by wordm2 | Mar 27, 2024 | Blondins' Assignment America
Joyce was visibly excited, “Let’s go out!” She pointed at two events in the Key West entertainment section, both scheduled for Saturday night: a fundraising costume party that she started promoting heavily and Fabuloso! Fabuloso! a burlesque show at The Tennessee Williams Theater. Instantly weighing the options, I started lobbying hard for the bump and grind.
Seeing my enthusiasm for burlesque, Joyce tried to turn the tide. She led us to her huge theater costume collection, which I read as an attempt to win Betsy over. With great drama, Joyce began pulling out beautiful turn-of-the-century gowns one after another. It seemed the tide was turning. Then Joyce made a fatal error. She pulled out a Viking helmet complete with horns and nose guard and offered me a fur trimmed, vest-like warrior top and said, “Mark, this is perfect — all the women will want you. Try it on! Come on, try it on!” Cornered, I grudgingly put on the helmet, and Joyce exclaimed, “Oh my god, I’m sure you’ll win best costume award, won’t he, Betsy!” I could only image how she would complete me from the waist down. I suspect even Betsy harbored some sympathy, envisioning my suffering in a Viking costume all night.
They continued to hold up the beautiful dresses and shawls, with Joyce remarking how stunning Betsy would look, and I kept imagining half-naked women strutting across the stage. Luckily, they read my mind and Joyce finally conceded.
How could anyone be in Key West and not want to go to a burlesque show? The billing read: “Saturday, February 11th is the weekend’s spotlight event, hosted by Key West’s most dashing dick, Frankie! Starring Nasty Canasta, Gigi La Femme, Peekaboo Pointe, Harvest Moon, GoGo Harder, Marquee Vonfister, Rocky Bottom, Moana Amour, Francisco, Hunny Bunz, and DarknStormy!” I was sold at Nasty.
We knew the director of Key West Burlesque, Tatah Dujour. We were introduced because she lived in the upstairs apartment of Joyce’s house. Tatah was also known as the Conch Republic’s Queen of Burlesque. She was blond, built and sexy. At one point Joyce confided to me that Tatah could spin her tatahs in opposite directions at the same time. Not sure why she put that image in my head but it stuck. Tatah’s Web site promo revealed: “Tatah is a two-time competitor at the Miss Exotic World pageant. In 2008 she was in the Best Debut Category, and in 2009 she competed with the best in the world for the Reigning Queen of Burlesque title.” Enough said.
Saturday night was a sell-out at the Tennessee Williams Theatre on the campus of the Florida Keys Community College. The lobby was packed with people, mostly younger: gays, straights, transvestites, and the cream of the hip, all stylishly dressed for the premier event. We made our way to the bar and ordered drinks, casually eyeing the colorful collection of mingling people. Anywhere else a six-foot transvestite in a shimmering evening gown, with perfect make-up and coiffed hair, might stand out in a crowd. Not here.
The theater was buzzing as we found our seats. Lights went up and Tuxedo-clad master of ceremonies, Frankie, took center stage to audience hoots and hollers. For the next two hours, Frankie sipped martinis while smoothly introducing the performers, with thinly veiled sexual innuendos about their personal habits and sexual persuasions. The performers sang, danced, bumped, flashed, and strutted in their campy comedic style, and the audience ate it up. The crowd enthusiastically clapped, sang along, and encouraged the performers to give it their all.
And to think I almost spent the evening in a Viking helmet.
by wordm2 | Dec 1, 2011 | Blondins' Assignment America
Please enjoy the article we wrote for Parent Soup. We were hired for a short stint as travel consultants. One element of that position involved an online chat session which for the time (1998 — Google was born that year) was pretty progressive…
Pictured: Larry Fuente, Game Fish, 1988, mixed media., Smithsonian American Art Museum
The world’s longest field trip. A virtual school year. Road scholars. Whatever you call the educational adventure our family embarked on from September 1996 to June 1997, learning was at the heart of it. We discovered that parents can take teaching into their own hands –- during an extended trip, a family vacation, a visit to a nearby city, even a walk to the park.
Fueled by the desire for a once-in-a-lifetime experience and driven by the technology of our time, we set out to discover America. We traveled border to border, ocean to ocean, using museums, aquariums, cities and national parks as our classroom and playground. We were 42, our son was 14 and our twin daughters were 11. We were at a pivotal point in our lives, wanting to start new careers and make the most of our time with our children. The project evolved into Blondins’ Assignment America.
