Courtney's Blog

Courtney Koplyay Texts and Treks Daniel Williams 12/10/19 The Changing Leaves: An Extension of Thought              Moving across the country to a state with a completely different climate has given me a new-found appreciation for nature and how location can impact one’s perception of the environment. I was born in Texas, but my family moved to Colorado when I was seven. Despite not being born there, I consider my home town to be Fort Collins, Colorado, because this is where I did most of my growing up. Throughout my twelve years in Colorado, my parents often talked about moving back to Texas because it’s where they felt most at home. During my freshman year at TCU, I received a phone call from my parents informing me that they were finally able to pursue their dream of moving to Austin, Texas. I was so happy for them! That following summer, I didn’t go home to Colorado, I went “home” to Austin. I love Fort Worth a...

I thought that Aldo Leopold took an interesting stance on land conservation and ethics. He commented on the fact that humans often take advantage of the land the we live and use but don’t realize it. He focuses a lot of his writing on land ethics, which is somewhat of a strange concept to me. It makes sense to have ethics in a decision-making or business setting, but to apply ethics to the land? That seems a bit more complicated. In typical ethical dilemmas, one party has to decide whether or not something is morally right/wrong un regards to an action that may or may not harm a second party. In this situation, we as humans are the party making the decision and the second party is the environment, which really has no say in how we treat it. We as humans are making use of what the environment is providing for us, but edge dangerously close to taking advantage of it. Leopold argues that we are definitely taking advantage of the earth and the environment. By utilizing earth’s resour...

I really enjoyed reading the excerpt from John McAphee’s  Under the Snow.  His unique style of creative nonfiction drew me in to the story he was telling despite it not being a work of complete fiction. Typically, I am not a fan of reading nonfiction, however when told in story form, nonfiction becomes more interesting. He explains that mother bears often run away and leave their cubs in the den when humans get too close. I have always pictured mother bears as ferocious and willing to stop at nothing in defense of her cubs. This could be attributed to the stories you often hear of bear attacks, which often occur when the person stumbles upon bear cubs and/or the den. I didn’t realize that mother bears can get scared too, and their most feasible option at the time is to run off. I think that this shows just how misunderstood nature can be. Wild animals in particular are often depicted in movies, media, etc. as different from how they actually act in nature. This gives the...

While filming for the final video project, I took a few minutes to soak in the Trinity River once again. My earlier observations were in September, when the weather was warm, and the trees were all green. Today, the weather was quite chilly- in the low 40s. It was finally starting to feel like fall in Fort Worth. Trinity Trails were absolutely empty, which is quite different to what it normally is when the weather is nice out. I sat on a large stone that acted as a bench and looked out across the water. It wasn’t obvious which direction the current was moving due to the strong breeze blowing across the water. The birds were flying overhead and chirping out a loud, happy tune. Rather than the sound of the hustle and bustle of people on the trails, the majority of sound came from the nearby bridge. Besides the bird calls, all I could hear was the zoom of cars across Rogers Ave. and University Ave. The trees were barren and almost looked dead . To me, the river looked much prettier in th...

video link:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mqlPamF78Iln4dPNFLevNrhq3MD1Npiw/view?usp=sharing  Final Video Reflection Justification   Prior to the start of the semester, our involvement with the natural community around us was minimal. We had exposure on various vacations and excursions but had not been immersed in nature on a weekly basis. Additionally, our exposure into nature writing was lacking as well. Reading a few poems and excerpts in various high schoo l and introductory English classes was the extent of our background. This class gave us the opportunity to dive deeper intellectually by increasing our exposure to natural literature and thought-provoking poetry and song. Along with the various perspectives from naturalist authors, being able to go into our surrounding natural environment allowed us to disconnect from our daily routine and schedule and reconnect with nature. Our thought process and inquisitiveness began to include questions pertaining...

My family moved from Fort Collins, CO to Austin, TX my freshman year of college. I loved Colorado and really enjoyed growing up there but was excited to hear that my parents were moving to the place they have always wanted to live. Throughout the last few months of Texas fall, I realized just how much I missed experiencing fall in Colorado. Colorado is known for its beautiful, although short, autumnal seasons. The aspen trees change slowly, and then all at once, starting out green and transitioning to a bright yellow color. If you’re lucky and time it just right, you can see the aspens flash bright red up in the mountains. Last class, we discussed Ackerman’s piece about the leaves changing color on trees. I have seen leaves change color every single year but didn’t ever question it, I just accepted it as the way things happened. Reading into detail about the science behind it made the biology major inside me jump for joy! I never realized that the colors were actually there all along a...

