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It’s been just over 2 months since the first ever Iowa Outdoor Youth Summit; at least two young Iowans attended the Outdoor Nation Youth Summit and Festival in New York City, and summer is here with especially surprising weather. Here it is the 4th of July and summer officially half over. Impossible; my garden isn’t even all mulched!
So far I’ve gone for a few bike rides, enjoyed some ice cream cones and visited the Des Moines Arts Festival. Twice. I’ve helped facilitate The Ultimate Family Challenge where Culture Inc. took 12 families to Pilgrim Heights for the first weekend of June. It was especially fun to see the kids enjoying the out of doors. Here are some outdoor updates–
I grew up in southern California, and have often been asked what I’m doing in Iowa. But I’m proud to live in a state with such a strong history of civil rights, fairness and equality. Iowa again blazed this trail through extending the right to marry to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. This controversial Iowa Supreme Court decision follows a pattern established many years ago.
The Fort Des Moines Museum celebrates the heroes who brought gender and racial equality to the United States Army during World War I and World War II. The Museum honors the U.S. Army’s first officer candidate class for African American men in 1917, and the establishment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC’s) in 1942. Videos show an African American soldier and a WAC (Women’s Army Ausiliary Corps) telling about their training at the Fort and their lives overseas.
The Museum hosts meetings, parties and offers educational programs.
Polk County Conservation is collecting input from the public about renovations for Yellow Banks Park in the southeast part of Polk County, and for Thomas Mitchell Park in Mitchellville, the eastern part of the county. You can fill out a survey here–
…and you can see the survey results here–
My next birthday is one that ends in a “0” and requires a significant celebration. Last week I was told that this, my 60th year, is one of extraordinary challenges and opportunities in areas I’ve been exploring all my life. One of those areas is fear of heights. Learning to climb poles comfortably was a huge step toward conquering that fear, but now I’m thinking about skydiving on my birthday. I’m not sure I can do it; jumping out of a plane requires REAL courage–like that of some of the women I’ve studied during March–Women’s History Month.
Like Elinor Smith, who was born just a few years before my mother. Both of them were born before women were allowed to vote in the United States. Smith set a number of aviation records when she was still in her teens. She got in trouble for at least one of those records, flying under the four bridges that spanned the East River in New York City. Ms. Smith died at 98; her obituary on National Public Radio described her as a woman who started flying lessons when she was ten years old! I had never heard of her, but for a while she was more famous and accomplished than Amelia Earhart.
It might be hard to believe that women did these things nearly 100 years ago, but women have been flying since 1784 when Elisabeth Thible went up in a hot air balloon. Such achievements did not come easily. Women have fought for the right to do them. Winged Victory is a great place to learn more about the fight, as it was and continues.
During the long winter, I read a book called “Gone to Soldiers.” One of the characters was a woman who ferried planes from factories to air force bases. The women were never recognized as military personnel until 1977! They received few benefits for their work, but they loved to fly and wanted to contribute to the war effort.
Here’s hoping that each of us can learn to fly in her own way!
March 2010–Women’s History Month–flew by as is its habit. Again I am aware of my ignorance about the women who have shaped our country and our world. And again I find I know only a little about the women I did learn about as a kid. Amelia Earhart for instance…
The other night I watched the movie, “Amelia.” Before I watched it, I really had no idea of her marriage, her writing or her fight to achieve her dreams of flying. Her first flight across the Atlantic was as a passenger.
Mrs. Frederick E. Guest, the woman who financed the Friendship Flight, hired two men to do the actual flying. Amelia didn’t even get paid. The real accomplishment for a woman then was just making it across the pond by air. If they could see us now! Earhart did, however, fly solo across the Atlantic a few years later.
We take flying so for granted now, it’s really an awakening to see the movie’s depiction of the genuine risk and fear people had. Never knowing if they would return. And finally, Amelia Earhart did not return.
People are still looking for traces of her and her plane, lost on July 2, 1937. TIGHAR has some fascinating video and scientific information about the organization’s 20-year search for a trace of what happened to Earhart, her navigator Fred Noonan and their plane, the Electra.
The movie “Amelia” is described as a biography, and I understand it is fairly accurate. But I’m always a little skeptical, so in addition to the links on this post, check out Earhart’s official Web site as well as the books on which the movie is based–
Go outside! It’s spring, and Iowa is joining a broad based movement to renew a close, personal relationship with the out of doors.
On January 29, 2009, President Barack Obama signed his first bill into law–The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. It extends the rights of women and other minority groups, to sue for equal pay for equal work.