For about a year before committing to the trip, we were part of a group of parents that petitioned our children’s school district to provide a more academically challenging curriculum. Frustrated by the response we received, we enrolled our children in a new science and technology charter school, Northwest Academy, in Charlevoix, Michigan.
At the orientation, we presented a plan for our “school on wheels” that would use the Internet to relate our trip and learning experiences to the students and teachers at Northwest. The open-minded staff embraced the idea, and the school board loaned us a laptop computer and digital camera for school assignments and to develop our Web site. (more…)
by wordm2 | Oct 2, 2011 | Blondins' Assignment America
We wrote the following article for Road to Adventure magazine…
A solitary motorhome winds its way up and down steep hills and around sharp curves as it makes its way toward green, flat land. The sun goes down in red and orange flames behind rugged peaks as five weary, but fulfilled travelers head east and say goodbye to the Rocky Mountains.
After months of traveling through America, these adventurers anticipate this road with mixed emotions – it’s the one that leads toward home.
Many of us dream of such moments, of seeing beautiful places while touring and learning about our incredible country with family or loved ones. America’s roads are dotted with travelers who share a spirit of adventure, a quest for knowledge and experience, or the dream of seeing their country.
Our family, husband and wife of 17 years with a 14-year-old son and 12-year-old twin daughters, had a version of that dream and made it a reality for nine monumental months. Incorporated in our adventure was recent computer technology that included a family website on the Internet and e-mail that allowed our children to attend school while traveling.
The commitment to make our dream come true turned out to be easy compared to what followed. Choosing the right transportation with no previous knowledge of recreational vehicles was difficult and time-consuming.
During the research process, we were overwhelmed with information and a new vocabulary. Terms like Class C, Class A, tandem axle, fifth-wheel, generator capacity, holding tanks, engine size, tow dollies and gross vehicle weight turned in our heads like the wheels on which we yearned to travel.
Touring the country, going to school, and installing a desktop computer in our traveling home became defining guidelines for our search. We decided on a Class A motorhome. The minimum required length increased from 28 to 34 feet by unanimous agreement after we spent a few minutes in a couple of shorter coaches. The interior configuration was important for sleeping arrangements, some sense of privacy, and work requirements.
After acquiring the necessary knowledge, finding the right coach on our limited budget was challenging. In addition, since both adults in our family are mechanically challenged, we had to find a used vehicle in great shape.
We looked for weeks, shopping at RV lots, watching newspaper ads, searching the Internet, reading trade magazines, and talking to RV owners. Our hard work was rewarded when we finally found a well-cared-for 1989, 34-foot coach with only 11,000 miles of previous wear and tear.
Then our grand adventure presented another problem: what to do with our pets. We found a temporary home for our two cats, but finding one for our 18-month-old golden retriever was more difficult. Ultimately, he went with us, and that decision involved compromises and rewards.
For the most part, Buddy added to our adventure with minimal adjustments on our part. He was not allowed in the motorhome, so our towed minivan became his home. Some people said Buddy had “the finest doghouse in the world.” At times it was not really fit for human use, but we vacuumed and hopped in, anyway. Buddy was our watchdog and friend, the center of jokes and a source of good times. He has a special page on our website.
Our adventure incorporated a unique and marvelous educational opportunity. Prior to finalizing plans for the trip, Donald, Kelly and Stacy were enrolled in Northwest Academy, a new charter school in Northern Michigan. It is a science and technology-based public academy for grades six through 12. School board and staff members liked our plan to use the Internet in a ‘school on the road’ concept, and the board’s decision to work with us displayed an open and positive attitude. Our creative adventure and the school’s philosophy were a perfect match.
Armed with a laptop computer and a digital camera on loan from Northwest, we began to plan how this technology-based travel school would work. The website would be designed so students anywhere could share our experiences. Our children took the books and curriculum Northwest had chosen for sixth and ninth grades, and we tailored the ‘courses’ to fit our tour of the United States.
On September 30, 1996, we left our home in Boyne City, Michigan. That day was filled with an amazing mixture of emotions. Months of thought, preparation, anticipation and doubt had funneled into this moment. It was literally a crossroads in our lives.
What might be the world’s largest field trip and hands-on learning experience to date began in Cleveland, Ohio, with science, rock and roll, and natural history. It progressed to marine life in Maine, the story of independence and immigration in New England, history and heroics in Philadelphia. It then intensified during our two-week stay in Washington, D.C., and never ended.
