Reflecting the Garden

2002-04-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

GARDEN VISIT # 8 - PHILOSOPHERS WALK, UOF T
The best thing about this area is that when you walk along you can sometimes hear music drifting out of the music conservatory and it is very beautiful. I often take this shortcut across campus and sometimes I sit and have my lunch. On this visit iam sitting and eating an apple and drinking some tea. It is Wednesday, April 17, a beautiful hot day. I can hear piano music drifting across the grass. There a rea alot of other people sitting on the grass eating their lunches. Everyone is happy and has that look in their eyes that nothing else really matters because it is spring. There are the typical sping flowers around, daffodils and tulips here and there. The name 'philosophers Walk' implies that people are going to be doing some thinking here, that it is a place removed from the rest of the city. I start to worry what will happen to this area when they do the renovations on the ROM. I hope it doesnt get destroyed. in my 4 years at Uof T, I realize that i dont think many students know about this path, or at least dont bother walikng down it, and I think it is nice. the campus is beautiful I think, they have made quite a bit of room for quads and sitting areas with trees, but I love the grassy uniqueness of Philosophers walk. A perfect place to come and do some readings. For a moment the sound of the birds chirping and music from the conservatory completely drowns out the noise from bloor street. What a beautiful day.

2002-04-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

GARDEN VISIT # 7-- ROOF-TOP GARDEN AT BATHURST AND KING
This was not a garden option on the website, but I figured it was pretty interesting. My friend lives in this condo at King and Bathurst and we were sitting around this weekend and somehow it got mentioed that there was a roof-top garden. My friend said we could go up if we wanted, so I did. I would guess that there are maybe 200 appartments in this condo, and 10 plots to garden on the roof that you pay extra for. I imagine that most of the people living here dont even know about the roof-top garden. One is only given a key to go up if you buy a plot, so it is not a common area where anyone can hang out - I guess I can understand this, but it also seems sad that only the people gardening get to enjoy the space, I doubt anyone living in that condo would be the type to randomly mess up other people's gardens. Up on the roof it is very pleasant. We can see the whole city and the lake and a few stars poking through the light pollution. Most of the gardens are full of food-stuff, like herbs and tomatoes (not right now b/c its still too cold, but this is what my friend tells me). Some have daffodils and tulips at the moment. Someone has put in a bird bath which is cute, but we are pretty clost to the lake and i suddenly have an image of it being a horrifying seagull bath instead of a cute bird bath. Or pigeons, I wouldn't want to attract pigeons up here. There are some benches to sit on. This is a pleasant spot. i would come up here a lot if I lived here. You can still here the traffic from the street, but to me it makes the whole thing more magical. i've been thinking about the noise pollution thing, and I think if you are going to live in the city you must also accept noise as a fact of life. My friend plans to plant tomatoes, onions, basil, parsley, zuccini, squash and baby tomatoes. I have been invited back to help out when the time comes and I promise i will. The thought of getting my hands dirty up here on a nice summer day is very appealing. This little garden is also good for the cities air. All around a good thing me thinks --It should be mandatory for every new condo and even office builiding being built in the city to have a roof garden.

2002-04-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

Lets talk about 'Uncommon Gound". This was a good reading to end the class with. It reads somewhat like a blueprint of the class. Many quotable sentences jumped out at me that really seemed to sum the main themes of the class up. "But the way we describe and understand the world is so entangled with our own values and assumptions that the two can never bee fully seperated. What we mean when we use the word 'nature' says as much about ouselves as about the thing we label with that word." Now I ask ya, where the heck was that quote when I was writing the first essay? --seems so simple when someone else says it. I thought that California was an interesting background for the whole thing too (as did Cronon obviously). I cant help but think of a Natalie Merchant song, which I will now write out the lyrics to:

SAN ANDREAS FAULT:

Go West, paradise is there,
You'll have all that you can eat
of milk and honey over there.
You'll be the brighest light
the world has ever seen,
sun-baked, slender heroine
of film and magazine.
Your pale blue eyes
strawberry hair
lips are sweet
skin so fair,
Your future bright
beyond compare
its rags to riches
over there.

San Andreas fault moved its fingers through the ground
Earth divided, plates collided
such an awful sound.
San Andreas fault moved its fingers through the ground
the terracotta shattered
and the world came tumbling down.

Oh promised land
what a wicked ground
build a dream
tear it down
oh promised land
such a wicked ground
build a dream, watch it all fall down...

2002-04-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Garden Visit # 6 -- The Park on Cumberland in Yorkville
This weekend I had the opportunity to have a humiliating shopping experience combined with a garden visit. I will start with the shopping. I didn't intend to go shopping, but I was in the area visiting the park so I popped into a couple of shops. Hello!!????? I felt like I was in that scene from Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts goes into the fancy stores when she still looks like a prostitute and all the store ladies snub her (except I wasn't dressed like a prostitute, I was dressed like a student with a backpack.) So that didn't last very long. I meandered out to the Cumberland garden. What a strange place this is!! First of all, the whole thing is designed to represent the Canadian lanscape from coast to coast, I got that - but I think I only got that because someone told me before I went. What this place is lacking is a clear explanation as to what it is. I dont think the average person who walks by it has any clue. There needs to be a very noticeable plack there or something. I think the idea for this garden was a good and creative one, but there needs to be more explanation for the average Joe. So I sit down and watch and listen. I hear cars and talking and honking in the distance. I hear anorexic store-girls on their smoke break talking about how they need to start going to the tanning bed because its almost summer. I see a family walk by and say "what the heck is that" when they spot the big rock that is supposed to represent the West coast. I see the dad get angry as his son tries to run up the rock. Why are you not allowed to sit on the rock? It seems to me that if you are going to put such a rock there, you need to allow people to climb on it. I guess that could be pretty dangerous in the winter. This area seems to have become a refuge for cigarette butts. I start to wonder who payed for this thing and who maintains it and who appreaciates it. So I walk around a bit and casually ask a girl in the Body Shop if she knows anything about the park. She says, "ya, I sometimes eat my lunch there" I think thats nice. I would eat my lunch there too. I find out that it used to be a parking lot, but they made it into this park. Thats nice too. This park makes me feel weird because I cant think of anything really wrong with it but for some reason I dont like it. It is just SO manufactured. Not that there is anything really wrong with that. I start to realize as a progress on my garden visits that I really do appreciate a more 'pastoral' or 'natural' (sorry, I had to use that word) looking garden. You know what I would have put there? Tons of rose bushes. I know its not very practical and would probably take a lot of maintenance and only be pretty for short times of the year. But that is what I would do. Or I would put a litttle duck pond in so ducks could drop in on their way over the city and you could feed them. I leave the park feeling glad that at least its not a parking lot. It could also have been a nice little skating rink. This park is not one that I will intentionaly return to, but Iam glad I got to see it because people always talk about it.

