By: Anonymous
One Hour in Nature:
The first thing I noticed while walking around Burke Lake Park was all of the fungi. One of the recurring species, a small gold kind that looked like fallen popcorn or small piles of treasure, routinely popped up on the trail, and it felt like I was on a strange treasure hunt where the prize was scattered along the way. After a while I stopped to sit by the lake, and focused first on the fish I could see…some small ones barely an inch long, and some slightly rounder fish as well. Some of the small fish started to exhibit a “flashing” behavior, and I recalled something I’d learned about in a lecture about parasite host manipulation, and wondered briefly if these individuals were infected (and now at the command of some free-loading roommates), or just doing that on their own. I started to look around a bit more after that, and was surprised to see only a couple of ducks on the water at the time, all the way across the lake. Their only company was a handful of kayakers, some of whom were fishing, while another small group appeared to be a teacher of some sort with a couple of students. I thought about that direct juxtaposition of simply taking from an environment versus learning from it, and then a splash to my left surprised me, and I wondered if it was a kayaker hidden by some trees, or some animals, which I was more interested in seeing. In peering through the plants obstructing my view of the splash, I started to see more bugs I hadn’t focused on as much earlier –a couple bees, a hornet, and a few dragonflies, all contributing to a rather noticeable buzz now that I was listening for it. I looked back out at the lake again, now hearing more bird calls and hoping to see some, and I saw a duck fly past the other couple still in the water from earlier. Soon after, a very small bird with a large head caught my attention, and I wished for the millionth time that I was better at bird identification.
One Hour Consuming Media:
I started my hour of media consumption on the Snapchat discover page, and immediately saw a video of a deer that ran over the edge of a waterfall (it survived and swam away just fine!). I went online and googled the video to learn a bit more, and ended up reading a small article on a site called “Whiskey Riff” to learn that the waterfall was 50 feet high and located in Michigan, at Tahquamenon Falls State Park. I then went to the Microsoft News page on my computer to scroll through the news articles and see if any caught my eye. I clicked on one from ABC News relaying that the school boards in Alachua county and Broward county would have their salaries held back by the state of Florida because the counties had implemented mask mandates for their schools. The article went on to mention the ongoing debate about Governor Ron DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic, as well as some of the other actions he has suggested he is considering. After reading that story, I went back to the Microsoft News Page and clicked on another article from Reuters.com about blue crabs and the impacts they’ve had as an invasive species in the Mediterranean. The article discussed the impact of this invasion as it particularly affects France, where blue crabs have little commercial value and actively destroy the market for other species in the same habitat, such as eels and mussels.
What I Learned:
Going into this assignment, I expected to feel tired after completing the media consumption portion and more energized after completing the nature portion. Additionally, after reading McKibben’s work, I expected to feel like I learned more in the natural setting than in the hour of media consumption, given how overwhelming the latter can be. I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of my initial assumptions were incorrect ㅡ the hour spent on different media sources was less difficult than I thought it would feel. I think knowing that I wanted to focus and find specific stories of interest to read during this assignment helped me engage with the media in a less overstimulating way than just scrolling mindlessly through endless social media posts, and that made this part of the assignment more enjoyable to me than I thought it would be. On the other hand, I fully expected to feel rejuvenated and reconnected during and after the hour spent out at Burke Lake Park, and I was pleased that this expectation was met. It was nice to be able to think about the organisms that I saw in a strictly observational way, without the immediate ability to look up things about them and get distracted from the beauty of the walk itself. Overall, I was glad that I was able to walk away from both parts of this assignment feeling like I gained something, whether it be feeling peaceful and grounded after my time outside or learning about events of significance.