First Blog Post: Broken Head Trail Inquiry and Observations

 Broken Head Trail Inquiry and Observations

This morning, after two hours of biking the coast line of Byron Bay due to poor navigation skills, we found ourselves at Broken Head trail with our two Professors Soenke and Nigel. I have a strong affinity for nature, so as soon as I arrived to the beach I was reminded of how excited I was to be in a semester that incorporates the beautiful environment Australia has to offer, in our education. 

Soenke and Nigel informed us about the benefits of walking in silence, it allows us to be more present and aware of our surroundings; the smells, the sounds, the feeling of the ground underneath our bare feet, etc. I was very familiar with the concept after walking the Camino de Santiago this summer. Today I tried my best at listing some questions I had about the environment, what I noticed, and how I felt. 

From the start, I began to wonder why my mood is lifted so high everytime I’m under a canopy of trees. I thought at first it was a feeling of home, but the Cottonwoods on the trail didn’t remind me of my Redwood trees at home in the slightest. It made me think that humans have an inherent draw to nature, maybe because of it’s peaceful ora or maybe because we have become so accustomed to sheltering ourselves inside all day in offices and classrooms. From there, I began to think about the hundreds of thousands of people that have walked the trail that I’m on right now. Once upon a time, people dedicated their existence to being outdoors, praising the soil underneath their feet that provided them with shade, food and shelter. Everywhere I looked I began to imagine what kind of resources they used and for what functions. These large, nut-looking, brown seeds could have been used for food, or planting trees on the hillside to prevent soil erosion. Those feathers on that Bush Turkey would make a glorious looking hat. These leaves feel almost rubbery, like they’ve adapted and created a hard exterior to protect themselves from the salt that is blowing through the air. 

Suddenly, the salty rainforest opened up to groomed grass fields, with tourists lying comfortably enjoying some whale watching. It was unnatural looking. The class gathered on the grass to write about the meaning of “natural”. What is natural to you? I jotted down a couple bullet points: Something that has grown/adapted to the conditions around it and are dependent on resources and climate created by the planet alone. I then began to think about natural human instinct, what was it? I had been taught that it was about the will to survive. So I scribbled another bullet point: Something that is instinct.

The class then made its way down to a secluded beach, where I found a quiet spot on rocks covered with sea snails and barnacles to watch my friends jump into not cold, but “fresh” water. I admired the different shade of blue that crashed and fell on seaweed stuck growing on a rock. How could such gentle plants grow in such a hostile environment? The will to survive I suppose. Instinct. 

After, we formed a circle on the beach to write down the meaning on nature. I started my bullet points again: something created by the planet, the will to grow/adapt and potentially leave seed for the future. We then began to discuss. I heard perspectives that were far from similar to mine. But they all more or less connected. Things that resonated with me were how nature is really on a spectrum, as well as the definition of natural. We got into if nature is considered “the Mother” than humans are like “the older siblings”, not in the sense of age but in the sense of how much influence we have on nature. I noted that without humans the world would prosper more easily, but without trees or the ocean nothing could survive, so in that sense they are the “older siblings.” We concluded that owning and selling land and resources was a Western superiority complex. We also discussed what a natural instinct was. I concluded that it is entirely dependent on the environment you are brought up in. If a white Australian and an Aboriginal Australian had the same brain tumor, their natural instinct to treat it would not be the same. A tree grows upward, but an ocean doesn’t have the same habit, it pushes currents horizontally. 

I left with more questions than answers, which I have a feeling will be a theme of this semester, possibly the rest of my life.

Post 3

The ending of the book was very disappointing. I was looking forward to a happy ending where Enrique reunites with his mother and they get him a green card or something. But no, the author couldn't have done that of course. What she had to do was recap on the journey he just went through and have his mother not love him to the point of him having to find a job and make money for his mother to show any love to this boy who has just traveled I don't even know how many miles cause i don't want to kill my brain with that math. "The relationship between Enrique and his mother, including the resentment of immigration children have been left behind..." (292).

