DAYTRIP

All in a days trip

Internet exploring while under quarantine

Story and Photo By Hunter Cloud

All in a days trip as an Internet explorer

A mouse, the radio and a cartoon airplane are all you need for a day trip during quarantine.

Children can explore the State of Mississippi and its many cultural and historical landmarks during the stay at home order issued by Tate Reeves while also learning.

When schools started closing the Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin Regional library began developing programs to help children learn and stay engaged during the COVID-19 Quarantine Children’s Cordinator Pam Whitaker said. There are several interactive programs that can be found on the LLF Blog which was started on March 23.

“We started about a month and a half ago, trying to get it up and running,” Whitaker said. “This thing came at us pretty fast so not everything is perfect yet. Everyone has been really committed to doing the best we can.’

Some of the blog posts are centered around the idea of going Stir Crazy and focus on getting kids active, Oh the places we can go highlight places that people can view online exhibits. The facebook page has also been sharing videos for people to watch as well as other important information about the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Library is also taking children to different worlds each weekday at 10:30 am on the radio by reading children’s books on 92.1 FM and 104.3 FM.Whitaker said she can’t wait to get back to work and to get her summer reading program started, but until then her voice will help children discover a place outside of quarantine.

“Books take you to another world, they make it great,” Whitaker said. “These books are fun and are great and they really relate.”

Online exhibits and collection databases in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History are ways kids and parents can both explore the history of Mississippi. Every week the MDAH has put out Lunch is History videos on different history projects in the state on their YouTube Channel.

Director of MDAH Public Relations Michael Morris said the History is lunch has had to postpone future programs but they will continue to upload programs from the past.

“We are still uploading past department programs, including videos of the Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture,” Morris said. “We encourage all to subscribe to the MDAH YouTube channel to see the latest additions.”

MDAH Digital Archives have photos and videos documenting the lives of Mississippians from its time as a territory to present day, and the Mississippi Archaeology Trails website has interactive features for those interested in the history of Native Americans who called Mississippi home.

At the moment MDAH is working on a new education trunk for the Old Capitol Musuem and new distance learning videos for students. The videos were made possible due to a 2017 National endowment for the Humanities grant.

“The videos allow students in the classroom to experience artifacts and exhibits on display in MDAH sites, including the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.” Morris said.

Other websites, archives and exhibits provided by MDAH can be found in a press release the department sent out on April 8. Morris encourages anyone looking for a fun way to learn about the history of Mississippi to follow the departments social media.

One artist in the State of Mississippi decided to take children on a tour of Mississippi through his drawings which appear in the Mississippi Today and can be printed from their website for kids to color in.

So far the cartoons have featured various cities and regions across the State of Mississippi and the various things that make each place special.

Marshall Ramsey, an editor-at-large for the Mississippi Today, said that his inspiration for what he draws comes from his travels across Mississippi in the 20-plus years Ramsey has lived in it.

“I started out in guy Jackson because that is where I live,” Ramsey said. “Usually what happens is I’m thinking I need to do one today where I have been recently. A lot of them are just places that I have been.”

Ramsey has drawn the Elvis Statue, the sign with guitars on it in Clarksdale, the lighthouse in Biloxi and the battlefield in Vicksburg. He said in the past 20 years he has been to nearly every town in Mississippi but he is hoping to spark that same urge to discover, travel and explore Mississippi in kids during the quarantine.

“I hope they are like ‘Hey Mom and Dad, let’s go visit one of those places,” Ramsey said. “I want to remind kids that they live in a pretty cool State. There is a lot of cool stuff that they can go see and do here.”

In a time in which Mississippi has seen over 2,000 cases of COVID-19 Ramsey said he believes that drawing and coloring can help calm the anxiety that is also going up because of the pandemic.

“I hope that these coloring sheets can help bring people a moment of peace and enjoyment during this scary time,” Ramsey said. “I just hope I can give people a bit of calm.” /////

Two pre-teen books focus on overcoming challenges Paw problems and ox addictions

Reviews By Brett Campbell Art submitted

“An Alaskan grizzly bear survives a tragic accident, leaving him with one limp paw,” reads the summary of “Three Paws,” a large-format children’s book by first-time author Karen Struck.

