The bark dinosaur
Back in grade school, a long time ago, I made a small dinosaur out of bark. I was in Scottsdale, Arizona and probably in either the fourth or sixth grade. I know it was not the fifth, because my fifth-grade class was bused, because of overcrowding, to a school in Tempe. In my class, at this particular time, whichever time it was, students had been divided into small groups for the purpose of doing a group project. The groups were to decide on their own what projects they were going to do. The teacher may have had to approve them, but I don't remember now whether this was needed.
There were probably four people in my group, including myself. I had a possible idea for what to do, but wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas first. No one did, and they all seemed to be hoping that someone else would come up with something. Seeing what the situation was, and somewhat surprised by its severity, I stepped into the vacuum and took control.
I told them I had an idea on what to do. They perked up, looking interested and hopeful. I told them that we could make a dinosaur out of bark, a Tyrannosaurus rex. They agreed with this, and we set about gathering small pieces of bark. The bark was mostly of the thick brown variety, with a soft, uneven surface.
The dinosaur was a small model, around seven to eight inches high, longer if measured diagonally. I did most of the work putting it together, though the others helped in a small way. I don't think it had any internal framework, just the pieces of bark glued to each other. When we turned it in, it was thought to be so impressive that it was put in the front offices of the school for a while, so people could see it.
After we finally got it back, we had to decide who got to take it home. I wanted to take it, of course. One of the other kids begged we, over and over, to let him take it, but I refused. I think he said something about wanting to show it to his mother, that he didn't really have anything else that he did that was important. Part of me felt bad for him, but there was no way I was going to let him take it.
I still have it, on a shelf, wrapped in plastic.
There were probably four people in my group, including myself. I had a possible idea for what to do, but wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas first. No one did, and they all seemed to be hoping that someone else would come up with something. Seeing what the situation was, and somewhat surprised by its severity, I stepped into the vacuum and took control.
I told them I had an idea on what to do. They perked up, looking interested and hopeful. I told them that we could make a dinosaur out of bark, a Tyrannosaurus rex. They agreed with this, and we set about gathering small pieces of bark. The bark was mostly of the thick brown variety, with a soft, uneven surface.
The dinosaur was a small model, around seven to eight inches high, longer if measured diagonally. I did most of the work putting it together, though the others helped in a small way. I don't think it had any internal framework, just the pieces of bark glued to each other. When we turned it in, it was thought to be so impressive that it was put in the front offices of the school for a while, so people could see it.
After we finally got it back, we had to decide who got to take it home. I wanted to take it, of course. One of the other kids begged we, over and over, to let him take it, but I refused. I think he said something about wanting to show it to his mother, that he didn't really have anything else that he did that was important. Part of me felt bad for him, but there was no way I was going to let him take it.
I still have it, on a shelf, wrapped in plastic.
posted by Stephen at 5/11/2009 02:38:00 AM
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