If I didn't exist, I wouldn't have to write this

I found Alice Wolf Gilborn to be one of the most perplexing writers we have read thus far. My confusion is not due to complex or intangible ideas presented within her work but rather due to her off-putting tone. After reading her short bio in Rooted in Rock, I think her tone matches her personality. She is an editor, a critical woman whose job is to have an opinion. After knowing that fact, it is not hard to believe that she wrote with such a tone in "Proving Grounds."

I found her overall purpose to be quite perplexing. She often tried to be funny and failed, which made reading the piece quite confusing. I think the comical failure was due to her lacking tone throughout the piece. She seemed to be writing a journal-like entry, something meant to be read only by herself which can be successful but was not done very well in this essay.

What I found most intriguing about this piece is that Gilborn spoke about people coming to the Adirondacks and overcoming nature, overcoming themselves, and eventually finding their roots. "Over coming" nature fell under the umbrella of all outdoor activities, such as hiking Blue Mountain or hunting. She says that when people do this, they are finding their own roots and thus proving themselves. She spoke about a hiker and said, "You know they have hiked a long way or are preparing to hike a long way, but you don't ask them why because part of proving yourself is to do it and not talk about it except to yourself. That you can do endlessly." She talks about herself and says that this is not how she finds her roots, instead her roots "extend only as far as the first comfortable chair."

These few lines made the entire essay much more appealing to me because in her own way Gilborn was overcoming her own nature, finding her roots, and proving herself. Although she did not do this by hiking, but rather by sitting in a comfortable chair and writing. This made the overall personal tone make much more sense. She is not intending to tell this to a large audience, instead she is proving herself by doing it and only talking about it to herself (as she claims the hikers do on their long hikes.)