Week 1

Week 1- Introduction to Arts Integration and Project-Based Learning

Attune: Sunday Morning and Evening. March 19, 2023. Maple Road and Huron River Drive. .This location is less than a mile from Skyline High School where I currently teach. I often take this route home and often see students at the end of the school day here with their kayaks and canoes.

Document:

9:15am. 26 degrees with the wind at 25mph. Windy morning. Standing at the boat launch
watching the Canadian geese and loon struggle against the Huron River.

9:20am- The geese are still not getting very far but I can see
 them looking around for a possible nesting sight that lies ahead of them.

9:25- I am now appreciating how they have moved along
while I stand on the bank and silently observe their momentum. 

9:30am- It is hard to see but there is a canvasback duck and mate 

under the bridge. A rare site as they migrate up north.

9:35am- The Canadian geese have floated back quite a bit.

9:40am. This recording is of my surroundings. I can hear a woodpecker, 

red-winged blackbirds and an assortment of other birds calling to their mates.

Because it was so cold out, I returned and moved my location to where the geese finally reached their destination. I was also able to view many swans, mallard ducks, a great blue heron and a bald eagle who eventually found his mate.

7pm. 36 degrees. The geese found a nest. And there is a great blue heron 

on the right side of the nest and a bald eagle above the blue heron. 

It was quite an impressive sight.

7:15pm. I was able to watch and observe the bald eagle fly and glide across the sky for a good 10 minutes.
I was not sure if it was circling for a reason until the end when he met up with his mate across the river.

7:20pm. The bald eagles were able to finally fly off together. 

7:22pm. Once the great blue heron left, I knew it was time to go home.
He is a solitary blue heron. I love his grace.

Record:

    Sunday morning was very cold and windy in Ann Arbor. The space I choose to attune with is a popular space that allows anyone access the the Huron River but most notably it is less than a mile from Skyline High School and a popular place kids go when it is warmer. There is a place were about 5 to 7 cars can park and unload their kayak(s), boat(s), paddle board(s) or canoe(s). There is no trash can but there is a retired gentleman who picks up any discarded items daily so it is never littered. There are million dollar homes on the other side of the road sitting on bluffs 50 feet above the river whose architects tried hard to blend into the landscape. The sharp contrast of the manmade and nature seems very complex to balance. I was lucky enough to see migrating loons and canvasback ducks on the river along with swans and geese this morning. The music this morning was a call and response of many birds including a woodpecker, red-winged blackbirds and an assortment of other birds calling to their mates.

    Returning Sunday evening, the air still feels both crisp and clean. You can see how the river is still flowing strong. The birds are still actively making music. I came back searching to see where the geese landed. Proudly sitting on top of a nest, the geese made their destination. To the east of their nest is a lone great blue heron and flying about is a bald eagle whose mate is camouflaged in trees. Noticing this trio of birds sharing the same visual space was a treat. I was happy I could capture their interactions. 

    At the end of this visit, I came to the realization that I gravitate to this river. I have lived about 3 miles from it my whole live when I have lived in Michigan. Currently the childhood home in Milford my parents still life in is a half a mile from the river, my own home in Dexter is less than half of a mile from the river, and the school I teach at is less than a mile from the rive in Ann Arbor. I could actual kayak from my parents house to my house and to my school along 30 miles of the Huron River. It has always been a significant part of my environment.

What the River Endures

    I recently found out that the Huron River is 136 miles long, has over 99 different fish species, over 36 different amphibians, countless birds both migratory and permanent and many mammals. It has been polluted many times and endured. Luckily the Huron River Water Shed protects the Huron River- https://www.hrwc.org/. Currently they focus on pollutions and other factors that affect the river and its inhabitants including: hexavalent chromium, PFAS, climate change, dioxane plume, storm water runoff, bacterial contamination, soil erosion and sedimentation, microplastics, dams, invasive species, development, flooding, groundwater contamination, impaired waterbodies and coal tar (https://www.hrwc.org/our-watershed/threats/). The health of the river along the way from the beginning to the end reflects the health and the wealth of the city and town it passes through. I know this because growing up in Milford we were often told that we could not make skin contact of swim in the river. The factories along the river that used the same river as a water source, polluted it as the river flowed away because they could not afford disposal of their waste, affecting unsuspecting people and animals. And yet the Huron River continues to nurture, thrive, inhale and exhale. It is my meditation spot and the place that allows my to let my thoughts flow. It has been a constant in my life and often restores me. It is the place my son and I get lost in the flow.

Sketches to add to the Week 1 Entry