Landscapes 3/10

Homework:

• Continue working on your midterm. First draft of the written part is due March 23.
• Read "The Trouble with Wilderness by Cronon" for discussion on that day.
• Meet at the the Honors College at 2PM with your bikes on that day and we will ride to the National Ranching Heritage Center together.
• There is NO jorunal assigment, so journals do not need to be turned in on March 22.
• Have a great Spring Break!

Landscapes 3/9

Greetings everyone,

I've been a bit ill this morning, but seem to be feeling better now. I am reluctant to cancel class, but if this is a virus, I'd also not care to pass it to you right before spring break. So I'm going to watch things for a couple of more hours and then make a call one way or another. Expect to be told by noon whether or not we will still be meeting class.

In the meantime, I need to get a copy of Cronon's essay to you. If we meet this afternoon, no problem; but if we don't you can pick up a copy of the essay from the blue milk crate outside my door at your convenience, starting tomorrow. Either way, read it over spring break and we'll discuss it on the following Tuesday.

I'd also planned to discuss your ideas for the midterm today, but if that is not possible, then please email a short description of what you plan to write about by tomorrow. If you'd like to further brainstorm about it, then let me know, and we'll figure out a way to meet.

In then meantime, check your emails around noon to see what the status for today's class will be.

Cheers,

Dr T

UPDATE: I'm feeling a lot better, so see you around 2:20.

Fieldcraft 3/6

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge:

Meet next week at LLL. For homework, tally up your life list in your journal.

Landscapes 3/5

Greetings, all! Sarah informs me that Cronon's essay, "The Trouble with Wilderness" may not be in the course packet. It may have been inadvertently left out, so let me check on that when I get to the office and let you know if that's the case. If it is, I'll figure out a way to get some copies to you ASAP.

In the meantime, the homework assignment is to read that for discussion next week and to work on your midterm. Other than that, there is no journal assignment for this week.

We are meeting at Lubbock Lake Landmark next Tuesday at 2:20. Here is a link to directions and a map:

Lubbock Lake Landmark

Landscapes 3/1

Miracle of miracles, it looks like tomorrow will be a pretty day. Meet outside the Honors college with your bikes, prepared to look for Main Street. We'll have a short discussion about Jenny Price's "Nature and the  Mall," then go a-journaling. Make sure your bikes are in working condition.

Byt the way, the first "Main Street" in your course packet was by Stilgoe from Outside Lies Magic, the second was by Oldenburg, from The Great Good Place.

Fieldcraft 2/24

Here we all are at Buddy Holly's grave. A beautiful day. Finally.

No class on Wednesday of next week. We will meet outside the Honors College on Saturday, March 6th, at 9AM for a trip to Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge. Bring a sack lunch, water, sunscreen/hat, appropriate clothing, bins, field guide, and journaling gear. We will return approximately 3PM.

Homework for this week: We've now seen a variety of places to bird in LBB: Tech Terrace, LLL, Buddy Holly Park, MLK Park, and LBB cemetery. Go out and find some birds and journal your results. Work on identification and note-taking. More is better. Journals will be due next Wednesday, in the milk crate outside my office door, by 5 PM.

Fieldcraft 2/23

Here is a map to Lubbock Cemetery's back entrance, marked with a red "X". Take 19th to MLK blvd. Turn right on MLK. Turn left at the north entrance of the park. Take the loop around the park to the back side of the cemetery, on the south side of the lake.
Do NOT take 34th, as it does not go through. Do NOT try to Mapquest Lubbock Cemetery, because you will end up in the wrong place.

Click on the map to enlarge it if you need to.

Bring your bins, field guides, and journaling gear.

Fieldcraft 2/23

Meet tomorrow at the Lubbock Cemetery, rear entrance. Park near the Mausoleum. If the gate to the rear entrance is closed, wait there in your cars until I arrive, then I will lead you to the front entrance to the cemetery. Dress for the weather, as we will be walking around looking at birds.

No assignment for homework this week, but you will be turning in journals to me tomorrow.

