When it comes to my fourth essay, the teacher proposed the idea to choose a topic that was unfamiliar to me. Although I know just a little about fracking, I have not the slightest clue about the underlying details that make it controversial. Fracking has been prevalent in today’s politics, since I’m a follower of the democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders, and he is very against fracking, I wanted to know more about why he was so against it. I feel it’s important to know everything about who your voting for, and if I can learn about fracking, as well as turn it into a grade for English, I feel like I’m killing one bird with two stones.

I was asked to narrow down a certain detail of fracking that made it bad or good. I have a couple ideas in my head for what I could focus on, such as ‘Does it contaminate water supplies’ or ‘Are the chemicals used in fracking harmful to the public’. Although everything pretty much revolves back into each other, I would like to stick towards pointing out the harmful nature it has towards the public and our environment. This is also an opportunity to see what other people think about it as well, I would love to see what they have nice to saying about it.

The article title is what caught my eye. “Urban Geology” by Peter B. Fleischer was something entirely different than I expected. I am a big fan of geology and eventually I want to pursue it in my career; so naturally I was drawn to this post among the many that were offered.

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My peer review comment on someone else’s ethnography

I think you could go really far with this, and it could evolve into a really nice essay. Like the teacher said above, maybe describe the people more, what they were like, what were they wearing, maybe even what they are talking about if you happened to ease drop. Talk about maybe how the store was set up, what it looked like inside, if you went to every section what where they like? Over all I think this is a good base for what could be a descriptive ethnography.

• Hunting/trophy hunting
• Fracking
• Deforestation
• Water Pollution 
• Vegetarianism 
• Mass Extinction

This paper about mega fires by Stephen J. Pyne sort of points the finger at everyone else, and rightfully so. Inevitably we have to come to the realization that we are doing more harm than good and that’s causing us to damage the natural order of things. I think Pyne points out a couple ways we are turning a blind eye to the matter in “Passing the Torch“. The title in itself is a metaphor about how we are the cause and effect of worldwide mega fires. I agree wholeheartedly that Pyne is right and the human race has some explaining to do. Let’s first try to get you on board as well.

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The ceremonies held by Native Americans are very sacred to them. In this ethnography, I will be documenting one day out of a weekend powwow. A powwow is a gathering of Natives; it’s a time-honored tradition that involves dancing, singing, drumming and the renewal of old and new friends. I have been blessed to be allowed into a tribe in the New England area; they host powwows every year during the cold days of fall. I’ve been able to witness countless ceremonial dancing and singing from tribes all around the area. Our powwows, unlike most, are inter-tribal and open to the public.

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–Book

Johnson, E. A., and Kiyoko Miyanishi. Forest Fires: Behavior and Ecological Effects. San Diego, CA: Academic, 2001. Print.

–Magazine article

Shea, Neil. “Under Fire.” National Geographic. National Geographic, July 2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

–Newspaper article

Smith, Mitch. “Record Wildfire Comes to Kansas, as Do Lifesaving Neighbors.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Mar. 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

–Academic Journal

Hurteau, Matthew D., and Matthew L. Brooks. “Short- and Long-term Effects of Fire on Carbon in US Dry Temperate Forest Systems.” Bio Science: Oxford Journals. American Institute of Biological Sciences, 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

–Blog post

Harris, Nancy, Susan Minnemeyer, and Octavia Aris Payne. “Indonesia’s Fire Outbreaks Producing More Daily Emissions than Entire US Economy.” Web blog post. World Resources Institute. WRI, 16 Oct. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

–Organizational website 

“National Fire Prevention Association.” NFPA. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

–Video

How It Happens | Forest Fires. Dir. Aaron Byrd, David Frank, and Henry Fountain. Science, How It Happens. New York Times Company, 15 May 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

For my fifth reading journal I scored the depths of Orion Magazine once more. I found one story that sparked my interest called “7 Lessons Bindweed Is Trying to Teach me” by Nico Alvarado. As like my third reading journal about Chinese poets this one too is a list of subject matter but instead each point goes further into detail. I really enjoy these short and concise articles, not because there isn’t much to page through but because it gets across the point faster and easier to the reader. I think doing it this way allows the subject content to stick to the reader for a much longer period of time.

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From hospital trips, kidney infections, and all out sleepless nights I ended up rushing this essay, leaving it for the last minute. Some areas I would like to address: I, at points seem to be a little cluttered, I also feel like it almost lacks a direction but I could be wrong. I can sense many fragments and better wording calls from the depths of each paragraph. The length is about 3,000 words and I feel like I could condense into a better essay but I always struggle with that. Anyways, carrying on.

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In the Orion magazine article “The Blossoming Child” by Steve Edwards, we explore not only nature but health in my forth reading journal. This story is all about one brave adventure two parents endured for 5 years. Their son; Wyatt was chronically ill and doctors couldn’t pinpoint any of the causes. Often Wyatt would stay up with them in bed in fits of rage. He would hit and scream and sometimes even claw at his parents faces. The author is describing this all the while Hurricane Irene walloped New England. He takes descriptions of the storm and applies them to his son. As I continued learning about the father and his son, I grew more teary eyed. The author related to the reader many sleepless nights drove him to wish his son was dead because he wanted his son released from pain, quoted “Those nights, love itself was a challenge to endure.”

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