Good things – KMZ Digest

Marion Joseph’s literacy crusade for teaching

itsme — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:24:44 +0000

phonics in California is paying off

Students at Stege Elementary School in Richmond on Feb. 6, 2023.
Photo by Shelby Knowles for CalMatters

Dan Walters

March 19, 2023

Sometimes – not often, but sometimes – one person can have a life-changing impact on the wellbeing of millions of people.

Marion Joseph, who died nearly a year ago at age 95, was one of those people. She impacted millions of California schoolchildren present and future who struggle with reading comprehension, the vital skill that underlies all of education.

Marion Joseph
https://www.corelearn.com/

The pandemic underscored that too many of California’s elementary school students lack effective reading ability. EdSource noted that, prior to the pandemic, fewer than 50% of the state’s third-graders were reading at the expected level for their age. Three years later, after students had suffered through school closures and haphazard Zoom school, that had dropped to 42%.

It’s evident that one factor in the state’s reading crisis was that too many students were being subjected to a trendy form of reading instruction called “whole language,” which largely left them struggling on their own to decipher the words in their books.

_Shutterstock

For decades, California educators and politicians had been waging what were dubbed “reading wars” over whether that approach or the rival phonics method was more effective. School districts were left to decide for themselves which to use.

Joseph was one of the fiercest reading warriors. She had retired in 1982 after a long career in the state Department of Education, but became a tireless advocate for phonics after discovering that her granddaughter was struggling in reading.

Appalled to learn that the majority of California’s elementary students could not read well enough to learn from textbooks, Joseph started pestering state officials to do something. In the 1990s, then-Gov. Pete Wilson appointed her to the state Board of Education, which gave her a platform for the phonics crusade.

Joseph had some success in advancing the phonics cause, which stresses fundamental instruction in the letters and letter combinations that make up sounds, thus allowing children to sound out words and eventually whole sentences and passages.

In 2005, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy research group, honored her, saying, “Her relentless, research-based advocacy – for which the retired grandma didn’t earn a dime – is still a sterling example of what a citizen-activist and lone individual can accomplish in reforming U.S. schools.”

https://firstbook.org/

Alas, after Joseph retired for a second time, the advocates of whole language, which assumes that reading is a naturally learned skill, much like speaking, recouped and reading scores once again stagnated. However it now appears that phonics, now dubbed the “science of reading,” will become the state’s preferred method.

Phonics have a new champion in Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has struggled with dyslexia and thus has a strong personal interest in improving reading skills.

Buried on Page 123 of a trailer bill attached to Newsom’s proposed 2023-24 state budget is a $1 million appropriation to the Department of Education for creation of a “Literacy Roadmap” aimed at improving reading and other language skills using “evidence-based literacy instruction in the classroom, including explicit instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, and other decoding skills.”

_{Logo-The California Reading & Literature Project (CRLP) UC San Diego}

Newsom’s support isn’t the only indication that Joseph’s long struggle is paying off. Beginning next year, credentialing of teacher preparation programs will require reading standards aligned with phonics.

Perhaps most importantly, 14 leading figures in California education research and advocacy, including those who have fought in reading wars on both sides, have issued a joint paper that calls for more vigorous and targeted instruction in basic reading skills, including phonics.

It’s unfortunate Joseph is not alive to see what’s finally happening to address California’s literacy crisis.

calmatters.org/commentary/2023/03/reading-instruction-phonics-california

Can learning cursive help kids read better?

itsme — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 20:14:57 +0000

Pennsylvania is considering legislation that mandates cursive instruction in public schools.
Angela Guthrie/iStock via Getty Images

Some policymakers think it’s worth a try

Shawn Datchuk

May 6, 2025

Recently, my 8-year-old son received a birthday card from his grandmother. He opened the card, looked at it and said, “I can’t read cursive yet.”

Image: Cartoonstock

Then he handed it to me to read.

If you have a child in the Philadelphia School District, chances are they have not been taught how to read or write cursive either.

But cursive handwriting is making a comeback of sorts for K-8 students in the United States. Several states in recent years passed legislation mandating instruction in cursive handwriting, including California, Iowa and Oklahoma.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey are considering similar legislation, as are other states.

I’m an associate professor of special education and the director of the Iowa Reading Research Center. At the center, we’re conducting a systematic review of prior research to improve cursive handwriting instruction.

We also want to know how learning cursive affects the development of reading and writing skills.

Cursive instruction sidelined

In cursive handwriting, the individual letters of a word are joined with connecting strokes, such as in a person’s signature.

Cursive fell out of favor in U.S. schools over a decade ago. In 2010, most states adopted Common Core academic standards which omitted cursive handwriting from expected academic skills to be learned by K-8 students. In fact, the standards only briefly mention print handwriting, a writing style in which the individual letters of a word are unconnected, as a skill to be taught in early elementary grades.

Educators often have trouble finding enough time in the school day to teach all the expected writing skills, let alone something that’s not mandated such as cursive handwriting.

In several national surveys, teachers have reported limited amounts of time for writing instruction and that they have found it difficult to address both the basic skills of writing, such as handwriting, and more advanced skills, such as essay composition.

Benefits of handwriting

The increased interest in cursive handwriting likely stems from effort by policymakers to improve the literacy performance of K-12 students across the country.

Ode to Cursive
Amy DiGi

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading assessment, a measure of nationwide reading progress, only 31% of fourth grade students scored proficient or above. Philadelphia’s numbers were worse, with just 19% of fourth grade students scoring proficient or above.

Research suggests it may be possible to improve overall writing and reading through handwriting instruction.

The benefits have been more closely studied with print handwriting, but preliminary evidence suggests cursive handwriting instruction may also be beneficial. Some studies have found cursive handwriting instruction can improve handwriting legibility, writing length and select reading skills. In a 2020 study, researchers found cursive handwriting instruction can also improve spelling accuracy and storytelling ability.

Why might cursive make a difference? On the surface, it seems like a simple motor skill. But under the surface, cursive handwriting draws upon deep reading knowledge and requires the coordination of multiple cognitive and physical processes.

To handwrite letters or spell words in print or cursive, students need to commit multiple aspects of each letter to memory. For example, if students handwrite the word “cat,” they need to know the overall shape of each letter, as well as its name and sound.

After drawing upon this reading knowledge from memory, students use a combination of motor and vision systems to write each letter and the entire word. Gross motor movements are used to adjust the body and arm to the writing surface. Fine motor movements are used to manipulate the pencil with one’s fingers. And visual-motor coordination is used to write each letter and adjust movements as needed.

A skill with staying power?

Besides potential benefits to overall writing and reading development, cursive handwriting continues to have social importance.