2002-03-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

I am going to comment on "The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace". Wow, this was really a mind opening reading for me. I consider myself to be a COMPLETELY computer illiterate person. The fact that Iam able to write this blog is a big step for me. I guess that is why I find the whole 'cyber space as a religion' thing hard to relate to, but i do understand what the author is saying and how it is a quasi-religion to a lot of people. What I really find most profound about this whole idea is how SMALL of a percentage of the human population actually has access to, and uses computers. If you shrunk the world's population to 100 people, with all human ratios remaining the same, 1 person out of 100 would have access to a computer. That is such a small percentage. So basically, the world's rich are those who have access to this 'cyberspace' and I think that has some interesting connotations. I think that if the world is really going this way--i mean towards cyberspace as being a metaphor for heaven or a utopian place, than that is syptomatic of the guilt we all subconciosly harbour about our priveledged position in this world. I mean, why do we all supposedly derive great pleasure in the 21st century from staring at a screen??? I think its because it humbles us and distracts us from the suffering that is all around us but seems so far away. If I can go on my computer at night and connect with someone on the other side of the world, I am appeasing my guilt because it makes me feel like I have some idea about whats going on in the rest of the world. But really we all have not felt hunger pangs or been tortured by our governments and so we buffer our guilt by trying to find some sort of meaning in our everyday lives (surfing the internet). Computers are a substitute for human contact and aI think that is a telling symptom of the state of our world. If we are all (in the west ) supposedly searching for some deaper meaning in our everyday lives, than maybe we should get out of our computer rooms and take a walk down the street or to the 3rd world and find some there. Or maybe that is not our responsibiliy and we should just try to live our lives as we see fit without feeling guilt. I think that we create distractions for ourselves to feel better. Iam not saying this because I disagree with anything specifically in the reading, I just think that the concept of cyberspace being the home of the new religion is reflective of such a small part of humanity. But I guess that is the point - to make us realize that.

2002-03-20T16:50:00.000-08:00

Last weeks lecture on ecoustic ecology was eye opening (ear opening?) for me. Ive always had issues with small spaces and feeling claustrophobic/panicky in certain environments. It wasnt until I put on those ear plugs that I realized how sound and the ecoustic environment influences my personal comfort level and my ability to feel comfortable in certain situations. whenever I feel claustrrophobic, always think of it interms of physical space and I've therefore always thought of it as being triggered by a lack of physical space instead of having anything to do with sound. After last week, I 've become more aware of the ecoustic environment and how it effects my mood or feelings of claustrophobia and I've realized certain patterns that I have with dealing with uncomfortable situations in terms of sound. for example: I realize that when I feel any level of discomfort, whether nervous, anxious, lonely, angry or stressed, If I listen to music, those feelings dissipate tremendously. Sometimes when I am really freaking out about an esay I have to write, I sit in front of the computer, and even though I know what I want to say, it is difficult for me to express in words. When I put on music (not loud or very distracting music) my thoughts flow much better. I was noticing this this week and wondering if the music really does make me feel more relaxed or whether it is a more phycho-sematic thing where I just belive it relaxes me and therefore it does. Either way, It seems to work. I noticed this week when thinking about music and sound - how it is a lot like smell, in terms of triggering often subconcious memories or feelings. Sometimes I can hear a song and remember exact emotions that I was feeling at a certain time in my life, the same with smell. The funny thing is is that the sense of smell and sound seem to be much more potent than sight. I could look at a picture of something in my past and have a memory of that event, but probably feel more emotion from a smell or a sound. I find Iam usually more haunted by the sense of sound than by any other sense. Like the sound of bagpipes for me is tremendously emotional. (funny, second week in a row I've mentioned bagpipes). Although my ancestry is Scottish, I've never really had major experiences with bagpipes. I wonder if this is some kind of Jung thing with the collective subcounsious, where that sound haunts me becuase it is ingrained in my blood from past generations. I know the sound of the ocean haunts amny people also. Could this be a past memory of whe we used to live in the ocean? i was thinking about the sound of a heart beat too. Your mothers heart beat was the first thing you ever heard. I saw a show on Much Music that was saying the reason music is often so soothing to peopl eis prbably because it often has a beat that is somewhat similar to the rythm of the heart and is therfore comforting. I imagine there is probably some truth in that.

2002-03-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

I think that of all the reading so far this year, this one was most unique in the sense that it made me think of something that I don't think I've ever really thought about before. I mean I've obviously thought about silence and sound, but never as Frankin describes it. I guess I will just kindof go throught the article and say what I thought of certain statrements.. The first sentence sent off alarm bells for me when she said "In a technological world where the acoustic env. is largely artificial" I thought, "how can a sound be artificial, if its sound its sound" but then I read along and agreed with what she was saying about how sound has become artificial when it can be recorded and then repeated. So hypothetically, I could record a dog barking and then listen to it and that would be artificial? I guess thatis what she is saying. Then on the third page I was mad because she was implying that bagpipes were not a nice sound and I love the bagpipes!!!! But Iam scottish so that's probably why. As her argument progressed I found myself wondering if noise pollution was really such a huge problem for Franklin that it upsets her so much. I mean I can understand being irritated by certain noises or music at the wrong time, but I think that when you are born and accept that you are a human being living in a small world with other human beings who have voice boxes and ears, it is a fact of life that there will be noises. I dont think anyone makes noise to really piss people off. Its a matter of taste. The people who put elevator music in the elevator are not trying to irritate you , they are trying to calm you and although most of us are not calmed by this, some people are. I also think that its easy to blame technology in too many situations. Would Franklin be upset if she were walking through a forest, in a non-industrialized world, trying to have silence and a bird started to chirp or a chipmunk squeked? Where can you draw the line between what is wanted or unwanted noise? This differs for everyone and I think the only way you can enforce silence on other people is to be silent yourself, or move to Greenland and just listen to the ice crack. But I do like the idea of having more silent time in public spaces. I think silence is conducive to reflection and we all need to reflect more.

