"Most great stories of adventure, from The Hobbit to Seven Pillars of Wisdom, come furnished with a map. That's because every story of adventure is in part the story of a landscape, of the interrelationship between human beings (or Hobbits, as the case may be) and topography. Every adventure story is conceivable only with reference to the particular set of geographical features that in each case sets the course, literally, of the tale."-Michael Chabon

Monday, January 18, 2010

Tuesday 1/19: Lab Day


Photograph: Robert Smithson's landart/Earthart sculpture Spiral Jetty--which extends 1,500 feet into the Great Salt Lake. Has anyone been to the Great Salt Lake/seen Smithson's sculpture? How does the sculpture speak to you? How does it reflect/not reflect Terry Tempest Williams's writing?

Tuesday 1/19: Lab:

-Songs: Sara Adelman, Alexander Bales

-Blog for 10 minutes about Terry Tempest Williams--respond to one of the following questions:
1-On page 746, Terry Tempest Williams describes her family's relationship to the land--how would you describe the role of geography in your family? What role does the place(s) you're from play in your family's history?
2-On page 747, Terry Tempest Williams details the ritual of bird watching with her grandmother and how it shaped her understanding of the land. What rituals shape your experience of "place"? Hiking? Camping? Fishing? Gardening? Hunting? Farming? Describe those experiences in as much detail as possible and reflect on how they've changed your perception of environment.

-Thomas Yung reports to the class, discussion of the reading.

-Blog on photo you posted for homework. What does it represent about the place you're from? What does it not represent? How would you represent your home place. Write a 100-word description of what you might photograph to help someone understand where you're from. Share.



Photographs:
Artist Tyree Guyton represented and revitalized his dying Detroit neighborhood through his work at the Heidelberg Project. Questions to ponder: What's hopeful about his artwork? What's painful about it? How does it represent his perception of place?

http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2008/01/11/segments/91625
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ACFvgbX6_c&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6w6WGokjTU



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