Sense of Place Interview - Journal Entry No. 9

This assignment was to interview one of your grandparents or someone of their generation. I am 55 years old and all of my grandparents are dead and both of my parents are dead. I contacted the professor about the assignment and she suggested that I “turn it around” and interview my grandson instead. So that is what I did.

On June 29, 2010 I interviewed my grandson, Dane Coleman, age six, for the “Sense of Place Interview.” Dane just turned six on May 13th of his year, so when he was in school last year he was in kindergarten. Since I am his grandmother, I admit that I am pretty prejudiced, however, I do believe he is extremely intelligent for a child of his age.

Dane was not familiar with the words “sustainability” or “ecology” but he knew all about the words “environment” and “recycle.” I asked him what the environment was and he said it was “the world all around us.” He knew all about recycling because they do that at home and at church and at school. He said he was the winner in his class of the Recycle Project where they were supposed to make something useful out of trash (something that was being thrown away). For his project, Dane made a bird feeder out of a two liter plastic coke bottle by punching holes in the side, poking a stick through the bottle (for the bird to stand on), putting birdseed in the bottom, and tying a string to the top to hang it up. He cut holes in the middle of the bottle so the bird could fly in and he left the cap on the bottle so that rain would not get in and wet the birdseed. He has it hanging in a tree at his house and he says he has seen birds fly in there and get the birdseed.

Dane said they had discussions in his classroom about the importance of not wasting supplies, of turning out lights when you did not need them and picking up litter. Dane’s mother is the Children’s Director at Lakewood United Methodist Church and he said that he helps his mom at the church to put all the cans and plastic bottles in the recycle bins there. They also collect newspapers at his school that are to be recycled.

I told Dane about the different activities we had in the Colloquium class. He thinks it is pretty funny that grandma is still going to school. I told him about the field trips. He said he would not like to visit a school for a field trip. He has been to the Timucuan Nature Preserve before and liked going there. He said he would like to go to a swamp, especially if he could see snakes. He has been on a farm before and always likes that. He has been to downtown Jacksonville and did not think that was much fun, but he does go to the Museum of Science and History a lot and he always enjoys doing that.

Dane likes to read and he likes for people to read to him. He said he has not seen very many books about the environment. I had previously shown him the book National Autobon Society Field Guide to Florida which I purchased for this class. He enjoyed the book and he liked all of the pictures and he was pointing out the things in the book that he has seen before.

Dane really did not grasp the concept of sense of place, even though we talked about it a little. He said he likes to play outdoors. Dane is very lucky because his other grandparents have an 80 acre horse ranch in Kentucky and when he goes there he has his own horse to ride. He is also taking horse riding lessons in Jacksonville. Also in Kentucky his uncle has a farm – so Dane has been there on many occasions. Dane’s uncle is a game warden in South Florida, so when his uncle comes to town or they go to see the uncle to visit – his uncle takes him out fishing. Dane likes fishing from the land and fishing from a boat. He is very fortunate that he has been exposed to a lot of nature and a lot of animals.

Dane’s upbringing is quite different than mine was. He is exposed to a lot more technology and is learning things a lot faster than I. I grew up in the city and he has had the opportunity to visit farms and ranches for extended periods of time. He has had an opportunity to ride horses and experience that sense of freedom. He has been able to go fishing and boating. He does like to play on the computer and play video games; however, his parents are very careful to limit his time on these activities.

Dane thinks the world is very big and he does not think “we will run out of things.” He does understand the importance of saving and reusing and recycling things. He understands that it is not good to be wasteful. Dane spends time outdoors and he loves nature and animals. He has grown corn and tomatoes on his back porch. They grew individual plants at school this past school year.

Dane is very lucky because, despite living in the city, he is routinely exposed to nature. He does love and appreciate plants and animals. He is pretty young right now to entirely grasp the concept of sustainability; but he has a pretty good understanding of the importance of and the process of recycling. He also understands that we need to take care of animals, plants and the land and not do anything to hurt them.



(Photo of Dane Coleman taken by me with my camera)