4 ms·

Give Me a Secret Garden

79 points by sethbannon 7y ago

TehCorwiz 7y ago
This resonates with me. Secret gardens are everywhere if you look. For me, in Cleveland, in the 90s it was the `Temple of Lost Love` beneath the Eagle St. Bridge in the Flats. It attracted art of all types, delinquents, prep students, you name it. A place to go for privacy or camaraderie. The saddest day was in the early 00's when it was painted over, fenced off, and patrolled. EDIT: P.S. Hannu Rajaniemi is an amazing author. `Quantum Thief` is one of my favorite books.
tzs 7y ago
The general idea reminds me of the Asimov story "It's a Beautiful Day", from 1955 [1]. (The details are all different, so I'm not suggesting anything nefarious. Just listing another take on one of the same themes). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Such_a_Beautiful_Day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Such_a_Beautiful_Day
jadell 7y ago
This was basically the plot of the Black Mirror episode "Arkangel" [0] We need to give kids more space to discover their own limits, and to get hurt. I look at the kids in "Stranger Things" riding their unsupervised across town, playing in a junk yard, and I remember doing that stuff (child of the 80s/early 90s here.) Staying out until the streetlights came on. Yes, we got injured. Yes, I ended up in parts of town I probably shouldn't have been in. Occasionally, I got my ass kicked. This was all part of growing up for most of human history. I never see the kids in my neighborhood doing that. I've never seen any of them leave the street, and always with the parents on the patio, chatting with each other. The last time I saw a roving band of 9-to-13 year-olds biking around town was probably the early 2000s. I kind of understand what changed media- and culture-wise, but has the real world actually changed that much in 25 years to merit the sort of constant-supervision-every-moment-planned-and-accounted-for world kids now grow up in? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkangel_(Black_Mirror) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkangel_(Black_Mirror)
- fatnoah 7y ago
  >I never see the kids in my neighborhood doing that. I've never seen any of them leave the street, and always with the parents on the patio, chatting with each other. The last time I saw a roving band of 9-to-13 year-olds biking around town was probably the early 2000s. My life was similar. Be home by dark and stay in the neighborhood. Aside from that, it was explorations in the woods, roaming around, and generally just making fun where I found it. I now have an 11 year old, and we recently put up a basketball hoop. A side effect is that we've started to attract some neighborhood kids. When it's a first time visitor, I do like to query to make sure it's ok that they're out and about, and I've received a refreshing number of "Yeah, I just have to be home by 6" responses. Occasionally, my son will join a small group and "go on an adventure" and I remind him to stay in the neighborhood, and be home by dinner. Yes, it's a bit nerve-wracking at first, and I'm sure there's a non-zero risk of something happening, but watching my son thrive and the pride he has at having some independence is immeasurable. As parents, I think we forget that our task is not merely to get our kids safely to a certain age, but it's also to enable them to operate in the real world as independent, fully functional humans.
  - mywacaday 7y ago
    I read a quote recently,"We're not here to stop our kids getting hurt, just to stop them getting maimed or killed". While a bit exaggerated it rings true for me. I don't see how children can build a worthwhile sense of responsible independence without learning where the boundaries are and how to judge risk for themselves. There is probably a whole book on the subject but I think society has lost some of the ability to look out for others, when I was young if you were hurt or too far from home you could always rely on a neighbour to help and would have no issue in knocking on their door, even the old single guys. The other side of the argument now is the fear of interacting with somebody elses child as and adult, last year I came across a small girl(5/6) who had fallen and grazed her leg and there was nobody else around, I was really deliberate about not touching her in case parent or guardian came around the corner. I felt horrible about it but thats the way things are I guess.
    - 7y ago
Hansenq 7y ago
This line stood out to me, after the op-ed argues about having "gardens" that exist in the "invisible parts" of the city that are only visible to people without iGlasses: > We are fighting a piece of legislation on the governor’s desk that would change the augmented reality settings of the entire city, making the invisible parts visible again and destroying our gardens in the process. The legislation sounds like it would make the invisible parts visible again to everyone, even when you're wearing iGlasses. Isn't that what she wants? No, what Mary wants is a space where people wearing iGlasses can't discover her. Making the "invisible parts" visible again would remove the only gardens that she has. She's not fighting for more transparency and freedom, she's fighting for a private space where she can't be observed. A nice touch that I almost just skimmed past.
gatherhunterer 7y ago
If you would like to read without trackers, the Times no longer allows private browsing: https://web.archive.org/web/20190603190109/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/opinion/future-secret-gardens.html https://web.archive.org/web/20190603190109/https://www.nytim...
HeraldEmbar 7y ago
Seeing things for what they really are...isn’t that our greatest desire and our greatest fear? I love the voice in this fiction, and the astonishing fact that it is provided to the world in a newspaper. Speculative fiction is where truth can be approached safely. Keep it going.

