loving art, science and creative kids
10/30/2020 5:18:23 PM
Over the summer I edited a second edition of “Lives of Museum Junkies,” bringing events affecting the museum community up to date. The American Alliance of Museums estimates that one-third of the nation’s museums and science centers will close as a result of COVID-19. Impression 5, the museum I founded in Michigan and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry look like they will survive. They do what they can to educate children who are sequestered and provide limited in-museum offerings for those needing help with homework. A variety of programs reach adults craving intellectual stimulation. Special exhibits like the one OMSI has on Genghis Khan are available with a timed entrance reservation.
What staff is doing is not easy. OMSI, for example, had to reduce its budget by half which meant laying off fifty-three percent of its employees Though the organization remains viable due to commitment and inventiveness of its staff and financial support from the community, each day is a struggle. Before Covid, like minded institutions across the nation, joined together to develop, share, and circulate exhibitions and programs. With museums concerned about staying alive, they lack the staff, time and resources to band together.
In the late nineteen-sixties there were a dozen science centers in the United States and another handful in Europe. Before Covid nearly three thousand dotted countries around the globe. Focused on increasing science literacy, each center developed unique attributes that make it a novel place to visit. Unfortunately, with tourism down and the entertainment business curtailed, the public has limited access to their resources at a time when it is needed the most. The pandemic has focused our attention on how important it is to listen to scientists and medical professionals who have years of training rather than giving credence to wishful thinkers and rumor mongers that extend Covid’s dangerous reaches. When open, science centers play a critical role in helping the public separate truth from fiction.
When I was a young wife and mother, I started a science museum in my basement. It was 1972 when Impression 5 Science Museum was incorporated as a non-for-profit organization in Lansing, Michigan. That action heralded the beginning of an adventure that changed a timid, naive woman into one capable of running one of the nation’s foremost science museums.
A wise man advised me, “When the time feels right, go for it! Don’t wait for everyone else to agree with your dreams because that never happens. Grab your own opportunities.” And that is what I did, though not alone. In Lives of Museum Junkies: Second Edition I share the joys and difficulties I experienced, as well as the struggles of eleven men and women who were on the leading edge of an international movement to create experiential museums dedicated to science.
As pioneers, we were change agents influencing the country’s education ethos. And, as visionaries, we broke from tradition by combining art with science, engineering, math, and technology. Years later schools followed our leadership with a curriculums known as STEM, and when the arts got included, STEAM education. We saw ourselves as promoters of lifelong self-improvement, practitioners of creative problem-solving, believers in equal opportunity, disseminators of the latest scientific information, and teachers who made learning so much fun that students were compelled to ask the next question. We wanted visitors to leave the museum yearning to know more.
We were unsophisticated when we started our museums and not skilled at fundraising, board development or staff management. We were artless in the way we constructed interactive displays and did not understand how chauvinism, race, poverty, and social class played a role in what we were doing. Included are sections called “lessons learned” so you will understand how the people I write about were changed by their experiences. Hopefully, these insights will be helpful to anyone attempting a new venture.
You’ll read about how the director of the New York Hall of Science fought Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and learn how directors dealt with deadly accidents, managed a devious press, and spoke to slippery insurance companies. You’ll see what it’s like to run a multimillion-dollar auction for the elite and read heartwarming tales about underprivileged children who were inspired by museum experiences. You’ll be introduced to dedicated volunteers like author Jean Auel of The Clan of the Cave Bear fame and staff in granting organizations like the National Science Foundation (NSF) who helped the movement grow.
For twenty-five years I built and ran science museums. In my late fifties, I took a risk by leaving the comfortable cocoon spun around me. With the help of twenty-two national museums and several board members, I left OMSI and started the Museum Tour Catalog to spread science literacy to two million households. My goal was to provide parents with information and hands-on manipulative devices so they could help their children be actively engaged and questioning rather than retreating to mindless television programs. Before retiring, the catalog was mailed to 2 million households annually. For eighteen years, the Museum Tour Catalog and science centers inspired toy companies to develop hands-on science materials for children. Today hands-on science and art kits can be found everywhere toys are sold. They are at Target, Michaels, Bi-Mart, Amazon and a host of other stores, including science museum gift shops.
