Allie's Nature Blog

Tuesday, Feb 24, 2026 I thoroughly enjoyed todays in class activities. The romanticism vs. enlightenment activity had me engaged and thinking hard about which it could be. I found the paintings were the easiest to tell, the music in the middle, and the writing was the most difficult. This activity and the discussion of how we are in an enlightenment period currently made me think about if we would switch to romanticism again anytime soon. While we learned what romanticism looked like in art, I’m curious what society looked like at those times. It is hard to imagine medical research and the excitement for new innovations slowing down, but I also see some people wanting to return to “traditional values” and I guess that could align with the idea of romanticism because our presenters explained that it more spiritual and traditional.  The second activity we did was one of my favorites. I enjoy getting to go outside whenever we can, especially on a nice day like today. The addition of t...

Saturday, Feb 21, 2026 A reflection on the “Economy” passage. To be honest, I had to work to comprehend what Thoreau was trying to say, and even then, I don’t think I fully understand. I believe part of it is how differently the same English language is spoken nowadays, and another part is that he is talking in sort of metaphors that I do not understand. Additionally, his way of writing is quite interesting. He writes in these short little spurts, not full paragraphs. It made it difficult to follow because his ideas are not concrete sentences and the words he used are no longer used today. One quote that I did cause me to pause and think was “what a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate”. I agree with Thoreau on this. If you think you are unworthy or unable of accomplishing something, you will never try and therefore never get it. However, if you believe that you will be successful, your mind thinks about it more, makes different plans to help y...