Stumbling Upon the Hoosier-ness of Volusia County

On a recent vacation we visited a local gem of a museum. Among the exhibits of fine art, Rockwell sketches, indigenous handiwork and a really big sloth. I'm talking bigger than your old man big. Over 9 feet tall of sloth. Amidst all that was a display that would make any Indiana museum proud.

The Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences is very worthy of your visit. TripAdvisor ranks it ninth among over 100 things you can do in Daytona. I agree. It has wondrous variety. It is very professionally curated. It has a planetarium feature. They even display the items they don't have on exhibit. And if you go in late July, it's air conditioned. That's probably true throughout the year, but it is an important consideration on a mid-summer day. In Florida. If you're a pale white guy. Or gal.

Fig. 1 - Sign pointing sun-blinded Yankees to the Doorway of Coolness.

Since I want to share some of the features of MOAS with fellow museum volunteers here in God's country, I fully intend to bore you with things I found interesting. Things like signage.

Fig. 2 - Exhibit sign

This exhibit sign has a lot of information, but not too much.

It admits the unknown and provides as much detail as is known.

It acknowledges the donor and includes the accession number, so volunteers can tell where it is kept when not on display, and where to look for more research data on the artifact.

All that on a small, neatly printed foam core board.








Things like seating.

I just found this cool. Versatile.

Fig. 3 - Crate Bench

Fig 4 - Crate stools showing construction

This bench is really four three-sided stools put together for convenience. A couple or small family can stop and sit together for a moment to view a particularly interest display. The stools can be borrowed and moved to another point in the room if you want to sit alone to admire another display. Staff can probably safely stand on one if a step is needed.

Bonus. They stack on a rolling cart.

Fig. 5 - Cart of stacked stools

Things like lighting.

A butterfly collection is illuminated to intriguing effect.

Fig. 6 - A butterfly collection is illuminated to intriguing effect ...

Fig. 7 - ... using LED strip lighting hidden behind the display frame.

Fig. 8 - Small items that would be lost on the bare, high wall are framed by lights from the track bars.

And finally, top lighting through a glass-topped case and onto an open lateral file drawer presents these unlabeled displays very pleasingly.

Fig. 9 - Glass tops and sides allow overhead lighting to illuminate displays

Fig. 10 - Flat file for storing small items

Now, about the Hoosier-ness.

Indoors in Florida is the last place I expected to see a familiar historical marker. The Root family has donated so many items to this collections and has been very generous in ensuring they are preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Fig. 11 - Historical marker

The collection includes vehicles, elements from an old drug store, and Coca-Cola memorabilia. 

Fig. 12 - Delivery vehicle

Fig. 13 - Signage over parlor booth

Fig. 14 - Coca-Cola clock advertisement

Fig. 15 - Coca-Cola dispensers and signage

One of the things I enjoyed about touring this museum was the sense of space. There was much to see, but it generally was not crowded. When a collection was crowded, it was intentional and it worked well for me. 

Fig. 16 - Stuffed animal display

 The final thing I want to share about this trip was the idea of displaying stored items. You saw that in the picture of the file drawer above. The following figure explains the concept.

Fig. 17 - Helene B. Roberson Visible Storage Building

Here are some other items displayed on glass shelves, on sliding wire walls, and as small static displays. 

Fig. 18 - Furnishings

Fig. 19 - Bowls and vases

Fig. 20 - Artwork

These items are unlabeled. We know nothing about them except they are part of a large collection. They are simply arranged and lit to show their beauty while they are kept in a locked room with glass walls and doors. MOAS makes the most of them while they wait to be brought out as future exhibits, complete with full explanations.

And I share the following just because they are pretty. This depiction of the Cinderella story is done by Lladro.

