Write a narrative paragraph that covers and describes:
1) your relationship to nature thus far in your life,
2) the risks you have taken outdoors, as well as,
3) the risks you're not willing to take outdoors. Ever.
Then, create a series of 3 questions based on Mary Oliver's poem in the syllabus. What would be some questions you might ask that are nature-based or related? Note the classic tone of her poem, and the traditional way she presents--and questions--her relationship with nature. Also remember that a lack of relationship with nature is still a (negatively-based or constructed) relationship, based on a very old and powerful American nature tradition we will be analyzing all semester. This natural relationship begins as the legacy of inherited risks taken by the first American settlement, risks taken daily with the indiginous landscape and native peoples.