Introduction to Personal Essay

Throughout my life I have gone on numerous vacations. I have been to Florida, New York, and Washington D.C. I have been to Niagara Falls, Canada, Kentucky, and the Black Hills in South Dakota. I have been to a lot of places, but going to Arizona is my favorite vacation. I have been to Arizona three or four times I believe. I'm not sure because I think I may have gone when I was to young to remember. Anyways, my grandparents live in Arizona during the winter season to get away from the harsh Iowa winters. When my family goes to Arizona, we go during Christmas break because we usually stay for a week or so. My most recent visit to Arizona was this past Christmas. After high school, two of my best friends, Kyle and Blake, and I talked about going on a vacation somewhere for winter break. I mentioned Arizona because I knew we would have a place to stay with my grandparents (my Dad's parents). We didn't really talk about it for a while until I realized that our football team had a chance to play at the Insight Bowl there. It would work out perfect if that was the case; they would be able to enjoy our game and then we could have fun hanging out afterwards. As it turned out, we ended up playing in the Insight Bowl and I flew down to Arizona with the team. Blake and Kyle drove down with my parents, my brother and sister, and my other grandma. They all stayed at my grandparent's house until the game and then my family left and I stayed with my grandparents, Kyle, and Blake for another week! We had a great time enjoying ourselves; just relaxing and living what seemed to be a life in paradise. While we were there, we knew we wanted to climb some mountains. So, we looked into some of the most toured mountains and made our decision on which one to climb. From here, our adventure began.

Buffalo for the Broken Heart (p.3-68)

Questions:

1) Even with a few neighbors, do you think O'Brien is lonely living where he is or do you think he enjoys his time living by himself with the beautiful landscape surrounding him?

2) What do you think will happen to the thirteen buffalo calves O'Brien now has? Will they all survive or will some die? Will O'Brien become very close to them or will they become wild?



Right away this book captured my attention. As Dan O'Brien was driving he encountered a buffalo in the middle of the road. Instead of trying to get the buffalo to get up and move away, he watched it until it moved on its own. This little scene seems like the focus of this book. Buffalo are completely innocent and people should not bother them for they will cause no harm unless aggravated.

As for the rest of the book so far, I believe that it can be a good book, but it hasn't quite got there for me. I am interested in all of the parts where he is actuallly talking about the buffalo rather than his property adn how he came to be a rancher. there just seems to be some dull parts scattered throughout the reading. I'm sure there is reason behind these scenes. I know they are creating background information that many readers may like to know, but I don't really have as muchg interest in those topics as I do when he talks about the buffalo. Personally, I would like to learn more about how the buffalo live. And when O'Brien explains how buffalo once thrived and how they live today, it really captures my interest.

Now, looking ahead, I am expecting to learn more about the trhirteen buffalo calves O'Brien picked up. I hope the other readers and I see how the calves grow and how O'Brien cares for them. I would rather like to read about the present than the past in this book.

American Behavior "snapshot"

Americans view the world as if they have control over everything. They seem to stick our nose into anything that captures our attention. If something clear across the world hardly has any effect on them, they always barge right in and think it has to be fixed for their better well-being. On the other hand, Americans are caring people. They help poverty throughout the world and the resources and wealth they have usually go to good causes. Some may say Americans are lazy. This may be true in some cases, but in reality it goes to show how technologically advanced Americans have become. Without America, just imagine what our world would be like today.

The Making of a Marginal Farm

I really like Wendell Berry's writing in this piece. It was a relaxing tone and was an interesting, yet somber reading. There was no real affect it had on me, except that it made me feel good. The character in the writing was just living life as it was set before him. He never really wanted to be a farmer, but he turned into one. It was almost like it was his destiny. He loved nature and the Kentucky area, and his father was also a farmer. I think it would be cool to live in such a way. Today, I am striving to achiece an education for what I think I want to do. Berry's character didn't have to do any of that. He did go to school and stuff, but not to be a farmer. It's almost like life is cyclical. Where you started in life as a child is where you will eventually end up when elderly. Inbetween is when you explore and discover the world that you don't know.

Smokey the Bear Sutra

In all honesty, I did not really follow or understand this reading. It was hard for me to figure out what was being said and what I was supposed to get out of it. If I had to guess, I would say that Gary Snyder was saying what the world was like through his analogy of Smokey the Bear. He begins by how our world used to be and then talks about how people have influenced our land. When he's talking about the people, he is referring to Smokey the Bear in his writing. I did think his writing style was interesting, but difficult to follow. He jumped around a lot, and he also made certain things stand out by making a phrase in all capital letters. Personally, this was not one of my favorite readings. It seemed to far out there for me to comprehend very well.

Having Faith

I find this writing by Sandra Steingraber very interesting. It's hard for me to believe everything that she is saying. She says that breastfeeding is dangerous or harmful to infants and that they are at the top of the food chain. I do understand how she thinks infants are at the top of the food chain, but I grew up being taught that breastfeeding was good for infants. I'm not sure why, but I believe I was told that infants will be "stronger" if they drink breast milk. Steingraber talks about all the dioxins in breast milk and the dangers they have on infants. I believe this to a certain extent. I'm sure there are some cases where human breast milk can be dangerous, but I think that the majority of breast milk is healthy. I bet there are more healthy things about breast milk than bad things. Steingraber just didn't mention the good things that breast milk provides. If there are dioxins in breast milk, I'm sure the good things about it cancel the bad things out and therefore would be similar to formula milk.

Silent Spring

I believe that this piece of writing by Rachel Carson really shows how humans are such a big influence towards how the environment operates. Our technological advances are meant to help us and us only. We never take in to account what the consequences are for everything around us. It is evident that in Carson's writing that the birds were severely affected by us. The way that Carson wrote this piece made it even more recognizable. At first, she began talking about how beautiful the world is. She does this to make you feel like this will be an enlightening piece. Then, suddenly, while you are feeling good, she talks about all the negative things that our environment endures. This drastic change makes the reader feel like what is happening is even worse that it really is. I mean, I know it's bad, but it wouldn't be as bad if she hadn't started off by talking about all the beautiful things in the world. For the most part, I feel that Carson has brought up a good point. We, humans, are destroying the environment and all its organisms. We need to make the world a more friendly place for other species, rather than just killing them away.