Tidbits of History

There are tidbits of history all about, that wait for us to notice them and ponder ... or perhaps ... just enjoy them for what they are ... stand-alone reminders of events that have passed and of people who have gone before.


I keep notes all the time ... scribble things of interest that I see as I travel about (which over the past few months has been all over the New England area and south to Washington, D.C. in the United States).

Credits: Image of the Lower Trenton Bridge from www.thepolisblog.org

For instance, did you know the slogan of Trenton, New Jersey was “Trenton Makes, the World Takes?” Saw that on a bridge as I was rolling south on the SEPTA train to Philadelphia. Wrote it down at the top of my calendar. I enjoyed rolling that around in my mind, thinking of all the possible positive interpretations of that (Trenton produces/has produced a lot) and negatives (we make stuff and then get left behind) or Trenton got “taken” in the greater socio-economic context of affairs. Then, of course, you go on-line and find someone else has taken an interest in it.

This Must Be the Place

Where do you belong?

I like to focus on the subject of place. Perhaps it's part of my upbringing. New Englanders, I think, are a bit grounded in it, some might say suffocated, steeped in the broody atmosphere of history, hemmed in by trees and mountains, breathing in long days of winter air ... suffering for our spring.

California Childhood Dreaming 

And yet, I'm a bit of a transplanted New Englander. Born seven miles west of Boston, I moved when I was only three years old to Southern California, and lived there for four long years before relocating back to Acton, Massachusetts, to start a new life ... and elementary school.

And so, when I recall some of my earliest memories, they aren't filled with images of snow and brickyard mill towns, but rather the shock of the trap door spider that leapt at my face the first afternoon I crawled into our backyard in Poway, California. I also have vivid memories of stinging red ants, hot afternoons, and adobe housing in a scrub-grassed, terraced desert.

Two Movies, Two Reactions

Why do we go to the movies?

I've asked that question in classes before (when I've had a chance to talk about film) and it provokes the usual responses - to be entertained, to laugh, to be moved, to think ...

Image courtesy of www.reddit.com

The best movies, I think, do all of these things at one, or even take us somewhere new ... they leave us, as the credits roll, abuzz, slightly off-kilter, wondering what it was that just hit us like a psycho-spiritual 2 X 4.  The magic of the film, whispered to us in the darkness via flickering light and Dolby speakers, should resound even as we head back out into "reality."

I saw two films this week, Monuments Men and Her, and only the latter had that effect on me. I wish both had ...

Image courtesy of www.impawards.com

Monuments Men, a George Clooney-helmed drama based on a true story from World War II, about a band of soldiers dedicated to recovering art stolen by the Germans, left me largely indifferent, or unexcited, which was strange considering that I'm fascinated by the stories of that war, and was looking forward to it, but the sizable group of actors (some of whom are my favorites, like Bill Murray and John Goodman) moved about from scene to scene like lifeless pawns in a game. It was too bad, because the film was exploring ideas of the importance of art (amidst brutality), and those who would fight back against the “loss of our history.”

A Third Culture

I've been spending more than few hours at the Library of Congress, thumbing through loads of books as I've researched about expats.  One book I discovered, The Writer and the Overseas Childhood: The Third CultureLiterature of Kingsolver, McEwan and Others (yeah, I know it's a long title) delved into a world I hadn't yet grasped, of the "Third Culture Kid" (TCK).

Third Culture Kids are people who have grown up overseas, whether as children of diplomats, missionaries, military families, etc.    Why three cultures?  The first culture is where you were born, the second is where you find yourself living, and the third is the independent community of the expatriate, with its own little cliques and mores.

As the years have passed, the numbers of TCK's have only multiplied, even if their stories are hidden to a large extent from the public, and yet a simple google search discovered a trailer for a potential feature film (see below), an organization devoted to Third Culture Kids, and the obligatory "31 Signs You're A Third Culture Kid."