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In Acheson’s chapter titled, “Cycles,” he overviews the environmental characteristics of Maine and its waters before diving into lobster biology.  Acheson wrist describes how Maine’s summer months are superior as it is warm, but not too hot. This is the reason he says, why many people from southern New England and further south, summer in Maine. Acheson also describes the fog, mud, snow, wind, and foliage that are present within the different seasons. He then talks about the Gulf of Maine and how the the conditions are ideal for the production of fish due to the outflow several large rivers. The mixing of fresh in salt water in the river estuaries creates high nutrient levels, which support fish larvae growth. Also, the horizontal flow and vertical mixture of the Gulf of Maine’s waters help create a strong ecosystem in which larvae, juvenile fish, and plankton are distributed amongst the water column. Acheson touches upon the history of Maine’s fisheries and the evolution of lobstering, eventually reaching to how it is now so crucial to Maine and its coast.
xThe article then shifts to focusing on the lobster. Acheson describes where lobsters live, both in type of habitat as well as depth and temperature of water, what lobsters eat, and how they grow. He also goes into how lobstering is at different times within the season. In the early summer, fishing is poor due to a large number of lobsters shedding their shells and hiding in the rocks. Fishing is at its peak in late summer as the weather is good and more lobsters are available to be caught as a new generation has reached legal size following their molt. Acheson closes with describing a lobstermen’s typical day, from waking up before the sunrise, to the actual process of hauling traps, to returning to home late in the day.

This chapter from Cresswell’s book, Place: A Short Introduction, is aimed at describing how geographers look at places. Cresswell explores the idea of places through the lens of different schools of thought and how the scholars under those fields shape ideas about place and space. On a rather basic level, place is explored in a descriptive style. It is a ‘common-sense view’ that still exists today. However, there are other approaches to place, are starkly different from the descriptive style. When it comes to viewing the relationship of place and politics, radical geographer have their own notion of place. To the, “places are socially constructed” (Cresswell, 26) and therefore it can be changed. In addition, place is seen as an exclusionary entity within society. In contrast, those who observe place as phenomenological entity would view society as a place-constructed. This approach to place is “less concerned with ‘places’ and more interested in Place.” This idea of place versus Place and how it affects people within a place is extremely significant. One such scholar, Yi-Fu Tuan, developed the term topophilia to refer to the “affective bond between people and place” (Cresswell, 20). Other scholar, Edward Relph views place as profound centers of human existence. This relationship between people, place, and space has been pivotal to our projects as well as our class discussion.

This article would be very helpful for someone who is interested in learning more about lobstering and the daily practices of a lobsterman. Acheson starts this article by describing the sizes of lobstering boats and why lobstermen would use a boat between 26 and 42 feet.  He also describes the different technologies that can be found on a modern lobster boat, such as a hydraulic pot hauler, a radar, and depth finder, which all changed the efficiency of lobstering entirely. Acheson does a great job summarizing the process of lobstering, giving a detailed description of the types of traps, baits, buoys, and ropes used. The investments of lobstermen are also touched on, describing the debts, up to $200,000, that a lobsterman can incur. There are also two very descriptive labeled pictures of a lobster boat and a lobster trap that put a “face” to the lobstering equipment that Acheson talks about. He ends his article talking about the regulations on lobstering in Maine and why they were implemented. Overall, I would recommend this article to anyone who is looking to learn the basics about the daily practices of lobstermen and the history of lobstering in midcoast Maine.

“Rise of the Lobstering” is a piece in Conkling’s book, “Islands in Time” which brings, chronologically, information and sentiments dating back to when lobster wasn’t a commercial species to lobstering becoming a culture staple and a conservation issue. 1870’s was when lobstering rose to popularity as a resource for economic prosperity. With this financial spotlight came the first wave of lobstering laws in 1872. Conkling includes in his documentation more than just dates and facts but also the many social aspects of lobstering. He writes about “lobster gangs” and their territoriality. He discusses the flaws of fisheries management system and lobstering as commercial exploitation. However, he makes an emphasis to connect lobstering with Maine’s identity and how it connects to a patriotic view of “Americanism”. All through out the piece he brings many stories, not just his own but direct quotations from various others. He ends the piece with solutions to to flaws but also warnings of the consequences should they not be met.

In David Foster Wallace’s column about the Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace delves into the many aspects of the festival. A main topic of his is one that we have pondered: the subjectivity of space, specifically touching on the touristy aspect of the festival. While for the tourists, the festival epitomizes Maine, many residents of the area are either disinterested with the festival or even contemptuous of it. While these two groups may occupy the same space at the same time, the meanings that they themselves impress upon this space differ widely.

Another compelling topic that he talks about is about the humanity of killing a lobster, which he uses to make an interesting argument about empathy. Because the thought of boiling a live animal seems inhumane to some, many have tried to find a more “humane” way to  kill the lobster. One alternative is to slit the neck, where a bundle of nerves that is like a brain resides. However, the lobster has many of these bundles throughout his body, and the slit to the neck is not always fatal. Even though these people were trying to be more “humane” about killing an animal, they end up making the death more painful. In this example, Wallace exposes the different rationalizations that allow people to continue being immoral for their own pleasure.

After reading the Mitchell article and talking about modernism last class I noticed there was a strong connection between modernism and changing landscape. Imperialism occurs because of the modernism mindset that we are always looking to improve. Imperialism causes almost instant cultural changes – similar to the Netherlands in the 17th century, changing from a rebellious colony to a maritime empire. These cultural changes caused by a “modernism” mindset affect how landscape is perceived. After the Netherlands transformed, a hybrid landscape occurred that was characterized as imperial/modern and anti colonial. Mitchell even states that “landscape is seen as a “dreamwork” of imperialism.”  When there is a historical change or a significant shift in culture, there will be new developments for the articulation of landscape. Landscape is a form of art and the way it is depicted changes in the same way that art changes over history. The same way that the change to the romanticist period occurred as a reaction to the industrial revolution, which was a period of modernization. “Imperialism is an expansion of landscape understood as inevitable progressive development in history, an expansion of culture and civilization into natural space in a progress that itself is narrated as natural.” The natural progress described is modernization.