Have children write reverse Santa Letter

by Rockin' Eco Hero - Steve Trash 

Parents – got a house full of kids? Consider giving this “home school” assignment to them.

It works on MANY different levels. It’s a writing, drawing, spelling, art, empathy, civics, social studies, science, research assignment, all rolled into one. Have the kids write and send a “reverse Santa letter.”

Instead of asking Santa for something, they can give something instead.

In this case, it’s a letter of appreciation to a hospital medical staff. Your amazing kid can research, write, edit, draw, address, stamp and then mail a letter of love and appreciation to medical professionals who are on the front lines of the current pandemic.

It’s rough out there right now, and it’s only going to get worse. They need encouragement. They need love. They need us to let them know we support them and love them, and we have their backs.

Doctors, nurses, medical techs and even the custodians and cafeteria workers are seriously in the middle of it right now, and everyone on the front lines will appreciate love from the kids who are thinking about them.

Choose a hometown hospital or send your letters and drawings to a hospital in one of the cities in the USA – we’re all Americans – that have been hardest hit, like NYC, LA, New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit.

My suggestion is to address it this way:

Name of Hospital

Attention: Medical Heroes

Address

City, State

Zip Code

Kids might consider using phrases like, “Thank you heroes” or “You totally rock” or “You are my hero.” Other suggestions might be “You are brave,” “We love you,” “I love you” and “Thank you.”

Your kids can draw pictures of appreciation, write words of thanks, cut and paste their gratitude – whatever. Just let your kid show appreciation and support for the courage our friends all across America are showing.

Be sure to have your child sign it but only use their first name. That’s enough.

Then go mail that “care package.” Do it today. You’ll be glad you did.

by Rockin' Eco Hero - Steve Trash 

Baseball has been good to me

by Rockin' Eco Hero - Steve Trash

I've loved baseball ever since I was a kid. It's in my blood.

It's in my family blood. My dad was a crazy fast pitcher – Southpaw, as we used to say, meaning left handed pitcher – and he would hit the ball out of the park on a very regular basis. He's been gone since 1977, but I can still see his swing – and subsequent launch of the ball into the stratosphere – in my mind.

It's an easy memory to recall. It was magic. It makes me smile just to think of it.

My love of him and of "ball" runs deep. To this day the only two movies that can consistently make me cry like a little baby are “The Natural” and "Field of Dreams.”

Baseball taught me many things: Individualism. Hard work. Teamwork. Courage. Cleverness. Sportsmanship. Strategy. Grit.
 
I actually see "being American" much like I see the game of baseball. There is no game unless you stand at bat, all by yourself, with no one to help. You gotta do your part.  Hit the ball. Run the bases. Score runs as often as possible.

But the "rugged individualism" of being "the batter" is only half the game. The other half is being in the field, working together with teammates. It's teamwork.  No one person can win a baseball game alone. It's impossible!  Can you imagine one person trying to pitch, then catch, then field, then chase the runner around the bases to get them out? No – of course not. It's a silly thought.

It's silly because half the game is working with the team.

In baseball you have to think, work together, anticipate the needs of other players. You have to be a team and work together or you cannot win.

This sometimes takes sacrifice. You can’t selfishly “showboat” and expect to win. It just won’t work. 

Winning takes both halves.

Baseball is THE American game because it’s how America wins. Sometimes we are individuals at bat. Other times we are working with the team.
 
Sometimes we are cooperating. Other times we think of nothing but ourselves.

Sometimes we put our ego aside to win. Other times we are totally selfishly focused on what we want to do.

It takes both to win the game.

Baseball’s popularity has been surpassed in recent years by football and basketball, but it's still the American game because the game of baseball is how the "game of life" is played in America.

The game is the game, and to win you have to do both – stand alone and work as a team.

Sometimes we Americans forget this.

Sometimes we forget half the game is played in the field, working together with our teammates.  Maybe this is because the “at bat” is so lonely and scary. There seems to be no one to help us.  There is no safety net. No one helps.

We become so self-involved that we forget what is actually making the game possible. It’s the team. 
Right now, we are Team America, and we have to work together. We have to work as a team to get through this thing.

Think of others. Reduce the risk of infecting others. Stop arguing with your teammates. Help others when you can. Try to anticipate the needs of your teammates. Focus on winning. 

Focus on the team.

Also – try to stay well yourself. We are in this game to win. We are in this game together.

Team America... we got this.



By Rockin' Eco Hero Steve Trash

Stop those lily pads from doubling

by Rockin' Eco Hero - Steve Trash 

I’ve decided I’m going do a future episode of STEVE TRASH SCIENCE – my PBS kids science show – on exponential growth. It’s a math concept, and it’s become obvious to me that many people don’t really understand it. 

The reason amusement parks have closed, NCAA March Madness has been cancelled, Disney is shuttered, universities have closed, lots of major sports events have been mothballed and all our local schools are going virtual through the end of the school year – is exponential growth. 

As far as we know, this virus – which has no cure as of yet and can range from mild to deadly – can be transmitted only person to person, and it seems to be highly contagious.

Well ... so what?

Math, that’s what. Exponential growth math is what. 

Imagine a pond. If lily pads – representing new virus cases – in the pond double in number every day, and it takes 24 days to fill the pond, what day would the pond be half full? 

What day? 

Yeah, you don’t hardly even see the lily pads taking over the pond for 22 whole days. Even at day 18, the pond doesn’t look that covered up with lily pads. 

Did you get that? On day 23, it’s only half full – plenty of time. But no – it’s doubling everyday.
 That means on day 24 the pond is covered with lily pads. 

The quicker you stop the lily pads from doubling, the fewer lily pads will fill the pond.

Stopping the spread is going to be very economically painful for tons of folks, myself included, but it’s smart.
So many of my excellent journeyman entertainer friends and gig economy friends – who work their butts off – as well as restaurants, hardware stores and more are really going be hurt by this. 

Seriously, I believe America doesn’t understand how close all these hard–working Americans – musicians, magicians, comics and frankly all “gig” economy folks – are to the edge of the financial cliff, and this is going to be dang hard on them, but there’s NO choice. 

We’ve got to stop the lily pads from doubling. It’s math. 

PS: I suggest you not get your information about this disease from social media. The best sources will be https://www.cdc.gov/  or https://www.nih.gov. 

Hunker down. Don’t spread it. Don’t get infected. Don’t panic.

Send love and support to the front-line healthcare workers doing the work. To my mind, this is heroic work. Let’s nip this thing and come out the other side.

This is America. When the chips are down – we come through.

Much love to you all. 

Steve :)