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Other Eyes: St. Olaf from a different perspective
“A mouse is miracle enough to stagger six billion infidels.” —Walt Whitman
Usually when we see St. Olaf, we see it through our own eyes. But our eyes aren't the only ones on the Hill. In this assignment, we'd like you to write a short essay on campus ecology from the point of view of a lawn or a tree or a prairie grass or a potted plant, a squirrel or a duck or a mouse or an aquarium fish, a fly or a mosquito or an Asian ladybug. In a first-person narrative, describe the life of one of these creatures, including information on both ecological community and human interactions. As you write, try to think of your creature in terms of:
- Networks—the way that it's interconnected in a networks of relationships in the web of life
- Nested systems—the way that it's part of a system of systems
- Cycles—the way that it's a part of ecological cycles of energy and resources, on campus, in the bioregion, and on the planet.
- Flows—the way that this one organism is a part of continual flows of energy and resources
- Development—the development of organisms and systems over time, including the co-evolution of organisms and environment.
- Dynamic balance—the feedback loops that help an ecological community organize and regulate itself, and the fluctuations within that ever-changing balance.
Think about
- the food chain, predator/prey relations: what they eat and what eats them
- the organism's ecological niche and competitions for its space
- seasonality: how it lives through Minnesota 's seasons
- its human encounters and how we think about it (if at all). What are our perspectives of mosquitoes? What do we take for granted?
- what it does all day and night—its diurnal rhythms
- its contributions to ecological community: what is it good for?
- its habitat and habitat change. How does a community of students enhance or threaten the habitat of this organism?
- its life cycle; birth and growth and maturity, reproduction and death and lifespan
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