Kansas teachers planning to attend KU conference on Okinawa culture, history

LAWRENCE -- Kansas teachers will converge next month at the University of Kansas to learn about Okinawa. They will attend "Okinawa: Island Paradox," a conference that will bring together experts from all over the country to talk about Okinawan culture and history at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 8, in the Kansas Union Big 12 Room.

The conference is open to all teachers and the general public. To preregister by Feb. 28 , call KU's Center for East Asian Studies at (785) 864-3849.

Bradley Willcox, physician and best-selling author of "The Okinawa Program," will be the featured speaker. Willcox's book explores why so many Okinawans live to be 100 years old and was selected as a top 10 health book by Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. Other speakers will discuss women in postwar Okinawa, literature from the Battle of Okinawa, tourism in postwar Okinawa and Okinawan textiles.

The teachers who attend are participants in the East Asia Institute, sponsored by the Kansas Consortium for Teaching about Asia and KU's Center for East Asian Studies. The institute is open to both public and private schoolteachers in Kansas. KCTA is a member of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, which is underwritten by the Freeman Foundation and includes nearly 30 colleges and universities in 39 states. The consortium works with teachers and school districts to enhance education about East Asia in middle and high school classes.

In addition to the conference, exhibits on Okinawan history and culture will be on display at Watson Library until March 14 and on Okinawan textiles at the Spencer Museum of Art until May 19. The Okinawan movie "Nabbie's Love" will be shown at 7 p.m. March 7 at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. Willcox also will present a talk for medical professionals at 3:30 p.m. March 7 at the Higuchi Biosciences Center in Simons Biosciences Research Laboratories at KU. A performance of Okinawan dance will take place at 6:15 p.m. March 8 at the Sherbon Dance Theatre in Robinson Center.

To register or for more information about these events, visit http://www.ceas.ku.edu/okinawa.html. All the events are sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council, the U.S. Department of Education, and Rex and Sonoko Niswander of New York. The Kansas Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization promoting understanding of the history, traditions and ideas that shape our lives and the communities in which we live.

Teachers planning to attend the conference and their schools are:

From Auburn
DeVern H. Phillips, Jay Shideler Elementary (6th grade)

From Garden City
David Ermish, Garden City High School, world history (grades 10-11)

From Holton
Linda Day, Central Elementary (5th grade)

From Kansas City, Kan.
John West, Argentine Middle, Kansas City, Kan., social studies (grades 7-9)

From Lakin
Stephen R. Germes, Garden City High School, history, sociology (grades 11-12)

From Lawrence
Danielle Lotton-Barker, Southwest Junior High School, gifted (grades 7-9)
Eileen Larson, University of Kansas
Kathy Nace, Teachers Cooperative of Lawrence
Carol Pilant, Central Junior High School, librarian

From Manhattan
Alice King, Valley Heights Junior-Senior High, history, geography (grades 7-12)
Rhonda Thornburrow, St. George Elementary, librarian

From Overland Park
Trudy Ringer, Shawnee Mission South High School, world geography (grade 10)

From Roeland Park
Christine Webster, J.C. Harmon High School, Kansas City, Kan., art

From Prairie Village
Stacy Higgins, Blue Valley Northwest High School, world history (grades 10-12)

From Shawnee
Kathy Ray, Lansing Middle School, gifted (grades 6-8)

From Topeka
Marianna Nothern, Shawnee Heights Middle School, art & multicultural awareness (grades 7-8)
Cynthia Pederson (school information unavailable)

From Westmoreland
Susan Dillinger, Onaga Grade School, reading (grades K-5)