Adler After Dark

Location: Adler Planetarium

Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014; 5:30-10:00 pm

Space stinks

The theme was this month was “Galactic Gastronomy”, meaning it was a food theme…which always peaks my interest.  Michael sent us a bunch of experiments to review and they were termed as “Bar Tricks”.  I was running late and so jumped in a cab, which got stuck in traffic.  So the driver dropped me off in the middle of a busy road with oncoming traffic and a railing preventing me from crossing over to the sidewalk.  With life and limb intact I finally arrived at Adler and rushed to get pizza prior to our training.  Very soon Michael gathered all the education volunteers and we were off to the classrooms to see the experiments.  There were 3 carts, two of which were labeled “Sommelier Science” and one called “Smelly Cat Space”. 

My first task was to be a “Sommelier Science” and Michael wanted us to ham it up by saying things that a real sommelier would.  Yeah, that was probably not going to happen.  My cart had one main experiment, which was test tube in a beaker of oil.  The idea was to fill the test tube with oil and drop in a full beaker.  The Refractive Index of glass and vegetable oil is same and so the tube appears invisible.  Initially the experiment called for us to place an entire tube in there, then in front of the guests break another tube and then extract the entire tube out.  Michael said there would be no breaking and that was a relief!  I also had a pint glass and the challenge was to ask the guests if the height was more than the circumference.  Once they answered, we would measure and it would show that the circumference was almost double, proving that not everything is as it appears…as with most things in life.

The biggest problem I was facing was that the cart had just 2 wheels at the front and so I had to lift the handles up in order to push.  That is not the most convenient way of doing things when you have a lot of glassware on top.  I went upstairs and stood next to some musicians in ‘Our Solar System’ section.  First up were 6 guests and I started my routine by asking them about the height vs. the circumference of the pint glass.  That got them interested and then I moved to the invisibility experiment.  They were amazed at this and I then asked them questions around the principles before explaining the concept of refractive index.  After they left, a woman told me that the people who were just there were from a ‘Language Learning Institute’ and my explanation would help them with their language development skills.  I said that this was the beauty of science and math.  That language is universal.

Other people started coming to my station and now I had taken to asking them if they liked ‘Star Trek’ and especially ‘Klingons’.  Then I would ask what the one thing was that they had and ‘Federation’ did not – “the cloaking technology” -though some said it was their wine.  I said that all they needed was some oil and they could have pulled it off!  For those who did not like ‘Star Trek’, I would bring up ‘Harry Potter’ and his “invisibility cloak”.   Besides these examples, I would also correlate the “light bending” to the principle of eyeglasses.  But the best part was when a girl came and asked if she could “slather” herself in oil and become invisible.  Well, as soon as I had stopped fantasizing I muttered, “Make sure you are behind glass”.

My next shift was “Smelly Space” and it was on a cart nearby.  There were squeeze bottles with “fragrances” of deep space, including Moon, Jupiter, Titan and Sagittarius star cluster.  The idea was to tell people that I would be letting them experience space through at least one of their senses; and then letting them smell by squeezing the bottles.  One had a foul smell of gasoline – Titan; while one had smell of strawberries and rum – Sagittarius.  People would smell and wonder how we knew.  I would tell them about the principle of volatile compounds and how we recreated those chemicals through soaking a sponge in them.  But the main question still remained on how we knew about the smells.  People said that it was through sending probes.  I said that while that was true for Moon and Titan, we have never even gotten close to a star cluster like Sagittarius. Then I would give them a tube with a spectroscopic grating at one end and ask them to look at any light bulb.  They would see a spectrum on the side with some colors brighter than the others. I would say if they had a reference chart, they could identify if the light source was halogen, tungsten or sodium.  I said that we do a similar thing with stars and identify their spectral characteristics, thus creating the aromas.  People loved it and one girl whose sun sign was Sagittarius was excited that her aroma was fruity and that of rum!

At 8 pm Michael send me to my next station in a classroom, where they were doing a demonstration called “Frosty Fingers”.  There were a lot of people assembled and a “Mission Specialist” was using Liquid Nitrogen to do various party tricks, including making frozen ‘Gummy Bears’, and of course ice cream.  The audience was lapping it up as she poured liquid nitrogen over the candy and they froze instantaneously.  She then proceeded to crack them with a hammer, and with some flair too.  Then it was time to distribute them and since I was the helper, I went around with a tray of frozen “gummy bears” for everyone.  People love these and some were even particular about their flavors.  After that it was time for ice cream and so she mixed liquid ice cream into a container and then added liquid nitrogen while stirring, thus forming instant ice cream.  Then she did the same with whipped cream.  Now it was time to serve and while people formed a line for the ice cream, I went around with a tray to hand out the frozen whipped cream.  After that the group left and we cleaned up before the next round.  As the crowd gathered, we started by telling them to imagine that we had people coming over for a party and all we had to cook was liquid nitrogen. The facilitator then showed them some liquid nitrogen tricks like creating smoke, a geyser with copper tubing and then we recreated the frozen “gummy bears”, and this time a volunteer from the crowd handed them out.  We also asked if anyone wanted a banana, and proceeded to make a frozen banana.  One lady near me said, “That’s how I like it, rock hard”.  Well, this is an  over 21 event after all. 

It was almost 9 pm and my final activity was once again “Sommelier Science”.  I went over to the cart and wasn’t impressed with some of the other experiments that were available on it. So I borrowed the Refractive Index kit and set it up.  Once again people came and I would try to tell them that I could make things disappear and yada yada yada.  One lady came and gave me a hard time as she refused to accept that that she couldn't see the tube.  I told her companion to not take this lady to a magic show, since she would probably find fault in all of the tricks!  I got other visitors who enjoyed this and one girl asked if she could become invisible.  I told her what the other woman had said earlier about “slathering herself in oil”.  It went well for the next hour as I discussed concepts of refractive index with people and also included things like why we see each other and how an object between us could block the light, and thus the line of sight.  At 10 pm I took the cart to the back and dropped it off.   It had been another wonderful evening, and I had enjoyed the demonstrations.  Today it truly felt like I was doing real scientific demonstration.  Plus a girl had said she wanted to cover herself in oil.  Can’t ask for more from a shift. 

Mad Scientists

Location: Henderson Elementary School

Date: Saturday, November 15, 2014; 9:50 am-12:00 pm

It had been exactly a year since my last visit here.  I had met Pat and Brenna earlier in the week at a Chicago Cares event and they had mentioned that things were a bit different, and the group now met in a cafeteria rather than a classroom.  So that's where I was headed when I arrived at the school. As I entered the cafeteria, I saw that kids had already started assembling, including a few that I recognized from last year.  Some of the other volunteers arrived, but there was still no sign of Brenna.  I learned that all of them were here for other projects and soon other Volunteer Leaders led them off and I was left with the kids.  One of the guards gave me an attendance sheet for the students, just as Brenna arrived.  And that was it.  It would just be 2 of us today.  Furthermore, the leader for 5^th grade wasn’t here, neither was anyone from Chicago Cares.  So those kids would be joining us as well…in fact, they were supposed to be "helping us".

