Ethics and Ecology

Halloween Characters from "A River Runs through It"

2009-10-30T22:44:00.000-07:00

Where, Exactly, Does John William Want to Hit His Elk to Kill It?

2009-10-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

"Try to Set the World on Fire"

2009-10-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, each student in our class is required to start a fire without matches. I very much hope you will each also follow Francisco's lead and watch the film Quest for Fire. Regardless, I'll soon be assigning each group a particular method to use based on the successful experiences of others who have tried these experiments. Of course, some methods work much better than others. By the end of the semester, however, I may require each student to demonstrate his or her ability to start a fire without matches using one or more of the methods listed on The Art of Manliness Website.

Halloween Friday in Ethics and Ecology

2009-10-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

Please come to class this Friday dressed as a character from one of the stories in A River Runs through It and Other Stories. Costumes will be judged on the basis of originality and critical thinking in the category of participation. Students without a costume will receive a grade of zero.

Please also note that we are meeting in the classroom, not in the field, although I hope we can meet outside as well, time permitting. If you see and view this message before Friday, please spread the word to your group!

Announcement: Winter Elk Kill Field Trip

2009-10-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

Those of you who plan to participate in the winter elk kill field trip for extra credit will need to arrange a time to meet either before or after class next week. We have enough pledges to make the trip a reality. In fact, we already have a total of $600.00 from two contributors safely in the bank. (If for some reason you can no longer keep your pledge, please say so immediately!)

To receive full credit, participants must document their roles in this group experiment. We are in the process of currently making arrangements with the Coeur d'Alene Elk Company to buy an animal that I expect the participants to properly kill, field dress, help transport, butcher, and freeze in packages.

To move foreward, we now need (1) a volunteer marksman or markswoman (2) and at least two skinners to take charge of field dressing at the farm: no experience required. I'm currently searching the internet for videos suitable for classroom use. So far, I have located only one unsuitable two-part video, which I rate X for language: Field Dressing an Elk Part 1 Featuring Slamfire69 and Whyglock and Field Dressing an Elk Part 2 Featuring Slamfire69 and Whyglock. These are both relatively short, informative, and reliable (but full of cursing) and demonstrate two novice hunters doing a reasonably good job of caring for their kill in the field.

To learn a little more about elk, click on the photo above.

Best Fly: Wooly Bugger Assignment

2009-10-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

A trout fly can be a thing of beauty. Unlike a painting or a sculpture or most forms of art, however, we usually create trout flies to use precisely so that a trout can destroy them and sometimes so that we can eat and destroy the trout. Here above is an underutilized trout fly called a Red Wooly Bugger. Study it carefully (as you were earlier assigned to do before you tied a fly yourself). Pay attention to proportion. Notice, for instance, that the hackle on the fly descends in size from "large" to "small" from the eye of the hook to the tail of the fly. Notice that the tail of the fly is about equal to the length of the hook. Notice, too, that the tier factored in these details before she tied the fly. Compare this fly with the Wooly Bugger you tied and then tie another one and another one until you have created something Reverend Maclean would call "beautiful."

For a definition of "beauty" please read the following essay "Beautifying the World through Art" by Gary Witherspoon.

Using what you know about beauty and art, vote for the top four flies the students in our class tied for this ongoing assignment. Vote for your own fly, if you believe your fly is among the best. You get four votes.

You can safely bet that Witherspoon's essay along with fly tying and fly fishing and "A River Runs through It"will all figure into our final exam.

Here below are some questions for reflection and study:

1. What are the names of the flies Paul and Norman use in "A River Runs through It"?

Who tied the flies Norman and Paul use?
Who tied the flies the Rev Maclean uses?

2. How does the narrator in the story classify these flies?

3. What does the selection of their flies tell us about the characters of Norman and Paul?

4. What is the difference between a "dry fly" and a "wet fly"? Which kind of fly is the Wooly Bugger, a wet fly or a dry fly?

5. What kind of natural trout food might a Wooly Bugger look like to a trout, depending, of course, on the size and color of the fly and the particular stream and the size of the trout?

6. How might you "fish the fly" differently and tie the fly differently to imitate a particular food?

How might changing the color of the fly change the trout's perception? Can trout even "see" color? Can all human beings?
How might imparting movement to the fly while fishing it change the trout's perception of the fly as potential food?
Does size really matter? Does color? Do materials?
Why might a trout refuse to "take" a Wooly Bugger?
Do trout feed generally or selectively?
Do humans feed generally or selectively?
What, specifically, do trout eat that other fish do not eat?
Where in the stream would you first fish a Wooly Bugger and why?

7. What ethical questions does fly tying raise that are unique to fly fishing as opposed to mere "sport" fishing with, say, worms or salmon eggs?

8. How does subsistence fishing differ from fly fishing, if at all?

9. How does fly fishing differ from sport fishing with bait or metal, if at all?

10. How does "sport" fishing differ from commercial fishing, if at all?

I Hate Poetry Month Assignments

2009-10-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

As we move from mid-semester toward our final weeks, we'll be examining a few poems, including this one by Mary Oliver entitled "The Summer Day." (To view the poem, click on the link.)

Here below are some questions to think about after you have read the poem a couple of times and perhaps printed the poem out:

What connections might this poem have to the study of ecology?
Does the poem raise any ethical questions? If so, what are they? If not, why not?
What events, stories, ideas, and things do we commonly associate with swans, black bears, and grasshoppers? What might each animal symbolize?
If you were forced, on pain of death, to find connections between this poem and the literature of the Bible, to which parts of the Bible would you point and why?
How would you describe the subject of the poem?
How would you describe the tone of the poem?
Someone (Billy Collins?) has written above the poem, "Today's poem holds that the act of attention is a form of prayer." Do you agree? If not, why not? If so, why (and where is your evidence)?
Can you make any connection between the abrupt subject shift from the subject of the grasshopper in line 10 to the subject of prayer in line 11?
What, if anything, does being "blessed" have to do with being "idle"?
What do we generally mean by the word "attention"?
Why do you suppose the phrase "pay attention" has been used so often that it has now become a cliche? How do we literally "pay attention"? What do we pay? How do we pay?
How do you suppose the mavens and pundits of popular American culture would answer Oliver's question in line 16: "What else should I have done?" What has she done and why?
What, in fact, do you plan to do "with your one wild and precious life"?
Is "wild" the right word to describe your life? If not, why not? If so, why?
In Oliver's view of the world as you imagine it, could writing be a form of prayer?
What other activities do you imagine that Oliver might consider "prayer"?

After you've thought about these questions, post your answers them on your blog. Be sure to restate the question before you answer it.

Living with Wolves

2009-09-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Please check out this new website about wolves and mark it for future reference. I may quiz you on the contents sometime soon: http://livingwithwolves.org/

About these Photos: In the photo immediately above, wolf biologists Rick McIntyre and friends are watching the beginnings of an elk hunt, perhaps the first ever, by a newly-formed pack of young wolves from two older packs in Yellowstone. These youngsters came together into an open territory—the first time, according to the biologists, that such an event has occurred in Yellowstone since the U.S. government and the treaty tribes reintroduced wolves back in the day. On the far right in green is my friend, John Daniel, the author of a new book of essays (The Far Corner) who may come to visit us. He has his hands in his pockets and appears a bit bored because it's time for his walk, and I don't want to leave. I've been watching the wolves for over an hour. I've seen them running the elk to test the herd, and now I suspect they might try for a kill, and, of course, they do. What's more, they succeed, which makes me very happy. It makes the young pack happy, too. It's the week of Thanksgiving 2009, after all, about 4:00 p.m. and so I tell John to leave me and go for his walk and then watch the wolves romp and play and eat.

The photo at the top shows the scene the biologists were viewing through their very powerful scopes. These scientists study the Yellowstone wolves every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. What's more, they lend tourists like me their scopes so I can see what's going on over there across the valley more than a mile away. Even better: they talk in code to each other and explain what I'm seeing. That's part of their jobs, too—educating a woefully ignorant American public about wolves.

Extreme Fishing/ Primitive Fishing/ Handline Fishing

2009-09-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

I'm unsure why nobody in our class has yet taken up the challenge of hand line fishing, which is among the most primitive and universal methods of catching fish. Perhaps you are waiting for a demonstration. If so, just click on the last word of the last sentence and witness for yourself how easy this method is to use.

Lewiston and Clarkston offer plenty of fishing opportunities right in town. Of course, you need a license. Otherwise, I'd require you to go fishing with a hand line. So this is an optional and extra credit activity worth up to ten points of your final grade, depending on your approach and how much you are willing to learn in the process. You can fail to fish and still receive the ten points.

Over sixty species of fish live in the Snake River alone.

Handline fishing is also a survival technique, needless to say. So is catching a fish with your bare hands. You can watch Brian do it in less than sixty seconds by clicking the words in red. Of course, Brian's mother wanted him to release the fish, and he wanted to eat it.

