What I don't remember

I have many memories of elementary school, junior high, high school, and college but it’s what I don’t remember that really alarms me.  I don’t remember much about what I was supposed to have learned in my 13+4 years of schooling.  I have memories, but much of what I learned is lost forever because it was not used, except for the basics: reading, writing, and math; we utilize those skills everyday to communicate or to be consumers.  Sure, I passed tests, but where are those facts now?  Sometimes I wonder if I would be able to pass the test to receive a general education diploma, though I have a college degree.  I can’t remember the answers to the many many tests that I passed! 

What do I remember from college besides tubing, sunbathing, and my car wreck?  I had an American History professor who would play the music typically enjoyed during the time period from which we were studying.  At the beginning of the semester he lectured accompanied by classical music and by the end of the semester, we were listening to Pink Floyd.  Something about listening to the music heard by the people in each particular period made me feel like I was experiencing that era with them, like I was there!  He also had a member of the Black Panthers come and speak with us and answer questions.   That experience I will never forget, though I don’t remember the questions that were asked of him or the answers that he gave.

One of my physics professors, while trying to explain the crests and troughs of sound and light waves, used a bungee cord stretched from one end of the lecture hall to the other.  I will never forget the commotion of students trying to duck or hit the floor to avoid one of the massive waves produced by picking up and releasing the cord.  I thought of him each time I tuned my guitar.  This same professor explained black holes in terms of “what would happen to you if you entered one.”  Apparently, you would appear to turn red as the light waves were consumed by the massive gravity of the black hole; you would implode and explode at the same time.  That’s some yucky stuff so I remember that.  I do remember learning about angstroms, the unit of measurement used to measure the distance between the crests or the troughs of light waves or of sound waves.  I remember the doppler shift and examples of it with both sound and light.  There came a point in this course where I stopped taking notes because I was so enthralled with what the professor was saying; it’s the details from those moments that I remember to this day.  I remember that there are actually people sitting below the surface of the earth in a cave somewhere collecting the neutrinos emitted from the sun.  I seem to have more memories associated with that wacky professor who taught physics than with any other professor or course that I took.

I remember Texas History with Dr. Hardin, not just because I see him on the History Channel, but because while speaking on the concealed weapons law, he took a Bowie knife out of his boot and stuck it in the desk before him.  He was animated, charismatic, and passionate about what he was teaching and he changed the way I felt about history.  I had always dreaded and hated it.  He presented the history of Texas like a soap opera whose stars were real life people like me and you complete with passions, character flaws, and oozing wounds that wouldn’t heal.  I was able to relate to historical characters for the first time in my life because of him.  I realized that historical figures were people just like me and that I was a part of history too.  I may not be one of the stars but I am living history right now.  When my family and I stayed at the Emily Morgan hotel across from the Alamo, I thought of how Dr. Hardin would appreciate the joke that ran through my mind as I thought about Santa Anna, Emily Morgan, and me.