• 28Feb

    My friend Meghan Kish, Chief of Interpretation for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, recently sent me a link to an NPR story about these new glasses with voice-controlled computing power, where graphics and images pop into your field of view with a tilt of your head. Right out of science fiction films like Terminator or  Minority Report, Google apparently has a “beta” product which could put smartphone capabilities such as GPS maps, weather, time, Web streaming, and more inches from your eyeball.

    Tom Cruise, rockin' the technology in the Minority Report.

    I won’t lie; I find this both scary and exciting. It is also a reminder of how much and how fast times are changing, and how important it is to keep up if our programs are going to remain meaningful and relevant.

    Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. The list is shared with faculty to remind them of rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation. This is an important resource for us as interpreters as well.

    According to the Beloit website the class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.

    It is a multicultural, politically correct, and “green” generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.

    They are the same age as Harry Potter and the H.P books and movies were a huge part of their childhood.

    GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.

    There is no expectation that a gas station will fix their flat, but they do expect cappuccino.

    Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.

    Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.

    The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno (with a brief interlude by Conan O’Brien).

    They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.

    Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.

    Caller ID has always been available on phones.

    Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

    A complete list can be found at:  http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012/

    Meaningful and relevant means we have to stay on top of trends – cultural trends, media trends and certainly trends in technology. While I don’t feel any different than when I was 22, the fact is, I am.  I was shaped by the times I grew up in. As a child, Pluto was my favorite planet and the Brontosaurus was my favorite dinosaur.  My first computer was a Kaypro (Anyone? Anyone?). My life experience is as different from these college freshmen as theirs is from the fifth graders on our school programs. Don’t get me started on 5th graders, that’s another blog!

    Before you test run your program with a real audience, I recommend that you test your references, and your language, with people younger than you.

    Peace Out!

    (No one says that anymore!)

    – Amy Lethbridge, NAI President

  • 24Feb

    I’ll never forget seeing my first moose in a state park in Alaska. I jogged after the huge cow and her calf with my camera to get just the right shot. I stopped short when an interpretive sign showed a moose on it and a message about not getting close to moose. It was a rookie error for an Illinois raised boy plopped down in wild country in Alaska. My desire for a photo eroded my good sense. I did not get the great moose photo that day and have not gotten close to one on foot again. Dangerous animals like moose and bison just SEEM big, fuzzy and friendly. They’re not FRIENDLY.

     

    Wild animals, especially the big guys often called “charismatic megafauna”, are magnets. They stop us wherever we are. I recently drove by a herd of elk in someone’s front yard between Loveland and Longmont, Colorado, on a rural road. It was fun to sit there and watch how many people pulled over or slowed down to ogle the great beasts. Better yet, the young bulls with big antlers were trying to creep up on the BIG GUY – commander in chief of the harem of beautiful females. It was a real side-show and the pasture  fence and ditch kept us all at a distance. We took photos from our car, the ideal wildlife blind in many ways.

     

    A couple of years ago we were training in western Montana and drove down to Yellowstone to enjoy the scenery for a few hours. I watched a man with a camera creep closer and closer to a bull buffalo. That’s not a good animal to surprise. It could see him and he could see it, so he may have been a safe distance from it. I’m not an authority on these animals but know it is sometimes the right thing to speak up, when we see this behavior, to let the person know he or she may be in danger. The typical visitor may know such critters only from the zoo and think there is some invisible force shield protecting them from a sudden charge. There is not.

     

    We watched a fellow photographing deer from just four feet away in Yosemite recently. He was near some small does that probably were not terribly dangerous to him, but even deer without antlers can do damage with sharp hooves. A nearby buck with a large set of antlers would definitely not be the right subject to photograph from four feet. Yosemite has put up signs in places where many tourists encounter wildlife that use cartoons to show a deer hurting a tourist. The signs do not look as sophisticated as a great photo with a written message, but many of the tourists in Yosemite speak no English. A good cartoon can be more effective and universal in getting the message across.

     

    Safety interpretation remains a great opportunity and challenge for interpreters. We actually save lives and prevent injuries when we put the right message or image in a place where it provokes thought and gets people to use good sense around wildlife. It is a great investment of our time and energy. What are you doing in safety interpretation – especially with wildlife? Share your ideas with us.

     

    -Tim Merriman

  • 21Feb

    As interpreters we tell stories of places and people and things that cannot speak for themselves.  We give meaning to events and make connections about how things relate to each other.

    Sometimes we use objects to do this. Be they skins, skulls, seeds, bark, or other items that tell a natural history tale or the artifacts that represents a human story, objects help us illustrate our programs in a physical way.

