ysabetwordsmith | Poem: "The Adventure Building"
This poem is spillover from the December 2, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from dreamwriteremmy. It also fills the "hugs" square in my 11-25-14 card for the hc_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Danso & Family thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
as children first and soups second.
everyday life rather than cooping them up.
and took them all to see it.
which listed the parts of the museum.
like Gift Shop, First Aid, and Food Court.
Junior Genius, and Soup's On.
"Okay, what do people want to see?"
Hannah asked as they read the sign.
"Gross things and scary things!"
Lakia said, her tail twitching.
"I don't like scary things," Hadyn protested.
"I'd rather look at the famous people."
they want the most," Hannah said.
if we need to split up for a few minutes.
Danso, where would you like to go?"
"I think old things would be fun," he said.
"I don't mind looking at gross or scary things.
Hadyn through the famous people."
Hannah asked Nathaniel for a choice.
"Boogers," he said, and then, "dinosaurs."
probably in with the old things."
like the other museums Danso had seen.
Roman statues with their heads knocked off.
you could touch or play with or climb on.
in North America during much of their reign.
regroup for Junior Genius and Soup's On,"
Hannah suggested at the stairs.
"I don't want to go into the soup part,"
Hadyn said. "People will think we're freaks."
to speculate about anyone else's abilities.
Most of them don't show anyway."
for her instead of all of us," Hannah said.
what they can or can't do."
through the exhibit of gross things.
on mucus that explained what it was for.
to clean up animal skeletons for display.
squeaked when squeezed hard enough.
We think gross things are fun. Not everyone does.
tell them all the cool things you saw in this wing.
Going to the restaurant? Ask for a cricket lollipop!
virtual dissection games, and Gross Science documentaries.
to feel the vibrations as they shook apart.
wanted the tiny one advertised for the gift shop.
because they had to go meet Hannah.
"The earthquake was too scary?"
that vibrates and he didn't want to leave it."
Hannah said. "He's big enough for rockers."
"So what did you find in Famous People?"
"Anna Pavlova was a Russian dancer,"
said Hadyn. "She invented the world tour.
Before her, dancers were just local attractions."
still sniffling and clinging to her for comfort.
which consisted entirely of things to play with.
or hints for children to explore as they played.
so Danso helped with that.
she could make them instantly.
and wavery and bubble-shaped mirrors.
including a set of gears that really turned.
to play with the mirrors and the magnets.
as he carefully mixed them together.
about it on the wall display.
because now Hadyn was clinging.
"Here, let's read the front sign,"
Hannah said to the children.
many different powers people can have.
for having or not having superpowers.
Powers are for helping, not for hurting!
"Flickering" which they'd all seen in school.
to account for people with superpowers.
"How do people decide on new manners?"
and scary things make people mean."
as she hugged Hadyn against her side.
"Even scary powers can be managed.
that society has with itself about how to be nice.
how to prevent them from happening again."
Telepathy and Empathy were psychic.
pointing to the purple bubble on the map.
Whammy Lass holding up a tank.
but people expect it, so it stays."
seeing someone you've actually met,"
how zetetics had changed the world.
and all kinds of other professions.
without any superpowers per se.
so now you can say that you've met one!
so it's okay to ask me about my talent.
your soup etiquette with me.
with toys of many colors inside it.
"Hi I'm Lakia and I have a tail!"
the girl said all in one breath.
"And a very pretty tail it is too," Motley said.
picking up a plastic lizard. "I like green."
as she took the lizard from him.
Slowly her hand turned from pink to green.
that shifted from one color to another.
It wasn't very strong, but it was beautiful.
a plaid teddy bear. "Is this fair?"
he asked. "Can you do patterns?"
the patterns come out blurry,"
Motley said, trading lizard for bear.
not quite plaid but close.
to have as much diversity as we do."
"Thank you for showing us your gift,"
some people have pretty ones."
Lakia made a beeline for the models.
"I wanna pet tornado!" she said.
Nathaniel wanted the Booger Clay.
"What have you picked out, Danso?"
and a Super Mom t-shirt for herself.
"I haven't really found anything,"
that people kept spending on him.
It wasn't like he needed anything here.
"Still trying to figure out what you like?"
he didn't pull away, drew him into a hug.
"Yeah, I guess," Danso admitted. It was hard.
He'd been too busy for that kind of exploration.
we have some mood t-shirts."
Curious, Danso investigated the rack.
The shirts rippled with colors as he did so.
they were plain cotton, not dexflan or capery.
"How does this even work?" he wondered.
not the fiber," the saleslady explained.
cost me a week's salary, but it's so worth it!"
Danso held a t-shirt against his chest, admiring it.
Then he saw the price tag and hastily hung it up.
"You didn't like it?" Hannah asked.
"It's great, but it costs twice what you said,"
Danso said. He shouldn't be greedy.
he babysat Howl," Hadyn argued.
so the budget should still balance."
"Extra consideration for babysitting is fair,"
your shirt and let's check out."
with their souvenirs in hand.
"Yes I did," she said. "You're my brother.
You deserve to have nice things too."
feel like maybe he did deserve it after all.