Lives as Museum Junkies: second edition demonstrates how entrepreneurs who follow their dreams have to stay motivated and dedicated despite setbacks. Staying positive and reaching for a better tomorrow is as important today as it ever was then. As Norman Stiles implied in his children’s book Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum, the entire universe is everyone’s museum and we just have to fine tune the way we see things to take advantage of all that is there. I hope my writings will encourage readers to do just that.
Lives of Museum Junkies: Second Edition is presently available online in ebook and paperback formats. The print version will be in bookstores beginning Monday, November 2nd.
About homeless and runaway youth.
Virtual Book Talk at Lake Oswego Library, Tuesday, November 17th at 7pm.
For information, Go to https://www.ci.oswego.or.us/calendar/month/2020-11?og_group_ref_target_id=13
10/23/2020 9:14:33 PM
Chestnut trees are known to live 800 years. Imagine the changes that occur under their spreading limbs.
An Era of Possibility
COVID-19 is a wake up call, a shout out for resilience. The pandemic created a vacuum that opened space for possibility. Though the illness is horrific, it let us see things in that have been going on for the past several decades. The pandemic pointed to problems but also showed us what happens when society is thrust into a new era. We’ve left the industrial and computer ages behind and moved on to a world where advances in artificial intelligence and biotechnology are developing rapidly. The period we are in is called the fourth industrial revolution.
Able to communicate face to face worldwide without boarding a plane, the next decades will enable us to connect to friends who leave earth to reside on the moon. With 3D printers, machines that show emotion, bionic body parts, and genetically designed health care, old ways of operating are gone forever. To get prepared for changes to come look through prism where light from the past is broken into a rainbow of colorful possibilities on other side.
COVID, the prism in our hands, illuminated empathy and demonstrated why science is important. It made us pay attention to uneducated middle class men, who are unhappy and commit suicide in record numbers and let us see how many people suffer in this land of plenty. Being sequestered forced us to grapple with loneliness and learn to live in the moment, holding off plans for a future we don’t fully understand.
The pandemic showed us that good government matters and that leaders who carry the welfare of their countrymen and women in their hearts, mitigate the effects of the illness. Their actions showed us that the way we interact with neighbors matters and to act sensibly, government must be transparent, trustworthy, and held accountable.
Nations that practice multilateralism experienced synergistic benefits during the pandemic. The European Union, for example, is stronger for facing COVID, migration, and climate change together. International participation in youth’s rallies for global warming, the women’s movement, and Black Lives Matter marches demonstrate what is possible when like minded people build platforms for resilience and fight against seemingly impossible odds.
COVID brought pictures of the nation’s economic and political divide into our living room. We saw the plight of the poor, and how people of color and native populations are treated. We learned how interconnected poverty is with health care, unemployment and lack of affordable housing. And, in the midst of multiple traumas we learned how important it is to share in community and take time to relax and have fun.
The pandemic has already spurred discussions in how to make systemic improvements in the way society operates. I am more hopeful now than I was a year ago. There are times when things have to hit rock bottom before they get better. There is a lot to do.
The projected surge in migrations caused by drought, flooding, and unlivable conditions has to be faced head on. Climate displacement has already caused entire communities to leave their ancestors behind on islands and coastal areas. Western Alaskans are being forced to abandon their villages due to melting glaciers and erosion. We need to make plans to accommodate and help migrants resettle rather than treat them as pariahs. as we do now. But, there are signs of progress as well.
China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, has done an about face by instituting policies that shift their economy toward a low-carbon future. Since the United States dropped out of the Paris Accord, they have assumed a leadership position in greening the world through carbon neutral investments in foreign infrastructures. And though our government is not involved, individual states and companies have committed to lower carbon emissions.
