Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Haley Reading Group: reflections

[The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2015)]

This semester, we read and commented on:
• Jake Abrahamson’s “Waiting for the Light” (1 – 8)
• Shelia Webster Boneham’s “A Question of Corvids” (33 – 42)
• Lisa M. Hamilton’s “Linux for Lettuce” (72 – 90)
• Rowan Jacobsen’s “Down by the River” (91 – 99)
• Seth Mnookin’s “One of a Kind” (191 – 206)
• Matthew Power’s “Blood in the Sand” (212 – 224)
Which article most intrigued you? Why or how so?

22 comments:

Unknown said...

My favorite reading was One of a Kind. I was intrigued from the start!! I wondered what could be wrong with Bertrand and I quickly became discouraged when Matt Might and Christina Casanova went to multiple specialists with no answer to why their child was severely disabled. It wasn’t until Bertrand went through genome sequencing that the scientists discovered a genetic mutation of the NGLY1 gene.

Madalynn M.

Anonymous said...

The article that most intrigued me was Seth Mnookin's "One of a Kind". It was eye opening to see how hard the parents had to fight to receive treatment for their child. The many different doctors and diagnoses seemed heartbreaking, as did watching your child get progressively worse. Finding that genetic sequencing could help people in these situations find out answers earlier really intrigued me. This made science and its applications more real to me and feel much more important.

Marina T.

Amira said...

Amira F
My favorite was Linux for Lettuce. To me I was amazed that big companies really cared to try and pull one over on smaller farmers. I loved that it was all about teamwork. How the farmers not only shared their information on the plants but also worked together to go against the big companies.

Alexis H. said...

Alexis H.

Seth Mnookin’s “One of a Kind” was the most intriguing. This article talked about togetherness and realizing that the things you are going through it’s just for you. Often I get caught up thinking that I’m the only person who goes through certain things, when in reality what I’m going through can and does happen to everyone.

This article taught a deeper less rather than just the there’s always a solution to everything. It taught people to take themselves out of there bubbles and enjoy life.

Anonymous said...

The article that intrigued me the most was Jake Abrahamson’s “Waiting for the Light” because it really opened my eyes and made me realize how privileged we are as Americans. Sometimes I forget that not everybody lives the same as me, so reading the article was a good reminder of that. I think that it is always good to be informed on how other people are living, so that you can better appreciate the things that you have.
-Alyria B.

Linda H. said...

The Article that most intrigued me was Jake Abrahamson’s “Waiting for the Light”. It helped me to understand how people in other parts of the world live without electricity, and made me see the value of being able to use electricity 24 hours a day whenever I need it. This article also made me want to see progress made in making sure everyone has access to power not just those in power.

Linda H.

Alexis S. said...

The article that was the most intriguing to me was Matthew Power’s “Blood in the Sand”. Power's article was written very well and contained many details that you could visualize well while reading. This article helped me realize how important it is that we preserve wildlife and take care of our environment. He also showed the importance of not giving up on your passion and told a great story of a hero who did exactly that in order to save the turtles.

- Alexis S.

Anonymous said...

The article that was most intriguing was "Blood in the Sand" by Matthew Power. It shocked me to read about an environmentalist that was just trying to save turtles be brutally murdered over poachers. Mora's bravery and passion was truly inspiring and I am glad that Paul Watson sought out justice for his death.

Samantha A.

Anonymous said...

Of all the readings done during this semester, the one that let's say interested me the most rather than intrigued me was waiting for the light. I have really enjoyed the fact that the scholar who wrote the article talked about an experience many people in undeveloped countries are experiencing. It leads us back to realize how lucky if not blessed we are to have the little things we have everyday such as electricity.

Geonel M.

Gabrielle H. said...

The article I found the most interesting this semester was 'Linux for Lettuce.' I was never aware of the "free the seed" movement and learning about the competitiveness among farmers against pantenting and restrictive contracts really opened my eyes to how the market works against them. It was nice to see OSSI's movement to make power seeds available to everyone in the end.

Dasmin W. said...

