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May. 6th, 2007 09:03 pmGrowing up, history was one of my least favorite classes. Part of it was because I've never had a good memory for names and dates. But the other part was because I had a lot of trouble seeing how it fit in with everything. Now as an adult, I can see that this is exactly the big picture I was supposed to be absorbing, but I'm not sure if there would have been a better way for me to grasp it. Perhaps if I had read more historical fiction as a kid? I don't know.
As an adult, I'm slightly embarrased to admit that my growing understanding of history comes mostly through teen historical fiction, and varied sources such as poetry, art books, magazine articles, all leading more and more to wikipedia. As a librarian I have issues with wikipedia...and I have to laugh at myself when I realize my issues are with how other people are going to use it, mostly kids not understanding how to evaluate source material...but I fear adults have these problems also. Anyways, for following my own curiosity to learn more, I find it is terrific. Such as when I was reading a book of poetry a friend gave me for my birthday last year, and I came across a poem about Move. I had never heard anything about this group, but was truly shocked to read that in 1985 the Philadelphia police had bombed a group of citizens, killing 11 people, including kids...and destroyed 61 neighborhood homes. How did I miss this? I guess at 13 I probably wasn't paying much attention to the news, but still. It is bits of history like this that really make you think, and wonder, what else is going on in our country that the average person doesn't have any awareness about? My own mother didn't realize the vice-president was still receiving money from Halliburton, as part of his "retirement" package. Its stuff like this that just makes me feel ill.
As an adult, I'm slightly embarrased to admit that my growing understanding of history comes mostly through teen historical fiction, and varied sources such as poetry, art books, magazine articles, all leading more and more to wikipedia. As a librarian I have issues with wikipedia...and I have to laugh at myself when I realize my issues are with how other people are going to use it, mostly kids not understanding how to evaluate source material...but I fear adults have these problems also. Anyways, for following my own curiosity to learn more, I find it is terrific. Such as when I was reading a book of poetry a friend gave me for my birthday last year, and I came across a poem about Move. I had never heard anything about this group, but was truly shocked to read that in 1985 the Philadelphia police had bombed a group of citizens, killing 11 people, including kids...and destroyed 61 neighborhood homes. How did I miss this? I guess at 13 I probably wasn't paying much attention to the news, but still. It is bits of history like this that really make you think, and wonder, what else is going on in our country that the average person doesn't have any awareness about? My own mother didn't realize the vice-president was still receiving money from Halliburton, as part of his "retirement" package. Its stuff like this that just makes me feel ill.
