonderful stories about hikes and backpacking in this magical and challenging area, but that's for another post!

for more info:
Mid-Atlantic Hikes
North Ranger District

pre-semester retreat at Doyle's River Cabin

FRIDAY August 22

4:00pm: After a crazy hectic day of lugging heavy boxes of college-student-crap into our dorm rooms, getting accidentally locked out of Lakeview (I know I did at least a couple of times), nearly getting parking tickets in K-lot, and marveling over how beautiful is this new building we have the privilege of living in... we are finally ready to leave for our pre-semester retreat! Backpacks, sleeping bags and hiking boots ahoy, we take off in three cars.

5:30pm: We stop for the purposes of securing "provisions," namely, enough food to feed a dozen hungry college kids and one very hungry professor for five meals. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. In the parking lot of a Charlottesville "Giant", we split into teams of 2 or 3 and were handed a small piece of paper detailing our mission: one meal per team. My team of Jimmy, Elizabeth and I were in charge of Saturday lunch. A handbasketful of PB&J, apples, and bread later, we were all ready. Other meals included oatmeal, bananas and bagels as breakfast foods, ramen noodles, and this really amazing prosciutto/mozzarella roll thingy that we sliced up and munched on Friday night whilst making pita pizzas over an open fire. Camp food is great.

9:00pm: Campfire underway, pita pizzas as described above. Everyone was sitting around, laughing, talking, getting to know each other. We played a few games of cards and called it an early night. Due to a limited number of bunk beds, some people had to share- Elizabeth, Molly and Natalie decided that it was necessary for them to have an absolutely bug-free night, and so we helped shut them up in their "cage": mosquito netted boards completely sealing off their lower bunk from the "elements" outside. From what I hear, it was a very close night. (Anyone have pictures?)
We talked some more, all of us from our bunks, before going to bed; Carleton, from his bag under a tree outside, described hearing our laughter bubbling out of the cabin as the most beautiful sound ever. Which I think is pretty cool.

SATURDAY August 23

12:30pm: Woke up, breakfasted on some oatmeal and bananas, and set out on a hike for the day. Despite the drought, we came across some pretty waterfalls (again, anyone have pics?). There was some swimming, some head-soaking, and some waterfall-climbing. We met some people taking pictures of one of the falls, and in exchange for taking over the whole damn place with a bunch of laughing folks, we gave them some trail mix cookies (oatmeal, coconut, chocolate and cranberry...will post recipe soon!). We talked about Earth Abides while sitting around at that waterfall, too, which was definitely a cool experience. I think I would have liked CORE more, or all of my classes for that matter, if class discussions based on the readings were held on mossy rocks while listening to the gentle trickling of drought-drained waterfalls nearby.




5:00pm: After our epic hike ended, estimated about 8 miles, we trooped back to camp and got down to business: naptime. Everyone picked out a spot in the grass or the cabin and settled down to rest. Quiet time was nice, and everyone woke up at their own pace, talking quietly, playing cards again, and gathering some wood for the evening's campfire.

8:00pm: After a delicious dinner of ramen noodles and smoked sausage cooked over an open flame, we all sat around again and laughed and talked, this time even more comfortably than the night before. I think this retreat definitely made our hall closer than most of the floors in Lakeview. I can't imagine just getting to school the day before classes started and trying to get to know everyone amidst the chaos of classes, homework, clubs, and various weekend activities. At Doyle's River we were totally secluded, just the Earth Lodge, and we got to know each other very well right away as a result.

SUNDAY August 24:

9:00am: Woke up early and packed up camp. Time to get back to school! Classes start the next day. We head home, tired but happy, full of dried fruit and other camp delicacies, looking forward to a nice shower and to living around this cool group of people that make up our Lodge.

from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - chapter 4

"With a wingspread of up to six inches, the Polyphemus is one of the few huge American silk moths, much larger than, say, a giant or tiger swallowtail butterfly. The moth's enormous wings are velveted in a rich, warm brown, and edged in bands of blue and pink delicate as a watercolor wash. A startling 'eyespot,' immense, and deep blue melding to an almost translucent yellow, luxuriates in the center of each hind wing. The effect is one of a masculine splendor foreign to the butterflies, a fragility unfurled to strength." (61)

this is a Polyphemus moth

Note the two "staring eyes" on the underwings. These are known as "distraction patterns" and they are a common method of self-defense for moths. According to Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Forests:

"Often when a butterfly or moth is at rest, it will be cryptic, blending very well with its background, but many butterflies and moths "hedge their bets" against escaping predation by also employing distraction patterns in the event of discovery." (354-55)

from 0 to 2600 meters altitude

Hey! I just returned from Bulgaria after a 28-hour long trip...I didn't have time to post some really interesting pictures I took in the mountains while I was in Bulgaria, so I will do this now.