2002-03-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

I wrote about the Cherry article last week, and I cant really think of any other questions about it. the only thing that comes to mind is, was there really a guy named Capability Brown???? Thats pretty crazy. I enjoyed the slides last week and I look forward to the rest of the lecture. I am finding the essay to be a bit daunting, but Iam slowly starting to figure out what Iam going to write. Its sneaky the way you set it up, because although we only have to write about one of those eras, we kindof have to understand all of them to figure out how they all fit together. I am finding that Iam learning about most of the eras by just examining one. I also quickly learned that you've got to be wiley on the internet to find good information. Everyone is trying to sell you something-- how about a bed and breakfast located in a Victorian garden?? I think not.

2002-03-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Garden Visits 3/4/5 - The class trip to the civic garden center!!!!
Iam not sure if I will be able to write 500 words for each of the smaller gardens we saw, so I am going to amalogomate everything into one super-blog that will hpefull be around 1500 words. This time I dressed very warmly beacuase I did not want a repeat of freezing my ass off on the island. We couldn't really have a sked for a better day (because its March) and it wasn't too cold or snowy. As we began to walk into Edwards gardens, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Edwards Garedens was the kind of place I would like to come to in the spring or fall. Although there wasn't a whole lot of plants to see when we were there, you could tell that it would be very beautiful when in bloom. I understood this one to be a 'gardenesque' garden becuase it was very contrived and organized. I thought the section where they tried to give the gardena Japanese feel was pretty cool, although the dinisuar statues kindof made it a bit cheesy. I also noticed in this section howa lot of the benches and even trees were marked with plaques saying who donated the mony for them, ect. This is also a bit cheesy in my opinion, it seems blasphemous to have a plaque on a tree, but I guess if I were the one who donated the money, maybe I'd want my name on their too. the little bridges were cute. This area reminded me a lot of that section we saw on Toronto Island beside the farm, maybe it was the bridges and the ducks. I can see how this spot would be a nice 'getaway' for families in the city who want to let their kids romp. but personally, If I wanted some r and r I would not come here. I would be more inclined to go for a hike or something. Infact, If I concentrated very hard, I could almost hear the screaming children in this area.
Moving on the Wilket Creek Park, Iam emidiately reminded of a park area in St.Catharines where I grew up where we used to go have fires and drink. I can tell that some kids have been doing the same here. What initially strikes me as we walk along this creek is the amount of crap and garbage in the water and on the grass. You would think they could clean more of that up, but I guess there are not of volunteers who like to wade out into freezing ditches. I learn that this area would be considered 'picturesque' because it is a naturalized setting and has not been very constucted. this seems true until closer inspection when you realize how the stream is being contained and shaped to prevent erosion. I also noticed a fallen-down tree that someone had been sawing up - this does not seem like the 'natural' way to let an area regenerate itself. But overall I feel a bit more comfortable here than at Edwards Gardens. If I lived in this area I could see myself biking or walking on the path for exersize, but now that my teenage years are behind me, I have to admit that I would be VERY afraid to be in this area by myself at night. It seems like a lure for hooligans or rapists. I wonder where the stream is coming from or running to and how clean it is. I wonder who is in charge of these "natural regeneration sites" and how concerned they really are with natural regeneration or if that is even possible in this area. This would be an alright place to come for a picnic or something. Except for the HIGHWAY that soon makes itself apparent. I suddenly hear cars zooming past and the sound of the hawks and the stream are drowned out. That really sucks, I wonder whether they built the highway after they decided to 'preserve' the area or not. But then I think I exoect too much. Why should we expect to have serene and peaceful nature environments in the city? If you want quiet you should get out of the city or not complain about it. That is the realization I seem to come to. Althought the existence of that highway initially bothered me, I thought 'what the heck sue, you cant be mad a t that highway, you were just driving on it to get to this freakin place!" So I realize that as much as I like peace and quiet I will not expect it in the city and I think anyone who does is fooling themeselves. As We continue I notice tree stumps- both sawed and natural stumps, I wonder whats up with that. If a tree fell on to the path, what would they do with it? I also noticed that I didn't see or hear any squirrels or chippys I wonder where those quys were - Oh ya they are on my back porch spreading my garbage all over the place. Finally we are in Seaton Park. What the heck, is this a park??? To me this seems like a bunch of grass and picnic tables beside a highway. By this point Iam fairly hungry and on the verge of cranky. I dont like this Seaton Park. There is something depressing about it. It also reminds me of a place where we used to have bush parties in high school. the only good thig about Seaton park is that you can see the science center from it, so we know we are almost there. I arrive home feeling good about myself for (A). getting up this morning and (B). for getting some dood exersize and fresh air. I later feel that although I cant see myself going back there anytime soon, Anything that get s me out of the house and moving my but is a good thing and maybe in the Spring I will take my rollerblades up there. Now I also really want to see that Imax movie on the human body that's playing at the Science centre.

2002-02-27T12:06:00.000-08:00

I found the Cherry article to be interesting and understandable (not that I havent found all of the readings interesting and understandable, ha ha). Iam sure it will be quite useful for the approaching essay. One thing that I didn't agree with or I guess agree is not the right word, one thing I felt was a bit over-simplified was the discussion of Germany and the relation of the desire for 'purity' in its flora correlating to the rise for the national socialist party. While German unification definately saw a huge rise in Prussian nationalism, I think it is unfail to not mention the major unpising in nationalistic sentiment all over Europe and the US at this time period. England, France, Italy, Russia and all of the 'major' players that would play in the world wars had tremendous uprisings of nationalistic sentiment before WW1. I cant comment on how these other nations felt about their fflora at this time, but it would seem to me that rising national identity and the renewed desire for 'indigeinous' flora was not isolated in Germany or even directly related to the national socialists who would follow. I dont think Bismark would have felt that by uniting Germany and the German identity he was paving the way for Hitler. Also, we just need to refer to that Whitman article we read in the 1st term to see another guy who was trying to create national identity/solidarity through the landscape. Anyways, that is all I have to say about Cherry.

