Please do either #1 or #2:
#1
Respond to two of the questions posted below. This will have the effect of drawing on two of her ideas and expanding on them as you were asked to do in the previous reader response. Your response should be 400 words in length (approximate). Your response should make specific references to the text. See the model in comments.Color
- "Color doesn't occur in the world, but in the mind" Given what this quote implies about the nature of color, why do you suppose color is so important to us as humans perceiving our environment?
- Would you applaud after a sunset? Why or Why not?
- Consider one of the many different animals that Ackerman mentions in this section and expand her thoughts by relating them to other observations or experiences you've had. There are many. Just pick one.
- Which animals in your experience manipulate color most skillfully (please don't answer, "The chameleon")?
- Tell a story of a positive impact that human physical beauty has had on you or those around you. Can you relate this to something Ackerman mentions in her section on beauty?
- Tell a story of a positive impact ugliness (in any form, not just human) has had on you or those around you. Relate to Ackerman?
*******-or-*******
#2
Consider the reading you did for class earlier in the week. Your group summarized the main points of the reading and highlighted certain passages that were of note. For this assignment, you are to highlight two of the ideas that the writers present in their essays. Then expand on those ideas. To expand on the ideas, consider how you see them to be true; or relate experiences of your own that come to mind when reading this passage. Your response should be 400 words in length (approximate). Your response should make specific references to the text. See the model in comments.
Color (Robert Treacy)
ReplyDelete1. Color is so crucial to us because it is a clear way to recognize certain things. For example: how else could we look at a painting or any pictures if they were just outlines? If there were only outlines or black and white, there would be absolutely no way to distinguish between different objects except for shape. We need color so that we know what we are looking at and so we can remember what things are. If apples weren’t red, we might just be eating an orange. We can also identify trees based on the color of their leaves. Certain colors can sooth or upset us. The actual colors have a physical affect on our bodies. “Happy” colors are usually yellow, pink, or orange. “Sad” colors are dark, blue, black, and brown. A birthday cake and its candles are usually bright (“happy”) colors. At a funeral, people dress in dark (“sad”) colors.
2. After a sunset, I would applaud because to me watching a sunset is almost like watching a movie. I think this because like some movies, a sunset can provide us with beautiful colors. What makes a sunset better than a film is that the colors in the nightfall are natural rather than artificial. A sunset can always get a good feeling inside of me as the sight of a beautiful sunset makes the day end on a positive note, and I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings. The colors can also make me feel energized since I have always found the sight of colors irresistible. In addition, Sunsets can remind us that we are alive. Once while staying in Montana, I witnessed the most gorgeous twilight. It was inside the hotel pool atrium and it made me feel animated and warm and I still remember it to this day. Overall, everyone should stand and clap after seeing a sunset because they can be very stunning and they can give us a warm feeling inside.
Robert, you did a very nice job with this reader response. WHen you say that sunsets can remind us that we are alive, that got me thinking: How? Then you said that the sunset you viewed from the hotel pool atrium made you feel animated and warm, you gave me more information. Interesting. Well Done.
DeleteRobert, I totally agree we should clap after every sunset because it makes feel good inside
DeleteWhen John Daniel writes, in "In Praise of Darkness" about walking in a woods during daylight and being able to distinguish between species and even among individual trees, he indicates that he can understand the differences between the trees. He goes on to relate the experience of walking among the same woods in the dark of night. He says, "It was not the distinctions I saw, but their commonality, not their names I knew them by, but their essential namelessness." It was in the dark woods that the trees "announced their membership in a wilderness vaster than daylight eyes can comprehend." A wilderness to which we all belong at some level or another, even if we have very little connection to wildernesses, or even woods, for that matter. Later in the essay, he talks about how even in broad daylight, our "eyesight shows only a pittance of what is." He implies that much more goes on that we cannot see. This is something I have grown to believe about my experience of the world. That, no matter how connected to it I feel, I only come to know a little of what goes on on the surface. That, once we establish what we know (through science, religion, literature, music, the arts), and once we really open our eyes to what we do not know, the world really broadens out. How can a universe, made up largely of dark matter, a substance we dont know anything about, behave the way we expect it to? On the one hand it doesn't feel all that good to be ignorant of large amounts of crucial information. On the other hand there are plenty of truths to be learned, plenty of systems to come to know and plenty of mysteries to be revealed. By staying in touch with dark skies we remain open to more of these mysteries. This makes me feel good.
ReplyDeleteElsewhere in this essay, Daniel speaks of creative writing. We all know something about that now, don't we? He makes the analogy that creative writing is a kind of fishing. As writers we seek to capture in the darkness of a body of water a shy and unseen fish. the body of water is all those truths that only partially expose themselves to us, and the fish is the ability to make good sense of them in writing. We have to be patient and comfortable around the water. Spending all the time in the light of day keeps us away from the water and lessens the chance that we'll hook the perfect piece of writing. So walk through your house in the dark; take any safe opportunity you can get to seek out truly dark skies and look long and deep into them; familiarize yourselves with what we do not yet know in our world and seek to understand one small part of it. Then write often and under your own direction about what you come to know. This ssn't always easy to do, but it seems like good advice nonetheless.
Anthony Windau (7th Hour creative writing)
ReplyDeleteWould I applaud a sunset? My answer is no. Although the many colours and lights can be dazzling, every day the Earth turns on and goes about its endless, lifeless cycle of the sun rising and setting. Why would anyone applaud the sunset? To show the Earth appreciation for what it does, maybe? To show others that they liked the colors? That’s why we applaud fireworks. We applaud because we enjoyed the works that man had to do to create and then launch the firework. I wouldn’t applaud the sunset because it happens every day and nothing man made or special has to go on to create a sunset. I have, in my 17 years, been on the earth for over 3000 days, and countless of those days I have seen sunsets and sun rises, none of which have moved me so to applaud. Some have moved to take a picture, but none to applaud. As much as I like this Earth, I don’t feel that applauding it for a sunset makes much sense. After all, the Earth is just rotating around a massive fireball that will one day kill us all.
"Color doesn't occur in the world, but in the mind" Given what this quote implies about the nature of color, why do you suppose color is so important to us as humans perceiving our environment? Color is the only way we can truly tell the details of objects and compare them to others. As I sit here, I’m wearing my band sweater, I say that it’s red, and from that we can conclude it’s a Shorewood high school band sweater. If the sweater was blue, one could say that it’s a Whitefish Bay sweater. Color helps distinguish objects and people from one another. Clearly, there are other ways to distinguish objects and people from one another. Yet, just as sound is important to us to hear everything, color helps our vision and really fine-tunes what we are seeing in front of us. Is that a healthy tree or a dead tree? The color of the leaves, or bark helps us make that decision. Color is important to humans because it helps us define objects and gives us an extra clarity as to what we are seeing around us.
Anthony, I like your point about color and our understanding of things. I find it so interesting how we use color in so many ways to make sense of our surrounding.
DeleteNancy Norkeh (Fourth hour creative writing)
ReplyDeleteBeauty, what is it to you? Beauty is looked at differently in everyone’s eyes. Some say that beauty is what’s on the exterior, when in actuality beauty comes from within. A person could have a beautiful, vibrant soul but someone wouldn’t look within because they aren’t “beautiful” on the inside. People now days only care about appearances as shown in the study from the elementary school students where prettier children or better-looking children are being treated better throughout our society. They are receiving better grades, basically receiving special treatment all because they are looked at as being beautiful. Society is changing the real idea of beauty, but everyone and everything is beautiful in their own unique way. People are being placed in specific work places due to their appearance or their height. Men and women are choosing significant others sometimes due to the appearance or due to what they look like -- “love looks not with the eye, but with the mind.”- A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Beauty can be a very lovely thing and also a very ugly thing its changed our society for many years, made little boys and girls want to have the title of having “beauty” or being “beautiful”, so badly that some would go through drastic measures just to reach that point. In saying all of that is beauty really beautiful?
