Seeing with New Eyes | Inside Yankee
Some of my favorite and most enduring memories from my three years as a fourth-grade teacher in Maine happened in science class, when I would pass out magnifying glasses to the children on spring days, with the grass greening and the earth awakening at their feet. We’d go outside, to a field that stretched to […]
Some of my favorite and most enduring memories from my three years as a fourth-grade teacher in Maine happened in science class, when I would pass out magnifying glasses to the children on spring days, with the grass greening and the earth awakening at their feet. We’d go outside, to a field that stretched to the woods. Their assignment was to touch the ground and find things that they walked by every day without noticing—blades of grass, beetles, stones—and use the magnifier to discover something that surprised them. Those kids were full of 9- and 10-year-old energy, but they would become focused as they peered into this strange and curious world. The eyes of a praying mantis, for instance. The veins of a leaf. A handful of moss.
I thought about those days when looking at Mark Fleming’s photo story from the Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine [“A Sense of Wonder,”]. When he returned from his visit, he said that he had been in an unexpected land, one where young people put away their electronic devices—and that while he was finding his photos, he was remembering how curiosity had filled his own boyhood.
In its own way, if we let it, travel can be like a magnifying glass, a chance to see from a fresh perspective. In those fourth-grade classes, a few high school seniors would come to tutor children who needed individual attention. Megan was one of the best, and we stayed in touch. When she came home from a college semester in France, she said the best part was that she had learned “to see with new eyes.” I never forgot her words.
This special travel issue of Yankee encourages you to follow your curiosity, to discover side roads, unexpected delights, new places. What these pages hold are the conversations we editors have after returning from our own outings, and our talks with trusted travel writers who know the nooks and crannies of their home territories.
Do you want to taste the best and most intriguing flavors of ice cream in New England? We have them here, including a blueberry strudel made with berries from the Maine barrens [“Flavor Faves,”]. Would you like to detour off the highway for more than a gas station snack? Maybe even find a memorable local eatery? We have that, too [“Tastiest Refueling Spots off the Interstate,”]. We reveal the region’s best scenic trek [“The Hike That Has It All,”], as well as nearly 200 other editors’ picks—which to me have always seemed like notes passed in secret, except that these are secrets we share with thousands of readers. These are our favorite places to explore, our favorite reasons to leave home, whether for a day, or a weekend or, lucky you, longer.
I also want to tell you about a book that debuts this spring: Yankee’s New England Adventures (Globe Pequot). An adventure need not be only something that makes your heart pound. An adventure can be following that unfamiliar road, tasting that dish you’ve never tried, waking up to a view you’ve never seen before. The book is a guide for every traveler beginning his or her own search.
And whenever you travel, bring along a magnifying glass. You may find more than you expected when you hold something close. You may rediscover what it feels like to be 9 years old, and the grass is greening, and the summer awaits.
Mel Allen editor@yankeemagazine.com
Mel Allen
Mel Allen is the fifth editor of Yankee Magazine since its beginning in 1935. His first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and in the summer of 2006 became editor. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long form story telling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel taught fourth grade in Maine for three years and believes that his education as a writer began when he had to hold the attention of 29 children through months of Maine winters. He learned you had to grab their attention and hold it. After 12 years teaching magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, he now teaches in the MFA creative nonfiction program at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Like all editors, his greatest joy is finding new talent and bringing their work to light.
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