Studying Google Maps brought back the globe in a rush of memory.
This is the console table in my office. I have had this globe since I was eight. Can you believe it? And can you believe the light still works??? I have to admit I don't turn it on very often, because if the bulb burns out, I don't think there's any way to replace it.
My grandmother (who lived with us) had a subscription to National Geographic all through my childhood. We would spend hours with each new issue, reading all the articles and poring over the photographs.
We charted imaginary journeys on the globe with crayon, which could easily be wiped off to accommodate the next adventure. My grandmother was fascinated by anything to do with Egypt. The pyramids, the Nile, the pharoahs. I still have her gorgeous coffee table book from the Tutankamen exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art in 1976--that was one of the highlights of her life. Sadly, she never discovered the Amelia Peabody books--she'd have adored them.
But for me, it was Africa that captured my imagination.
I dreamed of Kenya and the Great Rift Valley, the cradle of mankind. I studied gorillas with Jane Goodall, and trod the Serengeti with the Masai. Eventually, I studied biology, with a focus on animal behavior, an interest begun, I'm sure, with those Nat Geo issues. When I read Marcus Westberg's essay, it occurred to me to wonder how much that childhood exposure to other cultures and places shaped my adult view of the world.
REDs and readers, did you travel the world with National Geographic? Do you still, now that Nat Geo is on TV and Instragram?
And how's your geography these days? Could you put your finger on Malawi without looking it up?
Oh, yes . . . I’ve wonderful memories [and many saved issues] of National Geographic. There was an issue with an article on rockets; later, space issues were my favorite.
ReplyDeleteJohn and I enjoy watching Nat Geo, too . . .
I loved the space issues, too, Joan! So many things to love!
DeleteIt was also my grandmother who inspired me. It was also a very old globe and National Geographic, which I read ensconced under her coffee table. I ultimately majored in geography and also have a doctorate in it. I think of her influence often.
ReplyDeleteThis is fascinating to me--would love to hear what PhD studies in geography are like?
DeleteYes, me, too, Cherie! That is fascinating. What do you do with a doctorate in Geography?
DeleteI'm afraid my geography has gotten rusty. Yes, I had a globe as a kid, but it got broken or thrown out a long time ago. Not that it was as cool as yours. That light inside is so fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that globe had held up so many years, and through many moves!
DeleteNational Geographic really did seem to contain the world within its covers. So many different cultures that did things I learned about for the first time in this guide to the world. I was always drawn to the animals of Africa and like your mother, Debs, Egypt and its pyramids and mummies. Every issue was an adventure. I don’t tune in the National Geographic television a lot, but I think I’m going to start doing that more.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure we can get the Nat Geo channel (it's part of Disney now, but then what isn't??) because we are streaming only, no satellite or cable. I do follow Nat Geo on Instagram and it is fabulous.
DeleteYes, we always had the magazine, and a globe. I loved them both. My father was a high school teacher and he would bring home the big pull-down wall maps when the school was swapping them out for new ones (which happened a lot in the 60s because country names kept changing, at least in Africa). We had a whole pretend schoolroom set up in the back patio.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the show, but I've done my share of traveling in real life, including many places in West Africa.
Oh, yes, in so many places it was the end of colonialism, wasn't it? I don't think names and borders are changing as fast now as they did in our childhoods. Hmm, it would be interesting to explore that.
DeleteOh yes, I remember looking forward to National Geographic arriving every month. We had two globes. One had been my father's as a child - it was very dated and fun to look at - the other was "modern" by early 1960s standards and as Edith notes, quickly outdated. These days I will turn in to NatGeo, but not very often. Your photo with the red sky background reminds me very much of The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. One of my favorite books - although I don't know if I spelled Thika correctly. I remember it was a TV movie with Haley Mills back in the day. Wonder if it is still available.
ReplyDeleteI remember that book! And the film! Now I'm off on a hunt!
DeleteThat is the coolest globe Debs! I remember looking at the glorious photos in NG, but I certainly couldn't have told you where Malawi was. Until recently, I've always had a map of the world on a wall in my house. I think we all must be yearning to be connected across the globe these days...
ReplyDeleteYes, Nat Geo always helped you see that people all over the world had things in common. Long before the Internet, LOL
DeleteIt was my grandmother who had the National Geographic subscription. I only got to visit her on holidays, and for two weeks in the summer, so her back issues didn't have the impact on me that they did on you. At home we had slick art magazines, like Horizon, and traveled through time and space via regular trips to museums. But when you combine all those museum trips with a love of history and reading, you get an archaeology fangirl.
