"Building Suburbia"

I wasn't really a fan of how the book was written, but the message it was trying to get across was an interesting one. When you really stop to think about it, most of what it had to say seems like common sense, but it's the sort of stuff that you normally wouldn't stop to think about unless someone pointed it out to you. The book's main point, like most of the other readings we've done so far, is to relate some aspect of American development to the technology that was responsible for it. In this book the automobile seems to be the star of the show so to speak. Most of the chapters, at least so far, are in some way related to the expansion and mobility enabled by the use of cars and other forms of motorised transportation. By allowing people to easily commute to and from work, they no longer had to live as close to where the worked. One of the major results of this shift was the rise of the suburbs. Of course there are alot of other factors that contributed to it, but to me it seems like the Automobile was one of the leading contributors.

American Studies

Throughtout the course a common theme that has been brought up is the fact that American Studies is "interdisciplinary". I can certainly see how that can be said about the field, but it seems, to me at least, that it is most closely tied to the various History subjects. In class our readings have progressed from hte colonies to the era of westward expansion, to how the Native Americans were dealt with, and now to the rise of the suburbs. With every new theme studied, regardless of the other fields involved, it always seems like something that could be taught in an American History class. Almost as if the whole subject of American Studies is a sub-section of it. It makes sense i suppose. It would be kind of difficult to study things about America that havent happened yet.

Walking

This week we had to read a paper about "walking" written by one of my least favorite authors ever, Thoreau. His topics are alright, but his writing style is absolutely attrocious. Someone should have taught that man that every sentence doesn't have to have a minimum of 6 commas in order to be grammatically correct. When I was reading his paper it was almost impossible to understand his point half the time. I spent so much time trying to reconstruct his fractured sentences in my head, that by the time i did, I had forgotten what they were actually about.
But enough ranting, time to get back on topic. Even though it could be tough to read at times, he did make some interesting points about the value of "walking". The walking itself isn't as important as the need to slow down and simply enjoy whatever it is that's happening around you. There are a few points where Thoreau, as he's walking, passes other people as they work or live adn wonders how it is that they can be happy existing without ever seeing and enjoying everything that's around them. The value of observation is something that Thoreau praises in several of his works, but it's also one of the reasons why I, personally, can't ever really enjoy them. His writing has a heavy feeling that he's just that, an observer, and nothing more. He walks past beauty or fun or life and none of it ever involves him. As if he's watching the world inside a fishtank. Always looking at everythign happening but never geting involved himself. Observing the world around you and seeing what there is to see can be rewarding at times, but if you never accomplish anything with what you learned from your observations then what was teh point of observing it in the first place?

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I suppose as would be expected we're starting with the beginning of America in American Studies. I know, go figure. But it is interesting to note the contrast that exists in the writings we're reading. On one hand you have the desire to advance and bring order and civilisation to an untouched land, while at the same time there is the desire to obtain the "ideal" world unspoiled by human hands. In the end i think the true "ideal" won't be found in one goal or the other, but rather in teh balance between the two. "organized chaos" i suppose......or something like that anyway.