When the 4^th graders learnt that the 5^th graders would be helping, they were vehement in their opposition for having them participate, though they were fine with a couple of them!  While they were protesting, the 5th graders were needling them.  Oh boy. This would be interesting.  We started with making name-tags and the kids were trying to make them as colorful as possible.  For ice breaker we said our name and favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving.  As expected Turkey was a common theme though some said Sweet potatoes and pie, mashed potatoes etc.  I said “Pumpkin Pie” leading to some saying they hated it. 

Not many pennies got cleaned

Our first experiment was “pennies cleaning”.  We had split into two tables, each with some helpers, and I took one while Brenna was on the other.  The 5^th grader on our table was having an argument with one of the younger kids – teasing her and I asked Brenna to separate them.  I was being the disciplinarian, and had my hands full with two 4^th grader boys who were either playing, not listening, running around or fighting.  One of the boys said that he has been here since Kindergarten and so after all these years, this is his home and so he was going to do as he pleased.  The experiment was to give everyone a small cup of vinegar, salt, some pennies to dip in, and a bigger cup of water.  As the pennies were dipped for 2 minutes in vinegar/salt solution, they would be cleansed of the oxide coating on them.  After that, half of the pennies were to be rinsed in water and the other half were not.  The ones that were not rinsed would start turning green.  There was a lot of mayhem and it was a good thing that Brenna had made them repeat key rules, which included no eating or drinking of materials!  During the process water got spilled, tables got dirty etc.  Some of the 4^th graders were really interested in learning and it was a shame that there was so much chaos.  Also, the problem was that the experiment didn't exactly go to plan, because none of the pennies turned green and so there was very little science that anyone learnt.

Since this was getting a bit rowdy, Brenna gave the kids a break and after a snack, she said that we were going to learn about balance.  She asked the kids to stand on one leg and see how long they could do it.  Almost all of them participated and as expected, struggled to maintain balance after a certain point.  The idea was to communicate how birds can do that and how center of gravity matters.  She distributed 3 sets of cardboard pictures to everyone, two with birds and one with clowns – though I failed to see the connection between birds and clowns!  The kids were asked to color the pictures, cut them out, and try balance on their fingers.  There were to then tape pennies to the birds and discover the center of gravity by balancing with the added weight.

Kids love coloring and they all got to work, coloring their birds in brilliant shades.  Well, most of them anyways.  There was still a lot of arguing and fighting going on and at one stage another Volunteer Leader came and asked if we needed any help.  This was the last straw for Brenna and she scolded the kids saying that this had been a “bad day” because they had not paid attention.  She had a very good command of the room and this quietened things a bit.  I chatted with some of the kids around me and two of them were helpers from the 7^th grade.  One of them was getting needled by a kid and it was getting ugly, though she was doing a fantastic job of handling him.  I asked the girls what subjects they liked and they said that they liked Math and Science.  I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and one said a lawyer and the other a teacher.  The coloring was going well and the kids were now cutting the bird outlines and trying to balance them.  We then added pennies where required and Brenna made it into a game to check the maximum pennies that one could get on the birds while maintaining balance.

It was getting towards the end of our session and the kids lined up to leave.  Brenna scolded them once again for their behavior and ensured that they cleaned up before leaving.  One guy who had given us a tough time stayed back to help and kept asking if he could have extra things like granola bars, pennies, pens – all of which Brenna refused.  But it seemed that he liked her and was genuinely interested in helping.  Brenna and I left and she said that this isn't typical, and part of the problem was having the two grades together.  I felt the same thing since most of the 4^th graders were interested in learning, but the older kids – except the two 7^th grade girls – kept distracting them.  Brenna mentioned that the next session was a special one before the winter break, with a percussion performance for the kids.  I hope we get more volunteers for that one, though there will be no lack of sound to drown out the screaming!

What's The Word

Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2014; 6:30-8:00 pm

I arrived early to see that Jim, Jack and Elmer were already assembled.  Jack was wearing a ribbon and when I asked about it, he said that it was for ‘Veteran’s Day’.  With Jack’s history in service, this was of course appropriate.  Jim told me that he was finally moving out and after 10 long years was going to some studio in the ‘West Loop’.  Soon we were joined by Larry and Gwyn.  Today was the “reveal” of our very last issue and as usual, Lakeview Nursing had not printed any copies since the copier was “broken”.  Gwyn said that she should have known better and I said that it was perhaps “poetic” that this should happen for the last issue.  Gwyn said that she could go to ‘Kinko’s’ to print some copies, but since we were expecting 2 new volunteers, she said that she would wait till they showed up.  Well, no one else showed up besides Fran and so we decided to forego the reveal of the issue till next time at our “Holiday Party”.  We would instead spend the rest of the evening discussing the structure of the new “Games Night” project. 

Darts at Lakeview Nursing!

We started by identifying games that we could play – ‘Bowling’, ‘Cards’, ‘Uno’, ‘Dominoes’ etc.  I said that we should have some trivia game as well, and some other ideas came up such as ‘Corn Hole’.  While they apparently had bowling supplies, I told Fran that perhaps we could get Wilson to make us ‘Corn Hole’ boards!  I asked about ‘Darts’ and Elmer said that nowadays you can get darts with magnetic ends.  Eh, that’s what I had meant.  The last thing I want is for seniors throwing real darts in a nursing home.  Gwyn talked about some card game where you matched the picture on the card with a phrase and that sounded like fun as well.  I was a bit concerned about bowling, especially since most of the residents were in wheelchairs.  However, it seems that they do it all the time and so it would be fine. 

The project would be once a month to start with and since we did not know how many residents would show up, we discussed the number of volunteers that we should recruit.  I said that perhaps we should just have the regulars to start with.  Both Larry and Jim felt that if there was money involved ,residents would come “out of the woodwork”.  Gwyn said that we could have a raffle, where for every 15 minutes that you stay, you get an additional raffle ticket.  So after an hour the residents could have a max of 4 tickets, though you could win only once.  Gwyn wanted to have 5 winners of $5 each, but we needed to clarify with Chicago Cares if giving money was permitted.  When you buy something, you can produce receipts for compensation, and tax purposes, but that would not be possible with cash. 

Jim was excited about his new apartment and couldn't wait to get out.  He said that he had been trapped for 10 years in this place.  I asked why he hadn't left and he said that all of his social security and other income checks came directly here and that’s why he couldn't leave.  Someone had recently sued the city for low-income housing and he managed to get on the lawsuit, because of which he could move into that new place.  He said that many of the other people living here want to go as well...like. Elmer.  Next was the issue of storage of all of the game materials, since Gwyn said that she did not want to carry everything all the time.  I asked about locking all of it here, at which Gwyn said that the management may “misplace” the key.  I said that we could get a combination lock because the games should stay here in case Gwyn can’t make it to one of the sessions.  This led to Fran telling us how people usually “borrow” things.  She has lost a lot of dog bowls, which we use for dogs to drink water out of during ‘Pet Therapy’.  She once found one bowl with soup stains. Now that was disgusting. 

