Waller Creek

((Saddness is associated with rain))
Ever notice how the weather can change someone’s mood? I know that on bright and sunny days I feel much more cheerful and outgoing whereas on cloudy days I feel sluggish. Cold and frosty weather, meanwhile, reminds me of Christmas-time and makes me want to surround myself with friends and family. Movies also take advantage of this connection between mood and weather. It seems, for example, that it always rains when something depressing occurs in a movie. Pathetic fallacies in writing also continue this connection between nature and human emotions.
((We are surrounded by both concrete and nature in the Six Pack))
Similarly, I think buildings and locations also affect us. The University of Texas’ location in Austin gives the campus a vibrance, but also the diversity of architecture, the hodgepodge of buildings, and the occasional green area define its community. Just as at Oxford, it does seem that “college has a dual reference, denoting both the academic community as well as the buildings” (614). I know that I am in my own bubble, isolated from the rest of the world when I am here on campus. I eat, breath, and sleep UT. This isolation can be bad at times when I realize that I do not know what is going on in the real world, but at other times it is like a “sense of insulation” (615). It can be both comforting and freeing because I know that many people around me are having similar experiences.
((A map of Waller Creek))
Our campus is exactly like Duns Scotus poem: “towery city and branchy between towers” (619). I find that usually I am simultaneously surrounded by concrete and walking underneath trees. One very natural are that I have noticed, though, is Waller Creek. Upon reading the articles about the creek and eating beside it after class one afternoon, I noticed that I have already written about it in one of my previous RDB’s! I cited Waller Creek as one of the peaceful and natural places I pass on campus, on my way to art history. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday I enjoy looking down at the clear water and stone. The vegetation has changed only slightly through the year thanks the continuous supply of water. The water level, however, fluctuates in response to the amount of rain. Waller Creek, I think, is much more natural than the Tower Garden because it is more isolated and less structured. It is one of the few places on campus that is truly a “sweet especial rural scene” (635). Since the creek is not at the heart of campus surrounding the tower, “thousands upon thousands of him/her on the Forty Acres” (748) do not pass by. In this sense, nature affects our emotions in a new kind of way: it gives us a secret and thereby gives that special, superior feeling of knowing something that others do not.

Indeed, there seems to be something about nature which inspires raw emotions. Outdoor things like stars and moons and oceans are considered romantic. Those who survive in harsh deserts are considered brave and worthy. Secluded areas inspire community and unity. We want to protect nature to protect those emotions which nature inspires. Perhaps that is why people so animatedly stood their ground during the Battle of Waller Creek or the controversy at Cornell.
In any case, “there are unique or unusual physical features that give a city its special character”(749). The beautiful landscape of the Texas hill country full of spring fed water, hills, limestone, and trees give the Austin area a particular civilized-country feel not found elsewhere in the world.