Springfield Museums to show ‘How People Make Things’
Updated Jan 11, 2021;
Posted Jan 11, 2021
A child explores making things with wax and wax forms at the Springfield Museums exhibit How People Make Things.
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A child explores making things with wax and wax forms. (Submitted photo)
When Jenny A. Powers was a child, she watched “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” almost every day. She enjoyed the factory tours Fred Rogers took his television audience on; her favorite was the crayon factory tour.
“Crayons were a big part of my life, and that episode really opened my imagination and made me want to learn more about how everyday objects were created,” she said. “I also loved the episode where we learned how construction paper is made, especially how the different colors are produced.”
Fotos International via Getty Images Mister Rogers embodied a spirit of unconditional care and acceptance, a fervent faith in children and a calming gentleness that communicated safety.
Mister Rogers wasn’t cool when he first appeared on PBS in 1969. At least not in my neighborhood.
His television show was for the less-than-mature audience. As the last-born in a family of eight kids, I was the designated channel-changer for my older siblings, and I can still hear the instantaneous demands to “Turn!” every time his show popped up on the local PBS station. Even within my neighborhood group of friends, a true insult was telling someone “to go home and watch Mister Rogers.” That line would crush any boy’s ego.