    A fabulous example of interpretation using exclusively artifacts is the BBC/British Museum collaboration A History of the World in 100 Objects. In addition to being wonderful, interpretive programming, it is an example how a great program or project can snowball into much, much more.

    I know that people in England listen to modern radios. I just liked this picture.

    Originally a radio program and now a book, A History… takes us on a journey across time and around the globe, looking at objects both large and small and tracing their history by asking meaningful questions: How, where and why they were made? What is the providence of their parts? How were they used and by whom? Did their use or meaning change over time?

    British Museum Director Neil MacGregor explains that the original idea was to take 100 items from the museum’s collection—items dated from the earliest of time to Present Day—which came from all parts of the world and would “address as many aspects of the human experience as proved practicable…to tell us about whole societies, not just the rich and powerful within them.” And so the program tells stories of objects both humble and grand. Guest commentators from many disciplines and all parts of the globe were invited by the BBC to take part. The series ran for an entire year in 2010, and you can listen to it still (which I highly recommend) at:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/british-museum-objects/

    Or you can read the book. MacGregor is a wonderful storyteller. His respect for the objects and their histories is apparent. And he is an interpreter. For example, object number 86 is an Akan Drum once owned by a Virginia plantation owner in the 18th century. Plant experts have established that it came from West Africa, most likely arriving in America on a slave ship.  MacGregor writes:

    It is impossible not to wonder what it may have witnessed, and not to accompany it in imagination, on its journey from a West African Royal Court on the terrible Atlantic crossing to a North American plantation. We know that such drums were used to `dance the slaves’ on the ship to fight depression and on the plantation sometimes rallied the slaves to revolt. If one of the purposes of an object history is to use things to give voice to the voiceless, then this slave drum has a special role – to speak for millions who were allowed to take nothing with them as they were enslaved and deported, and who were unable to write their own story.

    The Akan Drum which journeyed from West Africa to Virginia on a slave ship.

    Since the broadcast, the museum has invited people to send in their own objects and accompanying stories, with the museum adding historical research and dimension. These personal stories, which can be accessed by podcasts at www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ahow, are marvelous examples of the way in which individuals were welcome to participate in, and became part of, a universally meaningful project. The project has also been the inspiration for communities to put together 100 Objects exhibitions of their own, objects that tell the story of their area. It’s a great idea, an idea I am passing on to my town’s historic society for its upcoming centennial. This might be also be a great project at your park, resulting in a meaningful, fully voiced exhibit.

    Capturing the heritage of a place through objects, and letting those objects speak through interpretation (and interpreters), is how our profession contributes to the preservation of the history of the world.

    -Amy Lethbridge, NAI President

  • 17Feb

    Technology is scary to a lot of folks in our field. Despite my four decades in the profession, I still get excited about new technologies. But I hate to see them used just to say we have something new and shiny. They should do something wonderful in revealing hidden stories and meanings in the resource or in relating to people that cannot be done another way. Some of the very best experiences are very low tech and hands-on. Ted Cable and Larry Beck (Gifts of Interpretation, 2011) write about the applications of technology in our profession in Chapter 8 – The Gift of Illumination Through Technology. They write that, Technological approaches allow visitors to view objects that previously could not be seen, experience environments that could not be experienced, and manipulate and respond to stimuli that previously could not be perceived.

    This week I was attending a meeting in Washington, DC, with the Federal Interagency Council on Interpretation, a group of lead interpretive officials with the federal agencies. Dr. Steve Storck of NOAA introduced us to a fascinating video from Corning Glass, A Day Made of Glass 2 Unpacked. Take a look at it if you have time or just tune in to the 8:43 mark in the 11.5 minute video if your time is limited. Any of us can quickly suggest what might go wrong with this use of glass technology (birds fly into reflective glass), but the opportunities are evident as well and explored in the video. They make the connection between a school field trip and the child taking the experience home to share with parents. They suggest how these new phone, tablet, QR, augmented reality and related technologies might work together in the daily lives of a child and her family.

     

    I was contacted a few months back about vendors who could help develop virtual tours for nature areas. I did not have a source to suggest. I have since learned that Glacier Bay National Park has been a leader in using digital media on their website. Homestead National Monument is another NPS site working with digital media. If any of you have thoughts to share on this, please comment. Young people use texting and social media easily and at a level greater than many of us who are older. Finding technological applications that capture their interest and lead them from virtual to actual experiences with nature and history is the desire, but we likely must start where they are and not where we are. They are wired and like it.

