Bodies and Interactions: Response

This project was extremely challenging for me because I did not want to live outside for 24 hours. Of course, then I concluded that was precisely why I had to do it. I feel like it was one of the best experiences of my life because it was in no way completely positive. In the end, I caught a cold, got pricked by devil cacti, and smelled like a dumpster. I had been camping before, so I thought that this would not be horrible at all! The fact was that everyone else around me could go inside whenever they pleased, I even had a few remind me that I could, too, if I wanted to cheat. It was so hard to not go inside and get a drink, or sit on the couch and relax. The body part of this project was definitely trying to be present in every moment of that 24 hours. I thought that I would have plenty of time to myself, but it turned out that I had barely any time to myself. The last 3 hours is the only time I can remember meditating and relaxing alone, and it is because of that 3 hours, where I found solace, that I wouldn't mind going out again.

I took the word interactions as literally as possible and enabled people to come sit with me, take part in spreading around bird seed, or eat a PB&J. I was a little appalled by hour scared people were to come and talk to me. Every once in awhile I'd say, "I don't bite," "why won't you look at me in the eyes?" or "I swear I'm not trying to sell you anything." These responses woke me up to the structure that people are used to, and how an intruder like me can make people feel utterly unstable! After that point, it became about how we are scared to look outside of our bubbles and reach out to other people. It saddened me, but at the same time gave me a sense of purpose and discovery. Like I said at the end of the video, "everyone should do it."

Project 3: Proposal

As I thought about everything we have studied to prepare for this project, it dawned on me that we may not consider nature as a dominant part of our lives because we are so sheltered from it. Therefore, for this project I propose two ideas:

1) Part of the reason that we are not aware of nature is because we can escape it so easily. We eat indoors, learn indoors, sleep indoors. Although this is quite comfortable, this is also sometimes unnecessary. I would like to be subject to the elements for one whole day. Rid myself of every unnecessary indoor luxury and remind myself and others that we may abuse nature because we have the choice to participate in it.

2) Another way of bringing us as a community back to nature is to bring it into contact with people unexpectedly. I see our greatest avoidance of nature on the paths at Elon. Around the college there are many brick walkways that sometimes are not even logical to walk on, but are used anyway because it keeps us sheltered. What if those walkways became one with nature once again? I would like to pour large mounds of birdseed in the middle of the major walkways around campus. This would include crossways, intersections, or in front of buildings, in order to attract nature and distract humans. Forcing people out of this pattern would prove that they have become accustomed to a luxury that is severely temporal.