Schwag!
Recently, a bunch of National Geographics ended up at the shop. I think that Harry, one of my co-workers, brought them to the shop for another co-worker, who has since left. The Nat'l Geos were just sort of a leftover legacy. If you've ever had a sub to Nat'l Geographic, or if you've ever known anyone with a sub to Nat'l Geographic, or if you've ever just been to a garage sale or a liabrary or a doctor's office, or a hair salon or a...well, you get the picture. If you look up the word "ubiquitous" in the dictionary, I think that there's a picture of a National Geographic. They're everywhere, and, along with cockroaches, they'll be around long after the bombs have fallen and the greenhouse gasses have suffocated us all.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm not baggin' on the NG. I love NG. I have since I was a kid. NG was my first subscription, and it spoiled me for all other subsequent "Kid" magazines that I'd ever have subs to. Ranger Rick seemed underwhelming. The pictures weren't as interesting as the ones in NG. Boys' Life--big deal. National Geographic fired my imagination and showed me that there were other times and places, that we of the here and now were not necessarily unique in our here-ness and our now-ness.
Over time, I've recognized certain NG themes that pique my interest. They are, in no particular order:
1. Dinosaurs
2. Underwater Exploration
3. Shipwrecks (Bonus points if the wreck includes schwag, Spanish, Pirate or otherwise)
4. Archaeology (Bonus pts. for pre-colombian American civilizations and Bog Mummies)
5. Anything with Gold
6. Anything with some undercurrent of illegality (articles on Popaver Somniferum, the Coca plant and Human smuggling come to mind)
7. Anything with Paleontologists
8. Any article on an ancient civilization that includes those artist renderings of the people of that civilization in action
9. Anything that alludes to Ernest Shackleton
10. Anything that includes images from deep space.
11. Any map supplement. Bonus pts if the supplement references the ancient world.
So, having said that, here are some of the issues that I can recall very well:
An article about the discovery of the USS Monitor, sunk off of Cape Hatteras--Included a composite picture of the Monitor
An article about a CSA Submarine which sank with its crewmen aboard.
An article about the Whydah, Sam Bellamy's Pirate ship, wrecked in the early 18th Century, off of Cape Cod.
Multiple articles about the Maya, most memorable are articles on Rio Azul and Tikal, and a big one on the Maya, in I think, 1978.
An issue with an article about Gold...had a golden lion on the cover...maybe 1973-76.
An issue with an article about St. Augustine, for whatever reason...1968 (Found it in my Grandparents' collection)
An issue with a feature on Opium Poppies
An issue with the ghost fleet of the Truk Lagoon
An issue with a feature on Coca
An issue with a Scandanavian Bog Man
An issue about the restoration of the USS Constitution (memorable for the fact that restorers found old coins under the main spar of the ship. The coins were placed by the builders so that dead crewmen would have coins for the fare across the Acheron river, which they needed to cross to get into Hades. Apparently, the practice of placing coins under the main sail is one that dates to the time of the Greeks. Fascinating).
Oh, hell the list goes on and on. I have obsessions these days that have been birthed by my time spent with the Nat'l Geos.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm not baggin' on the NG. I love NG. I have since I was a kid. NG was my first subscription, and it spoiled me for all other subsequent "Kid" magazines that I'd ever have subs to. Ranger Rick seemed underwhelming. The pictures weren't as interesting as the ones in NG. Boys' Life--big deal. National Geographic fired my imagination and showed me that there were other times and places, that we of the here and now were not necessarily unique in our here-ness and our now-ness.
Over time, I've recognized certain NG themes that pique my interest. They are, in no particular order:
1. Dinosaurs
2. Underwater Exploration
3. Shipwrecks (Bonus points if the wreck includes schwag, Spanish, Pirate or otherwise)
4. Archaeology (Bonus pts. for pre-colombian American civilizations and Bog Mummies)
5. Anything with Gold
6. Anything with some undercurrent of illegality (articles on Popaver Somniferum, the Coca plant and Human smuggling come to mind)
7. Anything with Paleontologists
8. Any article on an ancient civilization that includes those artist renderings of the people of that civilization in action
9. Anything that alludes to Ernest Shackleton
10. Anything that includes images from deep space.
11. Any map supplement. Bonus pts if the supplement references the ancient world.
So, having said that, here are some of the issues that I can recall very well:
An article about the discovery of the USS Monitor, sunk off of Cape Hatteras--Included a composite picture of the Monitor
An article about a CSA Submarine which sank with its crewmen aboard.
An article about the Whydah, Sam Bellamy's Pirate ship, wrecked in the early 18th Century, off of Cape Cod.
Multiple articles about the Maya, most memorable are articles on Rio Azul and Tikal, and a big one on the Maya, in I think, 1978.
An issue with an article about Gold...had a golden lion on the cover...maybe 1973-76.
An issue with an article about St. Augustine, for whatever reason...1968 (Found it in my Grandparents' collection)
An issue with a feature on Opium Poppies
An issue with the ghost fleet of the Truk Lagoon
An issue with a feature on Coca
An issue with a Scandanavian Bog Man
An issue about the restoration of the USS Constitution (memorable for the fact that restorers found old coins under the main spar of the ship. The coins were placed by the builders so that dead crewmen would have coins for the fare across the Acheron river, which they needed to cross to get into Hades. Apparently, the practice of placing coins under the main sail is one that dates to the time of the Greeks. Fascinating).
Oh, hell the list goes on and on. I have obsessions these days that have been birthed by my time spent with the Nat'l Geos.
5 Comments:
When I was in public school, there was one N.G. in the ibrary that had some distant culture with all the ladies wearing lots of gold necklaces...and nothing else. Everyone always took turns looking at the big droopy boobies. I will always see that in my head when I think of that magazine.
Oh, Juner, you had to go there, didn't you. Had to.I remember the issue, though. I think it was about the Ndebele women in Southern Africa. I could be wrong, but that's what flashed to mind.
Trisha, any comment
I am here all of time.
With my boobies.
The blogger comments have been acting up for me....
Trisha, I would've commented much, much sooner, except I think that my browser was not being nice with me. If you say "boobies" again, I'll try over.
I think that Jerry Van Dyke is visiting my blog again, and pretending to be a crossed-out Trisha posting as Juner.
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