Coming to My Senses
When my niece was about 12, she and her father came to New York for a visit. As we walked around the city, she was fascinated by manhole covers. What was under them? How long had they been there? Look at all the different designs! I had to admit that I'd never paid any attention to them. I, too, began to wonder about the labyrinthine city under the streets accessible through the holes in the pavement.
I remembered that visit when in the show on
The Eyes of a Child, Tom McGrath told a story about a young boy getting off the bus and exclaiming about the newly decorated city streets. Noticing them for the first time himself, McGrath says, "I came to my senses."
What a great phrase! We often think it means that we've figured things out, that we're now thinking reasonably and rationally. But he's talking about coming to the senses of seeing and hearing. Being around children can do that for you. Michelle Brooks learns that every day walking with her son Eli to school. I loved the scene when they were kicking leaves. I could hear the crackles and almost smell them!
Timberly shared some favorite children's books in the show, and I reached for two of my favorites. They help me see the city through the eyes of a child—particularly a child who just happens to be learning her ABC's and numbers.
Alphabet City, by Stephen T. Johnson, is a picture book of things you might encounter that form the shape of a letter. Look at an old-fashioned street light from the side, and it's the letter E. The massive brick structures at the end of a bridge form the letter M. The top of the handrails going down to the subway are a P. The braces on a telephone phone make a V.
City by Numbers, also by Stephen T. Johnson, shows how numbers can be found in common places. There's a 3 in the swirls of that metal gate. Two trash containers side by side form an 8. Look carefully and up in that tree, two branches are forming a 16. It's all a matter of attention, and children of all ages are great tutors.