Fig. 21 - Lladro Cinderalla 

Fig. 22 - Nameplate

Fig. 23 - Cinderella and carriage detail

incompletely true

there’s something we should realize about our point of view.
and that is that it is only incompletely true.
it is a perspective. nothing more.
it’s suggestive—a part score—
of the incredible totality
of a comprehensive reality.

all that is is. that is all.
but who can take it all in and make a clear call?
all that we see is a part. just a part.
we can’t see what we don’t see,
and knowing that’s a start.

whoever claims more is just bluffing.

so it’s a wonder to me we accomplish anything
when not a single one of us can ever truly bring
a fully formed perception of exactly what is happening.
and everybody’s talking at one time and it’s so maddening.

part of the solution is to look for more.
not to be omniscient, like we know the score.
but to be the person who can share the floor
and gather people’s insights. bring them to the fore.

most of us were taught some type of golden rule,
but it seems to me to be the most forgotten tool.
it’s laid aside in deference to a personal agenda.
a path on rails so hard and straight and difficult to bend. a
closed file. a shut door.
an attitude that nothing more
can be said. or heard. no thought. no word.

when did it become a good idea to ignore the quiet voices?
when we do that aren’t we only limiting our choices?
why don’t we listen to those who don’t see what we see?
why don’t we include their sight in our reality?

i don’t agree that the loudest voice should win.
i don’t think victory should be decided just by din.
i think there’s room for much more humility.
for accord. for rewarding polite civility.

there’s something we should realize about our point of view.
and that is that it is only incompletely true.
but it can become a better thing and I think I know how, too.
for just a moment you be me while i am being you.

Anagram of Scared

My friend Terry just made me think. Very annoying in that way, Terry is.

We are given so many opportunities to be scared. Turning off the news damps it down a bit. But we are scared for each other. More troubling, we often are scared of each other. We are scared of the coming election. We are scared of the economy. We are scared about job security. We are just plain fearful.

It looks like we have everything we need. It's just in the wrong order. What if instead of scared we realized we have so many opportunities to be sacred? God is love. If you're not feeling particularly sacred at the moment, stop and love somebody. There you go. You're doing just fine at sacred. Now be sacred for somebody else. Change it up. Pick somebody you don't know. Even better, pick somebody you believe can't do anything for you. You're probably wrong, but go for it.

If we look for ways to be a light for somebody, we have less time for fear. If somebody is returning the favor, well then there are two lights, aren't there? Fear doesn't do well in the light. If you're of a mind to, share this. One person at a time let's generate a gajillion megawatts of light and send fear scurrying for a dark corner that is nowhere to be found. 

I'll start. I love you. If you are reading this, you are special to me. I want no fear between us. If you feel any, let's talk. 

That's one light. Please make another.

Come to Your Senses

How are you reinforcing the lessons you want to learn well? Do you trigger more than one sense?

I was listening to my father teach Sunday School this morning. We talked about a lot of things. Most of them had to do with Paul challenging people to live what they believe. But we also talked about communion. 

In my faith communion is a sacrament. It’s a sacred act that reminds us what we believe. In particular, it reminds us what we believe about our relationship with our God.

Communion involves eating a wafer of some sort and drinking a liquid, often dark juice or wine. These two elements are symbols of significant acts that we want to remember. Until today I had not thought about what a remarkable lesson this is. It involves all our senses.

During the ceremony surrounding communion we are reminded to look within. To examine ourselves. We hear the important lesson. 

Many times, we must rise, leave our seats, and walk to the front of the room. That is not one of the five senses, but acting intentionally is another good method of reinforcing a lesson. 

When the wafer is presented, we reach and pick it up. We touch it. It is a tangible reminder of an intangible concept. Likewise, when we drink we feel the liquid on our tongue. 

We smell the sweetness of the juice, and sometimes the fresh smell of newly broken bread as we bring the elements to our mouths.

We taste both the wafer and the liquid. We literally ‘take them in’ to our bodies. It is truly a multisensory experience.

I know I have friends of many different faiths here on Facebook. Do you have similar traditions or ceremonies? 

The lessons don’t have to be faith-based. Do you have examples of important life lessons that you are continually re-learning or re-celebrating? Do you use multi-sensory triggers to keep the lesson close? And if you and I don’t, how can we incorporate this lesson that I’ve taken for granted for more than half a century to make sure we hold onto the things worth keeping?

Thanks in advance for sharing!

Cluster Around Authenticity

I saw a bright, nearly full moon flirting behind a fan of silver gilded clouds. I was entranced. So beautiful.

Closer to earth, all the bugs were paying ardent court to the utility light at the corner of the driveway.

