How to be an Explorer of the World Part 2

We have been reading different texts in relation to Ecocomposition in my Advanced Composition class this semester. At the beginning of the semester, my professor introduced the concept of ecocomposition to the class, but no one knew quite what it was. She’s had us read How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith. Not only are we reading through it, but we are working through and participating in explorations throughout the book. In part 1, I mentioned exploration 4 and 5 that brought me back to my childhood. Today we are flipping forward to exploration 40. As we went outside, I went straight to the sidewalk next to the street. I laid down on my back and looked up at the sky. I noticed that in standing, you have the ability to see shadows on the ground. But when you are on the ground looking up, you don’t see that shadows. You see the objects that cast the shadows. To see the world upside down and imagine a world without shadows is a weird thing. It makes your brain work harder to project the image in your mind. We have also begun reading Natural Discourse by Sidney L Dobrin and Christian R Weisser. The first three chapters have been all about clearly defining what exactly ecocomposition is. As we have been doing these explorations in class, it has been preparing us and changing our mindsets to see what ecocomposition is. As defined in Natural Discourse, "Ecocomposition is the study of the relationships between the environment and discourse" (pg 6.) Ecocomposition studies the connection between writing and the environment. As I was home from college this weekend, I noticed that my cats are like me laying on the sidewalk. They have to look up to see the things around them. But for humans, everything is made for our height and our accommodations. Everything around us focuses on us. Everything feeds our self-interested desires. But how much of that positively affecting us? What good is our technology, ability, skills, etc. if we only use it for ourselves? I am so excited to get started working with the people of Sanborn Lake. To use my abilities to help someone other than myself. We read an article in class about another group that helped out a public pond and how they went about doing that. I can’t wait to get out to the lake and work with new people. Not even just as a class project but being able to show them the same love that I have been shown.