-=> Quoting Sondra Ball to Robin Arnhold <=-
Hi, Sondra,
 
 > SB> And there are probably city born and bred folks who don't even know
 > SB> what a gander is.
 
 RA>Probably, although my mind has trouble handling the thought.  I remember
 >when I was a kid, we used to joke about city slickers who thought
 >chocolate milk came from brown cows.  What was so funny was that we
 >didn't really believe that anybody could be that ignorant.  I remember
 >reading not too many years ago about some city kids who didn't even know
 >that milk comes from cows and sometimes goats--all they'd ever seen was
 >the plastic jugs and paper cartons, and they had no idea how it got into
 >the containers.  I'm still not sure if somebody was pulling the public's
 >leg on that one.
 SB> 
 SB> I've had enough acquaintance with city bred youngsters to know that
 SB> many of the wee ones (the two to four year olds) really don't know milk
 SB> comes from cows.  I think just about all kids do know that by six or
 SB> seven, however.
I would hope so.  I think the ones that don't are more likely to be inner
city kids.
 
 SB> There was the kid we took camping a couple of years ago.  It was her
 SB> first time outside on a really dark night (unlit by city street lights
 SB> and tall buildings).  She stood gazing up a a star filled sky.  "There
 SB> really are that many stars", she said in awe.  "I thought they were
 SB> just just making it up in the planetarium."
 
I know the feeling.  The contrast between what one can see in the night
sky up at Mother's on a clear night and what one can see down here in the
city is very marked.  Can't see much here.  With more and more air
pollution, I've noticed over the years that even out in the country,
there is less to see in the night sky now than when I was a kid.  The
most spectacular phenomenon I've ever seen I saw here in the city about
25 years ago--a truly phenomenal display of the northern lights that
covered the entire northern half of the sky and were even directly
overhead.  It was almost like the pictures one sees of them taken very
far north.  I've never seen them like that before or since.
Take care,
Robin
 
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