Sing Hallelujah!

This new gospel musical comedy was written by Jim Hesselman and Bob Payne. SING HALLELUJAH! takes place in Johnsontown, North Carolina and features such songs as "Do Lord", "Onward Christian Soldiers", "Down By The Riverside", "Swing Down Chariot", and "Amazing Grace." As a group we agreed on a few things and disagreed on a few things about this musical. First we agreed that the acting was horrible. We also agreed that the music and the voices were amazing. We disagreed about the strength of the storyline. Some found it easy to relate to and quite funny, while others found it predictable and over-exaggerated.
Historically speaking, Gospel as a form of music is purely American. It has its roots in Classical as well as African Folk Music, but Gospel reaches more people than just about any form of music. The group was suprised at how many of the songs they knew or had heard before. The group ranged from those who attend church regularly to those who have never set foot in a church or worship service of any kind, yet everyone had heard at least 2-3 of the songs before. These songs are part of our common culture as Americans.
When asked to sum up the theme of the play in one sentence it was interesting to hear the different ideas. "Don't judge a book by its cover." "Communities, like families, can build on common ground." "Everyone needs Grace and forgiveness." And "You need friends even when you don't want to admit it." Each person in the group got something a little different from the play.
The main characters all seemed to have Biblical counterparts. The main lady, Victoria was overly judgemental and constantly on the look out for sin just like the Pharisees. One man and one woman, represented the 'rabble' that Jesus spent so much time with. And the young Reverand was the 'Christ-like' character. He always spoke the truth, he went looking for the lost, and he helped people find Grace.
Overall, it was decided that the play was worth seeing. Everyone enjoyed themselves and learned quite a bit. We will all be look forward to the next one!

Cooking and Math

This is what the apples looked like after the lesson on improper fractions. We started with the fraction 4/1 and ended up with 64/16. We had lots of fun and many fractions inbetween.
Then we had fun smelling the different spices. The directions were to add 1/4 tsp. of the spices you don't like the smell of and 1/2 tsp. of the spices you do like the smell of. Spices on the table: salt, cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, allspice, mace, cloves, and nutmeg. "Guessing the spice" was also a lot of fun.
Add to the apples, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup almond/walnut mix.
The pie was baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, the crust had been cooked for about 10 minutes before the apples were added. There is no finished picture because it was eaten before the camera could be found again! The pie was declared 'the best apple pie ever' by everyone who tasted it.

Separating Molecules into Atoms

This experiment uses electricity and baking soda to separate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Once separated the oxygen rebonds with the copper and the water to create a new molecule, commonly refered to as Patina.

Schimpff's Confectionery Field Trip

Photo Essay by: Asia Lorraine Hamilton



This factory was established in April 11,1891. They are still making candy the exact same way that they did back in the day.

First, the candy is boiled to the hard ball stage, in a copper kettle.
Then the candy is poured onto a cooling table. A cooling table is a table that has pipes under it, in which very cold water flows, to cool the candy.
The candy master pulls the candy away from the edges after two minutes have passed.
Next, the candy master begins to fold the candy to mix in the flavors. In this case the flavor was butter-rum.
As the candy cools it gets harder.
Candy must be pulled, adding air, to make it the right texture.
Large batches, in this case twenty-five pounds, are put in a warming machine and cut into smaller sections.
These smaller sections are now placed on a brass cutting wheel.
After over 5,000 fishies are dispatched from the cutter and given a few minutes to dry, they are then lightly dropped on the table.
This breaks them into individual "Christmas" fish. These specific candy fish are call "Christmas" fish because they are only sold during winter months and because the fish is a Christian symbol.

Late afternoon of the first day back!

Everyone, except Asia, decided to do a Viking inspired art piece.