Will Geiger-Rock Reflection (Landscapes of the Sacred)

This past class, Dr. Redick explained how it could be that there is culture before nature. Nature is a construct of culture in that it is a qualification of the world created by human beings. He illustrated this phenomenon by passing around a piece of mica that he recovered from Mt. Lassen in California. He let everyone hold and look at the rock for a brief moment and then told us to write a sentence describing it. Everyone who shared their observations commented on it's color and texture. Dr. Redick then divulged into a story about where the rock came from and its significance to him, explaining the story of the Native American man who thought he was the last man on earth and sharing that when he and John(Jon?) hiked Mt. Lassen, that he started at the same place that this influential childhood story took place. The vast history embedded in this small keepsake is what allows us as the audience to identify with the significance of an otherwise mundane object. Lane suggests that people like to think of their interaction with a place as "tabula raza" or blank slate, but that in truth, every person brings his own cultural background to the table when perceiving and experiencing a place. People, according to their wants, either consciously, "Consciously excluded from my view are the water tak and supply sheds behind the old hotel down below." or subconsciously, select particular details of a landscape to fulfill those needs.