This week a friend was telling me about a little dilema that is currently playing out in the US that I thought would be interesting to discuss in this class. The US has a bunch of nuclear waste that they want to get rid of. They have a place in the middle of Arizona where they plan to bury this stuff very deep into the crust of the Earth, where it will remain radio active for 10 thousand years. Apparently they feel confident (because they have all kinds of geologists and engineers working on it) that the stuff will not leak and wll be safe from shifting of the earth over the next 10 thousand years. Anyways, the question that remains is not about the security of the stuff in present because they are confident in that, but rather, how do they mark the stuff so that future humans (or other species) stay the hell away from it? You see, no language or culture has lasted even close to 10000 years, so they figure that before this stuff is safe, humans will probably have destroyed themeselves and something else will come along with a different language/symbols. So how do we warn them???? They've had people like Noam Chompsky working on this and they've had many different solutions, one being to create a religion or myth if you will about the site so that over thousands of years people will for some reason stay the hell away, because religion is the only thing that seems to have surpassed language... something to think about.

2002-02-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

well hello there. My initial response after reading the 'trickster' thing was would not Peter Pan be a modern trickster??
I guess he's not really that modern - but he does occupy the 'boundaries' of society and also is a thief (but for good). My question is what happened at the end of the eye ball story with the coyote??? It was never really said, or was that the end, with him getting the mouse's eye? And if that was the end, how the heck does that relate to the rest of the myth? I thought it was interesting that my sister's cat (of 19 yrs) was eaten by a coyote last year. I read the part to her about how the coyote is the one who carries souls between heaven and earth and it made her cry. It is interesting how both the trickster story and the McKay poem take place on the road with the coyote and raven as the tricksters. I liked in the beginning of "on foot to the bypass esso postal outlet" she in a way describes the garbage and pollution that she encounters on the road as almost an art form. Or at least I felt she described it as art. And hello Canadiana - with the Tim Horton's references and such. While I think I got the just of the poem, I dont really understand how the image of the raven fits into it all. I understand the trickster on the road thing, but not in this context. I guess that is what tommorow's lecture will be on!!

2002-02-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

today Iam sad because I lost the love of my life and I got a bad mark on my essay. I cant focus my attention on thinking of a question about Dracula. I am soory, but I look forward to seeing what tommorows lecture is all about.

2002-01-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

I found last weeks lecture very interesting and Iam looking forward to this week's. As I mentioned earlier, I spent 6 months in Tierra Del Fuego, an island off the southern tip of South America. In relation to wetlands, the situation on the island is an interesting case. the island is 'boogy' to begin with, a lot of peat is cultivated. In the 1940's, the Canadian and Argentinian govn't decided to send 25 beaver couples (50 overall) to the island to promote a hunting industry on the island. They failed to realize that the beavers have no natural prdators on the island and now, 60 yrs later, the island is completely overrun with theses Canadian beaver. The beavers chew down trees to dam streams and flood the area in order that they can move around easier. (they are quick in the water by akward on the land). As a result, the island is basically becoming a big swamp and they dont know what to do about the beavers. It was odd to be camping last year on Chrismas day to wake up at the end of the worls, surrounded by Canadian beaver. Another iteresting coincidence with Stephen's lecture was that in Dante's inferno, he also refers to hell as an inverted triangle, with the inner most rings being the point of the triangle. South America is shaped somewhat like an inverted triangle, with tierra del fuego (land of fire) at the tip. (The island got its name from the spanish who 'discovered' the native people in the area and were overwhelmed by the amount of fires they always had burning to keep warm). Anyways, when I was down there we always felt like we were in hell (not because it was bad) but because of the symbolism of the inverted triangle of hell and because of the swampiness that Dante describes as one ring of hell. After reading the Hounds of Baskerville and after last weeks lecture, I found that all week I have been noticing references to swampiness as being evil or undesirable. I had never really thought of that before last week and I am keen to hear his weeks lecture. I gave my question for "The ascent of Man' last week and I cant really think of one for the hounds, but I will end by saying that I am going to bring in some of my Seamus Heany poetry for Stephen, he is an irish poet who writes alot about bogs and swamps

2002-01-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

"The Ascent of Man" would have been a good reference for the first essay. I spent 6 months in Tierra del Fuego, where Darwin encountered the Yamana peoples who he spoke of as savages. I think the main thing I took from this reading was a feeling of contradiction. The artical ends with the author hypothesising that "while (Darwin) might agree that the natural world is not an altogether pleasant or happy place, he could not for that reason believe that man shouild repudiate it or feel himself superior to it." This seems like a benign way to view how Darwin might view nature ve 'civilisation' today, especially after his statement that "I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilized man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal..." While Western social thought and racism has "come a long way" since the late victorian era, Worster's statement about the victorian era that"civilization, in this view, is a declaration of independance from the natural world" is pretty much exactly what we still believe today in the West, although some may not be as ready to admit it. While anthropology, sociology, history and science have advanced in terms of becoming more specific about what actually constitutes civilisation or civilized man, the notion that civilized still means 'removed from nature' permeates Western culture. People tend to jump all over you when you use the word civilized. I think we need to get away from thinking that civilized is the desired state and that uncivilized is negative. In that way, you can say that yes, in canda we are civilized, in Tierra Del Fuego , they werent when Darwin arrived, but they were many other things that the Europeans were not. Anthropology is often too binary. You either are or you arent in anthropolpgy and it tends to simplify things that cannot afford to be simplified. (hope my anthropology prof doesnt read this). My question is: Could anyone, will anyone dispute that 'civilization' in the West, still means a removal from nature?

2002-01-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

Yo Jason, I have to direct this blog specifically to you because I know that you will be checking this to see if I have done my readings. My server will not allow me to connect with the course web site, so I cannot check what reading I need to do!!! I know you are probably asking why the heck I left it until the night before, but lets just say I thrive under pressure and cannot be judged on the time period which I choose to do my work. I am asking for a bit of an amnesty on this week because I honestly came here to do my reading and blog and Iam unable to. Thats all I can really say, but I hope you understand. I stick to my previous sentiment that I hate computers. I will see you tommorow, bright and early...

