For my “Literature and the Environment” class (spring 2018), I tasked my students with a highly open-ended project. As a class community, they needed to develop a body of writing that would raise awareness about the St. Joesph River and encourage our local community to restore the watershed. Oh, and they had no budget!. Through reading some of the great American landscape and environmental writers like Steinbeck, Cather, Dillard, and Berry, along with theology and critical theory, the students needed to think through how writing transforms spaces into places, how writing creates characters of the natural world, and how writing can move agency from the human character to the ecological web of animal and plant life that comprise a healthy ecosystem.
After submitting individual proposals, reviewing them as a class, and hours of research, discussion about race, privilege, accessibility, agency, and education, Joey the Spotted Turtle was born! Joey is an avatar for the river who meets local children on its banks and tells them a story about the history of the river and the creatures who call it home. The site includes six short stories geared toward a 5-10 year-old audience, links to local conservation groups, coloring pages, information about spotted turtles, an overview of the class, and a collection of photography. The entire site, including photography and illustrations, were developed, sourced, or produced by the class. And local primary-school students are already getting excited about Joey—a number of schools are participating in our “First Ever Writing Competition,” while others are developing new coloring pages depicting Joey’s adventures at the St. Joe River.
While I could continue to describe the project, nothing compares to meeting Joey (and his creators) for yourselves, so check-out sbjoey.com
Jessica Ann Hughes
Spring, 2018
Joey’s Creators, the Spring 2018 Literature and the Environment Class from Holy Cross College