Feeling the Stars: Mr. Star goes to Washington..

Little Star got to make a trip to Washington D.C. with me recently (I had to go for my Masters in Museum Studies Capstone Seminar) and boy did we have an adventure! One of the most special moments for us though, was meeting Dr. Elizabeth Eder in person. She is the reason that Feeling the Stars - our accessiblity program for the McDonnell Planetarium exists. It was for her class that I wrote the original proposal. It was an exciting moment to introduce Dr. Eder to Little Star in person.

In front of a bookshelf holding many books that are primarily blue and red stands two women. The woman on the left is this blog's author, about 5'4", blonde and smiling. She is wearing a grey 3/4 sleeved shirt with a black jumper and a maroon scarf. She has in black dangling earrings and is holding a manila-colored Braillon page that will go to the Little Star That Could Tactile Follow-Along Book (page 1 - Little Star is born in a cloud of gas and dust, with Little Star shown as a circle with rays radiating out from him and a cloudy nebula around him - he is smiling). On the right is a woman of about 5' 7" who has long dark hair and is also smiling. She is wearing a grey plaid jacket, has small silver hoop earrings and a diamond ring on her left hand and a silver necklace with a silver hoop on it. In her hands is the Little Star plush, a Yellow Star with a round nose, big brown eyes, plump cheeks and a large smile. He has some rays jetting out from him as well.

Little Star meets Dr. Eder

Little Star also saw a few other sites, but the other highlight was going to the Smithsonian with me to meet the Director of Accessibility for the entire Smithsonian, Beth Ziebarth. She is an amazing woman (the entire department was very kind - as was every Smithsonian Institution I walked into, especially both Air and Space locations and American History). She gave me feed back on Little Star and his book page as well. She also gave me some great advice and resources as well!

Little Star also started reaching out without realizing it. I was taking his picture outside of Air and Space and I heard some voices. Finally I heard one ask what I was doing. I wound up talking to a couple of lovely women for several minutes about the accessibility program in the McDonnell Planetarium at SLSC and they were very encouraging! All in all, Little Star and I had a big, but very special and rewarding trip to our nation's capitol!

On an airplane seat that has a large stripe of brown down an otherwise navy blue vinyl seat sits the yellow Little Star. He has a round nose, plump cheeks, big brown eyes, a smile and rays pointing out from around him. He is seatbelted in by the navy blue and silver belt. In front of him is an open safety instruction card on what to do in case of an emergency on the plane.

Little Star's first airplane trip

Little Star (a yellow star) is smiling as he sits on a black post in front of the very tall and pointed Washington Monument. It has 50 US Flags around it and it is a sunny day with a blue sky in winter (as all the trees are bare of leaves).

Little Star with the Washington Monument

Little Star (a smiling yellow star) sits in front of a vitrine holding Kermit the Frog. Kermit is green and looks much like a real frog except he has more human like hands/fingers. He sits with his legs crossed and his mouth is red and pink and his eyes are half ping pong balls with black cloud like pupils. There is a small text panel talking about Kermit on his exhibit mount base.

From one character who promotes learning to another - Little Star meets Kermit the Frog

In a very large and well lit airplane hanger (the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center) sits a replica of the Wright Brothers' Flyer. The plane is made of wood and features what looks like scaffolding, propellers and a small engine. Little Star is sitting in the pilot's seat, difficult to see.

Little Star was so popular with the docents they let him sit in the Wright Flyer replica!

A blonde young woman of about 5'4" wearing a long sleeved purple shirt and black pants stands sideways with her head turned to smile at the camera. She has arms extended up bronze statue of Helen Keller as young girl water pump that helped Annie Sullivan teach her ASL. In the blonde's hands is small plush yellow star face used tactile tool for shows planetarium. The statue extends about three feet above the woman. It sits white pedestal plaque which states representing state Alabama. All text is also printed and in Braille. The room in which the picture was taken has stone walls and was bright due skylights overhead that are not visible in the picture.

The Blog Author holds Little Star to the hand of the accessible Helen Keller statue for the State of Alabama at the U.S. Capitol Building

In a brightly lit space with maroon carpet sits the gumdrop shaped Apollo 11 Capsule, tan in color and looking old but majestic on its mount of black and gold. Little Star (a smiling yellow star) sits on top of the mount and overhead "The Spirit of Saint Louis" can be seen. The airplane is silver with small black tires, a propeller and the name of the aircraft on the side of the body near the nose.

Little Star at the Smithsonian Institute's Air and Space Museum National Mall Building

On a green exhibit text panel for the Big Bang sits a bronze tactile example of what it is thought the Big Bang looked like, showing from right to left how everything started densely and then expanded out creating a cloud of gas and dust which is designated by divots in the bronze. In one of the divots at the end sits Little Star (a yellow star who is smiling)

Little Star is born in a cloud of gas and dust... at the end of the tactile big bang

In a planetarium with a big 70' diameter dome sits many blue seats that face the center. In the center is a Zeiss Universarium Mark VI projector which looks like a dumbbell. On one of the closest chairs sits Little Star (a smiling yellow star) looking up.

Little Star sits in his first Planetarium seat at the Einstein Planetarium at the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum National Mall Building (there are no real seats in the McDonnell Planetarium in Saint Louis - we have mats to lie on the ground for our shows)

Feeling the Stars

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Mr. Star goes to Washington..

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