It is often used to sign formal documents via a cursive signature, or to communicate with close friends or loved ones. Furthermore, understanding cursive is needed to read important historical documents, such as the Declaration of Independence.

Even in the digital age, touch-screen tablets and other devices often come with the ability to handwrite text with an electronic pencil. I teach courses at the University of Iowa, and many of my students handwrite their notes on electronic tablets.

For schools, low-tech options such as paper and pencils remain more cost-efficient than high-tech options. For example, it can be time-consuming and expensive to replace a broken laptop but relatively cheap to sharpen a broken pencil or get a new piece of paper.

Although it may be difficult for educators to find sufficient time for writing instruction, students will likely benefit from developing the capacity to express their ideas in a variety of ways, including cursive handwriting.

For anyone interested in learning about cursive handwriting and teaching it to their children or students, the Iowa Reading Research Center will release a free online course and curricula called CLIFTER on June 2, 2025.

theconversation.com/can-learning-cursive-help-kids-read-better-some-policymakers-think-its-worth-a-try-253610

Not All Heroes Wear Capes2

kim zolotar — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:16:50 +0000

These innovators, scientists, creative thinkers and just regular people all played a pivotal role in helping me live my best life.

Ralph Braun

Wheelchair van pioneer

Ralph Braun

Ralph William Braun (December 18, 1940 – February 8, 2013) was the founder and CEO of the Braun Corporation. He is also known as the “Father of the Mobility Movement” at BraunAbility.

Braun was born and raised in Winamac, Indiana. When he was six years old, doctors diagnosed him with muscular dystrophy. He started using a wheelchair at the age of 14. At the age of 15, he created a motorized wagon with his father to help him get around. Five years later, Braun created a motorized scooter, which he called the Tri-Wheeler, using various parts from his cousin’s farm. Ralph rode the Tri-Wheeler to and from his day job as a Quality Control Manager for a nearby manufacturer. When the facility moved several miles away, he equipped an old mail carrier Jeep with hand controls and a hydraulic tailgate lift, enabling him to drive his Tri-Wheeler in and out of the vehicle unassisted.

In 1970, Dodge introduced the first full-sized, front engine van. Braun retrofitted a Dodge van with a lift and called this new invention the “Lift-A-Way” wheelchair lift. When word spread about this new invention, Braun assembled a team to help fill orders across the nation, all from his parents’ garage. As demand increased, Braun decided to quit his full-time job to focus on his part-time business.

Braun started “Save-A-Step” manufacturing in 1963 to build the first motorized scooter, made from “a lawnmower differential, four big wheelbarrow tires, two 6-volt automotive batteries, makeshift wiring and switches I got from the hardware store, a kitchen chair, and a motor from a 1957 Pontiac kid’s car that I rescued from a mortician’s trash bin”.[6] In 1966 Braun created the first wheelchair accessible vehicle, by creating a wheelchair platform lift and hand controls that were added to an old Post Office Jeep.[6] In 1970, Ralph added wheelchair platform lifts to full-sized vans. “Save-A-Step” was incorporated under a new name, The Braun Corporation, in 1972.

In 1991, Braun introduced its first wheelchair accessible minivan, based on the Dodge Caravan and called the Entervan.[7] In 1999, Braun acquired Crow River Industries, a specialized manufacturer of wheelchair platform lifts. In 2005, Braun acquired IMS of Farmington, NM, a specialized manufacturer of Toyota Sienna wheelchair accessible minivans. In 2006, the Braun Corporation adopted the brand name, BraunAbility, for its personal-use products. In 2011, the Braun Corporation acquired partial ownership in AutoAdapt, a European mobility company. In 2011, the Braun Corporation also acquired Viewpoint Mobility, a small Michigan-based company that specializes in the wheelchair accessible minivans with rear entry.

In May 2012, Braun was named a “champion of change” by U.S. President Barack Obama.

In 1991, the the Braun Entervan was introduced. It was equipped with a ramp and kneel system and removable front seats which allowed the chair user to enter the vehicle independently and drive from their wheelchair.

My disabled sports mom ride

BraunAbility makes vans that have side entry ramps, as well as models with rear entry ramps. Vans are available with powered ramps, or with manual ramps for people on a smaller budget.

Driving from my wheelchair for the past 11 years has been a godsend!

Edwin Binney & C. Harold Smith

wp:image {“id”:6477,”align”:”center”,”className”:”wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized”} –>

Founders of Crayola Crayons

The company was founded as Binney & Smith Company by cousins Edwin Binney and Charles Harold Smith^[6] in New York City in 1885. Initial products were colorants for industrial use, including red iron oxide pigments used in barn paint and carbon black chemicals used for making tires black and extending their useful lifespan.^[7] Binney & Smith’s new process of creating inexpensive black colorants was entered into the chemistry industries competition at the 1900 Paris Exposition under the title “carbon gas blacks, lamp or oil blacks, ‘Peerless’ black” and earned the company a gold medal award in chemical and pharmaceutical arts.^[8][9] Also in 1900, the company added production of slate school pencils. Binney’s experimentation with industrial materials, including slate waste, cement, and talc, led to the invention of the first dustless white chalk, for which the company won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.^[9]

^{Staonal marking crayon 1902}

Initially formed as a partnership, Binney & Smith incorporated in 1902, and in that year Binney & Smith developed and introduced the Staonal marking crayon. Then Edwin Binney, working with his wife, Alice Stead Binney, developed his own famous product line of wax crayons beginning on June 10, 1903,^[10] which it sold under the brand name Crayola. The Crayola name was coined by Alice Binney who was a former schoolteacher. It comes from craie (French for “chalk”) and ola for “oleaginous” or “oily.”^[9][11]

Tom Ross: Remember when Crayola 64 was a status symbol?

The coolest

Of course, the most sought-after status symbol at Charles R. Van Hise Elementary School was a big box of Crayola 64 crayons. I endured a couple of years with boxes of 16 colors and nervously peeled the paper off my purple crayon as other kids leered at me. They were using the in-box sharpener to ready themselves for the day’s map-coloring exercise – “Let me see now, what color should I make Bolivia?

Willis Carrier

Developed the first air conditioning

Engineer Willis Carrier took a job that would result in the invention of the first modern electrical air conditioning unit. While working for the Buffalo Forge Company in 1902, Carrier was tasked with solving a humidity problem that was causing magazine pages to wrinkle at Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn.

Through a series of experiments, Carrier designed a system that controlled humidity using cooling coils and secured a patent for his “Apparatus for Treating Air,” which could either humidify (by heating water) or dehumidify (by cooling water) air. As he continued testing and refining his technology, he also devised and patented an automatic control system for regulating the humidity and temperature of air in textile mills.

