Adventures filled my life growing up as a military brat. Some of the most memorable were school field trips. A few of these excursions were life changing, opening a new world of ideas and possibilities. Two of the most impactful were trips that occurred as a student at Portsmouth Junior High School in New Hampshire. The first journey took me to the Wadsworth-Longfellow home in Portland, Maine.
The sojourn included a poetry reading. It was my first exposure to real poetry. Seeing the home and the study desk somehow made the poet real to me. Hearing the words read aloud with passion and pacing tugged at my heart and soul.
Longfellow went to Europe for three years following college graduation in 1825. He returned to his alma mater, Bowdoin College, in 1829 and taught there until he accepted a professorship at Harvard University.
I learned field trips could be more than just a fun trip that kept you out of class for a day. A drive to a historical figure’s home provided experiential learning. Seeing the home and hearing poetry read made learning fresh and adventurous.
In the future, I’ll write about a trip to the Robert Frost farm in New Hampshire. It was the second impactful field trip during my tenure in New Hampshire public schools. Adventures filled the life of this military brat.
The photo is in the public domain.
Jimmie Aaron Kepler is a novelist, poet, book reviewer, and award-winning short story writer. His work has appeared in over twenty venues, including Bewildering Stories and Beyond Imagination. When not writing each morning at his favorite coffeehouse, he supports his writing, reading, and book reviewing habit working as an IT application support analyst. He is a former Captain in the US Army. His blog Kepler’s Book Reviews was named a 100 best blogs for history buffs. You can visit him at http://www.jimmiekepler.com.