I do require, however, that you create your own tool for hand line fishing. I guess I'll also continue to require people to bring those tools to class until everyone has successfully completed the assignment.

Please be prepared to discuss this topic in class and share your views on fishing.

Field Trip to the Traditional Sportsman inDowntown Lewiston

2009-09-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Name of Designer: James R. Hepworth
Date Submitted : 24 September
Field Trip Destination: The Traditional Sportsman 814 Main Street Lewiston, ID
Estimated Travel Time to and from Desination in Hours and Minutes:
Thirty minutes walking: RT 1.2 miles
Directions from Designated Starting Point at Lewis-Clark State College:
Walk any route you choose. Biking also permissible. No cars or car rides.
Subjects for Study: Ethics and Ecology

Artificial Flies State Regulations Fly Tying Materials
Fly Rods 2009 Wolf Hunting Seasons and Rules Bows
Fly Reels Nets Arrows
Tools Clothes Gear

Goals and Objectives:

To familiarize students with local resources for traditional hunting and fishing activities
To familiarize students with State Hunting and Fishing Regulations and laws
To introduce students to ethical and ecological considerations related to tools and equipment used for traditional fishing and hunting.

Strategies:

Students will each locate and retrieve their personal copy of the 2009 book of Idaho State General Rules and Regulations for Fishing
Students will each locate and retrieve their personal copy of the 2009 pamphlet of Idaho State General Rules and Regulations for Wolf Hunting
Students will meet the owner of the store who has volunteered to answer questions
Students will come prepared with questions about traditional methods of fishing or hunting.
Students will write reports and submit examinations to the instructor for evaluation.

Hook: A scavenger hunt and best fly contest

Procedures/ Activities:

Each student will prepare questions related to traditional fishing and archery hunting in advance of the field trip.
Each student will locate online instructions for tying a wooly bugger or an emerger and take the instructions with them to the store.
Once inside the store, each student will locate and retrieve a copy of the 2009 Idaho State General Regulations for Fishing and the 2009 Wolf Hunting Seasons and Rules.
Each student will familiarize herself or himself with the location of items in the store.
Each student will tie one black wooly bugger fly (or emerger) using free materials located inside the store and submit the fly to the owner of the store for judging.
Each student will write a summary of this field trip experience and post text and photos on his or her individual blog.
Each student will examine closely a few objects in the store related to fly fishing or bow hunting and research the origins of the materials and the methods used for their manufacture and use and then submit a written report to the instructor before the deadline. Students will post the same report on a blog.

Resource Materials (Books, Articles, Website Links)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSeelEfkFPk

http://www.jackgartside.com/step_two_simple_secret_flies.htm

Assessments:

In class examination over the 2009 rules and regulations for fishing and wolf hunting.
Best Fly Contest judged by Jim Hepworth, Mark Lamb, and LeRoy Hyatt.
Instructor graded reports using criteria listed on grade chart.

Deadlines: Students will have one week to take the field trip, write reports, post to blogs, and prepare for examinations (9:00 a.m. Friday 25 September 2009). Students have two weeks to complete research and write reports (9:00 a.m. Friday 2October 2009).

Environmental Art Project: Begin Planning Now

2009-09-13T11:57:00.001-07:00

Above: Goose Nesting Platform by Lynne Hulle

Environmental Art: Semester Project

Take a virtual field trip and survey the work of at least four or five contemporary environmental artists including the early work of Lynne Hull.
Design, execute, and install your own environmental art project.
Decide what you are going to do, where you are going to do it, why you are going to do it, how you are going to do it, and when you are going to do it.

If you work as a team, appoint a team leader and create a calendar with assigned tasks.
If you work alone, create a calendar and assign the tasks to yourself.
Keep in mind that for this particular assignment, your finished piece must be both aesthetically pleasing and fully functional.
In general, the materials you use to construct the piece must be environmentally friendly and bio-degradable. Stone, of course, might be an exception.
Choose an outdoor space: your backyard, Modie Park, an island in the Clearwater River.
Be sure you have permission to use the space, and get the permission in writing. I will privilege those projects that make use of the commons and public spaces.
Document every phase of the project, preferably on film but certainly in writing.

Perhaps needless to say, I will fail those projects that turn out to be anthropocentric, that is, human centered: for instance, a swimming pool for human use created by temporarily damming a creek would result in failure even if ducks used the pool as well. On the other hand, creating a nesting site for birds—a cat-proof birdhouse for native species—might qualify, and so might a cat-proof bird feeding station. A duck blind would not.

You must make a formal proposal and receive my personal permission on your written proposal before you begin.

Your purpose and your rationale are extremely important. To begin with, you might ask yourself, how will this piece of art benefit native plants or native species?

Extreme Fishing Assignment

2009-09-13T09:43:00.001-07:00

Use a conventional aluminum beer can, a wine cork (or clear plastic bobber), and enough used, recycled, or new line to create a primitive tool capable of catching a fish with a fly or lure.
Feel free to substitute any materials that will work for you. For example, if you prefer to use a simple spool in place of the beer can, please do.
Practice using your creation at home. In other words, prepare yourself to use the tool. If you like, practice on water.
Bring your completed creation to our next class meeting on Friday in the MLH. Be on time.

Extra Credit Assignment (Five Points)

Buy a fishing license for the appropriate state in which you intend to fish. (A one day license will do.)
Using only a fly or a lure you have created and your fishing tool, do your best to catch a fish of any species.
If possible, clean and eat the fish. If not, carefully release the fish. If you are unable to catch a fish, you may nevertheless record your experience and continue with the assignment.
Photograph the process and write about it. Post your edited photos and your best writing on your personal blog.

In writing about the experience, be sure to identify the most important ethical and ecological considerations inherent in the process.
Likewise, identify the species of fish, measure its size and weight, and report some facts about its species history. For example, is the species native or exotic?
If you fail to catch a fish, do your best critical thinking to discover why you failed.

Action Alert

2009-02-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

There are moments in a nation’s—and a planet’s—history when it may be necessary for some to break the law in order to bear witness to an evil, bring it to wider attention, and push for its correction. We think such a time has arrived, and we are writing to say that we hope some of you will join us in Washington D.C. on Monday March 2 in order to take part in a civil act of civil disobedience outside a coal-fired power plant near Capitol Hill.

We will be there to make several points:

#Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level—below 350 parts per million co2—lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.

# Even if climate change were not the urgent crisis that it is, we would still be burning our fossil fuels too fast, wasting too much energy and releasing too much poison into the air and water. We would still need to slow down, and to restore thrift to its old place as an economic virtue.

#Coal is filthy at its source. Much of the coal used in this country comes from West Virginia and Kentucky, where companies engage in “mountaintop removal” to get at the stuff; they leave behind a leveled wasteland, and impoverished human communities. No technology better exemplifies the out-of-control relationship between humans and the rest of creation.

#Coal smoke makes children sick. Asthma rates in urban areas near coal-fired power plants are high. Air pollution from burning coal is harmful to the health of grown-ups too, and to the health of everything that breathes, including forests.

The industry claim that there is something called “clean coal” is, put simply, a lie. But it’s a lie told with tens of millions of dollars, which we do not have. We have our bodies, and we are willing to use them to make our point. We don’t come to such a step lightly. We have written and testified and organized politically to make this point for many years, and while in recent months there has been real progress against new coal-fired power plants, the daily business of providing half our electricity from coal continues unabated. It’s time to make clear that we can’t safely run this planet on coal at all. So we feel the time has come to do more–we hear President Barack Obama’s call for a movement for change that continues past election day, and we hear Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s call for creative non-violence outside coal plants. As part of the international negotiations now underway on global warming, our nation will be asking China, India, and others to limit their use of coal in the future to help save the planet’s atmosphere. This is a hard thing to ask, because it’s their cheapest fuel. Part of our witness in March will be to say that we’re willing to make some sacrifices ourselves, even if it’s only a trip to the jail.

With any luck, this will be the largest such protest yet, large enough that it may provide a real spark. If you want to participate with us, you need to go through a short course of non-violence training. This will be, to the extent it depends on us, an entirely peaceful demonstration, carried out in a spirit of hope and not rancor. We will be there in our dress clothes, and ask the same of you. There will be young people, people from faith communities, people from the coal fields of Appalachia, and from the neighborhoods in Washington that get to breathe the smoke from the plant.

We will cross the legal boundary of the power plant, and we expect to be arrested. After that we have no certainty what will happen, but lawyers and such will be on hand. Our goal is not to shut the plant down for the day—it is but one of many, and anyway its operation for a day is not the point. The worldwide daily reliance on coal is the danger; this is one small step to raise awareness of that ruinous habit and hence help to break it.

Needless to say, we’re not handling the logistics of this day. All the credit goes to a variety of groups, especially the Energy Action Coalition (which is bringing thousands of young people to Washington that weekend), Greenpeace, the Ruckus Society, and the Rainforest Action Network. A website at that latter organization is serving as a temporary organizing hub: http://ran.org/getinvolved/powershiftandmasscivildisobedienceup dates/. If you go there, you will find a place to leave your name so that we’ll know you want to join us.

