Director, Environmental Studies
Professor of English

STUDY QUESTIONS
Terry Tempest Williams, "Engagement"
Orion (July/August 2004): 52-59.

1. What does Williams mean by “open space of democracy (52b, 55a, 57a, 57b),” “bedrock democracy (53a),” and “spiritual democracy” (57b, 58a)? Do you think these ought to be our ideals? What would it take to develop this type of democracy? What did John Dewey mean by democracy becoming “a form of idolatry” (58a)? How does all this relate to nature and nature writing?

2. What are the characteristics of her notion of “engagement?” List as many aspects as you can. Do you think American do have or should have this type of engagement? What would it take to develop that sense of engagement in our society?

3. How does she conceive of community? List as many aspects as you can. Do you think we lack that sense of community in our society? Do you believe it is important – if so, how and how much? What would it take to develop that sense of community?

4. Why does she say “I believe she would send me home (52b)? What is the sense of place articulated in this essay, and how is it related to the notion of wilderness?

5. What is involved in “listening to the land” (55a)? What does she mean: “ If we listen to the land, we will know what to do?” Critically analyze the paragraph that talks about communing with a juniper tree and the “ throbbing intelligence” that gets transmitted. What assumptions are involved in these ideas (there are lots)? How is the notion of Other involved? Do you agree with her view of listening to the land, or is she being a naïve romantic?

6. What is involved in Lorenzo Becawtini’s version of anti-globalization (55b)? Is this related to nature and nature writing?

7. What does she mean when she says Michelangelo and Leonardo (great artists who lived back in the Renaissance) were with the “endless river of people” (56a)?

8. What is the point of Thich Nhat Hanh’s saying that “One does not walk for peace. One walks in peace” (56a)?

9. What does she mean by “ wholesale dismissal of the sacredness of life ?” Do you think this is really happening?

10. What does she mean by saying “The human heart is the first home of democracy” and “ The heart is the path to wisdom because it dares to be vulnerable in the presence of power” (57a) Do you agree?

11. What is the fire that she says our community needs (59b)? Do you agree?

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