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| Issue 1.14 | Monday, Dec. 22, 2008 | Forward to your friends! |
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FEEDBACK THE
LIST GOOD
NEWS ALSO INSIDE ___::
CALENDAR: Coming events |
ABOUT US CharlestonCurrents.com is a new online twice-weekly publication that offers insightful community comment and good news on events. It cuts through the information clutter to offer insight and news on the best of what's happening locally. More. |
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TODAY'S
FOCUS DEC. 22, 2008 -- On Dec. 13, during this busy holiday season, a standing-room-only crowd of 100 parents and grandparents attended an event titled "Growing Up Gifted: An Educational Session for Parents of Bright Youngsters," sponsored by the College of Charleston School of Education, Health and Human Performance.
Attendees' children are enrolled in both public and private schools, as well as all three local school districts and Beaufort County. The purpose of the session was to educate parents about resources and organizations available to help gifted students and their families, the laws and regulations regarding gifted education in our state, and how they can become part of a new local group to advocate for their gifted child. Julie Dingle Swanson, Ed. D. and associate professor of gifted education at the College of Charleston, served as moderator and host and outlined what is important to know about a gifted child. Dr. Swanson shared with parents that they will often hear from others that all children are gifted. She agreed that all children are special and important. However, not all children have exceptional academic gifts that require additional support in school. A common misconception is that gifted students don't need help - that they will do just fine on their own. It might surprise many to learn that gifted students are defined as special-need children and learn differently than other students. Gifted children can be so far ahead academically of their peers that their resulting boredom and frustration can lead to low achievement, despondency, behavioral problems and poor work habits. Their intellectual gift needs to be nurtured and guided by teachers who are specifically trained and familiar with the needs of gifted children, just as an extraordinary athlete would need a coach trained with a high level of expertise in that particular sport. Rick Blanchard, educational associate for gifted and talented initiatives in the Office of Academic Standards, S.C. Department of Education, outlined for parents what kind of education they should expect for their gifted child and how gifted education programs around South Carolina operate. The state of South Carolina defines gifted students as those who are "demonstrating high performance ability or potential in academic and/or artistic areas and therefore require an educational program beyond that normally provided by the general school program in order to achieve their potential" (43 S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 200). Mr. Blanchard provided additional resources, such as the Web sites for the S.C. Department of Education's standards on gifted education and the National Association for Gifted Children. Marva Tigner, Ed. S and president-elect of the S.C. Consortium for Gifted Education, addressed the audience regarding the most critical issues facing gifted education in South Carolina. The consortium is a primary source of professional development training for school district personnel involved in the design and implementation of educational services for gifted and talented students. Ms. Tigner gave a passionate call for parent advocacy to stand tall for their children's need for gifted-level education, especially in these time of massive budget cuts and in face of the many myths about education for the gifted, such as that they are elitist. Ms. Tigner explained that gifted students are identified in all socioeconomic groups, ethnic backgrounds and cultures, and she stressed that advanced learners need support and guidance to reach their full potential. Several local initiatives are being actively pursued and are open to all state-identified gifted children regardless of school district. In addition, a parent advocacy group is being established to provide educational programs for students and parents, pursue legislation favorable to gifted education, and establish regional public/private partnerships. Anyone
interested in learning more about the programs or joining the regional
parents group can contact Stacey Lindbergh at (843) 437.1751 or slindbergh@homesc.com. CURRENTS DEC. 22, 2008 -- Our 5-year-old daughter has discovered knock-knock jokes. Well, sort of.
"Knock,
knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Banana eyeball."
Ahem. We didn't get it either, but Wikipedia explains "the tailor is accused of stealing cloth while making breches; this is a joke about a fashion trend in Shakespearian times, also a pun for roasting the tailor's iron with the heat of hell." Perhaps a more understandable explanation of the origin of knock-knock jokes is from Squidoo.com, which says the jokes are a form of a call-and-answer pun that originally identified people to castle guards in the Middle Ages. Regardless, we thought we'd share some of our favorite (and clean) knock-knock jokes, which we are trying to explain to our daughter:
If you've got a knock-knock joke you want to share, send us some feedback to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. Andy Brack is publisher of CharlestonCurrents.com. You can reach him by email at: publisher@charlestoncurrents.com. FEEDBACK To the editor: I don't understand why many lists of ways to save on energy (Today's Focus, Dec. 18) fail to include drying clothes on clothes lines or drying racks. A bonus - - clothes dried outside seem divine!
