Traveling Trunk

Not everyone has the opportunity or the inclination to visit historical sites across our country.   My daughters were fortunate enough to travel to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Washington, D. C. after they finished their 8th grade year along with their classmates.  Since I was a teacher as well as their mother, I was invited to go along as one of the parent chaperones.  I jumped at the chance to travel by chartered bus, at night, across Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to share these moments from history with my daughters and their classmates.  Actually I saw it as an opportunity to use some of the information later in my curriculum of American Lit (plus it was a free trip for me since I was a teacher, the cost was picked up).

Unfortunately a busload of just-out-of-school-for-the-summer 8th graders who saw traveling on a bus as a great sleepless adventure did not share my enthusiasm for exploring the historical battlefield.  Even my daughters remember little of our stop at the Visitors Center, the tour of the Battlefield itself, and the stops at the monuments.  Sigh.....

Just three years ago my oldest daughter and her husband asked us to travel with them to Gettysburg, then on to Washington, D. C.  We jumped at the chance.  First we like doing anything with our daughters, so this would be a fun trip.  Second, my husband really enjoys history, and since our son-in-law is a history teacher, this would be a great opportunity to share information about one of our country's greatest battles and to visit the nation's capital.  Finally my aunt, my dad's only surviving sister, lives in Shenandoah, Virginia, along with two of my cousins and their families.  I had not seen them since my grandfather died many years ago, they had never met my husband or the rest of my family, and this would be fun to reconnect with them.

Our visit to Gettysburg was different than my previous three trips.  Even though I had been an adult on the most recent two (and only 11 the first time there), having 80 8th graders in my charge had shifted my focus from the historical aspects of the visit to watching for unruly behavior.  The Visitors Center offered many displays, exhibits, and movies to help one remember the events leading to the Civil War and Lincoln's famous address.  However, much of the information fell on deaf ears and the movie was shown to students who took the dark room as an opportunity to sleep.  The visit three years ago was very different! 

One piece of folklore I had heard when I moved to Francesville to teach years ago was that Lincoln's funeral train traveled from Lafayette to the Chicago area, then south to his burial site at Springfield, Illinois.  The train tracks were located behind West Central High School, running behind the football field and water treatment facility.  For me, that was a little bit of information that made his death even more 'local' than his boyhood home in the southern part of the state.  Sure enough, at the Visitors Center was posted a map of his last train ride to his burial site, and Brookston, Chalmers, Reynolds, Monon, Francesville, and Medaryville were on the map.  Proof!

Megan, my daughter the librarian, is always searching for ways to bring history to her students at Clinton Prairie.  She discovered that she could sign up for the Traveling Trunk that would come to her school.  She could unpack it and find different types of artifacts for the students to peruse that would depict life for not only the soldiers on the battlefield but also for the residents of the small town that became very famous after the smoke cleared.  Each spring when the trunk arrives, she sets up stations in the multi-purpose room for students to experience the medical care, the food consumed, the music played, and the clothing worn.  Since her husband teaches several 8th grade social studies classes, his students spend time working their way through the stations with accompanying worksheets and projects.  Many of the high school students stop by to visit the displays during their US History classes or lunch time.  It has become a very popular exhibit.

Not everyone will have the opportunity to travel to Gettysburg to spend several days soaking up the history of the Civil War, nor will everyone have the inclination to spend their vacation time exploring battlefields.  However, the traveling trunk can bring a little bit of history to students across the country and perhaps spark their interest for more knowledge about the events that shaped our country.

 

 

Reading Is Alive and Well

This past weekend my daughters, our youth minister's wife, and I attended the Women of Faith conference at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.  Over 9000 women gathered together Friday evening and all day Saturday to listen to speakers, sing with worship songs, and to become "Survivors from Revival."  This was the second time my youngest daughter and I attended the event,  and while our friend had attended several in the past, it was her first with us.  My oldest daughter was a rookie at Women of Faith, but she is ready to attend the event in Chicago next year.

But I digress....

The title of the blog post is "Reading Is Alive and Well" and indeed, it is!  Many of the speakers had also written books, just as the musicians who performed had recorded CDs.  At the breaks between the sessions, women could be found in the concourse, perusing the book tables and purchasing volumes to take home with them and read through at their leisure.

