Comments on: Turtle Island

By: Tim Dawes

Tim Dawes — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:18:55 +0000

I heard an interview with Tony Horwitz about his new book, ‘A Voyage Long and Strange’ which chronicles the exploration of America that occurred before Jamestown. In the interview, Tony talks about Columbus coming to the Americas, though not to the US. And his comments reminded me of a chapter of a book in which Steven Greenblatt, I think, talks about how strange it was for Columbus to enact the ritual claiming the West Indes for the Queen believing as he said he did that he had arrived not in a new world at all but in India.

Any thoughts on how to make sense of that?

By: kcs

kcs — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:19:33 +0000

This sounds like a very good book and I look forward to reading it.

By: Grant McCracken

Grant McCracken — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:04:18 +0000

Just to clarify. This essay is in the book as a way of introducing that “new age” tendency to make up one’s own myths and rituals. Now, it turns out these things don’t have to descend to us from time out of mind to work pretty convincingly. We can reinvent the marriage ceremony and even write our own vows, and the wedding ceremony works like a ceremony. But it is also true we sometimes can create ritual and myth and all we do it make a hash of things. Some of these acts of cultural invention don’t take. Like my Turtle Island exercise. Thanks for the comments. Sorry to have been unclear. Grant

By: kcs

kcs — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:01:52 +0000

“My ritual left no trace in memory. It had no “transformative” effect.” WTF (that is meant as a complement)?

You are writing about it now, may I guess that life has taken you on many paths since that point on “Turtle Bay” and you are writing about it now? So the event left a trace in memory and had a transformative effect. Even if the memories of others about the event is coherced, the cohersion continues the original event. It was your place thereafter. It transformed the place from vacation into something about family hierarchy and gender, you being a boy and youngest your sisters being girls and older (it sounds like). But maybe it does not have all of the elements of a ritual. It happened once. But it did have a chain of events. You do mention the bottle was a Segram’s – what does that name mean or feel like now?

I just read a book about ritual by Collins 2004 which is interesting and will be part of my dissertation.

Ah, children can feel so lonely sometimes. I liked the nostalgia of this post, the way it reminded me of childhood, and how we look back on it. All children like turtles, perhaps because they are mysterious and small. The shell. Retreating. Evolution. Sea turtles.
They are not like dogs and cats.

By: El Gaffney

El Gaffney — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:37:31 +0000

My takeaway was a bit different: A Super Bowl spot is rarely the right solution to a brand problem…even if followed by a continuity print plan. Regardless, enjoyed the story.

By: IshMEL

IshMEL — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:40:43 +0000

Sounds like you believed in magic when you were a boy. And now you don’t.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:56:20 +0000

This is about rituals too. I recently became an American Citizen. I now live in the states and want to vote, so applied. People asked me if I had to renounce my Canadian Citizenship. The question always struck me as bizarre, but so many asked that I reversed the question. I asked them to describe the ritual. To whom would I denounce my citizenship? Would i stand on the corner of Yonge and Bloor and do it? How about a corner in Buffalo? Would I tell the people in the US, or would I have to go to Parliament in Ottawa? And would they even listen? Or would they consider me a nutjob?

Most agreed, upon considering the ritual, that their question was absurd. A few kept on, noting that they didn’t think one could be duel.

I didn’t have the heart to tell them I’m British too.

By: universityupdate.com

universityupdate.com — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:45:43 +0000

Turtle Island