Lansing, with Teens

What's up, America.

So, as I told you guys last year, Yours Truly is one of the co-leaders for our school's Michigan Youth in Government (MYIG) programs.  This organization introduces students across the state to Parliamentary Procedure (the manner in which legislatures 'perform,' for lack of better term, on the floors of the House of Representatives and Senate), the process of creating, debating, and amending bills, sitting on different committees, and campaigning.  It's a great and incredibly thorough introduction to politics for young minds, and for a History Teacher it's pretty badass to be able to give kids the opportunity to experience how our political system works.

Hot Wheels

MYIG has two conferences in the fall, with the latter being designated for middle schools.  Our school participated in this one, yet again, and so on Sunday myself and Wincent (the group leader) met up with our 26 students at the school to board our charter bus (a rented school bus - 'cause we're frugal) and departed for Lansing.  What followed was a three-day, two-night conference, where students got to push various pieces of legislation through several committees and hearings, and got to debate different bills on the floor of the State Senate in the State Capitol.

It sure as hell beat being stuck at work.

So check it out, Internet - the 2019 Michigan Youth in Government Conference.  (Once again I omitted most of the pics I took on this trip, as they featured other folks' kids, and that's a big no-no with FERPA. . .)

Some handsome guy, overseeing the settlement of his delegation at the big Welcome Conference. . .

Once again, Yours Truly lucked out with the room situation:  I had a full-size, spacious, deluxe room all to myself, with a king-size bed, extra furniture, etc.

Even came with a fridge - love it when that happens.

Booya.

Wincent, on the other hand, had a designated handicapped room:  a gigantic bathroom - with all the handicapped-assisting hand-bars and a zero-entry bathtub - that took up nearly all of the hotel room.  As a result, he was stuck with a queen-sized bed. . . poor guy.

That first night of the Conference, we more or less checked in, got our kids settled into their hotel rooms (four to a room), came downstairs for a Welcome dinner (and series of long-winded speeches), then proceeded into the 'election' process of the annual event.  Students from the various delegations across the state can run for Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House, etc. of the make-believe legislature, and in doing socreate tri-fold boards highlighting their personal achievements outside of MYIG.  There's also a fair amount of bribery on hand throughout this cutthroat campaigning portion of the evening - free candy, free wristbands, you name it - that kids hawk out to other delegations in order to secure their votes.  One of our very own eighth graders actually won one of the Lt. Governor positions this year, which was pretty awesome. 

After an evening filled with speeches, committee hearings, bill debating, and lots and lots of parliamentary procedure, the kids shuffled off back to their rooms and settled in for the night.  In the morning, Wincent and I had to cook up breakfast for 26 hungry teenagers.  Last year, we bought boxes of cereals and some fruit - this year, we brought two griddles (mine and Ms. Bryant's, my science teacher) and a crap-load of pancake mix and syrup, along with fruit, to feed the masses.  Unfortunately, Wincent bought the kind of mix that you need egg, milk and oil for. . . and all we had was hotel room tap water to mix it with.

At first, we had both griddles running in my room (shown here), but after a few minutes of frying up breakfast, we blew the circuit in the room and tripped the breaker - all the power in the room went out and we were terrified to find ourselves cooking up pancakes in pitch blackness.  While Wincent called the front desk and reported the power outage, I plugged one of the griddles into one of our students' rooms and the other into the hotel hallway. . .

Whatever it takes, folks.  Whatever it takes.

Hordes of teenagers await shuttle buses to take them over to the State Capitol for a day of debating, compromising, and delegating.

Back in the Capitol's Rotunda.  Pretty cool room, if you ask me.

I was pretty stoked that I got to use the same bathroom as our state senators during a legislative session on the floor of the Senate. . .

Teenagers, hard at work. . .

As if I wasn't going to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of the State Capitol while I was here.  Pssshh. . .

I doubt the defensive capabilities of this field piece positioned right here in front of the Capitol.  What are we aiming at here, fellas?

. . . .oh, this not-at-all-menacing office building.  Carry on then, 18th century cannon.

