week 7

I read Edward Abbey's article about Lake Powell and Glen Canyon. He starts out talking about Glen Canyon and the things he enjoyed about it. He loves nature and wildlife and can't see how anyone can love cement. He doesn't think cement is for people. He doesn't think Lake Powell is a lake, but a reservoir with a fluctuating water level that leaves water marks on the canyon walls, which means to him that it is not a natural lake. He then compares what used to be Glen Canyon and what it looks like now. How it had wildlife, birds, insects, trees, sandy beches, a flowing river, waterfalls, pools of water, and life. All of those things were buried, drowned, or crowded out, and no longer exist there. He says that the difference between Glen canyon and the present reservoir is the difference between life and death. He thinks Lake Powell is a graveyard.
He says Lake Powell is no longer a place of natural life and that Glen Canyon was. He talks about how people before could take a trip to Glen Canyon and it would be beautiful and anyone could do it alone because it was not dangeous. You could eat by going fishing and have a wildeness adventure. Now, people have to pay to take a tour and see everything. He says that the things you can see now has been decreased. That you could see more when it was just Glen Canyon. He mentions all the problems with Lake Powell like debris and cost.
He thinks that Lake Powell should be drained and that we should let nature make it beautiful again. He predicted that within thirty years it would be back to its former self.
I think it was very good and made me think a lot. I have never thought about any of that stuff before. He made me think about Lake Powell differently and I almost agree with him. I like how he compared both of them so that he could show what we have now and what it was before. I think he did it so we could ask ourselves what we would rather have.

week 6

I recently read an article in the newspaper from my hometown, Muncie, Indiana, on the internet. Im not from a small town but it is by no means big. The article was talking about a new day care that was opening soon. It was in the newspaper because it was a 24-hour day care. The first one we have ever had. I don't know if they have those here in Utah. Or anywhere else for that matter. I have never heard of a 24-hour day care before. The women running the day care were very happy to be opening and they were quoted saying how they were surprised no one thought of it before.
My first reaction was a good one. I thought that it was a good idea and how much it will help those people that work at night. But the more I thought about how it would work out, the more I didn't like the idea. I think it is helpful to those who really do need somewhere for their kids to stay if they work at night, but I think that people will take advantage of it. I personally think that kids should be at home to sleep. They should be somewhere where they are comforted and can sleep well. Not in a day care. But then I think about those parents out there that are struggling with drugs or alcohol that would drop off their kids at the day care. The kids would definately be more safe at the day care than with their drunk parent. It has its advantages and disadvantages.
I try and think of the effects it would have on the child. Like if they wet the bed or have nightmares. There will be other kids there that could give them a hard time. They may start to think that they are suppossed to sleep with other kids. Boys and girls together. But if they are young enough then it wont matter. If parents work during the day and they want to go out at night, their child will be at day care all day. It wont matter how late the parent comes home so the child will have been at the day care all day and then sleep there. They wont know anything but day care. I just cant see how that would be a good thing to have your child at day care all the time, even over-night.
I don't know how I feel about it. I would like to know how it goes and if it is something that will be kept in my city.

week 4

My major is Dance. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life but I knew I loved to dance and had fun with it. That's why I chose to major in dance. It falls into the area of the Arts. I actually probably won't stick with dance as my major. I want to do something that will take me further. Im still not sure what I want to do with my life. But it probably wont be dance. Since I am pretty much undecided I don't know what kind of questions scholars ask and what kinds of questions I want to tackle. I have no idea yet.

week 3

Something that worries me and keeps me awake at night is the future life of my kids. I don't mean now, I don't have any kids. I wonder about the kinds of things that will be happening in the world when I do have kids and whether they will be able to stay on the right path. It concerns me because I know that things in school and the world are changing and not looking good.
I have two younger siblings and even for them things are different than they were for me in school. Kids are dressing differently and getting into things at a younger age that they shouldn't be into, and they all think they have to grow up so quickly. I just wonder if things are like this now, what will they be like in a few years. They will probably be worse and this worries me because my kids will be growing up surrounded by it.
Things in the world are changing as well. We are worried about oil and the ozone layer and our environment. If things are bad now, what is going to happen in 10 years. I worry that there is going to be a dramatic change in the way of life. Or that my kids will be faced with even more problems because of our mistakes now.
I don't know of any solutions but Im sure someone does know what we are going to do and what the world will eventually come to. I think that maybe people are more worried about what we are going to do right now rather than what will the future bring. They should be worried though because the things we do right now could hurt our kids later and if we try to solve problems now, thay can deal with and worry about other stuff.

week2

Recently in my dance class we watched a clip from a dance concert. The clip was very different and weird. We talked about how it was very well organized and rehearsed even though it looked like total chaos. To us it didn't look like any kind of dance we had seen before, but to them, it was very good and considered very well done. It makes me wonder how someone can see something in their mind and make it happen. And then how people react differently to it.
Being a dancer I have had many different teachers that come up with our dances. It was always amazing to me that they could think of something in their head and teach it so that it looks like what they want it to. It is amazing to me that people picture something in their mind and make it a reality. How do they do that? Is it experience that gives them an idea and then they do the rest? Like my dance teachers, being in dance for so long they might just pick moves and try to make them go together. But if its really what they love to do and they are good at it, I don't think that is the case.
Why did most of the kids in my dance class react the same way as I did to the dance clip? Is it because we all have pretty much the same image of dance and seeing something new was weird to us? The woman that came up with the dance must have had some experiences in her life that helped her create the piece. Something in her life created some emotion that she put towards it. Were there experiences in my life that made me react to the dance the way I did? The dance was violent but ended good. Did something violent in my life happen that reminded me of the dance? Was that the case for all of the kids in my class?
We all have different opinions about everything. Is that because of life experiences and what we have maybe been raised to think? I obviously think differently about what a good dance is compared to the teacher of the clip. She probably has more experience than me about what makes a good dance. Does that mean that it is a good dance?

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