Morgenroth Questions PDF

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Lynda Morgenroth, “An Intimate Geography: Boston’s Neighborhoods” “But if you are an urban wanderer, the type who will follow streets, paths, and alleyways because they are there, you will inevitably discover Boston’s other, less obvious, neighborhoods.”—LM In the opening passage of her essay-memoir “An Intimate Geography”, Lynda Morgenroth presents the term “neighborhood” for our consideration. What are some of the key elements of her definition? What defines a neighborhood for you? To Morgenroth, a neighborhood is a place in which we make memories, and it helps shape who we are as a person. I agree with this fully. We as people are the environment we grow up in, and we learn much more from just existing in a neighborhood than we think. What do you think Morgenroth means when she says, “as our personal experiences merge with the physical surroundings of our neighborhoods, we make a collage of memory, association and place” (90)? What is the role of memory, both personal and collective, in defining Boston (the land, the streets, the wildlife, the people) for her? Memory is a crucial part to defining the place we live in. Without even thinking about it, we have unique memories associated with different places we go. A memory can be as little the time we spilled a coffee in a coffee shop or the concert venue where we saw our favorite artist. Morgenroth suggests that the landscape and architecture of Boston, its irregular surfaces and “quirky” street plans, deeply affect our own memories and experiences–and claims that she could take us to her own familiar places, but not show us exactly what they mean to her (86). Based on your own experiences of Boston neighborhoods, the BU campus, Halls Pond, or other places that are familiar to you, how would you respond to this claim? Experiences are unique to us. Although we can try our best to explain the exact feeling we may have towards a place, it is impossible to show it fully unless the other person was there. In Cronon’s “The Trouble with Wilderness”, he proposes that we live in “middle ground”, where nature and civilization are not separate but connected and continuous. Morgenroth, in her essay, asks (and answers) this question: “For what is experience, after all, other than a slow accretion of relationships, layer upon layer? Our relationships are with nature and God, with each other and animals, and with what people have created—buildings and parks, goods and services, paintings, music, and dance”(87). Based on this passage and others in her essay, what do you think Morgenroth might say about the concept of the middle ground? I believe that Morgenroth would believe with Cronon’s ideology, but that she would build upon it. Cronon believes that nature and civilization should coexist, but Morgenroth believes that we need to do more than just exist side by side. She believes that our experience as humans are heavily based on interactions we have with animals, eachother, and community.

For Mitchell, “the real story begins with the land.” For Kay, geography, architecture and infrastructure work together in sometimes-organic ways to create a city both present and “lost.” Kolb claims that “a place opens a landscape of action possibilities set in a spatial landscape.” In what ways might these claims work together (or separately) to create definitions of place—or of Boston? In cities such as Boston, nature and civilization need to coexist in order to thrive. We need to respect architecture and infrastructure in the same way that we look after parks and green spaces in cities. Both are equally important to the foundation of Boston. “My Boston is not your Boston” (Kay); “Boston is Boston, though…a city with a sense of place, a sense of itself…the past in Boston is not really dead, it isn’t even past”(Mitchell); “Boston is an aggregate of neighborhoods” (Morgenroth): Discuss! What a city is to one person may not be the same as it is to another. We all have separate views and interactions with the places we live. Cities, being so dynamic and controversial, are some of the best places for conversation regarding the respect of urbanization alongside nature.

On Genre Thoreau, in Walden, claims that he will use the pronoun “I” because he knows no perspective better than his own—and Walden is a personal journal that also contains elements of other genres, from the intense observations of the naturalist to the abstract propositions of the philosopher. Morgenroth’s piece is a personal essay, a memoir of her time in Boston—and it also makes an argument of sorts about place and home. Consider the ways in which “An Intimate Geography” is both intensely personal, reflecting on Morgenroth’s own past in the city, and more audience-driven and argumentative, working towards claims about what makes places significant to all of us, not just to her. Morgenroth explains her interactions with Boston in an personal, intimate way. Yet, she creates debate by using her personal experiences to drive conversations about the city. Which parts of her essay in your opinion are most personal and reflective? In which places does she make more general claims? How might these two modes—reflective and argumentative-- work together to create a satisfying, successful piece of writing? To me, the most personal parts of her essay are when she describes her experiences in minute detail. For example, Morgenroth describes the “long, narrow, high ceilinged study overlooked Commonwealth Avenue” she used to frequent, which gives us a look into a specific part of her life. Your own final projects will combine psychogeographical writing with more analytical “conversation” with course authors. Consider our course authors who have used their own experiences and subjectivities (and the pronoun “I”) in their work—Morgenroth, Thoreau, Cronon,

Kay (in her Preface), Mitchell, Sullivan? How might you use some of the strategies employed by these authors—and how might your project need to differ from theirs? I am going to use the style of Morgenroth’s personal touch that she uses in her essay. I want the readers of my essay to be able to feel the experiences that I felt....