Words and Worlds
“Seeing is of course very much a matter of verbalization. Unless I call my attention to what passes before my eyes, I simply won't see it.”—Annie Dillard
Words make our worlds.
Words help us see our worlds. They shed light on life. When Wendell Berry says that “eating is an agricultural act,” we begin to see relationships that aren't apparent on our plates. When David Orr says that “all education is environmental education,” we start to think about the nature of college differently. Barbara Kingsolver tells us that “The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope.” And all of a sudden, if we choose, we live in a new world informed and in-formed by her words.
In this corner of Black & Gold & Green, we share some of the words that make a difference for us. We share essays on campus ecology that bring college life into focus, and challenge us to change our worlds.
Essays often give us light, but poetry sometimes gives us lightning. Sometimes a flash of verbal brilliance sets off neurons in our brains, making us newly mindful of the nature of the world. We hope you'll find a few such flashes in our collection of sustainable poetry
Sometimes people are poetic without writing poetry. So we include a collection of quotations that are poetry in prose.
Finally, in a less luminous mode, we'll be working on a glossary of terms that can help us think more clearly about the nature of college life.
We hope you enjoy these words, and we hope you share them with your friends and enemies. We also hope you'll share your words with us. Send comments and suggestions to blackgoldgreen@stolaf.edu.
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