In History 453 we will often confront the question, “Just what is wilderness anyway”? You will notice that your instructor tends to “cast a wide net” to include many different kinds and degrees of wilderness. I sense wilderness sometimes among the trees of the EWU mall in front of the library — as well as while hiking on a glacier in the Arctic.
In a companion class to ours, called “The History of the American National Parks,” I tried once to persuade my somewhat reluctant students to consider even a well-manicured Japanese garden as having some of the features of wilderness. Your assignment is to read my blog post on the garden and simply ask yourselves, are you persuaded? How would YOU define wilderness. I’ll be asking you again and again this fall to ask and answer that question.
This link will take you to the post on my blog, American Realities:
“The Japanese Garden at the Hotel New Otani: an Exercise in Parkology”