Maddie Goes Outside!

There is a little bush right beside my house. It used to annoy my roommates and me because it came over the sidewalk that connects the parking lot to the front door, so we always have to dodge it. In fact, right when we moved in in July, my roommates and I always joked about giving it a little trim (though technically its roots are on our neighbor’s side, so we never had the guts). However, after doing all the readings for and teaching the class on Henry David Thoreau, I’ve come to appreciate the overgrown bush in all its chaotic beauty.  Almost immediately after doing the Thoreau readings, I started thinking about the bush in a new way. I did some research, and it seems to be a Campus Radican, also known as a Trumpet Creeper. When the conditions are right, it produces the most beautiful and intricate reddish-orange flowers that resemble its titular instrument. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to see these flowers yet, but I’m hoping they bloom in the spring (side note- can you i...

I had the most incredible experience over Thanksgiving break.  It all started with my cousins visiting us for Thanksgiving. Normally, we go to their house in the tiny town of Cleveland, Tennessee. However, this year, we decided to switch it up, so they spent the holiday at my house in Nashville. Usually, we use the day after Thanksgiving as a detox day. They live on a farm, so we ride horses, go on hikes, have a family flag football tournament, gather around a giant outside bonfire, and (maybe) do a little online Black Friday Sale shopping.  I was a little disappointed that Thanksgiving wouldn’t look the exact same this year, but I was also excited for potential new traditions to begin. Thanksgiving Day came and went, and we had a wonderful time. Then came the historic detox day! Since we didn’t have access to all the land and outdoor activities we normally partake in, we decided to wake up super early and go on a walk at my local trail in Radnor Lake State Park. I’m not norma...

Our poor next-door neighbors’ house is completely filled with mold. We’re not exactly sure what happened, but we do know that there was always a trail of water that came from the house. So last week, they upped and moved out. Now there is a big sign on their door that says “Mold infestation, keep out”. I really feel for them; it must have been scary to be living their lives completely oblivious, and the next day seeing workers exclusively enter your house once they are fully geared up in their hazmat suits. Not to mention the total hassle to move out of your house right before finals week- yuck.  Whatever the cause was, the result has been a lot of movers, city utility workers, and landscaping people coming in and out of the house and standing around their yard. A few days ago, I even came home to a man up in a bucket cutting down giant branches off of the tree that acted as a canopy for the house- and I loved that tree! It’s a big beautiful oak tree that sometimes hits me in the h...

Attached to this blog post are my top ten photos from the semester. While I would not necessarily say these are up to the standard of a photographer, I’m personally quite proud of these pictures. Knowing that I would need to write journal entries caused me to continuously snap pictures throughout the semester and made me constantly on the lookout for “nature”. Funnily, enough, I realized that nature is everywhere! While I wasn’t really one to “stop and smell the roses” before this class, my new photo-taking habit has given me a reason to, and now I’m much more prone. This excites me, and I’m excited to continue taking photos of the beautiful world that surrounds me! While, of course, I have many more photos than just these ten, as I was going through to find my absolute favorites, I noticed that they are mostly pictures of the sky, leaves, and flowers. While this was interesting, it did not surprise me at all. I’ve always been drawn to the colorful, so anytime I saw a splash of color i...

The other day, I found myself running late for Spanish class- as per usual. This particular class is held in Scharbauer Hall, which is only about a ten minute walk from my house. I always opt to walk instead of drive and usually try to take advantage of these quiet mornings by keeping my phone in my pocket and taking in my surroundings and the chilly air as I prepare for the day ahead. However, this particular morning, I slept through my alarm, so I was booking it.  This week was particularly cold and gray, and the cold front had come in- just another reason to pick up my pace. Most of the plants along this walk had succumbed to the cold- leaving only twigs. This part of the year always bums me out. I love all the colors of fall and find myself getting really sad as the cold comes in; it feels like the color drains from life a bit. It’s not as if the grass has died yet, but it feels like green and brown are all that’s left. I cross the four-way stop, and TCU is within view! As I ge...

       Our Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqsH-JPSKEI      While our group had a great time brainstorming for and working on this final presentation together, we found it a bit difficult to narrow down and decide what exactly to emphasize. Between all the amazing, yet complicated, reading assignments and class discussions, how could we possibly talk about every single thing that made us think a bit deeper, see things in a new way, or challenge us? We decided to compartmentalize, so we got together and discussed every single week of class- each of us revealing the concept that stuck with us the most. We looked back over the readings and our notes, as well as recounted our friends’ presentations. We even thought back to our off-campus activities and discussed what our main takeaways were from being hands-on.  From all of this, we ended up with a poem that we feel truly encapsulates the semester. It includes at least one takeaway from ev...