All this time Larry was getting warmed up and then let loose on the management here.  He showed me how they print a one pager newsletter every day, but tell us that the copier is broken when it came to our magazine.  I asked Gwyn why they hated us and Larry, who was in top form, kept asking if I "saw".  I didn't know what to say, but I think I knew what he meant.  Time was up and I left after an interesting evening of conversation with old friends.  I will miss Jim, but he has promised to visit for the games night. But before that, we had one more session to go.

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy

Dinner At The Wells Street Cafe

Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church

Date: Wednesday, November 05, 2014; 5:45-9:00 pm

I was asked if I could lead and since I have done it plenty of times, I said that I would.  This project does not require any prep work and all I had to do was send out a welcome email to the volunteers.  Even though it was November, it was not very cold and so I walked over to ‘Wells Street Café’ and as soon as I arrived, Keith looked at me and with mild recognition said, “Chicago Cares”.  “For now”, I muttered, since there is a possibility that this project may be cancelled come New Year.  I saw the ‘Moody Bible’ students whom I have come to know over the last few visits, and they are the nicest group of people you can hope to meet.  My volunteers started arriving and while 2 of them had been here before, 3 were new comers; in fact some were on their very first Chicago Cares project. 

Everyone loves 'Tater Tots'

I had not seen Marianne since she went on her vacation a few months ago and as soon as she arrived; took charge of the situation, and through me, started assigning duties to the volunteers.  It was “Turkey Burger Night” and so some folks were opening packs of buns and putting them in the oven for warming.  Others were on coffee duty and were arranging the cups.  At the salad station people were mixing dressing with the salad and it seemed like a mixture of ‘Thousand Island’ and ‘Italian’.  “Thousand Italian Islands”, I said.  Yeah, I should be a comedian.  There wasn’t enough fruit for the salad, neither was there any dessert.  What we did have were ‘Tater Tots’ and that usually makes up for disappointments!

Everything was wrapped up quite efficiently and Keith gave his usual speech earlier than usual.  He mentioned that we usually get less people on the first Wednesday, especially since some of our guests get paid.  Once again, he picked on Hannah for the 4 key components of how we welcome guests and told everyone how she has been volunteering since she was in the 7th grade.  I mentioned to Marianne that I do not even remember how I was like back then but I certainly wasn’t doing this!  After this was Marianne’s turn to talk about everyone’s personal comfort level and how we should bring up any issues to her immediately, and then we prayed.  Few of my volunteers would be serving the juice, while one was the “Nurse’s Assistant”.  Some were in charge of distributing the 18 salad bowls and 18 other smaller bowls containing the condiments accompanying the burger.  Marianne said that we should wait till the last minute to put out the condiments, else the guests would pocket those and there would not be any left.  I guess when you are hungry, even the condiments will do.

I chatted with a young man, Gavin, who I learnt was Keith’s son.  He is a personal trainer and so we discussed nutrition and whether he approves of Keith’s menu.  We talked about incorporating some sort of ‘Vitamin D’ in the diet, especially with winter coming up and lack of sunlight in Chicago.  He is a delightful young man and as impressive as Keith.  Marianne told me about her trip to Scotland and how she saw a guy wearing a ‘Star Wars’ costume playing bagpipes!  I asked if she had tried ‘Haggis’ and she said that she had and liked it as well.  I went over to take a look at the dining area and saw that there were several tables without “Salt Shakers”, meaning our guests would have to share.  It’s funny that back when we had 21 tables, there were enough of these, but now that we were down to 18, we are short. 

It was time for service and Keith and Marianne went to the stage and gave their opening address.  I was in the assembly line, where someone would pass me a plate with the buns, I put the burger in it and then passed it on to another volunteer plating the tots.  We had enough buns and burgers, but not enough tots, and so had to be a bit conservative with those.  Once the first round was done, I took over the counting duty as the guests lined up for seconds.  I chatted with one of my new volunteers and learned that he had a ‘Ph.D.’ in ‘Clinical Psychology’.  It is always interesting to meet people with diverse backgrounds and I chatted with him about his work and observations. 

It was time for cleanup and I helped a bit with tables and chairs and then got all of my volunteers together for reflection.  I asked if they had liked their experience and what we could do differently.  A couple of comments were that we should have more interaction with the guests.  I said that they were welcome to sit with the guests if they so desired for dinner and they didn't know that.  That is on me and I made a mental note to tell that to the volunteers moving forward.  Before leaving, Marianne thanked me for my leadership and I told her that even if Chicago Cares cancels the project, I want to come regularly.  She said that she could still schedule me for first Wednesdays and I said that would be perfect.  It would be a shame if this is cancelled, because even though we get plenty of volunteers, it is always important for others to see this and understand our community.  That’s how I learned.  Plus, how else would they otherwise meet someone like Keith and Marianne.

Concert At Misericordia

Location: Misericordia Housing

Date: Monday, October 27, 2014; 6:15-8:15 pm

“The noblest art is that of making others happy”

- P.T. Barnum

According to their website, “Misericordia offers a community of care that maximizes potential for persons with mild to profound developmental disabilities, many of whom are also physically challenged.  By serving society’s most vulnerable citizens, Misericordia also serves the families who want the best for them, yet cannot provide it at home”.  Chicago Cares has a project called ‘Stitch & Serve At Misericordia’, which as the title suggests requires volunteers to participate in a stitching activity with the residents.  I of course have no talent for that and so had never attended.  Browsing through the calendar, I saw that there was a special event this evening where they required volunteers to accompany the residents to a concert.  That was enough for me and I signed up immediately.  It was a long train ride and a 1 mile walk to the campus, but I arrived with some time to spare. 

I went inside to see that several residents had already assembled in the lobby, which had been decorated for ‘Halloween’.  I checked in with our Volunteer Leader Ashlee, just as many residents approached me to shake my hand and ask my name.  One of the residents introduced herself as Jacquie and started asking me questions like, “Where are you from?  Where do you live?, Do you like to travel, Where have you been?”  I answered all of these and then asked her if she has had a chance to travel much.  She said that she had been to Europe and had loved visiting Paris.  Her effervescent personality made me like her instantaneously and I was looking forward to the rest of the evening.

It wasn't as grand as this, but in some regards, it was better

It was clear that all the residents liked Ashlee and she knew everyone there by name.  We were joined by 4 other volunteers and they said that they were students at ‘Loyola’.  As we were chatting, a resident came over and said to Ashley that it was her birthday and so Ashley should wish her.  I said that we would do better and so all of us sang her “Happy Birthday”. We were going to an adjacent building for the actual concert, with the residents following right after.  Jacquie said that she was hoping to see some costumes, especially the performers and I said me too.  We walked over to the other building and as soon as we entered, I saw that it was a magnificent facility with fantastic interiors.  But none of that compared to the grand ballroom where the concert was being staged.  It was as good a venue as I have seen anywhere else.  Plus, it was a full 40 piece orchestra.  As I walked in, the conductor asked me for some technical help in setting up the stage and I pleaded ignorance!