It wasn’t long before Carrier realized that humidity control and air conditioning could benefit many other industries, and he eventually broke off from Buffalo Forge, forming Carrier Engineering Corporation with six other engineers.

Without his invention, my life in the Inland Empire would be a lot tougher, especially in the summer.

https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-air-conditioning

Justin Dart, George H.W. Bush & Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

_{^{President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, surrounded by Evan Kemp, Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Justin Dart, Chair of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities; Sandra Swift Parrino, Chair of the National Council on Disability; and Rev. Harold Wilke, an ordained minister and disability advocate.}}

Americans with Disabilities Act

July 26, 1990

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) authored what became the final bill and was its chief sponsor in the Senate. Harkin delivered part of his introduction speech in sign language, saying it was so his deaf brother could understand.

As DREDF attorney and prominent ADA activist and scholar Arlene Mayerson has aptly and eloquently written in her publication:

The History of the Americans with Disabilities Act-A Movement Perspective

“For the first time in the history of our country, or the history of the world, businesses must stop and think about access to people with disabilities. If the ADA means anything, it means that people with disabilities will no longer be out of sight and out of mind. The ADA is based on a basic presumption that people with disabilities want to work and are capable of working, want to be members of their communities and are capable of being members of their communities and that exclusion and segregation cannot be tolerated. Accommodating a person with a disability is no longer a matter of charity but instead a basic issue of civil rights.

While some in the media portray this new era as falling from the sky unannounced, the thousands of men and women in the disability rights movement know that these rights were hard fought for and are long overdue. The ADA is radical only in comparison to a shameful history of outright exclusion and segregation of people with disabilities. From a civil rights perspective the Americans with Disabilities Act is a codification of simple justice.”

Mayerson, Arlene. “The History of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A Movement Perspective.” Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, 1992.

https://dredf.org/about-us/publications/the-history-of-the-ada/

The ADA led to significant improvements in terms of access to public services, accessibility in the built environment, and societal understanding of disability.^[53]

On signing the measure, George H. W. Bush said:

“I know there may have been concerns that the ADA may be too vague or too costly, or may lead endlessly to litigation. But I want to reassure you right now that my administration and the United States Congress have carefully crafted this Act. We’ve all been determined to ensure that it gives flexibility, particularly in terms of the timetable of implementation; and we’ve been committed to containing the costs that may be incurred…. Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”

Hair straightening visionaries

Straightening irons, straighteners, or flat irons work by breaking down the positive hydrogen bonds found in the hair’s cortex, which cause hair to open, bend and become curly. Once the bonds are broken, hair is prevented from holding its original, natural form, though the hydrogen bonds can re-form if exposed to moisture.

Marcel Grateau

Early hair straightening systems relied on harsh chemicals that tended to damage the hair. In the 1870s, the French hairdresser Marcel Grateau introduced heated metal hair care implements such as hot combs to straighten hair. Madame C.J. Walker used combs with wider teeth and popularized their use together with her system of chemical scalp preparation and straightening lotions.^[3] Her mentor Annie Malone is sometimes said to have patented the hot comb.^[4] Heated metal implements slide more easily through the hair, reducing damage and dryness. Women in the 1960s sometimes used clothing irons to straighten their hair.

Ada Harris

The woman who invented the straight iron was a school teacher from Indianapolis, a woman forgotten by history. A woman named Ada Harris, looking to lose her curls. The first patent for a hair straightening iron was filed on November 3rd, 1893.

In her patent, she wrote, “My invention relates to a hair straightener whose purpose is to straighten curly hair, and is especially of service to; colored people in straightening their hair.”

Unfortunately, Harris never built an empire with her invention attempting to find investors or a company to purchase her patent. She never did anything with her patent for the hair straightener, perhaps because she didn’t have the finances to help develop her invention. But she should be recognized for the effort made to create this tool.

https://www.racked.com/2017/1/4/14014216/hair-straightener-flat-iron-inventor-ada-harris

Isaac K. Shero

In 1809 Isaac K. Shero patented the first hair straightener composed of two flat irons that are heated and pressed together.

Ceramic and electrical straighteners were introduced later, allowing adjustment of heat settings and straightener settings.

Ms. Lady Jennifer Bell Schofield was that person in1912. Big hair was big fashion with big curls in the early 1900s but Lady Schofield was obsessed with straight hair, and when she did not find the appliance she wanted to straighten her hair. She improved on the ideas of Marcel Grateau and Isaac Shero in the early 1900s to make a better straightening iron.

My defiant bangs rely on this the hair straightener almost daily.

Percy Spencer

Microwave Oven

The microwave oven was invented as an accidental by-product of war-time (World War 2) radar research using magnetrons (vacuum tubes that produce microwave radiation, a type of electromagnetic radiation that has a wavelength between 1 mm and 30 cm).

_{The Raytheon Radarange being demonstrated in 1946.
Image originally appeared on page 15 of the October 14, 1946 publication of the Press and Sun-Bulletin.}

In 1946, the engineer Dr. Percy LeBaron Spencer, who worked for the Raytheon Corporation, was working on magnetrons. One day at work, he had a candy bar in his pocket, and found that it had melted. He realized that the microwaves he was working with had caused it to melt. After experimenting, he realized that microwaves would cook foods quickly – even faster than conventional ovens that cook with heat.

Raytheon, then filed a patent on October 8, 1945 for a microwave cooking oven, eventually named the Radarange. The Raytheon Corporation produced the first commercial microwave oven in 1954; it was called the 1161 Radarange. It was large, expensive, and had a power of 1600 watts.

It wasn’t until 1967 that the first microwave oven that was both relatively affordable ($495) and reasonably sized (counter-top model) became available.

Lean Cuisine microwave entries helped me lose about thirty pounds in high school, so I am a loyal microwave user.

Helene Winterstein-Kambersky

Waterproof mascara

Austrian singer and performer Helene Winterstein Kabersky invented waterproof mascara in the 1930’s, after many attempts at developing mascara and other cosmetics that would not smear or run under hot stage lights.

Helene Winterstein-Kambersky, née Vierthaler (13 March 1900 in Vienna – 12 June 1966 in the Hinterbrühl) was a singer and inventor of the world’s first waterproof mascara.

During her numerous stage performances the stage lights repeatedly made her make-up run an left back black marks under her eyes.

This worrying situation caused her to begin work on the perfect mascara in her own kitchen.

After 2000 failed attempts the first patented waterproof mascara in the world was invented and began a new era of cosmetics designed for eyes.

After about two thousand attempts, she made the patented recipe known far beyond the borders of Austria under the name of La Bella Nussy. Winterstein-Kambersky founded a cosmetics company in 1936, which is still family-owned and produces the recipe almost unchanged.

