I remember
sitting in my grandparents’ living room in Oklahoma,
probably on a Saturday morning when there was no school or perhaps on a hot
summer afternoon, mesmerized by yet another Tarzan movie. 1961 television
didn’t have much to choose from in comparison to today’s offerings, but I was
perfectly happy. Those old serials were just fine with me – Tarzan, Roy Rogers,
the Thin Man movies. It probably had little to do with the family lore of one
of my cousins having swum with Johnny Weismuller, but Tarzan was a favorite.
Maybe because
of this, a child, gorillas were often in the back of my mind. It probably
didn’t help that my older sister made me sleep closer to the window in our
shared room, “if the gorillas come, they’ll get you first.”
Another dark
fascination was lava, even if I was unlikely to encounter much in Arlington,
Virginia, where I grew up, or Tulsa,
when we moved to my grandparents’. Those natives in Tarzan's world, or alternatively, hapless
explorers, were always crashing through the jungle, a searing river of lava right
at their heels.
Here in Massachusetts,
I couldn’t be much farther from current events in Hawaii
unless I chartered a boat but I’m still captivated. And apparently we have a
whole new vocabulary to go with it.
Laze: “lava” and haze” - a
mix of hydrochloric acid fumes, steam and fine volcanic glass specks created
when erupting lava reacts with seawater,
Vog: a hazy mix of sulfur dioxide, aerosols,
moisture and dust, with fine particles.
Lumb: a lava bomb,
a projectile lump of lava
And lately another
concern just occurred to me when I realized that Kilauea kicked into action
on May 3rd, the day my sweet little twin granddaughters were born.
For their parents’ sake, I hope this isn’t a portent of the level of excitement in the years ahead.
Interesting you had a cousin who knew Johnny. I had a good friend who was in the 28 Olympics with him. My friend was a diver but he didn't medal.
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on in Hawaii is mind blowing and that it is going on so long is hard to come to grips with.
For some reason I find it hard to get my head around still active volcanos. And then I get reminded. Again.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it bizarre? I see those photos from Hawaii and it seems so otherworldly.
ReplyDeleteI loved those Tarzan movies, too! And Little Rascals, and the Marx Brothers, and all that old black-and-white stuff that used to air on the weekends. In some ways, I miss having only five TV channels!
Isn't that funny? Maybe it made us appreciate the few shows we could get
DeleteI remember watching Tarzan every week too, along with Dr Who and Superman. I've always loved gorillas.
ReplyDeleteMt. St. Helens didn't seem as awful as Kilauea does. And I was an adult then, too. And Kilauea is further away!
ReplyDeleteI remember Tarzan ... and others.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me that people who are a mile from this nightmare are being 'forced' to evacuate. And they are being stubborn about it, as if by staying they can hide in the basement or something until it's over.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder what happens after this thing settles down: the propery these people owned is now lava encased, there is no going back to rebuild; what do they do?
Wow. Good point. Its not like a simple flooded basement.
DeleteI see now that they are threatening people with arrest if they don't get out NOW. I have this image of people hosing down the roofs the way you do during a brush fire, so that the house won't burn. Oh please.
DeleteIt's a very real fear, and as i said to my husband, I'd have been out of that place with the first bit of lava moving, so fast...I suspect, too, a lot of them are planning to return to their houses (down there somewhere under a few tons of molten lava) as soon as this is over, to rebuild.
I remember the Tarzan, and especially the Roy Rogers movies, every Saturday at the theater down town. My brother and I were there every Saturday morning. A quarter got us in to see the movie with enough left over for popcorn and a drink. We each got a quarter for our allowance. I grew up with a fear of hot burning lava flowing down the streets. A real fear. Never thought about where that fear came from.
ReplyDelete