Rhetoric 1315 Questions

It's kind of interesting that in the beginning of the article it says that ice fishing was thought to have originated from dairy farmers that didn't have anything to do in the winter. Never would have guessed that.

It's funny how true the article is about sporting events in Minnesota. All the communities rival each other in sports and place such a huge emphasis on it.

The biggest thing about the reading I felt was that I gained a better appreciation for the recreational aspects of the state. We really have so many oppurtunites for our time as compared to other regions.

When reading this article, I felt a sense of pride of being from Minnesota. I especially enjoyed the authors point, "Most Minnesotans will tell visitors that the best way to survive in Minnesota is to be active. Do not fight the environment, find a way to enjoy it." I think that each of us has a favorite outdoor activity that we can participate in even in the dead of winter.

Earlier in the semester, we read an article that talked about "the lake" and "up north," two phrases which seem to be a common part of a true Minnesotan's language. It was pretty exciting to see David Lanegran use them again in his article.

It’s funny; the opening paragraph describes the entertainment I enjoyed while I was a kid. From ice fishing on Minnesota lakes in the winter to watching storms develop in the summer, from hunting in the fall to playing in puddles and streams in the spring, this paragraph explains the fulfillment I gained throughout my childhood. My whole life has taken part in Nature’s Playground.

The section titled “The Lake Cabin Up North” sounds exactly like my grandparents’ cabin. They both are of Swedish descendents. They have a cabin on Lake Wabado that was built 40 years ago. There’s no running water or indoor plumbing. They have a wood-stove sauna and an outhouse. It’s nice to go up there because it takes me back to a simpler life with no worries.

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I kind of felt like Angela about the dairy farmers. How did they come up with that? Coming from a dairy farm myself I don't know who thought that they would be bored in winter. We were always busy. Milking, feeding, cleaning, and caring for the animals. I don't know if I really believe that, but who knows!

I think that in the past the description of Minnesotans as an "outdoorsy" people was very accurate, but I'm not sure if it is as much anymore. Not being from the cities I don't really know about their lifestyles, but even in the country it seems like I see less people outside than I did when I was younger. I'm not saying that there isn't a lot of recreational activities still going on in Minnesota, I'm just saying that perhaps the percentage of Minnesotans regularily taking part in outdoor activities is less than it had been in the past.

As a deer hunter, I would have to disagree with the "most frequent" reason for deer hunting being the camaraderie of the hunting camp.

Also, I am not athletic at all but was very active in high school activities. This article made it seem like if you weren't in sports, then you couldn't have had a leadership position. And, I don't know a lot of parents who expect their children to be in sports.

Lanegran makes a good point about surviving in Minnesota;
Don't try to fight the environment, find a way to enjoy it. I agree. I don't see how anyone could stand to live in Minnesota if they didn't find some way to enjoy being outside in the winter. Be it skiing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, whatever. Winters here are long and if you don't learn to live with it, you'll never be happy here.

Lanegran tip-toes around the issue of ATVs. I won't. ATV users are altering the forest in very significant and negative ways. If they don't clean up their act and their image, they are going to face some serious backlash from everyone else in the state that uses the forests more responsibly.

Reading this article has reminded me a lot about what I did as a child in Northern Wisconsin. A lot of the stuff that is common place and normal for the seasons is also the same in Wisconsin.

To see the simalarities between the two states throughout the semester has made me apprecieate the differences of the two and of other states surrounding the midwest.

In the "Right to hunt" section, it stated that Minnesota hunter's encourage the DNR to create ideal landscapes to support an expansive deer population in order for more game for hunters. Isn't this kind of unsportsman-like?

Is the author's view of Minnesota biased? I'm sure this is not the only state where people have cabins or hunt or enjoy winter weather. In fact, I'm from WI and there are few differences between the two states.

I never really new that ice fishing originated from dairy farmers, but i can certainly see how they could have gotten bored easily during the winter and looked for something to do. P know that these days farmers seem a lot busier in the winter, but i can imagine when farms were smaller there was a lot less to do.

In the article, the author speaks of a changing "gradient" in landscapes, stating that the value placed in different types of environments is always changing. Right now, the common view is to place wilderness above cities as far as value goes, but could this change in the future as land becomes more scarce and the demand for housing and more towns increases? Or will the opposite happen, and as wilderness begins to disappear more and more, will more value be placed on it?

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