2002-01-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

GARDEN VISIT # 2 - The Niagara school of Horticulture/Butterfly Conservatory

I decided what better way to take a break from writing my ENV essay than by taking a quick trip to the Niagara Horticultural society to do a garden visit blog. I am currently at my parent's house in Niagara for the holidays, so yes, it is only about 15 minutes away. Well, I quite possibly picked the worst day of the year to go on this excursion. For starters its January second and there is a lot of snow on the ground here, and the whole area is ridiculously crowded with straggling x mas tourists. But I am nice and bundled up so I decide that walking around the snowy gardens will be very relaxing. Well, there really isn't a whole lot going on here right now. The fish ponds are frozen and the gardens are covered with snow. I guess I could have expected this but its a school for crying out loud, you'd think they would do something for the winter. anyways, I decide that if Iam going to do this blog I need something to look at, so I head a few paces down the road and find the Butterfly Conservatory. This should be good. Whew, after paying 10 bucks Iam in. ( oh ya, I didn't mention that I have a 2 year old boy with me who iam taking care of for the day) Luckily he gets in for free because he is a baby. It is around noon so the place was not as busy as I expected because it appears that everyone has gone to lunch. We are told to my pleasure that blue and yellow attract the butterflies to come sit on you and would'nt you know, Iam wearing a blue coat and Oscar (the baby) is wearing a yellow jumper. As soon as we walk into what seems like a huge greenhouse, we are hit with a blast of very hot, humid air. This is what the butterflies and tropical plants that the butterflies are living on, like. Oscar immediatly becomes uncomfortable in his Maggie Simpson-style snow suit, so I take it and my jacket off. Hmm, now carrying a baby, 2 coats and my notebook and pen. Not very conducive to reflection. but I noticed right off the bat that this butterfly greenhouse is perhaps the most contrived and organized garden I have ever seen. Don't get me wrong, it was very beautiful, but every plant, sometimes it seemed every leaf was perfectly placed and tended to. All the plants were marked with their species and where they were from. I found this interesting, as I cant see myself looking for a lot of these plants in their natural environment of Burma or Cambodia any time soon. I am also taken with the butterflies - so beautiful and colorful, at times they seem very unreal. Suddenly I remember what Iam supposed to be writing about. The smell, well the smell is just about as good as it gets, very damp, humid soil and vegetation mixed with exotic flower scents, and also clean, powdery baby. Suddenly I notice that there are about 6 butterflies on Oscar's arm. He is peacefully looking at them but he seems to notice my surprise and gets upset. oh no, baby getting scared of butterflies, baby is hot and wants to leave. People giving me dirty looks because of crying baby. Baby calmes down because I point out a big lizard on one of the tropical trees. I am really most taken with the smell in here. they could bottle this stuff and make a fortune. Baby getting fussy, leave to gift shop. get toy lizard for baby. I think it is fair to say that this was and will be not one of my most reflective or profound garden visits. while my intentions were good, next time I will not take a baby and not go in the winter, although it worked out alright because it led to the buterfly place. I want to go to the school of horticulture in the spring, maybe when I come back to my parent's at Easter I will try another Garden Blog from there. Overall though, I think the 10 bucks to see all those butterflies and plants is worth it and if you're ever in Niagara, stop by (if you can tear yourself out of the wineries).

2001-12-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

I again came across a quote today that I thought was appropriate. Its funny how things jump out at you more when you are looking for them...

"Aesthetic poverty affects us all. Our interaction with the impovrished environment of strip malls and burger joints coarsens us... dismisses the subtleties of the natural world, and trains us to see nothing that is not loud, red and obnoxious. " -Brenda Scheer. I would say that I agree with Brenda

2001-12-06T00:25:00.000-08:00

I am writing this to say that " Botanical Garden" hit a nerve in my memoroies of gardening. I have always found the smell of humus inspring. I wondered if it was because I grew up around a lot of manure and farm-like smells. I grew up in the country. This poem implies that although nature can be somewhat obcure in its meanings, it is a place of comfort for the individual that is writing the poem. But then the voice of the poem realizes that although nature is comforting, it ultimately has no interest in the individual that is in its space. Nature as we know it has no need for human comfort, yet we as humans sem to need nature so much for our personal comfort. It is an un-reciprocated relationship. I think, that is what "Botanical Gardens" is implying. When I first read this poem "I was over come with personal memories of smelling the earth and feeling (or hoping) that it somehow understood. This poem is a reminder that the earth i smell will continue to be smelled ( smelt?) long after I'm gone.

There is only so much oil in the ground,
Sooner or later there won't be none around.
You should tell that to your kids
when your driving round downtown
That there is only so much oil in the ground.
(you can't get loose without that juice)

Sue

2001-11-28T19:07:00.000-08:00

I found this reading to be more interesting than the last one. Yes. I think a lot of it went over my head but I think I grasped the argument. What struck me the most abou this reading was the notion we have in environmental terms that "time is runnung out." It is so new to think of it that way - who is time running out for? us as humans? probably trus. But for gaia or the universe as a whole, not really. I think this notion is really important and can be tied to a lot of other issues in our course. If demonstrates our habit of anthropocentrising everything and believing that we as humans are a significant part of the earth. My question for the week came to mind recently when I was actually trying to explain the Gaia hypothesis to someone. I know its the wrong week but what the heck. Lovelock says that Gaia is everything including our Earth's Atmosphere, so does that mean that in other galaxies in the universe there could be more earth type places who have their own Gaia sytem or would he say this is unique? Would he even care?

Any whoo, this is a good quote I came across this week that I tought was very relevant to the class:

"You begin to understand that this earth we live on ...has an emotional, psychological and spiritual life every but as complex as that of the most complex, sensitive and intelligent individuals..." --Tomson Highway

2001-11-19T20:04:00.001-08:00

I will not lie to you and say that I really understand this week's reading. Before this reading i was following all of what Brokmeir was saying, and feeling like I understood his main objective. After this reading Iam sure that i dont understand. To be honest with you, Iam having a hard time coming up with a question for this week's reading, so I am looking for some way to confirm that I HAVE read it, I just dont really have a question, or I guess I have so many questions that I couldn't begin to write them down. I guess one thing that's really been plaguing me is, why don't we do theses readings in the order that they appear in the book? I mean, the arguments are confusing enough, wouldn't it be desireable to at least read the arguments in the order that they were intended to be presented? Just a thought. My question, and I know this is grasping at straws, is: Is it possible to ever escape the contraints of language when looking at a subject? I mean everything I've read in the schol the past month has had some mention of the restraints of language or various forms of discours, whether its British Imperialism or the environment. So is it possible or even desireable to escape the restrictions of language, or are the restrictions of language where the real argument or information lies? Is this what Brokmeir is saying? that by realizing and addressing the restrictions of language, we get a better understanding of our topic?
On another note, I've been thinking about the notion of the Earth having a memory. How you can look back at soil patterns and erosion and see what weather conditions were like thousands of years ago. Its like the earth is speaking to us. I like to think about that.