These are pictures from the highest mountain in Bulgaria, called Rila. I went there with my family for 2 days during the summer. The highest summit is Musala which is 2925 meters. The circus lakes attract many tourists from around the world. They are located from 2500 to 2600 meters altitude. Each of them was named on the shape it represented.














The Kidney Lake.





































This is the Kidney Lake.











The Eye.








This is a picture from one of the highest points we could get.
Most of the people who have reached it, place a small stone on something like a pyramid.






Some stubborn horses around the Eye Lake...
The guy was trying to make them move, which was a pretty funny scene to watch...hehe







A rainbow!!


















The Kidney.

Back to America!

Hello Everyone,

This is Jimmy. I know that we will all be together in a few days but I thought it would be better to write now than never. The reason I am writing about my summer so late is because I just returned home yesterday from 9 weeks in Europe. Words really can not describe how amazing my summer was and how much I experienced but I thought I would briefly describe the trip.

In the beginning of June I left for Munich, Germany. In Munich, I attended an international language school for German. I spent three weeks at the school and all lectures and lessons were in German. My teacher actually spoke no English! The first week of class was incredibly difficult as I had had almost no prior instruction in German and had not taken any classes at Richmond. However, as the time went on I was able to understand everything and actually speak the language.

After Munich I traveled to the north of Germany and stayed with a friend who was an exchange student in my town when I was a Sophomore in high school. From there another friend from home came to Europe and we departed for our "Euro Trip." We went to Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Ljubljana and Bled (in Slovenia), Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split (all in Croatia), Munich, Germany and then again back to our friends house. We also took a weekend trip with our friend to Berlin. Because we were traveling primarily to cities we did not have much of an opportunity to experience the outdoors and unfortunately missed out on the alps simply due to bad planning. However, we did get to see some really amazing places and meet a lot of interesting people.

Here are a few pictures of my new favorite places in the world! (also the cities/towns that had the most outdoors activities).


Dubrovnik, Croatia


Bled Lake, Slovenia


If I were to continue talking more about my trip I do not think that this post would end. So I will leave it at this and if anyone is interested in my trip feel free to ask me and I can tell you more about everywhere I went and also share more of my 300 plus pictures. See you all in about a week!

-Jimmy

Sweet Home Chicago

Hello all lovely people!

So I'm finally writing now that I'm back home from quite an exciting summer in Richmond and able to process it now! This summer I had an internship with the Virgina Organizing Project, a non-partisan grassroots organization working to get people more involved in their communities. Our task this summer was to go door-to-door canvassing, give workshops, go to festivals, etc. to get people registered to vote and talk about health care reform in Richmond, Petersburg, Colonial Heights and Fredericksburg. What we really focused on though was the registration of ex-felons because in Virginia your right to vote, serve on a jury, be a notary public or hold public office are taken away if you are incarcerated. VA and Kentucky are the only two states left in the country that do not restore these rights automatically after completion of a sentence, which is highly controversial as it displaces 377,000 people in the state, of which 208,000 are African-American. Here's a Washington Post article on the situation in VA. The application process to restore your rights is grueling (including tons of paperwork) but the work we did with the applicants was truly gratifying. To them, they served their time, want to put their past behind them and would just like to be considered an equal voice in society like you or I. It made me also realize how we often take these rights for granted- especially young adults about voting/civic engagement- so, mmm yeah. ANYWAYS this was my amazing crew at WRIR before we went on the air for an interview...












Other major highlights from the summer include volunteering at the Virginia Democratic Convention in Hampton Roads and getting the chance to announce candidates and others before their speeches: my favorites including Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Dick Cranwell and Brian Moran. It was actually really cool to meet Kaine because he was expediting the process for our applicants...saying anyone's app that was in before Aug. 1 would be able to vote in November! Woo! And now after that whirlwind of a summer I'm home having just gone to Lollapalooza in gorgeous Grant Park, Chicago. Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine and Kanye were the headliners and it was quite the way to welcome myself home! And next week I'm shipping off to New Orleans for a week of environmental justice work with the Back Porch Energy Initiative. I wrote a lot and shall stop...I really can't wait until we come together and hear everyone's stories! I know I've grown a lot this summer and look forward to see how everyone else reflects over their experiences.

GEARing up

Even though we will be staying in a cabin with bunks & matresses, each of you will need a few basic items for the trip - UR has a few sleeping bags and backpacks to borrow if you don't.
Contact Jason Titus at jtitus@richmond.edu for equipment availability.













GEAR LIST:
backpack or large day pack
*lightweight* sleeping bag
hiking boots or sturdy shoes (flip-flops = injury)
EARTH ABIDES text - be ready for discussion
water bottle for hydration
swimwear & light towel
change of clothes
sweater or light jacket
knit hat
flashlight
bug repellant
hat for shade
medications
plate or bowl, fork, spoon & cup
multi-tool or pocket knife
lighter or matches