As always I am up late wondering why I can never sleep so I thought I would write in the blog as I haven't done that yet this week. I am amazed at how much I reflect now on the environment around me since beginning this class this semester. I have paid a lot more attention to my surroundings and how close we truly are to nature. I live on the benches in the Millcreek area and so my backyard is pretty much a mountain. Just about every night through the last couple of months as I lay in bed, I can hear the crunching of leaves and snow as the deer come down and traipse about eating the foliage. They don't bother anything so they always fascinate me, especially when they're right outside my window (which happens to face the backyard). A lot of people call them a nuisance and are irritated at their presence. I can understand this if they hurt your yard or eat your garden but, for the most part, they don't and I think they're somewhat majestic in their own right. I'm going to segue now so go with me on this but I have also been thinking about the upcoming Oscars as I am a huge film buff. The big odds-on favorite for best picture this year is Avatar which is the story of an alien planet where the indigenous people live in harmony and commune with nature. Their relationship to their "earth" is almost symbiotic and they are distraught when the humans in the movie want to monopoliza/capatalize on the mineral riches which will destroy the land in the process and throw this symbiosis out of whack. I liked the movie though I thought it was VERY close to being Ferngully (my favorite childhood film) redone. I liked the message and the visuals are stunning. I liked the idea that we as a people should live in harmony with our own planet and protect the natural order of things. So you ask what does this have to do with the deer I see at night that I mentioned earlier? Well, it occurs to me that the deer, though sometimes bothersome, were here first and they are just doing what they need to do/have to do to survive. Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, knew what she was doing when she put the deer here so shouldn't we respect them just as the humans in the movie had to learn to respect the nature goddess? (I know I'm stretching the connectedness of my two ideas). I think we should. It would be a shame if future generations didn't have the opportunity to listen to the deer as they fell asleep at night.
One last note: I liked Avatar but I don't think it should or will win best picture on Sunday. I think the award will go to The Hurt Locker which was a very interesting film about the effects of war on soldiers. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it.
¡Finzamos!
The Official Blog for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Spanish 4362/Language 7313.
4 comments:
I just want to comment on some of the readings. I really like in the Leyendas de Guatemala how they describe lava as the earth's poisonous blood because they personificate the earth in everyway that they describe the earth. I also like it how the describe the volcano when it opens up as two eyelids that open.
I really like the imagery there and I also like how nature is depicted by the relationship that we have with it. For example the snow that we received yesterday in my eyes was awesome! I love the snow, taking my time when I travel, the whole deal. Others though don't like it one bit. It all depends on that relationship that we have with nature that defines WHAT it is.
Estoy de acuerdo con lo que dices que los animales estuvieron aqui antes. Yo también vi la pelicula Avatar y fue cheverisimo. No solo fue chevere el "visual imagery" pero el mensaje contra el gobierno de proteger el madeioambiente. Creo que ahora el gobierno se ha mejorado en respetar la tierra pero habian cienes de años donde no fue asi, que tristeza
No vi Avatar, pero vi Pocahontas, y creo que son la misma cosa sino en epocas diferentes. Oi que hay un soldado , y supuestamente dice que el 'Hurt Locker' se baso de su vida en el ejercito y esta demandando un monton de dinero de las cortes. sera interesante ver lo que viene de esto.
Watching Avatar could make our own earth seem quite dull but in fact we (like those in Avatar) have a certian bond with mother earth. I think when we see what is happening with polution, global warming, and deforestation we ourselves hurt. It mike not be as direct like in avatar but we do have feeling with the earth and care for it no matter how distant you are. I mean we even create laws that protect earth from ourselves.
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