Thank you,

Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben

Polar Bear Alert

2009-01-23T18:15:00.000-08:00

Dear James,

Thank you for speaking out and urging Interior Secretary Salazar
to rescue the polar bear and stop its fast slide toward
extinction.

Your message will put the new Interior Department on notice that
the American people expect full-fledged endangered species
protection for the polar bear -- and a quick reversal of the
Bush Administration's "polluters-first" policies.

Now I'm asking you to take one more action if you haven't done
so already.

Please go to our "Tell Your Friends" page and forward my email
message to ten people you know -- right now.

http://www.polarbearsos.org/polar_bear_rescue_tellfriends

If your friends tell ten more friends, we can create unstoppable
momentum and reach our goal of mobilizing one million Americans
to speak out in favor of immediate polar bear protection.

Thank you for joining with me to save these magnificent Arctic
creatures before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
NRDC Senior Attorney

P.S. You can do even more by making an emergency donation to our
Polar Bear S.O.S campaign. Your gift will be put to work right
away to help generate a nationwide outcry -- one million voices
strong -- to save the polar bear from extinction.
http://www.polarbearsos.org/donate_rescue

To update your email address or other information, visit your
subscription management page at
http://www.nrdconline.org/nrdc/smp.tcl?nkey=8nwu6d6ahn&

Final Exam in Ethics and Ecology

2008-12-15T12:52:00.000-08:00

Those who elect to take the final exam may do so at our regularly scheduled time in the same classroom where we have met all semester:

Final Exam Date: Thursday 18 December 9:00 a.m.

I'll be there.

More Wolves

2008-12-09T18:35:00.000-08:00

Our classmate, Sharee, shot this wolf with her camera last Sunday near Winchester. Thanks to everyone who came. Here are some common statements about wolves you all might want to think about. These statements might also appear as true or false questions on your optional final exam.

Wolves are "viscious killing machines" that often kill without purpose.
Wolves devastate elk herds and leave hunters with fewer elk to kill.
Wolves are now devasting Idaho's domestic sheep population.
Wolves are now devastating Idaho's domestic cattle population.
Ranchers are not reimbursed for their losses to wolves.
Most livestock losses to wolves go undetected.
Wolves are very dangerous and commonly attack people.
Wolves are causing serious economic harm to local communities.
Wolves from Canada were used for reintroduction to central Idaho and Yellowstone and so they are not native to Idaho.

Please be sure to look here at our class blog for the complete (but optional) final exam. Coming soon!

John Daniel's "The Far Corner"

2008-12-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks to those of you who were able to attend our last class before the break to welcome our guest, author John Daniel, who blended into our class almost effortlessly. John has expressed his willingness to answer any follow-up questions on speaker phone. As the author of a forthcoming book of essays entitled The Far Corner, we might notice that's exactly where he chose to stand for this photograph—in the far corner. He killed a deer on our recent trip to Montana, a doe, his first. I also appreciate your coming to our last class prepared with your homemade books for him to sign.

Yellowstone Druids and Agates Get Together

2008-11-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

The photo above, shot from the pass between "Little America" and The Lamar Valley, shows the mountainside that John Daniel and I watched come alive with ten wolves—five Druids and five Aggates—and then run a heard of Elk out of the trees near the suspension bridge and make an unseen kill. I spent much of the afternoon here watching and listening while John went off on his own walks and adventures. I didn't want to leave. As it grew toward dark, the wolves became even more active. I'm not sure that anyone has ever witnessed and studied the formation of a pack from five members of two (and possibly three) different packs. But that, according to the scientists, was apparently what had been happening and was continuing to happen. Please be sure and let me know if you completed the reading of Gary Ferguson's book.

Biggest Fish Contest

2008-11-13T00:03:00.000-08:00

So far, Tanya Gonzales owns the family record for the year. Yesterday, she landed (without any help from husband) this 12.3 pound hatchery steelhead in Hell's Canyon. It was 34" long.

Although she has previously hooked several steelhead, until yesterday she had never landed one.

Thanks to Tim Johnson at FishHawk Guides for a great trip. I wish you would have been there.

Perhaps you can join us for a Visit to the Wolf Education & Research Center in Winchester?

Tanya and I will be going soon. Please let me know if you can come along.

Extra Credit Opportunity with Gary Fergusson

2008-11-12T23:42:00.000-08:00

So far, I haven't seen anyone from our class at Gary Ferguson's events. Too bad. Here's a photo of Gary taken yesterday in Hells Canyon. He's playing a wild steelhead that weighed just over eight pounds. His lecture on the Yellowstone Wolves tonight was absolutely stellar. I hope you'll read his book for extra credit. It's a quick read and dispels so many myths about wolves you'll never think the same way about them again. For instance, did you know that wolves are one of the only large predators—one of the only animals in the world—aside from humans—who adopt the offspring of others? That they run daycare schools during summer rendezvous? That wild dogs pose a greater threat to wildlife than wolves in Montana (3,500 wild dogs were shot last year in that state). Cougars take far more elk than wolves do in all western states. About 200,000 people come to Yellowstone each year just to see wolves and spend about $32,000,000 annually in the park and just outside it. Wolves will hunt only what their parents teach them to hunt. . . They hunt by 'prey-imaging,' which is why in Minnesota, for instance, the wolves never did hunt any of the carribou that the state imported in large numbers.

Mystery Guest to Visit Ethics and Ecology Class

2008-11-12T23:19:00.000-08:00

Please be sure to come to class on Thursday November 20 to meet "The Shadow," a mystery guest and the author of one of our assigned texts. (To visit his website, just click on the appropriate link above.) Like Gary Ferguson, this author qualifies as a "nature writer." The photo on the left I took at The Oregon Book Awards last Sunday evening where he was the master of ceremonies. Barry Lopez received The Charles Erskine Scott Wood Distinguished Writer Award. Other winners included Linda Zuckerman for A Taste for Rabbit (Young Adult Literature), Laura Kessler for Dancing with Rose (Sarah Winnemucca Award for Creative Nonfiction), and Penelope Scambly Schott for A Is For Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth (Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry).

Class Portraits: Who Are These People?

2008-11-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

L: Mo-nah-se-tah and Jim.

The woman on the left was MIA for the class Halloween Party; the woman on the right came as one of the gamblers.

This woman came as The River from "A River Runs through It."

This man spends a lot of time in class in "Time Out." He came as a logger straight out of all three stories.

The woman on the left here came as a Lady of the Evening in "Logging and Pimping and Your Pal, Jim"; the woman on the right wore a black Stetson.

L to R: Rev Maclean and Jim from "Logging and Pimping."

Important Links and News

2008-11-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

Trevor has made a move you might want to follow. Click on his name and then link the site to your blog.

And the Nominees Are. . . .

2008-11-04T05:45:00.001-08:00

As you can see from the image at left, although Reverend John Norman Maclean tends to favor some members of the congregation, he has come upon some difficulties in attempting to judge them, particularly regarding his charge last week on All Hallows Eve to single out one soul from all others. Everyone, he reports, who attended the church breakfast social in costume as a character from the assigned book will, he says, most likely receive a passing grade in the class. But what to do with those who came as "nothing"?

So here's the question as he asked me to put it before you to answer in writing:

Can you define "nothing"? If so, do. If not, continue to do nothing.
Using your definition of "nothing," describe the role that "nothing" plays in one or more of the stories in A River.
How, for instance, does "nothing" relate to Jim and the Rancher's wife and her bucket?
Using "nothing" as your theme, create a series of questions connecting nothing to at least fifteen characters and events in the three stories.
Be sure to frame at least some of your questions by connecting them to ethics and ecology.

Meanwhile, here are the nominees and the categories:

Best dressed major male character in a story.
Best dressed major female character in a story.
Best dressed minor female, character in a story.
Best dressed minor male, character in a story.
Most imaginative costume.
Most realistic costume.

Here below are some random images. I'm sure Trevor will want to make a website exclusively devoted to this contest. Maybe we can get the reverend's grandson, my colleague John Maclean, to judge the contest? John is the author of three books on fire: Fire on the Mountain, Fire and Ashes, and The Thirtymile Fire. Extra points for reading any one or more of the three. Jake? How about that?

Make-Up Work

2008-10-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

Those of you unable or unwilling to attend recent classes and absent from the oral examinations/discussions about "Logging and Pimping and Your Pal, Jim" last week may answer the questions about the story in writing and hand in a hardcopy of your answers on Thursday of this week but no later than Tuesday of next.

Please be sure to avoid plagiarism in answering all of the questions. If you use sources, please be sure to document your work by citing your sources even when you are merely summarizing or paraphrasing.

The penalty for plagiarism is failure for the assignment and perhaps for the course.

I look forward to seeing you all in class on Thursday. Remember to bring ideas for your environmental art project: individual ideas are always welcome but so are group ideas.

