Views and Mechanics Publisher's Note Memories of the Body Broken Review of Ambition Is Not a Dirty Word Review of The Blood of Flowers Review of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming Review of The Poet Laureate of People Who Hate Poetry Creative Nonfiction My Boo Radley By Rebecca Ward A Walk in the Park By Madonna Dries Christensen Poetry Hearts and Diamonds By Andrena Zawinski It Was Then I Kissed Her By Andrena Zawinski In By Andrena Zawinski Death of Word By Tony Brown Fiction Being Caught Up With My Ego By David Landrum A Voice In My Head Screamed By J. A. Tyler About the Contributors © 2008, River Walk Journal and respective authors and artists. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission. River Walk Journal, Inc. Board of Directors Chairman - Elizabeth Ross Vice Chairman - Joseph Koch Secretary/Treasurer - Geri Stock-Ross Editorial Director - Patti Kurtz, DA Literacy Director - Kenneth Weiss, Ed.D Policy Director - PA State Rep. Jess Stairs Advisory Board Chairman - Patti Kurtz, DA Asst. Chairman - Dan Lachenman, PhD Samuel Hazo Christopher Leland Edwin Yoder Joseph Bathanti Journal Staff Publisher - Elizabeth Ross Editor-In-Chief - Joseph Koch Senior Editor - Patti Kurtz Editor - Elizabeth Murray Copyeditor - Kathy Skaggs Publicity Director (PA) - Geri Stock-Ross For information about submissions, visit http://www.riverwalkjournal.org/subs.html. Questions about promotions, subscribers' services, and advertising should be sent to publisher@riverwalkjournal.org. River Walk Journal, Inc. is a non-profit corporation run entirely by volunteers. For information about volunteer opportunities and internships, visit VolunteerMatch. |
A Walk in the Park By Madonna Dries Christensen How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it’s the pleasantest thing, Ever a child can do. ~~ Robert Louis Stevenson For most children, tackling playground equipment is a birthright––as easy as a walk in the park. Toddlers quickly learn to scale ladders and stream down slides. They shinny up poles, propel themselves in swings, dangle from monkey bars, and navigate jungle gyms with a Tarzan-like ease. But for children who use wheelchairs or walkers, visiting a playground can be a lesson in failure and frustration. Benched at the sidelines, these youngsters are spectators rather than players. Now, the playing field is being leveled. The National Center for Boundless Playgrounds, headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut, assists communities in building safe and fun environments where children with disabilities can romp alongside their fully-mobile siblings, friends, parents and grandparents. Boundless Playgrounds was founded in 1997 by Amy Jaffe Barzach and Jean Schappet, an educator, designer, and Certified Playground Safety Inspector. Their goal is to stimulate physical, mental, cognitive, and social development for children of all ages and abilities. They believe that, “Play is both a fundamental joy and an important learning opportunity for children. When children with disabilities are prevented from engaging in play activities that their peers without disabilities have access to, they become further disadvantaged.” The idea for this revolutionary playground design sprang to life through a young couple’s grief. One summer day in 1995, Amy and Peter Barzach took their three-year-old son, Daniel, and his infant brother, Jonathan, to a playground near their home in West Hartford, Connecticut. Amy noticed a young girl in a wheelchair watching with tears in her eyes while the other children played. Amy sympathized with the child and her exclusion from activity. A few months later the couple had their own sorrow to bear. Jonathan was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare, degenerative neuromuscular disease, and died at age nine-months. At a counselor’s suggestion, the Barzachs focused their grief on doing something in memory of Jonathan. Recalling the girl at the playground, they envisioned a place where children of all ages and abilities could play together. It took a year and a half to raise the $350,000 needed to develop the project and to muster the army of volunteers to build it. Designed by Learning Structures of New Hampshire, the 25,000-square-foot playground is called Jonathan's Dream. After a small piece in Time magazine generated national interest, Boundless Playgrounds was formed in response to hundreds of inquiries. Contributions from individual donors and corporate sponsors fueled the program’s growth. Hasbro Children’s Foundation launched an education campaign and assisted with 24 community playground projects. In Michigan, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation provided money for the Able To Play project, which developed 20 play environments throughout the state. Today, there are more than 100 Boundless Playgrounds in the US and Canada, with more in development. Typical of these arenas is one made possible by a donation from 90-year-old Adele Lebowitz. Mrs. Lebowitz, whose husband founded Morton’s Department Stores in the Washington DC area, could have netted millions by selling her 18-acre estate in Fairfax County Virginia to housing developers. Instead, she donated the land for use as a playground and park. Her one stipulation; the area must be accessible to all children; a place where children with physical and mental challenges would feel less restricted. Its name, Clemyjontri, is derived from the names of her four children. The remainder of the land is being developed into easy-access trails and gardens. Upon Mrs. Lebowitz’s death, her home will become a community center. For now, she’s near enough to watch children scamper about in the whimsical 2-acre park. Some of the special features at Clemyjontri and at other barrier-free playgrounds are: * Swings with high backs and fronts, arm rests and other safety features * Rubberized flooring instead of mulch so wheelchairs and strollers move easily * Ramps to upper levels and to a tree house * Raised sandboxes * A climbable rainbow * Lowered monkey bars so children in wheelchairs can exercise their upper bodies * A drag strip for wheelchairs and walkers * Quiet spaces for children with autism * Activity walls designed to stimulate those who are visually or hearing impaired or those with sensory or developmental difficulties * A wheelchair accessible maze of games * Themed rooms with activities for using sign language and Braille * Movin’ and groovin’ via model cars, helicopters, airplanes and fire engines * A carousel * Soft blocks that produce noises when stepped on * All manner of gizmos, thing-a-ma-jigs, doohickeys, and kaborkies that would please the Masters of Silly, Rube Goldberg and Dr. Seuss These innovative play areas have blessed children with unencumbered strides in the right direction. They are a boon, too, for parents with mobility problems. Adults in wheelchairs or using walkers can be close at hand when a child calls, “Hey, Dad; watch me. Look what I can do.” At the dedication of Jonathan’s Dream, his mother, Amy Jaffe Barzach, said, “It was an electrifying moment when I saw the first child in a wheelchair roll up to a swing and squeal with delight as if he were flying.” Close your eyes and imagine the smile on a child’s face when she discovers for the first time that going up, up in a swing, is the pleasantest thing, ever a child can do. *Previously appeared in Long Story Short. |