Author: gregbover

“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.”

Thomas Huxley (1825-1895)

A self-taught anatomist and comparative biologist, Huxley served as ship’s surgeon on a very early voyage to New Guinea and Australia and was the first to describe several species. He was a vociferous champion of Darwin and invented the word “agnostic” (from the Greek for “I don’t know”) to describe his own thoughts about a supreme being. It was Huxley who first theorized that birds evolved from dinosaurs and who was the primary proponent of scientific education in 19^th century Britain. A lifelong humanist and prolific essayist, Huxley’s grandsons include Sir Julian Huxley, first director of UNESCO, and Aldous Huxley, author of Doors of Perception and Brave New World.

“To love and to be loved is to feel the warmth of the sun from two directions.”

David Viscott (1938 – 1996)

A Dorchester native, Viscott graduated from Dartmouth College, trained in psychiatry at Tufts Medical School, and taught at University Hospital in Boston. He had a successful practice and began writing books, but left his first wife after 17 years, and four children, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue Katherine Random, whom he later married. In California he began a radio program taking calls and dispensing advice live on air, then a novel practice. His combination of gently eliciting the details of callers problems and then giving tough-love advice garnered him huge audiences.  His newfound fame allowed him to charge $1500 an hour, and he claimed he could cure anyone in just four sessions. His need for adulation was his ultimate downfall. He became estranged from his wife and children, and died alone at age 58 from heart disease and complications of diabetes.

Introductory Workshop for Adventure Volunteers

Past, current, and prospective volunteers are invited to join us as we prepare for Adventure’s upcoming season. We will be hosting several information/training sessions this spring. Various aspects of volunteering with Adventure will be covered, including:

Adventure’s history and docents

Line Handling and deck safety

Hands-on teaching techniques and activities

We will kick off the season with an introductory session on April 21st. While this session is designed for new volunteers to become familiar with Gloucester Adventure Inc. as an organization, including the highlights and benefits of joining the Adventure volunteer community, everyone is encouraged to attend. If you can’t make it to this session, don’t worry, there will be more opportunities each Thursday evening for the following three weeks to learn about the organization and get involved.

Date: Thursday, April 21,  5:30 to 8:00, Maritime Gloucester Classroom, 23 Harbor Loop

5:30 to 6:00 Open Ship aboard Adventure, 6:00 to 8:00 Volunteer Workshop

Please contact us with any questions and to RSVP, space is limited

Email: volunteers@schooner-adventure.org or call 978 281 8079

Upcoming workshops:

April 28 – Education and inquiry based teaching

May 5 – Adventure History and Docents

May 12 – Deck Safety and Line-Handling

“New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.”

Lao Tzu (5th century BCE)

Often credited as the author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of the Taoist school of philosophy, Lao Tzu, which means “old master,” may have been a legendary figure, and the book a compilation from many sources, but its effect on Chinese history and culture is profound. Traditionally, he is held to have been a contemporary of Confucius, and a government official who, tiring of the corruption around him, became a hermit late in life.  Asked to record his wisdom on his return to civilization he produced the Tao Te Ching, which through allegory, paradox, and analogy teaches that freedom from desire leads to spiritual advancement and an awareness of the Tao, or the true nature of things. Another saying attributed to Lao Tzu, “The usefulness of a pot comes from its emptiness.”

Left: AG Trustee Jacob Belcher hands $1000 to David Killian of the Auto Shop group.     Right: Jake with Jarrod Martin, Lexi Ciolino, Chrissy Nugent, and Isaac da Silva of the Library Renovation Team

Last night at GHS four excellent pitches were made by students hoping to make their school more awesome. The trustees of Awesome Gloucester were then faced with choosing the best. Because we were joined this month by the Gloucester Education Fund who matched our normal $1,000 dollar grant, we chose the top two ideas in the closest voting on record. Jack Porter’s Auto Shop class won for their idea to do free spring maintenance on the cars of elders and veterans. Another group of motivated students received a micro-grant to renovate the Library Commons. Congratulations to both groups, you restore our faith that the generations coming up understand the value of service and community building. Details on both projects and information on how to pitch your idea to make Gloucester more awesome can be found at the Awesome Foundation website. To date Awesome Gloucester has funded $31,000 in projects for the city.

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On Tuesday evening, March 22 at 7 o’clock, Awesome Gloucester will team up with the Gloucester Education Foundation to award two $1000 micro-grants to student groups with innovative ideas on how to make their community more awesome. The following four students groups will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and members of the community:

Spring Car Maintenance: The GHS Automotive Shop would like to start a program to provide Senior Citizens and Veterans free car maintenance in the spring (e.g., wider blade replacement, oil changes, tire checks).

Fruit for the Future: High School students would like to purchase apple tree seedlings to plant at all local public schools.

Library Commons Renovations: High School students would like to renovate the school library, making it a more creative, student-friendly atmosphere.

Spring Clean Up: The NHS and Student Council would like to purchase and plant flowers around the school campus as a component of their annual spring clean-up initiative.

Two winners will be awarded $1,000 in cash, on the spot, with no strings attached. Pitch Night will take place in the GHS cafeteria and is open to the public.

This month proposals were accepted only from GHS students, normally the Gloucester chapter of the Awesome Foundation solicits proposals from the entire community and chooses the top ideas to attend a public Pitch Night on the evening of the third Monday. Submitters make their case before the 20 local trustees who have each donated $50 toward the monthly award. The top vote getters walk away with $1000 in cash. Proposals to make Gloucester more awesome can be made at Awesome Gloucester.

2nd Annual Helen Garland flyer

2^nd Annual Helen Garland Universal Earth Day and Equinox Bell Ringing Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 2 PM

Bell ringing event and musical tribute to Pete Seeger at Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church celebrates global peace and arrival of spring

Gloucester, MA: The 2^nd Annual Helen Garland Universal Earth Day and Equinox Bell Ringing will take place this year on Sunday, March 20^th at 2 PM at Gloucester’s Unitarian Universalist Church located at 10 Church Street. A musical tribute to Pete Seeger by local musicians will also take place.

For the past 46 years, Helen Garland, a long-time nature advocate and resident of Gloucester, has traveled to the United Nations in New York City to ring the Japanese peace bell at the exact time of the Vernal Equinox to celebrate Universal Earth Day. In 2016, the Vernal Equinox will arrive at 12:31 AM. Around the world, the Vernal Equinox is recognized as a time to celebrate Earth’s balance, a planetary equilibrium of day and night, light and darkness, and a movement toward a new season. In the northern hemisphere, we celebrate light, renewal, and rejuvenation as we move into the spring season. In the southern hemisphere, people prepare for autumn and the oncoming winter.

Helen Garland’s work at the UN on behalf of Nature and Motherhood as chair of the Earth Society Foundation led her 46 years ago to attend the bell ringing ceremony. Now, we carry on her tradition in Gloucester, this year with the help of the Gloucester UU church.

This is a family oriented event and open to the public.

For more information contact: Maureen Aylward maureenaylward@comcast.net 978-290-1507

More about the UN Bell Ringing: The Vernal Equinox was observed as the beginning of a new year in ancient China, England, Persia, Egypt, and North and South America. At the exact moment of the Equinox the sun is setting at the South Pole and rising at the North Pole. On the equator at noon you will cast no shadow. The annual tradition of ringing the Peace Bell at the UN at the exact moment of the Vernal Equinox (March 20-21) was initiated by John McConnell with the support of UN Secretary-General U Thant on March 21, 1971. This tradition has been observed for 46 consecutive years at UN Headquarters. The UN 2016 ceremony is co-sponsored by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).