The Journey
I just finished my last exam this morning! Phew… now there is a brief interim between now and the recreational extravaganza that is summer: waiting for grades to come in. But, since there isn’t anything I can do to influence them why bother worrying. It is time to turn my attention to thoughts about what the summer will hold.
It is in these times of transition that I start thinking about things I would like to do differently, and things I did in the past I enjoyed that I would like to do again. Like a journey…
THE JOURNEY. What is a journey? My word dictionary defines journey as:
1. a trip or expedition from one place to another
2. a gradual passing from one state to another regarded as more advanced, for example, from innocence to mature awareness
Have you been on a Journey lately? What was your goal? How did you prepare? How did it end? Did you change as a result of your journey? Please post comments and pictures!
I just took a trip with my sculpture class to see some of the public art in Utah where I stayed at CLUI (The Center For Land Use Interpretation), an organization who’s mission is to bring together artists who are interested in doing artistic research on how people use land and how land is an integral part of how we live. While we were there, we met Joni Sternbach, a photographer from New York who works in Tintype photography. She took two amazing photos of our group at the center and showed us a little bit about the process of making a Tintype. You can see Joni’s work at www.jonisternbach.com.
We also saw Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels
and Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty.
You can read more about my class’s journey around Utah at http://westernexcursion.wordpress.com and CLUI has a really interesting website at http://www.clui.org/.
Here are some ideas about journeys. I will use Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear as an example of all of the important parts of a journey from their expedition to the North Pole in the book House At Pooh Corner, by Alan A. Milne.
Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting
on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew
that an Adventure was going to happen, and he brushed the honey
off his nose with the back of his paw, and spruced himself up
as well as he could, so as to look Ready for Anything.
“We are all going on an Expedition,” said Christopher Robin, as he got up and brushed himself. “Thank you, Pooh.”
“Going on an Expotition?” said Pooh eagerly. “I don’t
think I’ve ever been on one of those. Where are we going to on
this Expotition?”
“Expedition, silly old Bear. It’s got an ‘x’ in it.”
“Oh!” said Pooh. “I know.” But he didn’t really.
“We’re going to discover the North Pole.”
“Oh!” said Pooh again. “What is the North Pole?” he
asked.
“It’s just a thing you discover,” said Christopher
Robin carelessly, not being quite sure himself.
1. Goal: Having a final destination in mind is a key part of having a successful journey. This might be a learning goal, a collection goal, or in the case of Pooh and Christopher Robin, a physical destination.
“Oh! I see,” said Pooh. “Are bears any good at
discovering it?”
“Of course they are. And Rabbit and Kanga and all of
you. It’s an Expedition. That’s what an Expedition means. A
long line of everybody. You’d better tell the others to get
ready, while I see if my gun’s all right. And we must all bring
Provisions.”
“Bring what?”
“Things to eat.”
“Oh!” said Pooh happily. “I thought you said
Provisions. I’ll go and tell them.” And he stumped off.
2. Preparation:
This means making sure that you have assembled supplies and have mentally readied yourself to experience something different and new. It seems as though Christopher Robin is probably a bit more prepared than Pooh at this point. From this point in the story, Pooh manages to round up all of his friends in the Hundred-Acre Woods and they go on a long, arduous hike in pursuit of the North Pole.
“Pooh’s found the North Pole,” said Christopher Robin.
“Isn’t that lovely?”
Pooh looked modestly down.
“Is that it?” said Eeyore.
“Yes,” said Christopher Robin.
“Is that what we were looking for?”
“Yes,” said Pooh.
“Oh!” said Eeyore. “Well, anyhow — it didn’t rain,” he
said.
They stuck the pole in the ground, and Christopher
Robin tied a message on to it:
NorTH
PoLE
DICSovERED
By
PooH
PooH
FouND IT
Then they all went home again. And I think, but I am
not quite sure, that Roo had a hot bath and went straight to
bed. But Pooh went back to his own house, and feeling very
proud of what he had done, had a little something to revive
himself.
3. End: If a journey doesn’t end, then it goes on forever and stops being a journey at all. This is why a goal is so important! So you know when your finished and can feel accomplished about doing what you did!
