Posts Tagged ‘Maine State House’

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Day of Action

January 3, 2024

Gun Safety

I’ve been angry for some time about shootings that have killed innocent people. I know that I am not alone. The ones that are the most upsetting are the shootings that have taken place at schools. My heart aches for the teachers and students whose lives have been lost, injured, or altered. And, all the families and friends that live with the memories. And, the fear that many teachers and students have, especially just after a school shooting takes place.

I remember clearly the following:

  • Columbine High School, Columbine, Colorado, April 20, 1999, 12 students and 1 teacher murdered and 2 student perpetrators committed suicide
  • Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, December 14, 2012, 20 students (between the ages of 6 and 7), 5 adult staff members murdered, and 1 student perpetrator committed suicide
  • Marjory Stonemason Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida, February 14, 2018, 14 students and 3 staff members
  • Robb Elementary School, Uvalde, Texas, May 24, 2022, 19 students and 2 teachers murdered, perpetrator was shot at the scene

The shootings in Lewiston on October 25, 2023 stunned me beyond anger. Every time there has been a mass shooting I find myself wondering what is going to stop this behavior and I ask myself, what can I do? How can we as a society get people the help and attention and education that they need before they take actions that kill others and many times themselves? Yes, the laws need to change but we know laws alone are not the answer nor is taking away guns from all people the answer.

The following data is from 2021 and was published by the Pew Research center in August 2023. There is much more on this webpage.

  • More Americans died from gun-related injuries, 48,830 people, in 2021 than in any other year on record.
  • 54% of all gun-related deaths in the US were suicides (26,328), 81% involved a firearm.
  • During the pandemic gun murders increased 45% between 2019 and 2021 and the number of gun suicides rose 10% during that same time.
  • According to the BBC the US ratio is 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, up from 88 per 100 in 2011.

Please note: I grew up with guns in my home, they were used only for hunting. We had food on the table some years because of the rabbits and deer my father shot. I was taught to respect the guns in our home, they were always locked in a gun safe. When I was about 12 years old I took the hunter safety course and went on my first hunt with my father, sister, and brothers.

Today was the first session of the Maine Legislature. They started the session by honoring the 18 people killed in Lewiston. I traveled to Augusta to attend the scheduled rally in the State House. I’m guessing there were a thousand people there. When I arrived the line to get into the building and go through security wound around the State House, down the hill and across the entrance to the side of the street in front of the library. Many people had signs tucked under their arms with their hands in their pockets to keep warm. People were patient and on the quiet side, having small conversations. After 2 hours in the slow moving line we saw people leaving the building and the word passed along that the official rally was over, individuals were encouraged to go visit their legislators offices, and family members of those killed in Lewiston were telling their stories.

As I stood in line talking to strangers my mind wandered to all the teachers and students in schools across our state of Maine. I hope no Maine teacher or student has to go through a shooting in their school. I was grateful to have the chance to be there today but even though my attending didn’t really ‘do’ anything there was a small part of me that was there for all the teachers and students who were not there. I stood in line with the hundreds of others who care deeply about the lives of Maine people. I hope that we sent a clear picture and that the Maine Legislature can work together to do what is right for Mainers.

ARRT! – Artists’ Rapid Response Team banner
ARRT! – Artists’ Rapid Response Team banner
ARRT! – Artists’ Rapid Response Team banner

ARRT! (Artists’ Rapid Response Team) collaborates with 60+ non-profit, progressive groups to promote social change in Maine. This collective of approximately twelve artists meets monthly to create issue-oriented, socially-engaged banners and props. LEARN MORE!

LumenARRT created the following video. https://www.facebook.com/lumenARRT/videos/663147735748999

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Celebrating Student Artists

December 3, 2015

Hall of Flags – Friday, December 4

Print MDOE logo

 

The Maine Department of Education and the Maine Arts Commission are holding a celebration of Excellence in Maine Visual and Performing Arts Education hosted by First Lady, Ann LePage, December 4, in the Hall of Flags at the State House in Augusta. Joining the First Lady are State Board of Education Chair Martha Harris, and Maine Arts Commission Executive Director Julie Richards, and Acting Education Commissioner Bill Beardsley. Legislators, Mick Devin (Nobleboro) and Martin Grohman (Biddeford) will also be present to recognize students from their districts.

