Journal 1

“Marry an outdoors woman. Then if you throw her out into the yard on a cold night, she can still survive.” ~ W. C. Fields Quotes~

Hi, my name is Marilyn Diaz and this quote was of particular interest to me. It implies that women who love the outdoors, or at least have a general knowledge of the outdoors, are independent, strong women. Is this true??

My connection to the Florida environment isn’t as great as it should be. Although I’ve lived in Florida my entire life, the most I know about it is that it is extremely hurricane prone.

I scarcely ever go outside. My ‘outside’ time consists of me walking to and from my car and classes. I have a two year old nephew who I occasionally take to the park but even those visits are an hour at max.

I always say that I am going to do more involving the outdoors but for whatever reason I always avoid doing so. Maybe the course I am enrolled in now (University Colloquium) will inspire me to genuinely take an interest of my environment and the outdoors in general and become a more active participant in the world.

Goals for this semester:

1) Take an interest of my environment and the world around me

2) Take my nephew to the park more often

3) Do ten hours of service learning that really help me understand the outdoors and inspire me to enjoy it

4) Be able to speak intelligently about our environment

On a more personal note, when I was asked to count the exact amount of hours I spend outside during my week, I really thought about how that affects my nephew. When my nephew grows up will he be disappointed in my lack of partaking in our global change? The only way to be sure that doesn’t happen is to change it so if not for me, I will do it for him!!!

Word Count = 326