“But despite his physical challenge, his dream of becoming a great salmon catcher spurs him to take personal risks as he befriends an injured billy goat.”

The books are both quick, easy reads and colorfully illustrated.

Another children’s book released in 2019 focuses on an ox. “In ‘If You Give an Ox an Oxy,’ adolescents follow an ox who goes from taking a few opioids to overusing them, and finally taking too many.” The book, described as “A Parad(ox)y,” is by Dr. Laura E. Happe, PharmD.

“Three Paws” aims to help children think about how to treat others with physical handicaps, and how to act if they are physically handicapped themselves. “If You Give an Ox an Oxy” aims to help pre-teens understand addiction and recovery.

Struck is a nurse who wanted her children to understand disabilities and challenges.

“After injuring his paw, Boots (the bear) never strays from his desire, his dream, to be a great salmon catcher in Ketchikan,” writes Struck. “He quickly realizes that with his three usable paws, he’ll need to learn new skills to aid him toward his goal, and sets out to do so. And thanks to the help of a new friend, an injured billy goat, Boots soon finds it’s important to rely on others for support — we’re all in this together.”

“As a parent of a tween and teen, my husband and I have purchased several books as support in discussing complex topics with them, from bullying and puberty to internet safety,” Happe writes. “As a pharmacist who was taught in school that opioids are not addictive, I wanted to be part of the solution, and I hope to do so with Ox.”

The annual mortality rate for children and teens due to opioids rose 268 percent in the past 20 years, according to XXX study. The same study shows only 16 percent of parents have talked with their children about pain medication abuse. Happy wants to use her simple book to help parents and their children talk about the issue and — hopefully — prevent abuse.

Whereas “Three Paws” aims to start a discussion between parent and child, “Oxy” guides the parent and child through a discussion. In both cases, it may benefit the parent to read the book alone, or with another adult, prior to reading it with their child. Having a good idea of what’s coming in the stories can help prevent frustration in the adult attempting to answer questions.

Neither book is intended to be a panacea for the problems faced, however. You won’t find everything you need to know in either, and few parents will be able to answer every question raised by a child while reading them. But a quick online search can help parents find additional resources to aid in discussion and understanding.

Each book retails for around $13, and both are available for purchase at major book retailers. /////

Reviews By Britain Campbell Art submitted

“The Cobbler’s Tale: A Novel” is a story of a Jewish immigrant to the United States in 1910, based somewhat on the life of the author’s grandfather. It’s the freshman offering of Neil Perry Gordon.

When I picked up “A Cobbler’s Tale,” I did not read the synopsis before starting so I only knew that this was historical fiction. I’m an 18-year-old girl, and I usually don’t read this genre, but the book was suggested to me, which is why I thought I’d give it a shot.

This book makes me want to start giving historical fictions a try again. I do find this time period to be very interesting in general so that’s probably a tiny bit of why I enjoyed it, but the storytelling was very intriguing as well. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I anticipated to and would definitely recommend it, even if historical fictions aren’t typically your thing.

Although a lot of 18-year-old females enjoy fantasy books, I do not. I wanted to give the book a fair shot though. I really enjoy “The Nutcracker Ballet,” so it wasn’t much of a surprise that the synopsis piqued my interest. I enjoyed the first third of the book, and it got me excited for what the rest had in store, but after that the book slowed down a lot and took me a while to get through. The last five to 10 chapters picked up speed, though, and started to grasp my interest again. In my opinion, this would’ve been better as a short story, and the way it is written makes it seem that it’s for a child, although that child would not be able to read it alone. At the end of it all, I think that if you typically really enjoy fantasies, then you will enjoy this. If not, this is probably not the book for you. /////

“The Enchanted Sonata” centers on the character of Clara Stahlbaum — a girl who has her future perfectly planned: marry the handsome pianist and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes on Christmas Eve, when she receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker. Author Heather Dixon Wallwork has been a writer for HarperCollins and a story artist for Disney.