Eat it RAW!"
"Rah, rah, rah!" We chorused, and the cheerleaders cheered, "Sis boom bah, eat stuff Rawwww!"
Although I am not accustomed to, or adept in the form of personal essay, this exercise in reminiscing has been helpful --having been troubled with something lately but forget what...oh yes, my memory.
I'll close with an admission. Memory and imagination are facets of the same living jewel. Whether I pulled my Jurassic classmate up from the past or he pulled me down, is a subject still under discussion. To find out which or both of us small-town students were displaced, like principals in a fairytale --forgotten by the world-- consult the American Field Service records under "Temporal Exchange Students (prehistoric file)".
I really don't have any idea what you are talking about, friend Geo … but by free association I will say this: Once upon a time there was this "all purpose" grocery stores in our lil town, and once upon a time there were these giant grain elevators in our lil town, and once upon a time there was this water tower in our lil town … landmarks that are gone forever … I may be way out of context with your message, friend Geo please forgive me, eh ? … Much love, cat.
ReplyDeleteForgiveness unnecessary, dear Cat, you got the message perfectly. "Tel" or "Tell" is a reference to a city built upon the remains of prior cities (like Tel Aviv, Israel). All small towns go through this historical process of crumbling and rebuilding. My high school town contained 2000 people when I studied there. It now contains 200,000. I may have exaggerated hauling a dinosaur out of a hole --slightly, but not by much.
DeleteMemory, like time, is a totally elastic trickster. I am always grateful for the jewels of your imagination and hope you wear them with pride.
ReplyDeleteThanks, EC. I love the phrase "elastic trickster". Those mythologies that truly reflect the mind often contain a trickster --Loki, in Norse lore might qualify.
ReplyDeleteLike ^.^ this post had me scratching my head. However, undaunted I let it sink into my subconscious mind by deciding to 'sleep on it'. Gradually, I realised that delving down into the 'towns below' I was also probing my species history. And I wondered just how much of the dinosaur DNA might still exist in us.
ReplyDeleteI'll go back to the realms of Morpheus now, at least for a while.
Excellent plan, Tom! Sleep-learning is proving to be my favorite method of education lately too.
DeleteMemories of my childhood are much more clear than where I put my eyeglasses five minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteI have found that imagination is usually much better than reality.
I usually find my glasses up on my head somewhere. No idea how they got there.
Delete"Memory and imagination are facets of the same living jewel." Someone in the past might have stitched that onto a quilt.
ReplyDeleteI imagine someone probably did, Bruce.
DeleteAnd if someone didn't, someone should!
DeleteHear, hear!
DeleteLooks like your high school days were in much the same Jurassic era as my own. Memory is a slippery little devil isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMemories are like many of my Jurassic classmates who really were slippery slippery devils. Little ones were ok but the big ones tried to take my lunch money.
DeleteIn my experience, looking back makes me trip over my own feet or sometimes in a pothole. I try not to do it much.
ReplyDeleteYour high school memories remind me of something . . . oh yeah, the current political situation. The T-Rex picture works for that, too.
Hah! You make blogging fun. I didn't vote for T-Rex because Hilary is unmistakably human.
DeleteA world traveled photographer I worked with said to a young reporter one day about a colleague "He's forgotten more about reporting than you'll ever learn." Memory is a vital file. We are fortunate to have access and the opportunity to immerse in the and therefor into those lives, beneath others, beneath others, etc.
ReplyDeleteIndeed dear Tom, the world and its events are puzzles wrapped in enigmas. The trainride continues no matter how much we forget.
DeleteHI Geo. Your imagination is our jewel and every organization has its dinosaurs. The bigger they come, the harder they fall.
ReplyDeleteMost kind, dear Consigliere. I listen for thumps and try to keep from under.
DeleteMemory is a strange thing indeed! I can remember conversations I had with friends more than twenty years ago, yet I cannot remember the last time I made it to the grocery store. Very odd. But odd is often good.
ReplyDeleteI love all the free association in your wonderful post, Geo. Some of my best poems sound like I'm having a little chat with Freud. Writing is a lot like therapy, and it does not cost a fortune. I hope you are feeling better - I'm getting over a nasty cold. Thank you for such a thought provoking post. And take care of you and yours.
Dear Dylan, Must agree poems are cathartic and healing. And yes, I am feeling better by degrees. Helped my son haul things out to his car today and didn't get winded. Been doing a lot of hugging lately, which also helps --if victims are agreeable. So far, they have been. Hope your "nasty cold" soon subsides --world looks brighter after any sort of illness. All best wishes.
DeleteIt's really bizarre how visceral memory can be. Occasionally I'll be doing something perfectly ordinary when all of a sudden I'm hit with a moment from 15 or 20 years ago. Usually the memories are totally mundane, too; something I watched on television in 2004, or an offhand remark a friend made at a sleepover when I was 9. Weird deal.
ReplyDeleteDear Brightenedboy, thanks for visiting and commenting! Something I've noticed about memory, it goes from childhood-pictoral-eidetic to literal in its associative temporal continuity and hops back and forth while we hang on. Weird deal? I agree.
DeleteHistorical layers, geological layers - I love them! And layers of knowing, and inventing. Also partial to cardigans and scarves.
ReplyDeleteIt seems Nature, Art, Fashion --like thought--seek ever-expanding layers of organization.
DeleteLoved this, Geo! Too funny! And I get what you're talking about ~ Although I'll admit that some times You've had me scratching my head. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise. Writing has helped me through rough times before and has done so again. Doing my best.
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