79 points by sethbannon 7y ago

This resonates with me. Secret gardens are everywhere if you look. For me, in Cleveland, in the 90s it was the `Temple of Lost Love` beneath the Eagle St. Bridge in the Flats. It attracted art of all types, delinquents, prep students, you name it. A place to go for privacy or camaraderie. The saddest day was in the early 00's when it was painted over, fenced off, and patrolled. EDIT: P.S. Hannu Rajaniemi is an amazing author. `Quantum Thief` is one of my favorite books.

tzs 7y ago

The general idea reminds me of the Asimov story "It's a Beautiful Day", from 1955 [1]. (The details are all different, so I'm not suggesting anything nefarious. Just listing another take on one of the same themes). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Such_a_Beautiful_Day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Such_a_Beautiful_Day

jadell 7y ago

This was basically the plot of the Black Mirror episode "Arkangel" [0] We need to give kids more space to discover their own limits, and to get hurt. I look at the kids in "Stranger Things" riding their unsupervised across town, playing in a junk yard, and I remember doing that stuff (child of the 80s/early 90s here.) Staying out until the streetlights came on. Yes, we got injured. Yes, I ended up in parts of town I probably shouldn't have been in. Occasionally, I got my ass kicked. This was all part of growing up for most of human history. I never see the kids in my neighborhood doing that. I've never seen any of them leave the street, and always with the parents on the patio, chatting with each other. The last time I saw a roving band of 9-to-13 year-olds biking around town was probably the early 2000s. I kind of understand what changed media- and culture-wise, but has the real world actually changed that much in 25 years to merit the sort of constant-supervision-every-moment-planned-and-accounted-for world kids now grow up in? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkangel_(Black_Mirror) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkangel_(Black_Mirror)

fatnoah 7y ago
>I never see the kids in my neighborhood doing that. I've never seen any of them leave the street, and always with the parents on the patio, chatting with each other. The last time I saw a roving band of 9-to-13 year-olds biking around town was probably the early 2000s. My life was similar. Be home by dark and stay in the neighborhood. Aside from that, it was explorations in the woods, roaming around, and generally just making fun where I found it. I now have an 11 year old, and we recently put up a basketball hoop. A side effect is that we've started to attract some neighborhood kids. When it's a first time visitor, I do like to query to make sure it's ok that they're out and about, and I've received a refreshing number of "Yeah, I just have to be home by 6" responses. Occasionally, my son will join a small group and "go on an adventure" and I remind him to stay in the neighborhood, and be home by dinner. Yes, it's a bit nerve-wracking at first, and I'm sure there's a non-zero risk of something happening, but watching my son thrive and the pride he has at having some independence is immeasurable. As parents, I think we forget that our task is not merely to get our kids safely to a certain age, but it's also to enable them to operate in the real world as independent, fully functional humans.
- mywacaday 7y ago
  I read a quote recently,"We're not here to stop our kids getting hurt, just to stop them getting maimed or killed". While a bit exaggerated it rings true for me. I don't see how children can build a worthwhile sense of responsible independence without learning where the boundaries are and how to judge risk for themselves. There is probably a whole book on the subject but I think society has lost some of the ability to look out for others, when I was young if you were hurt or too far from home you could always rely on a neighbour to help and would have no issue in knocking on their door, even the old single guys. The other side of the argument now is the fear of interacting with somebody elses child as and adult, last year I came across a small girl(5/6) who had fallen and grazed her leg and there was nobody else around, I was really deliberate about not touching her in case parent or guardian came around the corner. I felt horrible about it but thats the way things are I guess.
  - 7y ago

Hansenq 7y ago

This line stood out to me, after the op-ed argues about having "gardens" that exist in the "invisible parts" of the city that are only visible to people without iGlasses: > We are fighting a piece of legislation on the governor’s desk that would change the augmented reality settings of the entire city, making the invisible parts visible again and destroying our gardens in the process. The legislation sounds like it would make the invisible parts visible again to everyone, even when you're wearing iGlasses. Isn't that what she wants? No, what Mary wants is a space where people wearing iGlasses can't discover her. Making the "invisible parts" visible again would remove the only gardens that she has. She's not fighting for more transparency and freedom, she's fighting for a private space where she can't be observed. A nice touch that I almost just skimmed past.

gatherhunterer 7y ago

If you would like to read without trackers, the Times no longer allows private browsing: https://web.archive.org/web/20190603190109/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/opinion/future-secret-gardens.html https://web.archive.org/web/20190603190109/https://www.nytim...

HeraldEmbar 7y ago

Seeing things for what they really are...isn’t that our greatest desire and our greatest fear? I love the voice in this fiction, and the astonishing fact that it is provided to the world in a newspaper. Speculative fiction is where truth can be approached safely. Keep it going.