October 22

Monday October 22, 2007 5:15 am Lennox Head, NSW Australia

A. Morning Musings

5:30 am

We leave this morning for a 3-day trip to Armidale. One day to get there, one day there, and one day to return. We are all looking forward to returning to one of our favorite towns - the one where our Australian experience began in 1978.

Immediate	Description	Time
Birding	Gyra, Armidale	2 hr
Science	Begin reading "The Revenge of Gaia"	1 hr
Literature	The Nelson Introduction to Literature (essays)	1 hr

C. Actual Learning Activities

5:30 am

I am beginning to focus on my reading. I have two books on the go: Lovelock's "The Revenge of Gaia" and "The Nelson Introduction to Literature". I have completed reading the poetry section in the latter book and have begun the essay section. This has turned out to be much more interesting than I would have anticipated.

Here are the essays that I have thoroughly enjoyed so far:

Virginia Woolf (England) : Women and Fiction
- the role of women in society with an emphasis on their writing
J. B. S. Haldane (England): Some Enemies of Science
- the contradictions between how society and science view the killing of animals
George Orwell (England): Marrakech
- contrast between white and black society
Northrop Frye (Canada): Elementary Teaching
- criticism of the emphasis on analysis in English courses at all levels
Basil H. Johnston (Canada): One Generation From Extinction
- the importance of native languages to their culture
Neil Postman (USA): "Now ... This"
- biting critique on the impact of television on our culture
Gloria Steinem (USA): Sex, Lies, and Advertising
- the influence of corporations on the content of magazines and newspapers (this is also a hot topic in research)
David Suzuki (Canada): The Pain of Animals
- questions the need for research that inflicts pain on other species
John Ralston Saul (Canada): The Politics of Common Sense
- argues for balance in a complex world

I am impressed with the actual issues as much as with how well the arguments are presented. I am determined to spend more time collecting and reading this type of literature. In many ways this is the tradition of newspapers and editorial pages. A good essay makes one think. I like this. I sense that there is a place for more such discussion, whether a magazine or a book or a web site. But as one of these essays commented, an essay should be more thoughtful and well presented than simply an expression of an opinion.

I wonder what would happen if an open invitation was sent to all the universities in a country asking them for submissions about a topic of interest to them that they would like to share with a broad readership. I want to think about this ...

5:50 PM

We had a great trip to Armidale. We stopped at Tenterfield for lunch and had a delicious bite to eat. Thick french toast with ham and cheese (aka Monte Cristo) and fried mushrooms.

Here is a list of birds that we saw:

Eastern Rosella
Scarlet Honeyeater
Sulfur-crested Cockatoo
Yellow Thornbill (lifer)
Black-winged Stilt (Aus lifer)
Black Swan
Crimson Rosella
Yellow-rumped Thornbill (lifer)
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Straw-necked Ibis
Common Blackbird (Aus lifer)
Pacific Black Duck

Here are four photos of a jacaranda tree, this one in Alstonville, just as we started our trip.

Here is a waterway near Gyra:

I love the openness of the land after one rises up onto the tablelands from the coastal area.