John's Journeys

  There has been a major trend over the past year where people were going on what they call “hot girl walks”. These were extended walks to get some exercise in, step away from their busy day-to-day activities, and decompress to focus on their mental health. I never have done a hot girl walk, so for my extended nature experience I decided it was time to put them to the test. I walked all around Fort Worth for almost three hours one evening this fall to experience the nature around me that I often overlook. I was inspired by our class discussion about how to walk properly, so I took this discussion and walked with it. The first thing I noticed was the trees outside. This has been the best fall I have experienced in Texas because the trees have been so beautiful this year. Their colors have been so vibrant and unique, as no two trees were the same shade. Some were still green, some were a vivid red, some were a soft orange, some were a bright yellow, and some had already lost all t...

    What a sight! I grew up being obsessed with bugs, reptiles, worms, etc. Pretty much everything that a mother says not to play with in the backyard, I became best friends with. I always had a "lizard hunting stick" with me as I wandered the land of Hardscrabble Way, never actually killing the lizards, however. I would simply catch them, keep them for the day, and then release them back into the wild. Again, we were best friends, so I would just see him the next day!     Fast forward to today, when I came across this absolute beauty. This is a cicada killer wasp having lunch on, you guessed it, a cicada. A normal person would see this and immediately turn around screaming. Me, however, I stick around and chill with my best friend. These wasps do not sting humans ever because they know there is not real reason to. We are way too big to eat and if we threaten them, they just fly away. So, I felt completely safe around this guy. I just accompanied him while he dined o...

     This is my home. Well, not necessarily my house, but this landscape is what surrounds my house. My friend and I took what we call The Toaster  (the vehicle shown in the picture) to the forests of northwest Arkansas to just explore, get lost, and then get found.      It was a windy day with a breeze coming from the northwest cooling off the landscape, which I was thankful for due to the sparsity of shady clouds. It has been fairly cool lately in the early Arkansas October, but today was abnormally warm, again making me thankful for the breeze.  I have always been the person to stick my head out the window when driving down a backroad--I stick my tongue out and everything. I like the feeling of the wind rushing through my hair and the smell of the fresh air from the land around me. It is exciting, but I still feel safe while doing it. It is like a small rollercoaster that spends most of its time in a garage. I am saying all of this to expl...

  Final Video Final Project Justification Austin Farr, John Freeny, Braden Harrington, William Shorow             For our final project, we created a showcase of the neighborhoods and nature around TCU’s campus, along with adding testimonials from our group members. Since we learned about many facets of nature, we each focused on different topics. For some, the most valuable knowledge from this class came from learning about the environment through hands-on, collaborative experiences in nature. For others, class discussion about topics like National Parks, beauty in nature, and the remarks of poets and authors were enlightening to their education. Our team wanted to allow our individuality to be reflected in the different takeaways we got from this course.             Our short film visually explores Lubbock Avenue, the street that most of our team lives on. We specif...

     This picture was taken at a place called Lookout Mountain just outside of Golden, Colorado. I remember reaching this point on the mountain and thinking, "oh, we are here!" because it seemed just too easy. I have gone on a few hikes in my life, and they were never as easy as this one. We drove to the top of the mountain, got out of the car, and walked about 40 yards to a lookout point to see this incredible view.      I believe that Edward Abbey would absolutely hate this. The fact that this part of the beautiful Rockies is so accessible by road would be appalling to him. In his eyes, the car should have been parked far down at the base of the mountain, leaving it to me to find my way up to this lookout point. Thankfully, once you are at this point, all you see for as far as the eye can see is unobstructed nature. This part of the experience Abbey would appreciate.      I think there should be a balance between Abbey's posi...

     This past summer I went to the Grand Teton National Park and was able to capture this incredible picture of the mountains. Standing here, looking at the scenery, I was reminded of something oddly familiar: Kanye West's 2018 album,  Ye . This album cover was created from a picture taken at the Grand Teton National Park. It got me thinking of the idea of commercializing nature and the connections our current society has with it.      I think to myself, what does Kanye's album have to do with my experience at the Grand Tetons? Well,  Kanye's album is centered on mental health awareness, and one of the greatest benefits I receive, personally, from being outside in nature is the improvement on my mental health. It helps me unwind and truly relax, separating me from the busy and chaotic life I always end back in. This is where I believe the link lies. Kanye took a place that helps his mental health the most and used it as a cover for the album he c...