The Naturalist's Notebook


General Description:

No matter how much or how little natural history training you have, you can use a journal to deepen your understanding and appreciation of any environment. This class covers writing and sketching techniques useful for sharpening your powers of observation and analysis—and for producing a useful record of your experience. Each participant will have time to design and carry out a small independent field project, pursuing a favorite question using skills gained in class. Previous experience with writing, sketching, and/or natural history is welcome but not assumed.

Instructor

Writer, editor, and visual artist Sarah Rabkin is an award-winning UC Santa Cruz instructor in writing and environmental studies. She thrives at the intersections of image, language, and landscape, and loves teaching in wild places. Sarah has led scores of field workshops around the Sierra and the western U.S. Her essays, poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in regional and national publications; her illustrated field journals have been exhibited formally and informally. Sarah has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard and a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz.

Class Schedule

There will be a get-acquainted meeting on the evening of July 9 at 7:00 PM ; last meeting finishes at 3:00 PM on July 12.

Class Equipment

Field gear

Camping gear

Clothing

Although days are generally warm, or even hot at lower elevations, be prepared for temperatures as low as freezing at night. Variable weather clothing that may be layered is best. Long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, warm sweater and jacket, t-shirt and shorts or skirt, tennis shoes or hiking boots, sun hat, rain gear, and a warm hat or gloves for cold weather or night activities. Old sneakers, rubber boots, or hip-waders may come in handy for marsh prowling.

Miscellaneous:

Required Reading

For carpool email jsteele@sfsu.edu

site design by Nica Lorber