Snapchat, anyone?

Turns out, Rainforest Cafe is a prime location for snapchats...

Selfie Central

 

An attempt to face swap with the owl stuffed animal

What realistically happened

Pretty panda

Yasmina and Tracy...need I say more?

On our way in, we accidentally hit Heather...it's casual.

The Poetry Foundation

On Friday, our last day of the Agora week, we went downtown to the Poetry Foundation, talked about some poems by Chicago poets and authors (Gwendolyn Brooks, Jamila Woods, and Sandra Cisneros), and then engaged in a Writer's Workshop to create our own poetry.

A wall of photographs taken in one month by photographer Bernadette Mayer.

The library- entirely dedicated to volumes of poetry

The workshop space, where the magic took place

Our token senior at work

H. Melt, the poetry aficionado and our guide on      

this literary journey, presented three different prompts to guide the writing of our own poems. All had some connection back to one of the three works we read as a group (Brooks' "a song in the front yard," Woods' "Daddy Dozens," and an excerpt from the first chapter of Cisneros' The House on Mango Street. The first prompt was to physically describe some aspect of our home and/or something we would like to change about it; the second was to describe the relationship we have with a family member, and the third was to discuss/explore the multiple places that we call home. After writing our individual pieces, we read them aloud to the whole group. Mrs. Fox, Ms. Mocarski, and I participated, too!

Our final group shot (featuring H. Melt). I just noticed that they're all smiling in the same way...

Ernest Hemingway & Oak Park/ Te Movistes?!

On Thursday, we traveled out to the suburb of Oak Park to visit Ernest Hemingway's birthplace and the museum that honors his life and achievements.

The group in front of Hemingway's birthplace.

Inside the home- a bit different from Sandburg's place:

Ms. Mocarski in her happy place

Featuring our tour guide, Sue

The "good morning" stairs

Grace Hall Hemingway's (Ernest's mother) room

Kinda weird, but Grace so wanted to have twins (in order to somehow get herself more attention) that she dressed Ernest and his older sister- a year and a half older- alike. They stayed in this room together and held hands across the two beds. (That's actually cute.)

I don't think that I have to explain this one.

Half of the grandfather's room. The only room in the house with a fireplace.

After visiting Hemingway's birthplace, we walked about a block over to the museum. We didn't get to spend much time there, so I don't have too many pictures.

Oh, what age can do.

We ended our day at Lou Malnati's with an early dinner.

We got a smile!

Galesburg Galore & Knox College

With our uber knowledgeable tour guide Rex, we cruised around the town or Galesburg to take in some sites:

We started off in the Museum.

The living room of Carl Sandburg's first house.

To the left is a building that formerly housed one of Carl Sandburg's former workplaces- a firehouse. Even as a young man, Sandburg was dedicated to self education, so his fellow firefighters gave him a place to read and write.

"Maybe Sandburg climbed that tree."

 

 

Below is the second home that Carl Sandburg lived in with his family.

  

PART 2:

Rain, Rain, go away.

Final sights!

To be dedicated on April 30

Farewell, Galesburg!