Honoring Our Veterans🪖

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The Ten News Season 3: Episode 11

In today's episode:
🖼️ Missing art is getting returned! Learn more about art reparations with Correspondent Nathalie Alonso
🪖 Honor our veterans this Veterans Day
📞 Kid Correspondent Owen talks with his Grandpa about his military service
🗑️ Trivia with Tessa: can you guess which US city is home to a garbage museum?

Links

fact-sheet-sweet-potato.pdf (wi.gov)

Interesting facts about STEM education | Academia (academiamag.com)

National Gallery of Art repatriates looted Benin cockerel sculpture (theartnewspaper.com)

UK museums willing to return skulls to Zimbabwe (yahoo.com)

Treasures in the Trash — Sanitation Foundation

Treasures in the Trash on Vimeo

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TRANSCRIPT:

Pamela Kirkland  0:00  

Hey, Ryan, since November is Banana Pudding Lovers Month, I thought you'd appreciate some.

Ryan Willard  0:09  

Sweet. Fancy Moses. Thank you, Pamela. Oh, my gosh, it's so good. It's also Sweet Potato Awareness Month.

Pamela Kirkland  0:17  

Oh, yeah, I know. Did you know you'd have to eat 23 cups of broccoli to get the vitamin A you get in one sweet potato?

Ryan Willard  0:26  

Good gravy. It's also Family Literacy Month. There are so many things happening in November. How are we going to decide what to cover on the show?

Pamela Kirkland  0:33  

Well, it's also Aviation History Month.

Ryan Willard  0:38  

So you're saying we should fly by the seat of our pants and figure it out?

Pamela Kirkland  0:42  

Exactly. I'm Pamela Kirkland.

Ryan Willard  0:45  

And I'm Ryan Willard. It's Wednesday, November 9th.

Pamela Kirkland  0:47  

This is The Ten News.

Sound Bit  0:51  

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Ryan Willard  0:59  

I just realized November 8th is national STEAM and STEM Day.

Pamela Kirkland  1:03  

Ah, that's a great one. I'm so glad they added art to STEM. What does that mean? STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. And STEAM learning increases kids’ confidence, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Plus, art is one of the greatest parts of life.

Ryan Willard  1:23  

Like this self-portrait, I painted on myself? I could put it in your office.

Pamela Kirkland  1:28  

Oh, wait. I thought that was a Bigfoot painting.

Ryan Willard  1:34  

No, that's me. But thank you for saying I look like Bigfoot.

Pamela Kirkland  1:38  

Well, speaking of art, there have been a bunch of artifacts that have found their way home from foreign museums, from bronze sculptures to human skulls. Ten News correspondent Nathalie Alonso is here to tell us more about repatriated art and artifacts.

Nathalie Alonso  1:57  

If you've ever been to an art museum in the United States or Europe, you've probably seen art from all over the world. Vases, statues, paintings, and all kinds of masterpieces. Museums have different ways of acquiring art. They may buy works of art or get them as donations from private collectors. Unfortunately, some of the art on display in these museums doesn't belong there. Why? That's because it was stolen from other countries during wars, or when nations like Great Britain and France colonized large parts of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In fact, a 2018 report estimated that as much as 90% of Africa's art and artifacts were on display in museums outside of Africa. For many years, no one really talked about this. But the Black Lives Matter movement got more people thinking about the long-lasting effects of racism and colonialism, not just in the United States, but all over the world which has prompted some museums in the West to send these stolen objects back to their countries of origin. Yes, there is a word for this process. It's called repatriation. What does that mean? Here in New York City, where I live, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Rubin Museum of Art have both agreed to send back sculptures to Nepal, believed to have been stolen from the country's temples. The United States also sent back a tablet containing part of the poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, which had been taken illegally from Iraq, and museums in both Great Britain and France have returned bland statues to Nigeria that were removed by foreign soldiers back in the 19th century. Repatriation of art is also happening within our own country, the University of Minnesota is returning artistic objects created by the ancient membras people of the American Southwest, to the Native American tribes that have ties to that culture. Returning art, to where it belongs, doesn't erase the damage done to these people and these cultures or centuries, but it is considered a step toward justice.

Ryan Willard  4:11  

Thanks, Nathalie. I hope even more museums return items to their rightful homes.

Pamela Kirkland  4:19  

Election Day happened yesterday, but we wrote and recorded this episode before we found out the results. So stay tuned next week for our midterm recap. Woo hoo!

Ryan Willard  4:36  

I got a good one. Veterans Day is this month, right?

Pamela Kirkland  4:39  

Yeah. Have you ever served in the military, Ryan?

Ryan Willard  4:44  

Um, no. I am a scaredy cat who screams when a cockroach runs by me but I really do appreciate what our veterans have done to serve and protect our country.

