For your blog this time, post a paragraph from the essay you have been drafting in response to one of the three topics we were working on last week. The topics were: 1) to discuss a natural place of value to you (and explain why it is significant); 2) to explain the meaning of Dillard's distinction between the naturally obvious and the artificial obvious and how it applies (or doesn't apply) to experiences of seeing that you have had; 3) or discuss how (or whether) K.C. Cole's thesis that "quantitative changes make huge qualitative differences" is apparent in the ordinary world that you encounter everyday. [This last option is taken from p. 137 of the textbook under "Writing" #1.]
To recap briefly, last week I asked you to start drafting an essay on one of these topics. In class on Thursday, you used two of the common methods of introduction that we reviewed to draft different introductory paragraphs for this essay. (This coming Tuesday we will look in more detail at thesis statements, so preview pages 48-51 in A Writer's Resource about them if you have time. Also, as you finish drafting your essay, look back at the first paragraph. Ask yourself which sentence is my thesis statement. Focus on fully articulating the thesis in the introductory paragraph.) Finally for this blog post I want you to put up your best paragraph from the essay that you are drafting. See you soon,
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"I hate it here, its too hot, there are bugs everywhere, and I'm starving!" Sight, a gift, artificially obvious, and yet hard too see. To look past the artificially obvious and try to get a feel of what we can't see, but still being able to appreciate nature, is the epitome of understanding and appreciating sight. As I lay awake, I see nothing. Darkness. I feel something crawling up my leg, and instantaneously, I kill it. Why is that I saw this insect as vile? Why do we associate insects with a negative, that we use bug spray? Some, such as Anne Dillard, would see this creature as a vital organism and a key to sustaining biodiversity. She would appreciate the significance of whats not seen and what we cant immediately identify with the naked eye, such as darkness. But I, I simply reacted. Why this way? Because of our accepted beliefs that insects are bad.
ReplyDeleteSight, or the ability to see the world around you, is a wonderful gift. from birth, most humans have the ability to see all shapes, sizes, and an array of colors in the world. From the largest mountains and the planets in the sky, to the pebbles and grains of sand on the ground, we are able to see it all through our eyes. Most things we see are obvious, and some are not. these are known as natural obvious and artificial obvious respectively, and being able to distinguish the two can open a whole new world of sight never noticed before.
ReplyDeleteThroughout history numbers have always played a big part on a lot of aspects of life. If we look back thousands of years ago when wars were more frequent, we will see that it was armies that were fighting each other. And the country with the most soldiers usually came out on top. And the countries with the most massive army were able to conquer many other countries that didn't have such an efficient. This concept exists till this day. Although there aren't as many wars going on, the nations with the highest number of money, supplies, people, land, resources and soldiers are viewed as the most dominant nation in the world. And if a country lacks these factors, the people aren't able to live the same lifestyle. For an example America is so much more different than a more rural area such as Africa. And one of the main reasons is that, unlike America, Africa is deprived of food, education, health and money. if the quantity of these thing increased, then the quality of their lifestyle will increase as well.
ReplyDeleteThe natural obvious is some concept or idea that is universally accepted by many people without thought or analysis. Everyone knows it to be true. No discussion is necessary. It is the everyday occurrence that most people just take for granted, without thought or further consideration. But, there are some that succeed in seeing beyond the natural that every average person obverses, to the artificial obvious that is veiled to most. Seeing the artificial obvious is seeing something that most people overlook, but when brought to their attention, they would accede as true. According to Annie Dillard in “Seeing”, only someone with a love for the object will be able to see the artificial obvious. If we don’t love something, then we will not pay attention to the details, and therefore, may not see the trees for the forest. We may see what we want to see or what we expect to see, not what is actually there.
ReplyDeleteSize plays an important role in our lives. Everything we see today like buildings, vehicles, accessories etc. all have to do with size. Buildings are not the size of doll houses, vehicles are not the size of mountains and rings are not the size of our heads. The size of these matters depends on the measurement of majority of the people. The same thing applies to our democratic government, economy and why things are the way they are; majority rules. The same concept is applied to how our world is shaped.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up as a child I spent almost every summer at a sleep away camp up in the Adirondacks. The green open fields and the blue Crystal Lake immediately caught my attention and made me feel like the camp was my second home. Throughout almost everyday the sky was cloudless and blue; at night the stars filled the vast black sky with a plethora of constellations. Raquette Lake was one of the most natural places that I have ever been to. To me it almost seemed fictional, like something you might dream of. To this day the image of the surroundings has not left my mind. I can see it every time I think of it. Seeing such sights as these often make me ponder about how there are thousands of places to be unseen by people that with a glimpse can change their lives.
