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Batt, James R. (ed.) / Wisconsin Academy review
Volume 20, Number 4 (Fall 1974)
Hove, Arthur
Sending and receiving: On finding one's way, pp. 30-31
Page 30
SENDING 91 RECEIVING COLUMN ABOUT COMMUNICATION By Arthur Hove O n ~~~~ f i n d I nf n ea I find that I have lost my way. Oh what a wide expanse I see, Without a wood, without a tree; No one at hand, no house is near, To tell the way or give good cheer; For now a sign would be a treat, To tell us we might drink and eat. So lamented Doctor Syntax two hundred years ago at the begin- ning of his tour "in search of the picturesque." His problem is a thoroughly modern one. Most of us need signs to make our way through our crowded and complex contemporary environment. But, contrary to Doctor Syn- tax's experience, any traveler down the modern highway is be- sieged by signs. The road is well marked. Too well marked in most instances. Instead of sirens wailing from the rocks, the modern trav- eler has to resist the seductive beckonings of flashing lights that march through the air as they lure one to visit places where virtually every kind of desire can be ful- filled. One is implored to buy things or to do things in response to the messages emblazoned on billboards or other devices that quite often obscure the natural landscape to the point where they 30 create an environment all their own. Ulysses lashed himself to the mast of his ship to resist the fatal temptation of the sirens' call. The modern traveler has almost no protection unless he can summon up an iron will to resist the hyp- notic pull of the flashing lights and the flat but colorful billboard surfaces. Road maps, of course, are in- dispensable as a guide to the modern motorist in much the same way that charts, astrolabe, and sextant were to the first navigators who overcame the geographic mysteries of the high seas. Besides indicating the shortest distance from here to there, road maps are the source of encyclopedic knowl- edge. They often tell you the name of the tree, bird, flower, animal, song, and governor of the state you are passing through or intend to visit. They reveal the location of parks, colleges, airports, forests, campsites, and fish hatcheries. For the motorist who wants the security of even more detailed di- rections than those printed on the normal road map, your friendly automobile club will send you a trip ticket which features a step-by- step unfolding of the route you should take if you want to proceed as painlessly as possible from Point A to Point B. You can flip the pages as the miles go by, se- cure in the knowledge that the trip ticket will forewarn you of detours and other hazards that may loom up on the horizon. The armchair t r a v e l e r can spend many free hours gazing at road maps and planning trips which may never be taken. Greater distances can be bridged and more exotic climes can be reached by consulting atlases or attractively colored travel booklets. Then there are tour brochures designed to entice you to spend money and leave the comfort of your living room to roam the high seas of adventure in the company of an attractive and personable guide who is fluent in all the Indo- European languages and who can charm the socks off a camel driver in the Khyber Pass at high noon. If, however, you want to strike out on your own for an unfamiliar place-whether it be close to home or halfway around the world- there are guide books to help you explore the mystery of places ranging from Kankakee to Kat-
Copyright 1974 by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.| For information on re-use, see http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright