Althouse: "Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind?"

June 7, 2012

"Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind?"

"Did you feel like going like that?"

Via Metafilter.

52 comments:

Scott M said...: VERY well done. God, how I wish I had that kind of time.; 6/7/12, 11:27 AM
Triangle Man said...: It looks like Madison's gardens of the mind are bigger than most others.; 6/7/12, 11:29 AM
ndspinelli said...: I watched Mr. Rogers every day w/ my kids. He's easy to lampoon, but he was a very goods man and a great educator of small children.; 6/7/12, 11:31 AM
traditionalguy said...: A parable by that Jesus dude said that weeds are seeds sown at night into the soil of our minds by enemies trying to divide us was the weed seeds grow up looking just like wheat, but that on the harvest day the difference between weeds and wheat will be seen.

Free speech is free seed sowing.; 6/7/12, 11:36 AM
Alex said...: No doubt Mr. Rogers was a cultist. Don't you fucking fools ever get it?; 6/7/12, 11:39 AM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/7/12, 11:41 AM
Anonymous said...: I remember many a morning sitting on the floor in front of the TV with my two oldest daughters squeezed on my lap watching Mr. Rogers. My girls insisted I had to watch it with them....every day.

It was sheer hell.

But I did it for the love of my little girls.

I always wondered, was Mr. McFeely a petophile? He was always stroking meow meow kitty.; 6/7/12, 11:44 AM
m stone said...: "In the garden of your m-i-i--i-nd..."

A little too weird for me.; 6/7/12, 11:46 AM
Joaquin said...: Ever wonder why he always wore long sleeves???; 6/7/12, 11:47 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: I love it.

But it only makes me re-angry at our local PBS station cancelling Mr. Rogers. Why?! WHY?! It was the only decent show they had, and they replaced it with some stupid show about a sloth that teaches about environmentalism.; 6/7/12, 12:00 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Ever wonder why he always wore long sleeves???

His mother knitted those sweaters.; 6/7/12, 12:02 PM
Indigo Red said...: I saw Timothy Leary in my garden in my mind even before seeing the video.; 6/7/12, 12:03 PM
rehajm said...: The garden of your mind? You are easily amused...; 6/7/12, 12:24 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I saw Timothy Leary in my garden in my mind even before seeing the video."

Me too. Got me thinking of one of my favorite old albums: Jim Kweskin's "Garden of Joy." (Listen here.) And another one: "A Gift From a Flower to a Garden."; 6/7/12, 12:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Adorable! Great for kids.; 6/7/12, 12:40 PM
Anonymous said...: My favorite garden related music is the album by Stevie Wonder, Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. I wonder will you get credit if I post an Amazon link here?

Amazon Link; 6/7/12, 12:43 PM
Wally Kalbacken said...: I didn't watch Mr. Rogers, but the thought that came across in watching that remix was - even though he was incredibly popular and widely known, the show stopped when the tape stopped rolling. The guy made no effort to be a celebrity outside that role, and you have to respect that.; 6/7/12, 12:57 PM
traditionalguy said...: Does Asberger's Syndrome count as it grows faster and faster.

Doesn't Meade have a secret remedy? Oh yeah, blow torching your brains out.; 6/7/12, 1:12 PM
MadisonMan said...: That was very well done.

Never watched Mr. Rodgers, but my neighbor across the street was from Latrobe and went to school with him.

I was more a Capt Kangaroo person.; 6/7/12, 1:20 PM
MayBee said...: The good thing about Mr Rogers is he took things slow and fostered the child's ability to pay attention.

My kids hated Sesame Street because nothing ever developed- just as they were interested in something, the next thing would pop up. It was supposed to cater to children's natural short attention span, but I think it actually did more harm than good that way.; 6/7/12, 1:23 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: The good thing about Mr Rogers is he took things slow and fostered the child's ability to pay attention.

This.

The other kid shows on PBS seem primed to foster a short attention span or to teach children obnoxious affectations of personality. I like that Mr. Rogers and the people he interacted with were polite and nice to be around.; 6/7/12, 1:44 PM
Bryan C said...: Nicely done! Mr. Rogers was awesome. I was thinking the other day how much I miss the peace and quiet of that kind of TV. That, and the relative absence of tedious preachy nonsense.; 6/7/12, 2:00 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Rogers felt like dropping in to see what condition his condition was in.; 6/7/12, 2:10 PM
Blue@9 said...: The good thing about Mr Rogers is he took things slow and fostered the child's ability to pay attention.

Yes, it was wonderfully paced program, taking its time. There were no frenetic montage cuts catering to ADD kids.

It's too bad because no one would ever approve another program like this these days. Certainly no man could host such a program and in such a personal and warm manner -- he'd immediately get labeled a pedophile.; 6/7/12, 2:15 PM
Paddy O said...: Very fun.

I never really liked Mr. Rogers when I was a kid but I guess I've appreciated him more over the years.

This was great.; 6/7/12, 2:38 PM
Anonymous said...: I spend the majority of my "social" online time on reddit, which has demographic of male 20-35, and the love Mr Rogers gets there is unreal.

I was more of a Grover person myself.; 6/7/12, 2:45 PM
chickelit said...: A Child's Garden Of Verses by RLS.

Highly recommend; 6/7/12, 2:51 PM
Sofa King said...: Lots of people genuinely love Mr. Rogers. I daresay that he was, for many young children, a kind of father figure. He taught, not just by speaking, note even by showing, but by being.; 6/7/12, 3:17 PM
Scott M said...: He taught, not just by speaking, note even by showing, but by being.

