The Choice of Content: An ExampleThe dawning of the millennium saw resurgence in interest in time capsules. One
writer collected suggestions from the residents of Fountain, Colorado. The
proposed artifacts included:a piece of barbed wire
a microprocessor
a penny squashed by the local coal trains
a pack of cigarettes
a high-school code of conduct
an issue of Girls' Life
a hood ornament from a '57 Chevy
a Beanie Baby
a brick
a Nintendo 64
a hearing aid
a pumpkin seed
a pack of wildflower seeds
an audiotape of a high-speed police chase
Prozac
Valium
a television remote control
a menu from Ralph's Fine Dining
a Purple Heart Suggestions from other countries included:Bharatpur, India (population 160,000)
a bag of soil
a closed-circuit camera
a chillum, a traditional clay pipe
a gold nose ring
blue and white Bata "Hawaii"
flip-flops
Mantes-la Jolie, France (population 45,000)
Einstein's brain
vial of AIDS-tainted blood
"The Communist Manifesto" by Marx and
Engels and "The Revolution
Betrayed" by Trotsky
an unmodified, unsiliconed woman
a kiss
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (population 1,500,000)
a bottle of soil
a condom
a plastic beggar's cup
akierie, a walking stick also used for hunting
a pair of Bata "Toughies" school
shoes
Curitiba, Brazil (population 1,500,000)
songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim
processed, packaged meat
indoor toilet
Ipe amarelo, a local tree with yellow flowers
pair of jeans
James Bennet, "A Few of Our Favorite Things." The New York Times Magazine,"The New York TimesDecember 5, 1999, p. 139. How do the different choices reflect the different cultures? What images of
society do they project? |