Breaking for lunch, half-way through the day (where I got to escort groups of our teenagers throughout downtown Lansing so they could buy themselves something to eat at one of the area's various restaurants.)

Hey, look - it's this guy.

Meanwhile, back on the floor of the Senate. . .

Another shot of the Rotunda. . .

Like last year, we had to hold several committee meetings across the street in the Capitol in the Senate Building. . .

Around 5pm-ish, the last of the charter buses prepared to take the remaining delegations back to the hotel for dinner and an evening of debriefing sessions. . .

Some random dude, commemorating Michigan's involvement in the practically-unknown Spanish American War.

Waiting to board. . .

A couple more gratuitous pics of the State Capitol, all lit up for the evening. . .

Old guy selfie, in front of a famous building. . .

The Christmas Tree in front of the Capitol.  By this point in time, myself and about a dozen or so students from various state delegations were still waiting for a rescue bus to take us back to the hotel.  We were the last batch to leave the Capitol area. . . of course.

Catching up on current events while waiting for dinner. . .

The next morning, Wincent and I prepared for one, last breakfast with our students.  This time around, we knew what we were doing, having learned some valuable lessons the first time around. . .

. . . I like to think we did a pretty bang-up job with this whole feeding-26-teenagers thing, to be honest. 

On the way back to our school, at the close of yet another MYIG conference, we once again stopped off at this cafeteria Wincent knew about on MSU's campus, where you pay a $10 cover and you can eat as much as you want at about two-dozen eateries.  It's pretty awesome, but thank God we don't have anything like this anywhere near Midland, 'cause if they did I'd for sure weight about 400 lbs. . .

- Brian

Miss Alayna Goes to Washingt- ...er, Lansing

Check out the inside of Alayna's desk at school.  Not surprised at all.

Hey gang.  How's May treating you so far?

I got a day off today, which was rad.  I love days off.  Getting paid to not work isn't something I'm ready to start complaining about.  Alas, my day off still involved dealing with dozens of children in a managerial role, so I shouldn't really call it a day off, I suppose:  I swapped wrangling a bunch of 8th graders with wrangling a bunch of 4th graders, on a field trip to the State Capitol and the Michigan History Center in Lansing.

They had arranged for charter buses to take the three 4th grade classrooms on the 2-hour trip, and we set off shortly after school started in the morning.  The bus itself was fine - like any other charter bus from the 1990s - but spending 2 hours in a confined area, surrounded by fifty-some 9-year-olds, is just. . . well, it's just as shitty as you'd expect.

Check it out. . .

Gettin' on the bus (that's Alayna and her friend Jazmine - there were so many chaperones going on this trip that I was only responsible for these two. . . which was totally fine with me.)

Pumped for the bus.

Jazmine sat in front of us.  Alayna brought her camera and took several pictures throughout the day, of which I included a few and will note them as they pop up (though I probably don't need to.)

Skip ahead two hours or so, we arrived in Lansing to find the entire area around the state capitol under construction.  Totally awesome.  Our bus took about three victory laps around the structure in a desperate attempt to find accessible parking.

Ready to be off the damn bus.

The Cannonball and the Capitol.

Mrs. VanHoey's 4th grade class (Alayna is in the middle row, at far left, right next to her teacher.)

Goofy picture time.

Alayna took this bizarro selfie.  I assume in the girls bathroom.

She asked a friend of hers to take this group pic with her camera.  This is in the Capitol's. . . basement, I think?  Back, ground-level entrance?  I don't know.

A quick shot of the Rotunda, as we waited along with our tour guide in one of the wings.

Tons of kids and adults, bored as f***.

No, she's not stoned.  I don't think.

This may be one of the coolest elevators I've ever seen.

I wish my stairs looked this cool.

Yeah, this happened.

One of the other dads snuck upstairs to snag a pic of the 4th graders, below, staring up at the dome.  Gotta compliment initiative.

Alayna's shot of the dome.

Decorative doorknobs in the governor's office.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

The governor's office (roped off, alas, as the governor was in Germany at the time.)

Somewhat swankier than my Study.

Some random glass door.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Another door knob.  Guess who snapped this gem?

