The current book I’m reading Meat Eater, by Steven Rinella, is an amazing book. It’s one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. This book is about Steven Rinella's life and talks about all his adventures he had growing up. Steven Rinella's recently came out with a Netflix series called Meat Eaters. Each episode is about a different hunting trip he took growing up. What I love about the book is Steven has a fascination with Nature, but also is a huge hunter. This is where some opinions might come into play because some people hate the practices of hunting and think it's cruel. Some may say if you hunt you’re not deeply connected to nature, but that doesn’t apply to Steven. Steven Rinella hunts because that actually how he feeds his family. He grew up in a family that was always outside. His love for God's creatures is more than I can ever imagine. 

The reason I chose the quote, “ Nature never wears a mean appearance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson is because Nature truly is beautiful even when it may seem dark. You may think that when Steven is killing a North Canadian elk that he's just doing it for sport, but he’s not. He actually has all the meat shipped to his home in Seattle, Washington so he can feed his family. Steven finds beauty in Nature in all his hunts. In the book Steven often talks about how different animals like wolves will strategies in taking down and killing an elk. Animals kill other animals to survive and he finds beauty in that. It’s been happening since the Earth was first created. “When you look at the peaks above you, you’re moved by the beauty of the place. Yet, your suspicion that the place will just as happily kill you as let you walk in it.” - Steven Rinella

Donald Trump has has been a very different and unique president so far. Donald is very different than our previous president, Barack Obama. He speaks out without thinking sometimes and draws up many more uproars than previous presidents. He also uses Twitter a lot more so that may be a source of these uproars. He has crazy ideas that surprised a bunch of people. For example, the border wall along the Mexican border. Donald Trump represents this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson very well. Donald always speaks out to society everywhere and focuses on changing it, or making it better through his ideas. He is our president, therefore is responsible for all its members. When Ralph says, “Conspiracy against the manhood," he is trying to get people to follow him just like Donald Trump.  When I first heard the word Nonconformity and what it meant I immediately thought of Donald Trump. I believe he fits the nonconformity profile very well.

Bird Box was a recent movie that came out on Netflix. The main character is Sandra Bullock who played as Malorie. Sandra Bullock is a famous actress that has been shown in many movies like Ocean's 8, The Blind Side, and Gravity. Bird Box is about this evil creature or creatures that make people commit suicide. You’re not suppose to look outside or you might become infected. Over the course of the movie Sandra Bullock loses people close to her until its just her and her 2 kids alone floating down a river.

When I hear the term Self- Reliance I think of Bird Box. The quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson fits Sandra Bullock almost perfectly. What Emersons was saying was that the strength of your mind is the obstacle of achieving your true potential. I can relate this to Sandra Bullock floating down the river alone because she had to have a really strong mind to not just give up. She had to overcome so many obstacles on that river and she never gave up. Sandra could only rely on herself and no one else. She is the true definition of Self- Reliance.

 Dierk Bentleys song, “What was I thinkin,” was released in 2003 and is still a popular song on the radio today. This song is about a guy doing stupid stuff to try and get the girl. In the song he’s running from the cops, getting shot at by the girls dad, and getting in fights with the girls ex boyfriends. The main lyrics in the song is, “What was I thinkin.” Which makes sense because if he would’ve thought about any of that stuff before doing it he most likely wouldn't have done them.

I picked this quote for the song because I think it resembles Dierk Bentley very well. In this song Dierks is following his gut feeling and not his head. He’s not being reasonable in his decisions. In the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson it says, “Trust thyself.” Dierks had a lot of faith in himself in getting this girl.  He was very Intuitive with no reasoning. I believe he and his song are a great example for Intuition over Reasoning.

 Mountain Men is a TV series on the History Channel. Its first episode was released May 31, 2012. Mountain Men goes around to different peoples homesteads in America and highlights there daily lives and what they do to survive. Some places where these people live are Alaska, Arkansas, Montana, and North Carolina. Many of them are fur trappers and that's how they make a living. They all choose to live a simple life and live in solitude away from society.

“To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chambers as from society” written by Ralph Waldo Emerson relates to the TV show, Mountain Men, very well. “To go into solitude” means to be away from other people and that's exactly what Mountain Men like to do. They also retire modern practices and chose to do things old fashioned. For example the man in Arkansas lives in a Tipi. Mountain Men live a simplified live compared to the rest of us American citizens.