Henrik wrote:
snip
Clubs and members need to be better at helping young
people out eg offering winterprotection and care for those that only
have a balocony. Itīs hell just repotting a tree indoors where you donīt
have access to a garden to soil ;-) and a hose. Practical stuff not pop
culture will help increase the intrest in bonsai.
I think I must respectfully disagree with this to a degree. What I think
Henrik describes is what can keep a person involved in bonsai, and enable
them to become successful. Having (or not, in my case) a local club was
neither an encouragement nor deterrent. I still don't understand where my
interest in bonsai originated...I was about an 11 year old boy about 1971,
and I just found something tranquil and enchanting about the looks of a
"miniature, ancient-looking tree". Maybe it was something like how some
people get into the model railroad hobby... Anyway, pop-culture, I don't
think is the answer to increasing the general interest in bonsai, since so
often, in "pop-culture", something pops into style, and then it pops
sometimes even faster right back out of style!
Clubs and study-groups and mentors are fantastic for the newly involved or
younger person, as a support network, information source, etc. BUt, I think
what "inspires"? a person in bonsai, or what occurs when they realize they
are interested, is as varied as each person themselves.
I know that our friends are exposed to bonsai when they visit, most think it
is "neat" but isn't something they themselves feel like getting into.
That's okay. I think the main key is increasing awareness to bonsai, if
pop-culture can be an aid in this, fine. (On the other hand, besides
entering the local fair with a couple trees, trying to get a defunct club
back into existence, or putting an add in the paper about a "bonsai study
group", I have no great ideas about how to increase that awareness locally).
Sam Crowell
Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA
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