ReplyDeleteI got into archaeology in the fifth grade. Pompeii was my gateway, but after that it was off to the Etruscans,the Trojans, and the Maya. Egypt was the mother lode, with centuries of amazing artifacts, tomb robbers, deadly curses, and all the rest. Basically, if it was dead, and someone could dig it up, I was there to read about it.
A few years later I realized that archaeology meant hours outdoors sweating in the sun and the bugs. I veered back into the arts, but I'm still fascinated by ancient civilizations in far-flung lands. And, yes, I do believe that the things that capture your imagination at an early age influence the adult you become and your view of the world.
For me, it was Bronze Age Britain--what a surprise... From Nat Geo I'd moved on to T.H. White, and Tolkien, and Lewis. What a thrill when I finally saw my first long barrow, and the standing stones at Avebury and Stonehenge. But to my surprise, it was the ruins of the Roman forts and walls that affected me the most. You could feel the ghosts walking. And that, of course, is probably one of the many reasons I love Ben Aaronovitch's books.
DeleteI am actually surprised that we don't know more about Bronze Age Britain than we do. I have a book I'll have to show you . . .
DeleteThe same epiphany ended my plan to major in archaeology 😊 I have taken several archaeology classes since I retired. Cable version of National Geographic has some great programs.
DeleteI have always loved globes and maps of any kind. When my youngest child was 3 I bought a globe and he was the only child that seemed very interested and was always asking someone to show him places. The song Africa was popular at the time so he quickly learned that one. Asking my mother where galley west was, was a little harder. Sam with Timbuktu because we didn't know it was an actual place at the time. In college he studied several things but wound up with a degree in Geography1 Although I have a large world map on the wall I'm not very good with world geography. But I also have a large US map and I'm much better with that. When my granddaughter was very young I started teaching her about the states and the capitals; a large floor puzzle made that rather easy. Then the songs helped: Battle of New Orleans, anyone?
ReplyDeleteI always loved the National Geographic magazine too but I no longer subscribe.
We had the floor puzzle for my daughter, too, but like your other children, she was never very interested in the globes and maps. But she loves to travel!
DeleteLoved Johnny Horton's Battle of New Orleans! On our 4th grade hit parade!
DeleteGlobes and maps, Nat Geo and even Rick Steve's DVDs from the library which we watch as a "tune-up" before we visit a new place.
ReplyDeleteMany things pulled me to Egypt and Jordan last fall: as a child, reading My Weekly Reader articles about moving Abu Simbel, a photo of my grandmother standing in front of the Sphinx in 1962, the Indiana Jones movie The Last Crusade, filmed at Petra, Amelia Peabody's books, Death on the Nile, and John Fowles's Daniel Martin, set in part in Egypt.
Margaret, that must have been a wonderful trip! And now I want to watch The Last Crusade again, and dig out my Peabody books--because of course I still have them.
Deletehttps://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2019/11/temples-tombs-and-pyramids-adventures.html
DeleteHere's the blog I wrote about the trip, with passages quoted from Peters, Fowles, and Christie
This is so fascinating! Yes, we still have gloves in our house, one big one in a stand in the library, and I love that they are outdated. I think it is so fascinating that the world has always been the same, we just call things different names. I always think about Merlin flying young king Arthur through the air as an eagle, and having Arthur say: where are the boundaries of the countries? And Merlin says there are no boundaries, we just put them there.
ReplyDeleteOh, Hank, I'd forgotten that bit from The Once and Future King! Thank you for reminding me! Talk about a books making a lifetime impression, though. That one shaped my view of ethics and government for sure. Might is not right! I think it's probably time for a reread!
DeleteAgreed!
DeleteGreat memories of your grandmother, Debs! What a fabulous globe! I love maps and globes but when it comes to crossword puzzles, Irwin is the one who knows where that river is and which country that city is in and so on.
ReplyDeleteI loved history and science when I was a child and still do, but never pursued it academically. I'm sorry about that now. While in college, I studied ancient history and actually visited one of my professors who was on a dig in Gezer, Israel in the summer of 1968. It was a huge hike into the desert to find her and boy, was she shocked to see a student standing there. Actually, it's another super memory of my travels with my brand new step-sister that summer. LOL We really cut up!
What a great story, Judy! Are you still close to your step-sister?
DeleteDebs, how wonderful to have your childhood globe! That is priceless.
ReplyDeleteI was always poor in geography until I started traveling, and could relate better to physical distances and features. Like mountains, for instance. Living in Ohio I had no concept of how awe-inspiring their sheer size and height could be. That's pretty hard to imagine without any reference.
