Different Ways to Climb the Slide

Inclusion Makes Camp Fun for Special-Needs Kids, Too

By Victoria Scott

The names of the children in the following story have been changed to respect their privacy.

With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, inclusion became an imperative. Curious about how the concept is at work locally, the RoundTable visited one of nearly 27 City-sponsored day camps on a recent afternoon to see what inclusion looks like in Evanston.

This summer some 165 special-needs children attended Recreation Department camps, says Myra Gorman. Her job as inclusion coordinator for the City of Evanston Parks/Forestry and Recreation Department is to ensure that "whatever is offered for one child is offered for all," she says.

Her summer camp responsibilities begin when applications arrive in January. Ms. Gorman looks at every one, noting the line that asks parents to "share any information that might be helpful to the staff." Anything that "pops out at me," she says – allergies, fears, medical issues, disabilities – prompts a call or an e-mail to the parents. "My responsibility is to make sure kids transition well to summer camp," says Ms. Gorman, who is certified as a therapeutic recreational therapist.

She sometimes suggests different camp placement from that requested (she says children with sensory integration or transition issues, for instance, might be happier at a camp other than sports camp). Then she decides what additional staff is necessary to "provide children with the best camp experience we can."

While all City camps are open to disabled children, Ms. Gorman says she has found the four age-group day camps run by the Evanston Environmental Association, with their "well-written, well-presented and organized [curricula]," to be particularly beneficial for special-needs kids, because "they know what will happen" there.

About 90 campers enrolled in the second four-week session (ended Aug. 4) of EcoQuest, the ecology camp for entering first- through fourth-graders held at Oakton School. The children, among them six with special needs and aides, progressed through an activity- and craft-oriented curriculum called "Backyard Bugs."

Divided into groups of eight, they enjoyed both learning activities and game time during half- or full-day sessions at camp, in an atmosphere Camp Director Natasha Kasprzyk describes as "looser than school." Each group had a pair of teenage "partner counselors"; additionally, one or more aides are assigned to special-needs children.

Pre-camp training for all City camp staff, though brief, includes EPI-pen training where there will be kids with allergies. Counselors and aides receive information from Ms. Gorman and from parents on topics as diverse as behavior issues, physical disabilities, diabetes, ADHD, autism, Down syndrome and language delays.

Because the goal of inclusion, says Ms. Kasprzyk, is to modify activities to include everyone, the staff adapts when possible. Then the aides assist in ways as varied as cutting out shapes for a child to color, taking a distressed camper aside for a hug and carrying a disabled camper up the stairs. Aides can also make it easier for other children to understand the special-needs kids, says Ms. Kasprzyk, often "diffusing the amount they stand out."

Danielle Sanni, who is assisting John for this session and works year-round as an aide for the Evanston Special Recreation Department, says she knows inclusion when she sees it. Special needs children who feel included "are excited and interactive," she says, "and other kids praise them." Special needs kids feel included when they are picked for teams – or as buddies, adds Ms. Kasprzyk.

At EcoQuest inclusion looks like 9-year-old Ivan, sitting smack in the middle of a group of campers playing a game in the Oakton schoolroom. It looks like the spontaneous hug another camper gives Ivan – a hug he has to kneel to bestow, because Ivan, who has no legs and just one arm, is sitting so low on the floor.

It looks like the sparkle in Ivan's eyes, the happy lift of his dark eyebrows, the smile on his face. "Ivan is so happy to be at camp," says Ms. Gorman. "It's his first time as a camper." One camper, says Ms. Gorman, was heard to say she wished she were like Ivan.

Meghan O'Malley, 17, an aide who attends Loyola Academy, calls Ivan a "celebrity" among the kids. Ms. Kasprzyk comments that the triple amputee "can do anything the other kids can do." He is empowered, she says, by a mom who tells him he is "perfect just the way he is." Besides that, says aide Kristin Guiang, a University of Illinois senior and special education major, "he's so smart and mature. Such a kind kid. He listens."

Inclusion at EcoQuest also looks like George, who is 8 and autistic. While Ms. Kasprzyk reports that "last year he was reluctant to participate, this year he is joining in." It is often a matter of adjusting goals, she says; "It's awesome if George participates [at all]."

