Magpie Tendencies

 Jeremy has started calling me a magpie. I don't blame him. I'm often picking up forgotten tent pegs, smashed pennies and at least looking at what sort of trash is poking out of the ground. He doesn't mind. It means I'm also good at spying rubber boas and pretty green beetles.

Then, the other night I started talking about how as a kid we would find all sorts of stuff behind our house (our backyard butted up against a marsh where people often dumped junk). There was an old couch, a TV, a newspaper stand, a pile of shingles and a myriad of tires not to mention smaller treasures. One summer we even found a bathroom sink and I got such a kick out of saying you could find anything back there, even a kitchen sink. I decided I might have discovered some of the foundation of my magpie tendencies.

Then, to exacerbate my magpie tendencies I went into Archaeology where they literally train you to walk around and pick up random things (sometimes trash). Is it any wonder I'm a magpie?

Should Magic Be More Like Sight or Math?

Jeremy and I were talking about magic the other day.
Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series are arguably the first "modern" fantasy stories. In them individuals are either magic users or they are not. It is almost more a racial trait than anything you can learn or develop.
In a lot of popular fantasy series today, like Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Avatar: The Last Airbender, magic is still very much a gift that you have or you don't. It's like the ability to see, speak, or smell. You have it or you don't. Except that learning that magic tends to take a central stage in the plotline. Which is weird... because you don't really have to learn how to see or speak... and that isn't something you can really improve on per se. No matter how keen (or not) your eyes are no one goes about taking classes and learning how to see better (maybe observe more but not how to physically enhance their sight).
So then if magic is now treated more as something to be learned why is it still only some people that magically have the gift? The way magic has to be studied in most common series today it seems like magic should be more like a skill rather than a sense. Anyone can learn math, painting, programming, dance, soccer, writing.... some people are just naturally better at it then others. However, the diligence, desire and persistence someone puts into learning a certain skill often seems to outweigh the actual natural ability, at least in the long run. I think magic should be more of a skill. Anyone can learn it, even if for some people it comes more naturally than others...
So why is magic being dolled out like a sense so common? Perhaps it comes from history... from the idea that things like wealth, privilege, and opportunities for education were for a long time very much a "you have it or you don't" experience. So magic was envisioned the same way.
Then education became more prevalent and learning magic became a way to connect to readers.
But maybe our stories are still out of date and aren't "American Dream"/"Capitalist" enough... Could the next step be the magic can be learned by anyone? Down with the Muggle hierarchy!

I think it is interesting how fiction tends to mimic certain aspects of the real world but just so everyone is clear I actually have nothing against magic systems that are "you have it or you don't" I just think it might be interesting to explore it in the American Dream style.
And also it makes me curious about cultures of Eastern magic.... historical China with their intense government examinations being more important that money or heritage (granted sometimes it goes together) seems like it had at least a broader view of upward mobility than medieval Europe.... so does their stories of magic reflect that?