The Typical College Campus

“But in the process, the college had to become even more fully a kind of miniature city.”

-Campus, an American Planning Tradition, By Paul Venable Turner  

The more I think about the quote and think about my life as a college student, the more I fully agree with this statement. Out of all the college tours I went on over the past couple years, none of the schools I looked at lacked extracurricular entertainment. Each school has plenty of park and open space, gyms, commons, cafeterias and cafes and some even movie theaters and bowling alleys.

In every case, each college was set up in a way to accommodate student’s every needs. There are plenty of food choices, living spaces, recreation areas, even convenience stores for every campus. I felt like I was touring miniature self-sufficient towns, but that became the norm.

At Saint Olaf I realize the only reason I really have left campus so far was to go for runs, bike rides, and sightseeing (especially Carleton’s flooded fields). Other than that I have been able to get everything else I could need right here on the hill.

I never thought of this as being abnormal, but after reading this excerpt, I realize this concept was much more unique when introduced in America. I find this interesting but also logical as students seem to be able to spend more time in their scholastic communities this way. I wonder what the college experience would be like had these ideas not come into being.

Glimpse Into the Other Side of the Anne Hutchinson Case

“Although the elders claimed that their punishments of Hutchinson were for the good of the society as a whole, they were most furious about her personal criticism of their preaching; it was absolutely unforgivable, Thomas Weld complained, that ‘the faithful ministers of Christ must have dung cast on their faces, and be no better than Legall Preachers, Baals priests, Popish Factors, Scribes, Pharisees, and Opposes of Christ himselfe.’”

-A Radically Different Voice: Gender and Language in the Trials of Anne Hutchinson, Lad Tobin

This quote is interesting for me to read. I mostly find myself siding with Anne Hutchinson because everything that I have read has shown her as the victim. I am not saying that I believe any of this as being morally correct but I enjoyed hearing this piece about those on the other side of the argument. They (the accusers of Anne) felt very strongly about being seen in a poor light. They did not want this trend to continue. People were beginning to see flaws or differences in these tradition Puritan teachings and change was beginning to take place. Not only were women in on this change, but men as well. This movement was gathering strength and challenged the comfort and authority these traditional Puritan men had.

I could see them being offended by the rejection of some of their teachings but it seems way over dramatized in this quote. I still believe that banning Anne Hutchinson from the Massachusetts Bay was unnecessary and unjust but this quote at least gives to light the thoughts and feelings of her accusers.

This quote clearly shows how overboard these people went and the way they overanalyzed Anne’s teachings. The idea that in the New World the Puritan’s had less in common stands out even more to me now. Without the common persecution from the Old World, there was less to keep these people bonded together with. They were waiting for the next bonding experience, and that happened when some new idea was introduced and accepted by Puritans. To combine against Anne was the next “bonding moment”. I think this is a crucial aspect for the trials of Anne Hutchinson.

AMCON's Landscape

“Landscape is a way of investigating and interpreting these sources of ourselves. Inevitably, though, the paths we choose to approach it- words, pictures, music, dance, gardens, sports- lead us only to points of view which are full of vision, but short of whole sight”

-Landscape Is a Point of View, by Gregory Conniff

I found this short assessment of landscape extremely interesting and applicable to our class as a whole. It is difficult to have a broad view on anything in life because every person comes from their own unique backgrounds. Depending on these backgrounds, no two people can have the same thoughts or opinions on all subjects. Experiences lead us to have points of view on anything.

I think that is what helps make our class much more interesting and helpful. The more people with different backgrounds in life we have in a discussion, the more points of view we have. Because of this the discussions become much richer.

This is something I want to keep in mind for this class and for the rest of life itself.  Keep in mind other backgrounds, and be open to listening to others thoughts on a situation.

This occurs in class all the time. Reading several articles and sources about Puritans gave me a better understanding of them. Before I had a much more limited view of them, but after reading these articles and having our class time, more points of view gave me better insight on the topic.

Puritans and the Natives Americans

“John Winthrop declared that the decimation of Indians by smallpox manifested a Puritan destiny: God was ‘making room’ for the settlers and ‘hath hereby cleared out title to this place.’”

-          A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki (40)

I found this quote to be extremely interesting especially after today’s discussions. Here was the leader of the Puritan movement to America, saying something so “unreasonable” in today’s ears. It seems crazy to hear of someone wanting to “be better people” going about talking about deaths as reason to take land.

Here they were escaping to gain freedom, only to take away from others and have little care in the matter. It shows how poorly the native people were thought of by these supposedly religious and kind people. It also shows how strongly the Puritans thought that the devil resided in the native people. I know that these thoughts on the native people occurred by many other groups of colonists, but it the book and this moment in history shed a poor light on the Puritan people.   

 Here's a nice picture of John Winthrop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Winthrop

Learning to Love the Hill

Learning to Love the Hill

by Katie Ulvestad and Marissa Recht

because of the friendly greetings

because of the snow topped hill

because the lakes freeze over in the dead of winter

because of the leaves scream fall

because I say we, not they

because I home is now the Midwest

because bikes replace my mode of transport

because I have delighted in the Caf foods

and Malt-o-Meal smells are a part of every day

because I have left my high school ways

and college takes up with great pace

because I would never walk barefoot in the shower

because I belong in St. Olaf’s biggest class

because I left my mountains far behind

because I left granola country for Ole country

because I am St Olaf 2014

because it is time.

Freedoms; Positive and Negative

The idea of positive and negative freedoms is an extremely difficult concept for me to comprehend. Just when I thought I understood it, we had class lecture and it became even more confusing to understand. The main thought I had after leaving class was the question of what is a right and what is a freedom. They are different concepts but seem to overlap at certain times.

Another question I had after class was whether or not “freedoms” conflict at times with “human rights”. In some ways I think this occurs but in other cases, I think people have the right to respect but not listen or care about the ways people use their freedoms. In this way I think that there are cases of conflict, like freedom of speech and the right to ignore. No freedom is being denied; only it may not serve the purpose the speaker wishes.

 Basically, this concept of freedoms leaves me with more unanswered questions than with the neat orderly definitions I crave.

What Freedom Means to Me: America's Freedom of Choice

I belive money symbolizes the American freedom of choice seen in the 21^st century. There are so many options as to what Americans can spend money on in this time. Cars, electronics, food, clothes, vacations, homes, are all part of the variety of ways people choose to use their cash.

 Once acquired, money can be spent in the manner the owner wishes. People have the option to choose the way that they wish to spend their money. It is a freedom. Having money means you can choose what things you want to see, do or have. You can spend ten dollars on gas, movies, lunch or earrings. It is completely up to the owner to pick the way it is spent.

Also, an even bigger choice given to Americans is the way they can choose where they buy their particular items. In the American 21^st century this means that there are limitless choices. If one prefers McDonalds over Subway, they can choose to buy a hamburger over a sandwich. A person can prefer a PC over a Mac, there’s another choice. There are no limitations to the way money is spent once acquired (after of course accounting for taxes). At the same time money can also be saved for something larger in the future.

Money is a type of freedom, just like speech. Although money needs to be earned first, once in procession both speech and money can be used in the way the owner wishes. So in this day and age, choice through the use of money is a major source of freedom for Americans.