Grok My Enthusiasm (15)

By: Joshua Glenn
April 20, 2016

One in a weekly series of enthusiastic posts contributed by HILOBROW friends and regulars.

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How Scout Book cover

In 1977, I hated — hated — being a Cub Scout. Our troupe convened at the Our Lady of Lourdes parish hall, in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood; among my fellow troupers were every one of the thuggish Catholic kids who’d harassed me for years. I liked the merit badges and flair, but I felt like an idiot wearing the uniform; and the Kiplingesque mythos about the Law of the Pack struck me as ridiculous. Eagle Scouts, in particular, creeped me out — they still do. Still, I dearly loved the idea of scouting, particularly as it was depicted in the SCOUT HOW BOOK, a 1969 guide to earning your Tenderfoot and Second Class Scout ranks that my mother had picked up at a yard sale or flea market. At Scout meetings, I burned with humiliation and rage… but back home, I pored over this garish, pocket-sized tome like a halakhic scholar. While studying diagrams of a clove hitch, or how to read a topographical map, it’s not impossible that I may have even shuckeled.

How Scout Book clove hitch

Drawn in a workman-like style — or, as HiLobrow friend Annie Nocenti describes it, a “check-chasing hack style” — the SCOUT HOW BOOK is instantly recognizable as a particular type of midcentury comic: an instructional, non-entertaining entertainment designed to capture hearts and minds while discouraging questions. For kids of my generation, this was the visual style of the dominant discourse. To be fair, instructional manuals need to be bland; as HiLobrow friend John Holbo points out, “you don’t want these figures to be drawn well enough that you are led to wonder what happened before the panel in question, or what happens after.” But the comic books they gave us at church, and the doctor’s office, and at school, all looked the same way: lively illustrations without life; joyless fun; talking mannequins. On their own, each of these comics has a certain nostalgic charm; collectively, they’re creepy.

How Scout Book topographic

It’s that charming/creepy push-pull effect that keeps me re-reading the SCOUT HOW BOOK, today. It’s so inviting, yet there’s no way in. That’s exactly how I felt about the Scouts, as a 10-year-old; and it’s the way I’ve felt about so much else, since then.

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GROK MY ENTHUSIASM: Rob Wringham on THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LUNCH | Gordon Dahlquist on WEEKEND | Joe Alterio on MILLION YEAR PICNIC | Adrienne Crew on LA BARONNE EMILE D’ERLANGER | Josh Glenn on THE SURVIVAL SAMPLER | Alix Lambert on THE SKIES BELONG TO US | Adam McGovern on PENELOPE and CHAVEZ RAVINE | Rob Wringham on THE LYKE WAKE WALK | Mark Kingwell on NORTH STAR SNEAKERS & GWG JEANS | Gordon Dahlquist on FELLINI SATYRICON | Erik Davis on AH! | Devin McKinney on WHISPERING AFRAID | Mimi Lipson on 1973 SEARS ROEBUCK CATALOG | Jessamyn West on MOSS | Josh Glenn on THE SCOUT HOW BOOK | Brian Berger on SLACKER | Alix Lambert on ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS | Chelsey Johnson on MONOTREMES | Devin McKinney on THE BUTCHER COVER | Flourish Klink on ONE DIRECTION | Gordon Dahlquist on FULL METAL JACKET | Allegra Huston on CLOTHESLINE | Jenny Davidson on POWERLIFTING | Evan Narcisse on REZ | Deborah Wassertzug on VEGETARIAN MEATBALLS | Chris Spurgeon on WALLACE AND GROMIT | Mandy Keifetz on BENEFICIAL MICROBES | Annie Nocenti on MARKS ON WALLS | Molly Sauter on THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF | William Nericcio on LAND OF THE LOST | Dan Fox on “VOICE OF GOD” RADIO DJS | Brandi Brown on WIKIPEDIA TALK | Claire Lehmann on THE APPARATUS REVEAL | Alice Boone on COSTUME JEWELRY | Colin Dickey on WIDESPREAD PANIC | Anshuman Iddamsetty on THE FULL BODY PROJECT | John Hilgart on MAKING GRATEFUL DEAD ALBUMS | Rob Wringham on STEVEN UNIVERSE | John Overholt on DECKLE EDGES | James Hannaham on HABIT PATTERNS | Jessamyn West on THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM | Adam McGovern on THE SPACE GIANTS | Brian Berger on MEDIUM COOL | Chris Spurgeon on THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT | Joe Alterio on TABLETOP WARGAMING | Mimi Lipson on TRASH PICKING | Jason Grote on CZECH CINEMA | Roxane Gay on AUTOMATED CAR WASH | Dan Fox on JULIA DAVIS | Amy Thielen on BINGO | Steph Burt on FEIJOA.

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Enthusiasms