SPOTLIGHT
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring CharlestonCurrents.com to you at no cost. This issue's featured underwriter is Horne/Guest, a local employee benefits consulting firm that's home to Charleston's best workforce engineers. Horne/Guest is poised to fill this demand by offering greater flexibility, service and expertise. Innovative employee benefit plan design ideas, state-of-the-art employee benefit plan communication techniques and up-to-date compliance information is what makes us unique. Horne/Guest is sensitive to every opportunity in which we can help our clients improve their employee benefit plans. To learn more about Horne/Guest and its Applied Wisdom Advantage™ , visit the company online at: www.horneguest.com.
GOOD
NEWS
The city of Charleston's Department of Recreation has brought home honors as the S.C. Athletic Programs Athletic Department of the Year. This is the first time the city has won the award, which is given by the S.C. Athletic Program Board, a branch of the S.C. Recreation and Parks Association. The city had an increase of 59 percent in youth sports participation between 2007 and 2008 - a key factor in earning the department the award. "The increase in the number of children playing sports with the city of Charleston Recreation Department is remarkable," said Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. "The Recreation Department, under the leadership of director Laurie Yarbrough and her dedicated staff, has implemented an amazing amount of outreach and innovative planning to increase the amount of programmed activity for our young people. We are proud of them and this achievement." Department of Recreation representatives accepted the award at the annual SCAP banquet Dec. 15 in Myrtle Beach. Marsalis, jazz ensemble to play local fund-raiser in January Multiple Grammy Award winner Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will perform in Charleston Jan. 16 at a benefit for the Charleston Concert Association. The concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St., will be followed by the association's first "A Window into Education" fundraising gala to benefit its education program.
The gala will take place at the William Aiken House, 456 King St., and is limited to 150 guests. It will feature a black-tie dinner with the CCA and JLCO musicians, as well as entertainment by local jazz musician Quentin Baxter. Proceeds will support the education program, which serves more than 300 students (ages 9 to 17) in 14 local public and private schools. The program provides instruction and free or greatly reduced prices for admission to concerts. Tickets for Marsalis' performance are $35, $55 and $100. Tickets to the post-performance gala and dinner are $250, which includes a ticket to the concert. Purchase tickets by calling the Charleston Concert Association at 571-7755 or through Ticketmaster at 554-6060. Mt. Pleasant council vows to 'shop local' whenever possible Mount Pleasant Town Council is not only encouraging residents to support town businesses, it's also promising to do the same itself as a government body. At the council's Dec. 15 meeting, members voted to support a proposal from the Economic Development Committee that the town do everything possible to support the Mount Pleasant economy by using its spending power with local businesses. "During these difficult times, the town, as much as we can, should take a leadership role in buying locally. Of course we have to be mindful of public policy and regulations, but with those purchases where departments have discretion, we need to buy from Mount Pleasant vendors," said Councilman Paul Gawrych, chairman of the Economic Development Committee. "Furthermore, we need to ask our residents to do the same." The town will spend more than $1 million annually on small items that are within a "no-bid" category, according to a town press release. In categories in which the town must solicit competitive bids, the possible expenditure on goods and services will exceed $15 million annually. "I want to presently ask our citizens to shop and shop until it hurts, and to shop Mount Pleasant stores first," said Mayor Harry M. Hallman Jr. "We have a great variety of stores. There is not much you cannot find in Mount Pleasant. These businesses pay taxes and business license fees which helps to keep taxes down for our residents. The same businesses are a tremendous source of employment for a lot of our neighbors." REVIEW
If you're looking for a last-minute gift for a reader in your family, take a look at an exciting new thriller by spy-writer John LeCarre. "A Most Wanted Man" (Scribner, $28.00) links the Cold War with a modern-day fixation with terrorism and Islam. It offers a gripping story set in Hamburg that blends old-school spymasters with new bottom-line taskmasters who can be brutal. The tale is fueled by a case of the identity of a Chechen man mixed with loyalties of a civil rights worker and a banker whose life is unravelling. It's a page-turner with an ending that, well, is surprising. But, that's what makes it a thriller, right?