Justus von Liebig

Powdered baby formula

In an attempt to improve the quality of manufactured baby foods, in 1867, Justus von Liebig developed the world’s first commercial infant formula, Liebig’s Soluble Food for Babies.^[120] The success of this product quickly gave rise to competitors such as Mellin’s Food, Ridge’s Food for Infants and Nestlé‘s Milk.^[121]

Gloria (Campano) Cooper & Charles Cooper

Bradley Cooper Family

Actor Bradley Cooper addresses the crew of the USS Ronald Reagan underway in the Gulf of Oman, July 13, 2009. _{^{U.S. Department of Defense Photo:VIRIN: 158823-L-FDH84-178.jpg}}

Their union produced him.

Advocates for the left-handed population

Dr. Bryng Bryngelson

Dr. Bryng Bryngelson, a University of Minnesota speech pathologist and a pioneer in the study of left-handedness, flatly stated that left-handers tend to be more creative and imaginative. But others credit any creativity and imagination shown by left-handers to their efforts to survive in a right-handed world.

Seattle public schools

Countless left-handers tell of developing neck and shoulder pains from from writing at one-armed right-handed desks in school.

13 years ago, a left-handed student filed a formal complaint with the administration at Bellingham’s Western Washington University saying he had been denied an equal educational opportunity because there were no left-handed desks.

It’s hard to write on these tables.
Go to memesr/memes
nightshade_1612

Seattle schools and local colleges do their best these days to rectify old wrongs.

They buy about 10 percent left-handed desks when they place new orders.

In Seattle Public Schools, they also buy left-handed scissors and left-handed pouring ladles for home-economics classes.

Bud Turner, district physical education coordinator, orders two or three left-handed softball mitts for every 15 purchased, “and the same with golf clubs.”

David Hall, an overseer of space needs for the University of Washington’s capital budget office, says that left-handed desks traditionally have been “segregated” – in the front row, back row or at the ends of rows. No longer. When new classroom seating is designed, left-handed desks are scattered randomly throughout the class.

Back in 1979, when Seattle University undertook the remodeling of its nursing building, a committee sat down to discuss the needs of the handicapped. After the usual provisions for ramps, wide doors and special lavatory equipment, someone asked, “But what about left-handers?”

Result: Seattle U bought 15 left-handed desks and 135 right-handed ones. The school’s public-information director later said it was the first time in his memory that left-handedness had been recognized as a handicap.

Dec 20, 1990

Don “Lefty” Duncan, Don Duncan

Duncan, Don https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19901220&slug=1110557

Left Out — Left-Handers Are Handicapped In This Right-Handed World, But Why? Arm Yourself With These Facts

It’s nothing big. Some of you may not even notice it. But it is SO nice to have a left-handed chair.

Inventor of soft contact lenses

Otto Wichterle

Otto Wichterle (27 October 1913 Prostějov now in the Czech Republic – 18 August 1998) was a Czech chemist known for his invention of modern soft contact lenses in the 1960s.

Czech chemist Otto Wichterle made a huge breakthrough in making the first hydrogel lenses. Together with his colleague Drahoslav Lim, they created a material that absorbed up to 40% water, which was also transparent and could be moulded into a comfortable lens shape. Fun fact: using his son’s toy construction kit, Wichterle produced the first four hydrogel lenses.

Several models of contact lenses (including sketches of the concept by Leonardo da Vinci) preceded Wicherle’s invention. I got contacts when I was 16, over thirty years ago, and they have improved my “vision” of the world immensely!

Drahoslav Lím

Drahoslav Lím (September 30, 1925, in Czechoslovakia – August 22, 2003, in San Diego, California)^[1] was a Czech chemist. He invented polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate, the synthetic material used for soft contact lenses (hydrogel).

Lím worked^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] as a member of the team of Otto Wichterle (the inventor of soft contact lenses) and in 1955, he came up with poly(hydroethyl-acrylate), the material later used for the lenses. This work was later published in Nature^[6] and was the subject of US patents.^[7]^[8] During 1970 to 1974 he worked in Palo Alto, California, improving contact lenses materials and technology.

I’ve worn contacts since high school, so this invention has improved my vision of the world immensely!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_lens

The Power of the Chorale: How One Choir’s Love of Music Keeps Them Going During the Pandemic

itsme — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 19:23:46 +0000

By Vanessa Blankenship

January 27, 2022

Wearing special singing masks, members of the Stonewall Chorale rehearse at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Chelsea. (Credit: Vanessa Blankenship)

Inside St. Luke in the Fields, a whimsical church in the West Village, a choir group gathered for weekly rehearsal in November. On that Tuesday evening, a crisp late fall breeze blew through the open stained-glass windows. Of the 36 members in attendance, more than half were bundled in their overcoats, and some passed out hand warmer packets to help soothe their shivers. In the rows of pews, everyone practiced social distancing, and everyone was wearing a mask.

Despite the discomfort, they relished being there together – no small feat after more than a year of singing while being apart. The Stonewall Chorale, one of the first LGBTQ-friendly chorus groups in the country, continues to adjust to new normals. But as the pandemic drags on, so does the uncertainty.

Founded in 1977, the Stonewall Chorale puts on a concert series every year. Along with the rest of the world, it came to an almost complete halt when the coronavirus spread in March 2020. That spring, the choir was busy preparing for the second concert of their 43rd season, “Here Comes the Sun.” A week and a half before the show, the rest of the season was canceled.

Once a group of up to 70 singers, membership quickly shrunk to between 40 to 50 amid the pandemic. A canceled concert season resulted in choristers requesting a leave of absence. Membership dues were officially suspended. Some tested positive for Covid-19. A few got really sick. In-person rehearsals were out of the question. Like so much of the rest of the country, the Stonewall Chorale went online, performing and practicing over Zoom.

The “December Sunrise” program kicked off their 45th season. Weeks ahead of the concert, artistic director Cynthia Powell stood before the church’s altar like a priest addressing the congregation and led the opening vocal warm-ups:

Ma-Me-Mi-Mo-Mu.

“Are our Zoomers on?” Powell asked as she directed her attention to the chorale’s membership chair Larissa McDowell, who set up her smartphone on a tripod to include those who felt ill or couldn’t make it in person.

After roughly ten minutes of vocal exercises and stretches, it was time for “Wild Forces,” the second movement of award-winning composer Jake Runestad’s “The Hope of Loving.”

Sitting upright, chests up, the choir harmoniously chanted over and over:

There are beautiful, wild forces within us.

Let them turn millstones inside, filling bushels that reach to the sky.

“It needs to be louder,” said Powell. “Let’s try again and see if we can express emotions with our eyes. We want to give the audience something.”