Southern coastal areas generated discussions about slavery and the Civil War. Florida and Louisiana were natural classrooms for study and discussion on ocean life, Spanish explorers, cultural diversity and environmental issues. New Orleans was a topic to itself.
Our incredible weeklong stay at Big Bend National Park in Southwest Texas illustrates the educational adventure that characterized our journey. Canyons carved over millions of years, the majestic Sierra del Carmen, the Chisos Mountains, the Chihuahua Desert, and the Rio Grande provided endless opportunities for discovery and understanding.
Mountain lions, javelinas, deer, coyotes, fascinating plants and trees, geology and natural history are all part of Big Bend. We learned lessons from ranger-led programs at Big Bend that helped us throughout our journey.
Our pride in our country grew as we visited national parks and monuments, but they were not the only places offering great experiences. New York, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle are a few of the major cities we were able to explore from nearby campsites in our satellite vehicle.
We found ourselves in New York City for the Yankees’ ticker-tape parade and the marathon, Boston during record-setting rains and flooding, Washington, D.C. for Veteran’s Day, and New Orleans when an out-of-control barge rammed the shopping dock.
Our modus operandi was to stop at the visitor’s center in each city to focus our visit. Not having a set schedule allowed us to be spontaneous. In Santa Fe, for example, we extended our stay to visit a local pueblo for a late-night feast dance that brought us closer to the enduring American Indian culture.
While big cities provided us with museums, libraries, parks, and other places in which to play and learn, the time we spent in our less than 200 square feet of living space was a serious challenge. Schoolbooks, notebooks and paper, computer stuff, a printer, associated software and hardware, not to mention food and clothes, had to be accessible daily.
We tried to stick to a schedule and stay organized but were constantly distracted and derailed by the demands of our travels, including sightseeing, navigating, locating camping places, buying groceries, doing laundry, cleaning and cooking in ever-changing locations.
For example, we camped in Reston, Virginia, near Washington D.C. and drove into the city daily for two weeks. We started early to beat the rush-hour traffic and after the museums closed at 5 p.m., we would wait to make our way back after traffic had subsided.
Traditional schoolwork took a back seat to several Smithsonian museums, the White House, Capitol Hill, Arlington Cemetery, national monuments, Harper’s Ferry, and all the wonders of the area. During the next couple of weeks, school involved catching up and working from those experiences.
Our children might have preferred sleeping arrangements other than what they had for our extended trip. Two slept on the foldout couch and one on the fold-down dinette, while mom and dad enjoyed the queen size bed, which created some jealously. Showers, cooking, dishes, sleeping, studying, reading, school and computer work were all done in an area smaller than a large bedroom. Yet somehow it all worked.
Continually waking up in new locations caused us all to ask what day it was and where we were many times. We traveled more than 15,000 miles in our motorhome and about 6,000 in our van.
Learning to use travel time wisely was important. Reading, computer time, website building, e-mail, math, saxophone playing, and major discussions filled the travel hours.
Our pace varied. Staying in one place for 2-3 days was typical. Inevitably, by the time we found a Laundromat, post office, grocery store, and other essential facilities, it was time to move on. It seemed as though we were constantly lost. Eventually, we got used to it and accepted it as normal.
Using the Internet to communicate and build our website resulted in opportunities to meet interesting people. We connected daily for e-mail in places like libraries, mailbox-type stores, 7-11’s, gas stations, Internet or computer businesses, colleges, Radio Shacks, museums, motels, campgrounds and even Laundromats. Our requests to use a phone jack were sometimes met with skepticism, but for the most part people were receptive, helpful, and curious.
These interactions and the educational nature of our project provided countless opportunities to explain our adventure and led to great conversations. Another benefit of our school-on-the-road concept was that many organizations supported our Internet educational efforts with free admission. We developed a “Thank You” page on our website to acknowledge their contributions.
Limited finances meant we could not afford a campground every night. That resulted in frustrating time spent searching for safe, authorized places to park our RV and sleep.
We took pride in some of our unique camping places. The JFK library parking lot overlooking the Boston skyline and the Lyndon Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, were two favorites. We spent nights at the University of Maine, in the parking lot for the USS North Carolina Battleship Museum, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Various dry-dock campsites for us included K-Marts, Wal-Marts, grocery stores, shopping centers and marinas.
After three days of dry-docking we would long for a real campsite with electricity and big showers. We joked that electricity was like a god, and it was a luxury for us. Several campgrounds stand out as favorites, and one of them was James Island County Park near Charlestown, South Carolina. In November, this park had an outdoor ice rink that attracted huge crowds in 70-degree weather and an extravagant Christmas light show at night.
