On Terry Tempest Williams

2-On page 747, Terry Tempest Williams details the ritual of bird watching with her grandmother and how it shaped her understanding of the land. What rituals shape your experience of "place"? Describe those experiences in as much detail as possible and reflect on how they've changed your perception of environment.


One ritual I remember from when I was a child is going into our backyard, clad in my Pocahontas dress, gathering the small garden ornament animals to have an adventure with. There was a pair of raccoons, a pair of foxes, a rabbit, a hummingbird, and a few others that fleet through my memory because they were less permnently my companions. Daily I would trek out through my back door and almost religiously collected them up in order. I would crouch in the garden on a rock, my friends collected around me and make up dramatic adventures, sometimes gathering them in my arms and moving our collective to another location.
Those rocks in the garden thy we would hide behind or sit on became my own world, with chairs and tables made just for me because only I could see them for what they were. Because I closely identified with how the Native Americans loved the land, I still have a love for nature and how it provides you with all you need really.