Missions day 2

All aboard! Here we are, on our first public transportation trip. We had hoped to find seats together so we could prepare for the Santa Clara Mission with a bit of history, but it seems we are still inside the rush hour window. We all have seats very close to one another, but we won't subject the entire car to our history lesson ;)

This has me thinking, though... Wouldn't it be cool to have tour-guide style headsets were we could talk to each other and/or listen even if we weren't in immediate speaking distance? As NOMAD progresses, we will definitely want to use as much of our transportation time as possible to continue our explorations of topics.

Using excerpts from an article written by Deborah A. Miranda, an author and professor who is a member of the Ohlone /Costanoan-Esselen Nation of California, we read a few different ways that the Missions are portrayed and taught in textbooks as part of California history classes in fourth grade. We noticed that large parts of the story were missing, or only positive factors or the hard work of the Europeans were emphasized. The same was true on the plaques around the Mission. We had a lively discussion about the validity of the hard work and trials of the Spanish while spreading Christianity. We also talked about the many understandable reasons they wanted to travel, build, and spread their way of living across our continent. We tools some time to appreciate how peaceful and beautiful the grounds and church were, while also remembering the pain and struggle that many people, especially the Native Americans, faced because of foreign disease, harsh working conditions, or force.