During the next fifty years, artificial intelligence and biotechnology will lead the way. Have you noticed that more attention is being given to mind than to body activities these days? Fantasy sports and gaming, for instance, attract more people than attend live sporting events. A man like Steven Hawking could not have survived and contributed so well without advances in healthcare and AI. Symbols rather than the written word are used by youth who communicate with emojis and computer short hand. My son sent “<3” as an expression of love and best wishes. I had no idea what he meant.
Change in energy and materials technology influences the way buildings are constructed and transportation systems designed. From airplane windows we see solar panels and gardens on rooftops. City planners of costal cities are reimagining how to coexist with rising seawaters with some suggesting we bring it through town in canals like the Dutch do in Amsterdam.
Corporate capitalism is also embracing change by incorporating social responsibility into its mode of operating. 200 Chief executive officers, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, and General Motors’ Mary Barra, signed an agreement to move away from “shareholder primacy,” to include all stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, and consumers. By doing good, they expect to have a positive impact on global economies which in turn will be good for business.
No one knows for sure how this fourth revolution will fully evolve, except to know that the way our lives are conducted is bound to be different. My advice in how to cope with change is try to understand the past but not overly dwell on it. Rather, look to the future with curiosity and flexibility. Change can be exciting if you are a part of it. To prepare our children, teach them to be empathetic, creative, and competent problem solvers.
References:
Sandalow, D. (2019) Guide to Chinese Climate Policy 2019. COLUMBIA/ SIPA Center on global Energy Policy. PDF retrieved from POLICY.
Ball, J ( 2020The climate of Chinese checks: Easing global warming by greening Chinese foreign infrastructure investment. Brookings. retrieved from INVESTMENT.
Web site (2019) Climate Change Forcing Some Alaskan Villages to Relocate. Insurance Journal. www.insurancegournal.com/news/west/2019/06/20/530000.htm
Web site (2020) Moon to Mars Overview, NASA. retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars/overview
Walsh, B. (2020) A coming bio revolution is poised to change the world. AXIOS> retrieved from AXIOS.
Pranavathiyani,G (2017) Revolution of Artificial Intelligence in Science. Towards Data Science. retrieved from AI
Cevora, G. (2019) The relationship between Biological and Artificial Intelligence. Towards Data Science. retrieved from BIO & AI.
Gelles, D & Yaffe-Bellany,D. (2019) Shareholder Value is No Longer Everything, Top C.E.O.s Say. New York Times. Retrieved from BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE. #mce_temp_url#
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Art work is always for sale. CHESTNUT TREES - 20" x16" x 2" / Acrylic with tree bark on canvas / $325. contact me at [email protected].
10/16/2020 11:45:53 PM
Flying High
COVID brings home the fact that we live in community. One person can affect people living on the other side of the globe.
Whose Freedom is it?
The question raised is how far should freedoms go? Does freedom of speech give you the right to lie or incite hatred? Is a free press given the right to spread false rumors? The Declaration of Independence maintained that people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution set parameters under which laws of the land are enacted and the Bill of Rights spelled out civil rights and liberties for the individual: freedom of speech, press, and religion.
A war was fought to free the nation from tyranny by a foreign power. Since then, our citizens have been obsessed with the concept of freedom, with many considering it a right to do whatever makes them happy. happiness.
Whining about wearing masks and calling social distancing an infringement of personal freedom seems ludicrous, childish, and even dangerous. Why does anyone think that an individual's rights are more important than everyone's safety in a pandemic? Perhaps these "freedom lovers" grew up watching cowboy movies or space odysseys with wide open spaces between homesteads and planets where no one was paid attention to how they acted. Do they remember that even cowboys had to drop their guns off at the sheriff's office when they came to town?
There have always been constraints on how to behave, but COVID and protests against police brutality made us aware of what happens when an individual's pursuit of freedom impinges on the rights of others. This occurs often, but not in ways that are flaunted by extremist groups.
The Pilgrims left their homelands to come to the Americas because of religious persecution. This led to the Bill of Rights that prevented government from creating or favoring a religion. Unfortunately, many of the freedoms the founders cherished are being undermined today.
