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{\it Max Pettinelli -- Reaction Paper}
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I'm very glad to hear that the photography exhibit caught your 
interest.  I was really struck by the series of photographs of the elm
tree across the yearly cycle (in the four seasons) as well.  They are
a reminder how
tenacious, and at the same time how fragile, life is.  Your
short essay is also very well-written.  Good work!
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{\it Grade: } Content 10/10; Writing: 10/10.
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{\it Lucia Bostrom -- Reaction Paper}
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Your short essay is very well-written and I'm glad the 
talk gave you the opportunity to think about these things.
The one comment I have is that nature is not quite 
as {\it defenceless} against humans as you seem to indicate
toward the end of the essay.  Think of the way disease
germs can acquire immunity to the drugs that we use to 
kill them, or the way bedbugs (ick!) seem to be making 
a major comeback in cities across the U.S. right now!
In my opinion, the more we try to live {\it with and in}
the natural world rather than trying to tailor it exclusively 
to our liking, the happier we will be in the long run
as a species.
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{\it Grade:}  Content: 10/10; Writing: 10/10. 
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{\it Astrid Ludwig -- Reaction Paper}
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This is a good essay giving a reaction to Dr. John Hess's
presentation on ``Darwin's Tapestry'' and the animals
of the Galapagos Islands.  I have a couple of comments, 
though.  The first deals with the way you say that
the animals in that ecosystem have to ``work for 
each other.''  It was not entirely clear to me what
you meant by that.  If you mean that they are {\it interdependent},
then I would certainly agree.  But I think it would be a big
``stretch'' to say that they have any conscious collaboration
to make their lives possible. 
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The second comment is that your statements about how
isolated we are from the natural world certainly apply
to how we live in the U.S. at this point in history.
But if you think about it, this is actually a very 
different sort of life from the lives most humans have
lived for most of our time on the earth.  Almost 
everyone lived in close proximity with domesticated animals
like cows, goats, sheep, pigs, etc., for instance, before 
the rise of urban life.  And many people around the world 
still live that way today.  Moreover, people also
had to cope with wild animals much more frequently
and in much more serious ways than we do now.  Consider
the situation of settlers in newly-opened frontier
regions of the U.S. in the 1800's, for instance.
Those settlers probably had to deal with wild predators like wolves
killing their farm animals, or wild birds and deer eating some of their
garden crops, or bears foraging for food around
their homes on a pretty regular basis.  My point is that you
need to understand how different things are now than
they were for most of our (humans') history.
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{\it Grade:} Content: 9.5/10; Writing: 9.5/10.
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{\it Dan Finn -- Reflection Paper}
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Your essay in reaction to Tom Zetterstrom's talk is well-written for
the most part.  I hope you will follow up on your
sense that we should all find ways to participate in the work
of preserving the natural world.  If you are interested in 
pursuing academic work along these lines you might consider
the Environmental Studies concentration.  There are also 
ways to get involved in service activities related to the 
environment if you are inclined that way.
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I also have a couple of technical comments for you.  First, in
the phrase ``Dutch elm disease'' only the first word is capitalized
(since it is the adjective referring to the country).  Second,
most people think that the disease was introduced into the U.S.
in a shipment of wood from the Netherlands (not France as you
said).    
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{\it Grade:}  Content 10/10; Writing: 9.5/10
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{\it Muhammad Juvaid -- Reaction Paper}
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Your essay in reaction to Tom Zetterstrom's talk is well-written for
the most part.  There is one sentence fragment, though, in the first paragraph.
I would say that you should try to avoid these in formal writing (even though
I know that we tend sometimes to add a point without including a subject and a verb
when we are speaking).  It was was also not completely clear to me what
you meant to say in that sentence.  Did you mean to say that elm trees have 
a lot of historical importance in parts of the U.S.  (such as Massachusetts,
where it is our state tree)?  Another smaller point is that the name ``elm'' is 
not capitalized when you are just referring to the species of tree.
