Event One Blog: Linda Weintraub Workshop

Last Wednesday April 19th, I attended Linda Weintraub's workshop with a few of my teammates. This was a very original experience, something I have never experienced before. She did not lecture to us, she seemingly broke down the reality of how much man made materials and components we surround ourself with on a daily basis. She gave us an example/story of a man who made a machine that would eat and brake down food into compost. She then asked the question, "Would you rather consume the machines 'poop' or a humans?" and honestly I said a machines. I honestly don't know why though, I did not know why that I assumed that a machines digestive process would be better than a humans. That example only made me furthermore realize that I had a lack of appreciation for the natural world and the human body itself. After that story/example she asked us another question, "What percentage of your day do you spend your time with nothing that is man made?", and honestly I am probably zero percent. I do not know a single instance where it is only raw nature and myself. After the shell shock of a question, she asked us to remove our shoes and enter the exhibit. She requested for us to leave our technology and become open minded to the opportunities within the exhibit, she wanted us to really utilize our senses and appreciate the natural world we are to experience.
Once inside there were five different areas, I believe they were separated by the five different natural senses she wanted us to dig deeper into; touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight. Among all of the great components of the display, the one that opened my eyes the most and made me truly appreciate the natural world was the touch section. One that stood out was one where I was supposed to close my eyes and set apart the pine cones by simply feeling the textures of the pine cones. I initially thought this would be difficult, but the natural senses of the human body surely proved me wrong. Through the tips of my fingers I could feel the difference between pinecones, which in all honestly were pretty similar. That amazed me, the natural world and body is truly amazing. Through touch I had a sense of which bird feathers were used for flying from the ones that were for warmth. Through the touch I was also able to organize the order of the ribs of a deer.
We as humans must appreciate what we have. We must appreciate our natural body and the raw world we live in. It is so easy to be so caught up in new technology and forget the simple things. Sometimes we need to just sit back and look outside and appreciate the things your body does for your everyday. This workshop is something I will forever appreciate, something I am glad I attended.

Comments

  1. AudieApril 25, 2017 at 2:22 PM

    Hey Caleb, this was a very interesting blog post! Wish I would've attended this event as well it seems like a very enlightening experience. Although the question that Linda asked (machine waste or human waste) seems a bit outlandish, when I thought about it and asked myself, I came to the same answer. I'd rather eat a machines poop. Now, why is this? Could it be because we don't appreciate our natural body systems, or is it possibly because we know our own systems too well and because of this we are disgusted by the idea of eating human waste? The lack of understanding we have of certain technologies we aren't familiar with can, in a sense, create a more comforting or non-alienated feeling we have with the technologies. Although we do have control over a machines systems and mechanisms, and we try our best to create the most flawless version possible, in some cases, the human bodily systems are unparalleled with what we can create, and because of this, we definitely need to appreciate our natural systems more as it is getting drown out by man-made technological advancements.

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