Packing the Supreme Court entirely with men and women of conservative Christian persuasion reminds me of the Inquisition, a time when individuals were denied the right to live according their spiritual conscience. Laws upheld by judges or made by legislators who place personal beliefs about the Almighty more important than the Constitution that separates governance from religion, can easily make criminals out of non-believers. When powerful people are firmly imbedded in dogma, they dismiss individuals and religions that countenance that LGBTQ is a biological condition, that women have the right to manage their own bodies, and that the universe is best understood by the study of science. A small group of nine can impinge on the freedoms of many.
The Declaration of Independence spells out why the colonists wanted to be free from England. Many of the disagreements they wrote about in the seventeen hundreds are similar to concerns expressed by individual States and citizens today. Quotes from the Declaration (about King George):
"He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States: for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization by foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither. . ." Today we have our own power elite obstructing naturalization by foreigners and discouraging migrations.
"He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices. . . " We again have an oligarch demanding absolute allegiance to his will alone.
"He has erected a multitude of new Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their sustenance. . . " A swarm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers (ICE) harass individuals who have lived peacefully in the country for decades, divide their families, and treat them inhumanely.
"He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our legislature." We send our army to foreign lands and station them in homeland cities without war being declared by the legislature.
"He has affected to render the military independent and superior to the civil Power." The president uses the military as his private army and sends them into states when not requested to do so and without the backing of congress.
"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our peoples." Though this is a stretch, leaders who deny global warming, allow the seas to be polluted, and destroy plant and animal life in record numbers, are the ones causing land and towns to be plundered by fire, floods, and drought. People are suffering in record numbers.
"He has excited insurrection amongst us. . ." When the Declaration was written this article talked of how King George incited native peoples to plunder and divide our colonizers. Today, our president divides our citizens and incites right and left wing reactionary groups that are bent on destruction.
Though we inherited the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as well as freedom of speech, press, religion and the right to bear arms, they were not given in a vacuum. We live in a global community of 7.8 billion neighbors, whose welfare affects our freedoms and happiness. In the 1700s there were an estimated 643 million inhabitants on earth.
Do to the way we trade and travel, their diseases reach our shores. A warming climate and wars push millions of families to migrate to foreign lands. They have no choice if they are to survive. There are now so many people on this planet, that we would do well to consider our collective human family when thinking of our own welfare, for they are connected and can never be separated again.
References:
Text of the Declaration of Independence. Britannica. retrieved from Britannica.
The Bill of Rights: What Does it Say? National Archives. retrieved from RIGHTS
Ellis, J,. (2016) Historian: What would Founding Fathers Think of Trump? CNN Opinion. retrieved from n.com/2016/05/04/opinions/what-would-founding-fathers-think-of-trump-ellis/index.html.
10/10/2020 3:13:09 PM
The following blog is the eighteenth letter in a series written during the pandemic to two children who call me grandma. It is an attempt to explain the election process without making them afraid.
Dear Hanan and Mirna,
At election time, politicians tell you how awful life will be if you don’t vote for them. Sometimes that is true but most of the time it is not. I lived through twenty elections and found most of them exciting. I always looked forward to staying up late on election night to find out who won—the Republican or the Democrat.
Part 18
My father was a Democrat and my Mother a Republican, but I don’t ever remember there being a problem because of it. They laughed when they told me they canceled out each other’s vote.
But, there are times when politicians who ask for you vote to vote for them say mean things about their opponents. That happened in 1828 when Andrew Jackson called the man running against him a “Jackass.” After that he put donkeys on all his election posters. Forty years later the donkey became the mascot of the Democratic party. Mascots are supposed to bring good luck.
The Republicans got their mascot when an artist by the name of Thomas Nast was not happy when the Democrats won an election. He made a cartoon showing an elephant caught in a trap set by a donkey. From then on he drew nasty cartoons with elephants and donkeys. The one on this page shows a Republican elephant lying on the ground blocking the road to an election victory while a politician grabs a Democratic donkey by the tail to keep it from falling into a pit of money problems.