Would I applaud after a sunset? Yes indeed I would, think about all those beautiful colors as the suns setting. What if we couldn’t see in color, what if our life was boring not vibrant only blacks and greys and whites. We would not get the opportunity to sit and admire all the beautiful colors. The sunsets like a beautiful canvas that is oh so real. We applaud the artist who made the picture with many abstract sayings, yet some don’t applaud the magnificent image that the sun creates when setting and raising. Think about that does that make sense? Take a moment and observe an artist work that can simply capture one moment but why not enjoy the beautiful sunset that has its own unique beauty that an artist can’t necessarily capture. So enjoy it, embrace it; cause each sunset has its own unique beauty.
Nancy, your theory of beauty is brilliant. I agree that beauty can be both very appealing and ugly at the same time. Also great quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream since it really connects with your theory.
DeleteI read the reading the gift of darkness. This reading was mainly summarizing how the world is not being open to see the true experience of darkness and how most of the darkness is dimed by artificial light.
ReplyDeleteI found the part where she said “The world is half the time in darkness; this is the fact of the great spinning earth. When we protect children from darkness, when we dim or destroy it with artificial light, we shut them off from nearly half the human experience of what is wonderful.” This was a very profound saying to me because it makes me truly think of a time I spend in darkness and it no time at all and I think that this is not only I but also everyone. The streets are always lite up, and the world is never dark and uncertain. Also how she adds the words “protect children from darkness”. What are we protecting them from? The darkness isn’t anything bad it is just the image we have had of it, most people aren’t actually use to being in the dark because of all the artificial light being given off by the cities. We are use to being in the light a having the certainty of knowing our surrounding and not getting to experience out natural night vision we are gifted with.
Another passage she mentioned was, “when we douse the lights, a child can discover that the universe is lit by lamps the humans did not switch on, deepened by distance we cannot fathom, moved by forces we do not understand.” This is such an amazing passage since it is so real this is everything we should love about the stars and moon. The light the sky gives is more pure than we could ever produce. So why do we not use it to our advantage? It teaches a child so much, it teaches them that the sky is still guiding them even every step but when we battle that light with our artificial light the sky is no longer giving the use it is meant to.
I thought Kathleen Dean Moore stated her words in a very helpful way for people to understand the benefits of natural night-lights. Her personal stories also really helped to create a bond between her and her audience.
when the author says when we protect the children from darkness, this also takes something away from them but if thats what they believe thats what they need to do to keep there children safe the parents are going to continue to do it, just like if you want to truly be safe you are going to have to give up some rights.
DeleteClarence Corbett
ReplyDeleteLet there be light response
As someone who spends his nights looking at the sky I found this passage to be beautifully written. The night sky is such a mysterious thing that has inspired human beings since the beginning of time, as a compass, fortune teller and domain of the gods. The writer of this article spent an extended amount of time away from regular society, and his descriptions of it made me want to do the same thing. One of the main points in this passage was how natural darkness affects sleep patterns in people. The “first” and “second” sleep as the writer put it. The first was to refresh your batteries, a deep sleep that would begin as soon as the sun came down. He would then wake up, experience the world for an hour and then return to bed for the second refreshing light sleep. This sounds incredibly relaxing, especially being out in nature where the only alarm clock is the natural light shining over you as you wake. The description of this process made my life feel very artificial and fluorescent. I remember spending a week on a small island in Washington State overlooking the ocean. Less than 100 people lived on this island and it was very isolated and untouched. The island had no street lights, so every night I would bike back to my cabin in the pitch black. I could hear animals in the dense forest that surrounded the lonely road I biked on. While this was very freeing and delightful, a small part of me was scared. Not of the animals, or the sounds but rather of the darkness. I could see so little, and everything I could see was a blur of things I couldn’t name. This made me realise my dependance on these artificial lights. The natural world almost scared me now that it was naked, with no light to hide behind. This article essentially described the same feelings I had, the beautiful but almost scary natural world.
Another interesting point was the inspiration that comes from day and night. I spend most of my free time drawing and illustrating, I hope it will one day pay my bills. Much like the writer of this article I have found that I work much better at night time. Creativity seems to spill from me like it never would in the day time. It was always something I was curious about but this passage really shed some light on it (no pun intended). Night time is when all of the creepy and bad things come out, when our fears linger in the deep shadows. This mystery fuels fires of creativity for artists and writers alike, and only adds to the fact that our world shouldn’t be so scared of the dark, but rather embrace it.
Clarence, I really enjoyed reading your summary. There was a huge amount of detail and I could imagine the story in my head. Also I found it interesting that you get your work done at night because that would never work for me.
DeleteI really liked the amount of detail you used, you write beautifully. I really like the last part of your first paragraph. The artificial light has provided a safety net for many; the parents with teenagers depend on street lights to help their kids get home safely at night, keep their younger kids from crying at night, and much more. I agree with your second paragraph, I work well at night and feel inspired then.
DeleteClarence I have a lot of the same views as you the night sky is very important and is used for many things in our world is. Compass. Also yes dependence on these lights is largely part of our daily life and we don't even realize it
Delete#1
ReplyDeleteColor 1)
When the author states, “Color doesn’t occur in the world, but in the mind,” she later explains the science of color. How we “see” red or green on objects in our world, however that’s not what the object’s real color is, it’s just a reflection of the sun’s rays that the object is unable to absorb. This is what we see as color, the reflection of those unabsorbed rays. Now this may just sound like science talk, which may find uninteresting, but it’s much larger than that. The reflection of those rays, or a.k.a. color, has played a huge role in humans psyche. One mental aspect color has a major effect on is our emotions. The author gives the scientific experiment where the strength of ones grip was measured when looking at a colored light, and their grip was %13.5 stronger as they gazed into the red light. We’ve been taught as children that color sways our moods; red makes us aggressive, blue sooths us, and yellow gives us feelings of positivity. The mind bottling part of these mood-changing colors is that, it is ingrained in our brain to have these emotions with these colors. Some point during our evolution, when saw these colors in our environment and felt that way. I think the science behind the emotions of colors is one of the most interesting discoveries in science.
Color 2)
Would I applaud after a sunset? I can distinctly remember days of working at Mckenly Marina on the lake this past summer, and seeing some of the most breath taking sights. Our city’s skyline with an explosion of purple, pink, orange, yellow, blue, and colors I couldn’t even name. I worked almost everyday of the summer at the lake and saw the same exact sunset every night, but you know what, I never got sick of it. Every night I took at least 5 minutes to stop what I was doing, take a seat, and stare at the beauty. When I read the question, my original high schooler answer was, “no, that’s stupid.” But after I typed out my personal experience with the sunset, I realized I applauded the sunset every night of my summer, and I plan to every time I look upon that beauty that a photograph cannot capture.
Sam, I like your answer to the sunset question. Your description of your experiences this past summer really show how much we need to slow down and notice how beautiful our surroundings can be.
DeleteYour story of seeing the sunset is honestly so true. At first I said the same thing, that I wouldn't applaud and then I realized that I actually do; just internally. I also agree we can not get tired of a sunset, if anything I love when they appear, especially during summer. Thats always my favorite part of my days during summer. When night comes, the air is warm and breeze filled, listening to music with friends and a sunset appears; its an indescribable feeling.
DeleteSam, I completely agree with you on applauding the sunset. It always depends on the situation, but the sunsets behind the Marina sounds fantastic.
