This is just one example of the enhanced perspective GeoJames has given me on the world around me and a way the class has given meaning to the term \u201cliving and learning community\u201d. The value in the \u201cliving\u201d part is in encouraging what you learn to impact the way you live and allowing your lived experience to enhance your learning.<\/p>\n
From reading my classmates\u2019 blog posts throughout the semester, I\u2019ve seen that I\u2019m not the only one to notice such concrete effects. McKenzie<\/a>\u00a0has allowed the curriculum to increase her (hesitant) love of green space. Andrew<\/a> noted that after \u201celite training as a member of Earth Lodge\u201d we \u201cnotice more than most\u201d in the nature around campus.<\/p>\n Because the \u201cliving\u201d aspect of class has been so essential to our understanding of and commitment to the class\u2019s purpose, such understanding was not so clear at the beginning of the semester. Both Sanitra<\/a>\u00a0and Parr<\/a>\u00a0recognized this in their blog posts.<\/p>\n Our first introduction to the curriculum was the summer reading – Portlandness<\/a>\u00a0and Forest Under Story<\/a>.<\/p>\n When discussing the Portlandness atlas, I remember finding relevant that the authors chose to introduce Portland as a Cascading City in favor of a more stereotypical or commonly known descriptor. In my summer reading blog post, I wrote that this was because \u201cthey didn\u2019t want their Atlas to simply reinforce preconceived notions of Portland but instead give honest insight into the \u201cPortlandness\u201d experienced by the city\u2019s everyday inhabitants.\u201d<\/p>\n I think the same can be said of this class, which framed geography in terms of a watershed, a new term for the majority of the class (as was evidenced by our need to define it every day of the trip and biweekly at the beginning of the semester). Although it may have presented some confusion upfront, it opened the door for all of us to conceptualize the campus, city, and planet in this new way – as a watershed, otherwise known as \u201cany area of land from which water and materials drain to a common point, such as a stream, river, pond, lake or ocean.\u201d (Thanks for the reminder<\/a>, Sanitra).<\/p>\n This class also asked more of us than others. We were asked to form a community with each other and use that community to both enhance our learning experience inside the classroom and find relevancy for the curriculum outside the confines of Gray classroom. As Quinn eloquently summarized<\/a>, I would argue that our SSIR has been able to do so effectively.<\/p>\n To evidence this, I present the snapchat I sent to many members of Earth Lodge from a plane, in which I mistakenly identified the York River as \u201cThe Mighty James\u201d (which is really besides the point, but I feel obligated to admit). Even though I identified the river on my own and found satisfaction in doing so, I appreciated that validation of my excitement by my likeminded and like-passioned friends, who could relate to my identification excitement as only tree-test veterans can. Without the \u201cliving\u201d to supplement the \u201clearning,\u201d this may not have been the case.<\/p>\n Synthetic Post #2 I\u2019ve always loved flying. While my little sister was the nervous traveler and my brother was indifferent, I was the kid who my parents could rely on to pick a fight over the window seat no matter … Continue reading ![\"JPEG](\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/files\/2016\/11\/JPEG-image-E8AC97D6D4EB-1-169x300.jpeg\")
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