Beware, there’s a rant ahead. I hate to keep bringing this undesirable topic any more attention than it deserves, but the dog poop situation in town is horrible. It is making dog owners look bad. Now that it’s all thawed out, some areas of the city’s sidewalks are littered with feces. This leaves the businesses in a difficult and disgusting condition. It’s not their dogs’ messes, and they don’t want to deal with it — they certainly don’t want people tracking it into their establishments either.
C’mon, canine companion lovers — we need to do our duty! Why do dog owners think it’s OK to leave dog poop on a sidewalk in the snow? Like frozen poop will just evaporate? Not so! In fact, I will argue picking it up in the snow is easier and cleaner than bare ground. Also, the trailhead parking lots where dogs are allowed like Big Valley and Gunn Ranch — terrible. Methow Trails provides bags and a garbage can, and yet people still don’t pick it up!
Be like Katrina Auburn, whom I caught picking up her dog’s mess in my front yard yesterday: carry a bag and dispose of your dog’s doo doo, please. Thank you, Katrina! If there’s one good use of plastic bags, this is it. I think most neighbors would prefer you pick it up and place it in their garbage cans than leave it there. OK, enough about that, rant over.
Hopefully, you saw The Merc’s performance of “Charlotte’s Web” over the past couple weeks. Directed by Jane Orme and assisted by a crew of dedicated volunteers, the children’s theater production is always a favorite. Behind the scenes, a host of dedicated volunteers help with sets, props, sound and choreography to shape the production into a complete story. This year, two Liberty Bell seniors deserve some extra recognition. Magnolia Brown served as the assistant director for her senior project, and Dean Hussey operated the sound board. The Merc recently awarded Hussey with the Steinebach Award for Outstanding Contributions to Live Theater. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew for giving us something to do during mud season.
Some Liberty Bell International Club students escaped mud season here by heading to an even muddier place — the jungles of Costa Rica! Led by Liberty Bell Spanish teacher Brynne Edwards and her husband, Kelly Grayum (also a teacher at Liberty Bell), a dozen middle school students (and one first-grader) ventured into the far corners of Costa Rica’s southeastern verdant jungles to explore the rain forest, beaches, biodiversity, and experience an indigenous culture, the Bribri. Students had the opportunity to view wildlife — sloths and howler monkeys — go river rafting, visit butterfly farms, and conduct a community service project in a Bribri community where they helped refurbish a village playground. The Bribri speak their own language, so while the students were able to practice Spanish, some of them also picked up a little Bribri.
One of the benefits of service learning is the opportunity to face the uncomfortable — for humanity to happen in a new environment. Removed from Wi-Fi and cellular networks in the jungle, the students were required to check out of their devices and check into each other, into their unique surrounding, and into Bribri cultural norms.
According to Edwards, some students’ reflections included self-realization of how much wasted time they spend on their phones and a commitment to try and use them less. Being forced out of our comfort zone is how we grow – it starts with birth. As life continues to move through comfortable times and uncomfortable times, we gain skills, coping techniques, friendships, disappointments, scars and laugh lines. Consider supporting the International Club next time they have a fund-earning activity for one of their trips, so they can find ways to grow outside of the classroom and grow in humanity.