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ReplyDeleteJosee Langeness – 4th hour
ReplyDeleteI would 100% applaud after a sunset. Living in Shorewood I never get a good chance to see the sunset. However, I can remember hundreds of distinct moments when friends and family gathering to a beach to watch the sunset. To me, the sunset is one of the prettiest things the earth has to offer. You never get a chance to see natural colors of magenta, periwinkle and etc. Besides in the sunset. Every time I see the sunset from a distance I try to capture all its beauty and get the best angle of the sun as I can. The most beautiful sunsets I've seen are the most memorable. They almost always bring me back to a happy memory. I remember who I was with and what I was doing while watching. It is something I could watch for hours. Look at the colors change, the sun setting and sometimes the clouds moving around the sun. You realize how much the earth has to offer. Living in such a small town you are so use to seeing the same things everyday. However, every time I see the sunset it's almost like a whole new world, something so different and amazing. I would do anything to be able to see the sunset every night.
In my opinion the quote "Color doesn't occur in the world, but in the mind" has a lot to do with images and pictures. Sure, you could say its about the color red is suppose to make you hungry or painting your room will change the vibe. However, to me colored images are so much more important. Without color the pictures would be black and white, which is fine, but with color, can feel more real. You can capture a picture of anything with color and it will stand out more. Color is filled with tons of emotions. From your favorite color to sociology reasoning’s the colored picture will make you feel more than a black and white picture. Looking at a colored picture makes you happier and you can get more out of it. It brings out the beauty of the picture. Portrait vs. scenic either way, color is wanted more. Color can also help in pictures by distinguishing between things. You are able to look more into detail about expressions or what something is. Color is one of the most important and beautiful things to me and if they weren’t in pictures, pictures would not be as important to me.
Its nice to see that people our age still have such interest in the simple things, like watching a sunset with friends. If you think color is so important, which I agree with, why do you think black and white photography is so popular, even in a time where color photography is so greatly used?
DeleteColor
ReplyDelete1. Color is one of the most important things the human eye is able to see. All colors have their own meanings to each individual human in the world. Certain colors could have a sense of calming to one person while to another it could be a disturbing color. Different emotions evolve from different colors. The brighter the color the more likely that color is to be a brighter (good) thing in your life. The darker/duller the color the more likely that color is to be a darker (bad) thing in life. Colors are the most useful tools in our everyday lives. Without colors evaluations could not be made of the word around us. There would be no descriptive ideas to express what you were seeing. With no color, life would be more confusing.
2. During a sunset, one of the last things I would do is applaud-physically. Easily embarrassed I wouldn't feel the need to clap for such a strange "performance." However, mentally I would. Walking somewhere as the sun is setting or sitting in the bleachers during a sporting event can be and has been some of the most breathtaking sights. The combination of colors mixed throughout the sky makes you stop for a moment to just take a look. There has never been a sunset that hasn't caught my eye for at least 10 seconds. Similar to sunsets, sunrises are just as enjoyable. The beauty of the mixture of and light can be stunning and indescribable.
Kyle I love your connection between color and emotion. Next time I see a sunset or sunrise I will pay attention to the beautiful colors and notice how they make me feel. Nice job!
DeleteKyle, I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts about colors. I have always loved colors since they can have their own unique sense, and that they can represent feelings as well. Your conclusion was very strong too. Life WOULD be more confusing with no color.
DeleteElijah Miller
ReplyDeleteIn this Ackerman reading, similar to the sound piece Ackerman presents a very deep and descriptive take on vision. Ackerman breaks vision down into what it really is and how our brains interpret colors our eyes pick up. She discussed things I had no knowledge of prior to reading the piece such as, the way only one color reflects off of an object when light is shone on it and all other colors are absorbed. Another thing that I thought was interesting was how she say that the one color that's being reflected is the actually the rejected color and in reality that colored object is all but the color we may think it is.
I believe Ackerman's quote "Color doesn't happen in the world, but in the mind" is true. We rely on our eyes everyday just to make it through a day, but have you ever thought that our eyes maybe be filtering certain things. Is it possible that our eyes can be taking things we see and turning them into different images in our brain. Say for instance that a tree was cut down to make a piece of wood, through the human eye wood is usually is a light tan material and has a smooth texture when cut neatly. Although this maybe what we see through our eyes does wood really have a light tan shade in reality or is it just filtered and perceived as something other than what it really is in reality.
Color is a very significant part in how we as human perceive our environment, we use colors to familiarize ourselves with things and places like holidays or home. A lot of colors we see have unwritten meanings to them, when we think of danger or harm we usually think of the color red, and us humans think may think of nature or earth when we see colors like green or blue. I believe that humans would not be able to live without color, I think of it as one of the things that we wouldn't be able to live without like oxygen or water. A world without color wouldn't even be possible to imagine because everything we think of, every thought that crosses our minds, and every image that our brain produces always has some type of color attached to it. Removing color from the world in a way is like removing human life from the world.
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DeleteElijah, I thought the quote was fantastic" Color doesn't happen in the world , but in the mine" is true. I agree because our mind controls our eyes.Do you think wood is really a light tan material or light texture?
DeleteAnswer to Color Question1.)
ReplyDeleteThis quote is just as right as it is wrong. When an apple is red, or what we call red, we see what is reflected back at us. However, the apple sees green. Our eyes have black pupils or what appears to be black, because no light is being reflected back. We see all the visible light that is reflected towards us by absorbing it. Of coarse, the apple isn’t an eye; it cannot actually see green, however the analogy is logical. The environment around us is the color we see it as (under correct lighting), but the absorbed color is contained by the environment therefore rendering the object that color. How we as humans perceive color, is a complex adaptation involving lots of brain chemistry to benefit the human species for survival.
Answer to color Question 2.)
How vaguely this question is asked, provides a wide range of answers. I would not literally clap when the sun was setting, that would be awkward. Mentally, depending on the sunset, I may appreciate the sunset and praise the view in my head. Would I applaud after a sunset? Well just because it is dark out doesn’t mean I cant applaud for someone’s performance. The answer to this question is as direct as the question itself.
Tommy Chamberlain- 5th Hour Creative Writing
ReplyDeleteSimilar to my example in class with the picture of America at night and how it is similar to a shattered iPhone, the story of Let There Be Night is similar to that image. The author describes that light shatters darkness. The darkness is the beautiful whole picture of things, it describes what something truly looks like to our human eye's, and the light describes that beautiful image without any meaning. You don't notice the points of detail that your eye's grasp when its dark, the meaning behind each image. All light does is break down the image and allow your eye's to not enjoy and connect with images masked in darkness.
2. The other point that stuck out to me from the reading in class, is how we value light. We as human's try to provide a clear vision for everyone, make sure everyone can perceive an image perfectly so their is no uncertainty. The main way we do this with light, visuals are clear and crisp with light. But do we as humans want to immediately know the answer and instantly understand the image presented to us? Yes, but I believe no. I want to be able to use my creative mind and and interpret what someone is trying to present to me, not have the image handed to me on a silver platter (the platter being a lighted image).
I thought the iPhone analogy was really cool and was a relatable way to connect an in class activity to something most of us have. Because you said you would like to see things without the silver platter, would you have been able to stay in a cabin without electricity for four months?
DeleteHey Tommy, I think you used some very good analogies for our perception of light. The iPhone and Silver Platter where probably the best.
DeleteKayla Gipson
ReplyDelete7th hour
Beauty
Physical beauty has an impact on my family and I. The women in my family sell a product from this company called Libri. This product has aloe plant and other natural use in it; which heals burns, help with rashes and cuts. Aloe plant has been used for years, and even has been mentioned in the bible. It’s also known as and proven to be a healing agent. This has helped many young women, older women, and even men to embrace their beauty on the inside and outside. Libri does not just proved skin care, it also provide make up that still shows off women natural beauty. Another way Libri has impacted my family, and I are through our hair. All the women in my family started going natural over the summer and we used this product to keep our hair stronger and healthier.
