When I was growing up in the 1950s in New Jersey, I learned the names of cars. I could identify a Ford, a Chevy, a Pontiac, a Chrysler just by looking at the tail lights. I remember in the fall there was a car commercial that everyone waited for, the one that showed what the rear end of the new season's cars were going to look like. I think it aired during The Ed Sullivan Show or maybe it was Bonanza on a Sunday night. The anticipation was an event itself.
When I was growing up in the early 1960s, I went to the mall. That's where we hung out and rarely but sometimes shopped. I knew the names of stores. We had Montgomery Wards, Bambergers, Walgreens, Lerners, and Spencer's Gifts, etc. I bought record albums and knew the names of all the new groups. We had The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Herman Hermits, Freddy and the Pacemakers, Moody Blues. I knew all the band members' names and the words to all their songs. I completely immersed myself in the cultural moment.
So, why am I thinking about this stuff? Because over the past few years, I have begun learning the names of new things that were knowable back when I was young. Back when the need to know culture was more important than the need to know the natural world. And today I think it's really such a pity that I wasted so much young and active brain space on "Mrs. Brown, you've got a lovely daughter" instead of learning the names of birds, clouds, mushrooms, insects, flowers, trees, frogs, and lizards. I have so much catching up to do. You get the picture.Imagine for a moment if I had learned a song about the difference between cirrus radiatus and cirrocumulus undulatus clouds when I was seven. What names of things would I be learning today?
I think it goes under the file "youth is wasted on the young." But when one is 14, the world is seen as a 14 yr old, and what is important NOW takes precedent. Some of those cultural icons (Herman's Hermits withstanding) had some wonderfully poetic songs, or musicality that expressed a generation. And that binds a generation together. Wasn't it cool that Bill Clinton used a Fleetwood Mac song (Don't Stop)as his campaign song? It reflected a new generation vs. the old generation.
ReplyDeleteLove your neighborhood earth, sky and cloud photos. It was just two months ago that I learned about radiatus clouds. Had seen them occasionally throughout my life and never knew their name before. Your question is a good one.
ReplyDeleteSame for me. I didn't go to malls; I'm just a bit older than you, and where I lived, we didn't have them. But I knew all the cars. I used to compete to identify any car we passed before my brothers did, on long car trips. I usually won.
ReplyDeleteAnd I knew all the words to all the hymns we sung, as well as reams of Bible trivia. (That was my cultural group's idea of what was important.)
But I never even learned how to distinguish cedar from Douglas fir, while we lived surrounded by both. And as for "critters" and smaller plants, as far as I know, none of the adults around me knew their names, either.
So much now to learn, so late!
I feel the same way about the wasted brain space I devoted to ephemera, but I wonder if I would feel the opposite had I filled my brain with "useful" knowledge. Would I be wondering now what cultural insights and experiences I had missed?
ReplyDeleteMe too. I often think education has been missing a big one by not setting lessons to music. I can still remember the words of a long dead song but have forgotten Pythagorean theorem. Fungi phylum would be right there on the tip of my tongue if attached to a catchy tune. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteall in good time, my dear, all in good time. You immersed yourself in your 14 year old world. Now you are immersing yourself in your (cough cough) year old world. And you have a lovely cyber platform in which to share your education and your delight. That's perfect timing, to me.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your youth. I kick myself for all the traveling that I did and didn't see nature more. I went to beeches and clubs instead.
ReplyDeleteYou'd probably be a cloud designer by now.
ReplyDeleteAwww. We were just talking about this movie last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoA71TWaO5k
ReplyDeleteI didn't hang out at malls. I didn't get drawn into "town" things until I made friends with some people who lived in town; but we always made time for long bike rides. But as a child, I spent most of my time outdoors, and as an adult, I find that most of what I learned (from my father) of the names of natural things was wrong. and then there was the bird with the flute-like song who sang in the woods. When someone tried to tell me its name I put my hands over my ears. I didn't want to know; I wanted the magic of its (to my ears) fairy song to be untarnished by the human need for names. I know its name now and it's okay. Back then, the mystery was more important to me than giving it a name. The bird didn't care one whit for Linnaeus; it sang just the same.
What a wonderful post. I was lucky to have had a Dad, whose off work hobby was gardening and music, so I learned the Latin names of plants and grew up with Mozart. Now I can't remember the names, but the music still lifts me up on gray days.
ReplyDeleteOMG I wasted my memory on all those things as well. And I still retain much of that trivia.
ReplyDeleteI used to babysit for the local Ford dealer. Every year he would have the new model in his garage, covered with a tarp, awaiting that magic day of their coming on the market. He would let me look at the new car. I never told a soul but felt quite wise and smug.
If you had learned about clouds when you were younger, you may not have remembered. But music will always be with you (and me).
ReplyDeleteMy experience was a little different than most. I did learn the names of flora and fauna from my grandmother and parents. I was lucky enough to spend much of the year in places where I could observe nature in a very personal way. Now, I see the children of my biologist friends. Many are so different than urban children. Their vocabulary is different, and their world view differs greatly too. More important than names of things is just knowing that everything in the natural world is connected, and that when you destroy or remove one thing, it creates a ripple through the entire fabric. That is a difficult bit of wisdom to teach. We learn it over time. Rejoice not so much on knowing the names, but on being able to see the connectedness.
ReplyDeleteI always think with admiration and envy of my mother, who knew the names of every plant, bird and animal. And who could identify so many birds by their songs. You're right, we pay attention to so many of the wrong things. Thanks for this lovely post, Peter
ReplyDeleteIt is a blessing to be born with a curious intellect Robin, consider yourself blessed.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you...
Perhaps if you had learned all these things when you were a child, you would not have the childlike wonder of learning these things now. It was a present waiting to be opened and appreciated by an older Robin.
ReplyDeleteHello, i came in from a comment saying it is from Robin Andrea, and since I am Andrea, like attracts like sometimes, haha. Can you imagine that haha before is now LOL! This is a lovely post and your photos are great too. I am glad i already memorized the scientific names of many plants as obliged in college, so now they are now in the long term memory, or else I wont remember not even one if that will be done now. I've long been wanting to do photography when i was younger, but in this part of the world a camera is only for those with extra money. I still don't have the extra money but i consider it now as very necessary, as later on I might not be able to hike anymore. Photographing with a cane might be very difficult. LOL!
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