OUT!! #36: Summer Doldrums

It's the middle of the summer camp season officially today. After this only three weeks remain and I'm waiting for it. This week has been the usual interesting medley of triumph and trouble, but the last two days have felt like a mental stress test. I understand that working with 6 and 7 year old children has it's own challenges and joys, but I really started to feel like this week was harder than the prior two. The past two days I have been feeling lousy for two reasons. One is that we've been having some listening issues in our group and as a result, when you attempt to explain an activity to the kids, half of them have no clue what's going on and ask all the way through what we are doing and how to do it. Also they take way, waaay too long to get ready to go places. Individually they might be good kids, or even great kids, but you put the wrong mixture of kids together, then something bad might pop out of it.

The second thing is loneliness. This weekend I finally get to see the love of my life when she returns from Ohio. After three weeks apart, I'm going crazy. I pine for her and love her so deeply that when I'm sitting alone in my room in the evening, I can't even stand the silence. But she'll be here Sunday and when she is, all the animosity I've felt this week will melt away. I hope she likes the present I got her at the nature store yesterday too. Bird-themed of course!

Well. Another Friday has come and with only three more to experience this summer, I can only hope to cheer up by next week because next Friday will mark a month at camp. I'm sick of feeling sad because I'm pretty happy with how my group is running, how well (this week is hopefully an outlier in terribleness) all our activities are going, and with the camp in general. It's a big space to explore and while I can wait to see what happens next week, I'm more hopeful for a less stressful one.

OUT!! #35: Are You a "Naturalist"?

"Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness" by Lyanda Lynn Haupt is one of those non fiction books that I can pick up over and over again, read a specific section, and get transported back to the wonder and intrigue that attracted me to it in the first place. What drew me in particular was a section on the modern definition of what a "naturalist" is. She writes the following on pages 41-42:

"Developing as a naturalist, a knower of nature, is arguably one of the most critical task for modern humans on the planet Earth, yet naturalist is a word and a role that has, in the last century, lost its core meaning. Not that the tern isn't used. After about a half a millennium during which the title was deemed archaic and dropped out of common parlance, naturalist is suddenly the word of the moment. It seems everyone calls herself a naturalist these days. The counselors who watch over my daughter at day camp? Naturalists. "Why are they called naturalists?" I inquired of the camp director. Well, because of all the nature activities of course. And it's true that my daughter did bring home a mosaic fashioned of leaves and sticks glued onto a paper plate. Claire and the other fifty children also pillaged the native plants around a nearby pond and stuffed them into ill-fated mayonnaise-jar terrariums that sat on kitchen counters for two weeks, all fogged up, before dying. The high school student at the city aquarium who, bless her, memorized all twelve species in the "touch-tank" and spends her summer helping children identify them is distinguished as a naturalist. It seems anyone connected with any sort of job that can be construed as having something to do with nature becomes, on their resume, a naturalist..."

Now most of you are thinking, "G. Perkins, that's a lot of words and while I can agree that certain words are used too often to describe something they aren't like chiropractors being "medical professionals" or Donald Trump being a "businessman", but what are you trying to get across?" I suppose what I found most interesting was my reaction to this section and what it really means to be considered a "naturalist". Haupt goes on to discuss the history of what a naturalist was and how she defines it. She describes the position as being a medley of different disciplines that all offer an appreciation for the natural world. Subjects and practices such as art, philosophy, cookery, field craft, observation, and scientific inquiry all have provided roles in the enjoyment and learning process concerning nature and her cohorts.

I don't describe myself as a naturalist or even a "nature-lover". I see myself mainly as an appreciator and an observer. While other thoughts might chime in, noting my drawings and characters locked away in an abandoned sketchbook somewhere as having been inspired by the natural world, as well as, my appreciation for literature, both fantasy and realistic, that contains visions of that world as well. Instead I hesitate to specifically link this with a "naturalist" mentality or identity. I suppose what keeps me from identifying with it most, is my presumption that a naturalist has spent many years within a given area and garnered a certain knowledge of that given area. Back home in the Sudbury River Valley, it would have to be here that I could comfortably called myself a naturalist as I know its different habitats very well and know what creatures and other natural phenomena to expect there as well. 

This summer I am at camp once more and I've been wondering about that passage more lately. I wonder if my fellow counselors feel the same. I probably think about these things more than other people, but I really want to know what people's opinions of the title is. Of the two camps I've ever worked at, the title of "teacher-naturalist" has always remained consistent, when really we're all counselors with a varying knowledge and interest in the natural world. Some more than others just need a summer job and a chance to get outside, while others like myself love teaching kids about nature and getting the chance to show off our knowledge to the younger generation is a wonderful and humbling experience. When I get the chance to ask that question, I'd love to follow up on it with another post. Maybe even this week too. I would love to see what others think of this question.

Have a good week and stay cool. It's supposed to be a scorcher "they" say.

OUT!! #34: New Directions

So since my computer failure/rebirth (for more information see my blog posting on my other blog, On the wing), I've been busy with preparing for camp and while I'm excited, I'm also pretty nervous. Not only is it a completely new environment with new regulations and rules to follow but also new people, surroundings, and ways of going about things. In other ways, I want to branch out a bit on this blog. While not getting too personal, I feel like I have more to talk about than just my opinion of the natural world. I'm interested in public perception of wildlife, people's attitudes towards to outside world, books, media presentations, and actions that we ourselves are all more involved in than many of us care to admit.

While it will be a shorter post this week, I wanted to give you all a heads up. For those than read On the Wing, the content will remain the same. I really want to give my opinion (what else is a blog for eh?) and yet not be so in people's face about my diet, habits, sports preferences, yada yada yada. But again. That's not what this blog is about. It's about my opinions about the natural world and how it is perceived by not only myself, but also by the world in general. We have one planet to live on and the sooner we recognize that when we use up all the dirt so we only have magma to stand on, hoping and praying for a better future will get us nowhere.

See you soon.