Hello, Judy,
        Thank you so very much for encouraging me to come to DC.  I
really wanted to present mine and Helen's unit, and wished she had come
with me, but I do understand her reasons for declining.
        In any case, it was a wonderful weekend, though I did miss seeing
you and Susan Vecchia.   You were in Indianapolis, was it?  It was great
to see Leni, and especially Karen Needles who set me up with a disk and
power point instead of the grainy overheads I had for my presentation.
Sure wish I had a projection system like that at school!
        When we spoke you had offered to write letters of
commendation/participation to my superintendent and to the Geography
Alliance in order for me to be reimbursed for some of my expenses.  If
you are still willing to do that based on Karen's verification that I
really was there, the addresses for the two people are as follows:

        Taras Herbowy, Ph.D.
        Superintendent, East Providence School Department
        80 Burnside Avenue
        Riverside, Rhode Island 02915

(***He couldn't offer any financial backing, but did give me 4 days prof.
dev. time and did pay for the substitute, so if I want to present at any
more conferences I'd better let him think I'm worth the time and  money.)

        The second address who WILL reimburse me, hence the urgency to
get the letter in before the end of their fiscal year, is:

                Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance
                Mann 145
                Rhode Island College
                600 Mt. Pleasant College
                Providence, Rhode Island  02908

Attn:  Karin Engelhardt

(**The letter should be directed to Chester Smolski and Anne Petry, the
two coordinators of the Alliance.  Karin is the secretary who will
process the paperwork.  If you don't mind please stress the geographic
connections to history:  Effects of human actions on the environment
(overfishing),  Necessity to preserve resources while promoting
sustainable growth...(fishing regulations),  The ways that a region's
culture and history is determined by its geography  (New Eng. not good
for farming, but rich in marine resources.. Portuguese and others from
coastal Europe settled in New England sea towns...)  But you know all
that!!

The letter needn't be long, but the more valuable they believe the
presentation is in spreading the geo-gospel, the more likely they are to
support Helen and me when we have an opportunity to do it again.

I thank you in advance for your help.  Hope that I helped LOC fill in
some of your time slots, and do hope that our paths will cross sometime
soon, perhaps  at the next conference.  I left a copy of the unit with
Karen if you need to reference it.  If you need another please let me
know.   Almost forgot to tell you that I did the unit again 2 days
immediately after NCSS  at the Marine Protected Areas Conference at the
Wye River conference ctr. on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  It was an
incredible conference with about 50 participants.  Only thing was that I
was the only teacher presenting to folks from EPA, National Park Service,
Coastal America, National Estuarine Reserve...and a host of other
scientific and govenment types.  Intimidating and exciting!  The unit was
very well received, and I felt pretty slick with my little power point!
This is just the beginning for me and Helen!  We've still got to tackle
the textile mills and the granite quarries!
                        Please keep in touch.  In the meantime, wishing
you fair winds and following seas, and a warm and wonderful holiday
season.
                                Mo