    There are opportunities out there for us to become more skilled in using these media to connect new generations to actual resources by introducing them through virtual resources. We will have to invest in new technologies and hire people trained in these areas to help us apply the applications well. Interpretive planning is still important to the process. We need to know we are using technology as a means to better interpretation and not just a “Gee Whiz” end. When it is used well, we may not notice the technology as much as have a great experience we could not have in more simple ways.

    - Tim Merriman

  • 13Feb

    Happy Valentine’s Day!

    A recent advertisement for the organization Heifer International claims that the average American spent nearly $70 on Valentine’s Day gifts in 2011. I am pretty “bah humbug” about this—and any other holiday in which a greeting card company tries to get me to prove something that I hope I am demonstrating all year long. It is an inherent part of my personality. I do not respond well to sales pressure or guilt, which is why my husband, on a good year, might get a cupcake after dinner in honor of the day. Again, might.

    But then, I’m also not a fan of those Facebook posts that try and guilt you into posting something by saying “Most of you won’t post this.” I attribute this to my famous Lethbridge stubbornness, a topic of many a parent-teacher conference in my youth. Regardless of my personal feelings, most of the nation, especially our children, will be doing something to celebrate love and friendship and certainly they will be aware of that it is the day.

    These calendar moments—whatever they celebrate—tend to be great opportunities for us to use the day’s theme as way to relate to audiences, whether at sites or in a program. As far as Valentine’s Day goes, love and sex  lead to some  great themes. 

    One of the best interpretive programs I’ve ever been on was a plant walk led by Mary Ann Bonnell in which she pointed out that plants flirted, had sex, and defended themselves, all without moving an inch. So in honor of February 14th, I give you the following, taken from our friends at the Nature Company’s website, titled “Love in the Wild.”

    1) Prairie Chickens: “Strut Your Stuff”

    Male prairie chickens attract females with loud “booming” noises that can be heard miles away. They also perform an elaborate dance — lowering their heads, erecting their neck feathers, inflating orange air sacks, dropping their wings and pointing their tails, all while frantically stamping their feet.

    2) Deep Sea Anglerfish: “Lose Yourself in Love”

    Male anglerfish bite their mates and permanently fuse to their bodies. Over time, the male’s brain, eyes and organs dissolve until he turns into a small lump, releasing sperm whenever the female is ready to lay eggs. Scientists first thought the lumps were fins before discovering they were the males.

    3) American Burying Beetle: “Be Family Oriented”

    These beetles not only are monogamous but also raise their children together. Expectant parents bury dead birds or mice and lay eggs nearby. The parents lie on their backs and use their legs like a conveyor belt to move carcasses up to 200 times their own weight. Once hatched, larvae feed on the carcass, or parents rub their wings together to call the larvae and regurgitate meat into their mouths.

    4) Bower Birds: “Enjoy Your Bachelor Pad”

    Male bowers of Australia and New Guinea build large and elaborate bachelor pads on forest floors, decorated with flowers, leaves, shells and even stolen coins – anything they think will attract a mate. Some paint the walls with chewed berries, others build lawns of moss. Drab males build the flashiest pads to compensate for their dull colors.

    To see other cool mating rituals and tales of love, along with sound effects and video, check out TNC’s website at

    http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/love-in-the-wild.xml?s_intc=sp4

    Many animals mate for life and enjoy a social pairing until they die. The gray wolf, Gibbon apes, termites, coyotes, beavers, French angel fish, anglerfish, and prairie voles are on this list. However, they rarely stay strictly faithful. About 90 percent of the 9,700 bird species pair, mate, and raise chicks together — some returning together to the same nest site year after year. Males, however, often raise other males’ offspring unknowingly. The good news is that there are no divorce attorneys in the animal world; this lack of fidelity does not cause tears or drama except in Black vultures. Black vultures viciously discourage infidelity: All nearby vultures attack any vulture caught philandering.

    The one species that is absolutely monogamous is the above-mentioned anglerfish. They mate for life — but it’s a short life for the male.

    Saying “I love you” is free.  Say it often. Say it on voicemail, say it on Facebook, and most of all say it in person.  Don’t wait for Hallmark to tell you when to do it.

    I hope you spend today with a loved one and that someone buys you a cupcake.

     

    Amy Lethbridge, NAI President

  • 10Feb

    NAI’s Interpretive Training Courses include segments on creating interpretive opportunities. We shared that lesson yesterday in a course in progress at Grand Canyon National Park and Tyrene, a trainer and guide with Xanterra shared her personal story this morning about creating interpretive opportunities.

