Friday, Day 2, of the 2019 Silver Lake Experience; All are Glad they Came

The weather, amazingly cooperative, seems challenged enough to provide the same wide variety of experience as with the rest of the Silver Lake Experience workshops, presentations, and concerts. Day One we experienced rain, albeit during lunch and dinner hours but remaining relatively clear for the prime times of "The Experience." The Kayak folks who missed out on kayaking will be inclined to disagree, but it was just too windy to be safe. 'Kayakers' got to choose from the wide range of choices available to replace the kayaking. We're hoping to speak with some 'kayakers' and see if they enjoyed their secondary choice.

Day 2 was particularly cool in the morning with a high in the low 70's later in the day.

Parking Monitors in reflexive yellow cautionary attire help to get cars efficiently parked so as to accommodate as many as possible. This was so essential for the evening concerts when the largest of crowds were at Epworth Hall all at once. During the day, some cars were even moved around to be closer to their workshop locations.

Having traversed the Sign-In / Registration Table, guests, shown above, pause to examine their materials and determine the various locations at which their workshops are located. Anyone in a burgundy or yellow shirt with SLE insignia were available to assist guests with their questions.

One of the popular and new locations for workshops this year was the 20x30' tent set up in Burt Park near the Perry Avenue roadway. "The Great Outdoors" provided an atmosphere reminiscent of the original Chautauqua movement which the Silver Lake Institute adopted in the mid-1880's. Back then, they engaged in such radical new ideas as Women's Suffrage and Educating Women for the Work Force. Some of the subjects of the workshops back then included type-writing, short-hand, filing, dictation, transcription, working effectively, efficiently, and cooperatively in an office setting, oration and public speaking, and other useful and practicable subjects designed to be particularly helpful to women and to men. Some were taught be professors from Chicago, others taught be knowledgeable clergymen.

 Above is shown a presentation by the Reverend Jackie Ann Rose Kraft on Military Chaplaincy taught in a corner of the main section of Epworth's Stage area. The Rev. Kraft is a recently retired Air Force Chaplain, having attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The chaplaincy's approach to ministry is designed to provide needed support both in times of training and in times of war without regard to race, creed, religious affiliation, age, or sexual orientation. It is geared for all ages and particularly young adults--single, married, young  families, and young divorce. Her experience and stories kept her group spell bound for the duration of her presentation.