“The Atchafalaya” is an article by John McPhee, concerning the flow of the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya region. McPhee interviews several people who have jobs related to the river and the maintenance of the Atchafalaya’s water flow. The location of the Mississippi River is crucial because if it moves, it could potentially destroy all of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and, subsequently, their status as major shipping channels. Reading this article, I gained more insight on the importance of the river for the state of Louisiana and New Orleans. A quote in the article summarizes the reoccurring theme of society versus Mother Nature: “Man against nature. That’s what life’s all about” (McPhee). Everything that is done in the Atchafalaya …show more content…
She explains why people spend so much time making these objects that are so small that it is said it looks like clutter on a table. While the artists described in the article make objects and animals extremely small, they still wish to remain as accurate as possible without leaving any detail to the imagination. To do this, the artists generally make their objects a 12:1 ratio, so that objects are not too small, but just the right size. Additionally, Alice Gregory talks about how the miniature figures make her feel “perverted,” yet she is still intrigued by them (Gregory). By reading the article, I was exposed to a world that I had never known existed. The article mentioned that nearly everyone at the miniature convention was a woman and that many men are completely oblivious to the art form. However, this begs the question: why are these objects so small? Bebacker perfectly answered this question with the simple words, “To see if it could be done.” The entire culture of the miniature objects revolves around pushing the limits with still making sure that the piece is perfectly accurate. Dr. Wallman also answered this question with, “it happened because I needed a simple world I could understand… but your world isn’t simple, is it?” His explanation was that “no world with people in it” is simple. This further clarifies why people are willing to spend thousands of dollars on objects