I sit here once again in Knight’s Hollow today. After searching campus for what could be called a “natural place”, I found there were few spots not in direct sight of the road that didn’t require trespassing to access. Knight’s Hollow is not that different at a glance. It is a small patch of forest adjacent to two roads and thus the sound of cars going past is an inevitability. The clearly human-made stools and board do not help this impression either. However, this place still manages to feel isolated, a thick wall of vegetation preventing one from seeing into the campus beyond. If you can tone out the noises of the road, there is a pleasant tune passing through this small grove of trees by the continuous chirping of the crickets and cicadas along with the intermittent peep from a bird. It is evening now, but perhaps in the earlier hours of the day there is more birdsong.
I find that I can enjoy myself here now. On my previous trip to this place, I was too distracted by batting away insects to find any sort of appreciation for the woods. Some bug spray was all it took to fix that issue, although I cannot help but feel some discontentment that the natural scents of the forest are blocked by the strong chemical smell. In the distance, an ice cream truck is playing it’s jingle. I do not want to focus on that however. Instead, I direct my focus to the sound of a lone cricket near where I sit, it’s chirp that much louder due to its proximity.
I have found that attempting to completely separate myself from the man-made world is an impossibility, at least whilst remaining on campus. This is an educational institution first and foremost and thus the usage of technology and automobiles is necessary. However, it is possible to find a bit of joy in the brief glimpses of nature I can encounter. The chirping crickets, the fading sunlight passing through the leaves of the trees to leave puddles of light upon the dirt, muddy and soft and unpaved. These things are not to be dismissed. Even if the human world has permeated so much of our planet, I believe we can still find nature in the smallest of ways.