And inclusion looks like Joseph, 8, whose muscular dystrophy means he cannot run, tires easily and cannot climb stairs. Kristian Meyer, Joseph's aide at age 14, has been volunteering for years and has experience both at overnight family camp and at Camp R.E.A.L. at Lovelace Park. He says Joseph "is happy. He's learned to cope."

Inclusion also looks like Jenny, who has Down syndrome but is so high-functioning that she is at camp without an aide. But learning goes two ways.

Special-needs kids have something to teach their peers, says Ms. Gorman. "Other kids learn compassion," she says. They learn that though everyone is different, everyone deserves a chance for enjoyment.

"Coming down the slide is fun for everyone," says Ms. Gorman. "Walking up the slide is different."

Children and counselors cut and color butterflies to make mobiles at EcoQuest day camp. Special needs kids, some with aides, also participates on City-sponsored camps.

The Corner Palimpsest

New Mural at Great Harvest

By Chris Cascarano

Only days ago, three young artists painted a new mural on Great Harvest Bread Co., at the corner of Central Street and Hartrey Avenue.

"It just felt like time for a new one," said Dave Schaps, owner of Great Harvest, who in 2001 allowed Evanston Township High School students to paint a mural on his building as part of a project for their Senior Studies class.

In his search for new artists, Mr. Schaps asked customer and ETHS teacher Steve Newman, who returned with three of his own students from the class of 2006: Kate Selden, Nicole Joy and Karen Singer.

With only the request that the mural be community-oriented, the teens began planning but were held up in getting approval from the Evanston Arts Council.

The project was delayed nearly two months, and the young artists were no longer able to use the mural for the school project. Still they wanted to paint the mural.

The mural, which took nearly two weeks to complete, displays a park scene and highlights north Evanston's most majestic landmark, the lighthouse. "I wanted it to be a portrait of the community … and they did a good job," said Mr. Schaps.

Garrett Munski and Ted Boggs, who painted the previous mural, both agreed it had been time for the wall to be redone. "I think it looks really great," added Mr. Boggs.

Already there have been phone calls coming in to praise the new mural, said Mr. Schaps.

"Water for Elephants"

"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen has everything a reader could possibly want in a novel – a fast-paced-plot, well-drawn, believable characters and a colorful time in the past as its setting.

A Book Review By Sue Brooke

In 1932, while banks were failing about as fast as the encampments of the jobless and homeless were forming, Jacob Jankowski was in his final year at Cornell University. He expected to join his father's veterinary practice.

When his parents were killed suddenly in an automobile accident and the bank foreclosed on everything his father had owned, Jacob found himself without family, home or money. In shock, he jumped a train heading out of town, only to discover that it was a circus train. Quickly, he was hired as the circus veterinarian.

Years later, Jacob is in a nursing home remembering those seven years he spent with the circus. He is 90 years old, or 93, he thinks, "… one or the other. When you're 5, you know your age down to the month. Even in your 20s you know how old you are. But then in your 30s, something strange starts to happen. It's a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. ‘How old are you?' ‘Oh, I'm …' – you start confidently, but then you stop. You wonder if this is the beginning of the end. It is, of course, but it's decades before you admit it."

The days pass in a blur. The only things that are real are his vivid memories of circus days. He dreams about all the people he met there: August, the animal handler, mean and unpredictable; Marlena, the young girl who had run away from home to avoid a loveless marriage; Walter, a dwarf who can find work only in a circus; and Camel, who, although a drunk, is very good to Jacob.

The circus is a different world. Workers do not patronize the performers; a person with an appalling growth or who is hugely overweight is a treasure. The "rubes" are there to be entertained with reality or sleight of hand. When the profits are good, life under the big top is okay. But in the hard times only the bosses get paid, and unneeded workers are often "red-lighted," that is, thrown off a moving train in the middle of the night.

The author has done a lot of research on this era and used some of the "most outrageous details from fact or anecdote (in circus history, the line between the two is famously blurred)."

She based the story of the elephant Rosie loosely on the lives of two well-known circus elephants. Jacob, of course, falls for Rosie and for Marlena, who rides around on Rosie's trunk. This is a beautiful story about a way of life that disappeared with the last circus train.