This time, Powell, a conductor who has served as the chorale’s artistic director since 2002, had them all stand up and simultaneously sway side to side. The melody’s warm vibrations filled the freezing church. “Excellent, that was really something,” she exclaimed. “We’re starting to get somewhere.”

In mid-November, Stephanie Heintzeler, one of the altos, sat toward the back in the 12th row or so. Heintzeler was raised in Germany and is a certified birth and postpartum doula and the founder of The New York Baby, a doula services agency. She’s been a pivotal member of the Stonewall Chorale for almost a decade and never once thought of leaving the group, even after the pandemic created chaos for the group. For her, it’s more than just a choir. Without it, she never would have met her wife, Janet Thompson.

“We have a very strong bond with the chorale and always felt that we are not only a member, but we are the chorale,” Heintzeler said. “It exists because of us.”

If Heintzeler’s life were a rom-com, the moment she first saw Thompson would be a classic meet-cute scene. It was January 2013, and Heintzeler had just spent the past several months looking for a chorus group. She wasn’t sure what kind of music she wanted to sing. She just knew she loved classical music and liked the idea of joining an LGBTQ choir to better connect with the city’s community. She joined the Stonewall Chorale, and at her first rehearsal, Thompson sat next to her. The group rehearsed Mozart’s Requiem, and Heintzeler left practice knowing Thompson would one day be her person. The feeling was mutual.

Thompson proposed to Heintzeler in August 2020. Weeks later, they pledged their unconditional love before 20 of their closest friends at a small ceremony by the Belvedere Castle in Central Park. Powell was the wedding officiant.

A year later, Heintzeler celebrated another monumental moment in her life: the end of the Stonewall Chorale’s hiatus.

“I just know I’ll feel five times better when I’m there,” Heintzeler said. “And that’s new. I always felt better after rehearsal before, but now, somehow, the benefit is larger. I feel it physically and mentally; I feel it more than I used to.”

***

Michael Conwill usually sits near the front of the church with the other basses. As president of the board of directors and member of the Stonewall Chorale, he’s spent nearly two years safeguarding the group’s physical and mental well-being by enforcing COVID-19 safety measures. His goal is to avoid the unthinkable – starting a superspreader event, like when the Skagit Valley Chorale’s rehearsal made headlines in early 2020. Out of the 61 members who attended, 53 singers contracted COVID-19 symptoms and two died.

To salvage what was left of the Stonewall Chorale’s membership and come back together in the safest way possible, Conwill and other board members appointed a COVID-19 task force made up of chorus members with medical backgrounds. The team spent weeks researching and analyzing what choirs around the country were doing and incorporated protocols recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York State Department of Health. They decided they needed a bigger rehearsal venue, mask requirements, social distancing, temperature checks, proof of vaccination, sanitizing, and increased air circulation with open windows and portable filtration units.

“It’s been quite a journey to get here,” Conwill said.

Over the months, the weekly rehearsals began to serve purposes beyond singing. Some weeks Powell taught new vocal techniques or had guest performers join in. Others, members logged on for online check-ins just to connect with friends who, too, were feeling isolated. Many rehearsals were even designated as game nights, and once a month, the choristers participated in diversity, equity and inclusion workshops.

The chorus also managed to organize their entire 44th season virtually with a compilation of pre-recorded videos and announced several online concerts, like their holiday performance, “Home for the Holidays,” on the chorale’s YouTube channel.

“We all are happy that we hopefully will never have to do that again,” Conwill said. “The point of being in a choir is singing with other people. Sitting at home and singing into a camera and a microphone is not choral singing in any way, shape or form.”

***

Gwendolyn Stegall, an alto who has been singing with the choir since 2016, first fell in love with the chorale as a devoted fan in the audience. Stegall’s mother started taking her to the concerts when she was 10 years-old to watch their friend David Fanger, a tenor who still sings with the chorale. She recalled attending one show around the holidays when the chorale performed “A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas.”

By July 2020, Stegall joined the board of directors as the new vice president and was driven by the call for social change after the murder of George Floyd unleashed a national reckoning. With in-person rehearsals on pause that summer, Stegall took the moment as an opportunity to encourage the chorale, a predominantly white group, to participate in open conversations about the movement.

“I think a lot of organizations, especially ones that are mission-driven like ours in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, wanted to rethink the way they operated,” Stegall said. “The pandemic also gave us an opportunity to reflect and have some time to think about things that we wouldn’t necessarily be able to address in a normal concert period.”

One Tuesday per month, Stegall helped organize workshops to explore mission-based initiatives that were covered in The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA) workbook, “A New Harmony.” The conversations ranged from race and ethnic identity, gender, sexual orientation, ageism to socio-economic status.

“It reinforced my love for this community,” Stegall said. “The fact that people were willing to show up and have these conversations and then make the connection between the sort of broad, abstract concept and the specifics of how the Stonewall Chorale operates and how we could change the way we do certain things, I think was really helpful and eye-opening.”

***

On December 7, the Stonewall Chorale gathered for dress rehearsals at the concert venue in Chelsea, Church of the Holy Apostles. It was the last time the singers would practice before performing “December Sunrise,” the debut of their 45th concert season, in front of a masked crowd of around 200 people.

The singers were accompanied by Powell, the conductor, pianist Eric Sedgwick and a symphony orchestra. In many ways, the concert would answer a central question: Can the Stonewall Chorale safely pull off a pandemic-era concert season? If all went well, the chorale’s March concert, “Music for the Soul,” and June concert, “Curtain Up!” could go on as planned.

“Things seem to miraculously come together,” Powell said that night. “When you get to the actual concert, and little things tend to work themselves out, little fairy dust happens.”

There was a slight pause during dress rehearsals, and the voices that once bounced off the church’s walls transitioned into whispers. Then, the vocalists focused on the movements from Morten Lauridsen’s “Lux Aeterna,” meaning eternal light. The group dedicated this work to the memory of Richard Froehlich, a Stonewall Chorale tenor who passed away at the age of 58 from a heart attack in late September, just when the choir finally returned to in-person rehearsals.

“It was a shock to all of us because he had just been at rehearsal the week before,” Powell said. “He had just come back after almost two years.”

After three hours, dress rehearsals wrapped up. The Stonewall Chorale roared in applause, and several members exchanged high-fives and bear hugs.

The evening of the concert, the Stonewall Chorale posted on Facebook a message thanking everyone who came to support the choir, along with a few lyrics from “Alway Something Sings,” a song they rehearsed often during the peak of the pandemic.

But in the darkest, meanest things

There alway, alway something sings.

***

Before the Omicron strain of COVID-19 struck New York City, the Stonewall Chorale rode on a high.

