Art All Night's call to volunteers and artists

We will be there again. 

CALL FOR ARTISTS AND VOLUNTEERS 

The 20th annual Art All Night will be held April 29th - April 30th, 2017. This year we have a new location, 85 36th Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh PA. The show will be open to the public from 4 p.m. Saturday all night long until 2 p.m. Sunday. View art, hear music, create art, meet friends, enjoy beverages and make memories "All Night" long!

We invite you to submit one (and only one) piece of artwork during this one-of-a-kind neighborhood event attended by over 15,000 people each year. Artist registration instructions are available at www.artallnight.org where you can use the online registration system anytime. We HIGHLY recommend registering online as registration lines at the event can get long. Artists submitting art pieces must show a photo ID during both registration and pick up. 
All artwork must arrive READY TO HANG or be displayed. Wall mounted pieces must be ready to hang from a nail(s). A limited number of clips will be available for unframed artwork. Registration is Saturday April 29th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m sharp. We do not accept any artwork after 2 p.m. Pick up is Sunday April 30th, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. 

Volunteers - We need everyone to help with this wonderful event by volunteering. Shifts are as short as 2 hours and we need YOU. Your help is the only way the show goes on and the only way it continues. Please help us put on one of Pittsburgh's great events. Check out the volunteer section of the website www.artallnight.org. 

Build out is Saturday April 8th, 15th and 22nd from 10am to 2pm at the warehouse, 85 36th Street in Lawrenceville. Please bring a ladder and screw gun and help assemble panels.
Video artists - Have you produced a short film, video or animation? Would you like to show off your work at Art All Night this year? The 2017 Video Lounge will feature a revolving playlist of short films by creative artists from around the area. If you have worked on a video or film production, we are looking for a sample of you work. Not your demo reel or product ad; but an example of an actual original production. Whether animated characters or live actors, sound or silent, comedy or drama, documentary or completely abstract, film or video; as long as you can deliver it to us in a digital format, we can add it to our revolving playlist.

Submissions will be included in a playlist running in a continuous loop at the site cinema. Sign up below and deliver your entry in a digital format to Art All Night via mail, appointment or download. The last day for video submissions will be Monday, April 24th.

Mosaic artists - We will again be creating mosaic and glass pieces on-site that will be auctioned off to help support the show. Check out the website for more details.
Art All Night... No fee. No jury. No censorship. 412-235-1950 

Catherine to tell a story at the church youth groups COA (Coming Of Age) coffee house on Saturday, March 11.

Screenagers

Fwd: Worthwhile presentation

---------- Forwarded message

The Summer King: The Josh Gibson Story

Thursday, February 23rd

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Steel Valley High School Auditorium

3113 Main St, Munhall, PA 15120

The very first world premiere in Pittsburgh Opera's distinguished 78 year history hits close to home.  The Summer King tells the story of baseball legend Josh Gibson. Josh went from the sandlots of Pittsburgh's North Side to the pinnacle of greatness in the Negro Leagues, before ultimately being enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Join the The Josh Gibson Foundation, Pittsburgh Opera, The Battle of Homestead Foundation, and Steel Valley School District on Thursday, February 23, 2017, 7:00 PM, for a preview community event at the Steel Valley High School Auditorium featuring some of the cast, a few local pro athletes and a program about Homestead's role in fostering the Negro Leagues and stars like Hall of Famer Josh Gibson.

John

Christmas Letter, December 2016

Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season, of course…

I hope your year has been full of people responding to you with “of course.” The world needs more people saying “…of course”. Whether it is “of course you are welcome here” or “of course I’ll help”. Even “yes” isn’t as good as “of course”. “Yes” means it could have been “no” – of course means there was never any question.

The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that the phrase “of course” first appeared in the mid-1500s and was used to mean "belonging to the ordinary procedure; customary; natural." The use of "of course" within the phrase "as a matter of course" appeared in the 1700s and had the same meaning. The use of "of course" as a standalone phrase emerged in the 1800s when the definition, "customary; natural," was modified slightly to become, "naturally; obviously."