"Clerks II"

To legions of writer/actor/director Kevin Smith's fans deflated over his foray out of his View Askewniverse (a fictional world of overlapping stories and characters, referred to by himself in Mr. Smith's first four films), "Clerks II" is a triumphant return to Jersey, Mecca of fart jokes, slackers and Jay and Silent Bob.

A Film Review By Brian Murphy

To those unfamiliar with Mr. Smith's works, which include "Clerks," "Mallrats," "Dogma," and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," "Clerks II" will be seen as a waste of time.

Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) are back, only this time they have sidestepped the employment ladder, ditching the recently burned-down Quick Stop to flip burgers at the local Mooby's, a cow-themed fast food joint that also appeared in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."

Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) have followed suit, moving their drug-dealing business to Mooby's parking lot. Mr. Smith reinvents these still-crass characters as born-again Christians, both clean after leaving rehab. This is an art-imitating-life plum, since one of the reasons Mr. Smith made the sequel was his promise to Jason Mewes: He would let Mr. Mewes play Jay one more time if he kicked his heroin addiction, which Mr. Mewes did.

While none of the performances is a probable Oscar nominee, the actors seem completely natural while playing these roles, especially Jeff Anderson as shallow, judgmental Randal – a misfit whose disparaging remarks stem from his own feelings of ineptitude, and whose continual harassment of best friend Dante is a response to Dante's upcoming marriage to a rich woman. She plans to move with Dante to Florida, thus threatening to end his friendship with Randal.

Randal spends his time trying to convince Dante of the error of his ways, offending Mooby's customers and occasionally working. Further skewing Dante's plans is Becky (Rosario Dawson), the Mooby's manager whose affection for Dante seems more than professional.

All the while, typical Smith conversations occur: Randal berates a customer for dismissing the "Star Wars" trilogy as a lesser work than "The Lord of the Rings"; Dante and Randal ditch work to drive go-carts; Jay and Silent Bob act predictably; and a donkey show is planned for Dante's going-away party.

"Clerks II" lacks the maverick spirit of the original – which Mr. Smith shot and edited, though poorly, in black and white by maxing out his credit cards to the tune of $27,000 dollars. Cameos by Smith regulars Ben Affleck and Jason Lee should delight fans, but the familiar tricks now seem worn, like each passing M. Night Shyamalan film.

Mr. Smith's script is uneven, with sometimes painfully long buildups to punch lines, only some of which hit. Mr. Smith's writing seems to have peaked with the raunchy, romantic comedy "Chasing Amy."

Dante and Becky's love affair here is tepid compared to the torrid, heart-wrenching romance between Holden and Alyssa in "Chasing Amy." No, the love story here is one between two friends, and the film's most serious moments come between Dante and Randal. Despite some failed gags and scenes that drag, the bond between the two resonates to those on the precipice of making the adult decision to move towards something rather than simply float through life.

However, Mr. Smith does manage to keep Jay and Silent Bob fresh and as funny as ever. Possibly Jay's funniest moment on film occurs with a comically creepy ode to "Silence of the Lambs," a wild, mimicking dance solo to new wave artists Q. Lazzarus' "Goodbye Horses." Fittingly, Jason Mewes gets the film's biggest laugh. He deserves it.

1 hr. 37 min. Rated R for pervasive sexual and crude content including aberrant sexuality, strong language and some drug material.

"Little Miss Sunshine "

Combining dark humor with honest poignancy, "Little Miss Sunshine" is a delightful road-trip comedy with plenty of laughs, dysfunction and soul.

A Film Review ByJoe Linstroth

The head of the Hoover clan is Richard (Greg Kinnear), a struggling motivational speaker who thinks he has a brilliant nine-step program to turn losers into winners but just can not seem to make it work for himself.

Barely holding the family together is his bedraggled wife, Sheryl (Toni Collette). Worn thin by her husband's empty optimism, she also has to deal with her teenage son, Dwayne (Paul Dano), and his Nietzsche-inspired vow of silence; as well as her suicidal brother, Frank (Steve Carrell), who recently lost his boyfriend, his apartment, and his status as the country's leading Proust scholar. Completing the family portrait are the foul-mouthed grandpa (Alan Arkin), who recently began snorting heroin because, what the hell, he's old, and little Olive (Abigail Breslin), a chubby, bespectacled 7-year-old who is obsessed with beauty pageants.