Lilly Ledbetter was paid less than her male co-workers for almost two decades, but she didn’t realize it until it became too late to bring it to court. The bill is a response to a controversial 2007 Supreme Court ruling that severely restricted the statute of limitations on equal pay litigation. The original Court ruling gave a plaintiffs only 180 days within the initial incident of discrimination to file a complaint. Pretty ridiculous when it’s not always easy to find out what all your co-workers are paid! The new bill extends the statute of limitations for 180 days after the last discriminatory pay check.
When the President signed the bill, he talked about the impact of unequal pay on employees, families and communities. As Steve Hilderbrand wrote in the Huffington Post:
“If anyone ever asks you, ‘Does it make a difference which political party controls Congress,’ I hope this is one clear and important example of what a difference it will make in the lives of millions of Americans who have suffered from discrimination in the workplace, that under Democratic control, equal pay for equal work will now be the law of the land.”
This is a great team building activity I’ve used for many years. Once at a 4-H Camp, we used 4-H Box Lids as the “marshmallows.” When I facilitated a program based on the Wizard of Oz, I challenged the group to cross the field of poppies instead of a chocolate river. Creating a powerful story or metaphor is key to the activity’s success. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can be loosely interpreted, or a field trip to a chocolate factory work well.
Procedure–
Set up boundaries such as two ropes with a wide space between (this is the river); the space varies with the size of the group. Make sure the space is wider than the group would be in a straight line.
Have the participants line up on the outside of one rope, and tell them that they have spent the day in a chocolate factory, eating as much chocolate as they want but now they can’t wait to get home and have some healthy food. However, the chocolate vats have sprung a leak and they are now looking at a giant chocolate river they must cross before they get home.
They must get the entire team across the chocolate river, but it is too hot to swim across, and too deep to walk across. (Obviously, they cannot walk around the river, since it does not end just because the ropes do).
The only way to get across is by using the large, fluffy marshmallows that you provide (use felt, carpet or cardboard squares, as long as they’re not too big. Give the participants about one square per person.
Unfortunately, the current in the river is so strong that it actually sweeps the marshmallows away if no one is touching them (with a hand, foot, or other safe appendage) If the marshmallows are left without human contact, take them away immediately.
It will take a good 45 minutes for the group members to solve the initiative, and you will probably need another set of eyes to make sure that all the marshmallows are being anchored.
Possible processing questions include:
I still remember the first time hill I rode down after my dad took my training wheels off. Such a feeling of exhilaration and freedom! I still like to ride my bike, and that feeling has never gone away. I got back into cycling in 2008, and rode the MS 150 in eastern Kansas with my brother’s team. Then I spent five wonderful days on Sanibel Island in Florida, with only a bicycle for transportation.
If you don’t have a bicycle, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get one. The Des Moines Bike Collective, at 617 Grand Avenue, repairs used bicycles and sells them at a reasonable cost. They also offer classes on bicycle maintenance.
Where can you ride? Streets are okay, if you ride carefully, but it’s more stressful than riding on trails. The Des Moines area has about 300 miles of wonderful trails for biking. Some of them lead out into the countryside where you can glide through wooded areas and between cornfields. Many trails lead to restaurants and bars and parks where you can stop and rest in a park or get a snack at a store.
If you get started and decide you really like riding, then think about riding your bike across Iowa. The Des Moines Register sponsors a ride across the state every year, called RAGBRAI. As part of RAGBRAI, the newspaper sponsors a group called The Dream Team. Experienced cyclers are paired with teens. The group trains together during the spring and summer, preparing for the big ride across the state in late July.
Women across the world are into bicycle riding and racing. Last spring I watched young women in Paris riding their bikes to work in skirts and heels! Find out more about women and cycling and see if it’s for you.
I’m STILL learning about money! During the last nine months, I’ve written checks bigger than I thought possible for remodeling my house, putting in a new driveway and front porch. It’s really exciting to be able to do these things, and I expect to enjoy them for many years after they’re done! But I’ve had to revise my whole attitude about money, get some help and limit my spending to things I can pay for in cash. Those were novel ideas even five years ago.
Chrysalis After-School helps girls attain economic independence. Through programs like Bank and Store, outside speakers and Financial Champions, girls learn how to handle money, how to save, use a bank account and use credit wisely. The Veridian Credit Union has gotten high marks from CAS Facilitators for the programs they’ve brought in. Veridian offers multiple workshops tailored to any age group. Topics discussed are:
The contact for programs in Erica Andersen; her phone number is 515-289-5511.
