Compare & Contrast of “Everybody's Ditch” and “In Praise of Hometowns”

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In both of these excerpts place holds such significance to the authors. They mention that everyone has their own “haunted” place that may have shaped them into the person that they are today. In “Everybody's Ditch by Pyle” the author tells us the importance of a specific place –a ditch in the authors place. The ditch was a canal named “High Line Canal” in Denver. He mentions how it held and shaped him into the person he is in the present while also discussing about how other people have also enjoyed the presence of the such place. He is sad that its natural life is being cut due to the suburbs growing in Denver but the place still holds its special meaning in everyones heart that has partaken with the ditch. Comparably, “In Praise of Hometowns by Pipher” also features a storyline of said place. The author discusses that any place can be made someone's ditch. The authors talks about how if one just absorbs the nature around them, they will in return love nature. It will become your home because you are one with it and not because the place is beautiful. The three topic that stand at the brink of such debate is the real meaning of “making a place your home”, “how different both the places are”, and “connecting with nature.”
Usually when one talks about how he/she got their personality they think of people rather than things. In Pyle's essay he discusses on the subject of how “land can teach us to care enough for all the other land.” While one may need to need a physical place to create themselves some just create one from even the smallest of the creeks. Any piece of land can be as exciting as your favorite place if you make it what you want. Nature will give back. Likewise, Pipher also suggests that “Nebraska is not her home becau...

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...that Pyle describes in “Everybody's Ditch” is the reading that induced a different feeling for nature from within me. Both the articles stand with great points considering the love of environment and how one should respect a certain place. It also shows how one could easily become a place. One of the few things that may be missed in both articles were the feeling of personalizing the essay. They both only described the description but not their personal memories with the place. If I were to tell you which article to read I would suggest Pyle's prologue due to how easily he made the High Line Canal an important, curious place for me. Not only did he advertise it but personalized it making it automatically more interesting and due to the interviews he also made it more informative and relevant to me. Some things that both articles help us see how to preserve nature.

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