Fort Worth has a number of museums packed with art and history. I always see the signs that encourage visitors to attend the Amon G. Carter, Kimbell, or Modern Art Museums of Fort Worth. I don’t consider myself someone who knows a lot about art. I typically enjoy art that is “pretty”, however I don't have much of an eye for technique. I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed the Amon G. Carter Museum of American Art. I loved the landscape paintings the portrayed “ideal” versions of landscapes inspired by real places. I really enjoyed the soft, blended colors in the sky and the major attention to detail that most of the paintings showed in the foreground. The most striking painting to me was titled “Thunderstorm on Narrangansett Bay” and was painted by Martin Johnson Heade. It depicted a dark black and grey sky with rain coming down and lighting striking the water. Sailboats were rushing into shore in attempt to escape the rain. This shows that while nature can be beauti...

I honestly did not know what to expect when I drove out to the Nature Center for our canoeing adventure on that chilly Wednesday afternoon. I have kayaked and canoed a few times and have definitely enjoyed myself, so I was looking forward to the venture. However, I am not a huge fan of the cold weather, so I was not sure I’d enjoy the experience this time around. We got in the canoes and began rowing down the river in the direction of the area we placed the erosion mats. We had walked the banks of this part of the river 5 or 6 times at this point, so it all looked familiar but also different due to thew new perspective. The water was fairly calm despite the cool wind that came down across the water. Once we passed the area of the erosion mats, the mouth of the river narrowed and began to wind. The trees covered us like a tunnel as we navigated our way through fallen tree trunks, rocks, and debris. The dense forest softened the wind and the water was so calm, it had a glassy appearance...

The grapes on this grapevine are dark purple and very tiny. They sit in clusters of about 30-50 grapes, but the whole bundle can fit in the palm of my hand. As I picked up the bundle, it was heavier than I imagined it to be. They are probably densely packed full of juice in order to make wine. Each bundle drooped lower towards the ground as the grapes continued to grow and weigh down the arms of the vine. There were approximately four to five bundles on each vine. I figured that it must be time to harvest the grapes soon. The vine in which the grapes sat on was as tall as me, climbing up a trellis in order to reach a little closer to the sun. At the base, the vine was about four inches wide. This must mean it was an older vine that has been producing grapes for hundreds of years. The leaves were still green on this vine because the grapes had yet to be harvested. The leaves were so large that they covered up the grape bundles and made it difficult to see from a distance. They were ...

Before my trip to Sonoma, California, I would not consider wine country to be “real nature”. However, I was definitely mistaken. The vineyards in this area consist of hundreds, some even thousands of acres of beautiful grapevines. The amazing part about visiting in the fall is that all of the leaves on the vines also change color along with the trees. Kunde Family Winery was my favorite winery that we went to and had by far the prettiest estate vineyard. As we walked through the rows of vines, I was stunned at how many different colors there were. Vibrant orange, red, and yellow interlaced with dark maroon made for the most picturesque landscape. Each vineyard we went to consisted of about a 45-minute drive up a small two-lane road. Normally when someone else is driving, I typically look at my phone or talk with the other people in the car with me. But this time, none of us were talking, we were all looking out the window at the infinite rows of vines. We pulled the car over and hopped...

The first thing that comes to mind about the Redwood Forrest is WOW! My family and I are staying in Sonoma, CA for the weekend and today we went and explored the Armstrong Redwood Forrest, which is a small pocket of the much larger (and further) Redwoods. The trees of this forest are up to 2000 years old and their size truly shows their age. The park service did a great job of marking some of the oldest trees and explaining their age and size. I felt so small standing in this forest full of giants. I stood at the base of one the giants and looked straight up but couldn’t even see the top. It was over 300 feet tall! There was so much history that can be seen just by looking at a cross section of one of the trees. You can tell if it was a wet year or a dry year. The rings even tell you how much growth occurred, and which years fires have occurred. It’s amazing how much nature can tell you just by examining it closely. It really brought me perspective on the sheer magnit...

In class, we read and discussed some pieces written by Edward Abbey. I loved his humor and how he described the beauty of Arches National Park. While reading, I was instantly taken back to my trip to Arches about 10 years ago. At the time, I was only 11, so I didn’t have a huge appreciation for National Parks and how amazing Arches actually is. My parents wanted to go mountain biking and hiking through the whole park in the dead of summer, but my brother and I were not having it. We would’ve much rather stayed in town and gone to the shops or do an activity that involved being inside in the AC. Looking back on it now, I can’t imagine ever not wanting to go explore the beauty of Arches National Park. I would love to go back now. Deserts are usually described as desolate and flat. There’s not much greenery and life, yet Arches is so striking. I think it’s important to have perspective when you’re observing nature. If there are any preconceived thoughts in your head, it ruins...