Living History
It's amazing how much can change in a year. Friends, skills, confidence, experience, a year is a long time for some things. But as my alarm started blaring at 7:30 in the morning all I could think was how it felt like the most ungodly hour ever, despite being an hour and a half later than I woke up for all of highschool. But it was for a good cause. Living History Day: aka my favorite school day of the year for the past seven years. Every year the Heisey Museum gets taken over by kids; middle- and high- schoolers give tours and presentations to elementary schoolers. When I started working History Day back in middle school there were 10 displays, now it's grown to over 40; but this was the first year I wouldn't be there through the school. An unexpected perk of being best friends with the curator meant that, despite graduating highschool last year, I still got to hang out in the dig talking to kids all day.
A little after 8 am I shuffle through the door of the museum, still half-zombified. After sucking down a cup of coffee I was coherent enough to get the game plan from Lou. Rachel Mazza, Erica Conklin and I would be spending the day in the dig, Intern Megan, and Taylor (aka Grasshopper, aka Padawan, aka Munchkin, or whatever else I decide to call her at the moment) would be down at East Campus collecting votes from the judges, and Lou would be riding his bike between the two sites.
After groups arrived there was a brief discussion among Rachel, Erica and I about who would have to give the demonstration to the groups. Erica lost. Then there was a discussion about who would have to sift the buckets. Rachel lost. I was left relatively unencumbered due to the fact that I was already Lou's designated gopher- having more freedom from school rules and a car on-site meant that I had running around of my own to do. At least, that was the plan. We all know what happens to my plans though, don't we? What wound up happening was "Story Time with Ailish." More accurately, "Hey, you know most of Lou's stories and tell them kinda similarly to him, so why don't you tell them about the Great Runaway and Jenny Reed and how the dig was found and some ghost and Shoemaker stories while you're at it?" Basically, I became a buffer zone- any groups got too close together I got to entertain them. The worst part was when Lou stuck his head into the dig.
"Hey pal, these guys want to hear some ghost stories and I told them you were on the team."
I had no actual verbal response to this, just a look of pleading and horror.
"C'mon, you'll do fine. You can tell them about the Giantess if you want."
So I wound up in front of what seemed to be half the middle school population, including teachers, talking about the Heisey ghosts. When I ran out of those stories, I swapped to the Giantess, when that was done I started talking about Wi-Dagh. It's around this time I saw Lou in my peripheral vision with a camera.
"And, um, that's all the stories I can think of. Bye!" I blurted before retreating to the safety of the dig. And not a moment too soon, as a minute later Erica found something.
"Cool, I can see a ridge of ceramic!" she announced, scraping at it gently with the trowel.
Rachel leaned over her shoulder, "That's big. That's... really big, actually."
The two of us dropped our tools to watch Erica dig. It was big, much bigger than the chunks we normally pull out.
"How cool would it be if it was a teapot?" asked Erica. I laughed.
"Yeah, and make it a blue one."
As more of the piece was exposed, we grew quiet, and slightly frantic. It seemed whole, and it had a handle on it, like a lid of some kind. A good find, and we didn't want to break it. Rachel pried out a big stone and Erica pulled out the object, handing it to me to clean off.
"... Guys. It's a teapot lid. And it's blue."
Stunned silence. Oh. My. God.
"I'm calling Lou."
After a conversation including several words not appropriate for the age group they were being uttered around and half a dozen pictures of the area of the dig the lid came from, Lou was back.
"Good find, guys. You might've made history today, and Digger'd give his left ball to find what you've found."
Grins all around. The best History Day in seven years.
A little after 8 am I shuffle through the door of the museum, still half-zombified. After sucking down a cup of coffee I was coherent enough to get the game plan from Lou. Rachel Mazza, Erica Conklin and I would be spending the day in the dig, Intern Megan, and Taylor (aka Grasshopper, aka Padawan, aka Munchkin, or whatever else I decide to call her at the moment) would be down at East Campus collecting votes from the judges, and Lou would be riding his bike between the two sites.
After groups arrived there was a brief discussion among Rachel, Erica and I about who would have to give the demonstration to the groups. Erica lost. Then there was a discussion about who would have to sift the buckets. Rachel lost. I was left relatively unencumbered due to the fact that I was already Lou's designated gopher- having more freedom from school rules and a car on-site meant that I had running around of my own to do. At least, that was the plan. We all know what happens to my plans though, don't we? What wound up happening was "Story Time with Ailish." More accurately, "Hey, you know most of Lou's stories and tell them kinda similarly to him, so why don't you tell them about the Great Runaway and Jenny Reed and how the dig was found and some ghost and Shoemaker stories while you're at it?" Basically, I became a buffer zone- any groups got too close together I got to entertain them. The worst part was when Lou stuck his head into the dig.
"Hey pal, these guys want to hear some ghost stories and I told them you were on the team."
I had no actual verbal response to this, just a look of pleading and horror.
"C'mon, you'll do fine. You can tell them about the Giantess if you want."
So I wound up in front of what seemed to be half the middle school population, including teachers, talking about the Heisey ghosts. When I ran out of those stories, I swapped to the Giantess, when that was done I started talking about Wi-Dagh. It's around this time I saw Lou in my peripheral vision with a camera.
"And, um, that's all the stories I can think of. Bye!" I blurted before retreating to the safety of the dig. And not a moment too soon, as a minute later Erica found something.
"Cool, I can see a ridge of ceramic!" she announced, scraping at it gently with the trowel.
Rachel leaned over her shoulder, "That's big. That's... really big, actually."
The two of us dropped our tools to watch Erica dig. It was big, much bigger than the chunks we normally pull out.
"How cool would it be if it was a teapot?" asked Erica. I laughed.
"Yeah, and make it a blue one."
As more of the piece was exposed, we grew quiet, and slightly frantic. It seemed whole, and it had a handle on it, like a lid of some kind. A good find, and we didn't want to break it. Rachel pried out a big stone and Erica pulled out the object, handing it to me to clean off.
"... Guys. It's a teapot lid. And it's blue."
Stunned silence. Oh. My. God.
"I'm calling Lou."
After a conversation including several words not appropriate for the age group they were being uttered around and half a dozen pictures of the area of the dig the lid came from, Lou was back.
"Good find, guys. You might've made history today, and Digger'd give his left ball to find what you've found."
Grins all around. The best History Day in seven years.