When most elections were over, Republicans and Democrats would shake hands and become friends. They knew that to make the country work, they had to compromise. But, sometimes, people get so stuck on what they think is right that even relatives get angry and stop talking to each other. It happened when Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the Republicans. Some of the southern states would not put his name on the ballot because he was against slavery. Weeks after he won, seven states decided to secede (leave) the country. That started a civil war where a lot of soldiers died.
The first election I remember was the year Harry Truman was elected President. Truman was vice-president when Franklin D. Rosevelt died so he became the acting president until the election. I was nine years old and lots of people in my school wore buttons that said who their parents were voting for. Thomas Dewey was the Republican man running against Truman. He used to prosecute big-name mobsters before becoming governor of New York.
Republicans did not like the “New Deal” programs passed by Franklin D. Rosevelt when he was first elected in 1933 during a great depression. The New deal started because a lot of people did not have work and were starving. The programs the Democrats passed gave money to people who were unemployed because they lost their jobs. It gave them work in programs run by the government. A savings program called Social Security was started to make sure people have money when they are old. Republicans said it was a disaster and wanted Thomas Dewey to be president so he could get rid of it.
Lots of groups take polls before elections. They want to find out how people are going to vote so they can predict the winner. But, the polls and the people who talk about elections (we call them pundits) and even the Chicago Tribune newspaper got it wrong in 1948. When all the votes were counted Harry Truman won. He was a happy man but the newspaper was embarrassed because they got it wrong.
The two elections I remember the most, though, were the last two. In 2000 the Supreme Court had to choose between Al Gore and George W. Bush. My stomach was upset for days until it was decided. It came down to one state, Florida where a lot of mistakes were made. When the Democrats wanted the votes recounted and the Republicans didn't, the Supreme Court had to decide what to do. The Court made Bush president even though he lost the popular vote. He won because we have a system called the Electoral College that lets each state send people to say the way their state voted. Bush won more votes in 30 states which gave him a majority in the electoral college, but not the nation.
Many people were just as unhappy in 1916 because though more people voted for Hillary Clinton to be president, Donald Trump won votes in enough states to win in the Electoral College. Lots of Americans think that is unfair. I was too upset to watch the election results, so I went to my office to work on the new book I was writing.
Before there can be an election, though, there have to be people who want to be president. Politicians hold conventions where they nominate who is the best person to lead the country. Conventions are big parties where delegates from
each state sit together and cheer for the person they like. They decide who is going to run for president. It is interesting to hear what people think is the best way to run the country. I learn a lot watching them speak at conventions even when I do not agree with everything they say.
Everything is different this year because of COVID-19. The convention didn't occur as it usually does because it would have been too crowded and people don't keep their masks on. It was held on television without delegates to clap and cheer. The television conventions made it easy to understand what was said. There were no interruptions, but they were not as much fun to watch.
I painted this picture to show that we are a fractured America, a country split into many pieces by people who are not kind to each other. This year's election is an ugly fight between Joe Biden, who used to be vice-president and Donald Trump who is the president now. People are filled with hatred and distrust, and many family members don't talk to each other. Our news comes from reporters who think the same way we do. This election is not just a matter of name calling as it was in Andrew Jackson's day, for politicians tell so many lies that it is hard to know what to believe. It takes a long time to check on the facts to see if they are telling the truth.
On election night we used to invite friends over to watch the vote counts as they come in from each state. We stayed up late hoping to celebrate with a victory party for the person we wanted to win. There was always a lot of food to eat.
This year we can’t invite people to our house to see the votes come in due to the pandemic. And, because more people are mailing in their ballots instead of voting in person, we may not know who wins until days later.
I do hope that after the election people will listen to each other again and be willing to compromise without being nasty. It makes me afraid when I see angry people with guns threatening citizens who do not think like they do. It would not be good to have another civil war. If everyone has a place to live, food in their stomachs and a way to earn a living , we will have a smiling country where neighbors help each other. It will be up to you kids to keep the United States a kind and loving country.
