Mountain Home

August 3, 2018 | Krista

Although I’ve always lived in relatively flat places in the Mid-Atlantic region, something about the western mountains just feels like home. On long road trips, the first glimpse of the mountains after days of travel across flat plains sparked gasps of delight. My family spent many happy hours hiking in the Rockies, tossing pebbles into rushing streams, and spotting wildflowers, birds, and mountain animals such as elk, marmots, and bighorn sheep.

This summer, our first glimpse of the mountains after a long westward drive came near Taos, New Mexico. I pulled the car over and paused a few minutes to absorb it, stepping out to smell the sweet scent of Ponderosa pine. “Nothing like it, is there?” noted a fellow driver who had stopped for the same purpose. Nothing indeed.

Nothing like the mountains

Taos seems just a bit enchanted. The area attracts artists, independent thinkers, and lovers of the outdoors. Earthships, an off-the-grid settlement, occupies acres of land on the Taos Mesa. Its name hints at the otherworldly feeling of peering at pods tucked into the desert like a settlement on some faraway planet. A few miles away from Earthships, we stayed overnight on the mesa in a funky domed house, gazing at the stars and dreaming of those other worlds.

Domed house in New Mexico

The next morning, more up-and-down miles brought us to Moab, Utah, where dramatic land formations characterize Arches National Park. Years ago, I’d read Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire, which details his time as a park ranger at Arches. I’d worried about the human destruction of Arches after reading the book, but for now, the park seems to be managing its visitors wisely. In our experience, park guests seemed to respect the trails, content to marvel at the gravity-defying sandstone arches without feeling the need to desecrate them.

Double Arch at Arches National Park

Turret Arch

At last, after nine days of driving from Maryland, we reached our destination, Salt Lake City, our home base for the summer. Cool summer nights perfect for runs and bike rides in Liberty Park, friendly local people, inviting coffeeshops and restaurants, and the ever-present Wasatch Mountains just a short distance away: all of these are enough to make a place feel just like home.

At home in Utah

Beyond OK

July 31, 2018 | Krista

My interest in Tulsa, Oklahoma started with books. The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton’s 1963 classic, earned a spot in my heart after I saw class after class of middle school students fall in love with its sensitive protagonist and his tough, loyal group of friends. Stay gold, Ponyboy!

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Just last year, reading Jennifer Latham’s compelling novel Dreamland Burning awakened me to another Tulsa story, a 1921 riot that destroyed a thriving black community in the Greenwood neighborhood and killed and injured hundreds of people.

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Around the same time as the riot in Greenwood, another racially motivated mass killing was taking place in Oklahoma, this one involving a wealthy Native American tribe. David Grann’s excellent nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon details the years-long conspiracy to murder Osage people in Oklahoma during the 1920s, and subsequent FBI investigation into the deaths. My bookclub read and discussed this book a few months ago.

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Modern day Tulsa is diverse and green, with an active arts scene and vibrant neighborhoods. Several filming sites of the Outsiders 1983 movie remain, though some have changed notably in 35 years. The Greenwood neighborhood no longer exists as it once did; however, the Greenwood Cultural Center and the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park stand near the site of the 1921 riot and remind us both of a dark time in Tulsa’s history, and the resilient potential of people and communities.

John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park. Image from Flickr, taken by JasonC_Photography

The town of Pawhuska, located about an hour’s drive from Tulsa, is the center of Osage tribal culture, as it was in the 1920s when the events detailed in Killers of the Flower Moon happened. Present-day Pawhuska has a museum dedicated to Osage culture and history, where a young docent chatted with us about the tribe’s rich traditions and resurgent interest in preserving their unique language.

Downtown Pawhuska, Oklahoma in 2018

Nearby, the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve protects a huge tract of original prairie lands, and supports a herd of over 2,000 free range bison. These magnificent creatures, once prolific in the eastern and western United States, can grow to weigh up to a ton. These (mostly) gentle giants ignored our gawking as they peacefully munched prairie grass.

Tallgrass prairie bison

Watch out for loose bison!

On our way from Tulsa to Amarillo, Texas, we stopped to pay our respects at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which honors those affected by the April, 1995 terrorist attack at the Murrah Federal Building. A ranger explained the significance of the memorial’s design: gates which mark the time of the attack and the beginning of the rescue and recovery mission, empty chairs which symbolize the lives lost, including tiny chairs for the victims who were children, and the Survivor Tree which stood through the attack and continues to thrive. Despite the horrific events that occurred nearby over 20 years ago, the memorial is a surprising oasis of peaceful reflection.

