| City gets solid marks as host of ceramic arts conference
A woman clutching a prettily glazed clay mug gleefully explained to the people around her how she had convinced the potter across the room to part with it. He was carrying a few cups, it seems, in his coat pockets. Upon seeing them, she negotiated, in English tinged with an European accent, an exchange for one of her own designs shelved in her hotel room. This happened at an exhibition reception, but it was the kind of interaction that was taking place throughout Pittsburgh last week as 5,000 national and international members of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) met for its 42nd annual conference. From all reports, the conference was a huge success, for attendees and for hosting communities. NCECA 2008 on-site liaison Josh Green said yesterday that it "exceeded all possible expectations" of council officials gathered here from across the country.
Education
BETTSVILLE — The Bettsville Local School District is to accept open enrollment applications during the month of May for children who wish to enroll in the district next year. The board of education permits students from any Ohio district to apply and enroll free of any tuition obligation, provided they meet open enrollment procedures. Applications are to be accepted through May 31. Parents are to be notified of acceptance by June 15. Students currently attending Bettsville through open enrollment must submit a new application each year. Applications are available in the main office or can be mailed upon request. Call (419) 986-5166. SYCAMORE — Mohawk FFA attended the sub-district speaking contest at Van Buren High School. Contestants included Robert Gilliland, Alex Colich, Ellen Gilliland, Dustin Griffin, Anna Gilliland and Susan Daniel.
An Arts-and-Letters Icon
Poet and publisher Jonathan Williams lived a creatively accomplished, culturally distinguished life that carried him into his 80th year, if just barely. He turned 79 on March 8 and - sadly for those of us who knew and admired him - he died on March 16 of pneumonia, after a monthlong hospital stay in Highlands, near his longtime home. In addition to his other talents, Williams was an essayist and photographer of note. In literary circles he was known as one of the last surviving Black Mountain poets who were informally named that in honor of Western North Carolina's former Black Mountain College. Williams and his writing contemporaries, who studied and taught there in the 1950s, were loosely associated with such beat poets as Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso. Born in Asheville, Williams grew up in Washington and Macon County, where his parents bought a small mountainside farm in the early 1940s, which also became his primary home in later years.
Native artists depend on ash trees
West Michigan's Native American community has good reason to worry about the Emerald Ash Borer, the invasive species that is killing Michigan's ash trees. To indigenous artists who create black ash baskets, the end of the trees could mean the end of a craft that has been passed from generation to generation. "Since the discovery of the EAB in Michigan in 2002, Michigan has lost over 20 million ash trees and the numbers continue to rise," said Kelly Church, of Hopkins. Church, along with her daughter, Cherish Parrish, and basket weaver John Pigeon are nationally recognized Native American artists. All three learned basketry from their elders and are passing their knowledge to a younger generation. Church and Parrish show and sell their work at the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian in Washington, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the IAIA Museum in Santa Fe.
That toddlin' town: Chicago with a baby? You bet
Dying to visit Chicago, but Baby is holding you back? Take heart, Mama and Dada. You can take your toddler or baby along. "We took our daughter to Chicago when she was 4 months old, then again when she was 7 months old," says Tina Dzikowski, 30, of Eastpointe, Mich., whose daughter is now 3 and son is 1. "It worked out fine. I haven't tried it yet with two. But I'd say, go." Naturally, taking the under-2 set to a big metropolis like Chicago poses some challenges. Where to eat? Where to stay? How to transport a baby in a taxi? Then there's the equipment issue. New parents lug strollers the size of snow blowers. They tote bulky port-a-cribs. They bring baby slings, baby backpacks, baby diapers, baby diaper bags, baby formula, baby food, baby toys, baby coats, baby hats, baby pajamas, baby wipes and baby blankets.
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