After the regional winner is disqualified for using diet pills, Olive wins a last-minute chance to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant and the

Hoovers pile into their dilapidated VW bus to make the mishap-filled trek from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach, Col.

The performances in "Little Miss Sunshine" are magnificent. Alan Arkin shines as the family's uncouth voice of reason. Toni Collette always lends an authentic resiliency to her characters and Sheryl is no exception. Steve Carrell, in his most serious role, deftly balances Frank's cynical sense of humor with an underlying despondency, and Abigail Breslin manages to be cute without being obnoxious or precocious.

Through all the dark comedy, first-time screenwriter Michael Arndt allows each character to emerge organically for his or her poignant moment to shine. They fail more than they succeed, but out of the failure comes a more fortified urge to live rather than give up.

Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton skillfully maintain this delicate balance between sardonic humor and human vulnerability so that the laughs and the drama punctuate each other rather than cancel each other out.

By the time the Hoovers get to California and take down the absurd world of children's beauty pageants, "Little Miss Sunshine" has already tackled the hard stuff and earned its right to go after the easy prey.

1hr 41min. Rated R for language and drug use.

Trees of Evanston

By Libby Hill

American Hophornbeam with seed pod

The "Ironwoods": Blue Beech (Carpinus caroliniana) and American Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)

Today's column introduces two closely related deciduous species, blue beech and American (or eastern) hophornbeam. Both are short-lived native forest understory trees adaptable to urban parkways.

The blue beech is neither blue nor a beech. American and European beech trees and oaks covered earlier in this series are members of the Fagus, or beech family. The blue beech is a member of the birch family (Betulaceae). How's that for confusing?

In the wild, this pretty little multi-stemmed tree has an affinity for water. It grows near the Des Plaines and Chicago rivers and even in northwest Evanston in historically wet and wooded locations. Its native range is from eastern Canada through the eastern United States to the vicinity of the Mississippi River and south to Honduras. It tolerates a variety of moisture and sun conditions, even though its normal growth would be in the shade of other trees. Tamed for the parkway, it is single-stemmed and its crown, normally sparse and graceful, becomes rounded and full.

Blue beech has a string of common names: "ironwood" because of its dense and difficult-to-work wood; "American hornbeam" because of its resemblance to the European hornbeam, which itself was possibly named for its early use as yokes for oxen; "water-beech" because of its association with water habitats; and "musclewood" because its trunk has irregular vertical ridges reminiscent of flexed human muscles.

"Beech" refers to its bark's similarity to the tight, smooth light-gray bark of American and European beech trees. Some people see the bark as blue-gray, which accounts for the "blue." The genus name Carpinus may come from the Latin carpentum, describing a Roman wagon with hard, wooden wheels.

As flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved, their reproduction depended upon some form of transport to move pollen grains produced in the flower's male anther to the sticky female stigma, which traps the pollen and produces the fruits. Most species developed floral designs that attract animals as pollinators. Some flowering plants depend upon water to distribute pollen.

Species in the Birch and Beech families, along with about 23 other families (depending upon whose taxonomic system you are following) are wind-pollinated. Their flowers hang in clusters called catkins, resembling a cat's tail.

The Birch family is monoecious (from the Greek for "one household"), meaning that male and female flowers form on the same tree. In the blue beech, male and female catkins form in spring when the tree leafs out.

Male catkins are slim cylinders composed of clusters of small flowers that droop from the end of a twig. The smaller female catkins wait for a strong wind to blow pollen their way.

Nutlike fruits, enclosed in winglike, leafy bracts, grow from the female catkin and ripen in autumn. These winged seeds are arranged in spiral clusters along a single stem. They are often carried by birds, but their structure also allows them to be dispersed over short distances by the wind.

The blue beech can grow from 20 to 40 feet tall. Its leaves are simple and egg-shaped, 2-4 inches long and 1-2 inches wide. They are double-toothed and pointy at the edges. Branching is alternate, unlike the ash and maple, which are opposite.