“We were very happy with the concert,” Conwill said in early January. “It was the first time we’ve sung in public and masked, and our audience told us that it didn’t make a difference in our sound. It didn’t seem to muffle us in any way. The singing masks must work.”

Many of the singers in the chorale started utilizing the Singer’s Mask, designed by Broadway Relief Project. These masks are specially designed to contain the user’s droplets and fit closely on the face while giving just enough room around the mouth to sing without distorting the sound.

Record-breaking Omicron cases in New York City, though, brought what Conwill called another “gut punch.”

Days after performing “December Sunrise,” two altos in the chorale tested positive, along with one orchestra member. Everyone who was at the concert was notified. One audience member also tested positive.

Because Omicron is extremely transmissible, the choir decided to conduct weekly rehearsals for their next concert, “Music for the Soul,” remotely through the month of January. If Omicron cases continue to rise, the March concert will most likely be postponed until a later date.

“We hope this strain will burn out in cold weather and that things will be a little better when we get into warmer weather,” Conwill said. “But it’s conjecture at this point.”

About the author(s)

Vanessa Blankenship

Vanessa Blankenship is a grad student at the Columbia Journalism School covering arts and culture.

Covid supercentenarian

itsme — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 20:43:25 +0000

Lucile Randon DC (French: [ly.sil ʁɑ̃.dɔ̃]; 11 February 1904 – 17 January 2023), also known as Sister André (French: Sœur André), was a French supercentenarian. Living to the age of 118 years and 340 days, she had been the world’s oldest verified living person since April 19, 2022, following the death of Kane Tanaka.^[1][2] ^]

Randon was blind and used a wheelchair from the early 2010s.^[6] In January 2021, she tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in an outbreak at her retirement home. She was asymptomatic and tested negative days before her 117th birthday, making her the oldest known survivor of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1][3][10]

Jim Abbott

itsme — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 19:49:50 +0000

NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 4: New York Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott celebrates after the last out of New York’s first no-hitter in 10 years 04 September 1993. Abbott, who was born without a right hand, walked five and struck out three as the Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians 4-0. (Photo credit should read MARK D. PHILLIPS/AFP via Getty Images)

Amanda J Hales

April 25, 2016

_{^{Jim Abbott pitching during a 1998 Calgary Cannons minor league baseball game. Released upon request by John Traub, General Manager of the} ^{Albuquerque Isotopes Baseball Club (the successor to the Calgary Cannons), June 21, 2008. ;}
^{John Traub / Albuquerque Isotopes Baseball Club – John Traub / Albuquerque Isotopes}}

Baseball is a game that requires its athletes to run and to bat, catch and pitch a ball. We know the game as America’s Pastime and it’s about as summery as you can get. Young boys and girls play as youngsters with the hopes of one day making it to the big leagues, but the big leagues are only for the elite. What happens, then, if you have a disability? Well, if you are Jim Abbott it’s no big deal.

Jim Abbott was born in Flint Michigan and attended the University of Michigan. He excelled at both baseball and football, albeit without the use of a right hand, as he was born without one. Now for some, that disability would prove too much to overcome and they certainly wouldn’t think they can do a sport and do it well, but Jim Abbott isn’t your regular disabled person, first he doesn’t think of himself as disabled, instead he is differently abled and as a pitcher, he found a way to pitch and then get ready to catch all in the blink of an eye.

If you ever saw Abbott pitch you would have noticed how fast he went from a pitcher to an infielder, never skipping a beat. He’d hold his glove between his arm and body and then when needed slip it on ready for the catch, should there be one. Abbott played for the California Angels, the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers in his 10 year Major League Baseball career. He didn’t have to bat when he was in the American League as they have the designated hitter, but when he played for the National League team he had to also have his turn at bat. One armed batting can’t be easy, but he gave it a concerted effort nonetheless.

Jim Abbott won many awards, most notably the James E Sullivan award as the Nation’s Best Amateur Athlete in 1987 and the Golden Spikes Award, also in 1987. In 1988 he won a gold medal at the Olympic games when baseball was not yet an official Olympic sport. He also pitched a no-hitter, something most pitchers only dream about, in 1993.

Jim Abbott may have been born without a hand, but he didn’t stop him from doing what he loved to do and doing it well. He just found a different way of doing things and played it to his advantage.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Amanda_J_Hales/1311545

The World Series of the Apocalypse?

KMZ — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 19:18:10 +0000

October 27, 2016

By Chris Lamb

In it, Al Tiller, the manager of the Chicago Cubs, is haunted by a prophetic dream that the world will end if the Cubs defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the National League pennant. This puts Tiller in a bind: He must choose between momentary glory or the end of the world.

Those familiar with the short story may have braced themselves on Oct. 22, when the Cubs vanquished the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their first pennant since 1945.

The world didn’t end. Not yet anyway.

But if the Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians to win their first World Series since 1908, it will end the longest period of futility in American sports – and forever put to rest the Curse of the Billy Goat.

Something else, however, could be lost. Failure, melancholy and heartache – not joy and triumph – inspire drama and comedy, and no team in sports has inspired better literature than the hapless Cubs. Over the course of their long, storied history of losing, their failures have played out on the page.

The best that never was

Ring Lardner was one of the greatest sportswriters of the early 20th century. He also wrote short stories that captured the distinctive voice of baseball players, and he inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger and Virginia Woolf. In “Alibi Ike,” Lardner’s protagonist is a Cubs player, Francis X. Farrell, who has an excuse for every error and every blunder.

In Bernard Malamud’s 1952 novel “The Natural,” 19-year-old baseball player Roy Hobbs vows that he will be the “best that ever was.” On his way to a tryout with the Cubs he meets the beautiful Harriet Bird. She invites him to her hotel room and then shoots him, leaving him critically injured, his dreams of greatness dashed.

The novel is based on the true story of Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus. In 1949, Waitkus, who once played for the Cubs, returned to Chicago for a game. An obsessed fan, Ruth Ann Steinhagan, invited Waitkus to her hotel room. Once Waitkus entered, she shot him in the stomach, nearly killing him.

A team of goats

For Cubs fans, legendary futility is the recurring punchline.

Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko has been dubbed the “poet laureate of Wrigley Field.” He helped perpetuate the story of the “Curse of the Billy Goat,” a spell cast on the team by the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern after being kicked out of Wrigley Field, along with his actual pet goat, during the 1945 World Series. (Fans had complained about the animal’s stench.)

Royko regularly pointed out in his columns that the Cubs failed to win not because a goat wasn’t allowed in Wrigley Field but because goats were allowed to play for the Cubs.

