Time to party and celebrate Mardi Gras!  Today is the traditional “Fat Tuesday” which gives party-goers one more chance to enjoy a bit of revelry before Ash Wednesday or the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar.  Most of us associate Mardi Gras with New Orleans but talk to folks from Mobile, Ala., and you quickly learn that the first Mardi Gras organization was in their town in 1830.  Some years later New Orleans jumped into the festivities and, according to Alabamians, “commercialized it beyond measure!”

Ready to celebrate "carnival" with mischief, merriment and moon pies are John and Peggy (we think) Kimbirl.

Just ask John and Peggy Kimbirl about Mardi Gras in Mobile and neighboring Fairhope where they lived for 18 years.  They have the “real skinny” on Mardi Gras and “reference books” to prove it!  When you are done tossing necklaces and moon pies, just settle down and read some interesting news about Zac Angell’s paper crane project at the Children’s Community School and artist Elaine Unzicker’s visit to Davidson.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE ONE FOLD AT A TIME

Maybe you heard the noise near Exit 30 last Friday morning at 9 a.m.?  Chilly temperatures could not deter 680 students in classes K-7 at the Children’s Community School (CCS) from gathering outside on the south side of their building to surprise their principal and director, Joy Warner, with loud voices and loud music announcing a special program.

What excitement as more than 1700 paper cranes were displayed to cheering students at the surprise assembly for CCS director, Joy Warner, last Friday morning.

After watching a school performance of “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” by the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, second grader Zac Angell, son of Dani and Michael Angell, had an idea.  (You may remember Zac’s Treats for Troops campaign in October.) Maybe one lesson from the play, about folding 1,000 origami cranes to bring good luck, could translate into his classmates making 1,000 cranes to bring good luck to his school and principal in this year’s fund-raising goal.  Zac’s teacher, Misty Belnap, encouraged Zac and before long, not only his 22 second grade classmates but also all other classes in this charter school supported his idea.

With paper cranes in his hat and his hands, second grader Zac Angell stands with his second grade teacher Misty Belnap (l) and teacher assistant, Charlotte DeCarolis.

Teaching close to 700 youngsters the techniques of origami was no small task.  Only recycled paper was used by the students in this project. They learned quickly, however, how to make the many folds and last Friday morning more than 1,700 beautiful, colorful cranes, large and small, were strung on fishing line and attached to a wood rod for presentation to the CCS principal – along with pennies and small change collected in each classroom to fill a bucket supporting the school’s fund raising.  How appropriate that the children were making a “change” in education and their change filled the bucket with $4,396.15!

Parent involvement is a key element in a charter school and it is certainly evident  at CCS.  Parents helped string the hundreds of paper cranes onto the rod and cheered for the children and their principal.  Dani Angell, Zac’s mom and also the Literacy Coach at the school, spoke to the assembled group last Friday. She told how meaningful a little scrap of paper can be when, coupled with patience, perseverance and love, it can turn into something so important.  It was quite a powerful and emotional experience for all involved.

The Children’s Community School, organized in 2001, will add an eighth grade to its Griffith Street campus next fall (and change its name to “Community School of Davidson”) but will need a new location for its high school, grades 9-12.  They hope to meet their fund-raising goals and  have the additional space ready in 2010.  One can keep up with their efforts on the school website, www.ccsch.org under the “Leading the Way” campaign.  We wish them the very best – and if their enthusiasm is any indication, they are well on their way to meeting their goals.

MEET ELAINE UNZICKER

Elaine Unzicker models a necklace and skirt she crafted.

An email from Drew Crawford prompted Around Davidson to visit his wonderful store, Wooden Stone on South Main Street, last weekend.  Drew wrote that he was  presenting a weekend with Elaine Unzicker who would have a show of her award-winning contemporary jewelry and accessories crafted from fluid mesh.  Fluid mesh?  Your correspondent was hooked.  Had to check this out.

It turns out that Elaine had a few days between the wholesale Buyer’s Market in Philadelphia and the American Craft Council Show (wholesale and retail) in Baltimore.  Having never been to North Carolina, she took Drew up on his offer to pack her things in his truck and head from Philadelphia to a weekend show at Wooden Stone.  Then Sunday all was repacked and Drew drove Elaine to Baltimore for her next “assignment.”  During her short visit here she took an immediate liking to Davidson and compared it to the small town she now calls home in California.

Chain Mail never looked so good!

Elaine works in stainless steel and sterling silver chain mail.  Not the kind the jousting knights of old wore but beautiful tiny link, lightweight mesh that Elaine fashions into scarves, bracelets, earrings, purses, vests, and even dresses, skirts and blouses!  She received her Master of Fine Art degree from Illinois State University in 1986, moved to Chicago and launched her jewelry business there in 1993.  She trained as a jeweler and sculptor, but finding a good source of chain mail in the late 1990’s turned her focus primarily to that medium.  Her interconnected jump-rings allow her metal pieces to flow effortlessly.  She wants her art to create a response from the viewer and in that category, she wins hands down!

Now living in Ojai, California, with her husband, Keith Helmkamp, Elaine loves to experiment with new uses of chain mail and incorporates colorful anodized aluminum jump-rings in her wearable clothing designs.  In case you missed visiting with this delightful young lady while she talked about her art at Wooden Stone last weekend, you can still see a wonderful sampling of her pieces in the Davidson store – although her clothing pieces traveled back north with her.  Stop by and see what wearable chain mail is all about.  Jump-rings have never looked so good!  Thanks, Drew, for bringing Elaine and her art to North Carolina.

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Have news for Brenda? Write to her at hbarger@bellsouth.net.