As we look back on our magical adventure, several thoughts and lessons are foremost in our minds. We hope we have taught our children to live their dreams, that there are options in life and if they want to do something badly enough, they can find a way. We tried to instill the concept that life is a treasured gift you can mold into what you want it to be.
As parents, we were constantly reminded how quickly children grow up, and we can’t enjoy or learn from them enough. Time with them is priceless, and the lessons learned by all are forever.
We’re convinced that on highways and back roads, in cities, small towns and wilderness areas of America, the people we met and the learning we enjoyed are worth the risks we took to live the dream of such an adventure.
Mark and Betsy Blondin
by wordm2 | Dec 7, 2010 | Blondins' Assignment America
Like the highway lines rolling rhythmically under our wheels, the past 10 weeks since we left Boyne City for our nine-month trip around the country have sped by. At times, people, places and images blur like the passing scenery out our windows.
Maine Lighthouse, original photo
As we headed east to Maine and then down the East Coast, our pace was nonstop.
For example, in New York City alone we saw the Yankees’ ticker tape parade, the NYC Marathon, Wall Street, Times Square, two Broadway musicals, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Greenwich Village, Harlem, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building at night, street performers, and more. We even rollerbladed through Central Park. After 12 days in “the city that never sleeps,” we felt like we never did.
NY Yankees 1996 Ticker Tape Parade
The first major stop on our trip was Cleveland, which we loved. Then we traveled through New England, which lives up to its charming reputation, and to Acadia National Park, Maine. Heading south, we visited historical and significant places from Maine to Florida. On top of and in between all that, Donald, Kelly and Stacy have accomplished a lot of schoolwork and learning. It has been a brilliant beginning.
First Broadway Show, original photo
Finding places to park overnight (especially free ones) immediately became a challenge. We have slept at shopping centers, K-Marts, and rest areas. We boast of sleeping in parking lots of the JFK Library, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, University of Maine, the USS North Carolina Museum, and a couple of police departments.
Our campground experience is limited, but we have some favorites. We liked Acadia; Fairfax Lake County Park in Virginia (Buddy loved that one); and James Island near Charleston, South Carolina. It was 70 degrees at James Island, and the park had an ice-skating rink and the most spectacular Christmas light show we’ve ever seen.
We’ve had so many exceptional experiences it’s hard to pick a few to mention. The Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, climbing Mt. Champlain in Acadia, seeing a moose in Maine, driving through New England, finding starfish and other treasures during low tides, whale watching in Gloucester, a lobster dinner, New York City, and Washington D.C. are some; and the list continues to grow.
Renwick, Smithsonian Museum, original photo
We lost count of all the museums we saw in less than eight weeks. One of our favorites was the Natural History Museum in New York City. Also, we saw most of the Smithsonian museums. Our favorites were the National Zoo, Renwick Gallery, Air and Space Museum, and the Museum of American History. Having seen some of the best, we have become a little snooty about museums and have used that as an excuse to take a short break from them!
Because time is so precious, we have found ways to simplify our routine. The k.i.s.s. method of preparing meals is one of them. This ‘keep it simple, stupid’ philosophy has meant a lot of sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. But we have had two unforgettable meals – the first was lobster and the second was fine Italian food in a New Jersey restaurant, compliments of friends.
Our Fearless Canine out West
The decision to bring our golden retriever, Buddy, has resulted in compromises but has worked out reasonably well. He is the target of jokes and the source of lots of laughs. Before we left, his favorite activity was riding in the van. Now that it’s his home, we have to bribe him to get in. He’s had a bit of bad luck, including ticks and drinking saltwater – big mistake. Some of his favorite things have been walking in Central Park, chasing squirrels everywhere, and camping. He’s making the best of things and happy to be with us.
Beaches and the seashore are popular with the whole family. Maine’s coast was one of our favorites for exploring, rock hopping, and wave jumping. During a four-day stay at Sagamore near Cape Cod we enjoyed playing on the long, wide sandy beach. One entire day was spent on Cape Cod, with stops at Provincetown and the National Seashore. Hampton Beach, Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Jacksonville, Daytona, and Florida key beaches also helped satisfy our appetite for sand and surf.
Capitol Building, original photo
Both kinds of luck have journeyed with us. Most of the bad came the very first day. An unbelievable series of mechanical disasters delayed the start of our trip several hours into the night. Everything else seems minor compared to that afternoon and evening. More times than we care to admit we have found ourselves lost. Frustration is common during our attempts to read maps, navigate, and look for phone lines to access the Internet. Being in Boston during record-setting rains and flooding was unbelievable. Still, the good times far outnumber the bad.