Steve used to sell photos to National Geographic's book division, and many moons ago he was a guest speaker at the National Geographic Explorer lecture series. As part of his compensation he was given a nice room, and we were taken to dinner in a chauffeur-driven limo. But our favorite part of the weekend was visiting National Geo's headquarters in DC. The main building has a sort of museum on the main floor, with incredible displays that I'd not seen prior to that trip (in 1988), but since have seen in many other museums, like a mini tornado. If you get a chance, do try to visit, once the pandemic is a dim memory. They have rotating exhibits, and it's worth a look.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/events/visit/
Thank you for the tip, Karen! I've only been to DC for the National Book Festival, which was incredibly fun, but there's so much more I'd love to see--especially the Smithsonian! I subscribed to Smithsonian Magazine for years, too.
DeleteThe "Smithsonian" is actually something like 53 different museums, Debs! It's a massive museum system, and most of it is free. I think the National Zoo might also be a part of it.
DeleteSometime you should take Wren. Plan to spend several days, because there are so many amazing museums there.
I agree, Karen. I've only been to bits of the Smithsonian, but every bit was awesome!
DeleteThat is definitely a project!! It would be really hard to pick and choose...
DeleteI was way off! It's 19 museums, including the National Zoo.
Deletehttps://www.si.edu/museums
If you missed the clickable link to Marcus Westberg's essay, here it is again.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/travel/malawi.html?smid=em-share
It really is worth having a look.
It's part of a series the New York Times has been doing, The World Through a Lens, featuring the work of photojournalists. And you have to wonder how many of today's photojournalists were inspired by childhood issues of Nat Geo...
DeleteThis has me wondering where our globe is stored. I was born wanting to travel. We have huge tubs of maps. I love pouring over them. And we’ve always subscribed to National Geographic. And I’d sweep geography in Jeopardy!
ReplyDeleteI want you on my trivia team, Rhys!
DeleteMy mom had the reverse of Karen's mountains experience when she took her mother-in-law back to Oklahoma. Someone said "it was over the hill there". What hill? Being from California, the Oklahoma hill was like bump in the road to mom.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents have us a National Geographic subscription every year for Christmas. The magazines were like a revolving coffee table book.
That's a hoot, Deana!
DeleteA distant relative of my ex, who lived all her life in the Smokies, was visiting Cincinnati, which is known for its Rome-like seven hills. We asked her if she'd ever thought of moving to the city, and she said, "Are you kidding? Why would I want to love where it's so flat?"
It's all perspective, right?
Big brother and I shared a globe as kids. Naturally he kept it in his room! And our parents took National Geographic. I remember being impressed with pictures of the Serpent Mound in Ohio. Years later as an adult I visited and was a bit disappointed. I thought it would be MUCH bigger. The only thing I have watched on NatGeo was the series Barkskins, historical drama which I really enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteMy late m-i-l collected National Geographic and had managed to find virtually all of them from its beginnings. My husband had his eye on those magazines. Thankfully he passed on liberating them after having to deal with dispersing his parents' things.
Deborah, what a wonderful post! Yes, I remember my schoolteachers using National Geographic magazines to teach us about geography. And we used to get the National Geographic magazines when I was a child. I loved using my imagination to travel around the world. Often the books that I read would take me on imaginary travels.
ReplyDeleteThrough your Gemma and Duncan novels. I travel to modern day England. Have you read the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency novels by Alexander McCall Smith? I travel to Botswana through his novels.
About Malawi, a young relative was thinking about going to Malawi with the Peace Corps after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College. She decided not to go after all.
Diana
I have read some of the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency novels, Diana, and really enjoyed them!
DeleteWhat a wonderfully reminiscent post, Debs! My brother and I loved national Geographic and we watched Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom every Sunday night. I don't think I could put my finger on Malawi but I could find Ghana and Sierra Leone, as I have friends from those regions who have kindled an interest in seeing the west coast of Africa. Kenya has long been a dream. Someday... Also, I love your globe!
ReplyDeleteOh, Wild Kingdom! Wasn't it wonderful!
DeleteCoveting the globe!!!
ReplyDeleteFriends took an African photo safari a couple years back and oh how I would dearly love to be able to do that. ONE of these days.
I still can't pass by an old National Geographic without spending a few minutes thumbing through it. And now I seek out National Geographic coffee table books; my most recent find, about a year ago, in a used book store (oh how I miss rambling about in used book stores!) is "Destinaions of a Lifetime." I look at it often and dream.
Kaye, I saw when I was looking for a Nat Geo cover in the public domain for this post that old issues are very collectible. No idea whatever happened to ours...
DeleteOkay- I'll admit it: Growing up, I was fascinated by the pictures of partially clad people in our National Geographics. They were part of my education, for sure. My grandmother collected postcards, and I loved turning pages of her scrapbooks, jumping from Niagara Falls to St Louis arch to that crooked road in San Fran. That's one way I traveled as a child!
ReplyDelete