Trevor! Wherever you are, we're looking forward to those edited photos. Jake: Hang in there! We miss you, Chris and Mei!

Your Pal, Jim (aka Dr. Hepworth)

A Few Questions about "Logging and Pimping": Midterm Exam Part One

2008-10-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

Why does Jim first break the silence in the bunkhouse? What has he been doing?
Why and when does the narrator leave the bunkhouse?
Who is Eugene Debs and why might Jim think Debs “soft”?
What is a Black Watch shirt? What is the Black Watch?
What are White Logger boots and where are they made and what role do these boots play in the story?
What is a Carnagie Public Library? Who was Carnagie?
Who is Jack Dempsey?
What is an "Alphonse-Gaston" Act?
Is there anything special about Maclean's references to "Labour Day"? What is Labour Day? What about Sunday? Why is Sunday special—or is it?
Why does the narrator choose to leave the bunkhouse? What does “bunk” mean?
Is it right to pay the sharpener of the saws more than, say, the sawyers?
What does the word “gypo” mean and how does it relate to the world of 1928 Montana and the Anaconda Company?
Does Jim’s dress reflect his ethics? How? What about his speech? And the narrator’s dress and speech?
What, according to the narrator, is Jim’s personal ethos? In other words, what does Jim believe to be “the good life” and why?
Is Jim a socialist? Is the narrator?
What is a socialist? A capitalist? What is socialism? Capitalism?
What is Social Darwinism?
Both Jim and the narrator drink whiskey. Is drinking whiskey immoral? Illegal? Both?
Why do they drink?
Does Jim (or does the narrator or both) practice business ethics? If so, what are these ethics?
What does it mean to be Jim’s partner? What does the whore mean when she says the both she and the narrator are “partners of Jim”? What does the term “partner” connote today?
Can free citizens in the United States buy anything they can pay for?
What is paternalism? Regulation?
Is the only obligation of a business to earn a profit? What, if any, are the obligations of a business?
Define the term “fair business practices.” Caveat emptor.
What is the form of the story? From what traditions does it derive?
What code do Jim and the narrator share? How are they alike? Different?
What more can we add to our knowledge of the story in terms of its historical setting?
What major events in American history took place in the mid-1920s? How does such knowledge change the story—or does it?
What was the Scopes Trial?
What are Eugenics?
Women’s rights?
Civil rights?
What is Jim wearing when the narrator comes to “pay” him a “short visit”? What are the women wearing?
What do the clothes in the story tell us (sign us) about the story and its people?
What is the personal ethos of the narrator? In other words, what does the narrator truly and fundamentally believe and how do you know?
What is Christian Fundamentalism and from where did it come?

Photo of the Rev and Clara Maclean Family

2008-09-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

How old are the people in this photograph? And when was the photo taken? How do you know?

What was the occasion for the photograph? Who took it and where?

Where is the focal point of the photograph?

What happens when you look at the photograph? How do your eyes naturally move? Where to they go first, second, third, fourth?

Upon which, if any, of the four figures does your eye naturally come to rest and why?

What words would you use to describe each person in the photograph?

In terms of appearance?
In terms of body language?
In terms of facial expression?
In terms of character?

What does the photograph itself appear to say about this group of people as a group?

What is the special relationship between each individual and the other individuals in the group?

Are the people in the photograph standing, sitting, or both? What might they be thinking or can we even guess?

Where are they looking?

What does their appearance suggest about their economic status? Their social status? Their nationality? Their race and culture?

What other questions might we ask about this artifact?

Please

2008-09-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

Please remember to take a virtual field trip to the Caves of Lascaux!

News from The Atlantic: Student Writing Contest

2008-09-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

Categories: Poetry, fiction, and personal or journalistic essays

Prizes:

First: $1,000
Second $500
Third $250

And a one-year subscription to The Atlantic for the runners-up in each category.

Entrants must be full-time undergraduate or graduate students currently enrolled in an accredited degree-granting U.S. institution, or 2008 graduates of a four-year undergraduate program. Submissions should be original, unpublished work (they may have appeared in student periodicals) demonstrating superior quality of expression and craftsmanship.

Submissions should not exceed three poems or 7,500 words of prose. No entrant may send more than one submission per category, and entries must be postmarked by December 1, 2008.

Manuscripts should be typewritten (one side only, please), double-spaced, and accompanied by a cover sheet with the following information: title, category, word count, and author’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and academic institution. Of this information, only the title should appear on the manuscript itself.

Send Entries To:
Student Writing Contest
The Atlantic
600 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20037

Please include a stamped, self-addressed postcard for acknowlegement of receipt. We cannot provide information on the status of a manuscript until the winners are announced, in the May 2009 issue. The winners will be notified in March 2009.

"Casa" by Pablo Neruda

2008-09-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this is the house in which I lived
when neither I, nor earth, existed,
when everything was moon, or stone, or shadow,
with the still light unborn.
This stone could then have been
my house, my windows, or my eyes.
This granite rose recalls
something that lived in me, or I in it,
a cave, a universe of dreams inside the skull:
a cup or castle, boat or birth.
I touch the rock's tenacious thrust,
its bulwark pounded in the brine
and I know that flaws of mine subsisted here,
wrinkled substances that surfaced
from the depths into my soul,
and stone I was, stone shall be, and for this
caress this stone which has not died for me:it's what I was, and shall be—the tranquility
of struggle, stretched beyond the brink of time.

Translated by Nathaniel Tarn

Geology of Exotic Terrane

2008-09-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Think of the processes that form rocks. For instance, how might the soft mudstone we find on riverbanks be formed?

What are some of the processes that change the size, shape or chemical composition of the rocks we see around us?

Are rocks always found exactly where they are formed? Why or why not?

What are some of the processes that move rocks, and how far do you think they can be moved? What are some of the factors influencing how far a rock might be moved?

How are large sements of land, like continents, moved?

Think about the concept of exotic as something that comes from a different place than we find it today. Name some plants or animals that are exotic to where we find them today.

Think of fossils. Have you ever found a fossil? What was it, and where was it found? How do you think it got there?

In what sort of environments would you expect to find fossils?

What sort organisms, or parts of organisms, have the best chance of being fossilized?

What does stdying fossils reveal about the past?

The principle of uniformitarianism is important to the study of geology. This is the principle that the same geologic processes that occur today have not changed [have remained the same] in the course of time; such that we can study present day geologic processes in order to better understand ancient geologic processes. In common language this translates into "the present is the key to the past." Think of how geologists would use this principle to draw conclusions about ancient rocks.

What are some of the major concepts introduced in the program?

How does plate techtonics shape the landscape around us?

What major geologic processes create the Blue Mountains Island Arc? How?

What process moved it a long distance to merge with the North American continent?

What were some of the scientific clues that helped scientists understand the history of this exotic terrane?

What are some of the challenges particular to studying exotic terranes?

How does the principle of uniformatarianism apply to scientists' understanding of the Blue Mountains Island Arc?

In what ways are geologic forces still changing this terrane?

What do geologists mean when they say our planet is dynamic?

Paricia Nelson Limerick's "Not a Manifesto"

2008-09-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

The following document is just what it says it is and reprinted here for educational purposes only with the express permission of the author. Read and study it and compare it with Stegner's statement of personal beliefs. Be ready to discuss both of them in class along with your own statement.

What on Earth Is the New Western History?

(Not a Manifesto, but One Person’s Convictions)

New Western Historians define “the West” primarily as a place—the Trans-Mississippi region in the broadest terms, or the region west of the 100th meridian. The boundaries are fuzzy, because nearly all regional boundaries are.
New Western Historians do see a “process” at work in this region’s history, a process that has affected other parts of the nation as well as other parts of the planet. But they reject the old term for the process, “frontier.” When clearly and precisely defined, the term “frontier” is nationalistic and often racist (in essence, the area where white people get scarce); when cleared of its ethnocentrism, the term loses an exact definition.
To characterize the process that shapes the region, New Western Historians have available a variety of terms: invasion, conquest, colonization, exploitation, development, expansion of the world market. In the broadest picture, the process involves the convergence of diverse people—women as well as men, Indians, Europeans, Latin Americans, Asians, Afro-Americans—in the region, and their encounters with each other and with the natural environment.
New Western Historians reject the notion of a clear-cut “end to the frontier” in 1890, or any other year. The story of the region’s sometimes contested, sometimes cooperative relations among its diverse cast of characters, and the story of human efforts to “master” nature in the region, are both ongoing stories, with their continuity unnecessarily ruptured by attempts to divide the “old West” from the “New West.”
New Western Historians break free of the old model of “progress” and “improvement,” and face up to the possibility that some roads of “Western development led directly to failure and to injury. This reappraisal is not meant to make white Americans “look bad”; the intention is, on the contrary, simply to make it clear that in Western American history, heroism and villainy, virtue and vice, nobility and shoddiness appear in roughly the same proportions as they appear in any other subject of human history (and with the same relativity of definition and judgment). This is only disillusioning to those who have come to depend on illusions.
New Western Historians surrender the conventional, never-very-convincing claim of an omniscient, neutral objectivity. While making every effort to acknowledge and understand different points of view, New Western Historians admit that it is OK for scholars to care about their subjects, both in the pas t and the present, and to put that concern on record.