    After a visit to the marketplace, she caught the shuttle bus to Hermit Trail to watch the sunset and was sitting next to a gentleman from England. He was chatting with another Xanterra employee on the bus. He asked why Tyrene was here and she mentioned interpretation training. He asked what language she interprets. She explained it was not about languages. In trying to explain what it was about she asked him to look out the window at the trees and then asked, “What do trees mean to you?” He said, “Peace.” “Yes,” she followed up, “but what does that mean to you?” He thought and answered, “They relax me and make me feel safe, and they remind me of my home because it’s made of wood.”

    Tyrene had been a fishing guide before getting involved with Xanterra as a guide and trainer at Yellowstone National Park. She has had lots of experience in the outdoors. As she and her acquaintance from England chatted further about trees and their value in our lives, she mentioned that trees are unique and that one can learn more about them by taking a multisensory approach – touching, listening, smelling, the various qualities of various trees. She threw out an interesting tidbit, that ponderosa pine bark smells like butterscotch. They parted ways as she reached her stop. Later, when she saw the man again, he was leaning over to a Ponderosa pine to smell the bark. Though she didn’t have the chance to talk to him, she was excited to see that the interpretive techniques employed in the conversation had provided an opportunity for him to connect with the resource in a way that had become meaningful for him.

    We spend a lot of time on this idea of interpretive conversations in the Interpretive Host course. Any employee in any role at an interpretive site may create a very special experience for a guest through a thoughtful conversation or act of assistance. Xanterra has the concession contracts at Grand Canyon but Tyrene does not work here. Her decision to explain interpretation was not so much about impressing him with her knowledge as asking him to think about the importance of parks, forests and protected areas like Grand Canyon. She invited him to think more deeply about trees and the protection of them in these sorts of settings.

    We all hope to create interpretive opportunities in our programming, facilities design and creation of interpretive media. But informal contacts with people also offer great opportunities to do this. We can ask questions and learn what interests them. We can adapt and suggest just the right thing to enrich their experiences. Tyrene did just that and helped a foreign guest become even more enthused about a very interesting place, Grand Canyon National Park, all while serving as a thoughtful interpreter of “interpretation.”

    -Tim Merriman

     

     

     

     

  • 07Feb

    In a small, mountain town surrounded by granite mountains and tall trees sits The Temple of the Forest Beneath the Clouds.  It isn’t necessarily a grand building.  But it is beautiful. Painted in traditional red and blue with gold symbols and letters above the door, it rests nestled in a landscape that evokes the myths and style of a foreign land. Close your eyes and picture it.

    The Temple

    of the Forest

    Beneath the Clouds

    It has been a place of worship for more than 150 years and is the oldest continuously used Chinese temple in California. Designated a California State Park in 1956, this is the Weaverville Joss House. It is a special place, a cultural gem in the middle of nature at the heart of the small town where I attended high school.

    From this Taoist temple, we learn of the role played by Chinese immigrants in early California history—especially important in mining towns like Weaverville. From the carefully preserved artifacts and art pieces we learn of gods and traditions different from our own. The traditional Lion Dance, performed annually to celebrate the Chinese New Year, is featured in Weaverville’s Fourth of July parade, providing a regular opportunity for the town’s residents to embrace cultural diversity and celebrate the entwined history of American immigrants in the movement toward, and ultimate settling of, the West.

    When I lived in Trinity County, we visited the Joss House at least once a year. It was the special place we took out of town guests.  I haven’t lived there for a long, long time, but when I go home to visit, if I bring anyone with me,  the Joss House is the first stop on the “My Home Town” tour.

    It wasn’t until I was older—and more deeply engaged in this career I so love—that I realized how incredible it is that the temple still stands; that people come from all over California and the world to worship here; and that due to the tremendous efforts of Moon Lee (a descendant of the original Chinese citizens of Weaverville and an important fixture in the community until his death in 1985), it has been preserved forever as a state park.

    While I have lived in Los Angeles now for more than 20 years, there’s no denying I am still a small town girl at heart. And I am deeply proud of that heritage. So when I tell people of the small, mountain community my entire family calls home, I always, always mention the Joss House.

    Sadly, the Weaverville Joss House is slated for closure in July of this year.

    The other park of my childhood, Samuel P. Taylor Park in Marin County, was also slated to close.  My understanding is that the National Park Service has stepped up to keep that one open. Samuel P. Taylor is a heavenly spot along Lagunitas Creek, lined with redwoods and was the favored spot for birthday parties and little league picnics for my siblings and I. We stomped in the creek, slid down an old Redwood log that thousands of small butts had polished into a slide, and went on Sunday hikes with Dad.