Speaking of bad, we have started a “boo-hiss” list that includes: filling the motor home gas tank, paying road tolls (including three in a 10-mile stretch of a Florida expressway), dumping our holding tanks, finding LP gas, THE DELAWARE BRIDGE ($10 toll), finding parking places (especially in Washington D.C.), cold weather, getting Buddy back in the van, TICKS, mad motorists (never Mark’s fault), asking for directions, and bad road signs.
When we stopped in Sarasota, Florida, on Nov. 27, we had traveled 4,170 miles since leaving Boyne City. The third month of our adventure began with Thanksgiving and two weeks of rest and reorganization at Betsy’s parents.
Mark’s father served on the Battleship North Carolina, original photo 1996
We started traveling as novices with a vague idea of how our trip might unfold. Experience has brought us invaluable insights that will help us, and we are becoming seasoned travelers.
The next leg of our journey will take us across the Florida panhandle, through Alabama and Mississippi with a stop in New Orleans, then to Houston for Christmas. Though the East Coast was awesome, we head toward the Southwest anticipating equally grand experiences.
Stacy, Kelly, Donald, Betsy and Mark Blondin
by wordm2 | Oct 26, 2010 | Blondins' Assignment America
Cleveland Skyline
Cleveland was the first major stop of our journey and we made the most of it, visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Natural History Museum and the Great Lakes Science Center. After our rocky departure from Flint, we discovered in Cleveland that our story resonated with many people and could open doors for us as we traveled.
Here is a journal entry from October 5 as we headily made our way to our first major venue:
Oct 5, 1996: Left the “service center” about 10:30 am. Could not find the hose extension to drain the motorhome. Everything went well today. We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, told our story about our adventure and mentioned the Web site. A wonderful woman, Tracy Burdand, gave us free passes. We were very happy, if we can make that happen for our excursion we can see and do much more.
The Hall of Fame was in a beautiful building… six floors high, right on the water, gorgeous. It would have cost $12.95 for adults and $6.95 for kids.We spent a couple of hours there, went back (two blocks) to our motorhome, parked outside the municipal stadium and had lunch. It was a gorgeous day, about 65 degrees. We stopped into the Great Lakes Science Center and talked to several people trying to sell our trip to gain free admission. Andrew McDowell gave us a wonderful tour of the facilities.
We left about 5 p.m., ended up in Berea and parked at a city parking lot in back of the police department. We walked into town, it had a small private college and was very quiet and nice.
We continue to have problems with the motorhome. The generator is acting finicky and earlier this evening stalled again. Right now the trick is to start it with the engine running???? I am concerned with all the problems we are experiencing. I know we will get more experienced and learn about our new home, but like Betsy mentioned maybe you have to be more mechanical to do this adventure. Without a generator we are dead in the water.
Hopefully we can build on the positive things that are happening…
Time to do dishes and I will try to make a business card and maybe a flier describing our odyssey.
Our confidence growing, we walked into the Great Lakes Science Center went to the front desk and asked for someone from their media department. We spilled a now-practiced story about traveling the country on an Internet-based educational adventure, our children attending a charter school in Northern Michigan via the Internet, and building a Web site as we traveled so that students everywhere could connect and learn more about our country. And that we would appreciate free passes and mention their center as a contributor. Their response was enthusiastic. We were in.
Original Photo. Back stage at Science Center
They took us back stage into their offices where we chatted up our project and showed them the Web site we were developing. Our site was being hosted by one of our prime sponsors, North Central Michigan College .
The Science Center had just opened its doors a few months prior in July. The people there were enthusiastic about what they were doing and took a real interest in our project.
We spent the next few hours touring the facility.
At our second stop, the Museum of Natural History, we introduced ourselves, described our story and were given free passes. It was that easy. We even asked to use a telephone line to connect to the Internet.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
The picture never fades of our family huddled at the front information desk, using the museum’s phone line to connect via our laptop to transfer data for our Web site, answer and send emails, all the while handing out information packets to visitors who must have wondered what the hell was going on. Pretty soon we could direct visitors to the various exhibits as well as anyone. It was just a hilarious scene.
Later, when we were allowed to park in their gated parking lot that night, as the gate securely locked behind us, we started to think we had something special going on. We even found an electrical box to plug our motorhome into so we could have lights and power throughout the night. A little touch of heaven…
A journal entry from that evening, Sunday Oct. 6, 1996, 7 p.m.