There were several other Loyola students in attendance as well and everyone’s first task was ushering the residents, especially people coming in on wheelchairs.  We were told to encourage them to sit in the front and then find chairs for their caregivers.  I helped with that and then joined Jacquie, who had just arrived with some of the other residents from her building.  I pulled up a chair next to her and many of the residents around us asked my name and shook my hand.  One lady said that she would take my autograph after the concert and I said that I had hardly done anything to deserve that.  I chatted with a resident Leslie, and she mentioned her family which included 2 brothers and a nephew who was born last week.  She talked about playing the ‘Cello’, though she hadn't done so recently due to a broken string.  I told her that for next years concert, I wanted to see her on the stage, amongst the performers. Leslie is a young woman who deserves every opportunity in life like anyone else her age.  But that was not going to be the case...not yet.

The concert started with classical pieces and right of the bat I knew it wasn’t your everyday performance.  Oh, the musicians were excellent, but rather than the stuffy atmosphere that one associates with a recital, this was a livelier occasion.  In fact, the conductor was encouraging the audience to clap and cheer at will.  I was doing the same with Jacquie and she was enthusiastic about it.  But it was nothing compared to some of the other people who were dressed in costumes, like “Phantom of the Opera”, “Snow White”, “Harry Potter” and another with a blonde wig.  And it wasn’t just the residents, some of the performers were dressed in costumes as well.  As all of the residents participated through their applause, I noticed that Leslie was mouthing the words to the songs.

An upbeat number came on and “Snow White” went over to the dance floor, followed by the “Phantom”; and then the floodgates opened, with many residents going over to the floor.  In fact, many of them asked the volunteers to join them.  It truly was incredible to see the guys ask some of the young females to dance with them without any inhibition or fear of rejection.   Ashlee in particular was extremely popular.  The concert continued with some of the popular numbers like “Let It Be” by ‘The Beatles’ and I joined one of the residents in singing it. The finale was a ‘Michael Jackson’ medley and everyone was now on the dance floor.  Jacquie said to me that she wanted to dance and so I escorted her to the floor, where another resident took my hand and we danced for some time.  The concert was at an end and everyone – the residents, caregivers, volunteers and musicians – had thoroughly enjoyed this evening.  As the residents left, Jacquie asked if I would come back and I said that I definitely would.

There is photograph that I keep on my computer desktop, something I look at often.  Some time ago I participated in a ‘Scavenger Hunt’ alongside a friend.  Prior to the start the organizers paired us with 10 other people to form a team that would crisscross the neighborhood, solving clues and participating in activities.  Now, these folks were all strangers to us and quite honestly, my friend and I were wondering if we would have been better off by ourselves.  But we were a team and bound together for the next few hours.  We arrived at ‘Oz Park’, which has been named so after the immortal ‘Wizard Of Oz’.  The park has statues of the characters from the story and one of our tasks was to locate the statue of ‘Dorothy & Toto’ and then take a photograph in front of it, with the entire team linking arms and one foot up in the air as if we were skipping…just as she had done with her friends.  So we found a passerby and lined up to take the picture.  Our team was soundly beaten that day, finishing in the bottom half.  But the best thing to have come out of that is this photograph.  For it shows a single instance of time where all of us have our arms linked together, a foot in the air and a broad smile on our face.  I don’t suppose I will ever see any of those people again, but if I could bottle that single moment and carry that feeling with me, I would.  For in that fraction of a second, all of us were happy.  For that one microcosm of my life, there was no other thought, no other worry.  When people talk about happiness, I suppose this is what they mean.  I have not felt that again, nor had I seen it…not till this evening.  That expression on all of our faces was exactly what I saw on the faces of the residents as they took to the dance floor.  They have had a rough life…and it may not change.  But for that moment, they looked happy…really happy.  We stacked the chairs in the hall and I went over to the conductor and thanked her for what she and her team had done.  If the noblest art is making people happy, then she had surpassed it.  It was the most humbling and real experience of my life. 

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” 

– Scott Hamilton

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy

American Cancer Society Making Strides Walk

Location: Soldier Field

Date: Saturday, October 25, 2014; 6:45 am-12:15 pm

Another early morning

Finally the day had arrived - the ‘2014 Making Strides Walk’.  I walked over to ‘Soldier Field’ while it was still dark outside and when I arrived, there was very little activity around the main green.  I saw Carrie and she told me to help with the planting of the “Pink Ladies” that we had made earlier in the week.  I went over and saw that Katie and another volunteer were already hard at work in the “Promise Garden”.  I got down on all fours and realized that the ground was hard and it was difficult to just push them in the ground.  While inserting one, I broke the stick and then used that to make my insertions.  However, this was not an easy assignment and took us a long time to get even a few of them in there.  It was time for a meeting and we had hardly made a dent in this task.  I told Carrie that with 10 volunteers, we could perhaps get this done in 30 minutes, but everyone else had already been assigned.  So she said that lets abandon this idea and that we should take out whatever we had put in.  One volunteer had stayed back to continue with this and I had go and tell her that all of her hard work had been for nothing.  I told her to take a break while Katie and I removed the “pink ladies”, which was another back breaking task.  Finally, we were done and while the “promise garden” would have been a wonderful idea, it just wasn’t feasible the way we were thinking of doing it. 

'Advocacy Tent', just as envisioned

There were many ‘High School’ volunteers who had come and for all of us on the committee, our main job was to supervise them.  All the tents were up and I saw Le’Loni standing outside the ‘Advocacy Tent’ and it had the “purse decoration” at its entrance, exactly the way Le’Loni had envisioned it months ago during our planning sessions.  She was asking people to come in and sign a petition that would allow for increased funding for cancer screening.  I went over to the ‘Kids and Family Activity Tent’ where various events would be staged such as, “Hair Braiding”, “Tattoos” and “Scavenger Hunt”.  The last one in particular was another thing that we had been discussing during our meetings, where people would take a form that had bunch of activities and after completing them, would turn their form in.  Then, they had to be near the stage at 11:15 am when the winners would be announced.  I recruited two teenagers to walk about and get people excited for this event.

Designing "Luminarias"

There were 2 committee members who were in charge of the ‘Kids & Family’ station and so I went over to the next station where Katie was getting people to make “Luminarias”  This involved them decorating paper bags in honor of someone and then these bags would be placed along the walk route with glow sticks in them.  It was a fantastic concept.  Once again, we encouraged our young volunteers to recruit people and also asked them to make bags themselves.  Through this a lot of creative bags were made.  Katie said that these bags were to placed inside the ‘McCormick Place’ tunnel and we would have to leave at 9 am in order to be ready for the walkers.  Since there was some time left prior to that, I went over to the ‘Survivor Tent’ to check if they required any help.  One of our committee members was managing this area and asked me to direct the visitors on what they were supposed to do.  Essentially, they were selecting a bag with ”Hope Stone”, and they had a choice in the color of the bag, stone as well as the pen, which they used to write inspirational words on the stone.  Then I was giving them a slip with a message that they were a rock and that they were strong.  They were encouraged to carry their rock with them as a reminder.  Finally, before leaving the tent we were asking them to sign the “Thank You” card.  Many women participated and one of them even broke down as she was hugged by our committee member, who herself is a “survivor”.

