Wildness Symposium

I attended the last scheduled event on the schedule and the speaker was to be Rick Bass. So far I had enjoyed the reading from Rick so was more excited than I thought I would be. I had never been to such an event before so I had no clue what to expect. So I went into the sun room with and open mind. It was also my first time sitting in the sunroom. The sunroom is very cozy and perfect for such events.

First up there was a young lady who is a student at ISU and she was giving Rick's introduction. She did a wonderful job and there were quite a few people there but she showed to nervousness. Then Rick took the stage.

Rick was going to read two stories for us. He had a glass of what looked like some kind of beer in it. I found myself wondering what kind of beer was Ricks choice, I'd like to think he was drinking budwieser. Rick began reading the first story which was about food and experience. I choose my picture of the owl perched on the car because I though it was a funny picture I had in my head from his story. The first story was good but the story that caught my attention was the second one. I forgot the name of it, but it was about the experience he had when he was young when the freshwater met the saltwater. He talked about how the fish would get stunned and you could catch them. But the message he gave was important to me. He said this was the last one that ever happened. I think the message Rick was trying to get across was a lot bigger than it seemed. He is saying things are happening to the environment from human regularities and action needs to be taken quickly or things will start to disappear.

Free

I lay on my back starring up,

the sun beats down and if it wasn't for these sunglasses I might go blind,

Another advantage of wearing these shades is the fact no one can see my lazy eyes,

I can also check out every babe walking bye in their sexy suits without any notice,

I dig a little hole with my feet pushing the warm sand to the sides,

Little two foot waves move from north to south down the mighty Mississippi,

I feel FREE

Back Home

The first line in this poem, says Everything crawls-the green black walls is good concrete language. It grabbed my attention at first because I could just picture the destruction and how the moldy green and black walls were crawling. Then the poem goes back to using this line in the middle of the poem but this time she says, Everything crawls. The drooped ceiling through soft splintered slats.

Reading this poem made me kind of sad having never been through such a disaster before. I couldn't imagine coming back to your house after a hurricane and seeing everything that has been destroyed. Patricia Smith begs her new history to hold still, she doesn't want to let go of what she had and start over but there is absolutely no choice. Everything is destroyed and time must start again.

Its 1 am. on what was suppose to be a fun night out with the friends, but some people just can't handle being out on an island sitting around a camp fire. These people didn't belong out here and I had no clue how they had got out here. I'm blaming my cousin for driving them to the island. Anyways its my turn to return these wimps back to the mainland. My brain was somewhere else so this could be a dangerous trip. I get everyone in my boat, make it through the back water to the main channel and return every one back safely. Except myself of course, I now had to drive back alone in the pitch black with blurry vision. I made it across the channel without hitting a bouyie or anything but as soon as I made it in the backwaters BOOM! I had hit a submerged tree and was stuck.


Laying on my back I stare up at the sun looking away every two seconds because of the pain. Grunt my yellow lab runs bye me and shakes off the wet drops from hits fur coat, damn dog that was cold. Some good old classic rock plays from the radio and in this moment I am happy.

Questions for Terry Tempest Williams and Rick Bass

Rick Bass in the nine wolves on page 761 you vividly describe how a rabid pack of wolves would mutulate a deer. I was just wondering if this was a in life experience that you actually got to wittness?

Terry Tempest Williams I was just wondering why you would be so concerned with the survival of something like the screeching owl?

Rick Bass if a wolf pack were to venture down south more say into a place such as southern Wisconsin and kill a human being how do you think the public would react?

Hometown

This image is taken from a park in my hometown of Clinton Iowa. This is pool 13 and the widest part of the Mississippi River. This image represents how relaxing and soothing the water can be. When you needed sometime to vent and escape you could go out on a boat or just walk around the river banks listening to nature. On weekends this place usually turns into a zoo of boaters flocking to near by beaches for some fun. The image could be represented differently if blown up to a larger size. It is hard to tell how wide this area of the river really is.

Reading Like a Writer

The specific details that stuck in my head were how upset the young kid was when the burrowing owls were run out of their home. I think that this goes to show that everyone has something that they show great appreciation for that will be taken away sometime in life. It could be a loved one or it could be a field you once visited that is now inhabited by new housing sub divisions. The young kid takes his anger out on the Canadian Goose Hunting club when in the end they were just trying to find their form of an escape too. It just so happens that where they set up took over someone elses escape.