“The Cubs Reader” is a 1991 collection of essays that includes contributions from writers like Roger Angell, Roy Blount Jr., George Will and Ira Berkow. In Will’s essay, he admits that his gloomy conservative politics come from his decision to be a Cubs fans at age seven in 1948. “I plighted my troth to a baseball team destined to dash the cup of life’s joy from my lips,” he wrote.

In fact, the first joke I ever heard came from my father, a lifelong Cubs fan who is now 92:

“Will the mother who left her nine kids at Wrigley Field please come and get them,” the stadium’s public address announcer says one afternoon. “They’re beating the Cubs 7-2.”

Armageddon averted?

“The Last Pennant Before Armageddon” was included in a collection of W.P. Kinsella’s essays called “The Thrill of the Grass.” In the story, the backdrop for the Cubs’ season is the threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. In one of the manager’s dreams, God says, “I think you should know that when the Cubs next win the National League Championship, it will be the last pennant before Armageddon.”

Tiller finds himself in the decisive game with a fatigued starter. He can leave in his starter, which could cost his team the game but save the world, or he can bring in his closer and probably win the game – and destroy civilization.

“The Thrill of the Grass” was published in 1984 – the year the Cubs were one win away from winning the National League pennant. They ended up losing three straight to the San Diego Padres.

Armageddon averted

Almost 20 years later, before the 2003 National League Championship Series between the Cubs and the Florida Marlins, Kinsella was asked if he thought the world would end if the Cubs won the pennant.

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said.

The Cubs were five outs away from winning the pennant in 2003 when things fell spectacularly apart – not because of spectator Steve Bartman reaching for a foul ball, as too many Cubs fans want to believe – but because of poor fielding, poor pitching and poor managing.

If the Cubs do win the World Series, Kinsella won’t see it. He died on Sept. 16, a day after the Cubs clinched the National League’s Central Division.

*********************

The Cubs won in 7 games.-KMZ

Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

itsme — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 20:36:23 +0000

June 21, 2022

The rapid gains Republican women have made since 2018 could be a signal for how the party fares in this year’s midterms

Mayra Flores was sworn in on Tuesday, becoming Texas’ first Republican Latina to join Congress. Flores’ victory also sets a new milestone: A historic high of 147 women overall and a record 41 Republican women now hold congressional seats, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University.

Born in Mexico to migrant farmworkers, Flores is a first-time candidate who defeated her Democratic opponent this month in Texas’s 34th congressional district, which is historically Democratic. Flores’ addition to Congress underscores the growing visibility of Republican Latinx candidates and rising numbers of GOP women in the legislative branch.

That number has seen a sharp increase from 2018, when the number of Republican women in Congress dropped from 23 to 13. The gains women candidates have made since then reflect greater support and investments among Republican party leadership and outside conservative groups, experts told The 19th.

“I think 2018 was a bit of a yet another wake-up call to the Republican Party about women’s under-representation within the party,” CAWP Director Debbie Walsh told The 19th. “Republican women are following the playbook in many ways that we’ve seen on the Democratic side of women raising money for women candidates.”

Flores’ swearing-in comes on the heels of newly elected Republican Rep. Connie Conway, who won the open seat special election to replace former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes in California’s 22nd congressional district. Conway, whose election set the previous record for the number of women in Congress at 146, was sworn in on June 14. The rapid gains Republican women have made in just a few short years could be a signal for this year’s midterms when historically the president’s party loses seats.

Two groups founded within the last six years — Winning for Women and E-PAC, founded by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik — have helped to boost conservative women candidates alongside VIEW PAC, a more established organization for Republican women. These groups, in addition to growing enthusiasm from the Republican establishment, are helping Republican women candidates get critical support early on in their races.

After 2018, candidates experienced challenges winning their primaries, but they saw more success in 2020.

“In 2020, the party saw that of the seats that they won, especially the seats that they took away from Democrats, most of them were won by a woman, a person of color or both,” said Michele Swers, a professor of American government at Georgetown University who focuses her research on women’s representation in politics.

Those 2020 victories include Michelle Steel and Young Kim, Korean American women who both flipped House seats in California. That same year Maria Elvira Salazar, the daughter of Cuban immigrants, defeated Democratic incumbent Donna Shalala in Florida’s 27th congressional district.

Democratic groups have more robust infrastructure for funding women candidates with organizations like the PAC Emily’s List, though Democratic women of color have still struggled to gain access to party and financial support during their political campaigns. Democratic party leaders and voters have also historically demonstrated more interest in diversity among candidates, Swers said.

Flores’ victory in a Democratic stronghold captures another nuance: an increase in Latinx candidates running as Republicans. Other Republican Latinas are getting national attention in their races, including Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump will compete in November for Texas’ 15th congressional district, and Cassy Garcia, who is running in the fall for Texas’ 28th congressional district, facing off against nine-term Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar.

“In this cycle, you are seeing more women stepping up, particularly more Latina women that we’re seeing run on the Republican side, and they have a good amount of party resources behind them,” Swers said.

Flores’ June victory came during a special House election after the 34th congressional seat became vacant when incumbent Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela Jr. resigned in March. Flores significantly outraised her Democratic opponent and focused ads on her marriage to a border patrol agent and the need for border security and legal immigration.

Flores will serve an abbreviated term until January, but she is also the Republican nominee for the 34th district in November — the race Vela Jr. would have competed in had he run for reelection. But that race won’t be an exact repeat of the special election: In November the 34th congressional district will fall under newly redrawn district parameters that make it much more friendly to Democrats, and Flores will face a different opponent.

How recess helps students learn

KMZ — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 20:43:51 +0000

Published: February 14, 2022 3.03pm EST
Author
William Massey

Assistant Professor of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University

As parents and schools seek to support students’ social and emotional needs – and teach them what they need to learn – some education leaders are missing one particularly effective opportunity.

The U.S. Department of Education has offered guidance on how to help students navigate the stress and trauma of the pandemic and readjust to in-person schooling after long periods of closed schools. But as someone who studies recess in connection with child development, I couldn’t help but notice recess was missing from the federal guidance and from many local efforts to support students as the pandemic continues to unfold.

The physical activity and social connection that take place at recess help children’s brains work and develop properly by lowering their levels of stress, regulating their nervous system and allowing them to be more engaged once back in the classroom.

Stress and the brain

The brain function of a person in a calm state is largely governed by the prefrontal cortex, which handles what are often called “executive functions” and the ability to regulate behavior and emotions. This makes it possible for people to follow instructions, use context clues to solve problems, pay attention and incorporate new information into existing knowledge. People with higher levels of executive function tend to perform better in school and feel better about themselves.

Don’t let yourself be misled. Understand issues with help from experts
The brain function of a person under high levels of distress shifts to less advanced areas of the brain that handle more reactive behaviors. This disrupts those executive functions and can make the person withdrawn, distractible or hyperactive. All of those can interfere with the person’s ability to learn.