Gate and reflecting pool, Oklahoma City Memorial

Field of Empty Chairs, Oklahoma City Memorial

Prior to our visit this year, my only experience in Oklahoma was a few hours driving through on a childhood trip. Rich in history, resilience, and natural beauty, the state merits more than a quick drive though. I’m glad we made time to visit a place that’s more than just OK.

Pausing in the Ozarks

July 18, 2018 | Krista

Since October, my husband has commuted nearly every week from Maryland to Salt Lake City. This summer, we took advantage of my flexible teacher’s schedule to relocate to Utah and save him the weekly trips. As it worked out, we are both traveling more than ever this summer, by chance and by choice! We are both nomadic souls who rarely refuse an opportunity to be on the move.

We decided to bring a car out to Salt Lake City, taking a leisurely course through nine states. As a child, I had patient parents who drove us through much of the United States on long family camping trips. Over thirty years later, many of those beloved trip memories are turning fuzzy, and I was eager to make new cross-country memories.

With my brother, causing trouble on a road trip circa 1983.

A bonus and challenge of the trip was driving Mike’s Tesla electric car, which has to be charged every 200 miles or so. A network of superchargers, many located near interstates, allows for “quick” charging, about an hour in most cases. Luckily the chargers are often near hotels, restaurants, or coffee shops. While the car charged, we slipped into those places for air conditioning and free WiFi, having a bite or catching up on email and news while we waited.

After lightning quick stops in Morgantown and Louisville, we slowed down for a couple of days in the Ozarks. We didn’t know much about the area, beyond a few references from movies and TV, not always of the positive variety. We had few expectations besides a slower pace of life, much welcome after several days of moving at 70 miles an hour.

The farmhouse Airbnb where we stayed was charming, with glacial Internet service that encouraged us to unplug and enjoy nature instead of depending on constant technology. On the same land as the farmhouse was an original 1800’s log cabin, hinting at the area’s pioneer history. The Laura Ingalls Wilder home is not far away.

Log cabin in Missouri, on the site of our Airbnb

Our sleepy break in the Ozarks featured one adventurous mishap in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways National Park, which connects 125 miles of rivers. We discovered just how scenic they are when our car bottomed out as we crossed one such river on our way to a trailhead. We spent over an hour stuck in the river, unable to move the car backward or forward, watching helplessly as water trickled inside. Luckily, two park rangers came to our rescue and towed us out. Our car and belongings were waterlogged, but otherwise unharmed.

Stuck in a scenic river.

Our ranger rescuers

We celebrated in relief that evening with local moonshine, learning from our bartender that moonshine refers to unaged whiskey, and does not need to be bootlegged or made in a bathtub.

Among some, Missouri has acquired a less than savory reputation: in books, movies, and shows such as Gone Girl, Winter’s Bone, and Ozark, it’s depicted as a backwards, unfriendly place where few people would choose to live. It even made Fodor’s 2018 “No List” of worst places to travel for some policies and practices that are deemed less than progressive. Like any stereotype, though, there’s another side to Missouri for those that care to take a deeper look: scenic landscapes, kind and neighborly people, and the smoothest of sweet tea moonshines.

Cave Spring by Thomas Hart Benton

Going home and getting global

October 23, 2016 | Krista

My hometown, site of this year’s Global Education Forum.

Philadelphia is my hometown, and though I no longer live in the area, its proud, gritty sense of character appeals to me. I still cheer for the Flyers and love the LOVE statue. When the opportunity came to return to my hometown as a presenter at the Global Education Forum, I didn’t need to think twice.

Krista at the Global Education Forum in Philadelphia.

The forum brought together teachers, administrators, and thought leaders from all over to discuss best practices in global education. Craig Kielburger and Heidi Hayes-Jacobs inspired with keynote addresses that explored the possibilities for engaging students as thinker and doers, examining perspective and taking action to improve their world.

From Craig Kielburger’s presentation: the traits we want our students to have.

Through the generosity of IREX, several alumni of the Teachers for Global Classrooms were able to travel to the forum and host workshops for other teachers about how to globalize instruction. Sara Damon of Stillwater, Minnesota, Faith Ibarra of Ashburn, Virginia, and I collaborated on our workshop, “Motivating Students and Staff to Take Action on Global Issues.” I was delighted to share my school’s Middle Years Exploration into the topic of poverty, a starting point for future service learning activities. (To check out the exploration, you can join our Google Classroom using code gcempu ).

