April 23, 2002 ~ An Engaging Person

Richard Nelson, a well-known nature writer, anthropologist, hunter, and environmentalist, taught one of my classes today. We held class outside on Sunderland Lawn.

He was very friendly, calm, and generally a very well-balanced person. But what struck me the most about him was how very aware he was. He took in everything around him. He commented on all of the plant species nearby, asked about others, and he was constantly mentioning how interesting, or beautiful, or eye-catching this or that natural feature was. Occasionally he would stop in the middle of telling a story or answering a question, listen to a birdcall and say, "That was a flicker!" and then go into a story about flickers.

I just really appreciated meeting someone who is just as interesting, engaging, and conscious in life as he is in his writing. Not only that, though. He is a man very appreciative of the natural world, someone who understands the connections between things, someone who can cultivate awareness in himself of everything about him. He noticed even the little things, things that most people would consider insignificant.

I really respect that.

Footnotes:

weather: Beautiful. Gorgeous and sunny.

bookmarked: Lots of biographies on William Cullen Bryant, and lots of his poems, too.

writing focus: Working on my long research paper on William Cullen Bryant's poetry.

observation: Buttercups blooming in the back yard lawn. (Shhhh... Don't tell the landlord that we haven't mowed it yet...)

mood: Inspired.

journal land:

"I love how all of Shakespeare's death scenes start off with "I am slain!" and then a five minute speech. 'Yes, I'm about to die. But before I go, I have some very flowery and dramatic things to say to you...' And then they always end with, 'Death! O death! Cruel death!' or something like that."

~ Monique in this entry of anyone's any.