I have been reflecting on how blessed we are with so many friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers who respond to our spoken and unspoken requests with “of course.” When Erik (now 22), landed an internship with Strategy& (division of PriceWaterhouseCoopers) this past summer in San Francisco, it was the Bratt family who said, “Of course, he’ll live with us.” The summer was wonderful. Erik is now mid-senior year at Swarthmore College and has accepted a position upon graduation with Boston Consulting Group and will be living in Philadelphia.

Grant headed for an internship at the University of South Dakota in June and the Jorgensen family said, “Of course, Grant can stay in our home.” And when Grant decided to head for New Orleans to attend Tulane University, friends in that area all responded with, of course, we are just a phone call away if he needs anything. Grant approached first semester freshman year with his own “of course” attitude and made his way into a biochemistry lab. This research and community of researchers has become a focus of Grant’s freshman year.

Mark rarely is met with “of course” in his quest for innovative and additional aquatic programming for inner-city youth. But, he continues to fight back with “of course we’ll use the pool, have programming on weekends, and welcome all ages.” Mark ignores obstacles and is now running more programming and positively impacting more lives than ever.

At work, I have had an exciting year of expanding services with the focus that treating hearing loss can improve health outcomes. I am so thankful for a group of colleagues around me who respond to these ideas with, “Of course we’ll figure out how to make this work, and find the resources, time, and expertise to do all of this.” And, of course, I enjoyed telling Main Stage stories for The Moth in New York and Pittsburgh this year.

We hope you hear “of course” throughout 2017, and we hope you’ll think of responding with this phrase so people know there was never any doubt that you would help them, cheer them on, include them…and, of course, we wish you and yours health and happiness in 2017!

Catherine Palmer and Mark Rauterkus
108 South 12th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Obama Academy Varsity Swim Calendar

Tips:

When in doubt, call. Coach Mark is 412-298-3432. Okay to text, but the text messages are not seen as quickly.

You can bookmark this page, or get the google calendar to work with your set up on your phone and computer. Subscribe to it.

Another google calendar is the one at CLOH.org.

Pittsburgh and North Allegheny Water Polo Squads meet up on Sunday afternoon

City middle school water polo confab with North Allegheny Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

Let's fund Water Polo as a sport at Obama

See my expanded comments to the school board and superintendent asking for help to expand water polo at Obama. Talks of one possible next step for sport reform.

http://cloh.org/wp/archives/596

You are invited: Saturday Swim School at Oliver High School, 2323 Brighton Road, Pgh 15212

First Water Polo Game scheduled: Sunday October 23, 2016

Are you ready for some water polo? We'll go to North Allegheny on October 23, 2016.

Our teams of middle school water polo players are getting ready for the first real games. We've called our team, "Pittsburgh Combined" in the past. In 2016-17 we've got players from Manchester Academic Charter School, where we play two days a week for boys and another two days a week for girls. Plus, we have been playing at Pittsburgh Obama, co-ed, on Mondays and Fridays; Arsenal, co-ed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our Saturday Swim School can help with water polo practices. Kids from The Pittsburgh Project can join in too. Plus, we've got our 2016 Summer Dreamers who had 27 days of water polo in July and August as well.

If you want your kid to attend, email to Mark@Rauterkus.com, or call, 412-298-3432.

We want to car-pool from Pittsburgh with departing times at noon and arrival to North Allegheny Senior High School, on Rt. 19, at 12:45 pm on October 23, 2016.

Hiring the new PPS Superintendent

Hi PPS Board Members.

I have been following this noise about the hiring of Dr. Anthony Hamlet as close as possible and have some suggestions. STICK TO YOUR prior DECISION.

Sure, a storm has come. Blame goes here and there in bits, but golly. Plug ahead.

I feel that saboteurs are trying to derail elected school boards and are trying to damage Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The board voted 9-0 to hire the guy. To change your views now would spoil the desire for others to seek the job. None would want to deal with the mess in this wake, plus deal with a fickle board, nor confront the wire-pulling and outside influence from beyond the school board.

