Annie Dillard

I love Annie Dillard and her loveliness and style of writing just continued to show itself in these readings. I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek after my mentor recommended it to me while listening to me complain about literature I was reading at the time. He said I needed to learn from her, not only in her writing, but in her ways of observing the natural world.

When I told my dad that I was reading the book, he said to me, "well yeah its a great book! I took you to Tinker Creek when you were a kid." I have no recollection of this trip, but he had to stop and see what she had been talking about. He described it as being a place that was not all that awesome, but if you spent enough time there and looked closely enough, it could be as great as she described in the book.

I feel as though this is what I and all of us have to learn from Annie Dillard. She is amazing at finding the balance between society and wilderness. At connecting things together. At taking these small things and making them as amazing as the Alps or Grand Canyon. This is what is important. We all may not get a chance to live somewhere that is truly amazing of awesome according to most, but it is making your place amazing and awesome by looking closely and interpreting it in this way. This is why I love her so much.

Dillard pulls out these amazing details in her writing. She pays attention and makes connections between worlds. She describes everything that is happening, describes her surroundings, what she did, what others did, why they did it, and what caught her interest. She then dives in and explores these things the way that she did with the Weasel. It is just fascinating and amazing. I have so much to learn!