2001-11-19T20:04:00.000-08:00

2001-11-18T13:06:00.000-08:00

Whoops, It looks like My first on e didn'e get erased so I wrote the whole thing twice. Anyways, I wanted to digress about my freak outs from the Brokmeir readings that I wrote before. After listening to the lecture this week I understood more what the article was actual;ly trying to say. Basically that language DOES alter our perception of the world, and vise versa. It is actually really strange that we are studying this right now, because in my anthropology class we are studying the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that was mentioned in this class and basically discussing the same ideas - wondering about the influence and effects of language. At first I was weary at looking at this in relation to Environmental studies, but now I see the importance of looking at the linguistic relevance of certain Environmental "greenspeak." An interesting quote I came across this week - "What makes mankind tragic is not that they are victims of nature, it is that they are conscious of it." -- Joseph Conrad. I thought that was an intersesting concept, although Conrad is refering more to human nature than the environment I still think it is somewhat relevant to our class. I willl have more thoughts on this later, but now I must go.

2001-11-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

OK, now Iam really mad. I just spent a long time spilling my guts about the Harre article and it just disappeared. So Iam sorry but this is going to be short and sweet. My questions are not questions, but statements. First I think the article is very Eurocentric - The Mayans, Incas, and various groups and Africa had and have deeper notions about the relation of the Environment to the human world than some of us could probably imagine. Using western culture as the catalyst to measure when we as humans did or did not start environmental discourse is misleading. Second, the notion that some cultures havent "grasped" the notion of human existence in relation to the environment is unfair. If you are hungry, subjugated or war-torn, Environmental discourse is not going to be at the top of your priority list, no matter how 'civilized' you are. And finally, who the heck is the intended audience of this paper, Noam Chompsky????? A bit unneccisarily wordy - could have made the point in a much shorter time. Sorry Iam just bitter because my thing got erased ...

2001-11-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Today Iam reporting on the first Harre reading. Who the heck is the intended audience of this article - Noam Chompsky????? I was able to follow what these people were saying, but I found that they were almost purposly being very wordy in order to prove that they knew something about linguistics. Anyways, in response to this weeks readings I have some statements instead of questions. First, I think this argument is very Eurocentric - allowing that we've only read the first 20 pages and the argument could develop - but so far it seems very bold to me to make a statrement that Environmental discourse started in the 19th century. What about the Mayans and the Incan's not to mention the intricate knowledge of the environment that certain peoples in Africa have. Don't tell me that the Mayans were not aware of their environment on a larger scale - yes you could argue that they werent because they no longer exist and their empires "fell" but that can be attributed to many other things (Europeans) that do not imply a lack of awareness about the scope and implications of their environment. Also, I emphatically disagree with the statement that "the threat to self-regulation, has not yet been grasped by all human beings" If you are comparing the world on these terms and using Western culture as the catalyst, then of course certain cultures do not have environmental preservation on the top of their key things to do, but that is because, when you are hungry, or fighting for survival or freedom, the environment is not a top priority . Concern about the environment is not a scale to measure a cultures "grasping" of these notions, there are many other factors involved whan looking at what ALLOWS a culture to have time to think about that type of thing.

2001-11-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

Garden Visit # 1 - Toronto Island!!

Well, I will admit it, getting up early on a Saturday morning to walk around in the cold for 5 hours was not something I was initially looking forward to, but after 2 cups of coffee and a shower I was ready to go. As the boat left the dock in Toronto, I kindof felt like I was leaving this world (that most likely was the result of the 0remaining alcohol in my system from the night before and the 2 cups of coffee) but I felt a genuine excitement at seeing this mythical island that I had not gottten around to seeing in my 4 years in Toronto. I was completely blown away by the small streets and community on Ward Island. I could really see myself living in that type of situation when Iam older. One of the things tht first struck me when we were walking around in those small streets was the smell. At first I couldn't put my finger on it and then it hit me, the rotting leaves!!! What a dream sistuation!! I've always resented the fact that we are expected to rake our leaves - I think the leaves look nice on the ground and although I know nothing of biology, I 've always thought that leaving those leaves on the ground must be good for the soil. I was really excited by seeing all of those leaves in the streets and in the yards, I felt it really symbolized the people who live there- a kind of live and let live mentality. Another image that really stuck with me was the one that Jason told us about of the people in the 40's walking across the ice to the city in their 40's outfits. What a romantic image. As we progressed I was also very excited by all of the cats. Cats everywhere!! I love cats!!! If I could be reincarnated, I'd like to be a cat on that Island. We progressed further and finaly reached the cafe where more coffe was consumed. Now I know this has nothing to do with nature, but I was really struck by the RUDENESS of the people who ran that cafe. It was like walking into a church wearing a big sign that said 'anti-christ". I guess maybe this is reevant to the nature of the Island because it shows that the people of the island maybe feel like they are being taken over by the tourists from the city. Anyways, I didn't think it was THAT unreasonable to ask how they got all their supplies to the restaurant and neither did my fellow ENV321 'ers. It was like I was a reporter for the National Enquirer. Anyways, got over that and was happy to be back out side again. We walked along the water and I was again amazed by the seemingly clean water. It looked so clear. I kept looking up to freak myself out by seeing the CN tower in the distance. The whole thing was surreal -- being there with people I hardly know on a Saturday morning. We reached center Island and had a great time with the animals on that litle farm. Who knew that those ram/goat things made such a funny noise? Again, I kept thinking I could smell the rottting leaves in the distance and I really enjoyed it. I ended up picking up quite a bit of garbage from the ground and mentaly patted myself on the back. Overall, I didn't think of a lot to say in relation to nature from the day. I definately left feeling somewhat refreshed and looking at Toronto in a different light. I was very curious to know how well the Islanders knew each other and if they got along for the most part but I wasnt about to ask any of the locals in that cafe. I know this seems so cliche, but on the boat ride back, looking at the city, all I could think about was what it would be like to see planes fly into the high buldings. I really liked the trip and Iam looking forward to going back in the winter. I think my main memeory of the island will be seeing the linraked leaves in the community as silly as it sounds...