Sara Damon presenting at the Global Education Forum.

Nothing motivates and inspires quite like connecting with other passionate educators. Thank you, IREX for the opportunity to attend the Global Education forum this year!

Summer adventures

August 28, 2016 | Krista

These last few nights, there’s enough crisp in the air that we can sit out on the porch, watching the sun set behind the crape myrtle. Teachers returned to school last week to prepare for the school year. Our school population has grown enough to merit a huge addition, and over half of the staff moved to new digs, including me. My new office is small and bright, and desperately in need of some wall décor and plant life. Summer is nearly over, and oh, what a summer it was!

My new office, looking spartan.

The day after students finished, when most teachers were still finishing up with packing and submitting grades, I was on a plane to Orlando to attend the Korean War Veterans Digital History Teachers’ Conference. So soon after the tragic events in Orlando, I couldn’t help but connect current events to the historical ones we learned about at the conference. Thoughts of lives cut short, of divisions and community, of tremendous bravery and selflessness…the highlight of the conference was the opportunity to speak to several Korean War veterans, now in their 80s, and hear their stories.

Memorial to the Pulse Victims, Orlando

Later in the summer, I spent ten days on a grand sweep of the Southwestern United States with my husband and stepsons.

Zion National Park

The Narrows at Zion

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon

Mesa Verde National Park

Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque

ABQ Biopark, Albuquerque

The Grand Canyon

The best part of the journey was seeing through the eyes of my stepsons many of the same places that had captivated me as a young child. My parents had the wisdom and endurance to crisscross the country multiple times with three young children in a station wagon, toting a pop up camper. As the National Park Service celebrates its 100^th anniversary, I remember the diverse and beautiful places I had the opportunity to see as a child and an adult.

First time visiting the Grand Canyon

And now I start a new school year with a continued commitment to bring the world to our students, with same can-do spirit that my parents embraced over 30 years ago. Here’s to a year full of adventure, discovery, and joy!

American oddities

June 14, 2015 | Krista

My adorable Italian cousin Valentina and her sweetheart Paolo visited the United States for the first time this month.

Here are a few American things that they found fascinating and unique.

1. Foaming hand soap. Paolo even bought a bottle to take home.

2. Grape jelly Valentina had some on her toast every morning. She said that jam is common in Italy, but not jam made of grapes.

3. Chinese takeout food – even the greasy, salty, nutritionally devoid kind from the places with food photos on the wall.

4. Squirrels. They must have taken a hundred photos of squirrels scampering around DC and Maryland.

5. Drip-style coffee makers. Paolo naturally brought his own coffee maker and coffee to the States, since Americans really can’t be trusted to make proper coffee. Nevertheless, he and Valentina were impressed by the drip coffee process, if not the product.

I wonder what items and events I’ll find to be unique and impressive when I travel to Asia this summer?

Gullah Culture on the Sea Islands

May 17, 2015 | Krista

The South Carolina Sea Islands are remarkably scenic: giant live oaks curtained with Spanish moss, shimmering water fringed by marsh grass. They are also home to the unique, rich Gullah culture. The Gullah people are descendants of African slaves who live in the Low Country of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. In these isolated areas, they developed their own language and traditions. Sights of those traditions still pepper the landscape: stands selling seagrass baskets and local produce, tiny churches, cafes serving Gullah cuisine.

Penn School was established in 1862 by two Northern women, Laura Towne and Ellen Murray, to educate former slaves. It served as a school until its closing in 1948, and is now Penn Center, a museum and community center. Dr. King visited Penn Center during the 1960s to help local people campaign for civil rights. It’s still active in community outreach, offering camps, classes, meetings, and heritage programs to share the history of the Gullah people and improve life in the local area.

I was touched reading Laura Towne’s thoughts about the value her students at Penn School placed on their education. The worst thought they could imagine was missing a day of school!

Everywhere pride in the school’s legacy and the long history of the Gullah people was evident – in objects they created and in the stories of a resilient, creative people.

Savannah smiles

May 9, 2015 | Krista

Our Savannah rental was a restored freedman’s cottage from the 1870s, located near Forsyth Park. We loved the light-filled space, decorated with local art and antiques.

Dee of Savannah Bike Tours led us through the highlights of Savannah, from the river to the park, with some Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil locations in the mix.