Ackerman talked about how woman back in the days use to dilate their eyes to be notice, or they use to get their cheekbones higher to look better. I feel no day’s beauty is based on the media. If your not skinny enough than your not beautiful enough, or if your hair is not long enough your not beautiful. Now days the beauty through the media hasn’t been a good impact. If you don’t meet a certain standard then your not know as beautiful. This has affected a lot of women to change how they look, such as plastic surgery, bleaching the skin, breast implants, fake things, or even piercings everywhere. Beauty has taken over our minds. It has cost us to loose the real meaning of beauty; which is within us. A lot of girls are anorexic because they think they don’t meet the standards of beauty. Ackerman speaks about how back then how attractive people got what they want. If you think about it, it’s still like that now. Beautiful women with figures of a soda bottle, on the magazines, and on TV. If your beautiful your more known through the media. Society has lost the meaning of beauty.
#2: The world is covered by light, that light blinds us from seeing the world as our ancestor saw it before there was light. In the story there is a woman who asked her children what they would like to do for the day. The children tell her that they want to show her the stars. At night as they walk outside the woman notices that there are hardly any stars to be seen. She remembers when she was younger and lived in the country that there were so many stars to be seen. But now that she lives in the suburbs she can only see a couple. It because of light pollution, the light blinds us from the beautiful sky at night. The woman then takes her child to a cave that is pitch dark and gives him a flashlight for the first time. The child shines the light straight into his eyes and blinds himself. Light blinds us from seeing through the dark and seeing everything around us. It blinds us from what the world really looks like and shows a darker side of the world. In houses when it is night outside the lights come on in the houses. Since the light is on in the house the people inside the house are blind to what is happening outside. Same with being in a car at night, if you turn on the light inside the car the drive is going to blind by the light and not be able to see through the windshield. even know that light is good in some circumstances they are blinding to the eye. The woman with the child that shined his flashlight into his own eyes, well she felt very bad that that was her child’s first experience with a flashlight.
ReplyDeleteDe'Anthony Manns (4th hour)
ReplyDelete#2: I read 'The Gifts of Darkness' by Kathleen Dean Moore. In the story she mentions that darkness is not something that we should get ride of it is something that we should work to keep and look through. The passage states that "When we protect children from darkness, when we dim or destroy it with artificial light, we shut them off from the fully half the human experience of what is wonderful." This statement is saying that we are hurting our children more then helping them. I agree with this because light blinds you more than it helps you to see. Parents think they are helping children by leaving the T.V. on or keeping lights on for their children but it isn't really helping them at all. Night-lights are supposed to help kids feel like their safe but a night light only shows the little light in that corner and if something moves by in the hallway you cant see it because the light is causing your eyes to adjust to the brightness of staring at the night light, by the time you turn away from the night-light to look at what's in the hallway you cant see it because your eyes hasn't adjusted to the darkness yet. Compared to the kid who sleeps in darkness they can see much better to the thing in the hallway because their eyes are adjusted to the darkness. In addition night-lights create shadows that can be scarier than darkness.
Light is more of a impairment than a advancement in technology. In the story Kathleen talked about how she took her son to a cave and he got to use his first flashlight. He was excited first, but when he turned the flashlight on all that excitement turned into bewilderedness, hurting and disappointment. I think he would of enjoy that day more if he didn't use a flashlight at all but instead use his eyes naturally and wait for them to adjust to the light. Artificial light isnt a bad thing, us as humans just haven't learned how to use it to show more than it would without any "fake" light at all, but right now all we are using light for is blinding each other. I know that I can do anything that I can do in the light in the dark. We can still communicate and see each other without light in fact our eyes probably would be able to see each other better if we had no lights at all. Maybe even we would treat night like we do day and day like we treat night. Sleeping in the morning and working at night wouldn't be that bad.
(Ben Davis, 7th hour.) I read the “Gift of Darkness” passage from let there be night. There were a couple ideas from that passage that I really like but I think the one that I liked the best was the story of the boy with the flashlight. I really feel like that was the most prevelant for our society because we use so much light. The kid, growing up, realized that. He still wanted to do that job which uses a lot of energy and wasted light. So now, when giving tours of caves and dark spaces that need light, he asks the tourists too turn off there lights for awhile. I liked it because even though its a small thing, it still makes a big impact and I feel like a lot of people don’t realize that in our society right now. Especially something as small as saving energy.
ReplyDeleteThe other part of that passage I liked was when they were saying how artificial light makes it harder to think with more imagination and out of our self-centered lives. I very much agree with this statement for a number of reasons. First of all, I feel like artificial light makes me less productive then when i’m outside. I also enjoy being outside more just because I feel more productive and more imaginative. Not to mention, your imagination can run wild outside with games and other things, but when inside, you have less control. Also, we become more self-centered inside because we aren’t able to be with friends or anything like that when we lock ourselves inside. Overall, yes artificial light makes us less creative.
Ben, I could not agree more man made light does make us so much less creative than natural light and even nature in general. The sun the moon and the stars are so inspiring, for me at least, they are relaxing and make me want to write stories, poetry and songs.
DeleteKatelyn Krieg
ReplyDelete7th Hour
Animals
1. Last summer, I found a baby bird that had fallen out of its’ nest. It was a small round ball of silvery grey fuzz. I picked it up and put it back in the nest, which was in the tree by my front door. By the next day, the flimsy nest had fallen apart and my baby bird, plus his brother and sister were on the ground, too. I didn’t want them to be found by the neighborhood cat, so I made a little nest for them in a Tupperware container and put it in the window ledge. Next, I got to find out what kind of birds my babies were. While watching them from my window, I saw the most beautiful bright red cardinal coming to the Tupperware container to bring bugs and little worms to my baby birds. They stayed on my windowsill for one week. During that time, their colors also changed. Two of the birds changed from silvery gray to orange and then finally to bright red, just like the cardinal dad who was feeding them. The third bird changed from silvery gray to orange to reddish brown, just like the cardinal mom who I saw later on during the week. The silvery gray fuzz disappeared and for a day or two, my birds just looked like they only had orange skin and no feathers. I wondered if they were cold at night. Before they jump out of the nest, all three birds had some reddish brown feathers to protect then while they continued to grow.
2. The black squirrels of Northern Wisconsin that I see at my cabin use color to their advantage in nature. Their deep, glossy black color hides them well. In fact, they are so well hidden that many people from other parts of Wisconsin don’t even believe that they exist. They can sneak around and hide in places where the ordinary gray squirrels and the red squirrels cannot go. The gray squirrels seem to be everywhere, especially in the autumn, but the black squirrels are rarely seen. We are told that squirrels don’t see colors and don’t really see too well, much like the rabbits mentioned in the article. However, the black squirrels must be identified in some way in the animal kingdom, because they seem to be the leaders among other squirrels. They also seem to be just a bit cuter, smarter, sassier, chattier, and faster than the ordinary gray squirrels. I would say those black squirrels definitely know how to use their color in nature.
I like the detail you put into your descriptions. I was really able to picture you helping those birds. This inspired me to maybe try something like this some day.
DeleteKayKay--I enjoyed how well you described each bird/squirrel you observed. Next time im at my lake house i'm going to look for the same things you spoke about! awesome!
DeleteKatlyn, I loved how you related the reading to your own life experiences. The description you used to describe the squirrels made me able to further understand what you are saying. I wonder if the black squirrels really are some kind of leader in the animal kingdom?
