Journal Entry #5

I feel as though I am not getting all there is to get out of this class, and it is my own fault. Because the structure of this course is so different from the other ones I am taking, I seem to push it aside and forget about it. Now that my midterms are over, I hope to focus again on this course because I do very much enjoy it. I like reading the articles and I like hearing what others have to say about the ones they've read. I feel as though I have not been contributing to these discussions and I am determined to change that once classes resume after break.

Journal entry #4

Lately I have not been able to read any articles, as I have been so busy with other courses and assignments. However, I have been learning more and more about John's work by listening to other classmates discuss their readings. I am very impressed with the amount of different subjects John writes about in his work; he is so knowledgeable about everything it seems!

It seems like he's really not scared to pick a subject and go with it, learning as he writes. It almost feels like he just closes his eyes and picks from a list of random subjects and then writes a remarkable piece of work on it, no matter what it is; a very impressive attribute to have.

I hope to squeeze in some reading time at some point this week, so I can contribute more discussion in class!

Journal Entry #3- Dropped the ball.

Yes, so I completely forgot to write a journal entry for last week.

Journal Entry #2

This week I definitely learned a lot about searching and finding articles in the library. I have had a lot of experience in previous classes working with the library, yet for some reason I still have trouble. So after finding the articles I wanted to read in the basement of the library, I felt pretty proud of myself; it was stressful, but rewarding in the end.

The articles also taught me a lot about McPhee and his writing style. The more I read, the more I like his writing. He seems like a very down-to-earth person with a lot of knowledge on a lot of important issues. His writing is never boring, regardless of what he's talking about, because of the way he writes it.

I think this is an excellent attribute to have when writing environmental journalism. It is evident that people tend to stray away from anything to do with environmental issues because it's too depressing; or they are not educated, or some other reason. But with McPhee, he intrigues the reader, educates them and gets his point across without sounding scary, depressing or scientific.

Katelyn Mokler