With the glow stick

It was almost 9 am and I went back to the “Luminaria” station.  It was now time to take the bags to the tunnel, along with all of the glow sticks that were in a box.  That box was heavy and luckily for us, Carrie came over in a golf cart to drive Katie and the supplies over to the tunnel.  That left me with all of the volunteers and I said that I would lead them there.  It was a long walk to get there and I heard one girl say something which sounded very much like “Materials Science”.  I was delighted to hear that she wanted to study polymers and so spent the rest of the walk to the tunnel discussing that with her.  We finally arrived at the tunnel and saw that Katie had already started setting up the bags with the cracked glow sticks in them.  All of us grabbed a bunch of sticks and bags and went up and down the tunnel.  The walk was starting at 10 am and we were done with 30 minutes to spare.  This meant that the sticks were dying and the light would be gone by the time the walkers got here.  Fortunately for us, we had plenty of sticks and so around 10 am we went and replenished the bags.

This path through the tunnel was supposed to be a solemn walk, with the walkers respecting those in whose memory the bags had been made.  But as people passed through the tunnel, there was screaming, yelling and even some running.  We as volunteers stationed there, were supposed to tell them to be quiet, but it was almost impossible to regulate these many people.  Some folks were taking the glow sticks out of the bags and even though I was telling them not to do so, they wanted these as souvenirs.  Yes it was rude, but at least these people were here to participate.  Better idea would have been to have signs before you entered the tunnel, in order to educate people on what we were trying to do. It would be a shame to abandon this next year and we can certainly do a better job.

Once the crowd had dissipated, we collected the bags and supplies and walked back.  Even with the many sticks that we had used, there were still several remaining in the boxes and it was a heavy load to carry.  I asked Katie what would happen to the bags and she said that they would be thrown away.  I told her that I would not be responsible for that, especially since so many people had made them in someone's memory and we should take them back rather than putting them in a garbage can.  Back at the main green I walked about seeing all of the other activities that were going on.  We heard all of the speeches, including announcement for the winner of the “Costume Contest” as well as the “Scavenger Hunt”.  Ted was on the mike and was doing a fantastic job as usual. 

At noon Carrie wanted all committee members to come to the stage and we would be announcing the money that had been raised, through holding banners with individual numbers.  We all stood facing the crowd in proper order, and as Ted announced the number, held up the banner over our head.  We were done and I told Carrie that we should have a debrief meeting to discuss improvements and she said that we could do that during our holiday get together in December.  I left after what had been another successful year, not just with the walk, but the camaraderie and the friendships that we had made.

American Cancer Society Making Strides Steering Committee Meeting

Location: American Cancer Society Office

Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2014; 6:00-7:45 pm

I had missed the monthly meeting in September and the one last week.  Since we were just 4 days away from our walk, the committee has been requested to come for a working session – similar to the one we had last year.  I saw Katie in the lobby and we spent a fair amount of time trying to enter through the wrong gate.  Yeah, missing 2 meetings does that to you!  When we finally made it upstairs, we saw that there was some meeting going on in the main conference room.  Jessie asked us to go to the a smaller room where some of the volunteers were hard at work.  From the looks of things, there was plenty to do.

Cutouts for "Promise Garden"

My task was to assemble a bag for the survivors and which would include a magazine and couple of coupons.  Then I was to fold the bag and keep it aside since something else was going in it.  I asked that if we were going to open it again, why fold it?  But I should really do as I was told.  I also mentioned that many of the coupons that we were inserting would perhaps end up in garbage and we should find out a way of distilling the essence of that message and putting it on the bag itself.  There was a group cutting some pamphlets…and hundreds of those.  Katie was folding a card for the caregivers and another group was making lovely bags for the “Hope Stones” on which survivors would be able to paint messages.  Outside our conference room a few volunteers were putting pink cutouts - that were shaped like women – on small sticks and these would be planted as a “Promise Garden”.  Yep, it was a working session alright.

Carrie was now done with her other meeting and came over to help out.  She told us about an interview that she was doing with ‘ABC’ tomorrow morning at crack of dawn.  Plus there was a photo shoot that everyone was invited to on Friday morning.  I asked if any politicians would be there on Saturday and Le’Loni said no, since they wanted to be able to talk and promote themselves and we would not allow it.  She also told us about ‘National Advocacy Day’ last month when some members of ‘ACS’ went to DC and lobbied for increase in funding for colon and breast cancer.  Because of the nature of the work we were doing this evening, there was ample opportunity for us to chat.  We saw the pictures of the ‘Masquerade Ball’ fundraiser that was held in the suburbs last month.  I told everyone about my recent marathon walk and the ladies said that they would support me by cheering rather than doing 26 miles.  Well, then we learned that Jessie actually runs the marathon and so my walk wasn’t such a big deal after all.

Carrie told us that we had to insert one more thing in the bag and that were the pamphlets that the volunteers were cutting.  It was a voucher for a free photo frame and every person would get one.  We were making about 350 of those and once we were out of vouchers, we were done.  So we opened up all of the bags that we had made earlier and put the vouchers inside.  Then we started making more bags.  The pile of vouchers was never ending, but we had an assembly line going with me and 3 other volunteers.  While it was fun, the room was a bit hot and I was feeling dehydrated. My fellow volunteers were fantastic company though and we really had a great time.  I said to them that I remembered our kick-off in February like it was yesterday and now we were just days away.

Carrie then told us about our duties for Saturday.  Any volunteers coming between 6-7 am would be helping in planting the “garden”.  Then we would be at different stations, where we would supervise the other volunteers. We were to then get everyone to attend the opening ceremony at 9:30 am.  When the walk starts, she asked if few of us could stay back to help and I said that I could do that.  Finally, we would take a group picture and then help with breakdown which should be done by 1:30 pm.  We were out of vouchers and decided to stop for the evening, though there was still a lot of work for Carrie and Jessie to do before Saturday.  As I put on my jacket, I asked in jest “When is the walk again”.  “Next month”, said Carrie.  We laughed and left, looking forward to Saturday where all our planning over the last 9 months would come to fruition.

Fight2Feed: Cook And Feed The Homeless

Location: Hard Rock Café & Wilson Park

Date: Monday, October 13, 2014; 4:00-8:30 am

“Adversity builds character.” So the saying goes.  Today, that would be tested as pertains to myself and at the end of it all; it wasn’t the most accurate statement.