Delete1. Natural light is the most beautiful light of all. I think that this is an interesting concept and idea and I quite strongly agree with it. When the sun is shining it’s so beautiful and somehow I just feel happier than when artificial lights are on. I am very big on the right lighting. If I am in side somewhere I have to get the light as close to natural light as I can, otherwise it really bugs me. I also think this is interesting because so many people are constantly talking about innovating and improving but when was the last time you took the time to just admire the moonlight or the stars? Maybe instead of pushing forward we should take a step back and just appreciate. One of the most powerful passages in the reading was when the girl and her mom were at the planetarium and the light pollution had gotten to the point that the little girl and the rest of the world couldn’t see the stars any longer. Her mom was telling her how when she was little she could just go outside and look up and see the stars and how sad she was that her daughter wouldn’t get that opportunity. We need to step back and think about the environment in general and start to help it become healthier again because it will get to a point where we won’t be able to improve it anymore.
ReplyDelete2. I think another very important idea was the boy who shined the flashlight in his eyes and blinded himself for a brief moment. I think weather the author meant to or not created a metaphor directly correlating to how ignorant humans are towards the environment. We are blind to the fact that we are killing our planet and that in a few hundred years we won’t be able to see the stars in the sky any longer. This is so sad because it is so beautiful to see and when you look up and the sky just glows you are awestruck. There’s not many things left in this world besides nature that can do that. We are also literally blinding ourselves with manmade light. We’ve become so conditioned to flipping the light switch on in every room we walk into that we turn the lights on even when it’s in the middle of the day when we wouldn’t even necessarily need them.
it's cool that you noticed the metaphor the author may or may not have meant to speak about! We definitely have the same opinion on natrual light/darkness.. i think everyone should take a second to admire the stars and moon
DeleteAbby, I love that you were able to take from this reading things that were not directly stated. I agree that we need to step back and think before we can begin to help the environment become healthier.
DeleteAbby, I love your response and how you said "we are blind to the fact that we are killing our planet and that in a few hundred years we won't be able to see the stars in the sky any longer". Soo true! I prefer natural light over artificial light- I like admiring God's light and all its natural beauty. Stars in the sky-especially at night- inspire me and bring me peace!! Nice job! =)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNicholas Busalacchi
ReplyDelete10/03/14
Color
1. I believe that color is so important to humans, because of our curiosity. As a species, humans are naturally curious. We are always interested in learning or discovering how things are made, when and where things originate from, how they work and why things do whatever they do. And color, for us, is so often a passageway into that real. The color of some things can be an indicator of so many other different things, or what color something else changes when reacted with another. Color is so incredible because it does not have a voice, it does not have feelings or emotions, yet can cause such things within us. Colors can indicate mood, or an idea, or make an endless amount of statements. We use color to separate ourselves from others. Every country has a flag, with different colors and color combinations representing all different things. Colors not only can tell us who we are, but what we do. Stop, go, yield, cross or don’t cross, construction, all things related to driving that relate to color, and nearly any subject you can think of relating to anything, will be influenced by color. Sports, government, entertainment, business, law, food, nature, electronics, school, military, music, art, all these things and so many more that are so heavily influenced and changed by color. The list of why color is so very important to humans is nearly endless.
2. Would I applaud after a sunset? Maybe. There are a lot of reasons to applaud a sunset. It is truly a beautiful thing to watch. But what’s most interesting to me is what’s actually happening in a sunset. Our planet spinning around to face away from the sun, cooling us and setting us in darkness, to take a break from the sun’s intense rays. I believe that that is worthy of applause. We never asked the earth to spin, didn’t program it into a computer, it simply does it on it’s own. Setting all the scientific and religious reasoning aside, it is simply an incredible thing to fathom. We have a hard enough time just trying to get ourselves out of bed, yet this massive rock floating in the middle of space never stops spinning to make sure we get the proper amount of light and dark. And it doesn’t really matter how, or why it does what it does. We should take it as it is and appreciate it.
You remind us that there is so much more happening during a sunset than pretty colors draped across the sky. to take a sunset for granted would be to take for granted our chance and miraculous existence on this earth.
DeleteNick, I really like how you point out how color dictates so much in our life and represents so much. I insistently think of the Stars and Stripes of our flag flying in the wind!
DeleteIn the collection Let There Be Night, there are many very strong points made, and these ideas and themes come together to outline the human experience perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThe first point was introduced flawlessly with the map of North America at night. Light blinds us. With our light, we block the real light, the light of the stars and of the sky above us. Most of our light is wasted, bouncing off of buildings and projecting itself outwards, into space where it is never seen again, or at least until it is picked up by satellites, just to further prove my point.
In my seventeen years on this planet, I can count on my hands the number of times that I have seen the stars, an unfortunate truth. And most of those times were during my trip to South Dakota, over the badlands and The Black Hills, where artificial light is scares and human presence almost non-existent. "Artificial light makes it difficult to see beyond our constricted, human centered world"(Moore 12).
The second point I find to be the biggest part of this reading is the focus gained when you lose the light. Highlighted in Praise of Darkness, about a man who isolates himself without electricity for four and a half months, is the detail and knowledge gained when you take away the distracting lights and media. The author heavily focuses on the things seen and observed in the dark of the forest. No distractions and an infinity of curiosity lead to the experience the writer seeks. During the day, the character can speciate and distinguish between the surrounding trees. There is a huge difference between daytime and nighttime forest observation because of the blinding and delusional effect light has on the human sense of perspective. He speaks about the trees and the gained ability to see the commonality in them, and get to know the trees surrounding him. He would not have been able to connect with nature without the absence of modern technology. I don’t think I could have done what this person did, remove himself from all media and electricity. Although I would enjoy the stars and the enhanced detail that only remote forest brings, I enjoy the world in which I live, a world with lights and other people. I live in the hope that one day we learn to conserve light and have the best of both worlds, modern technology, and the ancient beauty of the stars.
Zalen Isaacson (7th Hour)
ReplyDeleteI read the passage "In Praise of Darkness" by John Daniel. The author produced a story that I related to in many ways. One of them, the most prominent to me, was the fact that he routinely tends to write at night. The same is true for me. I CAN write during the day, say if I have an impromptu to complete in class, or something along those lines, but I much prefer to write at night. For some time I looked at it as something of a weakness, procrastination of some sort, but eventually I learned, through first hand accounts such as this, that it is very normal, and one should embrace it should they find themselves in that position.
Another thing that gave me cause for thought was the author's isolation in the cabin. He did this, I think, to clear his mind and produce better writing, free of distraction, or something along those lines. This reminded me of an issue that is prevalent in modern society, of which I am most certainly a part of. Distractions caused by electronics inhibit our natural abilities to read and write, both of which take concentration, by providing our brains with instant gratification, no work necessary. Because of this constant flow of artificial information, I think that the creative sides of our minds go some what dormant. Other things such as school, friends, and family give cause for more complicated distraction, along with the multitude of other minor things that plague our busy little lives. By isolating yourself from all of this you're brain and body are able to function more effectively, giving you a chance to think more clearly and produce better work.
The third and final topic that I would like to discuss is darkness, this being the main focus of the story. In every day life, most people have artificial lights. These lights keep your body awake, when, naturally, you would already be asleep. This has an extremely negative impact on the human body, especially in the long run, but it doesn't seem like something anyone is too worried about. If you eliminate these lights from your life, then your body will find a natural rhythm, which is described in the part of the story in which the author focuses on the "second sleep". This I found fascinating.
It is interesting that you list artificial light among distracting technologies that interfere with creative thought and it is tragic that there are so few places left to retreat to from these distractions.
DeleteWhat could we do to change the amount of artificial light tainting our creative minds? Do we have to live somewhere that isn't a city?