This stress-related shift in brain function can also affect students’ motivation. Chronic, prolonged and unpredictable stress inhibits the release of dopamine, a brain chemical that helps people feel a sense of pleasure and reward during learning. In this state, learning challenges are likely to be perceived as threats, which will continue to activate more reactive brain regions and more deeply hurt the person’s ability to learn.

3 ways recess helps learning

The opportunity to spend time outdoors playing is so important that the United Nations has declared it a right of every child. My research collaborators and I have found that when children have recess in a safe environment that includes positive interactions with adults and peers, students have fewer problems with executive functions and better classroom behavior. Brain science research supports this by showing how three different aspects of recess decrease stress and improve executive function, helping children learn more successfully throughout the school day.

When students have time to play outside during school, their brains return to class more ready to learn.

My research shows kids get a large proportion of their outdoor and movement time at recess. We know that getting more physical activity at school is better for executive functions and can actually increase academic performance

My research also shows that recess is full of repetitive and patterned movements – running and chasing, swinging, playing ball games and jumping rope – which restore students’ access to higher-level brain functions. This is why multiple recess opportunities each day, at regular intervals, can improve students’ attention, learning and overall well-being.

Recess is a time when kids can form meaningful relationships and practice social skills – which can be critical to success in school.

Research clearly shows the benefits of recess for children. Consistent, predictable recess time – even more than once a day – helps children reduce stress, form social connections at school and get their brains more ready to learn.

The psychology of roller coasters

kim zolotar — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 19:03:31 +0000

BY RICHARD STEPHENS, SENIOR LECTURER IN PSYCHOLOGY, KEELE UNIVERSITY

Can differences in brain chemistry explain the sensation seeking behaviour seen in theme parks?

Roller coasters may seem like a very modern type of entertainment – constantly getting bigger, faster and scarier thanks to advances in technology. But they actually date back to the mid-1800s. Gravity-propelled railways built to transport coal from up in the mountains down to the town in Pennsylvania, US, were hired out at weekends by fare-paying passengers riding purely for the fun of it.

Today theme parks are big business. But with queues occasionally as long as eight hours for an average ride of under two minutes – not to mention reports of riders suffering strokes, brain deformation and serious injury due to crashes – how come we put ourselves through it? What is it about roller coasters that some love so much, and is it an experience we tend to like less as we get older?

Enjoying roller coasters is linked to sensation seeking – the tendency to enjoy varied, novel and intense physical experiences such as rock climbing and parachute jumping. But what sensation do roller coasters provide that is so alluring? At first glance, it may seem to be down to the experience of speed. But the evidence for linking sensation seeking to speed is not compelling. For example, when it comes to driving at speeds above the legal limit, many people do it, not just sensation seekers.

Perhaps the draw of roller coasters is the enjoyment of the visceral sensation of fear itself, much like watching a horror movie. Physical signs of fear such as a pounding heart, faster breathing and an energy boost caused by the release of glucose are known collectively as the “fight or flight response”. We know that a roller coaster ride is likely to trigger this response thanks to researchers who measured the heart rates of riders on the double-corkscrew Coca Cola Roller in 1980s Glasgow. Heart beats per minute more than doubled from an average 70 beforehand to 153 shortly after the ride had begun. Some older riders got uncomfortably close to what would be deemed medically unsafe for their age.

In another adrenalin-boosting pastime, novice bungee jumpers not only reported increased feelings of well-being, wakefulness and euphoria just after completing a jump, they also had raised levels of endorphins in the blood, well known to produce feelings of intense pleasure. Interestingly, the higher the levels of endorphins that were present, the more euphoric the jumper reported feeling. Here, then, is clear evidence that people enjoy the sensations that accompany the fight or flight response within a non-threatening environment.

Good vs bad stress

And yet, paradoxically, these bungee jumpers also showed increased levels of the hormone cortisol, known to increase when people experience stress. How, then, can a person simultaneously experience stress and pleasure? The answer is that not all stress is bad. Eustress – from the Greek “eu”, meaning good, as in euphoria – is a positive kind of stress that people actively seek out.

We know that a roller coaster ride can be experienced as a “eustressful” experience thanks to an intriguing study carried out by two Dutch psychologists. They were interested in asthma, and specifically its relationship with stress. Having noted previous research findings that stress leads asthma sufferers to perceive their asthma symptoms as more severe, they wondered whether an opposite effect might be possible by applying eustress.

And so, in the name of science, some asthmatic student volunteers were transported to a theme park and rode a roller coaster while their respiratory function was checked. The research findings were remarkable. While lung function predictably reduced from the screaming and general upheaval, so did the feeling of shortness of breath. This suggests that thrill seekers riding roller coasters perceive the experience as stressful in a positive way.

The role of dopamine

But roller coasters are not everybody’s cup of tea. Could differences in brain chemistry explain sensation seeking behaviours? The experiment with bungee jumpers suggest that people with higher levels of endorphins feel higher levels of euphoria. But there is no evidence that resting levels of endorphins might explain sensation seeking, they are more likely a response to the thrill than a predictor of whether we enjoy it.

A recent review instead looked at the role of dopamine, another chemical messenger substance in the brain that is important in the functioning of neurological reward pathways. The review found that individuals who happen to have higher levels of dopamine also score more highly on measures of sensation seeking behaviour. While this is a correlation rather than a causation, another study found that taking a substance called haloperidol, which disrupts dopamine’s effects within the brain, led to a measurable decrease in sensation seeking behaviour.

This line of research sets out the intriguing possibility that enjoyment of intense physical experiences such as riding on roller coasters may reflect individual differences in brain chemistry. People who have higher levels of dopamine may be more prone to a number of sensation seeking behaviours, ranging from harmless roller coaster rides to taking drugs or even shoplifting.

The question as to whether roller coaster riding still appeals as we get older has not been researched directly, but a recent survey looked at how keen people of different ages were on thrill-seeking holidays such as rock climbing trips. It showed that interest in these kinds of holidays peaks in early adulthood, declining with each passing decade. This indicates that older adults are less inclined to participate in activities similar to riding roller coasters. Perhaps experiencing one’s heart rate spiking dangerously close to medically accepted risk levels is not such a draw for the over 50s.

Though hard to pin down, people enjoy roller coasters thanks to a combination of speed, conquering fear and the positive effects associated with a massive rise in physiological arousal. A roller coaster ride is a legal, generally safe and relatively cheap means of experiencing a natural high. Understandably, people have been happy to pay money in exchange for doing it for centuries, and there is no sign of any waning in the appreciation of a bit of eustress.

Richard Stephens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Source: The psychology of roller coasters