Event 1

On April 19th, I had the opportunity to attend a special workshop that was put on by Linda Weintraub. Before we went into the exhibit itself, she asked that we sit down with her and talk to her about certain topics that relate to the things that are in the exhibit. She talked about the material things in life and asked us a question. The question was, "In your average day, what percentage do you spend not using things that are man-made/materialistic?" We all went around answering this seemingly simple question. After the first couple of people, we started seeing a trend. We all were in the 1-4% range of using material things throughout our day. This just showed us how reliant we are on technology and people making things for others to use. After we talked about this question on materialism, Linda Weintraub started to introduce us to her exhibit and talking about what was inside. She explained her adventure through nature to find all of these items that we were about to expose ourselves to and she told us to enjoy our experience. When we walked in we were able to see about six different circles with boxes in the middle showing us what to do. Everyone took turns looking at all the boxes and what was inside. All of the boxes were different, so it took some time to look at all the boxes and see what was inside.  Within the boxes, there were different parts of nature that Weintraub had encountered on her adventure and brought along to show us. Along with these pieces of nature, there were questions or tasks assigned to each individual box to help us understand them more. A lot of the questions were asking to use one of your senses to help engage yourself in these pieces.


I am the third in on the left with a grey shirt with the bruins shirt



However, my personal favorite part was the way in which we incorporated our feet into the workshop. Laying on the ground were various pieces of straw, bark, grass, and a kind of dirt. We were able to take off our shoes and socks and walk around in these parts of nature and let our feet enjoy the new feeling. While I was walking around in this, I realized how trapped our feet are day after day. We trap them in shoes and socks everyday and never let them enjoy sensations that they deserve. Also, it showed me how we never really take the time to go out and enjoy the nature that is given to us. Especially being an athlete, we never find time to do fun things like that and I believe we should.

     

Society these days is starting to become more more indoors type of society. The technological advancements that we have made as a whole make it an was choice for people to stay indoors rather that go outside and do something. With all the video games, and social media apps that we have nowadays, kids would rather stay inside and play than go to the park or a grass field. Growing up for me, I always wanted to go outside and play sports with my sisters or with my friends. I believe that the technological advancements that we have created for ourselves are destroying our old way of life which was being outdoors.

Overall, I really enjoyed this experience that Linda Weintraub let us indulge in. It really opened my eyes even more to this issue and that is why I would strongly recommend it to any future students.