At 'Hard Rock Cafe'

Wilson had posted this one on ‘Meetup’ on behalf of ‘Fight2Feed’ organization and asked if I wanted to participate, since it was ‘Columbus Day’ and many organizations have the day off.  Well, I didn’t, though it would be over before the work day began and so I could make it to the office after that.  As far as the early start was concerned, I had some experience with that after the project last week.  For this one, we were asked to assemble at ‘Hard Rock Café’ in downtown and make ‘Breakfast Burritos’. We would then get on a bus and go up north to distribute it to homeless population living in the parks.  I took a cab to the ‘Hard Rock Café’ and arrived just before 4 am.  I went inside to see that many people had already assembled including Wilson and some ‘One Brick’ regulars like Rich and Laura.  Wilson had certainly succeeded in the recruitment effort.

The staff was assembling the burritos

Initially, we had been told that our job would be to cook and assemble the burritos, but to their huge credit, the staff of the restaurant had come in early to do that task.  This meant that the rest of us were going to be putting together the bags that would be handed out.  The bags would contain a bottle of water, a bottle of Orange juice, a fruit – either apple or orange – napkin, hand wipes and then the burrito would be put inside later.  We formed an assembly line with me on the fruit, meaning that I had a choice on which of the fruits went inside the bag.  The line was moving rapidly, though we were running out of boxes in which these bags were supposed to go. Two very enthusiastic guys came in asking how they could help and we dispatched them to search for boxes, a task which they took on with great vigor. The boxes would then be loaded into ‘Red Cross’ trucks which would be accompanying us to the parks. They wanted someone to help load the trucks and so I went outside and saw that there were a couple being loaded.  I helped out there for a bit and then came back inside to finish up the bagging.  Unfortunately, this time I was stuck at the end with the bags and there is nothing more frustrating that trying to separate new plastic bags.  After struggling through a few, we were told that we had enough and it was now time to be deployed.  We were to get on a bus that would first take us to ‘Montrose Park’, where half of us would get off and the rest would then be taken to ‘Wilson Park’.  Then around 8 am, they would pick us up and bring us back to the restaurant.  We were told to pair up or stay in three’s so as not to wander off by ourselves.  So far it was all sounding good.

We got on the bus and Laura, Rich and I decided to stick together.  We dropped off some people at the first location and they then took us to the second spot where the rest of us got out.  It was next to an overpass and we could see some people sleeping under the bridge.  We had flyers announcing what was happening and so some folks went over to them to hand those out.  We realized that we were actually in a wrong location than what was previously decided but rather than leave immediately, we decided to wait for the ‘Red Cross’ truck to get there so that we could feed the people that we had already spotted.  It would have been a terrible shame to leave without doing so.  As soon as the truck arrived, we put a burrito in each of the plastic bags that we had made earlier, and handed it out to the people over here.  We then got back on the bus and went to the next location, which was just a street away.  I was carrying my laptop computer bag with me and it was a bit cumbersome.  So I asked the bus driver if he was staying here and he said yes, after which I left my bag on the bus.  This turned out to be a mistake.

We put up a table on the sidewalk and placed some coffee on it.  Then the plan was for the volunteers to pair up, grab 5 bags each and walk around to find people to give these bags to.  It seemed a bit disorganized – not to mention unsafe - way of doing things, but this would allow us to cover more ground.  One girl said that a male should accompany a woman so that it is safer.  Rich – the most gentlemanly person I have ever met in my life – said that he would go with her, at which point she actually referred to him as “her male”.  Rich promptly responded by saying that he had been waiting his whole life to hear that.  It left Laura and me, and so armed with 5 bags each, we walked into the park to locate some people who could use these.  We looked under the bridges and …well, in some dark places but couldn't spot anyone.  In hindsight that was probably a dumb thing to have done, especially since dawn was just about breaking.  We saw plenty of people walking or biking, but none that required our help.  I said to Laura that we should probably give a couple of bags to the bikers since they could cover more ground.  There were dogs that were being walked and one came over, perhaps sniffing the burrito in the bag!

Eventually we went back to the meeting place with all of our bags still with us.  We waited by the table and chatted with the ‘Red Cross’ truck driver, who was also a volunteer.  He said that since the burritos were classified as “hot food”, they needed to be handed out by 10 am, else they would have to be thrown away, which, I absolutely detest.  One of the volunteers told us about an organization that she started with 2 other friends and now 5 years later they have grown to over 500 members.  They deliver Thanksgiving Turkeys to needy families and mentioned that she needed volunteers to help with basket delivery the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving. It was a fantastic cause and I said that I could help out, but they required volunteers with cars. 

The bus which caused all my grief

While we were chatting not many people came over to collect the food bags.  So now the plan was to take all of the remaining food to a shelter for distribution.  This was a much better alternative than throwing it away.  The rest of our crew who had ventured out returned and one of the ‘Fight2Feed’ staff members said that a few of us should get on the bus and go to an adjoining park, since ‘Channel 7’ was doing a story on us over there.  Laura and I were told to wait by the table and when I said that my bag was on the bus, we were told that I shouldn’t worry since the bus would be back soon to pick us up.  So we waited along with the ‘Red Cross’ volunteers.  A group of people belonging to some church came and said that they do a similar thing through their church and so offered to take some food to hand out.  Wilson had come by now and he offered to get them volunteers if they needed, of course. 

The ‘Red Cross’ truck soon left to deliver leftovers to the shelter and now it was just Wilson, Laura and me left, waiting for the bus.  It was well past 8 am and while Wilson offered to drop us, my bag was on the bus.  But it was really getting late and so we got in his car and after a few phone calls learned that the bus was at the shelter.  They said that they would be at ‘Hard Rock Café’ in 30 minutes, meaning I was going to be late for work.  But hold on, what about picking us up.  Had they just forgotten?  I was fuming in the backseat as we dropped Laura off and we went to the restaurant.  Once there I let everyone assembled know what an inexcusable thing this was.  It wasn’t that I was going to be late for work, but they had left us behind!  Wilson mentioned that this was the first time that they were doing this and so glitches should be overlooked.  He agreed that besides coordination with volunteers, they also needed a better way to distribute, than have people walking about in the dark looking for people.  Furthermore, location wise, parks downtown may have been a better option. 

As he was saying this, I was still on my rant and did not stop even when the bus arrived and I picked up my bag and later as Wilson dropped me off.  He said that he would talk to them and I finally calmed down once I reached my office.  And then I realized what a fool I had made of myself with my behavior in front on Laura and Wilson and definitely in front of the staff.  Adversity does not build character, it reveals it.  And it had revealed mine to be a very rotten one when faced with an inconvenience.  I had forgotten the main reason why we were out here.  It had become about me and in doing so I had lashed out an organization who was trying to make a difference.  Sure, they need to work on their logistics and planning, but their heart is in the right place.  Plus, what about me?  I can point to all of the accolades I have received for my volunteer work but with an attitude like the one I had displayed today, all of it counts for nothing.  I often cringe when people call me a nice person because I have made my share of mistakes and let down people who mattered…who trusted me.  This entire blog…this experience started because of one such incidence and later another thing drove someone else away.  Then there is today.  It is clear that I have a lot of work left to do on myself.  And unless I overcome that, any further adversity will continue to reveal my true character, and it isn’t pretty.

