Video
Fossils and Liminal Space
Transcript
Hi, I'm Ranger Tera Lynn here at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. I'm standing in our Visitor Center in front of the life-size diorama of seven ancient mammals surrounding a large bonebed and one very small puddle of water.These mammals lived 23 million years ago and were excavated out of the two main hills in our park about 120 years ago.Or were they? Let's take a closer look.
These aren't actually bones. What?! These are replicas. You see, when James Cook and Kate Graham stumbled upon these bones in the hills, it was their own private land. And there was no National Monument to collect and assemble this diorama. Instead, the paleontologists took them to the universities or museums they worked for at the time.
Have you been to the Denver Museum of Natural History? You may have seen the actual Moropus. Or how about the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh? There you can see the real Dinohyus. Well, we're a national park now, so we want those bones back. Actually, no. These are pretty convincing replicas cast directly from the original skeletons. So much so, that current paleontologists study these bones when a new question arises. No need to drive to Lincoln or Denver or Pittsburgh. We can get exact information about these mammals right here in our visitor center. In fact, that's what these two scientists are doing in this picture.
They are measuring the spine of the Dinohyus for a question from a paleontology student. It's a question that we don't have an answer for yet, and since our replicas are exact casts of the real bones, the real animals, we can study the question right here.
So, did we lose our chance at getting real mammal fossils in the visitor center diorama? Did the former paleontologist raid these hills of all the cool skulls and fossils from the Miocene? I am now standing at Carnegie Hill in the location where many of these mammals were pulled intact out of the hill, put on a train, and carted away. This large concave section of the hill gives you an idea of how much material was excavated and removed. But there's a lot of hill left and therefore, a lot of the bonebed likely left with it. In fact, Harold Cook, the son of the original fossil finder, James H Cook, estimated there's still 75 percent of the mammal fossils in these hills, right behind me. Dr Robert Hunt got even more specific with his research. His calculations suggests that there may be as many as19 Dinohyus, 35 Moropus, and 6,400 Menoceras.
So come on, why aren't we jumping in and taking out those mammals, so we can have the real fossils in our diorama? Well, we're being responsible. Paleontologists believe we have samples of all the mammals from this area. Until there is research stating otherwise, these animals are best preserved in these hills where they perished. Plus, there may be a fascinating question from another student in the future that requires the bones be in their original location. What a bummer that would be if we deprived future students the opportunity to learn. Right?
Hi, my name is Gretchen Monroe, and I'm an English teacher at Lincoln Christian High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm here today as part of the Hidden Stories of Agate to talk to you about mammal bones, inner dialogue, and liminal space. The Agate hills have been waiting a long time for someone to come back and dig. 75% of the mammal bones are still in the hills. This includes ancient horses, ancient rhinos, and even ancient pigs. Those are my favorite. But while those bones are in the hills, and they are waiting for someone to come and dig them up, That is called being in liminal space.
Liminal Space refers to the place a person is in during a transitional period. It's a gap. And can be physical, like a doorway; It can be emotional, like a relationship change;or even metaphorical, like a decision. So, all this time in that long wait, the fossils laid buried under seasons of rain, snow, sun, grass, and the birds of the sky as they flew by. If those mammal bones could feel something, how might they have felt when someone first came to dig them up? If they could think, what do you think they were thinking about? What do you think it has been like to wait in liminal space for those bones? for someone to come back to dig them up?
Take a moment and jot down a few ideas. Your teacher will pause the video here now for you to do that.
Another part of liminal space, can be about internal dialogue. Internal dialogue is used to indicate what a character is thinking. Direct internal dialogue refers to writing the exact thoughts. Often in the first person. The first person singular being I. And the first person plural being we. So, think of some time in your life when you have had to wait a long time for something to happen. Maybe one of the ideas that you jotted down two slides ago. Maybe it was a change in schools or the city you l ived in. A change in bedrooms within your house or a change in houses. Maybe a new sibling was coming or a new parent or a new relationship. how about a new job? Or graduation from something. Did you feel like time passed differently at that time? Did it affect your senses? What emotions did you feel? Did people around you seem different? How about the places you were in? How did they make you feel as you waited? What did you have to leave behind to move to something new? What did you say to yourself in your internal dialogue? So as you waited for change, in some form, a long wait, things could have felt differently. The people around you, the place you were in, even the things you said to yourself could have been different. Take five to seven minutes to make a numbered list of some time in your life when you were in liminal space as you waited to leave behind the old to move to the new.
Your teacher will pause the video now, for you to make that list.
Now, writing about liminal space, and writing with inner dialogue. We are going to focus on the inciting incident and the climax in a story, but you have to start first with some exposition. So describe the setting. What was happening in your life as you waited for things to change? Then the inciting incident. Describe the moment you realized that change was going to happen. And I want you to blow up that moment almost like fireworks in the sky. Talk all about it. How did you feel? What did you see, or hear, or sense, or smell even? Try including at least a few sentences of internal dialogue by sharing some of the thoughts you were having. What were you thinking? Set off your inner dialogue sentences in italics. Then you have some rising action, change hasn't happened yet. But you know it is going to. So explain how you felt the time of waiting for the change, and how it impacted you. and how it showed up in your life.
Now the other thing I told you that I want you to focus on is the climax. I want you to describe when you realized the long wait was over. By again, blowing up that moment. Really big! Talk about all the things. How did you feel? What did you see, or hear, or sense or smell when you realized the wait was over? This could look like having finally walking into a new house, or seeing a new friend, meeting a new baby, going into a new classroom, and so on, and so on. Again, try including a few sentences of inner dialogue by sharing some of the thoughts you are having. What were you thinking? Set off your inner dialogue sentences in italics. And then as part of any good story, we need some falling action. What happened after that climax? Describe how life had changed. Explain what was new and how it impacted you.
And then the conclusion. How, you feel now about that liminal space you were in as you waited for change, and how has it changed you as a person?
So here are the pieces of this project: an ideal board; and then exposition; inciting incident, where you are going to blow up the moment; rising action; climax, where you are going to blow it up again and tell about all of the details; final action; and conclusion. Don't forget about liminal space, and don't forget about inner dialogue.
Description
This is one of four videos created for the 2023 Agate Writing Festival. The theme was Hidden Stories. Watch a ranger talk about a hidden story about the fossils. Then, a teacher from the Nebraska Writing Project walks students through the meaning of liminal space and supports them in creating their own writing using liminal space and internal dialogue.
Duration
12 minutes, 53 seconds
Credit
Nebraska Writing Project
Date Created
10/26/2023
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