References:
Leeson,S. 2019 ( Opponents of FDR’s New Deal called it a Disaster. The World, Innovation hub. retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-09-09/opponents-fdrs-new-deal-called-it-disaster
Pruitt, S. (2020) 8 Most Contentious UIS Presidential Elections. History. retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/most-contentious-u-s-presidential-elections
Soniak, M. (2010) How Did the Donkey & Elephant Become Mascots. Mentalfloss, Politics. retrieved from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/23805/how-did-donkey-elephant-become-political-mascots
I look forward to hearing from you. Do comment on below.
10/3/2020 2:52:35 PM
Heaven and Beyond
Creativity Amidst Chaos
As chaos swirls around us, it calls on our creativity. In the face of multiple challenges, we have to stay positive to maintain sanity. Though seeds of our problems were planted years ago, it was staying home with more free time that we recognized the effects of climate change, police brutality and a flawed health care system. Watching society fall apart so rapidly took most of us by surprise, yet it also became a call for action. According to faculty at Boston University's School of Global Affairs, times like this often initiate change for the better. When the initial shock of the pandemic in Italy subsided, COVID-19 made the European Union stronger. Countries came together, sharing information and resources that helped them get better control of the virus.
I dare say that no one is complacent today. We've been forced to look inward and, though we've seen much that is bad, their is also good. We're more realistic and more inventive in the way we communicate and manage our days.
Last weekend I went to a Zoom wedding. Rather than attend an over-the-top extravaganza, I sat in jeans watching two very happy people exchange vows with only six family members in live attendance. I was so close to the couple I could see smile lines on their faces. Their eyes twinkled as they looked at each other with such warmth that I was drawn into their circle. We gallery of watchers applauded and wished the couple well, saying we would be there for them as their married lives evolve.
Zoom marriages, celebrations of birth, memorials, and computer matches keep people connected. We are fortunate to live today and not in the 14th century during the black plague. Modern medicine, computers, heated and air cooled homes and supermarkets are blessings not to be taken for granted.
Last weekend, I watched an NPR documentary about 30,000 Jewish refugees confined to a one-square-mile ghetto area in Shanghai during the Japanese invasion of China. Isolated behind barbed wire fences for six years, they were forced to reexamine their values and find ways to stay positive. They educated their children and lived in the present, saying they were one day closer to the end of their confinement. They realized that posessions have little value for they are easily taken away. What is important is maintaining health, being with family and friends, having a joyful spirit, and accepting each day as a gift.
A friend witnessed the best of America while visiting a relative near the Big Hollow Fire north of Vancouver, WA. Fleeing families were invited into the homes of strangers or allowed to camp on their lawns. Food, clothing, toys, and equipment poured into the community to help refugees who did not know if they would have a home to return to. No one asked if they were a Republican or Democrat. Across the country, people give aid to those who need it and get joy from doing so. They are good citizens.
A woman called to tell me the pandemic was a blessing, for it gave her time to think about who she was and what she wanted to do next. She started planning a new business venture and is in the initial stages of executing her dream. Several artist friends in their studious are producing works inspired by the pandemic. Their insights will grace the public with magnificent displays of beauty when the pandemic is over.
A physician friend is making sculptures that surprise the neighborhood. Though a novice metalworker, he learned to weld, cut and assemble pieces that look professional. The woman across the street from him stays occupied by making quilts. She hangs lovely creations over her porch railing before giving them away.
Many people pass as they head for the trail by our house. One neighbor commented that because of her daily walks, she is stronger and healthier than she was last February. It is apparent from they way she looks that the excursions make her complexion glow.
There are more flex jobs and more people working in pajamas, proving to employers that they can get work done from home. It is likely that some hybrid of home and office work will evolve to replace "the daily grind" in an office setting. This should lower traffic congestion and decrease the need for new office buildings. Jobs for software developers and customer support increased dramatically.
