Thanks to the FIL's visit, I have achieved No. 8, a visit to the Penn Museum. We only had time for a short visit, because my FIL had to see my husband's office (you know, four plain white walls, a window, basement office). We focused on the people of the Americas, since it's difficult to find stuff like that in Europe. There is an impressive amount of Tlingit materials--because a Tlingit man worked for the museum and collected widely in the area--or stole from his people, but isn't that the problem with anthropology and archaeology and much museum collecting in general? There was an impressive display concerning looting in Iraq, speaking of. I look forward to going back.
Also, I decided that I couldn't be a Hopi woman because I could never make piiki, a bread which is made by spreading a thin batter onto a hot stone with the hand. The bare hand. I can hardly use the oven without burning myself, and no one's telling me to touch anything in there!
Unfortunately, we didn't do anything else from the list. We did spend a few hours on Sunday learning about the battle of Gettysburg. If you ever find yourself there, you must do the rent-a-guide thing. The Park Services has a group of certified guides who will ride around in your car (or drive it!) with you and explain the battle. I so did not care about Gettysburg. (In fact when one of the tourism mongers (fake certified "Town Guides") asked what I was interested in seeing, I said, "Nothing!" This led the dude to be all pissy with me, until I said, "I want to do this because your father wants to do this." There aren't too many comebacks to that.) Anyway, this guide was so interested in it--but in a learny kind of way, not a reenactment dork kind of way--that I really tried to picture 12,000 Confederates coming up over a ridge. I'm pretty sure my FIL knows the exact movements of troops at 3:00 on the second day (they give you that kind of detail) but I am perfectly happy knowing that Gettysburg is Gettysburg because of the 11 roads that converge at that point, that and it was the beginning of the end of the war. That's all I need to know. I think we're going to go back with my dad. I'm sure he'd love it.
3 comments:
Yes, but did you have to memorize this? With my father, it's all about the historical inaccuracies. He's a delight to watch war movies with.
Darn it! And I wanted to go to Gettysburg next time. I guess I'll have to go on my own - unless your fil is in town that day.
BA - you should have tried watching M*A*S*H with my dad. Brother! He was in Korea but, according to him, half of what happened in the show wasn't.
Will you give the kiddos history lessons while on family vacations?
dd
I took a class in the spring on the Civil War. It was all military strategy and NO social history. Having been to Gettysburg once in high school and once again for a conference 4 or 5 years ago, I had a basic understanding of the geography involved, which helped somewhat in understanding the class. Sorry you had to tromp through it.
The outlets were fun, though!
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