Landscapes 2/22

Hi everyone—

Snow again tomorrow, so we’re out of luck on our bike ride. Meet in the classroom tomorrow and we’ll have a discussion of the readings, go voer what you discovered on your coffee-shop forays, and follow up with a drawing exercise.
Cheers,
Dr T

Landscapes 2/16

Homework: Go to five coffeehouses in LBB and journal about the following:

• How do they compare to the Viennese and English coffeehouses that Oldenberg describes?
• What historical aspects are present?
• How do they compare to each other?
• How does the physical landscape affect the ambience of each?
• What are the clientele like and how is that related to the ambience?
• Describe the physical landscape and your own aesthetic response to it? What works/doesn't work, and why?

Make sketches and write text to illustrate your arguments.

For next week:

Read the last two essays in the course packet, both titled "Main Street."
Meet at the Honors College at 2 PM, with your bikes aired up and ready to roll.

Fieldcraft 2/16

Greetings all. Remember that we are meeting at Buddy Holly Park tomorrow at 2:20. Bring your binoculars, journal, and field guide to the birds.

We will meet at the parking lot at the north end of the park. Go north on University, past the Clovis Highway (Highway 84) until you come to some lakes on your left and right. (These are Lakes 1 and 2 of the Canyon Lakes system.) Turn left into the entrance of the park just north of the lake on your left. Follow this road until the end of the lake, just before the road "Ts" at the access road to Loop 289. There will be a parking lot on your left and a waterfall on your right (the waterfall may not be running, though). We will meet up in the parking lot.

Here is a link to a map for directions to the park: Buddy Holly Park

We will car pool from there. Looks like it will be a pretty day, but bring plenty of layers, just in case.

Photos from Fieldcraft

Okay everyone, here is the link to the clearinghouse:

Nature Blog Network

And one of my faves:

Pencil and Leaf

Landscapes 2/9

Here ya go:

The truth is, in real life I would just "eyeball" it. Here is what you know: the steps get smaller in height and depth as they recede, so you simply account for this as you draw your lines on the top edge going back to the vanishing point. Et voila.

Reading: "Classic Coffee Houses." Make notes for discussion in your journal. 

Other than that there is no homework this week (because you will be slammed with it next week), so do NOT turn in your journals on Monday.

Meet at the Outdoor Pursuits Center with your bikes next Tuesday for class.

Fieldcraft 2/9

Greetigns all,

We will meet in the Visitor's center of Lubbock Lake Landmark tomorrow. I'll do a short power poiint presentation and talk about journals/blogs, introduce you to the tprinciples of perspective, and then we will go outside to do some drawing, so dress in multitudes of layers and bring something to sit on so you don't have to sit ont he frozen ground.

Journals are due at the end of class, to be returned by noon on Friday.

LAndscapes 2/8

Greetings all--

It looks like the weather will be uncooperative again tomorrow, so we'll meet in the classroom. I'll also wait in the courtyard of the English Philosophy complex to catch any straggles who miss this post or my email, so if I am not in the classroom right away, please wait for me.

Fieldcraft 2/7

On Wednesday in class we learned about:

• mesoscale climate influences that create the prairie in which we live (30 N latitude and rain-shadow desert)
• short grass, mixed grass, and tall grass prairies and why they are where they are
• the 100th Meridian and what it represents in terms of rainfall and subsequently what will grow here
• how the prairie got its name
• what species of grasses form the foundation of each of the three types of prairie

Homework: find a photo of the prairie and send me a link to it. Do  a couple of pages of free-writing in your journal about it and some of your thoughts now that we've had some class discussion about the prairie

Finish the homework assignment from the week before (the one that got delayed by the ice storm and the inability to pick up your journals at school: drawing the geese and a photo of the pigeon).

Journals will be due at the end of class on Wednesdays for the remainder of the semester. I will return them by Friday noon.

Fieldcraft 2/2

Tomorrow we are meeting at Lubbock Lake Landmark. The weather is supposed to be rainy and cold (~33 F), so dress apropriately (warmly and with rain gear) and bring something to sit on so that you will stay warm and dry as you sketch and write.

We will meet at the start of class inside the interpretive center.

Landscapes 2/2

Reading for next week: "The Problem with Place in America" by Oldenburg, in your course packet.

Make notes for discussion in your journal.

Also for the journal (to be turned in next Monday before noon): sketch five pages of well drawn trees over the next few days, using the principles of tree growth that we learned today in class. Make notes on what you are drawing and write about what you are learning/observing about the trees as you draw them. Use narrative to describe your response to the experience and what you've learned.