That’s Wanda and me at the Chicago Cultural Center. Her favorite invention? The Frigidaire.
That’s the topic I assigned to my memoir-writing class last week, and my stellar seniors did not disappoint. Annelore opened her essay wondering whether there could possibly be one best invention.
In the days when my grandmother told tales about the awesome impressions of seeing her first airplane fly and land, riding in a car or on a motorcycle for the first time, listening to a voice coming from a box or her bewilderment when hearing music coming from a spinning plate, I felt as if there was nothing left to be invented.
By the end of her essay, however, Annelore settled in on one best invention:
The harvest of millions of brilliant minds is stored somewhere on that magical space, called the Internet. What I would give if I could share THAT with my dear grandmother.
One essay was about the polio vaccine, another about the credit card. Hanna’s essay about the radio described how she and her teenage friends snuck to their Rabbi’s apartment in Stuttgart back in the late 1930’s to hear the BBC. “It was illegal to listen to foreign radio stations back then,” she wrote. “If you got caught, there were heavy fines, and if you were Jewish, you’d be jailed.”
Susan, a retired nurse practicioner, knew immediately what she’d choose.
Without hesitation I think “the pill” is the most important invention of my lifetime—not necessarily to me personally but certainly for many women, including members of my family as well as the patients throughout my career.
Wanda described her daily chore emptying the water from under the ice box. The pan was usually full to the brim, unwieldy and awkward for a little girl. Water always spilled during her “delicate waltz” to the sink, which meant little Wanda ended up with two daily chores: she had to wash the kitchen floor, too. The best invention in Wanda’s lifetime? The Frigidaire.
Audrey came up with something I would have never thought of, but anyone who’d endured days without a hot shower might have to agree with her:
I like the silly little mesh sponge or pouf too. And the shower gel is so much easier than bar soap. So as long as I can have my hot shower, I am well placated.
It can be too easy to mourn the passing of the good ol’ days. How refreshing to focus on things that have gotten better! Vaughn enjoyed the class so much he sent me an email message right afterwards describing the session as “outstanding.” He also had a suggestion for next week’s topic: “How do you relate to an opportunity to suddenly find yourself in touch with your first SIGNIFICANT girl (or boy) friend after some 50 years?” I shortened his idea a bit, and assigned this for next week: The Last Time I Saw Her. Students can write about “The Last Time I Saw Him” if they prefer. So much to know, so much to say. Can’t wait until next week’s class.
I vote for the flush toilet.
Dr. B
Yikes, you’d have to be pretty old to claim the flush toilet was invented in your lifetime. This from wikipedia:
• 1885:
Thomas Twyford built the first one-piece ceramic toilet using the flush-out siphon design by J. G. Jennings.
• 1906: William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer, which used pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes. The Flushometer is still in use today in public restrooms worldwide.
• 1980 : Bruce Thompson, working for Caroma in Australia,
developed the Duoset cistern with two buttons and two flush volumes as a water-saving measure. Modern versions of the Duoset are now available worldwide, and save the average household 67% of their normal water usage.
Back to me, Dr. B: if you mean the *water-saving* flush toilet is the best invention of your lifetime, then hey, it qualifies, and thanks for, ahem, going green.
Oh I just meant the best of “all time.” (But I am pretty old!)
Dr. B
Was the polio vaccine an “invention”? I always thought of it as a “discovery.”
A quick google search found that some say it was invented, some say it was discovered. Maybe the best verb to use is “developed” as in Salk developed the vaccine in the 50s but Fleming and Sabin had a lot to do with it, too. However you say it, sure am glad we have a vaccine for polio now — students in class actually shuttered when I asked if they’d been afraid of contracting polio while they were growing up. I It got such a reaction that I may assign “Polio” as a topic for a future class.
Great topic! I love reading what your class writes. It’s so interesting to hear the point of view of your wise students. Next weeks topic sounds fascinating as well. Thanks for sharing with us!
Oh, that IS a great topic and I can almost hear them reading their essays.
What a cool topic to write about. The seniors came up with some interesting things. I’d have to really think what the best invention of my lifetime
is. There have been sooooo many!
Pay at the pump was the greatest invention of my lifetime.
Only slightly peripheral to this topic: may I recommend to you—and maybe your class—Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky. It’s available on audio. It reads like a great work of mystery. If you lived through that time (as your students have), it’s especially thrilling to read.
I think it’s cute that your student wrote about the “Frigidaire”—a commercial name—rather than the refrigerator. My grandma also referred to it as a Frigidaire.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I just downloaded it from the Library of Congress Talking Book program, and will let my students know about it this Wednesday, too. It all brings to mind one of the favorite inventions of *my* lifetime: talking books!
[…] readers might recall that the assignment for the seniors in my memoir-writing class last Wednesday was “The Last Time I Saw Her.” Wanda Bridgeforth […]
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