Ryan McGovern- Second Entry

AT movie 1-29-09

The movie that we watched was very interesting. I had known a little bit about the AT because my girlfriend had taken Professor Redick's AT class, and I had joined her for a little bit of the trip. The movie really showed how rewarding hardship can be. The idea of being uncomfortable as a good thing was something that I had thought about before this film. The discussion helped me articulate my ideas about this subject more though. With the way society is now, it's very important to do things to let you remember that you're human. Sitting in front of the television does not give me the same sense of accomplishment as if I had gone for a hike or done some work. The AT seems to represent a withdrawal from society and all of it's arguably trivial problems. Instead of worrying about what you're going to do this weekend, you're worried about how you'll survive a bear encounter. Which brings us to another point that was brought up in class, which was "who is happier? The bear in the cage, or the bear in the wild?" Although the bear in the cage had everything provided for him, he seemed to be sad and lazy. The bear in the woods looked more natural, and more active. The bear in the cage could be seen to represent us, because we don't worry about food and shelter for the most part anymore. But when we are in the wild, perhaps hiking the AT, our problems are actually problems that matter, and this in turn makes us feel more alive. The closer we are to death, or at least getting hurt, that's where we actually find ourselves.

Ryan McGovern-First entry

Religion defined. 1-22-09

Actually defining religion is something that I hadn't really thought to do before. It was always kind of understood what it meant. But religion means different things to different people. The class where everyone said how they defined religion was interesting. Looking at the list, it seems like to many it meant a higher power, codes to live by, stories, rituals, and things like that. I guess the idea of actually defining something that cannot be seen was weird in a classroom setting. Also, religion can be a touchy subject for some people, so I was a little weary with how that would go. The classes' definition of wilderness was interesting because many people related it with trees and stuff like that. It was interesting when professor Redick pointed out that there are many places that are considered wilderness that have no trees, such as Antarctica and many deserts. I'm looking forward to the rest of the class.