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Oct. 2nd, 2008
The mockingbird sings of mocking
Oct. 2nd, 2008 12:54 pmThe weather is changing; the mockingbirds have returned.
This is the first time that I have noticed their return, perhaps because it requires being present to notice that they are missing, and then notice that they came back.
When asked, my students could not think of living organisms that they had seen while walking around campus (I won't give them answers, but what about grass, palm trees, grackles, pigeons, grasshoppers?).
Their blank expressions reminded me of taking Animal Behavior and Conservation Biology, where my professors would put up pictures of organisms and my classmates and I wouldn't know what they were. Is it a product of too much iPod-induced obliviousness, or a lack of time spent out-and-about with knowledgeable field guides?
This is the first time that I have noticed their return, perhaps because it requires being present to notice that they are missing, and then notice that they came back.
When asked, my students could not think of living organisms that they had seen while walking around campus (I won't give them answers, but what about grass, palm trees, grackles, pigeons, grasshoppers?).
Their blank expressions reminded me of taking Animal Behavior and Conservation Biology, where my professors would put up pictures of organisms and my classmates and I wouldn't know what they were. Is it a product of too much iPod-induced obliviousness, or a lack of time spent out-and-about with knowledgeable field guides?