Unit 1 was about eco-literacy and how we interacted with our environment and everyday lives. The focus was to write a narrative or story about my literary development. This helped me because we were told different rhetorical strategies and how to develop a strong narrative before running a narrative. For example, using the strategy of writing a shitty first draft, I was able to get around writer’s block.
First Draft:
The Reality of Camping
So I’m not really an environmentalistic guy and don’t really pay attention to my environment all that much but There was a time when I actually paid attention to my environment and saw how beautiful it was. I mean it was pretty much forced on me well sort of because it was the first time I went camping and that was I think in 7th grade and I was selected alongside some of my teammates to be a part of the camp called Cristadoria.
I didn’t know what to expect but I was like I mean it’s full of trees as I imagined and I was just ready to go somewhere else so in I think June or July we left on a bus. I’m pretty sure it was a one-week program or it was either one week or two weeks I think it was 2 weeks yeah it was 2 weeks. It was pretty foggy up there so I was just a bit nervous but we arrived in a few hours. I imagined that it would just be acres and acres full of trees but I didn’t expect our campsite to be immense.
There were six giant tents that were divided into three for the boys and three for the girls and each had eight beds each. I remember the first time where had to shower in a communal bathroom It was so weird I just decided to take it when everyone was asleep. Fast forward 2 days we had lunch and received info that the next week we’d go on a 5-day camping trip and so for me, I always thought of camping to be boring because all it was were walking for hours in a forest to “feel nature” what a load of crap and don’t get me started on what I usually hear and see on TV portraying how amazing camping was. As I thought it would be it started off terrible because we had to carry half our weight full of supplies so I was carrying 60 pounds worth of stuff.
At first, it was dreadful because it was a struggle to walk. I got even worse because we started to walk a lot of uphills and it was super hot so immediately sweating heavily my mouth was dehydrated, my legs wobbling, my knees bent and we were so tired that we didn’t even get to our first checkpoint so we had to set up camp somewhere in the middle of the trail. It was even more despising because I had to share a small tent with three other people we were packed like sardines in a can. On the second day, it was much better because over time I adapted due to the fact that I had to walk so much and I really started to embrace the nature that was around me because even though it was full of trees, the scenery was amazing. I remember while I was walking I heard rustling sounds and turned out that it was a river . The sight of the river matched with the bright shining sun making it look so majestic that I instantly forgot about all the fatigues I had that day.
It changed my perspective of how beautiful an environment could be even from a quiet place. with my newfound knowledge, the remaining 3 days felt sort of soothing, kind of like giving my mind a break because we managed to see animals like beavers, ducks, and geese that I would never seen in person. On the 4th day, we sat on a gigantic Rock that was so high up that we could see the craters on the moon in broad daylight by this point, I had gotten used to the uphills as I wasn’t out of breath as much, I feel like I have nature to thank for that.
Final Draft:
The Reality of Camping
I’m not really an environmentalistic guy and don’t really pay attention to my environment all that much, but there was a time when I actually paid attention to my environment and saw how beautiful it was. I mean, it was pretty much forced on me because it was the first time I went camping and that was in 7th grade. I was selected along with some of my teammates, to be a part of the camp called Cristadoria.
I didn’t know what to expect, but I mean it’s full of trees as I imagined and I was just ready to go somewhere else. So in June or July, we left on a bus. I’m pretty sure it was a one-week program, or it was either one week or two weeks. I think it was 2 weeks. It was pretty foggy up there, so I was just a bit nervous, but we arrived in a few hours. I imagined that it would just be acres and acres full of trees but I didn’t expect our campsite to be immense.
There were six giant tents that were divided into three for the boys and three for the girls, and each had eight beds. I remember the first time I had to shower in a communal bathroom It was so weird, I just decided to take it when everyone was asleep. Fast forward 2 days and we had lunch and received info that the next week we’d go on a 5-day camping trip, and so for me, I always thought of camping to be boring because all it was was walking for hours in a forest to “feel nature.” What a load of crap, and don’t get me started on what I usually hear and see on TV portraying how amazing camping was. As I thought it would be, it started off terrible because we had to carry half our weight full of supplies, so I was carrying 60 pounds worth of stuff.
At first, it was dreadful because it was a struggle to walk. I got even worse because we started to walk a lot of uphill’s and it was super hot so immediately sweating heavily my mouth was dehydrated, my legs were wobbling, and my knees were bent. We were so tired that we didn’t even get to our first checkpoint, so we had to set up camp somewhere in the middle of the trail. It was even more despising because I had to share a small tent with three other people; we were packed like sardines in a can. On the second day, it was much better because, over time I adapted due to the fact that I had to walk so much, and I really started to embrace the nature that was around me because even though it was full of trees, the scenery was amazing. I remember while I was walking I heard rustling sounds and it turned out that it was a river. The sight of the river matched the bright shining sun making it look so majestic that I instantly forgot about all the fatigue I had that day.
It changed my perspective on how beautiful an environment could be even in a quiet place. With my newfound knowledge, the remaining 3 days felt sort of soothing, kind of like giving my mind a break because we managed to see animals like beavers, ducks, and geese that I would never seen in person. On the 4th day, we sat on a gigantic rock that was so high up that we could see the craters on the moon in broad daylight. By this point, I had gotten used to the uphill’s as I wasn’t out of breath as much, and I feel like I have nature to thank for that.
