The Troubadour: The First Day of Summer? News from the Logan Space Education Center. The Imaginarium

The Way I Live My Life.

Truths can survive even the harshest of criticism and examination.

Hello Troops,

Is it summer already? What happened to spring? What's up with this 92 degree day? These temperatures make my Shelley Elementary afternoon parking lot duties much more difficult. My problem is finding adequate shade, and the only shade available at Shelley Elementary is the flagpole and flag. The sliver of flagpole shade is hardly worth fighting the kids for, so I concentrate on the shadow cast by the waving flag. Tracking the flag's moving shade is also good for exercise. I'm sure many of the waiting parents think I either slightly autistic or someone who likes to dance a solo waltz.

"It's too hot..... I'm going to boil!" one young first grader complained as he staggered back and forth down the sidewalk, feigning exhaustion and early onset delirium. He was joined by a chorus of supporters who followed his lead. Soon I had a sidewalk seething with discomfort and heat exhaustion.

"What's wrong with kids these days?" I mumbled as I shifted back and forth and side to side, wishing the flag would just make up its mind and wave properly.

I got an email from James Porter this morning. James is one of the founding members of the Cache County (Logan Utah) Space Education Center. He and his partners are in the process of raising funds to build a space center in the Logan, Utah area. This space center is separate from the CMSEC and Discovery Space Center in Pleasant Grove.

I KNOW.... I KNOW..... you're confused aren't you? Too many space centers and not enough available mental memory to keep them separate in your mind. Well, let me help.

The CMSEC. The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center is my first space center located at Central School in the Alpine District. This is the space center most people think of when they say or hear "Space Center". The CMSEC is owned and operated by the Alpine School District.

The Discovery Space Center. The DSC is located at the Stone Gate Center for the Arts in Pleasant Grove and owned by the Bott family. Discoveryspacecenter.com

Farpoint Station. Farpoint is my newest, soon to be built space center. It will be the space center for the NOW generation. Farpoint will be built next year at Renaissance Academy, a charter school in Lehi, Utah, and expected to open in the fall of 2014. Farpoint currently offers classes and Simlabs. Learn more about Farpoint and GET INVOLVED. Farpointinstitute.org

The Space Education Center, Logan Utah. This is the center run by James Porter - discussed in one of the paragraphs above and below

These four centers are separate, run by their own foundations and boards. Does that help you understand? If not, contact me by email and I'll do my best to explain again.

Now, back to the email I received from The Space Education Center in Logan, Utah with their latest news.

News from the Cache County Space Education Center. Logan, Utah

By David Sidwell
Executive Director

Dear Friends,
Thanks for your support in our exciting endeavor to provide exciting, educational experiences to kids and even to adults

We have a lot to catch you up on, and many outstanding things have been happening. I'm not sure which is the most important of our various new items, so I'll start with the one that is perhaps the most timely: money, of course! We are trying to raise a quick $500, and for good purposes. There are two:

1.

We have completed the paperwork to apply for 501c3 status, but they require $850 for our application--we are nearly there. 501c3 is the designation by the IRS for nonprofit organizations. Once we get our nonprofit status in about 3-4 months (that's about how long it usually takes the IRS to process paperwork and get back with us), then when we ask for donations from people it will be tax deductible for them (this includes all previous donations as well). We will also have the ability to apply for grants and many other resource raising activities.

2.

We are negotiation with iWorlds in the Utah County area to get their trailer up here to use for the Summer. We are negotiating a rental fee and such, but there is a potential arrangement that might have us using it for free! This is super news, since the trailer we will procure will have all we need to help folks have fun in a Starship Simulation this summer. Summer camps equals money in the bank for us so we can afford to do things this coming school year. We have calculated the cost of retrieving the trailer at about $200.

(Photos: iWorlds Trailer, most likely available to us this summer!)

I'm hoping the iWorld's simulator will be put to good use in Logan. I believe it is just what the program needs to get off its feet.

We are wishing our Logan friends all the luck in the world as they do everything they can to bring a space center experience to the people of northern Utah.

Mr. Williamson

The Imaginarium

Yes, we are the ones who preach over and over again that life is for making the ordinary, extraordinary.

People are uncomfortable with "I don't know" or believing in a system that is "currently the best fit, which might or might not change in the future".

Folks like their concrete, which explains why so many people refuse to accept new ideas or change their point of views, regardless of how much evidence is presented. They've invested a lot, emotionally, in whatever they choose to believe.