WHAT'S NEW THIS WEEK?

School has already started or will start soon for many of our children so it's time to grab some coffee and reach for your Zen place inside! I find this time of year -- with the change in schedules, activities, clothing, and more -- to be exhilarating (as in "Whew! The kids aren't around me all the time!") as well as exhausting with all the paperwork to fill out, places to drive kids, and meetings with other parents and educators to attend.

So when I feel myself stressing out and trying to do too much, I pull out my favorite mantra, courtesy Alexandra Stoddard, which is "Slow Down. Calm Down. Don't Worry. Don't Hurry. Trust the Process."

I hope you, too, will slow down and enjoy these waning days of summer!

GO AHEAD, MAKE US LAUGH!

UpStage Theatre is wrapping up their “First Annual Festival of Comedy” this weekend with shows on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21 at 8pm both nights. Featured are four original family comedies from Houston area playwrights, all combined into one night of family fun. This is a great way to support local authors – and at the end, you get to vote for your favorite.

UpStage Theatre is a nonprofit that was founded in 2000 by artistic director Arnold Richie; its first shows were held at the Jewish Community Center of Houston. The organization is dedicated to providing the highest quality, affordable and family friendly theatrical experience for both the young and the young at heart. They perform in Lambert Hall at 1703 Heights Boulevard.

Tickets are $10/each.

“INDIANA JONES” OUTDOORS AND ON THE BIG SCREEN

Grab your bullwhip and swing a monkey over your shoulder and celebrate (or mourn?) the end of summer with screenings of the “Indiana Jones” trilogy at Miller Outdoor Theater. “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” will unspool on Tuesday, August 17, 8:30pm; “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” on Wednesday, August 18, 8:30pm; and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” on Thursday, August 19, 8:30pm.

To get you warmed up, here are some quick trivia facts about “Indiana Jones”:

• After coming back from World War I, Indiana Jones studied archaeology at the University of Chicago under Professor Ravenwood, whose daughter, Marion, became his love interest and his fellow explorer.
  
  
• Indy always traveled with a bullwhip and pistol. He first used them while rescuing the Cross of Coronado from thieves when only a Boy Scout. He got his trademark fedora from one of the thieves.
  
  
• Indy had a Husky dog as a boy, but he hated snakes: he said “Snakes. I hate snakes” when the wrigglers are encountered in “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” in the Well of Souls.
  
  
• Indy learned 27 languages while traveling with his father, Henry Jones, Sr. He hated being called “Junior” by his dad, so he took the name of his favorite dog, “Indiana.”
  
  
• In “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” the cult worshiped the goddess Kali, known as the devourer of time as well as the provider of life energy.

THIS WEEK'S ATTRACTION...MUSEUM OF PRINTING HISTORY. For more attractions, go to www.gishcreative.com/attractions.htm.

We humans have been expressing ourselves since 3,000 BC, when the Mesopotamians began scribbling shopping lists on clay tablets! Professional printing was said to have been born in the 1100s when the Chinese printed the first map and it was later revolutionized worldwide when, in around 1440 AD, a German named Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, his most well known project being the Gutenberg Bible. Kids can learn more about communication history at the Museum of Printing History, home to permanent exhibits that narrate the story of written communication and the ways in which the technologies of printing have transformed our lives. Their galleries trace significant developments from ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets, to the Chinese invention of movable type, to Johann Gutenberg's printing press. You can also arrange a tour in which you’ll get to see a sheet of the Gutenberg Bible pulled just as it was in 1455; watch the Declaration of Independence printed on a 19th-century iron handpress; view colonial documents, including a Pennsylvania Gazette printed by Ben Franklin in 1765; and read eyewitness accounts of the struggle for Texas independence, told from both sides of the events.

The Museum features artifacts such as Mesopotamian cylinder seals, ancient papyrus fragments, Asian movable type & early Asian printing, a 1450 Gutenberg Press Replica, an 1830 Star-wheel Oak Lithography Press, and much more. There are four working galleries with vintage equipment as well as rotating exhibitions highlighting fine art prints, rare books, and artifacts and educational and entertaining programs, lectures, and special events (this summer, they ran children’s weekday camps!). Current exhibitions are “Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom” (on view through August 28), "Oasis: WIVLA Print and Photography Show" (on view through August 28) and “Craig W. Jensen: Master of Fine Edition Binding” (on view through September 18). Their annual Gala is Friday, September 24 at the Hotel ZaZa, so putting on your dancing shoes for printing and support them!

The Museum is located at 1324 Clay Street and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am-5pm. Admission is free for self-guided tours and $4/adults and $2/students and seniors for pre-arranged guided tours (contact Rose Watts at 713.522.652, ext. 203 to schedule your guided tour).

RESCUE YOUR CHILDREN FROM COMMERCIALS.

A GISH PICKS reader told me about the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, so I'm pleased to share this information with you. The organization is a national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups, parents, and individuals who care about children. A project of Third Sector New England in Boston, CCFC is the only national organization devoted to limiting the impact of commercial culture on children. CCFC’s staff and Steering Committee are activists, authors, and leading experts on the impact of media and marketing on children. Most of them are also parents. CCFC’s mission is to reclaim childhood from corporate marketers. A marketing-driven media culture sells children on behaviors and values driven by the need to promote profit rather than the public good. The commercialization of childhood is the link between many of the most serious problems facing children, and society, today. Childhood obesity, eating disorders, youth violence, sexualization, family stress, underage alcohol and tobacco use, rampant materialism, and the erosion of children’s creative play, are all exacerbated by advertising and marketing. When children adopt the values that dominate commercial culture—dependence on the things we buy for life satisfaction, a “me first” attitude, conformity, impulse buying, and unthinking brand loyalty—the health of democracy and sustainability of our planet are threatened. CCFC works for the rights of children to grow up—and the freedom for parents to raise them—without being undermined by commercial interests. Check out their website for ways to get involved.

Sarah Gish
Gish Creative
1940-A Fountainview, PMB 116
Houston, Texas 77057
phone/fax: 713.482.7065

email: sarah@gishcreative.com
web: www.gishcreative.com
and: www.thesummerbook.com
and: www.saveourlandmarks.org

© 2010 Sarah Gish

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