So many letters, such a long word—but it’s simple, or so it seems…and, YOU CAN DO IT! In fact, you DO it every day! Almost every minute!
By Barbara Jacobsen
For example, try closing your eyes, in order to interpret. What do you hear? Background noise? —foreground sounds? Your own breathing? What do you see, with your eyes still closed? (Some see the darkened interior of their own eyelids, others may see a rainbow of colors!) Now, what do you feel? What does your body/mind feel? And where? Imagine it! And of course, we can add smell! Ah, I smell the forest trees, and pollen I think! Or maybe I’m making that up?
Now open your eyes— and hopefully your vision is clear now—and stare, then scan, look about, IMAGINE even! Hey!-I thought I saw a chipmunk run by! What does that mean? So now, you get to interpret! Imagine in a way that you are that chipmunk, that leaf that falls from the tree, or that sap trickling down…See it, hear it, feel it, and GUESS! Or you may know. Why is that chipmunk running? What’s its story? Where is it going and why? How is the tree sprinkling sap and spewing pollen? And why? Where are those bird calls from? What birds are they? Oh, two woodpeckers have a hole in a tree in which they reside? There may be a baby bird in there! Can I see? How will I know? I can imagine, and therefore, I can interpret!
Think of the caches varmints make to sustain themselves through the winter, and why/how the juniper berries get stored and consumed, and how the seeds alone emerge in the spring on the ground with intricate little holes in them (the type not even the stealthiest jeweler could make-AMAZING! This information I gleaned from an expert who collects these holey seeds after tiny termites have burrowed into the seeds’ interiors. That tiny!! Even the smallest seed is that useful, beyond the making of another tree… Who knew! And these seeds with holes ready-made by tiny creatures, become the makings of lovely jewelry in skilled human hands.
Interpretation is about connecting— people, places, things, time… It’s learning, through senses and deep, deep knowing. And it’s building on what you already know, and maybe caring about this newfound information, place, or animal? It is thinking about the meaning behind what you observe, and learning, yes, even after guessing!
Ever see a child’s face when they are on top of a mountain (just a bunch of rocks, right?), and you tell them that this was an active volcano, or many volcanoes over hundreds of thousands of years? Then they see the rocks, the basalt, and they begin to open their eyes and ask—What’s this? Why is it heavy? light? or this color? Where did it come from? You may even let them see and set off a model volcano.
The wonder begins… We/you are only the spark, the rest is within each of us. And in children especially, it is alive in their faces and eyes immediately. The value and payoff of helping someone interpret for themselves, to connect to their surroundings, to have insight, and for us to see that wonder, that connection, is grand!
So if you are but willing to GUESS, to WONDER, you are an INTERPRETER!
Remember, you do it all the time! Keep it up! And, if some of the questions about what you see, hear, sense, smell, etc., seem unanswerable…ASK A RANGER! And, there’s always the LIBRARY, too! (I know there’s Google in a pinch, but…). The library with books and reliable references (and genuine helpers there, too), will supply you with so much more information about your unanswered questions and theories! So keep up your inquisitiveness about your surroundings, and FEAR NOT! You just might be able to pass that wonder, knowledge, and connection on to others-even TEACH a Ranger! And you will come to LOVE interpreting! We DO!
Barbara Jacobsen
She is a member of the NPS/USFS Roving Rangers volunteer. The rangers have a unique agreement between the Flagstaff Area National Monuments and the Coconino National Forest to provide Interpretive Ranger walks and talks in the Flagstaff area each summer.