Same Old Story

As I've written before, I have been fascinated by the story of the Titanic since I was a child. Back then the ship was still lost and had seemingly vanished forever. It wasn't until I was in my early 20s that Robert Ballard and his crew located the wreck, nearly two-and-a-half miles below the surface. 

After that discovery, the Titanic became a huge industry; exhibits of recovered artifacts were everywhere, and I attended quite a few. The popularity of the ship was helped along by the 1997 blockbuster movie and then rekindled again in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the sinking. Back then, we went to a great exhibit at National Geographic, but as I made my way through the galleries, I realized that there wasn't much information that was new to me. I knew everything I cared to about the disaster. 

So when a few months ago I received an e-mail about a traveling exhibit on Titanic, I summarily deleted the message. And when our district added a required common text for sixth graders that was an excerpt from a survivor's account of the sinking, I explained to anyone who cared to listen that my objection was not made out of ignorance or disinterest, but rather relevance. Why should we teach every single kid about a random tragedy that happened over a hundred years ago? Don't they have enough bad news in their lives without adding to it?

But, as the saying goes, I don't really run anything except my mouth, and so I a couple of weeks ago found myself teaching about the Titanic. (And, as it turned out, writing raps about it, too.) Of course, the recent catastrophe of the Titan sub had brought the ship back into public attention, and the kids were fairly engaged by the grim tale. Although I still felt like studying the topic was a bit of sensationalism and rubber-necking, I also remembered what an interesting story it is, and while planning my lessons, I watched some new videos about recent explorations of the wreck with new technology. It's amazing to me that it's been nearly 40 years since it was found. 

Oh, and that exhibit? Well, I got an email that it's been extended a few weeks, so this Sunday? We're going.