ReplyDeleteHow many people cannot wait for the winter frost to leave and the summer sun to warm up the air? Who are the people that love the summer and all of the activities it has to offer? I am one of those people and one of the activities that I love the most is going to the beach. The beach has more to offer than the obvious surf and sun too. A person can play his favorite sport, go for a run, or just sit back and listen to the waves as they crash upon the shore. With any activity that is chosen, the beach is a wonderful place to go to.
ReplyDelete"After thousands of years we're still strangers to darkness" Anne Dillard says in her passage "Seeing". We are all sometimes blinded by what is right in front of us and take it for granted. Everyone views things differently in the world. Sometimes we do not realize what is right in front of us and don't take the time to appreciate it because it is what we are used to. We all view things differently in the world.
ReplyDeleteAs K.C. Cole once said, "Quantitative changes can make huge qualitative differences". This is most certainly true for size relays not only size itself, but also much more than that: it relates power, capability, potential, importance, and in fact it also creates a unit of comparison, a ratio, for things in our world. What would be if humans were tiny and ants were huge? Wouldn't that in turn change our perceptions of ants and their perceptions of humans? Wouldn't life then be totally different? If delved into deeply, one can see that size actually impacts our lives more than we know it, and significantly affects our perception of things in our ordinary world today.
ReplyDeleteWould you ever want to know where you came from? Where your ancestors once lived? How their daily lives went about? Every summer I get the opportunity to go back to the home of my ancestors in Greece. I go to a small island called Nisyros. This island may be small but it is filled with a lot of people and history. Spending my whole summer there I get to experience how life was fifty to one hundred years ago. Even listening to stories inspires me to learn more. From the way the people used to cook food, clean clothes, and walk from town to town. Not only do I learn about my family but I also learn about the geography of the island. To some learning about history can be interesting.
ReplyDeleteK.C. Cole declares that "quantitative changes can make huge qualitative differences." I find this idea to be true, as there are concrete examples of this in human nature. The age of a person affects how others talk to them, treat them, think about them, and even causes people to make stereotypes about them.
ReplyDelete-Scott Schneider
Nature is all around us, some people enjoy and appreciate it but others just overlook it and don't pay close attention to it. Ever since I came to New York, I always wanted to go to Central Park because there is just so much to see; the flowers,the trees, the lakes, the little animals are just amazing.Different people have different experiences with nature, in my case I always liked to be out there and appreciate all the different types of flora and fauna that are prsent out there. I like to observe how different can the world be, and how interesting it all is.
ReplyDelete*Gracia Giron
What do you observe in your life?Do you find naturally obvious or artificial obvious?Dillard said "nature is very much a now-you-see it,now-you-don't affair."Naturally obvious is to see something easily around us ,like trees.You don't need to think through the brain.But artificial obvious ia hard to see."Only specialists can find the most incredibly well-hidden things."However, when you are interested something ,you can find it what you expect to see with your love and knowledge.If you don't,you don't know what it is behind the trees.Everything depends on your interests.
ReplyDelete“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” the way people see a certain place or object can vary in different ways due to interpretations. As I grew up in the city live, I never realized what was beyond the brick buildings, bill broads, shopping malls and cars. When a group retreat was planned upstate in the woods, I was prone to have the worst in mind. Wild dangerous creatures, mud everywhere, darkness, poison ivy, were “obviously” correlated to the woods from what I have heard. As Annie Dillard specified there is more to just being obvious, there is a natural obvious and artificial obvious, which alters the way we perceive things. Therefore once at the woods, what seemed so “obvious” was refined in my eyes through its natural beauty.
ReplyDeleteThis is my third body paragraph.
ReplyDeleteMy view of nature is very similar to Annie Dillard, the author of "Seeing". We both believe in really observing nature and we both make sure not to take it for granted. Dillard says,"nature is very much a 'now-you-see-it, now-you-don't' affair". She gives us an example of this by saying, "A fish flashes, then dissolves in the water before my eyes like so much salt". I agree with Dillard and can relate to this during my bike rides through the Green Belt. If i am not fully aware I may miss a squirrel sprint across the path carrying a nut in it's mouth. In nature one has to be aware or they will miss out on the most beautiful yet simple things in nature. Like Dillard says, "these disappearances stun me into stillness and concentration".