THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 17, 1995 TAG: 9512150208
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Jennifer O'Donnell and Eric Feber
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Revolutionary women
Don't tell Elizabeth Vonasek that women didn't contribute to the war effort during Revolutionary days.
Last weekend, Vonasek participated in a re-enactment of the Battle of Great Bridge on the grounds of the Central Library. While she tended the campfire and warmed corn chowder and cider over hot coals, she explained that women often traveled with the militia to avoid exposure to Indians and Tories. Although they didn't bear arms, she said the women weren't exactly on vacation either.
``We weren't in much danger from being wounded,'' she said. ``Our biggest dangers were disease and malnutrition. We would travel about two to three days behind the army with the baggage. That's when the word `baggage' came to refer to women.''
Although in some cases, the women were allowed to help with nursing, Gen. George Washington wasn't too keen on women controlling the food supply.
``He'd said that if the women did the cooking there would be fat children and women and skinny soldiers,'' she said. ``So we were given half rations.''
But that didn't mean much at the time.
``Half of nothing is still nothing,'' said Vonasek. Up on the roof
Some educators will do just about anything to get their students interested in reading.
Rebecca C.W. Adams, principal at Great Bridge Intermediate School, has done just about anything. No kidding.
Last year she read perched atop a 95 feet high fire fighting platform. The year before that she read to her pupils while sitting in a tree. The year before that she read while on stilts and during her first year at the school she read to her students while standing on her head.
This year she ended up on the school's roof after the entire school read more than 442,000 pages during the month of November.
``We consider reading the heart and soul of everything we do here at school,'' Adams said. ``So every year we challenge our students to read a certain number of pages. If they reach a collective goal I do something unusual. Children love anything special and what we do helps get them interested in reading. This year they read and read and read.''
Adams sat on the school's flat roof, near the bus lanes, from 8 a.m. until noon, Friday, Dec. 8. A pup tent to shelter her from the wind was set up. She kept in touch with her office by using a walkie-talkie.
In addition to tending to her school duties, Adams read to most of the school's student body from the roof using a cordless microphone. Since the school was currently studying U.S. immigration, she read Eve Bunting's ``How Many Days to America?,'' a book about a Caribbean family coming to the New World.
She also was host at a lunch on the roof with the school's top readers, who included fifth-grader Jacob Mixon, third-grader Robert Ryan and fourth-grader Zach Byers. The school's No. 1 reader, with more than 3,700 pages read, was fifth grader Jennifer Elliott, who couldn't make the rooftop lunch because of illness.
School custodians made sure the kids got up and down the roof safely and a special table was set up so Adams and the young readers could dine on pizza and soft drinks.
``I think the pizza tasted better up on that roof,'' Adams said. ``The kids had a great time. They were thrilled to be there. We talked about books and reading and about their favorite books and my favorite ones.''
When Adams wasn't lunching with top readers or reading to the school, she spent the better part of her time on the roof tending to her daily chores as principal. She said while on the roof, she got a lot done.
``It was chilly at first, but it was a beautiful sunny day with not much wind,'' she said. ``Working in the tent, though, it wasn't much of a problem. Actually I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was nice to be away from the phone and being on the roof certainly gave me a whole new perspective on the world.''
A postscript to Adams' rooftop experience: ``At one point when I was working up on the roof, I could swear I heard music,'' she said. ``Upon further investigation I saw that one of our assistant principals was playing the Drifters' song `Up On the Roof' over and over again. It was blaring out all over the school. I have a very interesting staff, let me tell you.'' by CNB