In fact my daughters purchased the 'special' which included a tote bag and five items.  The choices were many of the books, CDs, bracelets, necklaces, mugs, and other sundry items.  My daughters selected three books, a CD, and a DVD of one of the speakers they particularly enjoyed.

Now, you have to understand this.  One of my daughters is a librarian and definitely inherited her mother's love of reading.  The other daughter enjoys only those books by Nicholas Sparks and those that she reads to her four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter.  For her to want to read these books was amazing to me.  They split the cost of the 'special' and were making plans about who would read which book first.

It was encouraging to me as a Book Lover to see so many women picking up books, scanning the backs, flipping through the contents, then passing them to the ladies behind the tables and exchanging cash or credit cards for the bags containing the purchased books. 

Our friend verified with me that I had a copy of  The Best Yes, written by one of our speakers, Lysa TerKeurst.  I did, but it is on my Nook.  Not too easy to lend that copy to anyone!  So she purchased her own copy.

Step into a Barnes and Noble or a Book World or a Books A Million and you will see many browsing the shelves.  Check out a library and see people, young and old, with stacks of books at the check out counter.  Gaze upon the ladies attending Women of Faith any weekend across the country and see the books that are tucked into suitcases to take home and read following the event.

Yes....reading is alive and well.

 

 

 

 

 

Killing Lincoln? Killing Kennedy? Killing Patton?

In the past few years, my selection of books for reading in my spare time have shifted from fiction from the Best Sellers list to nonfiction.    I have been reading more Christian based books, advice from Proverbs 31 Ministry, devotionals from Joyce Meyer, and a look at Biblical characters through the eyes of Liz Curtis Higgs.

I have also delved into other non-fiction books, particularly those written by  Bill O'Reilly.  While I don't watch his show on Fox and I often do not agree with his view on politics, I really enjoyed reading his "Killing" books.  

Actually I have read only one...Killing Kennedy.

A friend recommended this to me, and I took the advice and added the title to my Nook.  The narrative hook in the book did just that....hooked me into reading the entire book in record time.

Why did I find it so captivating?  Because I remembered many of the things that happened in it.

Now granted, I was a little girl when Kennedy was killed, but I do remember it.  I was home from school, sick, and I was sitting in the family room, watching television.  I don't remember what the program was, but I do remember it being interrupted for a special announcement.  I remember watching Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald as all of America watched, once again on the television screen.

For those of you who need a comparison....do you remember where you were on 9/11?  Do you remember watching the second plane hit the second tower?  Same feeling.  My mother and I watched a tragedy unfold in front of our eyes on the television in our family room.

Reading the book filled in many holes from what I remember.  Reading the book brought back memories of a time when life was much different than it is today.  Reading the book gave me an adult perspective of a child's viewpoint.

I haven't read Killing Lincoln yet, but it is on my "To Read" list.  My husband and I have visited Gettysburg several times.  We have been to Ford Theatre in Washington D.C.  I grew up in southern Indiana and visiting Lincoln's Boyhood Home was a quick trip from our house.  Lincoln's funeral train passed behind the high school where I taught on its way to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois (and no, I was not teaching there when the train passed by---think about it!).  But the route  was depicted in an exhibit at the Gettysburg Museum--the proof!

This morning I heard Bill O'Reilly promoting his new book, Killing Patton, on the Fox & Friends.  Will I add this title to my "To Read" list?  Absolutely?  My father was a World War II Veteran, and this is a part of his history. 

Romanticism

Hearts and flowers?  Hugs and kisses?  Candlelight and champagne?

Those are the images that come to mind when one hears the word 'romance.'

However, in literature, none of the above items relate to Romanticism.

Sipping champagne with Edgar Allan Poe while the raven is tapping at the door?  I don't think so.

Ichobod Crane, with his long lanky physique, doesn't really seem one to bring flowers to Katrina (but I think he may have done this!).

No...romanticism in literature is quite different from the images generally associated with intimacy.

Communion with nature ---think about Thanatopsis and the nature images associated with death.

Gothic - this screams of Poe.

The exotic and supernatural - a man falling asleep for 20 years?  Does the name Rip Van Winkle ring a bell?

Yes, Romanticism is quite the adventure in literature.  Take a seat in your most comfortable chair and enjoy!