    Samuel P. Taylor State Park

    70 parks are on the closure list.

    My bet is that if you grew up in the U.S., a state park was part of your childhood experience. Each of us has a Temple in the Forest Beneath the Clouds or a Samuel P. Taylor. In a state park, you can have a nature adventure or step back in time and get a small glimpse of history. Those state park field trips and vacations of our youth are part of the fabric of our being, our heritage, and our legacy. Their inherent value to us as interpreters is immeasurable. It is a shared value, one that we inhabit and one we impart on the thousands of people we come in contact with. Across the country state park systems are suffering. Here in California, the devastating budget cuts have ignited a storm of support, eliciting counter-proposals and local activism. Partner groups and volunteers are stepping up. Donations are being pledged. Citizens are making movies about their favorite parks and writing letters while  State Parks employees are working hard to adress the issue with valor and creativity. For more information you can go to calparks.org.

    Wherever you live, wherever those temples are that anchor you and nestle in your heart, check in and see if you can help. Our parks are treasures and like the treasures of lore need to be guarded and protected or they will be stolen away.

    - Amy Lethbridge, NAI President

  • 03Feb

    After a week of training in Yosemite, we stopped by Monterey Bay to enjoy a day of whale watching with Princess Monterey Whale Watch. The sign out front at the Princess Monterey lists recent sightings of whales and dolphins. It gives you an expectation that is very inviting. You know they are seeing whales and dolphins every day.

    Inside Benji Shake smiles and chats with folks while he is signing them up for the first of two trips for the day. We are on the early one. The Shakes of Fisherman’s Wharf are very well known. Their four restaurants are excellent places to eat with a touch of class. Each woman leaving The Old Fisherman’s Grottois handed a rosebud. It’s a small touch that makes a big impression. Benji is the oldest of the six Shake brothers who

    Monterey Bay Aquarium on Cannery Row

    operate the restaurants, glass-bottom boat tours and whale-watching vessel. Their Pakistani father and Italian mother came to the wharf in the 1950s and developed landmark businesses with incredible food. Their original clam chowder recipe still wins food contests year after year. Their restaurants all cooperate with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, serving fish species on the good list.

    Benji Shake greeting customers before the whale watch.

    The aquarium is just a few blocks west of Fisherman’s Wharf and many operators take folks out whale watching. Some of the guides on the boats are also volunteers with the aquarium. The 2.5 to 3 hour boat trip on our morning had Jay Sinclair as the Naturalist-Interpreter. Jay is a retired financial advisor, and foundation manager and his wife, Pat, works at the aquarium. They both participated in the 2005 NAI ecotour to Tanzania so I was pleased and surprised to see Jay again. He did an excellent job of revealing many parts of the experience easily missed and helped us understand the unique Monterey Bay ecosystem.

    We enjoyed watching an otter mom and baby as we slowly motored out into the bay. California sea

    Otter mom and pup

    lions barked from under the fish warehouses and from the warning buoys at the harbor entrance. Several species of grebes were alongside the boat while Heerman’s gulls drifted overhead. We were ready to see whales and whales we saw.

    It was a great day of beautiful blue skies and we enjoyed watching more than two dozen migrating gray whales out in the bay, some large and some babies. The boat holds up to 150 passengers but had

    Whales spotted - gray whales!

    about half that many on our Sunday morning outing. An important part of their message was that they show respect for the whales. They approach only near enough to see the whales spouting and making fluke down dives. They don’t chase the whales. Marine laws govern their behavior but it is easy to see some of the other operators breaking the rules – more interested in the spectacle of getting close than the ethical value of helping people understand our fragile relationship with recovering whale populations. Whale watching is a great opportunity to deliver stewardship messages and this group gets it done.

    The last half hour of the day’s journey was spent among large groups of Risso’s dolphins. These larger dolphins get up to 14 feet long and gather in parts of the bay where their favorite prey, squid, are abundant. They come close to the boat and jump out of the water at times, giving all of us a lift. Much of

    California gray whale on a fluke down dive

    whale watching requires us to consider the large mammal below us while seeing only a small portion of the animal as it breathes and dives.

    Risso's dolphins

    Visiting Monterey Bay is always special. The thoughtful connections between Monterey Bay Aquarium, the restaurants

    cooperating with Seafood Watch, and tour operators that employ trained interpretive guides is evident there. It had been many years since our previous visits and may be many more before we return to Monterey. But the fine art of whale watching is a

    lifelong hobby once you get the bug. We will be back.

    -Tim Merriman

     

     

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