Dia,

This was lovely. Thank you for sharing this with all of us.

Love, Mary

My English assignment for tonight was to read Barbara Kingsolver's "Knowing Our
Place" and annotate for ideas of "who we seem to be," "what remains for us to
live for" and what Kingsolver believes "we could make of ourselves." The first
sentence of the essay was what my teacher calls our "point of entry" for
Kingsolver wrote "I have places where all my stories begin" which my mind
immediately took me to Camp Agawak. As I read the essay, I kept seeing parallels
of Agawak in who I seem to be, what remains for me to live for and what I can
and I have made of myself.

When Kingsolver discusses her love for the rain in her place, I think about the
very few days the campers can relax in the cabin, hearing the rain fall on the
metal roof, amplified so talking to the person on the next bunk seems close to
impossible, and watching rain drops wash the footprints away to return camp to
its natural state.

Kingsolver wrote "[We need] to be surrounded by a singing, mating, howling
commotion of other species, all of which love their lives as much as we do ours,
and none of which could possibly care less about our economic status or our
running day calendar. Wildness puts us in our place. It reminds us that our
plans are small and somewhat absurd." Agawak is a perfect example of this for it
freezes our "running day calendar" and no one could "possibly care less about
our economic status." Although the singing and howling commotion may not be of
other species but of traditional camp songs and cheers, I still believe they are
what lets us ignore what's popular and let's everyone love what Agawak is.

Kingsolver said "Among the greatest of all gifts is to know our place." This
moment made me realize that I am so special to have a place, a gift,
that I can return to summer after summer. Agawak is who I am. Agawak is my life
and I don't know who or what I would be without it. I want to express my
gratitude for that place makes me who I am.  Without Agawak being a "my
place" I don't know where or who I'd be, but I know I wouldn't be me.

~Dia