Industrial Tourism and National Parks

Edward Abbey is making a strong case for keeping national parks unspoiled and natural. His plan of banning motorized vehicles from the park is to teach us that we need to take our time to truly enjoy what the parks have to offer. I particularly liked the idea that you are better off taking your time through one park than rushing through a dozen. His argument is to enlist others who may feel as he does- that space is as important a commodity as time, and one should not suffer because of the other.

Speech at Grand Canyon

In this speech, Teddy Roosevelt is speaking to the citizens and Governor of Arizona. His purpose seems to be to urge that the canyon be kept in a natural unspoiled state. The speech is non-linear and somewhat fractured - it does not seem to build towards making a large point, but expresses the President's wishes to keep the Grand Canyon grand. The asides to the Native Americans and the sudden short closing lend to a feeling of a somewhat disjointed speech.

Speeechwriters LLC "Southeast Asia"

I think the intended audience would be fans of folksy easy listening music. The musicians use pathos in the form of nostalgia and idealism to evoke emotion. Purpose of the song is to portray how the place makes them feel.

N. Scott Momaday

I think the target audience would be people who would not normally be aware of Native American history (written for the National Geographic). The purpose may be to show how they became better stewards of their environment with the passage of time.
By using the lyrics of the Navajo song between some paragraphs, he seems to give the reader an idea of the direction of the article, and also helps to ground the ideas in his culture.

Walden & Wild

Thoreau and McCandless both seem to want to escape the modern world, for different reasons. Thoreau seems to want to turn his back on progress- or more accurately, the price of progress. His writing about the railroad workers (how the were building the rails to ride, but were buried under the rails, so they were actually rode upon) was one part that particularly stood out for me. Thoreau also feels that a person could learn all he needs to know by practical means- by navigating a boat instead of taking a course in navigation, or by building your own house instead of becoming an architect. He seems to feel that the busywork we fill our lives with actually robs us of the time and enjoyment we should get from it.
McCandless seems more to be running away from materialism. He feels that possessions do not make life more fulfilling. The act of burning his money and leaving behind all the things his parents deemed important is a kind of rebirth- an attempt to make himself over into the person he feels he should be.

I attended the showing of the movie "Under Our Skins" on Saturday, Jan. 30. The movie is an eye opening look at Lyme disease and the devastating effect it has on the lives of those unfortunate people who contract it. This movie was quite an education for me- I attended primarily because two of my in-laws, living in the state of New York, were diagnosed with the disease. Luckily, neither of my relatives suffered to the degree that the people featured in the film have. The descriptions of the severe neurological disorders, effects on memory and cognitive ability, and even deaths attributed to Lyme were a shock to me. I had believed that the disease was uncommon and easily treated, and in all fairness, some of the medical professionals interviewed were of the opinion that there is no such thing as chronic Lyme disease. The statements given by the people who had been misdiagnosed, accused of seeking disability status or defined as mentally ill were a frightening counterpoint. The testimony of the victims who attended the seminar-the Lamb family and another gentleman whose wife had suffered with the disease (for 17 years!) drove home the idea that there may be more going on than the medical establishment is aware of. Particularly disheartening was the fact that the doctors trying to help those with the disease are being driven out of the medical field, suffering censure, revocation of license and bankruptcy. I have learned that this dvd can be rented from Netflix- after we discussed the movie with my wife, she expressed the desire to see it also!