Thursday, April 15, 2010

Cultural Geography

Ah, Heritage High School. While the students here inhabit the same world I do on many levels, in other respects our species are alien to each other.

The discussion in a Global History class I observed recently centered around the Cold War. The teacher was explaining the Iron Curtain, so naturally the topic of geography was at the forefront of conversation. A brief dispute about the cardinal directions flared.

I have a clear memory of standing in my third grade classroom, pointing to the walls labeled North, East, South and West as we rotated in a clockwise circle and chanting the mnemonic "Nobody Eats Soggy Waffles." As it turns out, the kids at Heritage and I have this in common; they too use a mnemonic to remember the cardinal directions. One of the brightest girls in the class thought for a moment, then pointing in all four directions recited:

"Never Ever Smoke Weed."

Every day I spend at Heritage is an education.

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