Recent Articles
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- Kucinich: Why I Voted NO
- CGW’s North Service Center remains closed for building maintenance
- Transitioning to the role of a stay at home mom
- APSU’s Downtown Art Gallery opening was the highlight of November’s Art Walk
- Blue Star Memorial marker dedication Monday
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- APSU to celebrate National Distance Learning Week with several events
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- Patton to be portrayed at APSU library Athenaeum
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- Sluggish APSU Governors ease past Oakland City
- Home-Canned Apple Pie Filling
- APSU student Costello debuts photography and collage exhibit at Trahern
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- Parks after Dark
Pools to close as the summer heat revs up
When I read the following notice regarding city pools, I couldn’t help but shake my head in amazement.
“The final days for pools are upon us this week. The pools will officially close for the summer season on August 3.” As the August heat — those unbearable ‘dog days’ – descend, the pools close up and our children head back to school. Insanity. The calendar runs summer through September 23rd.
Now I realize that the weather does begin its shift out of sync with the calendar, but in a town where lakes and ponds are virtually non-existent and the grass dries out from the often unrelenting heat, it makes no sense to:
a) start school that early (just as it makes no sense to end the school year in mid-May), and
b) close pools when they offer the greatest amount of relief from heat and humidity.
I can only hope we are not re-visited by a replay of last summer’s 100+degree record-breaking heat waves, or that if we are, that bus drivers and students are allowed to bring bottled water along for the ride, that sports trainers are aware of the correlation between high heat, heat indexes, heat island effects and potential illness.
I realize that many like this system, that the early start date for local schools has great support in many corners, but it doesn’t take an hour for hot humid air in close quarters to trigger heat exhaustion or worse.
The rest of this public notice reads:
“It’s not too late to get in on some cool summer fun at Smith Pool on Greenwood Avenue at Norman Smith Elementary School. Smith Pool is less crowded during the morning hours and is an excellent place for adults with small children to spend a relaxing time. Pool admission is $5 and after 3 p.m., late arrivals pay $3. All of our pools will be open daily this week from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.”
About Christine Anne Piesyk 
In my 40+ years in media, I have worked as feature writer, investigative reporter, editor, publisher, and film/theater/arts critic. I brought my liberal New England activism to Tennessee several years ago, having finally completed a mid-life undergraduate degree in community organizing and women's studies, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts with a concentration in Alzheimer's Disease. I served on Future Search Commissions for two colleges and on homelessness for the City of Northampton (MA), where I applied some of my undergrad work in urban planning and community development. I am a member of FreeThinkers for Peace and Civil Liberties. I am a certified storm spotter just because weather fascinates me. In my spare time (define spare time please?) I am a voracious reader, obsessive movie buff, ballroom dancer, and classical music junkie. I also create sci-fi/fantasy and renaissance costumes. I see life as an ongoing opportunity for learning and adventure (one current interest is mastering preparation of foods from India and Southeast Asia). My dream: a return trip to Machu Picchu. After all, the best things still to come. All posts by Christine Anne Piesyk as presented on Clarksville Online are copyright ©2006, 2007, 2008 to the author.
Email: womanspeak@gmail.com
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