As we march inexorably toward the first days of a new school year, many of us are faced with searching out ideas for school assemblies and shows to bolster the curriculum while providing a welcome break from class time for students and teachers alike. Moreover, in these days of rising costs and shrinking budgets, field trips are more and more a rapidly fading memory for many schools. So the search is on for the best possible use of what limited funds remain in order to provide students with the best bang for the buck.

January is a full month when it comes to the history of Native Americans. A lot of things happened in past Januarys. Going all the way back to 1689 when the Abenaki Indians attacked a settlement in Saco, Maine and killed nine settlers. In 1706, Spanish leaders, trying to improve relations, met with leaders from the nearby Pirtle Indian tribes. In 1830, Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha), the great Seneca leader dies. Born around 1779 he was known as a great speaker and for his refusal to adopt “white ways”. And in 1863, the Bear River massacre takes place in which hundreds of California volunteers attacked Northern Shoshone Indians and killed several hundred, possibly including women and children.

Mike Carrell has been performing school assemblies for Mobile ed for a long time. For many seasons he was resident on the East Coast, delivering wonderful presentations of our high-tech school show Lights Camera Action to grateful and happy schools in New York, New Jersey and other parts East.

Jeff Hoge is a remarkable fellow and, when it comes to school assemblies, he is certainly one of the best performers around. He is remarkable because he is capable of performing admirably in many different roles as a school assembly presenter. 

I have been reading a fascinating book lately, made even more pertinent by the passing this week of Columbus Day (did you notice? It was last Monday). 1492 - The Year The World Began -  by Felipe Fernandez Armesto details the myriad ways in which the world was changed by the voyage of Columbus and the European discovery of “the New World” It is a great book and one I highly recommend. Great stuff about all the changes the world experienced because of that voyage, many of which you might never have imagined. However, there is one area of change we all know a little about and that is the change wrought on the native population of North America by the arrival of Europeans.

A million years ago, back in the early Pleistocene era, when your humble writer first began working with this august, old lion of a company, Mobile Ed had only just begun venturing beyond school assemblies focused on science, and had entered the world of social studies. The first addition was a remarkable program on Huck Finn performed by a good friend of mine by the name of Wayne David Parker, but known to his friends simply as “Daba”. The second addition to this new field came in the form of a program about our illustrious sixteenth president performed by a tall, skinny (at least, he was back then) actor who, for reasons of modesty, shall remain nameless (yeah, it was me).

Recently we spent time in Illinois attending the annual Centre East school assembly performers showcase in Skokie. One of our performers, Dick Buchholz, was there all day sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with school representatives from all over Northern Illinois.