The article that I found most intriguing was “ One of a Kind” by Mnookin because I could really relate to the struggles of the family personally and from an educational perspective. I could connect personally with it because I have family members who have gone through similar situations where the doctors don’t know what is going on or how to fix it. The emotions that the characters in the article had to face, I too faced similar emotions of sadness, hopefulness, and anger. I connect with this story from a educational stand too because I’m taking a class on disabilities and the some of the issues that the article mention, my teacher discussed in class like how a disability can affect a family.

Caleb Abernathy said...

The article that I found to be most intriguing was One of a Kind. To me, it really displayed a story that is very relevant to the way that things are in today's society as well. For example, in today's society there is a company called Tiny Hearts, that makes apparatuses for very small infants or children with heart conditions. These apparatuses help them live. The company is not very well funded because people do not see a profit in it. This is very sad because it seems like people are putting a company's bottom line above a child's life line.

In the passage, One of a Kind, this is very similar because it was very hard for the family to find assistance due to their financial situation. Hopefully, some day it will not always be about a dollar, but rather about the lively-hood of individuals.

Caulder Brantley said...

Caulder Brantley
I would have to say from all of our reading this semester the one that intrigued me the most/ stuck with me was Matthew Power’s “Blood in the Sand” (212 – 224).I chose this reading because after reading this one it stuck with me for weeks. I was interested in the giant leather back turtles and the conservation efforts in Costa Rico, i was interested in Jario Mora Sandoval and his story and if they found his murders, and I was interested in if any further protection for the turtles was made.

LaTrina Brown said...

The article that I found most interesting to me was Seth Mnookin's "One of a Kind". What interested me the most about it was how we got an in depth view of what a particular family went through with their child. It was a read that kept me turning the page. It also gave me an inside on how beneficial technology is in this era. Even though technology has its downfalls, it does help a lot of people in positive ways.

Sable M. said...

The most intriguing reading was the "One of a Kind." It was interesting to read about someone's struggle and what they would go through to save someone they cared about, namely their child. The amount of time and energy put into something even though every available outlet gave no helpful answer, the couple put all in and kept persevering.

Anonymous said...

The article that intrigued me the most was blood in the sand. I always cared about the environment and this article brought the issue to my eyes from a perspective I had not viewed before. Since reading this article I have dived into more research about protecting the environment as well as the animals.

Alexis R.

Anonymous said...

The article that intrigued me the most was “A Question of Corvids." Since reading the article, I look at birds differently. I view birds on a higher intelligence scale now. I was really shocked by what a bird's level of intelligence may actually be. The article was intriguing because it pointed out a lot of interesting things about corvids, things that I had no idea a bird could do. Such as how they can possibly understand death. It was definitely something interesting to read.
Lillien W.

Unknown said...

The article that intrigued me the most was “A Question of Corvids." Since reading the article, I look at birds differently. I view birds on a higher intelligence scale now. I was really shocked by what a bird's level of intelligence may actually be. The article was intriguing because it pointed out a lot of interesting things about corvids, things that I had no idea a bird could do. Such as how they can possibly understand death. It was definitely something interesting to read.
Lillien W.

Anonymous said...

The article " One of a Kind" was the one article that I read that I actually remembered. Not just because of how recent it was but because of how power the message was. The story was very relevant because families all over the world are unable to afford medical expenses for their children. Forcing them to go to great lengths to find answers for their children, like the couple in the article. This is why technology advancements as well as all of these nonprofit organizations that we have now are so important.

Jasmine S.

Whitney Kriener said...

Of all of the readings this semester I would have to say "A question of Corvids" is my favorite. I haven't looked at birds the same ever since. When me and my friends see birds on walks from the MUC and back to our dorms, I'll find myself telling them about this article that I had read. It really stuck with me that their "brain-to-body-mass ratio... lag only slightly behind our own." It was definitely a mind boggling article.

Anonymous said...

My favorite story was One of a kind. It just shows eh length a parent will go to in order to find out what is wrong with their child. It was like a short emotional roller coaster all the way until the end.
Breann Walton

Anonymous said...

The article that most interested me was "One of a Kind". It interested me t oread about the trials and tribulations a family and parents went through for their child. Learning about all the different diagnoses a child can have is terrifying but also it opened my eyes to how so many families struggle daily because of sick children. Parents put themselves through so much just so their child can have the best quality of life, even if their situation, is not ideal.

-Jasmine D.