The Fourth Wall
page 3
Dan Erdman
“Simplicity, simplicity,
simplicity!” Thus wrote Henry
David Thoreau in Walden, his
account of his experiment in
simple living. Seeking a simpler
life, Thoreau lived for a year and
a half next to Walden Pond in a
small cabin he built with an ax,
contemplating man’s existence
and the beauty of nature.
Curious as to whether I could
duplicate Thoreau’s experiment
on a smaller scale, and growing
tired of conventional living (I
also knew that I had no job
waiting for me and I would save
considerably on rent), I decided
when I returned to Mont Alto for
the Fall semester that I would
live a simple existence on the
Appalachian Trail (AT) about
five miles from campus.
Thoreau, however, did not
have access to the vast
technological advances that we
do today. There wasn’t
“Desperate Housewives” on the
weekends, computers, the
Internet hadn’t been conceived,
and the automobile was still
about a half century off.
Uncivilized lands were much
more abundant than they are
today. It was much easier for
Thoreau to escape civilization in
the 1840’s than it is today.
Thoreau was not alone in his
desire © io’ break from
conventional society and live in
harmony with nature. John
Muir, the founder of the Sierra
Club and a staunch
conservationist, would often
walk through the Sierra Nevada
mountain range with minimal
equipment in search of the raw
beauty and inspiration that
nature has to offer.
I had spent the previous
summer hiking along the Pacific
Crest Trail and had witnessed the
beauty of the Sierra Nevada
range along the John Muir Trail.
1 felt a serenity and peace that is
difficult to describe. The Sierras
are an inspiration to one’s soul,
and the reason that I think
individuals like Thoreau and
Muir turn away from the
civilized world is to feel this
inspiration. I wondered whether
I could find this same
inspiration living in a shelter
along the AT for a semester.
The Appalachian Trail has a
network of shelters, small lean-
tos with the front wall missing,
to provide hikers cover from the
elements. I decided to live in
Tumbling Run shelter near
Tumbling Run creek. I used the
creek and a nearby spring as my
water supply for cooking and
cleaning dishes. I felt it would be
impractical to bathe in the creek,
so I decided to shower at the
MAC, the first of a few
conveniences that I thought was
simply too practical to dismiss.
I rarely ever built a fire; instead,
I used a small backpacking stove
for cooking.
I had spent long periods of
time in wilderness areas before,
but the majority of my time had
been occupied with walking
from point to point. I found that
I spent hours in the computer
labs surfing the web, reading the
news or playing cards. I found
myself without much to do at my
shelter besides read and think.
After several weeks, I found
it easier to sleep on campus
instead of driving or walking
back up to the trail; this was
accomplished in a variety of
ways. The auditorium stage
proved a nice flat area to spend
the night on. After several nights,
though, I soon quit sleeping in
the Auditorium after awakening
one morning to an incoming
class. I soon quit sleeping in
Kriscinda Meadows
In 2003 the Michigan state
legislature considered
legislation that required the state
revise its curriculum to include
the theory of a Creator via
Intelligent Design (ID)
whenever Evolution was
mentioned. Similarly, in 2004,
Missouri’s legislature
deliberated over two bills,
which mandated equal time for
ID in classrooms. Neither of
these bills passed. And despite
the victory in Georgia on
January 13%, 2005 that forced
the Cobb County school board
to immediately remove the
stickers that read “Evolution is
a Theory, not a Fact,” there is
still a heated debate currently
over whether or not Intelligent
Design should be taught in our
public school science classes.
Unfortunately, what seems to be
a simple question with a simple
answer gets more and more
complicated as the argument
gets more and more convoluted
with sloppy reasoning,
ignorance and outright deceit.
The Dover Area School
District, here in Pennsylvania,
voted in October to include in
their courses a statement read by
biology teachers to their ninth
grade students claiming that
Evolution is merely a theory and
should be taught as such, and
that Intelligent Design is a
perfectly good alternate theory,
amongst others. This was
actually implemented on January
18th, 2005. Eleven parents
backed by the ACLU are
challenging this in a lawsuit
scheduled for September 26%.
Let’s look at some of the
difference between Creationism
and Intelligent Design. First and
foremost, ID sounds more
academic. While this is an
effective psychological tool, it
takes more than clever wording
to actually make something a
science. ID repeatedly pulls
See Truth page 6
campus buildings altogether
after an incident in the Library.
Needing to write a paper (and
more importantly, thinking the
couch upstairs would make a
nice bed), and having no means
to do so after 11 p.m., I thought
if I fell asleep in one of the quiet
study rooms in the Library until
after it closed, I would be able
to use the upstairs computer to
type my paper. Unfortunately
one of the campus security
officers patrolled through the
Library that night and came
upon me studiously at work. He
asked what I was doing. I gave
him an innocent look and said I
was writing a paper.
Following the strictest
protocol, he called the state
police and two troopers came.
The four of us held a little
powwow in the library foyer.
The troopers, looking positively
annoyed at being called in for
something like this, informed me
that I was committing a felony
crime of criminal trespass in a
building and not to do so again.
I agreed and decided to trespass
(the misdemeanor sort I hoped!)
in Mont Alto State Park and
sleep under the picnic pavilion.
The patch of woods near the
commuter parking lot soon
turned into a personal favorite
spot to spend the night. There
was plenty of soft grass to sleep
on and I could even throw a
sheet of plastic over one of the
picnic tables and crawl under it
if it started to rain.
I soon ran into some problems
that were not so obvious when I
began this adventure. I had to
keep all of my possessions in my
car, and my Saturn was pushed
to the limits on space. The trunk
was reserved for food and
cooking utensils. I couldn’t leave
these at the shelter, as I feared
wild animals or other people
would get into them. My back
seat was dedicated to clothing
and dirty laundry. It soon became
quite a hassle trying to keep
everything arranged in my tiny
cubicle of space.
Annoyed with the difficulties
of this lifestyle and the
acquisition of a new job, I
moved into an apartment in
December, vowing to myself
that I would some day return to
the simple life, only next time in
a place much more suitable, like
the Sierra Nevada or the Alaskan
wilderness.
See Experience page 5