Rediscovering Richmond

At the beginning of the semester, I viewed campus as simply a network of paths and buildings and my only thoughts were about how to get from place to place.  My thoughts about our campus did not go much beyond that.  Some days the lake would be beautiful and I would pay some attention to it, but most of the time it was simply an obstacle to navigate around.  This semester I am taking classes in the fields of leadership, rhetoric, and geography; these were not subjects that I anticipated would overlap at all at the beginning of the semester.  Back then being at Richmond, to me, was the farthest thing from nature; it was just an 8 month distraction from my mountain home.  In the last two months my views of campus and my thinking in class have changed greatly.

During the first Geography of the James class two questions were asked that really helped me start relating the University of Richmond to nature, similar to the type of nature that I associated with camping and hikeing.  The first question was, where is north?  If you dropped me anywhere in the 214 square miles of Philmont mountains I could answer that question in no time, but for some reason I was surprised that I did not have an immediate reaction when that question was asked with respect to campus where I live for the majority of my year.  The second question was what did the moon look like last night?  In the summer not a single night goes by where I do not look up at the sky and see amazing stars and the moon.  It struck me that when at Richmond I almost never take the time to look at the sky.  Perhaps this is because the stars are practically non-existent, but the moon can be seen every night and it shocked me to think that I have detached this element of connection to nature from my daily life.  Since that first class I have opened my mind to all the ways that UR is part of nature that we are learning about in class.

Through looking at maps and touring campus in our class I have a much better idea of the geography of our campus.  I now feel like if I were asked at most points on campus to close my eye I would be able to point to which direction other locations are.  I can think beyond trees and hills and visualize the campus so much better now.  I also feel I understand and visualize the ecological community on campus better now.  In seeing the campus watershed and reflecting on the lake I have begun to view it less as an aesthetic part of campus and more as an ecosystem and I now view the nature on campus in a direct way.  Despite the buildings and the paths I can see the rainfall and plants in the same way I would view them in the mountains.  For example, I never used to notice that there was a slight current in our lake and I never thought about where the water in the lake came from or where it out-flowed.

I also feel I have become a more inquisitive thinker as a result of this class.  I have never been very interested in museums or learning about plant species or asking questions about ecology.  When I have worked in New Mexico I have always focused on knowing the bare minimum in this aspect but recently I have wished I had much more knowledge of how smaller ecologic systems work.  This semester I’ve found myself being much more observant and more likely to ask questions.  Even silly ones, such as “why are worms always on the cement when it rains?” or “how do dolphins breathe?”  I went on a park clean up last weekend and kept picking up things like discarded glass jars or deer skulls and looking at the moss and other things growing on them and questioning how long they might have been there.  I think this has a great deal to do with having a reflection spot this semester and being forced to stop and look at smaller things.  As a backpacker I have always been interested in miles and summits and views so even when I’m in very remote and beautiful areas I can easily forget to stop and look at smaller ecological elements.  Its been a lot like going back to childhood where everything you see sparks a question and that ok.  I think over the years I’ve begun to be selective about my brain power because of how difficult school has become but I think asking questions that do not relate to a class assignment specifically is actually important and I’m finding it very fun.

I have also found that all of the academic subjects I am taking are beginning to blend together. I can no longer only focus on one side of things.  When I was sent to a leadership conference by the Jepson School hearing the leadership of a man who organized a very large oil spill clean up I began to question the ecological aspects of what he was saying.  In my Critical thinking class a discussion started on resource management and my knowledge of ground water and aquifers from Geography of the James became very important to developing a good argument.  Also, as an upperclassman ambassador for Westhampton College Outdoor Adventure I’ve used my new knowledge of the Richmond area to help teach the girls I work with about the ecology of the area, particularly the James River. This class and the activities we have done this semester have not only increased my knowledge of ecology and geography but have made me a more aware and inquisitive member of the campus and greater Richmond communities.