Here is Lexie's post for Monday, July 7. Please respond to it before the end of the week.
“It is through the power of observation, the gifts of eye and ear, of tongue and nose and finger, that a place first rises up in our mind; afterward, it is memory that carries the place, that allows it to grow in depth and complexity.”
When reading this article I reflected upon my own ideas about geography. When I thought of particular places, what came to mind? How had I created that image originally? As someone who does a lot of reading, it was hard for me to say that reading hadn’t shaped this image at least partially. Could I really say that this image is inaccurate then? The quote above, struck me the most because when I began to really contemplate its meaning, I began to agree with Lopez more and more. First I thought about my parents home, the house and area in which I grew up. Obviously, after having lived there for the majority of my life, I observed and created a database of images and information. Now after having been away for almost 4 years, living on my own, there is a certain nostalgic connection with it. I have a particular memory of how the place should look, because that is how I remember it. However, I know that my parents are changing certain things; they are remodeling a bathroom for example. This section of the house in my mind looks the same as it always did, but I know if I were to return, I would be surprised by the change, and my image would be shattered. Memory is what makes this place special to me. If I had no memories connected to it I would most certainly not remember it. Do you agree with Lopez’s statement above? Why or why not? Do you agree that you can only understand a place if you have lived there?
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6 comments:
I believe that to understand a place, one must delve into all aspects of it including the senses so yes, I agree with Lopez's statement. I feel though that I can get a sense of place without having been there. For example, driving down a sketchy part of town, I can imagine the musky smell and shifty characters that inhabit the stores. I know this is a stereotype but these stereotypes are often what shape perception of what is around me. I often draw on past experiences of past places I have visited to understand a place. When someone says mall, I have an automatic perception in my mind of what that is.
Living somewhere definitely gives one the most full knowledge of a place. I remember my dorm room on my first day of college unable to imagine living there for months. But soon, it became a safe haven to me and all the aspects of it became special and private. I believe that one can have a certain knowledge of a place because they cannot inhabit it all the time but have been there enough that they can feel at ease and comfortable.
When I recall a place in my memory, I see images of it and what is around it, along with faceless figures which belong to the specific place. Thinking of my grandparents’ house, I imagine the driveway with the pink rocks lining the walk way and the bush by the basketball hoop. Then, I see the expansive green back yard, garden, pine trees, swing sets, tree house, and finally the actual home itself. Once I clearly see the place, memories start to fill my head. Memories of smell, of events, of people, of visitors in an endless sequence, bringing my grandparents’ home to life. Without any of these memories, their home would be no more than the pictures that first came to mind, no meaning, and no real purpose. For this reason, I agree with Lopez’s statement that memories do carry a place and allow it to grow. I have never lived in my grandparent’s home, but I have been there often enough to understand it. I suppose it isn’t necessary to live in a place to truly grasp it, however, the person definitely needs to spend a significant amount of time in a place-enough time to experience changes and realize the subtleties that make it special and work.
The point that Lopez makes in this statement definitely strikes a chord when I think about my perception of the places I have been. The memories I have of home are clearly shaped by how I observed my surroundings growing up. Bryn Mawr is a very historic town, and in my perception I can not recall any other place quite like it. Growing up amongst old stone houses with slate or cedar roofs is one of the characteristics that I have established in my mind as representing the kind of home I eventually will strive to inhabit later in life. The distinct smell of the cedar specifically acts as a catalyst for my memories of home. At the same time, these sensory perceptions also established a preconception of what or where someone successful would live. When I first moved to Colorado, I remember being taken bake by how new so many of the nicer neighborhoods in Colorado are. At first I perceived these enormous stucco mansions as being generic or lacking in character, but after time my memories of Denver have changed as I continue to observe these homes. Overtime my sensory perception has changed and in turn the memories associated with these observations have changed. I am sure throughout my life I will continue to encounter situations similar to my experiences and will have changing memories of the places I visist.
I think that living somewhere greatly increases understanding of that place. However, there are all different levels of understanding. Two of the most important things in my life are traveling and reading. For places that I've visited for only short periods of time and for books that I didn't pay much attention to or that didn't stick in my memory as well as others for whatever reason, I do not have as great of an understanding. They are in my memory in a certain way, but not like the places where I have spent a lot of time or books that have meant so much to me that I've read them again. I also think that even without memories of certain places people can develop an understanding and a connection by learning about the place. So I guess I agree with Lopez that the memory "carries that place, that allows it grow in depth and complexity" but I don't think it's fair to insist that the memory has to come from personal experience.
The statement seems circular within itself and within the words themselves. Not having memory of a place means not remembering, so it can be seen that the author believes he would not remember. It seems that the statement is unnecessary. Understanding is a subjective term, subject to individual notions of the idea.
I believe it is important to know a place where you have lived in. Personally I have been moving around quite a lot recently years. The best way to get involved or to get used to a new place you moved in is to get familiar of its place. Personally I think why makes my freshman year in Denver more livelier is because I got to know the space around me and history of place and what is going on here. Like Cather said, "we come and go, but place is still here.... Only People love it, own it"
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