2001-10-31T18:22:00.000-08:00

Well I've been reading along in the Scharper book, I find it really enjoyable and I dont even feel like reading it is WORK! It is actually something I might read on my on time. Anyways, my question for this week (and ya ya it happens to be from the chapters that we read last week, but I cant help it if this question just came to me ) I think is probably fairly common but needs to be addressed. In McDaniel's argument about treatment of animals (for human uses) I was following a long happily and then I hit a bump in my aggreement with the guy. If he truly adheres to his 5 ways of "appropriately percieving animals" then I dont see how he can justify killing some who have a greater "richness of experience." I mean, if animals are truly equal to humans than how could you justify, "oh, just killing a few women and children, or a couple of old folks here and there." ???? I know he says that the killing of some livivng things can be acceptable to him if it is ultimately for the greater good, but I most emphatically disagree that a cancer cell is remotely akin to a human being. Yes, it might be a living thing, but to me, a huge part of what notions we have regarding morals is whether or not something has a brain and is therefore capable of emotion/empathy. Cancer cells are alive, but they do not have brains or nervous systems and are therefor not offended when we kill them. It seems to me that for McDaniel's argument to work it has to be all or nothing, if humans ARE equal to animals than you still cant kill animals for human gain. As Scharper ponts out, the line could easily become grey if we are assigning a hierarchy to what is more valuable life and we could start experimanting on Disabled or impovrished people. No Good. So My question is, anyone agree???????????

I have been feeling bad for not getting out to any gardens yet. Especially with fall being my favorite time of year. But I will not lie, Garden visits get pushed to the back burner in the wake of mid terms and essays. But wait gardens, I will be coming to you soon and I look forward to some solitude there in the weeks ahead...

2001-10-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

I first wanted to comment on the lecture about the 'creation' of Algonquin Park. I found the whole thing so intersesting, and at the same time a bit disillusioning, simply because I feel (felt) so connected to the park. I spent most of my summers as a child at Algonquin, swimming in the waters and portaging across the Islands. I guess I can say that I really accepted and cherished the feeling of spirituality that exist around the park (which turns out to be manufactured). I always felt that when I was going North for the summer, I was returning to a spiritual, sometimes haunting place. I remember vividly, nights around the camp fire, listening to stories told by the counselors, of 'Indians' in the area who supposedly watched over the camp at night to protect us. In retrospect, from what I learned at the lecture, and from what I know now of History, these stories seem almost offensive to me. I feel angry, that maybe the camp should have been teaching us about REAL native peoples who once inhabited that specific area, and why they are no longer there today. It seems that in an environment like camp, where nature and preservation are stressed that it would be the perfect time to actually learn about the history and practices about certain indigenous peoples. I realize through writing this, that Iam angry, but I don't know if I would change those camp experiences if I couild. Overall, I think we did learn a lot, and maybe those campfire stories actually sparked my interest to learn the truth about history later on... I think I will always associate Algonquin with a certain amount of spirituality. When I (maybe) bring my own children there, I wonder if I will tell them some of the old stories, to stimulate their imaginations, or if I will let them find their own spiritual presense in the area. I don't think you even need myth to make that area seem haunting and beautiful.

I have really been enjoying reding about Gaia in the Scharper book. If you just let your mind go, and accept the hypothesis for a minute without questioning it, so many things seem to make sense. My question for the week, I would ask to Lovelock , as a respnse to the critisism he recieved when he said that even pollution was 'fixable" by Gaia, and therefore shouldn't be worried about. Question: If Gaia is everything on our planet and atmosphere, that obviously includes humans, so therefore, couldn't the human response and desire to try to clean up our own messes be ALSO seen as part of a natural process and maybe just Gaia herself using humans for her own means to help clean her up? In other words, couldn't the human desire to help Gaia clean up our messes be Gaia utilizing theses adaptaions that Lovelock speaks of? I hope I worded this properly so that it is understandable...

2001-10-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yikes!!! I have felt more sick this week than I think I have ever felt in my life!!! While I wish I could say I was lying in bed thinking of things to say on my Environmental Blog, I was actually thinking about how amazing it is that something so small like a bacteria or virus can make you feel so completely horrible!! I guess this does kindof relate to today's environment. Watching the news, with the constant repetition and coverage of the Anthrax scare, maybe we really will wipe ourselves out?!! I always pictured our demise as involving something nuclear or at least loud, but maybe it will be our own progressions in science and technology, used on ourselves, that eventually get us. It is hard not to feel a bit morbid right now, in the wake of everything that is happening.
I managed to do the readings for this week (a couple of days late) after I could finally focus on the paper long enough without throwing up. I found the White article to be the most interesting so far, I mean in terms of my own interests in History. I read the article before the 1st chapter of the Scharper book and I was thinking "God, this is very interesting, but it is SO Eurocentric!" I was bummed that I missed the lecture/tutorial about that article, but Iam sure it will be discussed again. When I read the Scharper article I was happy to see that I wasn't the only one who was questioning some of White's arguments. I guess my question for this week (although it is too late now, and the question might have already been answered in class) is: How do various sects of Christianity differ in their views of the environment? Catholic/Protestant? ect....

2001-10-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

First off, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed the past 2 lectures and Iam looking forward to the continuation tommorow. As a history student, I am familiar with the history of the European vision and arrival to the 'new world,' but I found it really interseting to look at that part of history in terms of the European attitude towards nature. I am also excited for tommorows lecture about Algonquin Park, because I spent most of my summers as a child at a camp in Algonquin.
About this weeks reading, I guess what struck me the most was Witman's re-iterating what was said in the lecture about the desire to 'harnass' or tame nature. I suppose that this desire is at the very root of Capitalism and our society as we know it. I guess my question for this week is more of a statement, or topic that I put up for discussion after reading this article.
Isn't it amazing that throughout almost every time period in history, those involved see that time as a time like no other, where there is a definate split in the path and a road must be chosen? Both this weeks and last weeks reading reflect the sense of urgency that the authors and presumably those around them felt about the changes and questions posed to their time. My question therefore is (and this seems relevant in terms of what's going on in the world right now) will there ever be a time when we dont think as human beings, that what we are experiencing is brand new and therefor more utterly important than anything else before? Obviously this question is not answerable in one lecture, or maybe ever, but for some reason, the latest readings made me think of it.

2001-10-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

My Question(s) for this weeks reading (Olmstead) is:
1. What was this guy's occupation?
2. To whom was this essay/letter intended?
3. What were the results? (I've been to Boston and it is a lovely city - lots of trees and parks, wondering if HE had anything to do with that.)

2001-09-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

It was perfect timing that I came home to my parent's (in the rural area of Niagara) this weekend. The perfect opportunity to spend some time in the garden that my father and I planted many years ago. My most vivid memories of this garden are of afternoons in late August...