DeleteIn the reading, I understood that the world is composed of 2 lights. One light is human light, while the other is nature's light. Nature's light is the best light of all. Sure it's great to have light that shines over cities, but what good is a lit street than a sparkling sky? The stars and the moon are in the sky, illuminating the world. When I was in south africa, I saw the nightsky for the first time. I could see the milkyway and the stars and satellites. It was gorgeous. I would take that over anything. Nature creates a darkness that is in balance with a little twilight above it. On the ground below, animals and people need light as it's fulcrum to function perfectly. However, it is not good when it ruins the natural beauty.
ReplyDeleteThe child who shined the light in his eye-People often are very oblivious to the light man creates. The child in the dark cave walks in and shines the light in his eye, startling him. People never sense what light does to the darkness; it drowns it. When walking in a cave, you need a little lite to guide you. But if that light is blinding you, what good does it do? You need to balance out a little light in the darkness, and work your way through the shadows. Just like the stars, a flashlight could provide necessary light, but like the city, blinding the natural surroundings. People need to focus on a balance, that even though it is nice to have light, there's a point to where it is no good. I love nature, and love seeing what's around at night. But what good does it do if I put lamps everywhere? Nothing.
Jake, I think that we have two different lights as well. I also enjoyed reading about your experience in Africa and how that was the first time you saw light.
DeleteHey Jake! I really liked your response! I especially like the part where you said, "People never sense what light does to the darkness; it drowns it". Really deep and it made me stop and think about light and darkness! Awesome word choice!!
Delete
ReplyDeleteReading Response
Irene Stephenson
Hour 7
Creative Writing
Response to “In Praise of Darkness” by John Daniel
The essay follows two major themes: in darkness one is more in tune with what is around them, they are one with the word and total darkness at night allows for enhanced spirituality and creativity.
In the first paragraph on the second page Daniel says “As I watched the trees in darkness it was distinctions I saw but the commonality, not their names I knew them by their essential namelessness… I felt closer to them.” This passage reveals that in darkness the synchronicity of the world is far greater than it is during the day. In the day one spends their time naming what they are looking and are overloaded with things happening all around them whereas at night everything is one. Everything is shapes and shadows and one does not feel the need to identify what they are looking at they can just look and feel.
The theme of total darkness at night promoting benefits such as an enhanced spirituality and creativity can be found throughout the reading. On page 22 in the final paragraph Daniel says “The most obvious effect of night is to limit what can see and do, and for me this means to foster the kind of introspective awareness in which creativity can grow”. In darkness one is not flooded by images that they may be flooded in the light. This means that instead of looking out one must look in. In darkness one spends a lot of time looking in on themselves, finding what is important to them, discovering things about themselves they may have always known but never thought of because they never had the chance to look into themselves with no distractions. One may discover hopes and dreams or fears and nightmares. The greatest inspiration is inside oneself. One can never reach their full creative potential until they have look into the inner depths of themselves.
Color- 1. Would I applaud after a sunset? No. I wouldn't simply because the beauty of a sunset is ineffable in every sense of the word and applauding just wouldn't do it justice. Sunsets are beautifully illustrated colors of varying shades and intensitys plastered onto the canvas that is the sky itself. No one can control it, so I feel that its unfiltered, natural artistry at its absolute finest. You can't artificially recreate a sunset because a sunset is not only an image, but also an experience. Looking at the sunset in front of you and feeling the warmth of the sun slowly slip beyond the horizon is euphoric. It should be greeted with silence rather than unnecessary noise pollution.
ReplyDeleteAnimal- 2. I believe of all of the animals, the Cuttlefish manipulates color far better than the rest of his under, or above water counterparts. The cuttlefish can manipulate its own cells to replicate ranges of colors, all of which have different meanings. It can use its ability to attract the opposite sex, it can use it to intimidate its competition, or it could use it to attract its very own meal, but its the fact that it uses its gift not only for survivals sake, but also for communication that gives it the title of most skillful color manipulator.
Elias, I love your description of the sunset and why you wouldn't applaud after seeing a sunset
DeleteYour opinion is very logical about sunset. It describes the originality of the sun and how it is impossible to simulate the feeling of it. Also, It makes sense that you wouldnt just clap when a sunset approaches, but mentally you would.
DeleteAshley Allen, 7th Hour
ReplyDeleteIn the reading “The gift of darkness”, it talks about the many gifts darkness gives us, and how we don’t take advantage of them. One piece that stood out to me was: “Eventually, we put him on his feet and handed him the light. he switched it on, pointed it straight into his eyes, and turned away, hurt and bewildered”. This particular piece makes me think the little boy is a reflection of us. It shows us that the world is so blinded by the artificial life mankind has to offer, that we don't even get to see the natural light nature has to offer at night. Maybe sometimes I fall asleep with my light on accidentally. What I’m really doing is blinding myself with my room light, which is preventing me from discovering this whole new world in the darkness.
Which leads me into the world being a mystery in darkness. “Mystery opens the human spirit to what is beyond it. Encountering that mystery gives a person a sort of “night vision” of imagination”. But if we’re dimming lights or leaving a certain room light on, we take away that experience of a whole new world. Being in the dark makes you wonder and discovery different things you will never be able to see with the artificial lights on. You see things differently, and the darkness lets your imagination roam free to think an obstacle looks like something else. It’s the beauty of darkness. You may see a stuffed laundry bag with a basketball sitting on top of it in the artificial light. But you would not be able to see a big midget in the artificial light; that’s something only discovered in nature’s light and darkness.
The world is blinded by light, that we won’t be able to discover the world we live in in another way. We can’t keep taking darkness and its natural light for granted, because one day it won’t be here. Then we’re just stuck with this boring artificial light that we all love, because we didn’t take advantage of the natural life we had.
I agree Ashley,we really need to take a trip through the true beauty of darkness. I really need to turn off my tv before I go to sleep because I feel I'm missing out on the peace the night can really show us.
DeleteChristopher Williams
ReplyDeleteTrespassed on night, by David Gressner
Narrator and his wife lost their house at Cape Cod Bay by the ocean. The narrator knows the beach as long as he has known others.
Next door they lived by a massive construction site.
The neighbor, the doctor, who stressed about watching over his own property. He looks out for trespassers.
He illuminated 35 various spotlights and ground lights.
The doctor believed “how one person freedom can impose on the freedom of other, how by shining his lights he would take away what the rest of us had come there for. If this freedom, it felt more like tranny (19).”
The doctor said “ let there be light “ he could shine his spotlights directly on the beach. The reason why those of safety, concerned with people trespassing on the land he now own, but not worried about his light trespass on the night.
The town people used the law about preserving the “historic cultural” they use the law to force the doctor to give up some lights and to dim others.
The narrator and his wife can walk on the beach at night.
One main idea; “ how one person’s freedom can impose on the freedom of others, and how by shining his light he would take away what the rest of us had come there for. I agree because you can have anything you want inside your house like light or other stuff other people don’t have. If you have your own land and own home you can have anything and do anything to your own land. I will act the same way as the doctor is acting if someone was trespassing my land, People can leave trash on your land and use the bathroom on your land it was not that hard. I disagree to have a lot of lights in my house so people will know I’m at home. I Don’t want to get rob by some kids that want so food, a video games and my TV’S.
you did a really nice on the way you spelled everything out and the way you talked about light in a particular way. Light is such an amazing thing.
DeleteKeep up the good work!