IMHO, two of those claims are bogus fabrications. An open source approach of wikipedia on a definition of terms is desired and should not be original.

There should be some repercussions and remedies. I have made some solution suggestions. Follow my Facebook page and http://Rauterkus.blogspot.com.

Triple his probation period.

Seek a partial refund from the consultant.

Allow for a super MINORITY to terminate his contract within the probation period.

Work harder.

+ +

Final two points:

#1: I volunteer to stand with you or stand alone and talk to the media, the citizens. other politicians, union leaders or anyone else on this topic.

#2: Furthermore, Let's begin again with sports reform, something that did NOT resonate with Dr. Linda Lane, sadly. Teaching our kids how to play well with others isn't an expensive proposition, and it is a great investment if done well. I volunteer to help to re-think the issues with PPS. System-wide athletics, sports, after-school recreation, swimming, student leadership with jobs and after-school technology have pressing issues. The city can't wait to get started on the heavy lifting on those fronts.

Good luck.

Mothers Day Weekend Radio Show -- Catherine Palmer tells of her mom moments

My wife's photo is on the front page of The Moth, http://www.TheMoth.org.

Listen to her story. It blends parenting, school music concerts and swim meet cheering into her story when the theme was blundering.

Link to the entire NPR show. Catherine's story is second, in at a 6:05 mark.

Time to apply for Learn & Earn, City & County's Youth Summer Job Program

Learn-and-Earn sign-up page: https://summerjobs.force.com/CommunitiesSelfReg

Log in page, for those who have already created an account and signed in the past. https://summerjobs.force.com/login

Video hype:


Workforce Investment Board web site. http://www.trwib.org/learnandearn/

The second part of this video shows kids in a tech role, helping to make video games about "professional soft skills."



I'd love to see those outcomes. Where are the games? Can they be shared? Are they valuable?

This is the type of support some in PPS give to PPS Summer Dreamers

In spring 2016, I put in a pool permit to get ready for Summer Dreamers so that our summer staff can work with the existing kids at Obama at the pool -- and work with a renewal of swim skills with the kids I coached in past years as part of PPS Summer Dreamers. 

The permit was denied. The denial says, "NO SUMMER DREAMER STUFF."

I wanted to have ONE practice on Wednesdays from April to June. 

Go figure.

Futhermore, in future years this permit would be considered a blessing -- because there is an ANSWER. MOST of the time, interactions with PPS administrators have no replies. Silence. 

Catherine Palmer's story on national radio broadcast --> Good news and bad news.

Catherine's story now has its own page.

http://themoth.org/posts/stories/good-news-bad-news

But, the problem is that her LAST story, The Toast, is now missing from the site, sadly.

Gotta listen. Only 5-mintues long.

Starting our day at the crack of dawn. I.B. kids can handle the tough "why questions."

Enjoy this little film:



Share it and let me know what you think.

Show Up: The AM Swim Video

Highly competitive swimming helps with school attendance. Don't punish nor eliminate the positive aspects of sports. Rather, promote, facilitate and replicate.

Our swim team t-shirt slogan: “Winning Formula: Show up + Score more points.” Showing up matters. This United Way funded PR blitz with PPS stresses school attendance. Swimmers understand that message and live it.

On many mornings in the past years, 25+ students arrived at the school for 6 AM swim practices. In recent years, the Obama Swim Team has held 6 AM practices every school day (if no 2-hour delay). The 6 am practices often span into the fall and spring too.

At 7:15 am, as swim practice ends, swimmers are at the school. They are present, clean and ready to fuel their bodies and brains. Kids attending AM practice are not tardy for school.

Kids in quality, competitive programs understand that 6 am practices are essential. Champions understand the sacrifices and hard work are worthy. AM swim practices don't happen every where, as not all the teams are doing all they can.

One school day distinction between swimmers and other athletes are AM practices. Many college teams in other sports hold AM practices for their athletes. It would be great to have open gym and weight lifting times at 6 am for students, before school, more often at PPS. Perhaps with the Olympic Sports Division and efforts of PPS H2O, the early bird practices can be with more students, not only swimmers.