Patricia Nelson Limerick
August 17, 1989

Working Draft

2008-09-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

I suggest we use the following document as a "working draft" for our course until we can agree (as a class) how to modify and improve it based on our class discussions last week.

JRH

Humanities 350 Ethics and Ecology Syllabus Fall 08
TTH 9:0010:15 a.m.
Dr. James R. Hepworth, Professor, 309 Spalding Hall
Office Hours: MW 4:15-5:15 and TTh 10:30-11:30 & 1:30-2:30 and by Appointment
Email: hepworth@lcsc.edu Telephone: 792-2385

Pre-requisite: Junior standing. Satisfactory completion of the skills component of the General Education core.

Required Texts

Daniel, John. The Far Corner: Essays. (Unpublished manuscript.)
Ferguson, Gary. Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wolf to Yellowstone. (Any edition)
Keeler, Greg. Trash Fish: A Life. (Available in October.) San Francisco: Counterpoint, 2008.
Maclean, Norman. A River Runs through It and Other Stories. (Any edition.)

I will also assign the class to read additional essays, poems, articles, and various other texts that are required reading. Most of them are available on line through our class blog but some of them may not have been available at the time of this writing, including one of Maclean’s books below.

Suggested Reading (I’ll also make another, more comprehensive list available to you.)

Ingram, David Bruce and Jennifer A. Parks. The Complete Idiot’s Guide toUnderstanding Ethics. (Any edition.)

Maclean, Norman. The Norman Maclean Reader. (forthcoming in November). Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 2008). Forthcoming.

Maclean, Norman. Young Men and Fire. (Any edition.)

Course Description

Is water a basic human right for all people or is it a commodity to be bought and sold? How should water be controlled? And who should control it? Corporations? The federal government? State and local governments? Does more water exist on the surface of the earth or below the earth? What impact have science and human cultures and technologies had on the earth’s ground and surface water supplies? What impact should they have? Do animals have water rights? How about plants?

At first, these questions may appear tangential to one of our primary texts, the title story to Norman Maclean’s first book, but how can people fish if there are no fish to catch or if a very few people own the access to the rivers and restrict that access to a few?

In this particular class we’ll take a literary and cinematic approach to such questions. In other words, we’ll examine ethical reasoning in relationship to the environment and the impact of human culture and scientific thought on ecology by reading and discussing Maclean’s best-selling books; a selection of poems, essays, and scientific articles; and by viewing films. We’ll familiarize ourselves with some basic history of our “ecological crisis,” some important philosophical terms, and some key environmental buzzwords (“the commons,” “privatization,” etc.) We’ll also learn to define “environmental literature” and clarify and re-examine our personal and cultural values. If possible, we will also make fieldtrips and host surprise guest lectures by such luminaries as our state’s official archeologist, literary scholars, and perhaps a historian. Certainly, in concentrating on Maclean’s books, we’ll also learn some things about fly-fishing and fire-fighting.

Grading

Participation* 25%
Group/Team Work
Attendance
Individual Blogs
Individual Presentations
Attitude

Essays and Exams 75%
Graded Essays (25%)
Exams on Assigned Reading (25%)
Final Exam (25%)

*Participation
Scholars generally agree that the learner is the person most in charge of what gets learned inside and outside the classroom. I expect you to be an active learner. I will base your grade in this category on the following criteria:

• your general attitude toward the class: your willingness to volunteer, to express your own thoughts aloud and in writing, to permit others to speak, to assist others with their writing, and the effectiveness of your overall effort and academic maturity
• your willingness to go beyond what is required
• your ability to follow verbal instructions, to learn from your mistakes, and to improve your writing
• your ability to work independently and as a part of an assigned team
• your completion of reading assignments in the text and online
• your ability to meet deadlines with complete drafts for peer review (All papers, including drafts for peer review, become due at the beginning of the class period on the due date.)
• the scores and completion rate for all exercises and quizzes on MyComplab
• your ability to write honest and helpful peer reviews

With the exception of timed essays, all papers (even drafts written for formal peer reviews) must be typed and formatted in MLA style. I will treat the failure to turn in a complete typed draft (3-5 pages) for peer review by making a step reduction in the final grade (e.g B- to C+) for that paper. I will not accept papers improperly formatted.

Additional Policies

• If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment to talk with me. You will need to register with the Disability Services office (RCH 111) to verify any disabilities and to determine suitable academic accommodations.

• Our class is writing and computer intensive. It is not, however, a distance learning class. Nevertheless, our class requires you to do perhaps even a majority of your work at a computer with internet access. If you do not own a computer, the college SUB and library both have computer labs where you may use a computer.

• I call on students by name, and I do my best to memorize the names of students in all my classes early in the semester, usually within the first two weeks. If I call on you and you don’t know or can’t think of the answer to the question, just say, “I don’t know.” That’s the same answer I will probably give you under similar circumstances. In my experience, too many people are either unable or unwilling to say, “I don’t know.” If you knew everything, why would need a college class?

• I check my Email once a day. Some days I receive as many as thirty or forty Emails in addition to spam. If you must Email me, please limit your Email to three well-written sentences. The college requires that you Email me only from your college Email account. I probably will not respond to Email sent to me from personal Email accounts outside the college system.

• For updates on assignments, changes to the calendar and clarification on assignments, extra credit opportunities, and general class news, please check at least once a week.

Incompletes: I will grant you a grade of Incomplete at the end of the semester if (1) you have completed 80% of the work and (2) if you have a documented medical or family emergency that occurs in the last few weeks of class.

Plagiarism or any form of cheating will result in an automatic F for the semester. If you believe or know a student has committed an act of academic dishonesty, document the incident and notify the Judicial Affairs Officer in Reid Hall 11, phone 2211.

Extra Credit: Students who publish individual essays in our online class anthology (“mag-zine”) will receive extra credit. Submitting an essay for a full class review also results in extra credit. In general, however, I will announce extra-credit opportunities as we progress through the semester.

Tentative Calendar

2008-09-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

Until we have the final written reports from our groups, I suggest we follow this tentative calendar.

JRH

Week One.

T August 26: Class introductions. Lecture: “Getting Out of Bed in the Morning” or “Doing Things Right and Doing the Right Things.” Topics: impartiality, reason, self-awareness, norms, laws, labels, loaded language, circular reasoning. In-class group assignments. Homework: visit the class blog. Take a virtual field trip.

Th August 28 Questions due. Class Discussion. Virtual field trip to the class blog.

Week Two:

T 2 September: Read Stegner’s “Everything Potent Is Dangerous” and Patricia Nelson Limerick’s credo, “What on Earth Is the New Western History.” Create an individual list of 20 of your fundamental values and beliefs, i.e. your personal ethos.

Th 4 September:List of individual beliefs due. Group work. Share your lists and compose a team (group) list of common beliefs. Using the group list as a basis, create a group (environmental?) “manifesto” or “credo” and post it on a team blog created by one member of your team. Read Thoreau’s essay “Walking” and Stegner’s “Wilderness Letter.” Draft a persuasive “open” letter of your own of at least 500-750 words regarding an issue of importance to you on some aspect of ethics and ecology. Revise the letter and bring the revision to class prepared to read aloud from it. Readings will be limited to four or five minutes.

Week Three:

T 9 September: Letters and manifestos due. Selected student presentations. In-class film: Exotic Terrane and discussion of creation theory. Begin discussing Thoreau and Stegner.

Th 11 September: Readings from Genesis and David Quammen’s “Nasty Habits.” Lecture/Discussion on Thoreau and Stegner. Read Wendell Berry’s “Christianity and the Survival of Creation.” Create a list of ten or more reflective questions based on your reading of Berry’s essay.

Week Four

T 16 September: Questions due. Discussion of Berry, Thoreau, Stegner. Read Maclean’s story “Logging and Pimping” and his novella, “USFS 1919.”

Th 18 September: Discussion of Berry cont. Revisit the assigned essays and Maclean’s stories on your own in the light of our class discussions, and then choose a paragraph or two from one of them. Try to choose a paragraph that highlights some aspect of the essay or the story our discussion has neglected and study the paragraph carefully, reading it aloud for practice. Then write a set of reflective questions based on the paragraph to spark a discussion in our next class. Be prepared to make a four to five minute presentation: reading and discussion.

Week Five

T 23 September: Questions due. Brief student readings and discussions. In-class film (TBA)? Read eulogies and biographical essays on Norman Maclean as assigned and provided by instructor and also the sermon by Rev John N. Maclean.

Th 26 September: Film and discussion. Read biographical essays, talks, and speeches from Norman Maclean provided by instructor and as yet untitled. Begin reading “A River Runs through It.”

