Canoe Trip on the Chicago River

Preparations underway to canoe 7 miles down the Chicago River starting around Foster /2900 north and travelling to the edge of Chinatown at 2200 south.  So far the weather promises to be 50 degrees and sunny. To prepare for the trip, consider reading:

Encyclopedia of Chicago article on the history of the Chicago River   AND

Friends of the Chicago River, advocacy page


The purpose of the River Journal entry is to inspire you to deepen your relationship with the Earth, and to develop a greater awareness and caring for the Earth.

Ideas for Writing your River Journal from the Sierra Club:

Listen to Nature's voice, literally and figuratively, and provide descriptive words and details for mountains, rivers, streams, flowers, trees, creatures, and the way the natural world interacts and is engaged in daily activity.

Consider how you are part of that ecosystem and that diversity. Look at Nature as if through a lens. Study sounds, movements, atmosphere.

Incorporate your feelings, mood, observations, and those you might attribute to the  river.  Provide Nature with a voice.

Begin writing. and et your writing flow.

Write as if writing a letter to yourself or to a close friend or family member. Create a narrative account, write a story for yourself.

Write prose or poetry or a combination of both - you need not consider yourself a writer or a poet!

Draw pictures with words; incorporate drawings/photos  into your journal.


These ideas adapted from  Bonnie Johanna Gisel the Curator, LeConte Memorial Lodge, Sierra Club, Yosemite National Park, and the author of Kindred and Related Spirits: The Letters of John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr. 


Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang (read by Juniors and Seniors)

Glen Canyon Dam - see Google Images
Lake Powell - see Google Images
Lee's Ferry - see Google Images
visualize while you read:  Geodesic Dome  or here's a picture of Edward Abbey's 1975 Cadillac for sale on ebay:

Epigram discussions:
"This book, though fictional in form is based strictly on historical fact. Everything in it is real and actually happened. And it all began just one year from today."


"Resist much. Obey little". Walt Whitman


"Now. Or never".  Thoreau



Why does Abbey give us these epigrams prior to starting the book?  To let us know what will be happening. Non-traditional values will be glorified.


What laws are broken?

Littering

Drinking and driving

Steals cop car

Destruction of public and private property

Swearing at police officers

Public nudity

Burning/cutting down bill boards

Multiple wives - polygamy

Terrorist conspiracy

Trespassing

False imprisonment

Speeding

Possession of illegal firearms

Are these characters likable based on how they approach the law?

bumper sticker:

"GOD BLESS AMERICA. LET'S SAVE SOME OF IT."
Wildness is a beautiful thing....
The laws are stopping from being what we really should be -- just as much as industry....