Due Tuesday, November 11

Post a comment of 250 words minimum in response to the following prompt:

In "A Tale of Two Loves," Alan Lightman writes: "The arts and humanities...offer the sciences an essential store of other ideas, images, metaphors, and language...Such images, metaphors, and vocabulary arise both from direct sensual experience and from the language of artists and humanists who portray that experience. Scientists, in turn, must use the same language to describe their extreme worlds, far beyond sensual experience, because no alternative exists except for mathematical equations."

Both Jenny Price ("Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in LA") and Daniel Orozco ("Shakers") try to approach the "truth" of certain aspects of the natural world, but in doing so, they are reliant on language, metaphor, and sensual experience to express their ideas. One result is that each writer undermines the conventions of the essay genre. In your response, reflect on how each writer uses language and form to make a personal statement about nature. Feel free to also discuss Lightman's viewpoint.