Week Six

T 30 September: Lecture: “Native Americans in Norman Maclean’s River. Part One: Salvalinus fontenalis.”

Th 2 October: Lecture: “Native Americans in Norman Maclean’s River. Part Two.”

Week Seven

T 7 October: Lecture and Discussion. History, Myth, and Place in Maclean’s Title Story: Eden, Missoula, Helena, Seeley Lake, Wolf Creek.

Th 9 October Lecture and Discussion cont. History, Myth, and Place in Maclean’s Title Story: The Sieben Ranch, The Montana Club, The Big Blackfoot River. . . . The Elkhorn.. . .

Week Eight

T 14 October: Entomology, species identification. Lecture: “’Picking Up God’s Rhythms: Fly-tying and Fly Casting.” Watch and take notes on Robert Redford’s Film, A River Runs through It.

Th 16 October: “Picking Up God’s Rhythms” cont. Reading, Storytelling, and Reading Water. Read the selected parables of Christ as assigned in class.

Week Nine

T 21 October: In-class writing assignment comparing and contrasting film and story. Discussion of parables, Presbyterianism, sin, grace, beauty and redemption in ARRTI.

Th 23 October Historical People in ARRTI: Paul Maclean, Jessie Burns Maclean, Bill Campbell, Jean Baucus and Henry Sieben, Mo-nah-se-tah, Custer. . . Begin reading Trash Fish by Greg Keeler. Visit www.troutball.com. Be prepared to read aloud and lead a brief discussion your “favorite chapter” from Trash Fish. Field trip to meet Keeler at the Montana Festival of the Book in Missoula on F & S.

Week Ten:

T 28 October: Introduction to Greg Keeler, Humor, and Ethics and Ecology in Trash Fish. Student readings and discusions of Trashfish. Continue reading Trash Fish.

Th 30 October: Keeler, Trash Fish, and Poetry. Read selected poems and essays by John Daniel as assigned in class.

Week Eleven:

T 4 November: Introduction to Nature Writing and John Daniel. Read Joyce Carol Oates (and others as assigned in class) “Against Nature.” Read Gary Ferguson’s Decade of the Wolf.

Th 6 November: Lecture/discussion of Daniel, Oates, and Others. Read William Stafford, Mary Oliver, Patty Ann Rogers, Pablo Neruda, and others as assigned.

Week Twelve:

10 Monday at 7:00 p.m.
Attend Gary Ferguson’s presentation on wolves at Lewiston High School

T 11 November: Individual Field Trips. Steelhead fishing with Gary Ferguson.

Wed Nov 12: 7:00 pm: Attend Ferguson presentation at P-Nee-Waus Gym in Lapwai, ID in conjunction with the Wolf Education & Research Center Audience: community members, students, members of the Nez Perce Tribe,

Th 13 November: Poetry, Ethics, and Ecology. Discussion of Ferguson and “nature” poems as environmental literature. Continue to read Ferguson.

7:00 PM: Ferguson presentation Janssen Engineering Building, Room 104, U of I Presentation Audience: Community members, students

Fri Nov 14
9:00 AM: Colfax High School (w/ Gar/Pal) Colfax High School Auditorium Audience: Community members, students

7:00 PM: “A Conversation with Gary Ferguson.” Neill Public Library(Pullman) Audience: Community members, students

Week Thirteen

T 18 November: In class writing assignment on wolves and Gary Ferguson’s Decade. Introduction to Fire Science and Maclean’s Young Men and Fire. Read Young Men and Fire.

Th 20 November: YMAF cont. Read The Norman Maclean Reader (if available).

Week Fourteen: Thanksgiving Break. No Classes.

Week Fifteen:

T 2 December: Field Trips TBA, Review of Young Men and Fire or The Norman Maclean Reader

Th 4 December: Field Trips TBA or Young Men and Fire or The Norman Maclean Reader

Week Sixteen: No Final Exam Week

T 9 December: Review for Final Exam

Th 11 December: Review for Final Exam

Week Seventeen

Final Exam

Gary Ferguson to Visit

2008-08-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

Gary Ferguson, author of Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone, will spend a week with us this November. We have a chance to read his book (free on check-out from Lewiston Public and Asotin County libraries but note that the college library does not participate) and to meet him in person, both in formal and informal settings. Here are the major events on his schedule:

Sunday, Nov 11
Private author reception at Dahmen Barn, Uniontown, WA. We can probably go to this but there will be drinking, librarians, food, and people married to librarians present along with Gary.

Mon Nov 10
Book signing at Klings in Lewiston.
7:00 p.m. Lewiston High School, Lewiston ID

Tues Nov 11
Fishing for Steelhead with Jim Hepworth and Tim Johnson. Our class will not meet this day in the classroom, and I probably won't be meeting with you at all.

Wed Nov 12
Daytime: Clarkston High School.
7:00 p.m. Presentation at P-Nee-Waus Gym in Lapwai, ID, in conjunction with the Wolf Education & Research Center.

Thurs Nov 13
9:20-11:00 a.m. Moscow Junior High School: Presentation: "The Writer's Life."
7:00 p.m. Janssen Engineering Building, Room 104, U of I. If you live in Moscow, you can probably arrange to go to this event rather coming to our class.

Fri Nov 14
9:00 a.m. Colfax High School Auditorium
7:00 p.m. "A Conversation with Gary Ferguson."

Welcome to Humanities 350-02

2008-08-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

I look forward to seeing each of you in a few short hours. (It's very late or very early depending on your point of view.) On the class blog next to this post you can see the names of some of the authors and titles we'll be reading this semester. Feel free to get started. The photo above was taken last Christmas by one of the students enrolled in this class. In it you can see from left to right my wife of twenty-six (or is it twenty-seven?) years, Tanya Gonzales; our son, Myrlin; our daughter, Cheyenne; and our daughter, Mariah. I'm the guy with the gray beard.

An Article on Our Vanishing Bees

2007-04-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

I hope you'll read this New York Times article on the most important insect to touch our lives.

Discussion Questions/Make Up Quiz

2007-04-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Instructions: If you missed the quiz last Monday, you may make it up by answering the following questions, posting your answers on your blog, and providing me with a hard copy of your answers. If you are looking for extra credit, you may also want to complete this assignment.

What is Wendell Berry’s stated purpose for writing? What, if anything, is he proposing and why?
What “catastrophic discrepancies between biblical instruction and. . . allegedly respectable Christian behavior” does Wendell Berry claim to see?”
What does Berry think about the usefulness of Christianity for dealing with our environmental crisis?
In Berry’s view, is Creation independent of the Creator? Is Berry’s view the prevailing view? Why or why not?
Which parts of Creation does Berry consider to be most holy and sacred? Is Berry's view the prevailing Christian view on this issue?
According to Berry, what allows Christians to ignore their own biblical instructions and contribute so heavily to the ruin of Creation? Give at least two reasons Berry cites that can explain why, in his opinion, the holiness of life is obscured to modern Christians.
How does Berry define a Christian church? Where is such a church to be located and how is it to be built and of what is it to be made?
According to Berry, who are the most significant people and what are the most significant religious events in the Bible and where do these events occur? Do you agree with him?
What does Berry mean when he says that the misuse of the Bible logically accompanies the abuse of nature?
What does Berry mean by the term “duality” and which dualities does he most disdain and why?
What does Berry have to say on the subjects of work and workmanship?
How does Berry’s reading (or interpretation) of Genesis and and the act of Creation generally compare to the most common reading?

Modifications to Term Paper

2007-04-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

After discussing matters with the majority of the class, I have agreed to modify the requirements for your term papers.

I will no longer require you to produce four documents: (1) a research (topic) proposal, (2) an annotated bibliography (3) a question and answer interview, and (4) a “final” paper that integrates the interview and your research into one seamless document.

Instead, you will produce only two well-written documents:

one research proposal that adheres to the criteria outlined in my March 5 post (and to the additional criteria listed below) and
one question and answer interview that adheres to the criteria below.

You must now, however, revise your proposal until it meets with my satisfaction. Your proposal must also

correctly employ several direct quotations from your sources within the text of the proposal

integrate into the text of your proposal two photographs appropriate to your subject

create a new blog for this project and post your revised proposal to this blog with hot links to your online sources

Please note, however, that you are still required to produce a question and answer interview. As part of this assignment, you need to produce a list of twenty questions related to your thesis. Please integrate photos into this assignment as well and post your completed interview on your blog.

Guidelines and Instructions for Oral Presentations

2007-04-05T01:09:00.001-07:00

The Assignment

Create and deliver to the class a five to seven minute presentation based on one current event related to ethics and ecology chosen from a week's reading and selecting.

Instructions

(1.) The week before your presentation, closely monitor the local, regional, and national news about the environment. Checking the online sources of your choice as well as hardcopies of daily newspapers, create a “top ten” list of stories that made local, regional, and national headlines. Be sure to include stories from all three categories. Then post this list on your blog and link each story on the list to its source.

What, in your opinion, was the most important (or the most interesting)“news” of the week?