Mature leaves are dark green above and light yellow-green underneath. Sometimes leaves are shiny above. The leaf veins become more obvious when the color turns to attractive red, gold, yellow or purplish in autumn before dropping. The twigs are distinctive, being thin, reddish brown and very strong.

Blue beech can be confused by common name with another member of the birch family, Ostrya virginiana, known primarily by the common name American (or Eastern) hophornbeam.

American Hophornbeam bark

American hophornbeam is also called "ironwood" because of its very tough wood. Ostrya, from Greek ostrua, means "bone-like." Both species have alternate, double-toothed leaves, though the American hophornbeam leaf is longer, wider and more rounded than the blue beech. Because of the similarity of common names, scientific nomenclature is important when ordering or solving problems about these trees.

Both species are native to approximately overlapping areas, although the American hophornbeam grows farther west, beyond the Mississippi.

American hophornbeam may prefer drier habitats, but the research is not in. It has a single straight trunk with smooth, reddish-brown bark when young. As the tree matures, the bark exfoliates, partially shedding away from the trunk and branches, giving the tree a flaky appearance. It can grow to 65 feet tall.

American hophornbeam produces inch-long immature male catkins in the fall, typical of most members of the birch family except for the blue beech.

During winter, male catkins hang in distinctive triplets resembling birds' feet. In spring, they grow longer and produce flowers. Female catkins begin growth in spring. An American hophornbeam nutlet is enclosed in a leafy, inflated sac, and when mature, numerous cream-colored sacs overlap decoratively from the end of a twig. The cluster, up to 3 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, resembles the hops used in brewing beer, hence the common name.

Authorities disagree about these trees' tolerance to urban conditions. Both are sensitive to salt spray.

In Evanston blue beech now grows only in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Dwight Perkins Woods and in private yards. An excellent American hophornbeam specimen grows in Porter Park, at the corner of Simpson Street and Bennett Avenue, near the tire swings.

Veggie Mama: The Tomato

From time to time, I like to stir up a controversy, especially when I have the right answer and can show off the brilliance of my arguments. Having done some research for this column, yesterday I addressed my friends, who were relaxing on the terrace of my Sicilian home in front of the Aeolian Islands, with the question: Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

Have you noticed that nobody ever admits right away to not knowing the answer to a question like that? Rather, people pretend they know the answer and come up on the spot with the most incredible arguments to support their answer. Everything goes, except saying: "No, I don't know whether tomatoes are a fruit or a vegetable. Do you?"

Of course I got different answers. Among them, I like to quote these two: "Tomatoes are a fruit, because I remember my mother used to eat them at the end of a meal." And, "Tomatoes are vegetables, because they are not sweet."

Fortified by my research, I put an end to the passionate and escalating heat of their arguments by revealing that according to the Supreme Court of the United States, the tomato is a vegetable. It was in 1893 that the Supreme Court declared the tomato a vegetable, using as a classifying criterion their popular use. Most people, in fact, continue to use tomatoes as a vegetable at dinner, not as dessert at the end of it. Maybe if the Supreme Court had known my friend's mother, it would have ruled differently.

The controversy that involved the Supreme Court originated from the fact that in 1887 tariff laws imposed a duty on vegetables but not on fruits. Although the Tariff Act of 1883 viewed tomatoes as vegetables, requiring that duty be paid on them, botanists viewed tomatoes as fruit.

Tomatoes are the ovaries of a flowering plant and thus fruit. New Jersey people know this, since they named tomatoes their state fruit. The good people of Arkansas took a solomonic approach to this matter by naming the tomato both their state fruit and their state vegetable.

We know that the Mayans used tomatoes and that, in southern Mexico, people cultivated them during the 16th century. Many historians believe tomatoes originated on the west coast of South America, in present-day Peru. Spanish conquistadors brought them to Europe, where they thrived in the Mediterranean climate.

In Italy and England, though, tomatoes were reputed to be poisonous. It took at least two centuries before these countries decided it was safe to introduce tomatoes into their regular diet. Poisonous characteristics were also attributed to the fruit in the United States, where they did not become widely accepted until 1814.