The row of green onions has become so large and the onions so huge, that we will never be able to use them all. Some of the onions are starting to flower, spreading their seeds, as they try to establish a presence for next year. The cherry tomatoes are perfectly ripe and ready to be picked. I pop one into my mouth, it is a bit warm from the sun and dusty from the sandy soil of the garden. It is as sweet as the sweetest fruit and unbelivably juicy. I eat many, not caring about the dirt or sand. The smell of fresh basil wafts throught the air, robust and fragrant. I will always associate that smell with the late afternoon sun and the sound of bees. The fennel and wildflowers have begun to take over the other end of the garden. A light purle flower is honing in on the onion territory, but we don't mind. The cats are drawn to the sandy soil of the garden and trasform it into their personal liter box. It is not appetizing to pluck an onion and find a pile of cat poo. Now they sit on the edges silently, flicking their tails and watching a butterfly linger in the flowers. When we can, we take buckets of compost from the other side of the house and spread it carefully over the garden. The new smell excites the cats and they come to the garden more often. We start to wash the vegetables more carefully, for fear of cat poo-related illness. But we feel secure that even if the soil our plants grow in has had some contact with the cats, it must still be safer than the pesticides that are on store bought vegetables. We feel secure in this thought and continue the cycle. For dinner, I will walk out to the garden in my damp bathing suit. I will pick some of the basil and cherry tomatoes. Nothing better than fresh pasta with olive oil, basil and cherry tomatoes. I will eat this food enthusiasticly, and feel happy about my garden.

Today, my garden looks a bit sad. The tomatoes are finished for the season, only some rotting ones remain on the ground. The onions are gone and the wild flowers are brown. The cats aren't digging because the soil is too hard after a long summer without a good hoe. Next spring, we will re-plant and the garden will be alive again. On cold winter nights, I will think of those rotting tomatoes, cold under the snow, yet slowly disintegraing into the soil that will feed us next year.

2001-09-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

This is a small quote I came across the other day that I really liked. I always look at things around me like cars, houses, shiny metal objects, computers, ect and wonder how the hell all of this stuff was at some point "nature." I guess subconciously I've always imagine some type of divine intervention that enabled us to go from forests and streams to machines!!!!! Its amazing to me that what was once considered "natural" to us, dirt, trees, rocks are now these thinking almost "feeling" object and machines. I know this is a bit simple but I always wonder whether other people think about that as they walk down the city streets. I guess the guy who wrote this does...

Here is the quote: "I look at a car and I think, 'somehow this came from the earth and water and forest.' How? I don't know. But you need to know what the connection is; who paid the price of what... There has to be some balance." -Arundhati Roy

2001-09-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

"100 years of Solitude"

The skunks were the first to officialy take over the subway tunnels. Having successfuly fought off the other darkness-seekers like the racoons, rats and possums, the skunks reined supreme in their dark, smelly paradise. Above the subway grates, the squirrels had surprisingy defeated the initial threat of dogs, cats, various water fowl and later the bears and deer. After successfully living in close contact with the humans for so long before the disease struck, the squirrels were wiley and coniving. The squirrels were also the first to discover that the nut-sized, shiny silver and copper disks that the humans held in such high regard, made excellent throwing weapons when fending off dogs and other intruders. The squirrels didn't comprehend why the humans carried these small disks (and sometimes much larger paper versions) with strange pictures of moose and an old women wearing a crown, imprinted on their surfaces. Whatever their significance, the humans left a lot of them behind, and although the squirrels were forever trying to collect all the disks they saw, they had no use for the paper versions, and they therefore lay strewn around the mucky, leave-covered streets. The vines, once trimmed and contained, had spread across the city so abundantly, that the buildings now resembled perfect, rectangular shrubs. The squirrels naturally used these vines to their advantage and developed an intricate series of highway, utilizing the untrimmed tree canopies that now safely connected the city, many feet above the mucky streets. The sewers had long since overflown, causing a stench that was initially unbearable to the finicky cats. The dogs loved the odours that surrounded them, and spent much of their time following various scent trails. It was not uncommon to see a dog, nose to the ground, unknowingly meander into the squirrel's territory, only to be pelted by a series of the shiny disks, thrown by the frantic, protective squirrels. Some have said that the reason the squirrels were so succesful was because the dogs were completely distracted by the over-powering odours that surrounded them. It took about 2 years for the bears to arrive in the city. Lured South by the scent of wild strawberrries and raspberries in the air. Before the disease, the humans had maintained their lawns and gardens so diligently, that the wild berries never reached a level of abundance that was fragrant enough to lure the bears. Now the parks and lawns, overcome by chest high weeds, were full of luscious berries. The bears also were so distracted by their feast that they didn't bother with trying to overcome the squirrels.

But behind the rotting wooden carcasses of the empty houses and buildings, exsisted a much stronger threat than the squirrels could ever have imagined. Beneath the rotting wood and leaves that filled the streets and houses, the cock roaches were enjoying poison-free living. So quiet, yet so hated by humans, the cockroaches had seen everything. Relegated to the bowels of the cities, the cockroaches had witnessed human civilizations rise and fall, over come nuclear holocaust and seen the demise of the ancient dinosausrs. Always watching and learning, 100 years ago, the cock roaches had finally acomplished their master plan - riding the world of humans forever, to enable their own rise to power. Luckily for the cock roaches, nobody missed them while they were behind the walls of the human houses, concocting the virulent disease. It was a slow killer, yet very contagious, so its spread was quickened by the seemily healthy humans who continud to go about their business - slowly spreading an unstoppable threat. It wasnt hard for the cock roaches to get the disease into human society. They simply put it on something that they knew the humans coveted and always wanted more of. One cockroach putting the deadly virus on a simple penny was enough to spread the disease to the whole city, and eventually the world. The cockroaches knew that even after the humans were gone, the squirrels, with their penchant for throwing things, would pick up these tainted shiny objets to defend themeselves.

The city sits in complete silence now, except for the occasional bark of a dog or chatter from a squirrel. The disease has begun to strike the squirrels today. They fall in silence and the survivors are starting to get nervous. The tree canopies are becoming over crowded, while the squirrels rush to the higher boughs for fear that the dogs might be behind the mysterious deaths. They throw their dead out of the trees, onto the mucky streets. A hungry dog wanders over to investigate. He smells the lifeless body and likes what he finds. He begins to eat...