Great day today. Slow start as we did not get out of Berea until 10:30 a.m. Came to Cleveland directly but had some difficulty finding the Museum of Natural History. Parked in their parking lot and went directly to the only “official” on duty the infamous security chief. Terry was very helpful, gave us free passes and let us use the phone line at the information desk for an extended period of time. I did not get the pictures sent yet… Trouble with the MCI software. Hopefully tomorrow at the science center before we leave town.
I t was a beautiful day with a high around 70. Many people enjoying the day in the park across the street that was connected to the Botanical gardens. University Circle contains the cultural attractions and is a beautiful setting. Terry gave us permission to park here tonight and we will go back to the science center for a full visit at 9:30 in the morning.
Betsy called the Cleveland Plain Dealer and they may send a reporter in the morning. We will leave for Maine in the afternoon.
Cleveland will forever be etched in our minds as the place that gave us confidence to move on. We still tell people to forget the reputation, put aside the derision — Cleveland is a great place to visit!
Mark Blondin, www.talesup.com
by wordm2 | Oct 26, 2010 | Blondins' Assignment America
Green Star locates Boyne City
Our family returned to Michigan in June 1997, settled into our home in Boyne City, Michigan, and proceeded to reopen the Yogurt Shoppe for the summer season to generate some income.
School placement, long-term employment and relocation were all being considered as we shined the Shoppe and went through the familiar steps to open for the tourist season.
In those busy weeks getting settled we continued looking for ways to promote our project and ran across this notice:
From: “Linda Neal Boyce at William & Mary”
To: “Multiple recipients of list” <giftednet-l@warthog.cc.wm.edu>
Subject: FAMILIES, TECHNOLOGY, AND EDUCATION CONFERENCE
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 09:28:14 -0700
The conference sounded like a perfect match for us, yet the details buried in the email were daunting…
The ERIC System and National Parent Information Network (as a special project of the ERIC system) are accepting 500-word abstracts of papers to be presented at the Families, Technology, and Education Conference to be held October 30 – November 1, 1997, in Itasca, Illinois (near Chicago O’Hare International Airport).
Abstracts (500 words) are now being accepted for the following proposed conference strands:
* Using technology to link schools, families, and students
* Mass media effects on children and family life
* The Internet and its influence on family life
* Equity issues in family access to computer technology
Abstracts are due by July 15, 1997. Abstracts will be reviewed and submitters notified of acceptance by August 31, 1997. Final papers (15-25 manuscript pages) are due by October 1, 1997. Proceedings of the conference will be published by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education.
We decided to go for it, the first strand was a perfect fit. Our abstract was submitted on time and was well received. So much so that later that summer we were told the conference organizers wanted our family as keynote speakers and that they would pay travel and hotel room expenses if we could attend the Chicago conference. That was a deal sealer.
With the tourist season winding down at the Yogurt Shoppe, we started producing the required 15-25 page manuscript and considering how to add pizazz to our presentation now that we had the added responsibility of being keynote speakers. We decided that because our story had a strong technology element, we needed to have a multimedia presentation, which meant a Power Point presentation and video.
Luckily during our week-long visit to Big Bend National Park — one of the most spectacular in the country — we had taken a fair amount of video footage documenting the geology, plant and animal life within the amazingly diverse ecosystem to share with our charter school in Michigan. With some thoughtful editing it turned into a classic documentary narrated by our three junior park rangers.
We arrived in Chicago around 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 30, and checked into a beautiful two-bedroom suite much nicer than what we could afford or were used to, which made us appreciate our sponsors. We went to bed around midnight and got up in time to catch the last of a continental breakfast. We registered for the conference and attended a session explaining the organization of ERIC.
After lunch we had a quick meeting with conference organizers Ann Robertson and Sandra Berger to discuss our presentation during which they advised us that some in the audience of educational professionals would be skeptical of anything that smacked of home schooling, and this point could be a source of contention.
Big Bend National Park, Donald, Kelly, Stacy
Nervous about our technology working properly, we gathered early to test the multimedia projector so our Power Point and Big Bend video could be seen by the audience.
When it came time, everything clicked. It seemed that we wowed the 400 or so educators gathered to hear our story judging by the lengthy question and answer period followed by a meet and greet filled with more questions generated by the presentation.
You can read our paper here. Our Power Point presentation is here. Enjoy!
Mark Blondin, www.talesup.com