Safe Sport

IB and College Credit insights

In 2015 - 2016, various colleges had various policies concerning IB course ACCEPTANCE for college credit. The kids at Pittsburgh Obama Academy in Pittsburgh Public Schools got these insights from their teacher, Mr. Ehman, the IB Coordinator and Film teacher at the school. He researched the schools based upon an expressed interest from the rising seniors. 

This complied list has the college name and what is offered to incoming freshmen in terms of college credits that is earned in high school. Do reconfirm this information.

ALLEGHENY:

Students may receive credit for a maximum of 20 semester credit hours (five courses). HL offerings 5,6,7 must submit to the school to determine credits.

BOSTON COLLEGE:

Each score of 6 or 7 on Higher Level Exams will earn advanced placement units and will generally satisfy a core requirement.

Film, Music, Theatre, Vis Arts = 3 credits

History = 6 credits

English = 6 credits

Spanish, French, German, Japanese HL = 6 credits

BOSTON UNIVERSITY:

Scores of 5,6, and 7 will earn 8 credits for the following IB areas.

Theater, Foreign Languages, History, Visual Arts, English

BROWN:

One or two Brown courses for a grade of 5 or 6 or higher, depending on the department.

History, English, Foreign Languages, Students must contact the school for all other HL courses.

BUCKNELL:

IB diploma recipients, with a minimum score of 5 on each of the six subject examinations, will be awarded six course credits toward their degree requirements at Bucknell. Diploma recipients who do not meet the minimum score requirements will receive course credit for only those higher level courses passed with a score of 5 or higher. IB Certificates students (non-diploma) will receive course credits for each higher level course passed with an examination score of 5 or higher. No credit is awarded for standard-level courses except as noted for IB Diploma recipients.

CAL BERKELEY:

Higher Level Exams ONLY. Passing scores of 5,6,7...

Film, History, Music, Theater, Vis Arts, English, Foreign Languages

CASE WESTERN RESERVE:

Case Western offers course credit for scores of 5,6,7 for MOST HIGHER LEVEL EXAMINATIONS.

CHATHAM UNIVERSITY:

Contact Chatham as Credits are awarded in a case by case basis.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO:

Credit earned for courses in the IB Programme may be applied to certain general education requirements or to electives as described. Course credit is only granted for grades of 6 or 7 on Higher-Level IB Exams.

CLEMSON:
IB graduates who score well on their higher level exams will be awarded credit. Include your IB Candidate # when applying to Clemson. Scores of 4,5,6,and 7 will be awarded credits.

English, Film, Foreign Language, History, Music, Theatre, Vis Arts.

COLUMBIA:

Columbia awards transfer credit only for exams taken at Higher Level. Students receive the equivalent of one year of credit (usually 6 points) for any Higher Level exam on which they receive a 6 or 7.

CONNECTICUT:

Students must have earned the IB DIPLOMA to be considered for credits. HL exams only, scores of 5,6,7. Credits will be automatically awarded for English & History. Credits may be awarded in a case by case basis.

DENVER:

The University of Denver offers college credit for students who have taken and scored well on International Baccalaureate Higher Level Exams. A maximum of 45 credit hours can be awarded. Scores of 4,5,6, and 7 will be considered.

DICKINSON:

Students who have taken International Baccalaureate courses will be granted general college credit for HL IB exams in which they achieve grades of 5 or better. The registrar can review credits for fulfillment of graduation requirements.

DREXEL:

Drexel University awards advanced standing and or credit to students who have achieved superior performance on International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examinations. Standard Level Exams are not considered. Scores of 6 or 7 are accepted for the following IB courses English, History.

DUQUESNE:

Duquesne University may award academic credits to students completing the diploma with a total score of 30 or above. Credits will be awarded at the discretion of a Duquesne University academic advisor.

Students who do not complete the IB diploma are able to receive advanced standing credit for IB HL subjects with scores of 5, 6, or 7. IB standard level scores of 6 or 7 will be accepted in foreign languages for a maximum of eight semester hours per language.

No credit will be given for other standard level courses.