We owe it to ourselves to be inspired and intrigued by the real. I get a little nettled by bugs and other creatures drawn to lights that aren't authentic.

Millie

I just sat down and spent some time with Millie. She is what we fondly refer to as "an outside dog," meaning that I don't care who you are, you don't have enough lap for this dog.

But she remembers being a puppy like it's yesterday and she is convinced she'll still fit. Like last year's bathing suit, belief doesn't always make it so.

Anyway, as a a proper outside dog--and something of a canine guru--she thoroughly schooled me in the folly of approaching her freshly showeredand wearing a white shirt for some "us time."

She's all love. All dusty, hairy, slobbering, oh-scratch-me-there, now-over-here, now-back-there, you're-my-favorite-person-this-very-moment love. With a tail like a metronome in a tornado. She's pretty cool. In a cuddly, filthy, unconditional sort of way.

PACE Community Action Agency & Head Start

This article was published in the May 2016 issue of Striving for Success magazine.

New worlds unfold every day. Each morning, parents bring their children to a two-story brick building on Cosby Road in Washington, Indiana for just over three hours of instruction. These are fortunate kids. Not only are they being taught, they’re being closely observed. Teachers and classroom aides are assessing each child’s development, comparing their progress with norms for other three-to-five year-old children, and working creatively and determinedly to help the kids narrow any gaps. This is the kind of school you want your children to attend. But the entrance requirements are tough. Very tough.

The school is called Head Start and admittance is not first-come, first-served. Here, admittance is based on a point system. As a child, the more obstacles you have in your life, the greater the chance you will be accepted into the school. For example, if your family is homeless, if you have developmental disabilities, if you are in a single-parent family, or if you have had no pre-school education until now, your chances of attending here are better. If you fit two or more of these categories, your chances are greatly improved. The greatest need is served first. Are you still eager to qualify? Let me tell you more about the agency.

PACE Community Action Agency is a federally funded organization that strives to improve communities by encouraging self-reliance through a variety of programs and services. PACE operates Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Daviess, Greene, Knox, and Sullivan counties.

Head Start is a federally funded program that provides developmentally appropriate early-childhood-education services to eligible preschool-aged children while involving their total family in the child development process. It provides a comprehensive program to meet children’s emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs, as well as the needs of the family. Head Start provides health screenings to all children, including vision, hearing, speech, height, weight, lead, blood pressure and hemoglobin. Head Start staff inform parents of the results of the screening and discuss any follow-up or treatment that is needed. Early Head Start is a similar program geared for children from birth to three years old.

In addition to providing classroom education for children aged three to five years, PACE has staff who do 1-1/2-hour in-home visits with clients each week. These visits are parent-focused, stressing the parent’s role as their child’s primary teacher. Home visits include a variety of creative parent / child activities such as art, music and stories to promote the child’s growth and development. All areas of the Head Start program, including:  health, education, social services and parent involvement are incorporated into the home visits. Time is spent discussing the child’s progress, planning future activities, and sharing parent and family concerns.

There are also family services specialists who help connect families with resources in the community. They hold programs in the Head Start centers twice each month. Everything in the centers is 100 percent provisioned. To a client, let’s say a young single mother of an infant, this means she could come into a center carrying just her child and leave with infant formula, diapers, and other basic necessities. Please understand, these items are freely given for an important purpose. To help you understand, let’s delve into the mind.

Foundations for Learning

You and I first learned when we were newborns. When we were being held, if we locked eyes with our parent or caregiver and heard them speaking to us, it triggered feelings of security and jump-started our cognitive development. If we didn’t get that, we missed an important piece of the foundation for our learning. Likewise, as infants and toddlers we were vocal about our needs. If we were attended to and cared for, it reinforced our sense of security and we were better positioned for learning. If these needs were not met, then we devoted ourselves to survival.

Survival is a mode that eclipses creative thought and the natural investigative tendencies of children—the very activities that stimulate cognitive development. Unfortunately, survival is too often the default mode for children living in poverty. Many children live amid relational dysfunction, violence, and unhealthy lifestyles. As a result, they are developing more slowly than their peers who are being raised in homes that provide more resources and more order.

