The drawing is a poster I am making for my classroom.
I've been reading about DXing lately here and like a lot of other followers of Adventures in Amplitude Modulation, I realized that something I used to do as a kid - dialing through different stations on my alarm clock radio - had a name and is more complicated than I had imagined. I noticed lately that DXing, like many other hobbies, has a lot in common with reading. In DXing, listeners tune in to obscure frequencies, logging the strength and frequency of the signal, attempt to identify its source, and hoping to locate a signal previously unheard in their area. The circumstances of the moment are also of importance: the location of the listener, the equipment being used, the state of the magnetic field, the weather, and many other factors that all come together to allow a clear signal.
I'm finding that reading for me is a similar experience. I log passages by underlining, copying into a notebook, or recording page numbers on the inside cover or on the blank end pages of the book. I hope to notice details, images, or allusions that no one else has noticed. Odd factors in my life influence what i will find. For example, I reread Ulysses last summer when we just got a new cat, and I found myself really focused on all the moments in the novel involving the Blooms's cat. I was convinced that in the Penelope section, Molly Bloom suggests that the cat is in heat. I looked online to find anyone else who had noticed this. (Now I think that it was all in my head).
I think that Nabokov approached lit in a similar way, as a hobbyist. His Lectures on Literature focus on details and images, and he is so focused on details and obscure parallels, it is almost like he is butterfly hunting. I wish that schools could approach lit in a similar way, as a hobby, rather than a launching point for essay writing or in understanding literary terminology. My ideal school would have classes on Beekeeping, lepidoptery, bicycle maintenance, chess, photography, DXing, cider brewing, and literature.
I'm finding that reading for me is a similar experience. I log passages by underlining, copying into a notebook, or recording page numbers on the inside cover or on the blank end pages of the book. I hope to notice details, images, or allusions that no one else has noticed. Odd factors in my life influence what i will find. For example, I reread Ulysses last summer when we just got a new cat, and I found myself really focused on all the moments in the novel involving the Blooms's cat. I was convinced that in the Penelope section, Molly Bloom suggests that the cat is in heat. I looked online to find anyone else who had noticed this. (Now I think that it was all in my head).
I think that Nabokov approached lit in a similar way, as a hobbyist. His Lectures on Literature focus on details and images, and he is so focused on details and obscure parallels, it is almost like he is butterfly hunting. I wish that schools could approach lit in a similar way, as a hobby, rather than a launching point for essay writing or in understanding literary terminology. My ideal school would have classes on Beekeeping, lepidoptery, bicycle maintenance, chess, photography, DXing, cider brewing, and literature.
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