Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508220080
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
For the past two years, I have volunteered there as a tour guide and helped the museum staff plan the educational exhibits. Tours are given, free of charge, Tuesday through Friday for area school children. On Saturdays, the center is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free to the public, from October through May. Summer hours are from noon to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The center is a joint project of the Junior League of the Roanoke Valley and the Art Museum of Western Virginia.
I have found the center to be a place that enhances children's knowledge of art from surrealism to cubism. Children are free to interact at nine hands-on stations that include a glass easel where a child can paint a picture of a family member seated on the other side. Another station is an exhibit of masks and costumes native to the culture of Roanoke's sister cities in Korea and Africa. Children are able to design their own masks at this station. Another station, a composition seesaw, teaches children how color can balance a picture. The other stations are just as educational and fun.
Over the past two years, ArtVenture has sponsored several special events, which have all been free to the public. These include a Grandparents Day, Box City Contest for local fifth-grade classes, and a Birthday Celebration for ArtVenture's first birthday. In addition, art workshops are conducted by local artists to children on a monthly basis on Saturdays.
As a parent, educator and a community volunteer, I feel Roanoke and the entire Western Virginia area is fortunate to have such a fine children's museum.
LEE HARDIN WOODY
ROANOKE
Heroes face their internal demons
IT IS a sad commentary on the state of our moral and spiritual fiber that makes heroes out of men such as Jerry Garcia and Mickey Mantle. They influenced our world in very different ways. Garcia's ability to mold culture and Mantle's physical feats have left an indelible mark on our world. But are they heroes?
Both men eroded their bodies through intense use and abuse of heroin and alcohol. Drinking to relieve stress or use of heroin to open up to new levels of musical insight are poor excuses for abuse, and they smack of shallow rationalization.
Let heroes of our world be those who have courage enough to face discomfort and build self-esteem, not those who run into a drug-induced haze. Accomplishments achieved through facing those internal demons have a staying power that far outweighs records sold or home runs on the board.
JERRY SWEETEN
HARDY
The sentence for victims' families
IF ROBERT May had really wanted the death penalty, he would have entered a guilty plea and asked Judge Clifford Weckstein to sentence him to death.
Instead, he sentenced the victims' families to a week-long hearing in which they heard and saw, over and over again, the graphic evidence of how their loved ones were executed.
Dale Arnold was my younger brother. During that week, I pieced together a graphic picture of what happened on Jan. 1. It plays in my mind constantly. I hear May's footsteps, and I feel Dale's pain.
In May's letter to Judge Weckstein, he wrote of his future and of tomorrow. He took my brother's future and changed all of my tomorrows.
LINDA A. SAUL
ROANOKE
Many benefit from donated organs
RECENTLY a good friend of mine passed away due to an unexpected illness. The friend was 49 years old. Fortunately, prior to his illness, he had the foresight to donate his organs to the Virginias' Organ Procurement Agency. His wife authorized me to use an excerpt from a letter she received after his death as follows:
``Your husband's heart was transplanted at the University of Virginia into a 53-year-old gentleman who is married and had a weakened heart from several heart attacks. He did well after transplant and is expected to recover nicely. The liver was also transplanted at the University of Virginia into a 66-year-old wife and mother. She had liver disease from the bile collection system of her liver and did very well after her transplant. One kidney was transplanted at the University of Virginia into a 60-year-old lady who had kidney failure from years of high blood pressure. She is married with children and had immediate function of her new kidney, so now she will not need dialysis anymore. The other kidney was transplanted, along with the pancreas, into a 40-year-old gentleman. He was a diabetic and also had kidney failure, necessitating a two-organ transplant. He is single and disabled and was reported to be doing well post transplant.''
Additionally, my friend donated his eyes to the Old Dominion Eye Bank.
The Virginias' Organ Procurement Agency will accept donated organs from persons to age 75, providing the organ is evaluated and found to be sound. Persons 75 years and older may donate their bodies for research to improve medical conditions for the future.
The act of donation is a priceless gift and a humanitarian act. You or a loved one may improve and extend the life of another.
JOSEPH G. JOHNSON JR.
FINCASTLE
by CNB