Much like that 43-year-old pixie named Thistle.; 6/7/12, 3:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes, Blue, those quick cuts ala MTV have ruined TV. It just leaves me frustrated, like on HGTV. It's like they don't want you to be able take in an entire scene. Why?; 6/7/12, 3:59 PM
ken in tx said...: Rev. Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister.; 6/7/12, 3:59 PM
Blue@9 said...: Yes, Blue, those quick cuts ala MTV have ruined TV. It just leaves me frustrated, like on HGTV. It's like they don't want you to be able take in an entire scene. Why?

It's the Michael Bayification of all entertainment. ("Oh. What. I think that was an elbow. Did someone punch someone? Is that a nipple? Wow. I didn't realize this was a gay sex scene."); 6/7/12, 4:25 PM
Synova said...: "Yes, Blue, those quick cuts ala MTV have ruined TV. It just leaves me frustrated, like on HGTV. It's like they don't want you to be able take in an entire scene. Why?"

I read something about the new Star Trek movie that they'd made the set of the Enterprise all connected so that they could follow a person, with no "cuts" a significant distance before needing to skip or change camera angle or whatever to disguise that they were shooting in a whole different place.; 6/7/12, 5:21 PM
Synova said...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiRH47J_zuI

I thought I remembered that Mr. Roger's won the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. But I had to check.

Other than the first blond kid needing to be updated to Justin Beiber, it's pretty much a commentary on my generation, I think. And likely significant in a very real way that Mr. Rogers wins. (And then commits sepuku.); 6/7/12, 5:33 PM
Jason said...: Mister Rogers was a great, great warrior.

Allie, you have no fucking idea.; 6/7/12, 5:52 PM
Craig said...: No garden in my mind. Just windmills.; 6/7/12, 6:59 PM
ken in tx said...: I agree with Jason.; 6/7/12, 7:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Jason, cool your jets, I said it was hell to sit through Mr, Rogers on a daily basis, I didn't say he wasn't a good guy. If you can honestly say that as an adult you find Mr. Rogers Neighborhood not boring, well I would say you need to get out more.; 6/7/12, 9:34 PM
Synova said...: Oh, yeah.

As an adult I'd rather sit and watch paint dry than endure a steady diet of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

I'd let my kids watch it, though, no question. There are a host of children's educational programming that I wouldn't allow in the house.; 6/7/12, 9:56 PM
Alex said...: Mr. Rogers represented everything that was once right with America, before the liberals destroyed it. I wonder what Mr. Rogers thought about liberals.; 6/7/12, 10:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Uh oh Mr.Rogers was a fan of Dr. Benjamin Spock, you know what that means?; 6/7/12, 10:11 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Mr. Rogers was the only television programming educational or otherwise that I let in the house. Then they cancelled it.; 6/7/12, 10:41 PM
rcommal said...: Re: This Post's Title

We chose homeschooling.

Regards,

Lori; 6/8/12, 12:08 AM
rcommal said...: Ha ha.

Methinks--once again, and always--that I've read way, way more, and way more in depth, than some of the more snarky, snotty people here have. I did that self-educating well before I hit my early 20s, now well more than half a lifetime ago.

Yet, still, I'm not as dishonest or unthinking or ill-educated or nasty or wrong or (above all) arrogant as--

well, never mind.

Let the assholes fart along. They are leaking putrid air, and it'll all be for the better when their shrunken bits of shredded, leftover balloons are mere detritus on the roadside, easily swept up.; 6/8/12, 2:06 AM
Banshee said...: It was like a lot of adult-run things: some parts I liked (the songs) and some parts I pretty much ignored (most of the visit footage) and some parts I never did get (the puppets).

The whole thing with the Land of Make Believe confused me. I never understood the plot, or got the names all down. They needed to send out a cast of characters for me to study, and a history of story arcs.; 6/8/12, 7:19 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: She was an impressive knitter.

According to the interview, Mr. Rogers' mother is Nancy McFeely Rogers. During World War II she knit sweaters for the troops. Apparently she knit a sweater a month, or twelve sweaters a year, almost every year. She gave them to her closest family and friends each Christmas.

There you can also see where Mr. McFeely's name came from, a nice homage.; 6/8/12, 10:40 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Strange. Blogger cut this off the top of my last comment:

I like this list.

9. He got into TV because he hated TV. The first time he turned one on, he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other's faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better than that. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn't be scared of a haircut, or the bathroom drain (because you won't fit!), to divorce and war.

...

11. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.

...

15. The sweaters. Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.; 6/8/12, 10:42 AM
Anonymous said...: Rcommal, what was the bartender serving last night?; 6/8/12, 11:35 AM
rcommal said...: AllieOop: I'm still not doing, nor have I done, what you've assigned to me as a label and a guilt I should bear. To repeat, you are misinformed. I am not a stalker, and nor do I post here (or TOP) as anything other than rcommal (I have already noted what my former handle was, of course, a number of times.) I don't know what else to say other than what I wrote in the two previous sentences.

Regards,

Lori

(formerly reader_iam); 6/8/12, 10:21 PM
rcommal said...: So it goes, and so it goes. Learned that, long ago. As in, decades.; 6/8/12, 11:30 PM
Jason said...: Why should I cool my jets? You haven't a scintilla of evidence that anyone involved was a pedophile. And yet, here we have this amazing, lovingly crafted celebration of a man who put something together for decades that was good and positive and light, and a tremendous ministry, and the first words out of your filthy sewer are "I've always wondered if Mr. McFeely was a pedophile."

Get your head out of your ass.; 6/9/12, 12:26 AM
rcommal said...: Same old, same old, decades old, certain girls dishing up shit yet given a pass.

Well. So THAT goes.; 6/9/12, 12:47 AM