By all these lovely tokens September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer
American poet and writer Helen Hunt Jackson
By WKTV Staff
joanne@wktv.org
On a Jet Plane
At 2:25 p.m. today there will be a special celebration at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport as airport officials and visitors say good-bye to one of the last American Airlines MD-80 aircrafts. The American Airlines is retiring the aircraft from its fleet. At one time, American Airlines had one of the largest fleets of MD-80s, which were considered the workhorse of the airlines industry. The American Airlines will scrap or sell off its MD-80s. Note, Delta still flies the MD-80 aircraft along with several foreign airlines. One local resident made sure to snag a ticket on the last flight. Read more about his story by clicking here.
Helping Hand
Three local organizations, the Greater Wyoming Community Resource Alliance, West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC), and Kid’s Food Basket were each presented with a $10,000 grant from the GM Components Holdings. The three organizations do a variety of work within the City of Wyoming. The Kid’s Food Basket provides sack suppers to at-risk students. WMEAC runs a watershed program at Godfrey-Lee Public Schools along with hosting the annual Mayor River Clean-Up and the Greater Wyoming Community Resource Alliance will use the funds to purchase stand-alone speed monitors for the City of Wyoming Department of Public Safety. For more information, click here.
Play Date!
With overwhelming positive feedback and popularity of its “TOYS!” exhibit, the Grand Rapids Public Museum announced it has extended the exhibit for another year. That’s right, you have another 365 days to check it out or re-visit the exhibit. The Museum, located at 272 Pearl St. NW, also announced that the popular “Bodies Revealed” would be returning this fall along with the new exhibit “Design Zone.” For more information, click here.
Who is Helen Hunt Jackson?
Helen Hunt Jackson was an American poet and writer, 1830-1885, who became an activist for the better treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government. One of her most well-known books was “Ramona,” the story of a mixed-race Irish-Native American orphan girl who suffers racial discrimination and hardship. While popular for the way it romanized the Southern California area — which saw a tourism surge after the book’s release — the book is credit as a forerunner in helping to raise awareness of the plight of Native Americans and Mexican colonial life. Jackson wrote of her work that it was one of the only things “of which I have done that I am glad…they will live, and…bear fruit.” There have been more than 300 reissues of the book with it never being out of print since it was first published in 1884.
