Comments on: Into the woods

By: Scenes from a more dangerous childhood : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:38:13 +0000

[...] (and in some cars, no seatbelts at all!), no carseats, no helmets, knee-pads, or elbow-pads, of forts and long summer afternoons in the woods, and of all of the soda we could drink (plus as many cigarettes we could steal out of our [...]

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:01:11 +0000

See! Hanging out in the woods may assist with law enforcement. (That is, tolerance of petty crimes in the woods may lead to the discovery of major crimes and assist in their investigation.)

Seems like a fair trade to me!

By: Ann Bartow

Ann Bartow — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:46:10 +0000

Some local teens hanging out in the woods near my neighborhood found a dead body. No joke.

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:49:02 +0000

This is maybe a recruiting opportunity for Historiann fans at the Old Colonial end of the continent? The humidity part is fixed, but we’d have to get some kind of interstate compact of land use laws to preserve many of these old woodlots. And we do have some good universities available. You could just plat out a quarter-section somewhere back this way and go to homesteading.

By: Rose

Rose — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:31:53 +0000

Ann, I love this post. Since moving back east, I’ve really come to appreciate the ways this lush (read: sticky), green landscape feels like home to me. As you note, CO is beautiful, but its woods are completely different in feel, smell, sound, and every other sense.

I, too, have very vivid memories of entire days (or so it seems in retrospect) of just kind of being unleashed in nature in the summers. I hope some kids still get to experience that.

Wish I’d known you were en route to NW Ohio–I was just up there last weekend!

By: Lilian Nattel

Lilian Nattel — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:32:31 +0000

I didn’t know there were still woods around suburbs in the 70′s. My family moved into a new suburb when I was 5 but there weren’t any woods, just some fields that were quickly built up. My husband, though, had a similar experience growing up near a ravine where he spent his childhood exploring and to this day is a nature guy.

By: Fratguy

Fratguy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:14:26 +0000

I can’t believe I did not think of this earlier. Follow the link to the bestest and saddest/sweetest Jonathan Richman song ever. If it doesn’t make you cry you’re too young to be reading this blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_jRDVStzOY

By: Matt L

Matt L — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:54:45 +0000

Thanks Historiann and the posse commentariat for the mid afternoon remembrance of times past:

The fiancée and I were just talking about childhood and the true meaning of summer at dinner the other day. Summer was when you could go out and ride bikes with friend all day long. (ride bikes is two words but one verb) There were ample opportunities to read books on the patio, swim at the pool, or generally goof off.

I grew up in mostly suburban southern California. We didn’t have forests, but we did have arroyos and canyons where it was too steep to build subdivisions. And they had criks for part of the year too. It was the first time I ever saw a crayfish.

By: John S.

John S. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:35:09 +0000

I think that my experience mirrors Sharon’s somewhat. My town has doubled in population since I was around 8 or 10 years old. There has been so much development, and so many of the areas that used to be wooded have been developed. Even in those spots where houses haven’t gone up, the owners have taken steps to keep people away, including fences, more sign postings, etc. (There were a couple of accidents and concerns about insurance, liability, and the like).

There is also beyond that the question of fears of child abduction that seem to have just missed those my age. I don’t recall my mom being super worried when I was 10 that a stranger would get me. (I think the dangers of finding pornography or teenagers smoking pot were much higher on her list.)

I will say this to throw some cold water on the “video games” changed everything meme. I spent many summer days inside gaming–but the game was Dungeons and Dragons. (AD&D, to be exact.) My wife continues to be ashamed that I can tell the difference between an eight-sided and twenty-sided die by sight or how you calculate a player-character’s Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom.

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:10:51 +0000

You coulda been talking about my little sylvan aerie on the Delaware in Eastern Pa as well. We moved from a tight knit inner Long Island suburb (where it shocks me to remember even how much unescorted physical mobility us kids had even there) to Penn’s Woods, where we could light out at first light and come back wherever.

I guess it’s not play date terrain at this point, and even the spread of the wireless revolution doesn’t seem to be making it a happy site for the gamer generation. I keep humming a tune from 1962 and thinking about Bob Seger’s landscape of the imagination, which included the backwoods and the Chevy and the trusty what else was it now? This post was a true oasis, Historiann! This Vernors is for you!!