Of Clay and Wattles Made: Getting Lost

Of Clay and Wattles Made

"What are you doing now?” he asked. “Do you keep a journal?" "So I make my first entry to-day." In this way did Henry David Thoreau begin his journal, on the 22 October 1837, when he was still a young man of twenty-two years.

“What are you doing now?” I ask? “Do you keep a blog?” So I make my first entry today, not as a young man of twenty-two, but as an older man nearing the end of a sixth decade. My beard grays, but I have yet a few things to say and learn.

24 June 2008

Getting Lost

Thoreau said that it is very easy to get lost in this world: you have only to close your eyes and turn around once. What with modern GPS systems, it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to get lost in this world. I was in a taxi cab this morning equipped with one of those sophisticated gadgets, and it plotted not only our exact position minute by minute and inch by inch, but it would, if I cared to also lead me street by street to the nearest ATM machine, Bank or Burger King. If I desired, this machine could direct me in a very polite tone of voice anywhere I desired to go, and might even make inquiry regarding the health of my particular family members.

For years I have advocated the notion of lostness for the schools; I wonder now what it means that it is now so difficult to get lost in the social world. What has been lost?

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About Me

Name: Alan A. Block

Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

I once ran marathons and now I live one. Once I had children and now they have me. When I am in the classroom--wherever it might be--I am always young. Once, I ran long distances but as I aged the distances decreased as the times on the road increase. For some years I moved indoors to e spinning classes and began to practice yoga. My happy baby pose was coming along very nicely. Then came the pandemic. Now I walk daily and sometimes even achieve close to 10,000 steps. And I very much like to study and read.