Author: Aubrey Stout Peters

Modern Day Distractions

For this project, my friend and I started to go on a walk in the Arboretum. There were many dirt paths to walk on. A few days before we went on a walk it rained, leading the trails to be muddy. The mud was thick, pasty, and hard to walk through. During our walk, we heard birds whistling a beautiful melody. The beautiful melody was soft and sweet. We also heard the rumbling of cars from the road nearby. As we got closer to the road it was harder to hear the animals that surrounded us. This led me to think about how busy our society has become, and it can be distracting. Nature is a beautiful thing that can get destroyed from things such as roads and houses. So often I get distracted by my phone or my headphones, that I miss seeing and hearing all the things that nature has to offer.

Wild Garlic

As we continued walking, she was able to find some wild garlic. Before this walk I would have never known that the plant I was looking at was garlic. The wild garlic was long and thin like a blade of grass. As I was waking, I was not able to smell the aroma of the plant. Once my friend plucked the plant from the ground, we could smell it and make sure it was garlic. When I smelt the wild garlic, I was surprised at how strong and overwhelming the smell was. Looking around at where we were at, I could see an abundant amount of this wild garlic. If she had not shown me this plant, I would have thought they were just normal weeds, and I would have overlooked them. This walk has taught me what they look like in case I ever wanted to find wild garlic again.

Blooming Flowers

While walking we were able to see the juxtaposition of the living and the dead plants. The beginning of spring revealed itself. There were many trees without leaves that have not bloomed yet. However, there were some trees that have blossomed. Many plants and flowers have started to grow, too. There was a cluster of flowers that caught my eye because it made a pop of color in the mist of what seemed to be a forest of dead branches. It is surprising to see some plants growing when the other plants around them are still dead. Walking down the path made me excited about the warm weather to come and the flowers that would follow. I love spring and summer because I allows me to go on more walks.

Appreciation of Nature

Overall, I had I good time taking a walk in nature with my friend. Explored the wild and took in the beautiful scenery. Animals like squirrels climbed up trees and birds flew overhead. There were sounds like the wind and the trees swaying. We touched the plants and the wild garlic that we found. I am glad that we went out on that beautiful day because I missed seeing the plants and animals during the cold winter season. This walk taught me not to overlook the little things and to appreciate the nature around us.

The Use of AI in my Post

For my Blog Post, I did not use any AI to formulate my writing. I did use the spell check on Word to make sure I did not spell anything wrong.

Before taking this course.

Prior to taking the class English 340, I did not know much about my computer or any computer. I took this class because I can get an English requirement for my degree. For school, I would use my computer all the time. Everything I knew about computers revolved around school. I know how to use Word and submit assignments. I would not have my computer if I did not need it for school. When picking out computers, I went shopping with my dad because he knew more about what computers to buy and what would be better for school. Before going into this class, I did not know what to expect. The only computer class I took was the one I had to take in middle school. All I remember about this class was that they taught us how to type and how to use programs, like Word. I read the summary for this class, but I was still a little confused about how this English class connected with computers and coding.

Learning about Git Bash and Visual Studio Code.

This class led me to learn about how to access my files using Git Bash. Now I know how to access different folders by using the “cd” command. I can now make new folders by using the “mkdir” command. Taking this class has allowed me to learn what the different file extensions mean. Before taking this course, I only really used words and PDFs. I would never have written in an HTML document because I did not know what it was. I know now that people can use Visual Studio Code to help make a website. I was always confused about how people made websites, and while I do not know everything about it, I now have a better understanding of some of the basic things. I may never be a pro at coding, but I know a little more about how to do it and have more appreciation for people who do. When writing Journal Files in Visual Studio Code I have been able to look back on all the things I have learned. For example, I learned about the evolution of computers. Computers used to be huge and take up a lot of space, but now they can be carried around with us in a backpack.

What I learned aboutReading, Writing, and Computers.

I found it interesting when we discussed reading and how people today no longer want to sit down and read books. On social media, long content is no longer desired. People’s attention span is becoming shorter. This affects many aspects of a person’s life, including how much they read. When talking about this, I can remember times in my own life when this happened. This discussion of reading led us to talk about writing. When writing this Blog post, I was able to use AI spell check to help polish my writing. AI was able to tell me where I needed to add commas to my sentences. Now that AI can check grammar and punctuation it has become a tool that makes people prefer to write on their computers. Before, I never had thought of how writing on paper has become daggered and what we lose in this happening. Now that more people are writing on computers, we are losing the style of writing and the history of writing. For example, on paper, we can see what was crossed off. On a computer, you would not be able to see that because people now just hit the backspace button. On paper, you can also see things like tears or stains. When we had a Zoom call with Elizabeth Witherell, she showed us one of Thoreau’s manuscripts. In this manuscript, you could see a letter behind his writing. If Thoreau’s manuscripts were written on a computer, the letter behind his manuscript would probably have been lost, and we would never have known what was on this letter. This class has opened my eyes to the importance of how you are writing and the material you are writing with. I learned the importance of small things like a small tear in the paper. That small little tear could have an important story to it.

After taking this course

Taking this course has allowed me to gain a lot more knowledge about my computer. Through reading some of the book “Broad Band,” I was able to learn about many important women who helped computers become what they are now today. I have greater appreciation for the people who work and help advance computer technology. I have learned to enjoy using Git Bash and Visual Codes. I am glad that when learning about the codes in Git Bash, things get repeated. It has led me to be able to learn and memorize how to create a new Journal folder for each day of class. I now have so much more respect for people who do keep journals. After this class, I may not become a person who journals every day but now I know the importance of writing down your thoughts. When I was thinking about what to write, I was able to go back to my journal files to see what we did during class and how much I had learned.