Subcultures

A friend emailed this interesting story today about a man in the Netherlands rebuilding a lifesize ark according the directions in Genesis. It is now on display with lifesize animals. The man evidently has time and money on his side and has found a passion. He also has some fellow Biblical literalists in Kentucky who opened the Creation Museum to cheer him on.  And we met plenty of people during our days as members of the home schooling community who will patronize these exhibits (if they could get to them).

As home schoolers we were a part of a subculture that had subcultures within it: evangelicals, Catholics, unschoolers, classicists, Charlotte Mason types, eclectic artsy types, etc.  We kind of moved between groups, because I was so indecisive about methodology, but I felt like a part of a community. I've always been fascinated by subcultures, maybe because we didn't really grow up in one: we identified as a family, one that was a little unique among our peers in rural Indiana, in that we were Catholic, on the large size (even with only 4 kids - I didn't know any families with more than that), and did things like go with our grandparents in town to the ballet and the art museum.  But we didn't really identify as Catholic because our parents were converts. Nor were we members of the cultured elite, since we lived a middle class life in a small town. Our parents and grandparents appreciated the arts, but weren't especially knowledgeable about them.

So as a child, I, and I assume my siblings, felt a little set apart from our peers (add being a reader to that mix. The only thing that saved me from complete nerddom was having enough endurance to do well enough as a runner to be an athlete) but not so much set apart that we felt a part of a different culture.

Fast forward to adulthood, and suddenly I realize there are all these interesting groups out there that get together to enjoy their time- and money-consuming hobbies and identify with these groups as much as or more than their families. First I was introduced to the military and all the accompanying support groups. Then I got some insight into the boating communities in Rhode Island and southern Virginia. Although we camped as kids, we never encountered the RV crowd as we have in our luck of the draw explorations (like last weekend in Georgia: some people put up little "Welcome to the Smith's" signs on their sites, in addition to their party lights and carpets). In Illinois we first found ourselves members a subculture of sorts with our rosary group, but it was not a crowd of big spenders, unlike some of the antique car collectors who descended on the Coast last week for the "Cruisin' on the Coast" event.  Not all of them spend a lot of money, I'm sure, but all the businesses around had out their "Welcome Cruisers!" signs, so the congestion must be worth the revenue the event brings to the city.  

While living in Virginia, we enjoyed observing subcultures at work like we did today: attending war reenactments and living history displays. Today it was a civil war muster, not a battle reenactment, at the summer home of Jefferson Davis, Beauvoir.  Every time we go to one of these things, I'm fascinated by the devotion of those who attend them and their attention to period detail. Dressed in hoop skirts or woolen jackets and pants (thank goodness it was finally cool today!), the participants stroll around the encampments admiring/critiquing the other groups' set-ups, perhaps judging their cooking fires or their canvas tents and hay beds. I love looking at the mercantile tents selection of hand-sewn clothing displayed side by side with made-in-china junk souvenirs. My kids beg for pop-guns and wooden swords, of which we have plenty, and are made to be satisfied with the $,25 handfull of lemon drops. (We also hung out in the morning with the birding subculture at the Sandhill Crane Fest, a more sedate crowd.)

I wonder how people justify the expense of suiting up for these things, but they evidently have a passion and thoroughly enjoy the company of their fellow afficionados. The "doctor" regalled us for nearly 20 minutes with accounts of how he collected all his surgical accoutrements at antique stores and estate sales, mostly from people who didn't know what they had.

And last week watching the Cruisin' folks assemble - here the Mustang lovers, there the tin lizzies, then the corvettes - I realized this must have been much harder to plan before the advent of the internet. How do these people know where to go if they are not linked into message boards or reading blogs by those with similar interests? But since this has been going on for over 20 years they must have disseminated the information pretty well before the world wide web was in wide use.  And these reenactors have been meeting up for years, too.

So I wonder if blogging has made it easier to identify with a community because there are more ways to find kindred spirits. Does blogging encourage a subculture mentality of hanging out with likeminded people? One minute I'm thinking this ark guy and some of these reenactors are a little off-balance; another minute I want a hoop skirt and a canvas tent and all my little soldiers off playing slingshots with the other pseudo-military kids while I talk with these interesting people. Similarly, I waffle between one moment thinking it's great to have the friendship and support of likeminded friends, but another minute feeling called to spend time mixing with people who are very different. 

Perhaps what I really need to focus on is balance in all things for myself and forego worrying about others' mentality and use of their resources. (I should start by not spending so much time reading blogs!).