Our First Library - Thanks Liz

Liz Henderson our Board member living in Hue has built our first library. We'll be sending out an electronic newsletter about the library eventually, but I want to mention it now.

My first visit to a Vietnamese orpahange was to Ms Don's in Ho Chi Minh City in 2005. A Jesuit friend Thanh took me there. I was so intrigued by the place. It had such a warm feeling. The kids loved visitors, especially those bringing gifts of snacks. There was one little boy there who was dropped off byhis mom only 18 hours earlier. She was so poor she couldn't feed him. He was weak and frail. He also looked shell shocked, but, in fact, he was safe and was going to have enough to eat as long as he was with Ms Don.

I've visited Ms. Don's dozens of times since then. The little boy is my grandson's age. He's healthier than ever and loves to play with the visitors. On one visit he met me at the door with a big smile and took the snacks to distribute to his friends. It's a great opportunity for Think About the Children to help this boy and the rest of the orphans with Ms Don.

The children are a variety of ages, but mostly preschool and early elementary although they do go to age 18. The students went to the book store and purchased 184 books. We provided some shelving. The books were a variety of reference books, novels and even coloring books.

My grandson loves books. I've been reading to him since he was 90 days old. When he stays with us I read to him each night. He also loves to color. Now these great Vietnamese kids have a chance to learn to love books and the places the books can take them.

Ms Don's is also the orphanage that teaches oil painting to some of the students. The art is amazing. The kids have great skill. We have brought over 200 of these paintings to the USA. Those who own them love them.

Music from the 60s

Last night my wife and I had the opportunity to enjoy my mom's Christmas present to us, Jersey Boys. Jersey Boys is the musical story of the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli. The show tells the story of the Four Seasons with narrative provided by different members of the Four Seasons mixed into a chronological presentation of their songs. It certainly is an interesting story of musical success matched against the personal ups and downs of the quartet's lives.

The end of the play includes a portion noting the death of Frankie Valli's 22 year old daughter from drug overdose. I thought of how horrible the death of a child can be. I experienced the death of my son, Michael, at age seven. It was a start of a very dark time for me.

I also thought of the waste of young lives during the Viet Nam War. If you return to Viet Nam now as a veteran you have to feel that the 60,000 young American lives lost during the war were wasted. These were geat young men who never got the chance to live their lives. I wonder how much good was eliminated from our world by these deaths, and htat doesn't even include the approximately 3,000, 000 Vietnamese deaths.

The Jersey Boys also reminded me of so many songs of the 60s. Think About the Children by Richie Havens and found on his Great Blind Degree album is certainly a song that had a profound effect on me as a soldier. Decades later I named our foundation on this song. Certainly We've got to get out of this place by the Animals is a song all veterans know well. The list goes on and on.

One of the best techniques a teacher can use in the classroom is music analysis. It' not a good idea to just play music. It's best to show the lyrics on the overhead or projector while the song is playing. This allows students to focus on meaning and sound at the same time. If you just play music you risk the students comparing the music to their favorite genre and discounting the song immediately.

Students, especially those who enjoy rap, understand that music is frequently the story of the reality of the streets. It's easy to then relate a song to some historical event or concept. Students find this as a valuable way to understand the lesson. In fact, many do not consider this academic "work". They consider reading and answering questions "work". They actually enjoy music analysis, photo analysis and classroom guests and consider it more like fun than work.

The Jersey Boys did an amazing job of placing the songs of the Four Seasons in perspective with what tragedy the group's members were experiencing. It was well worth our time. The musical has me thinking about so much. Thanks Jersey Boys.