Who Knows

I don't know much about flowers. I don't even know much about plants in general. I can identify flowers commonly used in wedding bouquets (thank you, Martha Stewart) but I can't tell you what anything on the side of the road is.

That being said, I like to know that sort of thing. According to my StrengthsQuest (thank you, freshman seminar (not)), one of my top strengths is "Collector." I like collecting knowledge, especially collecting knowledge that helps me gain more knowledge. That's why I like having a bird field guide, and a guide to wildflowers of the Western Plains. Perhaps I won't need the latter anymore after this semester, but I have it if I do.

Fieldcraft has given me a basis upon which to build the foundation of a naturalist tendency. I don't think that I will ever be the kind of person who just goes out and identifies flowers for fun, but I could if I wanted to. Even if it's not an essential life skill, it's still good to have. Besides, it's kind of an ego boost to be able to say, "That's not a weed, that's tansy mustard!" and bask in the awe that surrounds that sort of comment.

I wish that I had been able to take Advanced Fieldcraft as well as the introductory course. The Bones, Birds, and Botanicals class (or whatever all those b's stood for) and Intro to Fieldcraft gave me a tantalizing glimpse of what it must have felt like to be Lewis and Clark, or Audubon as they found new creatures and took specimen samples. How would it feel to know that you have accomplished so much in a realm of science that is so readily accessible? To be a naturalist is to share knowledge with others, with the understanding that others will build upon your work. It is not research for the sake of research, or for the sake of money; it's research for the good of others.

That sounds kind of pretentious. I don't mean for it to be; I just like the idea of being able to go out into the world and possibly make a change. I also just like going out into the world. NHH was pretty much the most that I got to go outside during these last three semesters. Often, I would think, "What a pretty day to sit outside and read, or go for a walk." But I would have to sew, or write a paper, or do something indoors. Most days, the time I got to spend outside was limited to walking to and from class. That's not satisfying to me. I like going on field trips to places that I wouldn't even dream of going to on my own. I like sitting around telling ghost stories in the dark, or putting up teepees with Comanches from Oklahoma. Those are the things that I'm going to remember later, not sitting in class and learning about seam classifications and digitizing patterns.

Honestly, I think classes like this are the kind that are most important to a college career. So many classes just focus on rote memorization, learning things just because they're going to be on the test, and things that really won't matter in the real world. Honors classes, not just NHH classes, tend to be more about learning how to think, how to learn. Isn't that more important in the end? Sure, soon I'll have a degree, but shouldn't I know more than how to be an entry-level worker at some menial task?

Even if I do wind up that way, at least for a while, I'll know how to go out and learn things on my own. I'll know how to find the resources to tell me what that plant is, or that bird flying overhead. I can make educated guesses, not just about that, but about a lot of things. I tell people that NHH is kind of about learning to be a forest ranger or a nature writer, but it's also about being an independent person with critical thinking skills. I thought that was what college was supposed to be about; maybe Natural History just distills all those classes and ideas into just a few, so that each class maximizes knowledge.

All I really know is that I enjoyed them at least as much as my other classes put together. I never dreaded going to one of these classes; I never thought, "I wonder if we're doing anything important," or "Can I skip class today?" I always wanted to go.