Field+Trip,+That's+American

This page is for listing of places to go and things to do on our field trip on Wednesday, July 2 and for reactions to these ideas. Since we agreed today that this will be our field trip for that date, it makes sense for us to begin throwing out ideas and reacting to them, so we can have a **//fun//** (there’s that forbidden F word again), stimulating and valuable experience on this field trip. In my earlier post in the general discussion about field trips, I explained what prompted this idea and if you’d like you can go back and read that posting. Also, that posting wasn’t complete. There’s at least one other thing that brought the topic to mind—the upcoming Presidential election and especially the often heated discussions about patriotism. Perhaps you read about or saw some stuff in the media about Obama and the American flag lapel pin issue. That’s just one example of this issue being on people’s minds at this time. I know I’m repeating my previous entry some here, but I thought it would help us to see a list in this discussion of all the places we could visit. This is not intended as a complete list and I hope everyone adds to this list. Here are the places I have in mind at this point:
 * The monument (there might even be more than one) in Harlow Park (on Washington at Seventh St). I think it’s dedicated to veterans.
 * Cemeteries (Park and Holy Cross are two nearby ones I can think of) with gravesites of soldiers, many decorated with American flags.
 * The American Legion Hall (it’s near Harlow Park). A long time ago I was in there, but it was so long ago I can barely remember it. I’m quite sure one part of it is a bar (so there you are Wedge).
 * Other places where the American flag is flown, especially if there’s something unique about it. I think Perkins restaurant displays a really big one.
 * The Jacobetti Veterans Facility. (I been there number of times. It left me with strong impressions.) As with some other places on this list, going there might require some advance planning. Also, I checked on the web and there’s a person and I assume an office there of the VFW.
 * This next idea is incomplete at this point, but Marquette, like most towns and cities, has a Fourth of July Parade. Visiting a place where a float or other parade thing is being prepared seems like a place that could be visited. This would probably require a bit of research to find out where and who or what group was doing this and exactly where. Anyone game to do this research?

I figure all of you can come up with additional—and probably better--ideas. So please spend a little time thinking about this and add to my list and ideas. Also, feel free to criticize my suggestions or respond to them in other ways.

Some of the places on my list entail meeting with and talking to people. I think it would be a good experience for us to do this. Journalists and media people conduct interviews all the time. Teachers, even teachers of English, don’t do it very often, I think. This would be an opportunity to gain some experience with this method of gathering information and doing research. My 19 year old daughter was in 8-18 Media for a few years and now is an assistant to the Director of that organization. She’s done many interviews, including one with the mayor of Dearborn, and I’ve done only a few. I wouldn’t mind gaining some experience in this area.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll get ambitious and decide to put together a substantive, collaborative piece of writing based on this field trip. I could even see it eventually being published.

As with almost all our field trips, I’d assume at least some writing would be done as part of this one, as well as some sharing of what we write and/or experience.

Well, please react to this posting and add some of your ideas