The Excellence in Maine Visual and Performing Arts Education is a rotating exhibit that displays artwork throughout the Statehouse Complex and the Department of Education in the Cross Building. Sixty-three students from AOS 93, AOS 92, MSAD 41, and the Biddeford School district will have their artwork displayed through the end of February. Additionally, student musicians from AOS 92 will perform at the celebration. Mrs. LePage will be presenting each student a certificate and a letter from Governor Paul LePage recognizing the talent of Maine students.

Governor LePage’s letter to the students reads in part, “The arts are a vitally important part of any education because it’s the creative thinking that leads to imagining new ways of making things work and improving the world we live in.”

Maine DOE Visual and Performing Arts Specialist Beth Lambert says, “I am so proud of the work Maine arts teachers are doing with our students throughout the state. It is a privilege to have these students come to Augusta and be honored in this way. Arts education is essential for all students in order to gain the skills needed to develop college and career readiness, such as critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity so that Maine kids can succeed in the ever-changing diverse and global economies of today’s world.”

For more information contact, Visual and Performing Arts Specialist Beth Lambert at beth.lambert@maine.gov or 624-6642.

 

 

 

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Another Student’s Story: Zachary Fisher

April 10, 2014

What Can The Arts Do For Me? By Zachary Fisher

Zachary is the student representative on the Maine Alliance for Arts Education board. On Arts Education day recently at the State House in Augusta Zachary shared the following message.

Why on Earth is arts education a necessity in my upbringing? What could theatre do for me? What could music do for me? Painting, dancing, acting, singing, sculpting? What could they do for me? What could the arts possibly do for me?

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Zack and fellow student on Arts Education Day at the State House in Augusta

It scares me to think that this is the mindset of some people in our world. When I hear the question, “What can the arts do?”, I think to myself, “What can’t the arts do?”. Mind you, the Minuet in G has never cleaned my room nor has it cooked me dinner, but when the arts are placed in such a useless and expendable light, I cannot help but be appalled.

I am required to take math because it is a fundamental component of our universe. Math classes increase logical problem solving skills and keep the brain sharp.

I am required to take science because it allows me to comprehend my universe. Science class helps me acknowledge the processes of life and complicated systems in my surroundings.

I am required to take English because it is the language I, and approximately 30% of the entire world speak. English classes help me to express ideas and communicate effectively through our common tongue.

I am hardly required to take classes in the arts. My high school, and many others like it, only require a single year of any “fine arts” class to gain the credit. Compare this to the three years of math, three years of science, and four years of English I was required to take in order to obtain my high school diploma.

What is it then, that separates the arts from other classes? Most importantly is emotion. In high school emotions rage like a wildfire. I have never met a person who can express themselves properly by use of the trigonometry fundamentals. In theory, the english language could express our emotions, and does to some degree, but we as students learn quickly that English class is not interested in our opinion influenced by emotion, but our opinion influenced by research. The arts give us a place to release these kept emotions, and grants us a medium to express ourselves at a satisfactory level.

Common statistics show us that the arts are components to an overall better student. Students who take over a year of classes pertaining to the arts have on average better attendance rates, less discipline reports, higher grade point averages, higher graduation rates, and higher standardized test scores. This is because the arts teach discipline like no other classes offered in a school. This discipline transfers to other classes quite easily and in turn creates a student with better habits.

Finally, if the arts making a better student and providing safe emotional expression does not interest you, then hear this final argument. I have to sit eighty minutes every day, learning how to do complicated math problems. As a future music teacher, I will never touch quadratics after high school so long as I have something to say about it. The future engineering major who sits beside me though, cannot get enough of this curriculum. Just as he enjoys math because it pertains to his career, chorus class is my shining moment of the day where I get a taste of my future, and a taste of what I love. Without math class, the country would be in turmoil. Our economy would likely collapse and our everyday innovations cease to exist. That being said, even utopia would be boring without the arts to color it. The perfect world would give us music to be heard, art to be seen, and plays to be entertained by. Poets would be praised, and singers highly respected. The unfortunate truth is, we live in a world far from perfect. Which means we need the arts more than ever. You need the arts more than you realize. We as students are the influences of your future, so please ask yourself, what can arts do for our students? As you’ll then in turn ask yourself, what can the arts do for me?

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