Post 2

While I read the book, Enrique's Journey by. Sonia Nazario. It is a story of a boy, Enrique, who wants to immigrate into the United States to find his mother in the city of Laredo. This made me wonder how many people immigrate into the U.S. every year, and in all? According to the MIP (Migration Policy Institute), the approximate number of immigrants in the U.S. in 2009 was 38,517,234. The number jumped about 1.5% between 2008 and 2009. There is about 1 million people who immigrate to the U.S. every year.

Post Number 3

The last third of the book didn't satisfy me in many ways. I wanted there to be a satisfying ending where Enrique reunited happily with his mother and Maria Isabella. Something that would make the tone of the last part of the book a little less dismal.   You follow Enrique through this long journey and pretty much all of it is pretty depressing. You see all these obstacles and challenges that he has to overcome and they all cause Immigrants to either loose there life or be severely maimed or injured. but instead it he comes to america thinking his mother resents him and has to start figuring out how to live a new life. "The relationship between Enrique and his mother, including the resentment of immigration children having been left behind..." (292).  He comes to this new country thinking his mother doesn't even love him and she had been resenting him this whole time. Now he has to start a new life find a way of making money and earn his mothers love back (In his mind) even though she never stopped. It wasn't a very grand finale which I was looking for after the depressing lead up to it. It could be a little bit better to end a long dismal book.

Post 2

Even though Lourdes left her family in Honduras she is still a good mother. She didn't leave for her self; she left for good intentions of her family. She continued to call and send money back throughout the entire time. She thought this was the best thing to do, even if it really wasn't. She loved her kids more then anything and only wished the best upon them. "Fear drains from his mother like a wave back into the sea. It is Enrique. She feels pure happiness"(188). She may not be the best mother but she definitely loves her kids more than anything. 

Enrique's Journey Post 1

While I was reading a Enrique’s Journey i stumbled across a very interesting thought. The thought of immigration and how many people try to get into the united States. So I researched that fact and according to The Wall Street Journal there has been a rise in immigrants caught trying to get in the United States over the past two years. In 2012 the border patrol caught 364,768 immigrants and then las year in 2013 they caught 388,422 in just 11 months. With the vast increase in immigrants getting caught it either means more are trying to get in or our security is just improving. We’ll see what happens in this year to test those theories.

Très

The tone in the last third of Enrique's Journey is that of distance. Where I fully expected the reunion with Lourdes to be a point of emotional climax, in reality it was nothing more than a long hug. The author shows us clearly how distant Lourdes and Enrique have become, and even though they are physically closer, the distance just keeps getting larger. Enrique, distraught by the unfulfillable expectations he has created for his mother, turns to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. He pushes his mother further away, sometimes responding to her with anger, a reaction that I am sure he did not visualize when he planned his journey to America. Enrique is distraught over the reality of his mother, the distance of María Isabel and his daughter, and the sense of detachment that he feels from his home. Eventually, though, Enrique is able to scrape together enough money to bring María Isabel into the United States, but soon finds out that he will not be able to bring his infant daughter, too. Enrique seems to forget his childhood, and decides that this is the best possible future for his daughter, even though it was clearly not the best possible future for him. "Enrique agrees, they will have to leave the baby behind. He and María Isabel both agree it is the only way for their child."(pg.194) Enrique has not only distanced himself from his child, but he has also distanced himself from reality. The fact is, no matter how many phone calls or money-grams Enrique will send, his child will not see it as a "sacrifice;" she will see it as abandonment, just as Enrique did.

In all honesty, I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I felt empathetic towards Enrique and his dire situations, but the book seemed to rely far too heavily on off-topic shock-value facts that had little and less to do with Enrique, nonetheless his journey. It seemed as though you could not go a page in the book without reading about how jumping off the train wrong could make you lose appendages, or how many small children get swept away by low-hanging branches. I also felt that the author relied far too heavily on anecdotes of other migrants that did not add anything to the story. In my opinion, this book was less about Enrique's Journey, and more about using Enrique as a conduit for sympathy towards immigrants. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with sympathy for immigrants whatsoever, I just wish the book was labelled as such.