The American Lawn
The article The American Lawn, wrote by Georges Teyssot, talks about lawns: from the history of them, to where the name came from, and what is happening to them today. This article is ten years old, but it does bring up some key topics. One of the first things that Teyssot mentions is the comparison between human beauty and that of a lawn. This comparison relies mainly on the idea that “The perfect lawn, like the fatless body, is an ideal difficult to attain.” I had never thought of this comparison before and I find it interesting and I wonder how they thought of it in the first place. This is true if you think about it. Having the perfect body means putting a numerous amount of hours into working out, eating healthy, and staying on a demanding schedule to do those things along with everything else that has to be done by the end of the day. If that is tweaked a little, then you get the same thing from a lawn: putting a numerous amount of hours into taking care of the lawn, putting a large amount of money into fertilizers and de-weeders, and having to stay on a constant schedule to have your lawn in tip-top shape.
Another topic that Teyssot brought up was the idea of “freedom lawns”. “Freedom lawns” are lawns where all plants have the right to grow. That means weeds are welcome. This was brought up when he was discussing unkempt lawns. From this topic I got the feeling that if you don’t mow your lawn, then you are breaking the mold/ not doing what everyone else does. Teyssot said that this was targeting the “industrial complex” that has a grip on America. By not mowing your lawn you are trying to reestablish “environmental harmony”. From what I understand “industrial complex” is doing what is expected, aka following the crowd, and “environmental harmony” is trying to go back to when we just let nature be.
When Teyssot was talking about using sheep as gardeners and mowers, this made me wonder if there was a struggle between going natural and not going natural for lawn care. Seeing as everyone is trying to ‘go green’ would most people be willing to do this? I mean having a sheep do the yard work means not spending money on repairs for the mower, the cost of gas, and you get a new pet out of the deal. I mean President Woodrow Wilson used sheep and goats to take care of the White House lawn.
At the end of the article the idea of not having to lock your doors, not having fences, and not having hedges separate properties, was very foreign to me. I can’t imagine a world without those things. It would be interesting to see, but strange because I have never had to deal with that. I mean I have lived in places without fences or hedges, but not locking my door is completely out of my comfort zone. However, the fact that people would trust their neighbors enough to not lock their doors is very whimsical.
Questions:
1. Is the comparison between beauty and lawn a strong one or is there a better one out there?
2. Where did he get the name “freedom lawn”?
3. Teyssot mentioned how by mowing certain ways you can get woven and planted patterns in your yard, does this mean earth is a canvas waiting to be drawn on?
4. What happened to page 23?