Some pretty intricate lighting in this place, I'll say that. . .

If this isn't the most horrifyingly ominous thing I've ever seen, I don't know what is. . .

. . . nevermind.

Alayna's friends, Makarra and Christina.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Alayna and Gerald.

Spooky lighting.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

The State House of Representatives.  This was the only chamber we got to take pictures in,  for when we went to the State Senate, they were actually in session.  We were admitted, got to check out the voting process on various state matters (for about twenty minutes), but couldn't take any pictures.  At one point, our state representative down on the floor (forget the dude's name, sue me) announced our presence in the balcony, and the entire Senate applauded our group.  Alayna - and the other kids - were all pretty thrilled and thought it was the coolest thing in the world.  I didn't have the heart to tell any of them that these politicians literally give zero shits about any of them.

Probably safe to say this is the closest this kid is ever going to get to politics.

I forget what this room is.  But it's official looking.

I saw a lot of ceilings like this in Italy - a hell of a lot nicer than the popcorn drip ceiling shit we have going on in our house.

This child is physically unable to make a normal face for the camera.

Outside the Capitol, on the way to the bus and our next stop:  the Michigan History Center.

When you first walk in, there's this weird enclosed courtyard surrounding a solitary White Pine tree (our state tree, I think.)

You can't really tell, but this was under water.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Some homeboys, looking fresh as hell.

A big piece of. . . metal.  I don't know.

This is, like, a two-story entrance to the museum.  We had to wait here for about ten minutes while kids finished going to the bathroom.  I hate kids.

The forced march through the museum's various exhibits begins.  We didn't really get a chance to stop and look at everything, because by this point we were horribly behind schedule.  Kids literally just walked past and had a few seconds to look at stuff before being prodded forward.

Scopin' out some wigwams.

Yes, I took pictures of swords.  This is patterned after a French Hussar model, and I knew that without looking at the information placard.  In your face.

A Canon and Cannonball.  This schtick never gets old.

More swords.  Civil War-era, folks.

Some pretty unique handguns, again Civil War-era.

Alayna asked her friend to take this picture with her camera.  Kids are weird.

I'd make fun of this dude's hat, but I'm afraid he'd kick my ass.

We stopped for, like, ten minutes so that the kids could watch his educational, museum-quality (pfft) video on mining in the U.P.  It was just as edge-of-your-seat as you could guess.

The Upper Peninsula's mining history.

Alayna was pretty proud of the fact that she was one out of only two students in her class who could walk underneath this giant axle without ducking over in the slightest.  That's her mom's genes, there.

Time for a lesson in ye old school house. . .

Personally, on a day off away from my own classroom, I don't want to be anywhere near this sort of crap.

Into the 20th century neck of the woods.  The walking pathway through the museum's various exhibits reflected different time era's from Michigan's past.  I probably should have pointed that out sooner.  Oh well.

Making Model T's on the assembly line, courtesy of Nazi supporter Henry Ford.

Old school movie theater ticket booth.  Kinda wish they had these at the NGC Midland Cinema.

I bet this thing was a bitch to drive through the snow. . . but it probably handled better than my Focus does.

Photobombed by Christina.

World War Deux

Firefighting with flame throwers.  I think you may be doing it wrong, fellas.

Alayna scopes out a lighthouse. . .  bulb?  

The foreword machine guns of a WW2 bomber, manufactured in Detroit back in the '40s.

Typical Michigangster house, circa 1950s.

Pastels were a big deal back then, I guess.

Continuing on into the 1950s. . .

I'd be more than fine with my dashboard looking like this.

Once we exited through the obligatory Gift Shop (surprise, surprise), we had to wait nearly 20 minutes for the bus to pick us up.  It took everything we exhausted parents had to keep the kids from staging a mutiny.

Alayna was not at all dramatic about the fact that it was starting to rain.

I bought Alayna a few things at the museum gift shop on our way out, including an arrowhead necklace (which I believe she's already lost), and this gem excavating kit.  She's big into this sort of thing.

Not my cup of tea, but whatever.

- Brian