Rivers from above

On my flight home over Thanksgiving break I snapped this picture of a river from above. I’m not sure exactly where we were in the flight, so I have no idea where this river is, but I thought it was a pretty cool sight. We don’t usually get the opportunity to see rivers from this angle. What especially stood out to me was seeing the many different branches and paths of the river, and how that created some islands in the river.

Venetian Lagoon

Recently, many news reported the flooding in the lagoon city of  Venice. The rising water level caused by flooding reached its highest peak in more than 50 years. While the flooding is the major concerning to many and is reported through media massively, I found the lagoon water system in Venice interests me more.

A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from seas by islands. The Venetian Lagoon is surrounded by island barriers and the Adriatic Sea. Venice, the city, was built on islands situated inside the lagoon. I found that this would be a good topic for the story map. Firstly, the lagoon was built six to seven thousand years ago by engineers living in the Roman era, so there is a history approach connected to the waters. Besides, three canals run through that stretch of land, connecting commercial activities between Venice merchants and commercial vessels from other countries. This is the economic side. The interactions between the rising sea tides and rivers in the lagoon are interesting to delve into as well. What’s more, Venice’s water is highly polluted, because people dump sewage water in the canals. Therefore, this topic would also relate to the great stink that we discussed in the class.

Rivers in Art

I was reflecting on the class and remembered looking at rivers in art. I really like how the piece we looked at used the journey aspect of a river to show the journey of a man’s life. I looked up artwork with rivers and found some interesting results.

Starry Night Over the Rhone

This reminded me of the word association activity we did and how someone said reflection. Here the reflection is quite literal, as the river is reflecting the sky. However, rivers can also be associated with reflection as it makes you think more about your life and your place in nature.

Of course, I also got a lot of historical paintings like George Washington Crossing the Delaware, which also reminded me of the book the Founding Fish and how rivers are overwhelmingly present in our past, our history.

Art is always up for interpretation and I thought it was cool rivers are the same and how their broad meaning can be incorporated into art.

Daldykan River in Russia and Bloods Resembles Each Other

When reflecting on today’s class discussion, I recall that someone said there are rivers inside our bodies. I feel this in a same way. A blood vessel is similar to a riverbed that carries blood, which resembles a river itself.  Indeed, blood that mainly consists of hemoglobin in the human body delivers oxygen and nutrient to prevent our tissues and organs in different parts from dying. In this way, they also act as connectors.  Similarly, rivers connect different places and bring lives and vitality to areas they flow through.

Besides from that blood can be compared to rivers, I found a river that once had a blood color. The river on the right is called the Daldykan river in Russia. The red color was caused by overflowing of a chemical plant owned by a metal producing company called Norilsk Nickel. The river looks daunting at first glance but has an abnormal beauty. Now blood inside our body and rivers both resembles each other!

Rivers in Film

After learning that the Lord of the Rings had a dam removal scene, I was curious as to whether there were other movies with rivers in them that I never noticed. I found this article on American Rivers that had a list of movies where rivers play a role.

The ones I liked the most were The Good Dinosaur and Pocahontas

The Good Dinosaur

Pocahontas

 

Cracks on the Bituminous Road Resembles Rivers

This crack line has so many properties that resemble a river. It only occupies a section of the bituminous road; it starts and ends at lines that separate the road to many blocks. Similarly, many rivers start and end at oceans or lakes that separate countries or states. The crack is formed by the infiltration of waters on the concrete. Likewise, rivers are mostly created by scouring torrents. Besides, waters in the crack permeate into areas around the crack, which really looks like flooding throughout a whole river after heavy rain.

Banks of the river

Walking down from AEC to Bourger Varsity Football House I noticed this curb. The curb of this side walk reminds me of a river bank. How it curves up and outlines a rivers path. It seems as if it acts as a barrier to the river.

Hurricane Sandy

These are pictures of Hurricane Sandy’s destruction of Seaside Park back in 2012. I have rented a beach house in Seaside Park for my entire life and this event hit pretty close to home. The picture on the left is the Seaside Heights boardwalk where I spent hours upon hours of my time riding the rollercoaster submerged in the water and many other games. It was very interesting to drive around and see many of the places I have gone to covered in sand and severely damaged from the storm surge of the hurricane. Climate change and rising water levels are becoming a major topic of discussion for places in danger. Seaside Park implemented higher dunes and increased the distance between the ocean and dunes to combat these changes in global warming.

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