Rank this story first on your list above the other nine.
Study it.
Print out a hardcopy.
If possible, post the entire story on your blog.

(2.) Plan, rehearse, and then present your favorite news story of the week to the class.
Follow the common sense guidelines you learned in public speaking:

Prepare thoroughly by rehearsing your entire presentation several times until you’re comfortable with your presentation.
Time yourself.
Retell most of the story in your own words.
Identify the ethical and environmental issues in the story.
Read aloud any direct quotes or short passages you want to emphasize.
What questions does the issue raise about public policy, law, civic virtues, or political philosophy?
What customary beliefs and values might be involved? To whom do they belong? What is the history of this issue?
What should we do? Why should we do it? And how should we do it?

(3) During the actual presentation in class be sure to

Speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard by everyone.
Make eye contact with the audience throughout the presentation.
Use appropriate facial expressions and hand gestures.
Make sure your rate of delivery is neither too fast nor too slow.
Practice using any necessary technology.
Open up the floor to questions at the end of your presentation.
Answer the questions.

Some Additional Advice

Check the calendar to see if anyone else is presenting that week. If so, you might want to work together to avoid duplicating efforts and stories.

Avoid trying to summarize all ten stories. You do not have time to summarize all ten stories. Instead, highlight a recurring theme in the other stories you read or tell us an anecdote based on one of the other stories. Direct us to your blog or your handout. . . .

Inject some humor into your presentation, especially if the subject is tragic.

If possible, find a way to illustrate your story with audio or video clips or a photograph

Sex in the Cornfield

2007-04-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you who missed Monday's talk (and even for those who attended but disbelieved), I'm posting a link to a Purdue University website that will guide you through the intracasies of corn reproduction. We can review this process again in class, but I hope you'll take a look.

On Wednesday I'll pass around a sign-up sheet. I'd like to meet with each of you individually to discuss your topic proposal and research paper. Please return grade check sheets on Wednesday as well.

Senior Project Presentations

2007-03-30T00:51:00.000-07:00

This year's Senior English Research Project presentations will be on Friday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. at the Center for Arts and History.

The following students are hoping to present: Rebecca Acree, Rebekah Johnson, Maria Lacey, Maria Resende, Savannah Shrum, and Cory Wilkinson.

If you have a senior project to do, you might want to attend just to get a feel for what will be expected of you when your time comes. . . .

Important Deadlines

2007-03-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

Topic proposals for research papers are due 26 March 2007 at the beginning of class. Be sure you have followed the guidelines for proposal writing listed below in the post for March 5.

Please print two copies and post a copy of your proposal on your blog.

The final draft of your research paper is due 30 April 2007.

Remember as well that you will need to have finished reading Young Men and Fire by the time we return to class after break. I'll give a quiz over the book that day.

One-on-One Interview Assignment: Part Two

2007-03-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

After you have finished posting and printing your edited Q & A interview, you may complete part two of the assignment by following these directions: “Write a personal narrative about the whole experience of conducting the interview. Be sure to characterize the interviewee, to describe where and how the interview took place, and to reflect on what you learned about your subject.” Also make sure that you employ plenty of direct quotations throughout this narrative and that you frame each of these direct quotations according to the instructions in Chapter 47 of The Scott Foresman Handbook.

Keep in mind that you are writing a profile of your subject, the kind of essay that would appear as a feature article in a magazine. Use only carefully selected direct quotations from your Q & A interview and remember to quote no more than four lines or forty words at a time and to frame each direct quotation. I will be awarding some points for using all the methods of framing direct quotations that we have discussed in class, including individual words and phrases as well as whole sentences.

This second part of the assignment should be easier for you than the first, especially if you concentrate on giving us background information about your subject rather than merely stringing together a collection of quotations. In addition to the descriptive profile of your interviewee, your essay should contain the narrative of your experience that has a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Your finished essay should run between five and seven typed and double-spaced pages formatted in MLA style.

Calendar: Research Paper

2007-03-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

Deadline for choosing a topic and defining the project: ____________________

Deadline for determining campus resources and conducting
background research . Source cards: _______________________

Deadline for drafting of proposal and sending out
copies for peer reviews _______________________

______________________ Topic proposal due

Conducting field research (includes at least one ______________________
interview and some photography)

Transcribing the interview into question and
answer format (Q & A) with photos or illustrations _______________________

_______________________ Courtesty copies of question and answer interview sent to subject, peer reviewers, and instructor

Final gathering and evaluating of other research materials ___________________

Summarizing and paraphrasing sources __________________

Organizing and designing the paper __________________

Drafting and printing the project __________________

______________________ First complete draft of paper due to instructor and peer reviewers and draft posted to blog

Getting and responding to feedback on the draft __________________

Refining/rewriting the project __________________

Documenting the project __________________

Preparing the final materials __________________

_______________________ Final draft of essay posted to blog and hardcopy sent to instructor with a self-addressed stamped envelope

Checklist for a One-on-One Interview

2007-03-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

(Modified from page 633 of The Scott Foresman Handbook .)

Write or telephone your subject for an appointment, and make it clear why you want the interview.

Confirm your meeting the day before, and be on time for your appointment.

Be prepared for the meeting. If possible, learn all you can about your subject’s professional background, education, work history, and publications.

Have a list of questions and possible follow-ups ready in your notebook.

Establish the basic facts: the Who? What? Where, When, How, and Why? Then, when appropriate, pose questions that require more than one-word answers.

Focus your queries on your research question: don’t wander from the subject.

Take careful notes, especially because you intend to quote your source. Feel free to direct your subject to help you insure accuracy. For instance, you may want to ask your subject to repeat an answer or parts of an answer while you write. You might need to ask the subject to spell certain words or phrases. . . .

Double-check your direct quotations and be sure your source is willing to be cited “on the record.”

Get your subject’s approval before turning on an audio or video recorder.

Promise to send your subject a copy of your completed project.

Send a thank-you note to anyone, especially an authority,who has been especially helpful.

Required Writing Assignment: Write a Research Proposal

2007-03-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

Prepare a proposal that outlines your project. Format your prospectus in MLA style for a five to seven page research paper. Treat the proposal itself as a research paper and be sure to include an annotated bibliography along with all the following elements.

Identification of a topic or topic area. Explain your topic area and provide reasons for selecting this subject. (Why do you care? Why should we care?)

A hypothesis, research question, or thesis. State your hypothesis or thesis question clearly. Discuss this controling idea in some detail and defend its significance, relevance, or appropriateness. (Make sure you are in control of the topic, that you clearly define it, and that the topic is narrow enough to thoroughly examine in 1250-1750 words.)

Background information and literature review. Identify the most important books, articles, and other materials you expect to read to gain background information on your subject and survey the major work already done in your research area. (Quote directly from these sources in your proposal.)

A review of research resources. Identify the types of materials you'll need for your project and determine their availability: books, articles, newspapers, documents, manuscriipts, recordings, videos, artworks, data basises, online sources, and so on. List these items and briefly comment on them in an anotated biliography.

Identify at least one person you will interview and set up the interview. (At least one interview is required. Be sure to identify the subject of your interview and to state your subject's credentials.)

A description of your research methodology. Outline the procedures you will follow in your research, and justify your choice of methodology.

A schedule or timeline. For more information about scheduling a project, see the forthcoming calendar to be posted on this blog. Include a plan (calendar) for carrying out your project with your proposal.

Grizzly Man Discussion and Study Questions

2007-02-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

1. How did Timothy Treadwell say that he saw himself in relationship to the bears with whom he spent 13 summers in Alaska?

2. Were the grizzlies Treadwell’s friends? What, if anything, do his names for the bears (like “Mr. Chocolate”) suggest about his attitude toward them?

3. What can we make of Treadwell’s celebrity status, his appearances on commercial television programs like “Letterman”?

4. Treadwell claims that grizzlies have been “misunderstood.” Have they? What do you know about the history of these bears?

5. Is there a place for grizzlies in the lower forty-eight states? Why might some groups think so and others not?

6. What attitude does Willy Fulton (the pilot) exhibit toward Treadwell?

7. What does the tolerance of the grizzlies for Treadwell’s presence among them say about them? Were they intimidated by him, do you think?

8. What was Treadwell’s view of nature? Did he see it as a utopian ideal or was he merely naïve?

9. What did Treadwell want? (Transcendence? A religious experience? Celebrity? Protection?) What was he seeking? What kept him coming back?

10. Was Treadwell an activist? An ecologist? An anthropologist? A preservationist?

11. Several of us laughed aloud during the viewing of the film? Recall what made us laugh and comment on those particular scenes? Was the filmmaker’s humor intentional?

