Cool encounter with a college student today....

This nice young girl was my cashier at the fast food restaurant so we got to talking. It turns out she is a 1st year archaeology student. I mentioned that I love that kind of stuff and told her about my hobby....then her eyes really lit up! Told her about Missouri in the Civil War and that we were like 3rd in the number of skirmishes and battles....

At this point I thought she was going to quit her job and detect full time! She was a better listener than most folks.

Before I left, I asked her if she had ever seen a CW bullet. She said she hadn't except in photos. So I go out to my car and get a .69 Minnie and a .69 round ball to show her. She smiled so much when she saw them I couldn't help but give them to her as a gift. You'd think I gave her a Rolex or something. She told me it was the best gift anyone could give her this Christmas...

Just thought that was cool. I've given away a few Minnies and they are always appreciated...

Sure. But the minute she goes and relates this encounter to her archie teacher, it's often a different story . Ie.: she mentions the meeting with a metal detector enthusiast, to her university archie teacher. Perhaps shows the teacher the bullets . And it comes out in casual conversation ".... found with a metal detector". The teacher seethes and launches into a rant about "yanked from it's context" and "robbing the history from the next generation", and "looting" and "pot hunting", blah blah.

I too have run into 1st year type students, and yes, they love to talk history. But when they get very versed into it, and get any tarnish of "purist" to their eventual title, that camaraderie with fellow history buffs as ourselves, is usually over-with.

Hopefully though, you planted the seed of adventure & fun, rather than purism. .

Tom_in_CA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sure. But the minute she goes and relates this
> encounter to her archie teacher, it's often a
> different story . Ie.: she mentions the meeting
> with a metal detector enthusiast, to her
> university archie teacher. Perhaps shows the
> teacher the bullets . And it comes out in casual
> conversation ".... found with a metal detector".
> The teacher seethes and launches into a rant about
> "yanked from it's context" and "robbing the
> history from the next generation", and "looting"
> and "pot hunting", blah blah.
>
> I too have run into 1st year type students, and
> yes, they love to talk history. But when they get
> very versed into it, and get any tarnish of
> "purist" to their eventual title, that camaraderie
> with fellow history buffs as ourselves, is usually
> over-with.
>
> Hopefully though, you planted the seed of
> adventure & fun, rather than purism. .

Yeah unfortunately the teacher will kill her joy and enthusiasm..

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2016 04:44PM by supertraq.

Cool story and nice gesture on your part.. HH jim tn

Thanks for sharing the story and maybe you made a friend too. That's how a lot of people got involved in the hobby; they had an interest in history and someone shared a dug piece of history with them and got the ball rolling and wheels turning. Sorry that the pessimistic folks jumped in here to be a "Debbie Downer" with your story.

Daniel Tn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> .... Sorry that the pessimistic folks jumped
> in here to be a "Debbie Downer" with your story.

Yeah, re-reading my post, I see where it is kill-joy-ish. If ANYTHING, it's the up and coming archies (students in training) that we should be-friend. So that later, they have a mental image that is positive of us. My bad.

Daniel Tn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for sharing the story and maybe you made a
> friend too. That's how a lot of people got
> involved in the hobby; they had an interest in
> history and someone shared a dug piece of history
> with them and got the ball rolling and wheels
> turning. Sorry that the pessimistic folks jumped
> in here to be a "Debbie Downer" with your story.

I would have recommended this site but since we have internet police on here trying to suppress a person's view i probably wouldn't do that.
Debbie downer? I see it s an opinion and he's right to express that.
But anyway the young lady may be jumping ahead of her classmates armed with a metal detector now,i'd have to take a few machines back and show her what it's like to fell the excitement.

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.

You did the right thing maybe her generation will except us in the future

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

I get a lot of joy when I put a smile on a young person's face. I don't have any kids or family around, so, to me, it's a great thing. When I'm able to pique someone's interest in history, it's a double whammy for me. This may be the only encounter she's had with a detectorist and I wanted it to be as pleasant as possible. Besides, at my age, it's the only way I have to make a young gal happy..

I feel being nice to those interested in hobby is good for the hobby.....unfortunately archaeology doesn't mix well with our hobby....

I'll probably get yelled at for this. But, aren't we all archeologist in this hobby? We are all looking find history and preserve it. We just have a fun way to do it! Merry Christmas to all of you!

BIG PAPA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll probably get yelled at for this. But, aren't
> we all archeologist in this hobby? We are all
> looking find history and preserve it. We just have
> a fun way to do it! Merry Christmas to all of you!
>


Papa, You're right: And the private collector/digger population has done equally as much, if not more-so, than the archie community. For example: Whenever archies go to study the items found in their pits (to date them, get origin backgrounds, identify, etc...), guess what they turn to ? DIGGER/COLLECTOR books.

For example: In decades past, who do you think wrote and assembled books on collectible bottles ? BOTTLE DIGGER ENTHUSIASTS. And who do you think are the most expert in button identifying of CW and other such military buttons ? : MD'R's and DIGGER people. So it's sort of humorous, in a way, that on the one hand they *bristle* at the thought of private digging (for fear of "lost context" blah blah), yet on the other hand, avail themselves of the vast assembled resource knowledge and research that those very disdained people themselves assembled. Doh!

Oh well. On the other hand, we md'rs often read and study the archie's resources, to know where to ply our luck too. Doh!

I give away a few large cents every year to both young and old. Gotta keep seeding the hobby...

Not all archies are bad...just the same as not all detectorists are good or even trust worthy. There are bad apples in every thing you do.

Since the mid 1990s, the local archies have been working with local detectorists on historic sites to help further understand the history. One of my good friends is lead man on these projects...the national park service will contact him, and he will assemble a team of detectorists for whatever date they need help with, and work together mapping out areas and flagging signals, then digging and documenting them. They have done studies and hunts on the Chickamauga and Shiloh battlefields and several other places on state and park service areas. I am on his contact list....he got in touch with me a little while back about doing a survey hunt at the Andersonville prison site but I had to work that weekend and couldn't take off. You don't get to keep anything but it would be fun just the same.

Detectorist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I get a lot of joy when I put a smile on a young
> person's face. I don't have any kids or family
> around, so, to me, it's a great thing. When I'm
> able to pique someone's interest in history, it's
> a double whammy for me. This may be the only
> encounter she's had with a detectorist and I
> wanted it to be as pleasant as possible. Besides,
> at my age, it's the only way I have to make a
> young gal happy..

Me to on making a young gal happy, but we need more young ladies in the ranks a it bring a fresh image to the hobby.

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2016 09:09AM by supertraq.