PACE Head Start Sites and enrollments
PACE Community Action Agency, Inc. has a grant to provide services for 388 Head Start age children (3-5 yr. olds) and 69 Early Head Start children (birth - 3 yr. olds). They provide this care throughout four counties.
Daviess County	Washington Center    (812) 254-6098	96
	North Daviess Elementary School – Head Start classroom     (812) 636-8000	18
Knox County	Vincennes Head Start Center     (812) 882-7927	142
	Bicknell Center     (812) 735-3916	32
Greene County	Eastern Greene Elementary School- Head Start Classroom       (812) 825-0153	18
	Linton Head Start Center     (812) 847-7687	40
Sullivan County	Carlisle Elementary School- Head Start classroom        (812) 398-3851	18

One obvious theme here is family. PACE/Head Start can influence children one-eighth of each weekday for nine months of each year. If these children—96 in the Washington center alone, and there is a waiting list—can be encouraged to thrive and even excel, then they are more likely to achieve greater things as students and to one day create better home lives for their own children. That is why PACE makes resources freely available to its clients.

Head Start and More

The PACE Community Action Agency, Inc. office at 2103 Cosby Road in Washington, Indiana hosts the Daviess County Head Start center. The facility has three classrooms. Each classroom has 16 children, a swath of bright colors, creative learning strategies, a Hatch Early Learning Preschool Computer for Kids, an iPad with age-appropriate software, and the most valuable resources--a teacher and 2 assistants. The school day is divided into two sessions. The first session meets from 8:00-11:30 a.m. The second session is from 12:30-4:00 p.m. Activities are planned so that each child can find success no matter where they are developmentally.

You may not be familiar with Hatch systems. Hatch’s All-in-One computer is designed for the preschool classroom with kid-friendly touchscreen hardware preloaded with iStartSmart learning software that builds early math and literacy skills. It monitors child progress as children play, showing administrators and teachers each child’s progress in skill development.

The second floor has offices for local and visiting staff members, rooms for teaching children with developmental needs, storage for many teaching aids such as manipulatives and blocks, an Early Head Start room, and meeting areas for groups. It also has resources reserved for adults. Head Start is a growing experience for parents and their children. Head Start staff members believe that while they can provide the child with a variety of learning experiences, the parents are the primary teachers of their children.

Resources for Adults

Head Start Parents. PACE makes resources available to parents, too. Upstairs at the Washington center, computers are freely available, providing Internet access for job searches, distance learning, research, or casual browsing. All Head Start parents are encouraged to further their education, whether it is increasing their literacy skills, getting their GED or going to college. Head Start staff members will assist the families by obtaining information and identifying resources that may be able to help. The room next door is separated by a large glass pane and furnished with sturdy toys so parents can bring their younger children and safely supervise them while using the computers.

The second floor is also where Family Services specialists host the bi-monthly programs for families, providing child care, guest speakers who present on a variety of useful topics, and the chance to meet other parents of Head Start students.

Other adults. For community members, PACE has two workstations equipped with Rosetta Stone language learning software. Just sign in at the front desk and use these workstations any time during business hours.

Progress

PACE Site Manager Pamela Padgett envisions a day when PACE has performed so well that it no longer is needed. That day is not near, but it is closer and some of that credit may be yours. Daviess County is a very supportive community where we readily invest in each other. Whether people realize it or not, PACE and Head Start are collaborating today with people at the top levels of many community organizations. Padgett says “It’s exciting that so many community leaders care.” City and county officials have visited the PACE facility on several occasions. 

De-labeling

What will make the difference and move PACE closer to its goals? “We are at a pivotal point where we will see change,” says Padgett, and “part of the problem is that when you are impoverished and don’t see a future, you feel so alone.” What can make the difference is a mirror of that bond between the newborn and the parent or caregiver. We need to lock eyes and communicate. Ms. Padgett says it so well. “When we see each other simply as people with no labeling, we’ll see change.”

Editor’s Note: You can see this program for yourself. Ms. Padgett invites people to visit and learn more about the programs PACE provides as well as linkages with other community organizations. Call PACE at (812) 254-6098. Their website is www.pacecaa.org.