An excuse for pedantic plurals.

North Carolina and I are helping each other out in this summer of tight finances. In the interests of saving money and supporting education and responsible stewardship, I'm keeping my summer travel local to NC.

First recommendation: NC has greatly expanded its state parks system over the past decade or so. For the most part, the campground amenities aren't exactly luxurious, but then again, it's camping after all. I've recently spent a weekend at Carolina Beach State Park, which is unique in my experience for being secluded and quiet despite having all the action of Pleasure Island a mere mile and a half away. The proximity of entertainment and dining was fortunate, as it was simply too hot and muggy to justify building a campfire (it's not exactly a responsible use of natural resources to build an unnecessary fire, is it?) and I had had quite enough of my cheap healthy salmon-packet based meals halfway through lunch on the beach the second day. 

Second recommendation: I made it to the Fort Fisher Aquarium for the first time since I was a child, and the first time since its semi-recent renovation. They have some remarkable exhibits, including a pearlescent albino alligator named Luna and mesmerizing jelly fish. The Cape Fear Shoals exhibit is especially stunning (the Moray eel was probably my favorite denizen there). The membership I purchased meant I didn't have to pay when I returned the next day to catch the dive show. The most important thing for me, as an educator, was that the staff and volunteers were knowledgable and engaging, and greeted every guest and question with enthusiasm. It was apparent that the folks there really believed in the aquarium's mission of education and outreach.

Folks concerned about issues of bullying, BOLO for this guy: 

Bonus: the membership works at the NC Zoo, too, and reciprocity information for 150 vivaria around the country will soon be arriving by USPS. 

Trivia question: Easiest way to spot which woman at the bar came to the beach by herself?

Evening Sparks

Micro-volunteering has become one of my hobbies for several reasons, primarily the following, in some sort of unexamined order:

1) it's free
2) it allows me to improve my writing and training skills
3) it takes as much or as little time as I have to spare of an evening
4) the kind of knowledge and skills I have are more valuable if they are shared rather than jealously hoarded in my greedy little brain and
5) it is an efficient way to pair drive and motivation with knowledge and resources.

Thus, I just might help someone make a difference. Besides, who doesn't need an outlet for semi-solicited advice?

So far, I've advised groups on media pitches, blogging and other social media best practices, community outreach and fundraising.

www.sparked.com

C*

Public Ally

The inaugural OutRaleigh Festival last Saturday, May 14th, was very good for me. On a completely irrelevant and trivial level, I was happy to acquire some snazzy new rainbow earrings that I just might need to wear everywhere. On a personal level, it was very nice to spend quality time signing petitions with a friend and expressing my political side in a safe and welcoming environment. On a professional level, I benefited from seeing the many area agencies and faith-based organizations who are doing important work to stand against discrimination, bigotry and hate.

My experience in education non-profits has been fulfilling in that I know our work is important and makes a difference for individuals. The injustice of illiteracy, of education denied and the consequences thereof, however, somehow lacks the urgency and furor of a civil rights movement. Sure, the problem is rooted in civil rights issues decades, even centuries, in the making; however, the causes seem so far removed from present-day repercussions that the injustice tends to appear inadvertent, rather than deliberately perpetrated. Where then, to focus one's righteous anger? There is also the mode of remedy to consider. It is through individual patient, plodding persistence, rather than collective fire, fervor and foment that a life is changed through literacy. My connection to my work has been wrought of pragmatic concerns rather than emotional fulfillment. Thus the passion which drove me to pursue social inquiry has become dormant during recent years, sublimated into a theretofore alien preoccupation with paying bills and folding laundry.

Not so this day. I was one of many citizens vividly and seamlessly exercising political will simply by embracing love, decrying hate, reminding ourselves that we are both in the polis and of it.

Tourist Crossing

Thanks to this post on passiveagressivenotes.com for bringing this webcam to my attention:

http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/