“When you try to touch one thing by itself, you find it hitched to everything in the universe.”
This quote by the Scottish-American naturalist John Muir is often referred to by Rudy Mancke, the University of South Carolina’s naturalist-in-residence and the former host of South Carolina ETV’s long-running series NatureScene. Though the two men were born more than 100 years and an ocean apart, the parallels between their life paths connect them across the ages through a deep love and appreciation for natural spaces.
Like John Muir, Rudy has spent a lifetime exploring and embracing nature, recognizing that everything is connected to everything else. And, also like Muir, Rudy has devoted much of his career to traveling the world as an advocate for the importance of natural places.
Rudy’s professional path emerged in a natural way as he immersed himself in nature and books, learning as much as possible. With his childhood love of the natural world shaping the man he would become, Rudy has taken on the roles of biology and geology teacher, Army medic, museum curator, television and radio host, and USC’s first naturalist-in-residence. Looking back, Rudy says that he never imagined where life would take him.
“I didn’t plan this path. Back in the days when I was coming along, I never thought about finding a job. And I never ever went to college wanting to prepare for a job. The only reason I went to college was that I knew I couldn’t learn about everything I wanted to learn about on my own.”
Now, at age 75, almost every surface of Rudy’s office on the campus of the University of South Carolina is covered with books and natural artifacts, including seedpods, snakeskins, rocks, animal skeletons, and seashells, collected over a lifetime of natural exploration and discovery.
“I recognize the healing properties of being in nature, especially when the man-made world begins to feel overwhelming,” says Rudy. “When everything else is discombobulated, just take a little short walk — I’ve done this all my life — and that’s what I did on television programs for about 25 years. A national series visiting all 50 states, as well as Canada, Costa Rica, Russia, and Ukraine, and all they are is just walks in the woods. And just that is good. But if you know the names of things and the relationships between them, it helps you realize you’re a part of something bigger than yourself.”
Rudy grew up in Spartanburg as the oldest of four children, developing his love for the natural world at a very young age. “I had woods close to me, and so I would spend a lot of time there,” he says. “My mom’s mother was pretty good with medicinal and edible plants, so those stories came to me. And my parents saw me open dead animals — I wasn’t squeamish about blood and gore. I learned a lot of anatomy that way. I liked the whole sphere, and I was insatiable. My parents and teachers encouraged me.”
"Scene" - Google News
October 01, 2021 at 05:58PM
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The Nature Scene - Columbiametro
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