Published: March 21, 2007 11:04 am      

Spring Break offers time to get away

Byng, like most other schools in the area, is on Spring Break. Unlike some breaks in the past, this one promises nice weather if the forecasters have their analyses correct with a great deal of much-needed rain. Actually, the week or 10 days before the official break have been colorful and pleasant.

The first half of March has been a blue and gold time. Blues have ranged from the pale blue of forget-me-nots and miniature violets that carpet the fields at my house to the deeper blue of the grape hyacinths that are almost as plentiful as wild flowers. The gold is banked in forsythia bushes and in beds of jonquils and narcissus (or narcissi if we are going to be elegantly plural) as well as in the pretty but pesky dandelion that is also prevalent on the Milligan homestead. Pear trees, both fruited and ornamental, are heavy with blossoms, but I hear many complaining that the ornamental Bradford pear has a repugnant odor this year.

It’s an ideal time for a quick get-away for lots of people. We have enjoyed house guests ourselves. Our granddaughter, Dawna Michele “Chele” Milligan, and Tom Reeves came Thursday for a long weekend visit. Both are from Baltimore, Md. She is associate director of the Career Center at Johns Hopkins University, and he is associated with Bank of America. They were delighted to be out of the eastern United States when it got a spring snowstorm. Tom, in his first trip to Oklahoma, declared his visit as “very peaceful with wonderful weather.”

On Saturday and Sunday we had Pete and Carlin Haydue of Dallas. Carlin and Chele have been friends since they were students at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Both Chele and Carlin lived and worked in Dallas for several years after college, but since Chele moved to Baltimore three and a half years ago, they have not been able to get together as frequently as they would have liked. They came to Ada for a two-day visit with Chele and Tom.

Abby and Richard Barron, Chele’s folks, joined forces with me in hosting. Everybody slept at my house, but we mostly ate at the Barrons. It was definitely a fun weekend.

Speaking of Dallas, Bette and Vestel Cole are occasional visitors there at the home of her brother and sister-in-law, D.K. and Jean Davis. They told me about their recent attendance at a macabre but very interesting sounding exhibit called Body World at Dallas’ Museum of Art and Science.

Bette says, “My brother had wanted us to come to Dallas since January to view this particular exhibit, but we couldn’t get away until March. D.K.’s daughter and her husband had seen Body World in Denver last fall, and they recommended it highly.

“I was not so sure I wanted to see it, but when D.K sent me some brochures, I agreed to go. I’m so glad I did, for it was absolutely awesome. It gave me a new appreciation for the beauty and the complexities of the human body and for its Creator.”

Body World uses more than 200 bodies or parts of human bodies that once were alive. A process called Plastination allows the anatomical specimen to be placed in lifelike poses that illustrate body structure and function in everyday activities. The process takes the human body in the brief time between death and onset of decay. All bodily fluids and fat are extracted and are replaced with vacuum-forced reactive resins and elastomers. Light, heat, or certain gases are used to “cure” the specimen and give them rigidity and permanence.

The whole-body specimen reveal bones, muscles, tendons, nerves, blood vessels and organs. Red dye injected into the blood vessels provide an accurate view of the circulatory system. A pair of ice skaters is one of the most beautiful exhibits, and a basketball player looks as if he is about to throw the ball through the hoop. A horse and rider display the inventor’s latest emphasis on including large animals as well as his human plastinates. He has already done a gorilla and a camel and is working on a giraffe and an elephant.

A separate section of the exhibition highlights prenatal development and includes embryos, fetuses and a pregnant woman. Visitors can choose whether or not to view this area. Vestel said that this display of a full-term pregnancy was one that he found “disturbing.”

The specimen come from voluntary body donors who agreed, that upon their death, their bodies could be used for educational purposes.

Dr. Gunther von Hagens of Germany is the creator of this exhibit that was viewed for eight years in Europe and Japan before it was brought to the U.S. Von Hagens said, “Americans are more prudish than Europeans, so I waited until I was invited before bringing them to America.”

He has a list of more than 3,000 people, mostly Germans, who have signed an agreement to have their bodies plastinated when they die. He sends them an annual newsletter and holds a meeting with them every two years. He says he has more of an emotional attachment to the more than 200 specimen than he would have for constructed objects.

The exhibit is recommended for school field trips. Advanced registration is required with one chaperone for every 10 students. Groups are admitted at 15 minute intervals to keep progress quiet and orderly. The Coles say that several school groups were present, and upper elementary as well as secondary students seemed as awe-stricken and reverential as the adults were.

Not all the specimen are full body displays. Many times a healthy organ is displayed beside that of a diseased organ. All specimen are accompanied by a written description, and audio tours are available. The guide mentions that the display of a smoker’s lungs contrasted with that of a non-smoker has caused many long-time smokers to give up cigarettes.

Body World arrived at the Dallas museum Dec 9, 2006, and will remain until May 28, 2007.

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Winifred Poag was back in church Sunday after a five-week absence during which she underwent successful hip replacement while visiting at the home of her daughter in North Carolina. She had undergone her first hip replacement about three years ago, and she had very positive feelings about the second. She was a little disappointed that the surgeon for the most recent operation did not include swimming as a part of her rehabilitation, saying “that is not the way we do it now.” She looked forward to getting back to swimming at ECU but got in only one swim last week before the pool closed for Sring Break. She had prevailed upon the Chickasaws to allow her to get in some rehabilitative swims in their pool this week. Wlecome home, Winnie.

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Frances Phillips has been on a regular rollercoaster with pain for the past two weeks. Severe pain brought her to the emergency room at Valley View where she stayed for four days and underwent heart cauterization that showed some blockage. She was transferred to the Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City, but the decision was that diet and exercise could control the problem for perhaps 10 years. Meanwhile, the severe pain continued so she was sent to a G.I. specialist. She will confer with him again in early April at which time he will check her esophagus. The pain is not quite so severe now, a change that she attributes to prayer on the part of many of her friends and classmates. Frances is a secretary at Byng School, and she is hoping to be able to return to work next week.