This blog hasn’t got a purpose as of yet and I struggle to find one for it. In the past I’ve heard people recommend that one keeps a “Read List”, a list of all the books, excerpts,poems, essays, etc. that they read throughout college (and throughout the rest of their life too, I suppose) along with a brief summary of each. I’ve decided to dedicate this blog, until a better purpose comes along, to serve as that list for me. Today, I completed my first official writing assignment of my college carreer; to read and critique an essay by 20th century ecologist Arthur Tansley. That critique, along with the previously completed reflection of Thi Bui’s “The Best We Could Do” will serve as the beginnings of this endeavor.

My intention in this project is not only for my own records, but also to encourage discussion among my peers or anyone else who may have read the works I have. I recognize the possibility that someone may read my critiques and reviews, copy them, and pass them off as their own, and for that reason I will only be posting my thoughts after turning in any related assignments. If someone at that point decides to copy me, so be it, there are plenty of reviews of all sorts of literature, if they couldn’t copy from me they would copy from someone else.

The formatting of my reviews and reflections won’t always be the same. If they are related to an assignment they will be in the format prescribed by that assignment, whereas if they are simply for myself, they will take whichever form I feel is best suited, though I will make sure I include the title, pages (if applicable), author, and year of publication as the title of each post going forward.