October 23 , 2008
Hothouse of the Imagination
The feedback I'm hearing about our first big museum conference on October 3-4 is so inspiring that we're going to try to offer the same program on the eastern side of the state next spring. One person wrote, " I thought it was one of the best conferences I've been to in a long while, and the fact that it was provided at no cost to us was even better. I kept thinking of colleagues who should have been there to take advantage of it! I left with many great ideas to try out. In particular I thought the sessions with Heather and Bill and Lynn Vasquez were excellent."
The most amazing feedback came from Erika Neal and Lois Conley at the Blackworld History Museum in St. Louis. It is a list of the ways they thought of to increase interactivity in an already "cutting edge" museum. To read it is to celebrate the fact that human beings are born with the spark of creativity.
"Cutting Edge Strategies for Museums" took place in the beautiful facilities of the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence. We had fifty-five people there, some from as far away as Branson. Our presenters were Aili McGill and Elizabeth Milikin Bradley from the Conner Prairie Living History Museum; Heather Widener and Bill Obrochta from the Virginia Association of Museums; Lynn Vasquez from the Kansas Department of Education; and Bill Gerling from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Love of Words, Love of Ideas
Julie Douglas begins with Noah Webster's birthday last week, then takes us into the disscussion circle at READ from the START to see how parents respond to the training we provide. The anecdote about the youngster and the teen in the supermarket is one you'll remember.
A Month of Reasons to Read First!
Our big special project this year involves ten selected communities going all out with family reading events for a solid month. This month is supposed to bring together all sorts of organizations in a community. Talk about getting on the same page! The organizations write their own playbook for how to raise public awareness, and then the action begins. Julie Douglas has a news update on this project. So many great things happened in the first two towns, that it's hard to keep Julie from floating off into space!
Governor's Humanities Awards, 2008
Yesterday in the glorious surroundings of the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City, we conferred the annual humanities awards and recognized students and teachers who excelled in National History Day. This ceremony is a peak experience for us, and for each awardee. I hope you will visit our web pages on these remarkable people!
Nominations for the 2009 awards are now open. The deadline is January 9, 2009. The Announcement of the categories and procedures is on our main page for the Governor's Humanities Awards.
Battle of Westport Exhibit Opens With a Bang!
Last Saturday, a throng converged at the Swope Interpretive Center in Kansas City for a Civil War reenactment and the grand opening of an upgraded exhibit on the Battle of Westport. An MHC grant supported the refurbishing. Days and days of hard work went into the program and the exhibit, so hats off to Dan and Alana Smith, museum consultant extraorinaire, Alisha Cole, and her husband, Mel. The photo at right was taken by Michelle Martin, part of a beautiful set of pictures at her outstanding web site. There's another photo set at Winding River (see our sidebar at left about wingingriver.com). Alisha Cole was on hand for the day's events, and we've got her story and more pictures on the next page.
"Gumbo Bottoms" History Musical!
If you’ve ever viewed any of the Missouri River Folk History DVDs at Western Historical Manuscript Collection in Columbia, you’ll understand why Meredith Ludwig was so inspired by the stories she heard. Fred Oerly, born in 1922, can remember when his dad took him to the river to watch a house in the Overton Bottoms cave into the water. Lottie Klein knows what it’s like to walk through gumbo. Born in the bottoms, she grew up with the blackish goop between her toes and watching it pile up on the wagon wheels. Lucy Coleman was raised on Wilson Island in the middle of the river. Her family farmed the land with a black family. While racism was rampant elsewhere, Coleman declared, “We needed each other.”
These river residents and many more convinced Ludwig that the Missouri River was in need of a musical. Teaming up with composer/musician Cathy Barton, Gumbo Bottoms, A Big Muddy Musical will celebrate its world premiere at Thespian Hall in Boonville, November 21 - 23, 2008. Pictured at left are the stage director, Lesley Oswald, Meredith Ludwig, and Cathy Barton in Thespian Hall.
The show is set in 1928. It follows the story of Vivian Marks, a wealthy easterner, who discovers that her fortune has been reduced to a piece of bottomland in Missouri (“Misery,” as she sings in the opening song). Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that her rich bottomland has been taken by the “Wiley Guiley Mighty Mo.” The story continues with laughs and music as big city wealth clashes with rural river life.
The production is sponsored by Turner Hall River Rats for the Arts, and funded in part by Boonville Tourism Commission. For more information please visit www.gumbobottomsmusical.com or call 660-882-5523 for tickets and reservations.
Tell Your Story at "Just One More Book"
I pass along this note from Andrea Ross & Mark Blevis:
You are invited to participate in Just One More Book!!, a free online audio program (podcast) that promotes and celebrates literacy and great children's books -- without advertising or sponsorship of any kind.
Just One More Book!! features book chats, listener-submitted book reviews and interviews with authors, illustrators and literary experts. Busy parents and educators can now discover great read-aloud children's books while they are occupied with the many tasks that would otherwise rob them of the opportunity to research great children's books in more traditional ways.
As we head into our third season, we are hoping to increase listener participation and would be grateful if you would take a few minutes to call our hotline (1-206-350-6487) and tell us about one of your favourite children's books so we can include your message in our show.
