Symbolic Migration
Symbolic Monarch Migration Update: October 19, 2001
Today's Update Includes:
Thousands of Butterflies Now Staging
in Minnesota
Greetings from the symbolic migration staging ground in Wayzata, where your butterflies
are now resting comfortably. Once again this year, you've managed to bury us in beautiful
butterflies. Our office has never looked quite like this before--there's hardly any
room for people! One person had so many butterflies around her that she actually
started to look like a giant moving paper butterfly! And in what has become an annual
tradition, you sent so many butterflies on a single day that the post office had
to bring the butterflies in their own truck!
Mariposa Mania: The Tradition Continues!
Now comes the important task of preparing all of your butterflies for the final leg
of their fall journey to Mexico. Over the next 10 days, we'll continue opening envelopes
from each and every class, mixing them with butterflies sent from students across
the U.S and Canada. We've received butterflies from locations far and wide! And just
like the real monarchs now "funneling" through Texas and into Mexico, all
of your symbolic monarchs will soon travel side by side and spend the winter together.
(Watch for the Passenger List in our next Update)
Everyone Wants to Know!
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While Mailman Tim Reiss was delivering all
of your Symbolic Butterflies to the Journey North office, he asked: "Oowee,
how many do you think there are?"
(We didn't know).
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When we placed all of the boxes inside Journey
North headquarters, everyone asked: "Wow! How many Symbolic Butterflies do you
think there are?
(We still didn't know).
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And after we began packing all of your Butterflies
into boxes for their journey to Mexico, Rachael, Alyssa and all of us STILL didn't
know!
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So we couldn't help but ask YOU the million dollar question:
Challenge Question #1:
"How many Symbolic Butterflies do you think are flying to Mexico this year?"
88 Mailboxes like this filled with envelopes!
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Hint: Here's what we do know:
- We received 88 mailboxes filled with envelopes.
- It took 4 people 8 hours each to open envelopes on Monday.
- On average, each of those envelopes had 22 butterflies inside.
- We figure it will take 96 more total hours to finish the job.
- We estimate that we have 1,515 MORE envelopes to open.
(To respond
to this question, please follow the instructions below. (Be sure to explain how you
came up with your estimate!)
Symbolic Migration Art Gallery Now
Open
Journey North curator Mary Hosier is busy displaying many of your butterflies in
the Symbolic Migration Art Gallery. We think you'll love visiting this special exhibition
of fine artwork! And even though we couldn't display all of the thousands and thousands
of butterflies in the Gallery, we consider all of your work masterpieces!
Take a tour of the Gallery and see if you can find YOUR Butterfly:
Try This! Are You an Ambassador for Your Country?
Symbolic monarchs that we exchange are ambassadors that carry messages between northern
students and students in Mexico, where the monarchs overwinter. The symbolic monarch
you made represents you and expresses your interest, friendship, and appreciation
for the role the Mexican people play in monarch conservation.
As you follow the migrations of real and symbolic butterflies this year, plan to
look for similarities and differences between the migrations. Keep a list of comparisons
all year in your Journal and watch it grow. If you haven't already done so, here
are some questions to consider and some lessons to try.
Journaling Questions:
- Who is responsible for the monarchs at each stage of their lives?
- What happens when the butterflies cross national borders?
- What obstacles might they encounter during their migration?
- How do the butterflies find their wintering grounds?
- Are there times during the fall, winter or spring when the entire
population is at risk?
Symbolic Migration Lessons:
Thanks for the Lift!
For the 6th year in a row, boxes full of butterflies are now flying to Mexico by
UPS's special international cargo service. We hope you'll take the time to thank
UPS (United Parcel Service) for this support. They love hearing from you!
Please send your thanks to:
Mr. Ed Gill
UPS Minnesota COO
3312 Broadway St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Mark your Calendars! Here's What's in Store
for Your Symbolic Butterflies
Watch for these updates over the next few weeks and get your terminals warmed up
because here's what we're planning:
COMING OCTOBER 30th:
- Passenger Lists (to make sure your Symbolic Butterflies were on board!)
- Terminals Ready? Get set to track the migration of your Symbolic Butterflies
to Mexico LIVE on the UPS web site! We'll post the special UPS Tracking number for
you and challenge you to predict: Exactly how many days, hours, minutes and seconds
do you think the symbolic migration will take?
To be sure you're ready, bookmark the UPS tracking system now:
COMING NOVEMBER 2nd:
- We'll reveal the Total Number of Symbolic Butterflies "migrating"
to Mexico this year and exactly how long their travels took.
- While your Butterflies are in the care of the Mexican people, read
about life in the sanctuary region.
- A List of Donors to the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary Foundation.
How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question
IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail
message.
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-symbolic@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #1
3. In the body of the message, answer the question above.
The Next Symbolic Monarch Migration Update Will
be Posted on October 30, 2001
Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
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