Young Scientists

Location: Young (Ella Flagg) Elementary School

Date: Saturday, October 11, 2014; 10:00 am-12:00 pm

It had been 20 months since I had last been to this project.  It had been a fun experience but the commute had taken a considerable amount of time.  Plus there had been the ice on the sidewalks making it very tricky to get to the school.  There was no such problem today as I took the train and then the bus which dropped me a block from the school.  There are multiple programs that occur simultaneously and they all first assemble in the indoor play court.  I made my way there and saw that someone was already putting up signs to let volunteers know where to assemble.  They were based on the grades that the kids were in and I noticed that besides Science for the 3^rd and 4^th graders, there was 'Read With Me' for K through 2^nd grade, Geography for 5^th and 6^th and Sports for older kids.  Also, there is a Computer skills project that Chicago Cares runs as the parents wait for the kids.  I must say that of all the schools that I have been to, this one looks the most comprehensive in terms of engagement across the board.

Soda bottle before and after "blowing"

I waited by my sign for the Science project and was soon joined by 2 more volunteers as well as the Volunteer Leader John.  He gave us the experiment sheet for today and we were going to start with “Baby soda bottles” that look like test tubes.  After quizzing the kids on what they were – soda bottles after blowing up – we would do some more experiments in them.  The kids came in and I saw a girl sitting in the 5^th-6^th grade section, and I remembered her from the last time that I was here and how she had been the life of the group.  I chatted with a girl who was at my table and asked if Science was her favorite subject.  She said no, it was Math. Oh well, I tried.  The Principal of the school was here and she looked like she was a no nonsense person.  She welcomed everyone, introduced the leaders and then asked the kids to follow them to appropriate rooms. 

All the groups dispersed and I went upstairs to our room and the first task was to put all the tables together so that we could sit around them.  There were about 12-13 kids and John said that we should go around and introduce ourselves, followed by naming our favorite sport.  I was surprised to hear a variety of sports being mentioned, ranging from Hockey, Volleyball, Softball, Tennis, Swimming, Gymnastics, Dodgeball etc.  When my turn came, I said that it was Fall, the time for my favorite sport, Football.  Next, John gave out the small tubes and asked everyone what they were - glass or plastic. It took me back to many years ago where we used to do experiments to identify materials.  I  told the kids near me that I went to school to study this and showed them the point where the injection mold makes a stub, which is never found on glass.  One girl asked why it was tough and not flexible like a soda bottle and I said that the material was very dense right now and needed to be blown up first.

John gave everyone 2 types of “packing peanuts”, one green and the other white.  Then we were paired with one person having each color.  We were to add water to our tubes and then these materials, followed by shaking vigorously for 30 seconds.  This activity proved to be a party in itself as everyone not only had their own style, but also the speed at which they counted.  I had green colored stuff and that would not dissolve, while the white ones did.  The reason was that green was ‘Styrofoam’ and non-biodegradable, whereas the white was made of ‘Cellulose’ and thus could dissolve.  I found it funny that something that was colored green was supposedly bad for the environment.  Many kids tried to force those to dissolve through more aggressive shaking, but to no avail.  We then had to clean the tubes and some of the green ones were stuck inside.  So while the volunteers tried to remove these by pen, the rest moved to next experiment. 

John gave everyone fine foam pellets and once again asked them to put in the tube and shake.  These materials stuck to the sides of the tube due to static.  Then we added water and colored pellets into the tubes and it actually looked quite cool with colored water and suspended pellets.  The kids enjoyed this and each of them got one to take home.  Then we took another tube and added oil and a bit of water, followed by a colored pellet.  Then it was more shaking and demonstration of the difference in densities and how colored water globules float in oil.  The kids loved this as well and tried to create different colors by mixing 2 pellets. 

For the final 20 minutes John said that we would play a game of ‘7-Up’, where everyone but 3 people close their eyes with their thumbs up and the 3 remaining people then put their thumbs down and people whose thumbs went down had to guess who had done it.  It was very popular with the kids and they enjoyed it, especially playing with the volunteers.  It just goes to show how much they enjoy integrating the volunteers…or even adults in their activities.  Besides this there was another game in progress, which involved matching pictured cards.  I wasn’t doing either, sweeping the floor instead since a lot of waste had been accumulated through the fine pellets. 

It was time to leave and we had cleaned the best we could.  The kids thanked us and collected their tubes with colored water before leaving.  As I walked out, I saw Dave, who I had met at ‘Job Coaching’ project last year.  He is a popular leader with Chicago Cares and leads the ‘Adult Computer Skills’ project here.  He is an all-round great guy and we chatted about his project here as well as some of the other ones that we had been to.  I left after a good session and realized that my trepidation of not coming here due to the commute was unfounded.  The concept of long distance is only in the mind and now that I had overcome it, there is no reason why I can’t return soon.

What's The Word

Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Date: Wednesday, October 08, 2014; 6:30-8:00 pm

Halloween Time at Lakeview Nursing

With my long night, if this had been any other project, I would probably have cancelled.  But with so few of these sessions left, there was no way I was missing this.  I arrived at Lakeview Nursing to see that our room had been decorated for Halloween.  Everyone else had already assembled, including Jim, Larry, Jack and Elmer.  Gwyn was there with 2 other volunteers and then Fran arrived as well.  This was the quorum that we would have today.  We were going to start researching our last issue but everyone was quite relaxed and people were in a mood to chat, well at least I was.

One of the volunteers paired up with Jack to go through the ‘Chase’ book while I joined another guy in front of Gwyn’s computer.  We started discussing the book Jim was reading called, “From New York to Dallas”.  It was described as a “Sci-fi cop thriller” which was of course set in the future.  Jim was enjoying it and Larry had as well. I asked Elmer if he had read it and he said that he was currently reading a non-fiction book called “Discovery of France”, which while sounding like wine tour stops, was actually about France in the 1800’s.  He told me that he had grown up in France since his dad was on an army base there and he had moved to the US only in his teens.  He said that he was also reading a book called “Hardboiled”, which was a book on movie quotes from all the “noir” movies of old.  He then proceeded to quote a few lines which had us in splits. 

Gwyn wanted us to research some of the topics that we had discussed last time, such as the ‘Sadie Hawkins Day’.  We looked at the history and found out that it was based on a ‘Li’l Abner’ comic strip.  Elmer talked about some female character in the strip, which he described as “buxom blonde with twirls”.  We looked her up and sure enough, she was as described.  Trust Elmer to remember something like this.  Gwyn told us how all the girls in their school had to ask guys out for this dance back in 5th grade. It was a rule meaning that the girls had to do it!  While we were discussing this, Elmer, who was quite active tonight, started singing “The Lizzy Borden” song, something that I had never heard of.  He said that this was a woman who was tried for murder back in the 1800’s and what this had to do with our discussion on ‘Sadie Hawkins Day’, I failed to understand.  But hey, any time Elmer starts singing, I will take it. 

