A Trip Down Memory Lane

 

     Can you remember your childhood home?  How about the place where you had your first kiss?  Or the day you fell off your bike?  Or the endless time you played in the backyard with your friends?  The things we remember most are fresh in our minds even if they occurred years ago.  In our very own minds, we can remember what is important to us, and we tend to cherish those memories.  When Dr. K first asked us to do a memory map of the places where we grew up, for me it was like going back in time.  Some places held more vivid pictures for me, and others came and went in a flash.  It does not happen very often that someone wants to know your childhood memories, but it was such a pleasure to relive them.

     My teammates Debbie, Mag, and Vanessa and I decided to use this memory map assignment to learn more about South Mountain Village through the eyes of its children.  I wanted to record landmarks and places within the surrounding areas that made an impressive mark on someone else’s life that would last a lifetime.  As these children are surrounded by the ever-changing pace of their own neighborhood, some of these places could soon disappear, and eventually may only be known through the memories they create.

     Our targeted school was St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School on Central Ave and Southern.  We arrived after the children’s lunch hour as eight Hispanic children were already waiting for us.  We were escorted to the school’s cafeteria where the children sat at the long portable tables.  One of our team members took on the responsibility of explaining to the children how to do the memory maps.  The kids did not seem to be too excited in the beginning.  Luckily, we had with us a sample of another memory map and a story attached to it to help guide the children in creating their own memory maps.   Inspired by this model, the kids worked as they chatted to each other. Towards the end of our workshop, one student began to teach my teammate Debbie how to walk, talk, and move in a more fashionable style.  She was tutored in how to say statements such as “Whaz’s up honey”, how to arch one’s back to the side and walk with a limp!  The kids enjoyed the little entertainment that Debbie provided for them, and in the end, we all shared a little something of ourselves.  The kids got excited when they learned that their memory maps would be on the internet for all to see.  The project became more meaningful for the students because the idea of having their memory maps on the Internet was very memorable.     

     We had asked the children to all draw their homes and the surrounding areas.  As I began to compare their maps, Aimmee and Xanthe included the South Mountain preserve in their pictures, as others included their friends’ houses, church, the school, and local stores.  Everyone included a park or a dirt field where they and their friend like to get together and hang out.  Aimee calls this a place where everyone can just “Kick-it”; Alyssa’s park is “where we chill”; and Teresa calls it, “the chill place and kick-back place”.  Whatever the name, it is a place of social gathering, one that may not even be found on a conventional map, or in a conventional history of Phoenix.  In an article, "Residential Subdivision Identity in Metropolitan Phoenix," Blake and Arreola explain the meaning of the surrounding landscapes.  The authors write, “Features of the residential development that are visible from its automobile and foot paths, including attributes of houses, yards, streets, and alleys. The identity refers to subjective meanings in combination of name, themes, and landscape characterizes,” (p. 24).  As a result, the landscape, such as parks and dirt fields in the children's maps, suggest modes of identity. “Often thought to imply a sense of belonging to a particular group, identity also encompasses the character or unique qualities of  a place that enhance the feelings of attachment. This better explains why the social gathering at these locations are very meaningful.    The two memory maps that contained the drawing of South Mountain fit with what Blake and Arreola describe as common themes in naming projects or subdivisions after an environmental identity. They state, “Natural features that are seen as distinctive selling features, such as mountains, are increasingly symbolized in subdivision names, (p. 25).  Thereby, the developers are using the mountain is a continuing and preserving the mountain as part of sacred landmark. 

     Although every person will have a different memory of their hometown and the places they lived, stores where they shopped, and parks they played in, these memories stay with the person throughout life.  Whether the present or past is good or bad, one’s cognitive mapping of their childhood’s town can bring profound memories.  As we grow older special landmarks, homes, or even stores may slowly disappear with the ever-changing times, but what is in our minds and hearts will stay with us forever.

 

References

Blake, S. Kevin, and Arreola, D. Daniel.  1996.  Residential Subdivision Identity in   Metropolitan Phoenix.  Landscape Journal, 15 (1), pages 23-35.

To view similar work by my classmates: Vanesa, Magdalene, Deborah.

To View Students Memory Maps in PowerPoint

Bahl's Home Page   Contact: Irina.Bahl@asu.edu