People believed tomatoes to be poisonous because the stems and leaves of the plant contain a small amount of a poisonous substance, glycoalkaloid. The rest of the plant, however, including the fruit, is harmless.

After gaining wide acceptance in the United States, tomatoes also gained a reputation for having medicinal powers. Within a brief time, "love apples" (as they were known then) began circulating in the form of pills to cure all sort of ailments, from diarrhea to cholera.

The United States, China, Turkey, Italy and India are the top tomato-producing countries. Florida, California and Georgia are the top producing states. According to JB Jones' "Tomato Plant Culture," per- capita yearly consumption of tomatoes in the United States increased from 16.6 pounds in 1985 to 18.8 pounds in 1995.

As to nutritutional aspects of the tomato, the fruit is ranked 16th among all fruits and vegetables as a source of vitamin A, 13th as a source of vitamin C, and is regarded as the most important provider of these two vitamins in the Western diet.

It also contains significant amounts of lycopene, beta-carotene, magnesium, niacin, iron, phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, sodium and thiamine. A study conducted at the University of California at Davis ranked the tomato as the single most important fruit or vegetable in the Western diet in terms of overall source of vitamins and minerals.

My little informative lecture on the history of tomatoes was over, and my Sicilian friends appeared to be satisfied. I don't know, though, how interested they are in the historical background I have provided. It seems to me, rather, that the facial expressions of both those who supported the fruit theory and those who sustained the vegetable one, have the same winning glance that says: "Ha! I told you so!"

Grilled Tomatoes

Ingredients:
4 vine ripe tomatoes
4 T. bread crumbs
1 garlic clove
2 T. finely chopped parsley
1 T. finely chopped herbs such as basil and oregano
4 T. olive oil, salt & pepper to taste
1/2 t. sugar.

Preparation:
Remove top of each tomato from the stem side. Scoop out the pulp and let them drain. Dice pulp and mix with breadcrumbs, chopped garlic, and herbs. Moisten with one tablespoon of olive oil, and season with salt, pepper, and sugar. Stuff tomatoes with the this filling, drizzle with olive oil and grill over moderate heat about ten minutes, until tomatoes become a little soft to the touch.

Deadline for Photo Contest Approaches

Time is running out for shutterbugs and photo fanatics who want to enter the Kiwanis Club of Evanston, "Faces of Evanston" photography contest. The deadline for receipt of all entries is Wednesday, August 30.

The winning entries are eligible for cash prizes ranging from $250 to $100. Pictures must be of events, persons or objects in Evanston, but entrants need not be residents of Evanston. Pictures can be in black and white or color.

For a complete set of contest rules go to www.kiwanisclubofevanston.org or call Dr. Stamata Blanas, 847-475-4544, to receive an application.

The winning entries will be displayed at First Bank & Trust in Evanston, 820 Church St., beginning Thursday, Oct. 5. After two weeks at First Bank & Trust, the photographs will move to other venues in the community.

Evanston/Belize Day in the Park

Celebrate Evanston's sister city with music and food from Belize City from 2 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 12 at Ingraham Park, East of Asbury Ave. from Simpson to Leonard Place. The free event is sponsored by the Evanston/Belize Sister City Committee. Call Sam Hunter at 847-866-5918.

EBBA Chips in for Family Focus Picnic

David Jackson, vice president of the Evanston Black Business Alliance (E.B.B.A.) poses with Family Focus youth at the annual Family Focus picnic, held July 28. E.B.B.A. partnered with

Family Focus and leveraged relationships with Moo & Oink and Dominick's Foods on Green Bay Road to provide food for 200 kids at the event. E.B.B.A' s involvement in this successful event demonstrates how local business and organizations can creatively and effectively assist Family Focus in its many community commitments to children and families, said Crawford Richmond of Family Focus. Photo courtesy of EBBA

Drop-In Chess

Parents and coaches of Evanston's Scholastic Chess, jointly with the Evanston Public Library, continue to offer a free drop-in chess program, Summer Chess. Sessions are held from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. every Thursday through Aug. 17 at the Main Library's community meeting room, 1703 Orrington Ave.

Players of all skill levels and ages are welcome. Coaches and parents from Evanston schools will assist younger and inexperienced players. Call 847-448-8600.