In response to “In Praise of Darkness”
ReplyDeleteThe vision John Daniel creates in his essay of the four months he spent in isolation in the Rogue River Canyon is . He spins his words so elegantly around us, they envelope us like night itself. I had no trouble imagining the “planet’s drop of liquid light and the first few stars” that must have spanned the sky as the dusk settled around the author, nor did I struggle at all to understand the “wilderness vaster than daylight eyes can apprehend” which surrounded Daniel while he lived among the conifers of Southern Oregon. As he shared his experiences with true night, I couldn’t help but remember my own. High above treeline in the Wind River Wilderness, a hundred or more miles from the nearest city and thousands of feet above the sparse cattle ranches that dotted the valleys, I was also able to witness real darkness. I and a few friends would sleep outside beneath the star strewn sky, where the bands of the milky way were suspended like clouds and the night wrapped around us like a blanket. Lying on our backs, we would watch as the stars and planets began to fill the sky- the big dipper twinkling towards Polaris just rising in the North, and the Summer Triangle blazing right ahead. During the day, the peaks and ridges stood friendlily about us and visibility extended for miles. But when night came to wash us in blackness and the false blue ceiling was lifted, the universe became infinite and we felt bare and exposed yet at the same time enlightened as Vega peered down at us from the cosmos.
I was remembering this the other morning as we drove along the highway just before dawn. The big dipper was hanging right outside the window, the same constellation I had seen just months before. But somehow, it looked different; dimmer, older. Pressed against a sky purple with citylight, it lost something. With the constant expansion of the city, it is becoming more and more difficult to truly catch a glimpse of the night sky. Night is an essential part of our existence and our attempts to shut it out will be damaging to us in the end, as darkness plays a vital part in sleep. The dark has also been called “the mother of thoughts,” for exposure to the night has also been critical to many poets and philosophers. By diffusing the night with artificial brightness, we may have, according to Daniels, lost a means of maintaining our mental and spiritual wholeness.
It is interesting that we go to such great measures to shut out the darkness. It might not be the darkness itself that makes us uncomfortable, but the unknown that the darkness represents. The terror of being enclosed by darkness is similar to the fright that strikes us when we swim in the middle of the lake and are suddenly aware of the depth and mystery of the bottom. Often, we just swim back to shore or install a street lamp, but when we choose to accept the mystery, we often discover that the lake bed is really beautiful and that the night sky is filled with stars.
I like your interpratation of this reading. I never thought of the sleep portion of darkness.
DeleteThis is a truly beautiful response to the reading!!
Delete"But when night came to wash us in blackness and the false blue ceiling was lifted, the universe became infinite and we felt bare and exposed yet at the same time enlightened as Vega peered down at us from the cosmos" the feeling of being exposed and enlightened at the same time is not one that happens often but I do believe that in order to feel enlightened you must first be exposed to something new, something that strips you of what you previously thought of as truth. So awesome that the night sky did that for you!!
Grace O'Brien:
ReplyDeleteWith my bed placed right next to my windows, I’ve always wished to be able to peak through the shades at night and glance at the night sky and all it’s brightly lit stars. Instead they are masked by the streetlights and my neighbors’ house lights. As a person who greatly admires the stars because of the perspective they give you on how small you and all your worries are, I appreciate traveling to my lake house with clear night skies. Being able to sit out on the pier late at night and star gaze is so simple yet so surreal. A passage I thoroughly enjoyed from Let There Be Night was when the writer spoke about the first and second sleep. In between the two “sleeps”, you would get up and go about something that you would do during the day. This made me wonder that if everyone slept when the sun went down and woke when the sun rose, if we would experience the first and second sleep as well. For the seventeen years I have been alive I don’t believe that I have had the first and second sleep occur to me. I would love to do something like the writer did, like go out into the wilderness where you can experience natural light and darkness and see how it effects you. Last night a fuse was blown in my house and I didn’t realize how much I rely on artificial light when it gets dark outside. I think that if we didn’t have artificial light everyone would have a normal sleeping pattern because without light you can’t see anything so you wouldn’t be able to do anything.
Another thing that I found relatable from the reading was when the writer spoke about how it was harder to write in the morning than at night. I have a journal that I write in fairly regularly and I always find myself writing at night. I think I do it that way so I can reflect on what happened to me that day instead of in the morning when my feelings have been slept on and calmed down. I’m going to give writing in the morning a try and see how differently my thoughts come out on paper. Overall I thought Let There Be Night was beautifully written and got me thinking.
Grace your description on how the sky looks when you are at your lake house made me feel very peaceful, and reminds me of what I do when I'm at my cabin. Good work!
DeleteHey Grace, I can definitely sympathize with street lights ruining your view of the night sky. I feel the same way. I'm interested as to what you write about in your journal at night. Thanks.
DeleteI would applaud to a sunset. Not out loud, but in my mind. Has someone ever told you not to take each day for granite because you might not be here to experience another? That is similar to how I view sunsets. When something is so grand and beautiful we applaud. Not to prove to ourselves we like it but to show appreciation. When a sunset takes over the sky and creates magical beams of color it is insanely beautiful. All though this may seem as though its a normal act of everyday life, the sun setting at 6:30 pm; we aren’t promised to see another sunset. When I stand before my favorite band as they perform a song I like I stand in awe. When they are done playing, I do not stand there and stare at them; I clap. The band can hear me so they realize my appreciation. A sunset can not hear me therefore I may just stand and say to myself that, that is so beautiful. A quiet applause can be just as important as a loud applause.
ReplyDeleteI believe that color is important to us because we can thrive from it. Things we thrive from keep us alive, healthy and well. Have you ever sat and tried to create another color in your mind? You can’t and its very annoying. Our minds wander but as humans we only allow them to wander so far. Looking at a black and white world wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen but if we did not have the ability to see color would we even see? Seeing colors allows us to stimulate all parts of our mind, keeping us healthy. If we couldn’t see color some of our few day to day tasks might become more difficult.
hrhr
ReplyDeleteColor
ReplyDelete1. Color occurs in our mind because it makes everything in our world seem more fun and colorful. Not literally because we've learned that color reflects off our eyes and certain light and all but I think that the quote means something significant to our lives, and if we think about it seriously we realize it makes sense somehow! We cannot make up a new color (as Hannah said) but we sure can use color to make our lives 'pop' and more fun and unique. Colors are just colors- reflections off certain light- but in our minds we make them unique and special. Colors are used for other things, too like organization or representation. LIke the U.S.A flag is represented by stripes, stars, with three colors. And another example, in my binder I have colored tabs that represent each subject. But anyways, without our minds being unique and "colorful", colors are just colors- and to us they would look black and white. With our minds being as awesome and unique as they are, colors are enhanced and seen as cool and bright and unique as they are.
2. I guess I would applaud after a sunset. All the beautiful earthly colors put into one big, beautiful setting is an amazing image to look at and its because of its beauty that we often stop and take a picture of sunsets. I would applaud because I appreciate how beautiful God made all the colors and to show my appreciation and admire nature's beauty. I'm happy colors are what they are and what we see because imagine a black and white sunset! Not nearly as pretty as a real, colorful sunset. We don't know if that sunset will be the last one we see because we are not guaranteed another day on earth, so I think we should all appreciate all color and all the beautiful things we see in the world because life is too short to not appreciate them and enjoy them! =)
Frankie Cortez 7th hour
ReplyDeleteWhen the book talks about how when you see a red car every color is observed by the car exept for red. Red is the only color that is reflected from the car that is the reason why we see the color red. This is very interesting makes me think that all my eyes see are illusions, because what i really see is not that actual color. Does this mean that everyone is some type of color blind? Just think about it, sounds like a crazy thing to think about. The book talks about how we see the "rejected" color. The color that an item didn't want? Is that was this book is talking about? possibly. I also like how the book gives us how we got the word fall. I never knew there was a certain reason why we call fall, fall. Also saying how kids love to play in the leafs in the fall and make pretend like it was a bed. To me this was very emotional because it reminded of me when I was a child. I used to do this all of the time, it makes me feel so happy just to think of my great childhood. I would go out in from of the house that my dad gathered up and just play with my friends jumping in them, making it rain and just straight up having fun.