Pamela Kirkland  4:53  

Well, since Veterans Day is November 11th. To honor past and current service members we invite Ten'ers to send in their thank you messages. 

Ten'ers  5:02  

Hello, I'm Marley Holt. And I'm Michael Holt, from Cumberland Rhode Island. We want to wish our dad a very Happy Veterans Day. Our dad was in the army from 2002 until 2008. And we are so proud of him. Happy Veterans Day, Dad, thank you for your service.

Pamela Kirkland  5:19  

Thank you for your service veterans. To learn more about what it means to be a veteran Ten News kid correspondent Owen when asked his granddad five questions about his military service, take it away, Owen.

Owen Kaplan  5:34  

Hey, Grandpa, what did you do in the military?

Owen's Grandpa  5:37  

I did a lot of different things. Because I was in the army and the reserves for 21 years. And while I was in the Reserves, I became a commander of two units. After that, I was in a different type of unit and the most interesting thing that I did then was I went to Germany, in a NATO war game that was practicing to defend Europe from an all-out Russian attack. And that's interesting, given what's going on today. And then I stayed in the reserves. And in January 1991, I got called to active duty, in support of Operation Desert Storm. And I did that for about four months until the war ended. And then I came home. And the year after that I retired from the Army.

Owen Kaplan  6:41  

Hey, Grandpa, what exactly are the reserves?

Owen's Grandpa  6:45  

The reserves are people who have been trained in the army and now are no longer in the army every day. And they train for part of the year and they're ready in case there's a war or national emergency to come back into the army. And that's what I did when the Gulf War started.

Owen Kaplan  7:11  

What was the best and worst part of being in the military?

Owen's Grandpa  7:15  

The best thing for me about being in the military was being part of a team. For me, it was like being on a baseball team. So, that was the best thing. Because in the army, everything is not just you. It's part of being part of a team of doing whatever your mission is, carrying it out, and working every day with people. The worst thing was, for example, when I got called up for active duty, not knowing what might happen to me and my family if something happened to me. So, that was the worst thing.

Owen Kaplan  8:03  

Hey, Grandpa, why is Veterans Day important to you?

Owen's Grandpa  8:06  

Veterans Day is important. Because everybody who serves in the military gives up part of their life, to serve the country and to put their life, their job, and their family at risk. And no matter what they did everyone shared that. And we should honor the people who make that sacrifice.

Ryan Willard  8:34  

Thanks, Owen, and thanks for your service, Grandpa Leeds.

Tessa Flannery  8:43  

Welcome to the trivia room. 

Owen Kaplan  8:46  

Thanks, Tessa. I'm excited to be here. I kept asking my mom if I could do it.

Tessa Flannery  8:51  

I'm so glad you could swing by, Owen. Hop on up on the trivia thrown for today's trivia question. You ready? 

Owen Kaplan  8:57  

Absolutely. 

Sound Bit  9:02  

What is going on here?

Tessa Flannery  9:14  

Okay, one of our big stories today was the return of museum artifacts. I love museums, and there's one I'm super excited to visit. It's called Treasures in the Trash, AKA a museum of trash. But, can you guess which US city is home to this garbage museum? Is it a) Detroit b) San Francisco, or c) New York City? Ten'ers, did you guess it? Owen, what's your answer?

Owen Kaplan  9:45  

I think it's b) San Francisco.

Tessa Flannery  9:48  

The answer is C. New York City is home to the Treasures in the Trash collection. NYC sanitation worker Nelson Melina gathered amazing objects that the people of New York were throwing away. Over his 34-year career, he rescued over 40,000 items, which now are displayed in a working sanitation garage in Harlem. Wow, that's really cool. Totally. You can even watch a short film about the collection at the link in our show notes. Ten'ers, do you want to sit on the trivia throne and share your trivia knowledge? Visit thetennews.com/contact to get in touch and we might have you on the show. 

Ryan Willard  10:30  

November seems a little more manageable now. So much going on and so much to celebrate!

Pamela Kirkland  10:35  

Absolutely. But for now, it's time to wrap up the show. And here's a quick note for the grownups.

Ryan Willard  10:43  

Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Our shows are now weekly and drop every Tuesday and Wednesday. But if you want some bonus content, you could join the Ten'ers Club on our website or on Apple podcasts. Check out the website or our channel on Apple.

Pamela Kirkland  10:56  

The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts.

Ryan Willard  11:01  

The Ten News creative team is painting their self-portraits and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Logan DeYoung, and Tessa Flannery. Nathalie Alonso contributed to this episode.

Pamela Kirkland  11:10  

Our production directors are Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Ryan Willard. And I'm Pamela Kirkland. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Go thank a veteran!