12. What does the filmmaker want us to think about Treadwell and his experiences?

13. How does the filmmaker view the relationship between humans and nature? How about Treadwell?

14. How did the Native American Ph.D regard Treadwell and his experiences?

15. What should our attitude toward Timothy Treadwell and Amy be? Was their conduct with the bears “ethical”?

Weekly Writing Prompts

2007-02-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

If you have not already done so, please read Lynn White’s classic statement “Historical roots of our ecological crisis” (1967) in Science 155: 1203-1207. White blames the prevailing Judeo-Christian worldview for much of our on-going environmental crisis. Assess the merits and liabilities of White’s argument by responding to the series of prompts interspersed throughout the text (and reprinted below). Post the questions and your responses on your blog and bring your written responses to class on Monday 26 February. Please format your work in MLA style.

Prompt #1: What does White mean when he writes, “neither atavism nor prettification will cope with the ecological crisis of our time”? Briefly describe at least one current example of each approach (more, if you’re able).

Prompt # 2: White comments that “all significant science is Western in style and method, whatever the pigmentation or language of the scientists.” Speculate briefly about why this statement is true. In the course of your answer, give us a working definition of science and the scientific method.

Prompt #3: Comment on White’s assertion that, “Especially in its Western form, Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen.” What does this statement mean? What evidence does White offer in support of this claim? Do you agree with White’s analysis? Why or why not? Finally, list at least three characteristic attitudes of beliefs common to the Judeo-Christian worldview?

Prompt #4: White says that, "Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it that or not." Do you agree? If so, describe the kind of relligious remedy that will be requuired. If not, explain why White's proposed remedy is flawed or inadequate.

Prompt #5: If you could ask Lynn White one question, what would it be?

Question of the Week

2007-02-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

In “Four Changes” deep ecologist Gary Snyder cites the overpopulation of human beings as a potentially disastrous planetary problem “not only for the human race but for most other life forms.” He argues that having more than two biological children is socially irresponsible, and he advocates adopting children for the purpose of distributing “the pleasure of raising children widely so that all [people] need not directly reproduce to share in this basic human experience.” He also advocates removing “income tax deductions for more than two children” and a tax scale that forces “lower income families” to be “careful, too.”

To what extent do you agree or disagree with Snyder’s approach to the population problem? How many children, if any, should contemporary people have and why?

Answer these questions in a short (300-500 word) response paper in which you quote Snyder and present your own reasoned and logical solution to the problem of overpopulation.

Post your response on your blog and leave it there until I ask you to delete it. Be sure to write for a professional and academic audience.

The photo above shows environmental writer John Daniel standing next to Snyder's publisher, Jack Shoemaker, at the 2005 Summer Fishtrap Gathering in Joseph, Oregon.

Where Do You Stand on Global Warming?

2007-02-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

Now that we've seen the film version of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, I'd like to read any thoughts you have about the subject. More than anything, I'd like to know, "Did the film convince you to believe in the theory of global warming?"

If so, what most impressed you about the film? What evidence did you find most convincing and why?

If you don't believe in global warming, why don't you believe? What would it take to convince you and why?

Please give me a short response within the week.

The Ten Most Common Misconceptions About Global Warming

2007-02-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

Excerpted from An Inconvenient Truth

Misconception 1

“Scientists disagree about whether humans are causing the Earth’s climate to change.”

In fact, there is strong scientific consensus that human activities are changing the Earth’s climate. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that the Earth is getting warmer, this trend is caused by people, and that if we continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the warming will be increasingly harmful.”

Misconception 2

“Lots of things can impact climate—so there’s no reason we should single out CO2 to worry about.”

Climate is sensitive to many things besides carbon dioxide—sunspots, for one, as well as water vapor. But this just proves how much we should worry about CO2 and other human-influenced greenhouse gases. The fact that the climate system has been shown to be sensitive to many sorts of natural changes throughout history should serve as a red flag. We need to pay close attention to the massive and unprecedented changes we’re causing. We have become more powerful than any force of nature.

Misconception 3

“Climate naturally varies over time, so any change we’re seeing now is just part of a natural cycle.”

Climate does naturally change. By studying tree rings, lake sediments, ice cores, and other natural features that provide a record of past climates, scientists know that changes in climate, including abrupt changes, have occurred throughout history. But these changes all took place with natural variations in carbon dioxide levels that were smaller than the ones we are now causing. Cores taken from deep in the ice of Antarctica show that carbon dioxide levels are higher now than they have been at any time in the last 650,000 years, which means we are outside the realm of natural climate variation. More CO2 in the atmosphere means warming temperatures.

Misconception 4

“The hole in the ozone layer causes global warming.”

There is a relationship between climate change and the ozone hole, but this isn’t it. The hole in the ozone layer—a part of the upper atmosphere that contains high concentrations of ozone gas and shields the planet from the sun’s radiation—is due to man-made chemicals called CFCs, which were banned by an international agreement called the Montreal Protocol. The hole causes extra UV radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, but it does not affect the Earth’s temperature.

The only connection between the ozone layer and climate change is almost the exact opposite of the myth stated above. Global warming—while not responsible for the ozone hole—could actually slow the natural repairing of the ozone layer. Global warming heats the lower atmosphere but actually cools the stratosphere, which can worsen stratospheric ozone loss.

Misconception 5

“There is nothing we can do about climate change. It is already too late.”

This is the worst misconception of all. If “denial ain’t just a river in Egypt,” despair ain’t just a tire in the trunk. There are lots of things we can do—but we need to start now. We can’t ignore the causes and impacts of climate change any longer. We need to reduce our use of fossil fuels, through a combination of government initiatives, industry innovation, and individual action.

Misconception 6

“Antarctica’s ice sheets are growing so it must not be true that global warming is causing glaciers and sea ice to melt.”

Some ice on Antarctica may be growing—though other areas of the continent are clearly melting and a 2006 study shows that overall the ice is shrinking in Antarctica. Even if some of the ice is getting bigger, not shrinking, this doesn’t change the fact that global warming is causing glaciers and sea ice to melt around the world. Globally, more than 85% of glaciers are shrinking. And in any case, localized impacts of climate change don’t cancel out the global trends that scientists are observing.

Some people also mistakenly claim (in Michael Crichton’s novel State of Fear for instance) that Greenland’s ice is growing. In fact, recent satellite data from NASA shows that Greenland’s ice cap is shrinking every year, causing sea levels to rise. The loss of that ice doubled from 1996 to 2005. Greenland lost 50 cubic kilometers of ice in 2005.

Misconception 7

“Global warming is a good thing, because it will rid us of frigid winters and make plants grow more quickly.”

This myth just doesn’t seem to die. Because local impacts will vary, it’s true that some specific places may experience more pleasant winter weather. But the negative impact of climate change vastly outweighs any local benefits. Take the oceans, for example. Changes to the oceans caused by global warming are already causing massive die-offs of coral reefs, which are crucial sources of food and shelter for creatures at every stage of the ocean food chain, all the way up to us. Melting ice sheets are causing sea levels to rise, and if big ice sheets melt into the ocean, many coastal cities around the world will flood and millions of people will become refugees. These are just some of the consequences of global warming. Other predicted impacts include prolonged periods of drought, more severe flooding, more intense storms, solid erosion, mass species extinction, and human health risks from new diseases. The small number of people who experience better weather may be doing it in a landscape that is nearly unrecognizable.

Misconception 8

“The warming scientists are recording is just the effect of cities trapping heat, rather than anything to do with greenhouse gases.”

People who want to deny global warming because it’s easier than dealing with it try to argue that what scientists are really observing is just the “urban heat island” effect, meaning that cities tend to trap heat because of all the buildings and asphalt. This is simply wrong. Temperature measurements are generally taken in parks, which are actually cool areas within the urban heat islands. And long-term temperature records showing just rural areas are nearly identical to long-term records that include both rural areas and cities. Most scientific research shows that “urban heat islands” have a negligible effect on the overall warming of the planet.

Misconception 9

“Global warming is the result of a meteor that crashed in Siberia in the Early 20th Century.”

This may sound absurd to some of us, but it’s a real hypothesis suggested by a Russian scientist. So what wrong with it? Basically, everything. The impact of a meteor, much like a volcanic eruption, might have immediate effects on climate if it were large enough. But there is no record of warming or cooling during the period after this meteor hit. The effects that would have been produced by the meteor would have involved water vapor, which only stays in the upper atmosphere for a few years at the most. Any effects would have been short-term and could not be felt this far in the future.

Misconception 10

“Temperatures in some areas aren’t increasing, so global warming is a myth.”

It is certainly true that temperature is now rising at every point on the planet. In Michael Crichton’s novel The State of Fear characters pass around graphs that show specific places around the world where temperatures are decreasing slightly or remaining the same. The graphs represent real data from real scientists. But while they may be fact, they don’t prove the point. Global warming refers to the rise in the average temperature of the entire Earth’s surface due to increased levels of greenhouse gases.

Because the climate is an incredibly complex system, the impacts of climate change will not be the same everywhere. Some areas of the globe—such as northern Europe—might actually become colder. But this does not change the fact that overall, the surface temperature of the planet is rising, as are the temperatures of our oceans. The gains have been demonstrated by several types of measurements—including satellite data—that all show the same general results.