ELON:

Credit awarded for Higher Level Examinations only... Score of 5 or above for Film, History, Language A, Language B, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts (You will earn 4 semester hours for each)

EMORY:

We will award three semester hours of college credit for scores of five, six, or seven on the higher level International Baccalaureate examinations in the subject areas offered in Emory College of Arts and Sciences.

Emory college of arts and sciences does not grant credit for the HL Visual Arts IB Exam.

Hooking Pittsburgh into some swimming and water polo this week, month and season

Hi Friends,

Join us for some swimming and water polo this summer with some expanding opportunities.

See the Google Calendar link at http://CLOH.org.


10:30 am Mondays, West Penn Rec Center outdoor pool, Polish Hill.
The Garfield Gators (boys & girls) are there too!

6-7:30 pm Mondays, Northside's Sue Murray Swim Pool

11 am to noon, Tuesdays, Citiparks Sheridan's outdoor swim pool with some Learn & Earn youth workers. This is a short walk from Langley HS.

6-7:30 pm Tuesdays, adult masters players gather for water polo in the deep end at Mt. Washington's Ream outdoor pool. Kid's play in the shallow end.

10:30 am Wednesdays, West Penn Rec Center, again.

6-7:30 pm Wednesdays, Northside's Sue Murray again.

11 am to noon Thursdays, Sheridan, again.

6-7:30 pm Thursdays, Mt. Washington's Ream pool.

Friday 5-8 pm at Hill District's Thelma Lovette YMCA indoor pool.

All outdoor sessions are weather permitting. These are casual, drop-in sessions where rookies and volunteers are most welcome.

We hope to sustain these practices throughout August and then transfer them to the Obama Academy pool as we're starting a varsity water polo team for the high school boys and girls. Plus, many other city and area high school principals have gotten letters that invite them to join a sport-team coop so that their students can participate on our scholastic water polo squad(s). The first to opt-in, Seaton LaSalle High School. Welcome.

Sadly, the pledge for the Pittsburgh Promise shrunk by $10,000 for city kids this week. In my humble opinion, we need to get our city kids better sports and fitness opportunities so many more can be RECRUITED into colleges. The sports background is attractive in college applications as it teaches discipline, goal-setting and teamwork. At Summer Dreamers we're working on backstroke, plus gaining respect for ourselves, our mates, our surroundings and playing well with others.

Stay cool at the pool and hope you and yours are safe throughout the summer!


--
Ta.


Mark Rauterkus Mark@Rauterkus.com
PPS Summer Dreamers' Swim & Water Polo Camp Executive Coach
Varsity Boys Swim Coach, Pittsburgh Obama Academy
Recent Head Water Polo Coach, Carnegie Mellon University Women's Club Team
Pittsburgh Combined Water Polo Team

http://CLOH.org

412 298 3432 = cell

Phone message script

This is Coach Mark with Summer Dreamers water polo.

I'm calling to the homes of the students who are with us at Camp Langley with Summer Dreamers.

Housekeeping first: Thanks for taking this call. If nobody at this phone number has any kids in our water polo program – I appoligize for the call and if you PRESS #1 on your phone, I'll kindly remove this phone # from this summer's call list.

Good news: At camp, we are making progress. Most have made great strides in fitness, running and swimming.

Bad news: Some of the behaviors with some of the students at the pool, in the locker areas and especially at transition times have been making un-necessary burdens to other students, the staff and even the lifeguards. I'm heartbroken to see some of the kids fighting. Camp behaviors need to improve or else we run the risk of getting expelled from taking our squads to the pools.

Guardians, please take a moment to talk about good behaviors within the activities and throughout the school day. We are stressing LISTENING, playing well with others and good sportsmanship.

Extra news: The Liberty Mile is approaching. Plus, we have EVENING swim sessions and will be holding extra practices AFTER Summer Dreamers ends. Come for a swim on the Northside on Mondays and Wednesdays, or Mt. Washington on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the Hill District YMCA on Fridays. We need all the paperwork for the race entry right away. A new handout is expected to be sent home tomorrow.