Art Beat: carry on my wayward sun

Hi, my name is Jacob Mann. I cover the Art Beat for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

The Midnight Sun is upon us. The days are getting longer and everyone seems to be out and about, earning their summer tan lines and making memories to last a lifetime. Yes, we Alaskans cherish our summer like a squirrel frantically searching for nuts to prepare for the long dark winter ahead. Instead of nuts, we scavenge for adventures in the beckoning sunlight.

In my last column, I talked about the importance of keeping one’s mind active during the summer, especially for children. I wanted to follow up on that thought with some quotes I gathered with annotations. It’s just an exercise emphasizing the importance of education itself.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” – Benjamin Franklin

You don’t need to be a grade school or college student to benefit from summer reading and educational activities. We all benefit from building critical thinking skills and broadening our horizons through the pursuit of knowledge.

“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you” – B. B. King\

You don’t have to be a labcoat-wearing scientist to appreciate the intricacies of how a spider spins its web. A Ph.D. is not required to learn practical and potentially life-saving skills such as first aid and CPR. You don’t need to be a stuffy scholar to learn something new or simply think of something from a different perspective when traversing the pages of a book. The best part? You keep everything you learned, so long as you keep your brain healthy and happy.

“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows” – Sydney J. Harris

When we read stories from another person’s point of view, we step outside of ourselves. That act alone can do wonders for building character and empathy for other people outside our everyday lives. Education first starts with ourselves. We first learn about who are, like a baby recognizing their own reflection. As we get older, we have an increased capacity to learn about the world around us. It’s our moral responsibility to educate ourselves to better understand the people that make up that world for a more peaceful and understanding way of life.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” —Dr. Seuss

I’m sure that many graduates in the last few decades received a copy of ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go’ or were at least exposed to the book in some form or another during their senior year. It applies to everyone, but it’s often given to high school students across the country as a sort of cultural tradition. In a way, the book symbolizes the value of learning and making informed decisions about one’s future during a transitional time period in their life, or at least that’s the intent when it’s presented to a bright-eyed high school senior approaching adulthood.

“Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.” ―Walter Cronkite

While the traditional library experience has evolved over time, the concept of a town square and public hub for knowledge and community resources is just as important as it ever was. Some may say libraries are a relic of the past. I say that libraries stand for something more than books or computers. They represent the fact that knowledge is a public right in any free society, and denying one access to a neutral place to gather information to improve their own lives is denying them of their very liberty.

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” —Malcolm X

As history shows, the more informed a person is, the better they can navigate the world around them. A fragment of knowledge is s essentially a tool that can be added to one’s internal toolkit. The more, the merrier. If you were building a house, wouldn’t you want the most amount of materials and equipment possible?

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com