By old-fashioned, I mean that we take the kids on road trips without electronic gadgets – games, music players, DVDs, etc. When I was a kid, we packed books (coloring, reading, puzzle) or just stared out the window at the passing scenery. Mile after mile after mile. I’m sure my three sisters and I drove my parents crazy from time to time, especially on the longer trips (but my parents had to be a bit crazy to begin with, for example, to drive four kids cross-country in a station wagon in the ’70s). But I think being forced to entertain yourself with your own imagination or by (annoying) your family is “good for character,” as they say. And now that I’ve grown up and have children of my own, I don’t see why they should travel any differently. Yes, it would probably make our lives easier if we relied on gadgets. And maybe we’re just plain crazy for not using them. But there’s something about seeing them all crammed together in the back seat, hearing my oldest daughter read a book to her sister, or listening to the girls oohing and aahing over the picture my son drew of a car, or watching them write stories and helping each other spell words, that makes me feel that I may be crazy, but that I’m also capturing some special moments in time.
Archive for the ‘On My Mind’ Category
Road-tripping the old-fashioned way
Sunday, November 29th, 2009Who thinks holiday music in early November …
Monday, November 16th, 2009… is a good idea? I surely don’t, and I’m a huge fan of holiday music. In fact, I play it almost constantly from the day after Thanksgiving until January 2 or so. If stores think that playing this music so early gets me in the mood to shop for presents, they’re wrong. It makes me just want to get the heck out of the store as soon as possible!
Try this at home!
Saturday, November 7th, 2009Gather a bunch of old magazines, some scissors, big pieces of construction paper and glue sticks. Sit yourself, your friends, your family, whoever around a table and set a timer for 5 minutes. Go through the magazines quickly and without really thinking about it, rip or cut out images that strike you. When the timer goes off, set it again for 5 more minutes. Have everyone arrange their images and glue them down. When the timer goes off again, look at your finished collage and think about what it says about you; do you see anything surprising? Describe your collage to the others. I learned about this the other night and tried it out. The results are very interesting.
“Wrecking Ball”, the Richfield Coliseum and the modern concert experience
Monday, October 26th, 2009Sorry my entries have been so Bruce Springsteen-heavy lately, but I always get that way before one of his concerts! So I downloaded the video for “Wrecking Ball”on Friday night. I had never heard the song before but after seeing a clip of the video and reading the reviews, buying it was a no-brainer (thanks to everyone who buys me iTunes gift cards to help support my love of music!). I love the song and video for a lot of reasons. But you know what it reminds me of? The Richfield Coliseum, where I saw my first rock concert (which was, coincidentally, Bruce Springsteen), and which has since been torn down, like Giants Stadium will be (that’s what “Wrecking Ball” is about). The Coliseum … now that was a great place to see a concert or a basketball game. The Q just isn’t the same. I don’t know what it is. I’m not a smoker, but I think a smoke haze is kind of necessary to set the mood. Also, it seems like before, all you could buy was beer or pop in big plastic cups. Now, you can have paninis, soup, organic food, bottled water – it just isn’t right! I mean, when I saw Bruce in January 1981, we literally sat so high that when we pumped our hands up in the air during “Born to Run”, my knuckles got bloody from hitting the plaster on the ceiling. Now it’s brightly lit and smoke-free and the fans are middle-aged, wearing Dockers, and carrying trays of gourmet food back to their $100 seats. It’s all so … so … sterile … the exact opposite of what a rock concert should be! (And speaking of wrecking balls knocking down places like the Coliseum, why do we have to tear down buildings after 25 or 50 years when people in Europe live, work and shop in buildings that are hundreds and hundreds of years old?)