We then moved to Thanksgiving and I mentioned the blurb that we had inserted last year, about the President pardoning a couple of Turkeys.  I said that we should have some other trivia which was fun like this one. Since I had walked in the parade last year, Gwyn suggested we do something with the balloons.  We researched the history of parade balloons in NYC and Chicago and found that this was a really old tradition.  Next, Gwyn took over the writing of the sports section and Larry and Jim vented freely on the way the ‘Bears’ season was progressing.  Jim continued his rant by throwing a few jabs at his hated ‘Cubs’, whom he called “The AA club on Clark Street”.  Larry then talked about his restaurant review of ‘Penny’s Noodles’ where he had recently gone for lunch, which he described as good, but expensive.  I asked him whatever happened to his claim that he could do the “Bacon challenge” at ‘Paddy Longs’ and that led us all to have another discussion on that.  While all of us had been goofing off, Jack and his volunteer had made quite headway in the ‘Chase’ book.  The time was up and I left with only 2 more sessions remaining.  Hopefully the ‘Game Night’ that is being planned is as good as this one.

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy

Lunar Eclipse

Location: Adler Planetarium

Date: Wednesday, October 08, 2014; 3:00-7:00 am

The lunatic is in my head

I must admit that there must be something seriously wrong with my head to have said yes to this one, which required me to leave my apartment at 2:30 am.  When Michael had first asked me about this I had laughed, but earlier that afternoon I realized that there was nothing else going on in my life anyways and so I called him and said that I could come.  He said that while he wouldn't be there, I should check-in with someone named Yola.  I guess I was going for the Lunar Eclipse and a 'Blood Moon' at that…whatever it means.

'Blood Moon'

I took a cab and arrived at Adler just before 3 am, to see that many people had gathered outside with their telescopes and cameras at the ready.  There was even a TV truck there.  Looks like this was going to be a fun evening…night…dawn.  After checking-in at the Volunteer station I found Yola stationed outside the ‘SVL’.  She said that all of our demonstrations would be related to the Lunar Eclipse, starting with my first station, which was to understand the principle of telescopes using lasers, lenses and mirrors.  Yola said that Michael had called me a “Seasoned After Dark Volunteer”, and that I could figure the experiment out.  Ok then.  There was a laser plugged in with either single or multiple beams and I had a variety of glass objects available, such as convex and concave lenses, mirrors, prisms etc. and through this hopefully I could explain to people the inner workings of a telescope. 

You raise the blade, you make the change

You re-arrange me 'til I'm sane

At 3:30 am the gates opened and a huge influx of people came in...and for some reason all of them assembled at my station.  Everyone was looking at me with anticipation of recreating something cool and I started by asking how is it that we can capture the light from a star billions of miles away.  The laser represented the light source and I was encouraging the visitors to use the lenses and mirrors to come up with a solution.  It was interesting to see them realize how to use convex lens for converging the light into a point and use concave lens for magnifying.  I was trying to also correlate this with some real life examples, like the corrective lenses that many people were wearing.  A mom came with young kids – which was surprising at this hour – and they were excited to see the whole setup.  The wanted to know more about prisms and I showed them how we can separate light using a torch - which was perhaps an appropriate homage to one of the greatest rock albums that is consistent with our theme for tonight.  

One girl came in and engaged me in a debate on whether planetary bodies have an effect on peoples psyche or physiology. My argument was no, since the laws of gravitational attraction are the only ones that could affect this, and while the planetary bodies and stars were big enough  to exert gravitational pull, our bodies are just not that big, or that close to them.  I mentioned how scientists have done research with full moon and water in human bodies, to check if it is affected like the tides; and have not identified any impact.  She was persistent in her line of questions and I appreciated her passion.  We discussed about life on other planets and I stated “absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence”.  She then asked if what I said was true, why I was discounting the effect of planets on humans.  Touché Mademoiselle!  I said that was fair and we then discussed if the cosmic radiations have a specific effect on people, since we do say that everyone’s “wired differently”. She said that she had enjoyed talking with me and thanked me a lot but in reality the pleasure had been mine.

You lock the door

And throw away the key

There's someone in my head but it's not me

My next duty was “Hula Hoops Pocket Science” wherein I was to walk about with ‘Hula Hoops’ and explain why we have lunar eclipses only twice a year.  I went outside where the party was well and truly on and everyone was gathered around the telescopes, not all of which were Adler’s.   It was getting close to the time for the total eclipse and it was the perfect time to be outside.  I looked through the telescopes at the Moon, as well as through another one at Jupiter and it’s 4 main satellites.  It was one of the more brilliant things that I have seen and I could actually see the color gradations of Jupiter.  The “Blood Moon” was visible as well and this celestial experience was truly magnificent.  As I walked about people would ask why I was carrying my props and that would be my cue to ask their help in an experiment.  I would put the hoops around their necks and mention that one of those was the orbit of the Earth and the other was the orbit of Moon, with their head being the Sun.  Then I would demonstrate how due to Moon’s minor orbital tilt of 5 degrees, the two orbits only overlap twice in a year, hence having 2 lunar eclipses. I had a lot of fun with this one, working outside as well as all the sections of the museum that were open.  During this demo, at one stage I even wore a “Star Costume” for a picture. Don't ask.

The 'Arts & Crafts' supplies

For the final 45 minutes of my shift I was stationed outside the ‘Definity Theater’ where there was an ‘Arts & Crafts’ activity table for kids…seriously kids were out of bed at this hour.  Amongst the coloring and activity books, there was a folder with cutouts to make rockets, and a station to make a “viewer” for the Solar Eclipse viewing party on October 23^rd.  As people came to take a look, I would tell them how to make the viewer, which was cutting a window in a cardstock sheet, covering with Aluminum foil and poking a pinhole in it, because as everyone knows, you never look at an Eclipse directly.  One gentleman came and was fascinated by the rocket model.  He told a story of how he and his brother had made a rocket as kids, filling it with gasoline, and when launched, it had gone two blocks horizontally.  I said that it was an impressive feat, since I did not expect it to go that far, horizontal or otherwise.  Luckily no one was injured and nothing was set on fire.  He said that incidence was the end of his rocket building career.

One other kid came and I asked if he wanted to see a Solar Eclipse.  When he nodded, I showed it to him using his dad’s head as Earth, a golf tee as Moon and a flashlight as Sun.  Time was up and so went returned the hoops and flashlight in the volunteer office.  It was 7 am when I left and even though I was tired, the night had been worth my while.  I had seen the “Blood Moon” and Jupiter and its satellites.  It isn’t every day that you see sights like those.

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear

You shout and no one seems to hear.

And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes

I'll see you on the dark side of the moon 

Lyrics written by Roger Waters