The use of maps in teaching history, sociology, social studies, government, and foreign cultures is well established. Students expect to see maps used as visual aids for the study of everything from music history to physical science to religion. All of these maps are charting ideas, not just geography. Anyone can make an idea map, whether for classroom use or for their own amusement or enlightenment.
If they want to understand the exploration and colonization of the Pacific Ocean, they might take a Hawaii Wall Map and mark by hand the different explorers who visited the various islands and the specific routes they took. They could include dates to given them a feel for the region’s evolution through time. This could be repeated for other island chains in the Pacific until they feel they have mastered the subject.
Another example would be taking a map of california and charting the various waves of settlers that came to the state. From early Spanish settlements through the gold rush of the mid 1800s to the rise of the entertainment industry in the early part of the twentieth century and the creation of Silicon Valley at the end of the 1900s. They might include the various waves of immigrants who arrived on the shores in order to create the whole picture.
Other ideas would be charting the lives of famous musicians or artists within a given movement or era or tracing the spread of an idea around the world.
There are moments when surrender to the moment are the most delicious moments that make up a life. For most of the members of human civilization, the pace of things makes it difficult to get to the simple pleasures. It’s said that the here and now might be the most difficult place to be, and for these notions, being in a difficult situation can offer some interesting perspectives.
When the bloom of physical vibrancy is taking a vacation, and the signs of slowing down become more significantly pronounced, it can hearken the hopes of another kind of vacation. When the most important things in the home are lift chairs , then comfort is something that is suddenly very important. Everyone talks about comfort, and it seems to be one of the prime motivators for people in the world, but it’s hard to understand unless one has been in a position where comfort really is everything.
The home becomes something else. It’s no longer a metaphor for refuge , it becomes the refuge. Finding ways to be comfortable are essential, because they are the keys to learning how to enjoy the day. The day, of course, is always just as long as it used to be, and when things are simpler, its pleasures can also be much simpler.
My parents knew that it wouldn’t be an easy life when I told them that I wanted to be Detective Dietrich when I grew up. There was something extraordinarily funny about this guy, and I felt right at home in the presence of his aloofness and sarcasm, and I kept watching week after week. My whole family did, because Barney Miller was one of those shows that had a heart and a pulse, and it wasn’t easy to find these things on tv. It’s still not very easy, and you have to really look for signs of life and intelligence to have any hopes of finding them. For me, it’s always kind of thrilling still to hear some comedian making a reference to Lacan, or reading a blog where it sounds like the writer has heard of Deleuze.
There are many cultural critics who lament the death of the intellectual, and there are many intellectuals who write about the death of intelligence. There are also those who say they have no time for fancy book-learning, and they seem to be growing in number with every generation. Maybe it’s nothing new, because I seem to recall reading similar laments in Aristotle, Voltaire, and excerpts from a rare interview with Pliny the Elder. The New York of Barney Miller had room for everybody. That’s one thing that show taught me. In Manhattan, accommodation is available to all, even intellectuals.
My pre-teen brain understood that deep thinkers have trouble fitting into this world. So when Dietrich talked to Barney about how he had a long record of switching careers, I had a feeling this was in my cards as well. I also wanted to be a lumberjack and a bee-keeper. And I wanted to study philosophy. I never did get the degree I started out looking for, and I never did get to work with bees, but there are enough parallels that I think I’m living the life I am supposed to be in. Sometimes my New York feels like the one Steve Landesberg inhabits, and someday, if we ever do get to meet, I wonder if the universe will implode or we’ll just have coffee.