A children's museum is designed for fun learning, usually interactive. Find one near you.
Dermestid beetles are used to clean skeletons. Watch a video of them.
Gross souvenirs include cricket lollipops and virtual dissection.
See a large and small tornado simulator. Example of the effects that gizmology has: in our world the small one costs around $300, in Terramagne is about $20.
You can make your own earthquake table.
Vestibular toys provide sensation through movement, such as bouncing or rocking. They are a staple of sensory stimulation equipment, useful in childhood development and especially for treating sensory processing issues.
Anna Pavlova was a famous ballerina.
Learning through play and educational toys have many benefits. Babies are born with exploratory instincts that parallel scientific method. Fun science toys include the keystone arch and motion path walls, heat rings, mirror wall, magnet wall and gears.
"Flickering" is a slide show created by dialecticdreamer, showing the kind of educational material that SPOON produces.
Manners tend to evolve over time in response to social and environmental changes, such as new technology. With about 70 years to adjust, Terramagne cultures have learned a lot about superpowers and how to accommodate them. Some of the etiquette has adapted from ordinary analogs (it's rude to point and stare at a person in a wheelchair or one who has a tail) while others are more exotic (things which are covered to ordinary senses should be considered private, even if your super-senses allow you to see through them).
Items from the gift shop include a women of science t-shirt, cloth counting book, and Super Mom t-shirt. There are many different slime toys to choose from; Booger Clay is a Terramagne version. Color-changing clothes have had different iterations in our world including thermochromatic ones; gizmotronic ones are better.
We hit every science and exploration museum within two hours' driving distance so many times I lost count. (The docents at the /nearest/ two knew my kids by name.) If I hadn't been stuck with a walker for most of a year, I think we would've continued to go through both boys teen years, too-- the last time we went the youngest was fourteen and the museum was helping a group of 8 and up dissect a sheep's heart.
Danso... I just want to hug that kid, you know? I'm especially glad that Hadyn spoke up, too. She's becoming more /openly/ secure, which says a lot about all the minutes we don't get to see among the whole family.
We went to all kinds of museums when I was growing up, and it's still a favorite thing to visit on vacations. I fondly remember the Exploratorium out in California, and more recently we went to one in St. Louis. I tend to gravitate most towards ones like this, which have a balance between interaction and observation -- not just a big barn of educational toys, and not just things in boxes, but a combination.
And pat his uncle on the head. With a board.
Yes. Hadyn is much more reserved than the other kids. It's taking her a while to come to terms with what happened, and most of that is either internal or contextual. She does have a good therapist though. Just being in a healthy family that doesn't pressure her to Be Fine immediately is a big help.
I like this. We have a children's science museum in my town, too, called the Wonder Lab. I'd love to see some large foam building blocks and a display on basic architecture there; maybe I'll suggest it to them sometime.
Fascinating. That's not too far from where we live.
Good idea. The arch is a lot of fun and requires teamwork to build. It's also possible to find golden rectangular blocks.
That's not too far from where we live.
..people make that mistake all the time. Bloomington, Indiana is south of Indianapolis.
We're in central Illinois. Indiana is within feasible event range.
to Roman statues with their heads knocked off.
Either there's an extra "to" there, or there was something else in the middle that got dropped.
This gives me warm fuzzies, thinking of my kids when they were small, and my friends' kids.
Re virtual dissection: the Philadelphia Franklin Institute currently has an exhibit of BODY WORLDS: Animal Inside Out.
I bring my kids to museums all the time, but not all are kid friendly. There's one in Chatanooga, TN that's almost as cool as this one. There were a lot of interactive exhibits, and very friendly staff. Lots of activities, as well.
Every poem, I just love Danso more.
Too true. I don't go back to stuffy ones. Even older now, I am still playful. I've always favored museums with a mix of things to look at and things to do.
Yay! That's always good to hear.
It was very much one of, if not the, best kids museum that I've ever been to.
I enjoyed this one a lot; nice family excursion with minimal stress on the kids.
"To" is repeated at the end and the beginning of the line.
Yay! I had fun with it.
Getting used to a higher standard of living, and respect, can be hard. Teamwork helps. Eventually Danso will learn to open a discussion instead of just giving up on himself.
She's often quiet, but very observant.
They're starting to get the hang of the relationship, now that Danso trusts Hannah to take care of everyone. It's a matter of figuring out what stage he's at and what kind of support feels comfortable to him.
If they ever visit Rain City, they need to make a trek to the northern part of the metropolis and check out Snapdoodle Toys. It's next to a transit center and right on several major bus routes, so it's easy to get to. The staff is great, you can tell them something like, "I need something in about [this] price range for a [age] kid with [interests]", and they'll show you several suitable options in different sections (toys are grouped by type and most types have options for several age ranges).
*flails* This is so cool and I wanna the entire museum. (Wanna visit, buy, collect, give away, pet, admire ... just wanna!) But my favorite part is Hadyn standing up for Danso.
:D That's how I usually feel about museums too.
Well, somebody has to, he's more inclined to stand up for other people than for himself.
zeeth_kyrah - Science for fun!