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 I hope you will follow up on your
sense that we should all find ways to participate in the work
of preserving the natural world.  If you are interested in
pursuing academic work along these lines you might consider
the Environmental Studies concentration.  There are also
ways to get involved in service activities related to the
environment if you are inclined that way.
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{\it Grade:} Content: 9.5/10; Writing: 9/10.
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{\it John Macomber -- Reaction Paper}
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I agree that the natural world can be a source of calm
and rejuvenation for human beings.  I know that you 
are not exactly saying what I am going to mention next.
Some humans tend to think that because nature can have a 
calming, rejuvenating effect on them, that is somehow its 
purpose or reason for being there.  Of course, it is 
arrogant to think that way.  Humans are part of nature 
and we cannot control everything that happens in nature 
to make it into a perfect parkland for our own enjoyment 
and refreshment.  
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On the technical side, there is a sentence fragment in the first paragraph.
I would say that you should try to avoid these in formal writing (even though
I know that we tend sometimes to add a point like this without including a subject 
and a verb when we are speaking).  There are also a few 
smaller slips that I have marked with corrections.  If
you have any questions about these, please see me.
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{\it Grade:}  Content: 10/10 ; Writing: 8.5/10.
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{\it Kyle Kadlick -- Reaction Paper}
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The main comment I have concerns something you said toward the 
beginning of the essay.  Isn't it somewhat self-centered
for humans to say that trees have a purpose in Earth's
ecosystem?  I think that biologists, for instance, would
shy away from saying that any living thing has a ``purpose.''
The fact that plants have evolved to take up $CO_2$
and give off $O_2$, while animals do the reverse is just how
it is.  While the system works well for both plants and
animals while it is in balance, biologists would deny
that either plants or animals were {\it designed} with
that purpose in mind, or only designed in the most 
general, impersonal way by the forces of evolution.
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The sentence I marked on the paper could use some
polishing too.  Your phrase ``proclaim about'' is
not correct since ``proclaim'' always takes a direct
object.  You can proclaim a holiday or proclaim
a new constitution, but you cannot ``proclaim about
trees.''
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If you want to follow up on your
sense that we should all find ways to participate in the work
of preserving the natural world, there are
several ways to do that at Holy Cross.  If you are interested in
pursuing academic work along these lines you might consider
the Environmental Studies concentration.  There are also
ways to get involved in service activities related to the
environment if you are inclined that way.
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{\it Grade:}  Content: 9/10; Writing: 9/10.
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{\it Sarah Cahn -- Reaction Paper}
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An arboretum is a collection of trees maintained together
by an organization of people.
Tom Zetterstrom's discussion of the fact that Holy Cross's
campus arboretum is not being used as fully as it could be
suggested that the campus arboretum could be used for
teaching.  He meant by this that all of our students
could be educated more about the trees on campus as a 
way of introducing them to aspects of the natural world.
At the same time, the trees might be used more fully as a 
resource for projects in biology and other courses
so that they would become a resource for educational
activities on campus.  It would have been good to 
expand this point more fully in your essay, since 
just saying ``teaching arboretums'' does not really 
get across all the interesting ways the College's collection
of trees might be used.   
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{\it Grade: }  Content:  9/10; Writing: 10/10.
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{\it Matt Kasuba -- Reaction Paper}
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If you want to follow up on your
sense that we should all find ways to participate in the work
of preserving the natural world, there are
several ways to do that at Holy Cross.  If you are interested in
pursuing academic work along these lines you might consider
the Environmental Studies concentration.  There are also
ways to get involved in service activities related to the
environment if you are inclined that way.
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{\it Grade:} Content 10/10; Writing: 9.5/10.If you want to follow up on your
sense that we should all find ways to participate in the work
of preserving the natural world, there are
several ways to do that at Holy Cross.  If you are interested in
pursuing academic work along these lines you might consider
the Environmental Studies concentration.  There are also
ways to get involved in service activities related to the
environment if you are inclined that way. 
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