The idea that color is the opposite of what is really seen could be right and wrong. We defined color before we knew how it worked, as the color we see. So if we go by that concept, the inverse theory is wrong. However, if you think about it, whatever color is being absorbed could classify the object as that color, deflecting what other color it is not. In my opinion, what I refer to as the inverse theory, i believe is not reliable and is in more "figurative" Ideas rather than "literal" Ideas.
DeleteSavannah Daniels
ReplyDeleteCreative Writing
Color
1. Color is important to us as humans perceiving our environment because it is a way to identify something such as a person, place, or thing. It is a way to describe something that is in your surroundings in the case of an emergency. A color basically tells you what something is or what something does. Like the traffic lights, there is red, yellow, and green, which indicate rather you should stop, yield, or go. Colors also tell you when seasons are changing. Leaves on trees change color to indicate that a new season is coming for example: when autumn is coming leaves begin to turn red, brown, yellow, and orange and they begin to fall off the trees and wither away. But when the spring comes the leaves regrow on the branches and are all green in color and full of life the trees begin to look full and alive again.
2. Yes, I would applaud after a sun set because, it would be such a beautiful sight to see after a long day of school. For me the sunset would signify that it is the end of a long hard week which means no school or homework and I would be able to sit back and relax with my family and friends. The sunset also would signifies another day that god has blessed me with on the earth to share with the people that I love and care about. I would also applaud after the sunset because it would remind me of all the many times my family and I would go on road trips to Mississippi during the summer when I was a little girl, we would watch the sunset and rise as we drove down the highways. It would also remind me of the times when me and my mom would go outside in our backyard and lay down in the grass just so we could watch the sunset and talk about what I wanted to be when I grow up.
I agree Savannah, I would love to see a beautiful sun set after a long day, because everything is so peaceful, and harmless.
DeleteApplauding after the sunset is great I can see my self doing that some people said we should not because it will always be there, and to that I say why not, just because it comes up every day doesn’t make it any less beautiful. I think it is very sad that when we see something amazing so many times it becomes less amazing.
ReplyDeleteSimon BJornstad
ReplyDelete7th hour
I agree with you frankie, when we see color we dont see the actuall color of the object. Its like our mind is playing a trick on us. So what is the actuall color of that? is it orange? You dont have a way to see it, so thats why its fun. YOu can imagine what other colors you cant see and what it would look like if it was green or blue
Jake, i like the way you described how there are two different kinds of lights. Also it is nice to see the dark and the city at different times. We should not have to see both at the same time. It ruins both beauties. The stars become invisible from the lights of the street lights and the city is dark because of the start night.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading my section of the gift of darkness it reminds me of my childhood when i used to go up north every summer and winter. I was lucky, i sometimes got see parts of the northern lights. But more astonishing is you could see the milky way every night. It was even a question if we were gonna see the stars tonight, there were always there. But now hotels and resorts are filling all of the forest with parking lots. The lights from the parking lot was affecting the visibility of the stars and milky way. At this point it was impossible to see the Northern lights anywhere anymore. It wasn't even fun going up there anymore because all you could see is factories and hotels. So we just stopped going. I wish that i could see those stars just one more time.
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ReplyDelete1. Color holds importance because it provides, distinction and expression. Ione of the first things we learn as children are the names and differentiations of colors. We need them because they provide recognition of different things in our brains. But why, then, can animals who see in black and white still distinguish between different things? And why can I still understand a picture in black and white? Maybe because we can differentiate by different shades of grey, but the importance of colors really lies in the expression, the life of the color and the feeling it brings. Ackerman claims that some colors trigger certain feelings in everyone. This idea causes me to consider what a favorite color is. Why doesn't everyone have the same favorite color if colors cause the same feelings. Maybe it's because we enjoy different feelings differently. Maybe because I prefer the calming feeling that comes from viewing a light shade of lavender where as someone else prefers the excitement of a bright orange. I wonder if that is an identifier of different personality traits. But I'm not a very calm person so maybe I like it because it contrasts my personality and makes me feel more calm. I would like to see what someone with a generally calm personality prefers as a favorite color.
ReplyDelete2. I don't think I would clap out loud after a sunset, but I find this question very intriguing. A sunset is obviously a very beautiful thing, a natural combination of warm colors that triggers an unbelievable sensation in us. But what is a sunset? A sunset is a threshold between night and day. A cycle that occurs every day, sun up, sun down, sun around. A cycle that passes between the two solar entities responsible for life, the sun and moon take turns watching us from above. Like metamorphosis of a cell, a woman's fertility cycle, the leaves that grow green and fall red, the birth and death of any organism, the decomposition that creates nutrients for the next growth, and the phases of the moon. Life is a cycle full of cycles, and the sunset is a beautiful daily reminder of that. The sensation does not only come from the colors but of that feeling that this beauty, this life, is always coming around the bend, up form the horizon, over the mountain, into the ground, and so on.
I agree, a black and white photo doesn't quite have the power or beauty of a colored picture.
Delete#2
ReplyDeleteOur passage revolved around the central idea that children in the future will never know true darkness. Our world is full of light, but it is artificial. Imagine a time where light was the sun. The only light you knew was up when it was up but when it went down, past the horizon line, the planet was cloaked in a thick darkness that only the occasional full moon could penetrate. But when you turned your gaze upward, the sky lit up, a thousand tiny dots peppering the vast expanse of skyline with the swirl of the milky way as a backdrop. Before electricity, this was probably a very common sight. I am 18 years old and I have seen this view twice, once up in northern Wisconsin and once in southern Colorado deep in the San Juan range of the Rocky Mountains. It shouldn't be a rare occurrence to see the natural beauty of a night sky. With all our new technology, our species is going to soon lose sight of the night. If it took me 18 years to see it twice, will my kids take 36 years just to see it once? The light pollution is running rampant, killing birds and throwing off migration patterns. I tried to take a time-lapse of the night sky with my camera and couldn't, the light given off from Milwaukee 2 miles away was clouding my view, blocking the stars. Its sad to think we can't see what our ancestors saw, and to have it be something so natural as the sky we live under. The human race is the only species to have ever devised the means of its own extinction and I would say at this point were living up to expectation. I hope that one day I can take my kids to a place where they can look up and see the same stars the egyptians or early colonials saw. The stars are powerful and nearly everlasting, but even starlight can be dimmed if the human race decides to nail the coffin shut.
In the passage that I read, a man described the area in which he grew up, and the beauty that was encompassed there. After describing the house, the beach, and the surrounding woods in which he grew up, he then came to describe the man who attempted to take away its spark. He was referred to as the doctor. This man lit up the woods and the beach, which took away from their mysterious and natural feel. The main character did not like this. He and the rest of his neighbors fought this man at every turn in order to get him to reduce his lighting and respect their wishes to have the area remain in its original state. After a long time of bitching to the town council, they finally got their wishes. The man had to reduce the amount of lighting on his property.
ReplyDeleteI hated this story. Not because it was terribly boring or anything (which it was), but because this man and the rest of the town couldn’t get one man to comply with their demands without a long period of time that was filled with annoying complaints. They never seemed to talk to the man directly, and even after all of this sheisty and catty behavior, they still couldn’t get the man to completely change what he had done “wrong”. It was dumb, poorly handled, and it reflected negatively on the main character, showing that he wasn’t any sort of hero or courageous soul who did a deed for his fellow citizens, but rather he was a coward who did an annoying and cowardly amount of bitching in order to get his way in a series of town meetings. I don’t know why he would want to award his spineless behavior by writing about it, but either way I wouldn’t ever want to read about it again.
I do have to agree that it was nicely written and had some good word choice, as there were passages that were beautiful on their own. I enjoyed his description of the woods and the house in which he grew up, and I liked the way he captured how much it meant to him. He is definitely a good writer (in my opinion), he just writes about cowardly endeavours (as far as I can tell).