HISTORY
SPOTLIGHT
In 1825 President James Monroe appointed Joel Roberts Poinsett as the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Britain's influence there was strong, and Poinsett urged independence from Europe under America's Monroe Doctrine. He tried unsuccessfully to purchase Texas for the United States, thereby antagonizing Mexico. He failed to win a commercial treaty but succeeded in promoting trade along America's southwestern border. Poinsett returned to South Carolina at the height of the nullification crisis and eventually became one of the state's leading Unionists, even serving as President Andrew Jackson's confidential local agent in opposing the nullifiers and secretly organizing Unionist militias. Poinsett's efforts were praised in the North, but his influence in South Carolina waned before the states' rights doctrine put forth by his political nemesis, John C. Calhoun. After the crisis ended, on October 24, 1833, Poinsett married Mary Izard Pringle, the widow of a wealthy rice planter. The marriage produced no children. In 1837 President Martin Van Buren named Poinsett secretary of war. He quickly set out to improve and expand the nation's paltry army of eight thousand poorly trained soldiers. He raised standards and sent officers to Europe for instruction. His artillery improvements made him one of America's foremost nineteenth-century military reformers. As secretary, Poinsett also presided over removal of more Indians from east of the Mississippi than any other of his predecessors. In an 1841 report, Poinsett said that 40,000 Indians had been pushed west of the Mississippi. Leaving office in March 1841, Poinsett spent his last decade on his Greenville District farm and his wife's Santee plantation near Georgetown. In retirement, he promoted education, economic development, and weaning of southern life from slavery. In 1844 Poinsett was elected president of the National Institute, a forerunner of the Smithsonian Institution. He served on the board of visitors of South Carolina College. He studied animal husbandry, agriculture, and botany. A red-leafed plant he introduced from Mexico, the poinsettia, was named in his honor. Poinsett died in Stateburg on December 12, 1851, while traveling from Charleston to his Greenville home. He was buried in the cemetery of the Church of the Holy Cross, Stateburg.
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© 2008, Statehouse Report LLC. All rights reserved. CharlestonCurrents.com is published every Monday and Thursday by Statehouse Report LLC, PO Box 22261, Charleston, SC 29413. |
PUBLICATION
NOTE In observance of the Christmas holiday, we won't publish Thursday. We'll send and post a new edition on Monday. Ho ho ho! Felts' five from the holiday vine
Need a last-minute gift idea? Charleston wine writer Andy Felts says these five wines, priced in the $25-$40 range, taste like you spent twice that much:
"Christmas gift suggestions:
-- Arizona writer and editor Oren Arnold (1900-1980) Happy New Year, Charleston: 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Dec. 31, Marion Square and surrounding locations, downtown Charleston. Free event for the community offers a nonalcoholic, family-oriented way to celebrate the coming of the new year. Programs include comedy, African dancing, music (classical, gospel, jazz and more), children's activities, food vendors, etc. More info: 724-7305 or click here. Holiday Festival of Lights: Through Jan. 4, James Island County Park, 871 Riverland Drive, James Island. Millions of sparkling lights and hundreds of imaginative displays line a 3-mile drive through the park. Also includes marshmallow-roasting and activities for kids, gift shop and walking trail through Winter Wonderland. More info. Also see more here. Customer Relations Coaching: 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Jan. 7, Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, 2750 Speisegger Drive, North Charleston. Part III of the chamber's "Managing Through an Economic Crisis" series. Session focuses on how to deliver the kind of customer service that wins and retains clients. Cost: $15 for chamber members, $30 for nonmember. Click to register. (NEW)
Power
of Making a Difference: 7 p.m. Jan. 15, Admissions Auditorium,
Robert Scott Small Building, College of Charleston, St. Philip and Calhoun
streets, Charleston. Speaker: Former CNN anchor Daryn Kagan, author of
"What's Possible! 50 Real People Who Dared to Dream They Could Make
a Difference" and founder of the inspirational online community,
DarynKatan.com.
Cost: $20 in advance, $30 at the door. Information/tickets: Center
for Women, Sophia
Institute or 720-8528. MLK Concert: 4 p.m. Jan. 18, Mount Moriah Family Living Center, 7396 Rivers Ave., North Charleston. "Perseverance: Where Do We Go From Here: A Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.," presented by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Gospel Choir and the city of North Charleston's Cultural Arts Department, featuring music, historical audio and video footage. Free; donations will be accepted at the door to support the choir's community outreach work. First-come, first-served entry tickets available at the Gaillard Auditorium Box Office in downtown Charleston; Mount Moriah Family Living Center in North Charleston or the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department. (NEW) 26th Annual Lowcountry Oyster Festival: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 25, Boone Hall Plantation, Mount Pleasant. Enjoy oysters, live music, an oyster shucking and eating contest, and a kids corner with pony rides and a jump castle. Sponsored by the Greater Charleston Restaurant Association; money raised goes to Ronald McDonald House, Hollings Cancer Center, and Charleston County Schools Science Materials Resource Center. Tickets: $10 in advance from the GCRA Web site or Applebee's restaurants; $12 at the gate; free for children under 10. Oysters sold by the bucket (3 dozen to 4 dozen for $8). More info: 452-6088. In this section, we offer a list of good reads that you might want to consider reading:
FOCUS ARCHIVES 12/21:
Lindbergh:
Group for gifted THRASH ARCHIVES 12/18:
Holiday
spirit is alive BRACK ARCHIVES 12/21:
About
those knock-knock jokes LIST ARCHIVES 12/21:
Felts:
Five wine gifts SISTER PUBLICATIONS We encourage you to check out our sister publications:
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