Environmental Writing

Seeing all the pictures from the Time article is shocking and depressing. I can only imagine the feeling of walking through some of the flooded streets, buildings destroyed, trees thrown everywhere like they were nothing by the brute force of the storm. The lives of so many people that lived there were devastated, many of their possessions forever ruined. And the hopeless feeling that help might never come. I can't relate too much to all of the rain storms and hurricanes, as I haven't had too many personal experiences with either. At most, part of my basement will flood. I don't have too many feelings of tragedy from my home town environment. I can relate more to the tragedies of storms of snow and ice from where I'm from. The most tragic feeling I get from the environment is that of the countless car wrecks caused by the terrible snow storms that seem to happen every year. The flurry makes it nearly impossible to see, and the ice only adds to the danger of the streets. The cold reaches record lows, and the wicked wind seems to tear through any layers of warmth you might be wearing. On many days you don't even want to step outside to bear even a bit of the bitter weather.

The Role of the Places I'm From

I think that my background and hometown had and have a huge influence on who I am today. I have a great appreciation for where I'm from and how I felt about the area. When I was a kid I would always go for bike rides along the nature trail and admire the massiveness of some of the trees, the thickness of the brush, and the age of the place in general. To think how old those trees had been there at the time just seemed astonishing. I can really see how this came from both sides of my family too. When I helped my grandpa on my mom's side of the family out on his farm, I could tell that he had a real appreciation for the land and how it provided for him in a sense. And just this past break, listening to my grandpa on my dad's side talk about just how beautiful the snow was made me realize just how much he appreciated the area's beauty too. We could go fishing for hours on end without catching anything, and he would still enjoy it just because he was outside on the open water. And I definately feel like I share that connection, too. Just being outside, walking in the grass, floating on the water, breathing the open air, feels refreshing.
The place I'm from isn't too big, but not all that small either. It's big enough that, no matter where I go I feel like I always see at least one person I recognize. I went to the smaller of the two high schools in the town and that definately helped shape my values. It felt more like a family there than a school. I knew nearly everyone there by first and last names, and people were always there for each other. I definately feel a strong connection to where I'm from and the nature around it.

Hometown Photo

This photo is a picture of the football stadium where our team would play during the home games. I can still remember the feel of the turf and the sense of intensity coming out of that locker room. I have some great memories there I will never forget. Although this does represent many memories, it doesn't accurately represent where I'm from (I went to St. Edmond, not Senior High). It's hard to get all the aspects of my home town in one picture, but it doesn't represent the people in the town, and the level of involvement of some of the people. I would represent my home town as a place with, what most would say, a bad reputation filled by good people. You recognize everyone's faces and they are all friendly. Strong friendships and experiences are built there that you can take with you your entire life. The bridges that connect parts of town go over beautiful endless lengths of rivers and woodland areas.