Peeople are always looking for improvement, in themselves and the world. Improvement is a valid and admirable goal, but sometimes, we get stuck in the negative parts of our lives. Here is a reminder that, while we have plenty of work to do, our world is not a terrible or hopeless place.
1. A theater was founded to provide professional performing opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. Blue Apple Theatre hosts workshops and hires dancers, as well as actors to perform onstage and on film. Their production of Hamlet, which toured southern England, featured the first four actors with Down Syndrome to perform the show professionally.
More information: http://www.blueappletheatre.hampshire.org.uk/touring.html
2. This week is National Park Week! To celebrate the centennial year of the National Park Service, every national park will offer free admission from April 16-24. There are 58 national parks in the U.S. The nearest one to OCU is Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, but if you want to plan a trip, there is even a quiz to tell you which national park matches your personality: http://www.nationalparktrips.com/park-finder/ (According to this quiz, I am Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska.)
For those of you that are curious, my favorite national park that I have hiked is Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and my dream park is Denali National Park in Alaska (pictured below). I plan to visit them all, so email me (sttokach@my.okcu.edu) if you want a hiking buddy or have excess money to contribute to my adventure jar.
More information: https://www.nps.gov/findapark/national-park-week.htm
3. A toilet-themed restaurant in Taiwan uses bathroom decor and seats guests on toilets. Modern Toilet also serves food and drink out of various sizes and styles of toilet seats and urinals. The business began as an idea that occurred to one person as they used a toilet.
More information: http://www.moderntoilet.com.tw/en/about.asp
4. Rooftop jazz exists.
5. An improvisational theatre troupe performs completely unplanned, audience-inspired productions in a Shakespearean style. Based out of Chicago, The Improvised Shakespeare Company tours the country with comedies, tragedies, and histories that use the same language and plot structures as The Bard himself.
More information: http://www.improvisedshakespeare.com/about/
6. Scientists found a potential solution for commercial honeybee hives suffering from a deadly sexually transmitted disease. Though few bees actually have sex (only the queen has sex, and she only has it once in her life), worker bees can transmit the disease through spores spread around flowers. Antibodies that could help prevent the disease were found within bee semen. Honeybees’ quality immune systems allow for the possibility of breeding a population resistant to the disease.
More information:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/21/bee-semen-antibodies-could-protect-hives-from-sexually-transmitted-disease
7. An American clothing company creates 100 percent of their products from American, recycled materials. Dirtball Fashion sells a wide variety of clothing pieces and allows customers to send back their products to be recycled for a 20 percent-off coupon.
More information: http://www.dirtballfashion.com/about/
8. There is a museum in Massachusetts dedicated to art gone wrong. The Museum of Bad Art features exactly what it’s name promises, displaying the worst art to the widest audience. Exhibits include “poor traits,” “here the symbols crash,” and “in the nood,” as well as various artwork parodies like “Sunday on the Pot with George.”
More information: http://www.museumofbadart.org
9. You are the product of millions of years of successful evolutionary history.
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