Dorothy was right – there’s no place like Kansas!

Last night we watched a huge thunderstorm move toward us over a period of three hours as we drove toward the Missouri-Kansas border. I could not believe the amount and size of lightening bolts – at one point if felt like we were stuck in a strobe light. When the storm finally hit, bringing with it intense rain, we decided to stop for the night at a hotel outside of Kansas City.

Our first stop this morning was at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka. Housed in the former Monroe Elementary School, the exhibit features excellent information about the history of segregation in America, and the struggle to attain equality for all students in our public schools. I was very impressed – the artifacts and information were beautifully displayed, and I enjoyed the series of films shown in the old school auditorium. Everyone should go to this National Historic Park – it was one of the best I have been to yet!

The visit got me thinking – these days we are so desperate to make sure there is “No Child Left Behind” in our country, yet the evidence glaringly proves that so many of our urban students are absolutely being left in the dust of their more affluent peers whose parents can afford private tutoring and test preparation courses. I think of where I teach – 42 languages can be heard within our hallways, as the 3,500 high school students who attend this urban, inner-city school represent a myriad mix of races, socio-economic classes, religions and cultures. We are failing to meet the needs of the students who need the most help, punishing the schools who face the most daunting odds rather than providing intensive support and resources. I would argue that separate but equal is still echoed in the hallways of our public inner-city schools… we must continue to strive for equality in educational resources for ALL of our students.

After our sobering tour, we had lunch in the playground at a park near the school. We knew the day was going to be a long one, so we wanted to give Addie time to crawl around and play outside. On our way across Kansas, we saw lots of corn, fields, and oil drills. We also spotted a corn field being burned by farmers, so we made a quick stop at the side of the road so I could snap some pictures.

We traveled through the fields and rolling plains of Kansas, eventually stopping at St. John’s Catholic Church in Beloit. Made of local limestone in 1899, the church claims to be the “first church in the U.S. built with flying buttresses and a ceiling made entirely of stone.” I am not sure how true that is, but the church itself was beautiful. We didn’t stay long because we had an even more important stop to make…

… the World’s Largest Ball of Twine!

Inspired by a comment on the blog by our dear friend Alexa, we knew we had to make a quick stop in Cawker City. It was everything you could have hoped for in a huge ball of twine, which is not much. I think the twine ball is the only thing the city has going for it – the rest of the place looked like a run down, deserted gold-rush town.

A bit depressing, so we pressed on to Colorado. We made it to Pueblo after passing through even more intense lightening than last night. We are hunkered down in a hotel for the night, with a plan for an early start tomorrow.