Though vacations by plane decreased, families went on road trips and enjoyed nature where wildlife is thriving. Monkeys were seen roaming streets in Thailand. A bear was spotted navigating a town in Alaska while humans were indoors. My neighborhood, only ten minutes from center city, is frequent by deer, coyotes, owls, raccoons, possums, and hundreds of rabbits, animals not seen five years ago.
Pharmaceutical and health research companies are making massive technological advancements in their search for a vaccine. People who get COVID-19 today have a greater chance of surviving than they did seven months ago. There have been tremendous advances in digital health care that will serve us well in the future.
At a scale not seen in 50 years, millions of Americans returned to cooking. Interest in online tutorials and recipe websites have surged. IKEA, revealed how to make its famous meatballs and Swedish cream sauce and many restaurants are sharing their secret recipes so people can try them at home. Cooking could make a difference to the average person's health, for those who do so eat less fat and sugar. According to Hans Tapariea, professor at NYU Stern School of Business, the newfound proficiency in in the kitchen could be lifesaving.
Drive-in concerts have sprung up all over the country for those who miss live music , yet don't want to be in crowds. Lady Gaga made a new album for dance-floor fun use in our living rooms. Taylor Swift put out her best ever studio album. The Chicks returned after 14 years with "Gaslighter" reigniting a love of twangy empowerment songs.
The Opera in Barcelona, Spain performed to an attentive audience of house plants in July and then donated the plants to health care workers. And, Hamilton was made available to the public as a movie.Coronavirus sent theater online. In the U.K., an online view of One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean had 2.6 million viewers on Zoom and YouTube. Broadway and West End playgoers can watch musicals and dramas at home via Broadway HD for a monthly fee of $ 8.99.
Puzzles and board games are cool again and parents spend more time with their kids. Recognizing that homeschooling is hard, they are praising teachers again for the heroes they are. Now that most schools offer distance learning, teachers are learning how to keep students engaged. It is not easy. Thousands of tablets were handed out to students who need them. Computer literacy may improve because of it, becoming an equalizer of the future.
Museums got creative by showing their collections virtually, offering special classes and lecturers through Zoom, and developing in-house and distanced programming that meets social distanced and hygiene guidelines. OMSI started a program to help children with their homework.
Bike lanes stayed open when many park trails closed. Bicycle companies are doing a booming business. It is a healthy, non-polluting way to travel that has caused a shortage of cycles as anxiety over public transportation and a desire to exercise sent the demand surging.
As toilet paper disappeared from store shelves, bidet sales boomed, which was good news for our behinds...and less wasteful. Peer-reviewed research claims bidets are superior to toilet paper, a position supported by many doctors. Bidets are common in Europe, but Americans always had an aversion to the idea. The pandemic may bring about a change in attitude.
People looking for activities to occupy their free time after events closed, turned to gardening in record numbers. Burpee & Co. sold more seeds than any time in its 144 year history. Neighbors, new at farming, grew tomatoes and cucumbers in their yards and shared the excesses with their friends. Gardening was an especially good activity to do with children.
In our neighborhood, people raised garage doors and chatted with friends in driveways or on porches during happy hour. Neighbors brought their own drinks, food and utensils and sat on chairs arranged six feet apart. As always, there was much to say.
References:
Haneline, A (2020) Good News Prevails: 100 positive things that happened in 2020 (so far) retrieved from NEWS. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2020/07/29/100-good-things-from-2020-positive-stories-news/3257222001/
Editors (2020) 8 Positive Things since the COVID-19 Pandemic Started, medikeeper. retrieved from https://medikeeper.com/blog/positive-things-since-covid-19-pandemic-started/
Vargas, T. (2020) He asked stranger to share positive things that happened to them because of the pandemic. Hundreds of revealing responses followed. The Washington Post. retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/he-asked-strangers-to-share-positive-things-that-happened-to-them-because-of-the-pandemic-hundreds-of-revealing-responses-followed/2020/07/17/d42dcfcc-c875-11ea-b037-f9711f89ee46_story.html
Taparia, H. (2020) How Covid=10 is Making Millions of Americans Healtihier. New York Times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/opinion/covid-cooking-health.html
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