Jessie Voigts's Blog, page 88
June 1, 2020
Through the Eyes of an Educator: 5 Actionable Steps for Re-Entry Amidst a Pandemic
It’s a weird world we live in right now, that’s for sure. Some kids are headed back to traditional brick and mortar schooling this year, while others will be in some sort of distance learning for the foreseeable future. Some parents will be headed back to in-person work, complete with public transportation and all the new physical distancing protocols, while others will do their best to handle remote work in whatever space they’re lucky enough to call home for a ...
May 26, 2020
Tips for Jobseekers during a Recession: a Career Services Professional's Tale
Picture it: Pittsburgh; the year was 2008. I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Robert Morris University. I had a wonderful undergraduate experience, where I was hyper-conscious of making sure I made myself employable from this expensive degree, because I was the first to attend college in my family and I wanted to help my family and make them proud. I didn’t have a choic...
May 22, 2020
Why Bedford, PA was the Perfect Place for a Mother/Daughter Trip
My mom, Rita, turned 60 last year, and my sister, Nicoletta, and I wanted to take her on a special birthday trip to commemorate this milestone in her life! We offered her anywhere (literally in the world to pick from), but she wanted to go to a place she hasn’t been in close to 30 years...Bedford, Pennsylvania! It is a place that was always special to her heart growing up as a child. Her father, John (my grandfather), was from a little town in Bedford County, ca...
May 20, 2020
Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy—Always Looking for Flavor with the 'Indiana Jones of Food'
Cookbook author and food researcher/educator Diana Kennedy, now 97 years old, is the subject of a brilliant new biographical movie, Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy.
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Spunky, interesting, eternally curious, and a legendary educator and proponent of authentic Mexican cooking, she lives in Mexico—and has a greenhouse of regional plants that she calls her jewelry box. Gathered from around the country, she tends this one of a kind, Mexican-focused organic garden with grea...
May 18, 2020
Visit the American Museum of Natural History with Kids
Whales, minerals and dinosaurs. Planets, forests, mammals and butterflies.
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a hub for all things human science: biology, ecology, zoology, geology, astronomy and anthropology. Spanning many city blocks on the Upper West Side of New York City, with four floors, 42 permanent exhibits, a planetarium and an IMAX theater, approximately five millions visitors explore this behemoth of a museum each year.
Many...
Music for Connection and Contemplation
Music can invite and encourage contemplation and connection, solitude and community. Participating in arts of all sorts allows, invites, and encourages perspective and reflection.
At times, this also makes space for a place of rest.
With those ideas in mind, take a listen to the differing ways these musicians invite you into all of this.
Tish Hinojosa is from Texas, and spent some years living in in New Mexico, as well. Her song Amanacer paints...
May 13, 2020
History Comes Alive at Machu Picchu
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect people throughout the world, it is not possible to predict when it will be safe to travel again. In the meantime, I can take time to reflect on past adventures and recall what I learned at each destination. After visiting Peru, I remain fascinated by the Incas who built Machu Picchu, and by Hiram Bingham III who brought this civilization to the attention of the western world.
Overcast skies darkened the...
May 4, 2020
Your 5 Best Places to Take A Historical Family Vacation
If your familys anything like our family, you love to talk and to learn about history, whether thats in the local area or on the other side of the world. Youll know youve caught the bug if you cant get enough of documentaries and the history channel.
Nothing quite brings history to life like going to visit some of the places where the iconic moments that shaped our times took place. But with so much history all around us, how can we decide where...
May 3, 2020
Through the Eyes of an Educator: Educating Amidst the Trauma of Sustained Chaotic Turmoil
Simultaneously, in most places around the globe, children are home, teachers are instructing in a whole new way, and the threat of an unseen virus is at the heart of it all. We scroll through the memes measuring this time akin to Groundhogs Day; some of us feel safe at home, while others feel stuck in a cycle with an unknown ending.
Through it all, our students are taking in this new normal of sorts.
Its a strange situation, thats for sure. The...
May 1, 2020
Let The Nature Conservancy Help You Find Great Birds Around the Great Lakes
Millions of birds will fly over the Great Lakes region this spring as they migrate north to their summer breeding grounds, but many populations of bird species are declining and in peril, according to ornithology experts at The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
Black throated blue warbler
Matt Williams, TNCs director of conservation in Indiana, writes in his book Endangered and Disappearing Species of the Midwest that in the past 50 years alone, more than...
