{"id":2260,"date":"2012-06-19T22:00:17","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T02:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=2260"},"modified":"2024-12-03T16:57:56","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:57:56","slug":"the-ah-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=2260","title":{"rendered":"The Ah Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Honolulu, Hawaii <\/em>\u2013 I\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 kids love capitols. Why else would granddaughter Kayla make a statement like \u201cI love this day!\u201d as we returned to our room footsore and damp and too tired to think? We hadn\u2019t been to Disneyland. We hadn\u2019t been shopping for the latest \u201cfads for girls.\u201d We had been to the Hawaii State Capitol. We figured out the trolley lines (Red is the Historic Route), covered up our cameras with the bottom of our shirts (rain mist blew through the open trolley and wet us good); and off we went. Clang, clang, clang went the trolley; rain, rain, rain on our face; walk, walk, walk to the entrance, and then Kayla took off, Nikon around neck; squatting, standing, leaning, snapping shots of everything \u2013 the sky through the upward sweeping opening-instead-of-a-roof; the blue ceramic tiles circling in the center; the stones taking volcano shape on the side; images intended to evoke a feeling, show a certain attitude. Birds flew up, down, landed and skipped along the pavement at our feet; everyone we passed nodded and smiled. This was a happy place; how can I explain? <\/p>\n

My friend Jim (author of 50 State Capitols, The Architecture of Representative Government<\/em>) \"\"<\/a>has observed how the architecture of a building actually influences behavior. We get a little more reverent, a little more inspired, when we\u2019re inside certain significant structures. And if architecture affects the very young so powerfully too, then I continue to maintain that our state capitols are jewels to be treasured, honored, and\u2014excuse the word but there is no better one \u2013 flaunted. Show\u2019em off, I say. They have the \u201cAh Factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was touched when the Capitol Guide in Boise stated to the 4th<\/sup> graders standing in the Governor\u2019s Ceremonial Office \u201cIf you were Governor, this is where you\u2019d sit to sign bills into laws.\u201d What a thought to put into the mind of a child! And I was touched today in Honolulu when Beverly invited my 4th<\/sup>-grader Kayla to \u201csit there, in the Governor\u2019s Chair.\u201d She perched behind the large curving koa desk; back of her head was the state seal of Hawaii, King Kamehameha I on the left; the Goddess of Liberty on the right. \u201cIf you were Governor of Hawaii,\u201d I said to her, \u201cthis is where you\u2019d sit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Beverly pointed to the portraits around the room \u2013 William Quinn, governor of the territory and then first governor as Hawaii became the 50th<\/sup> state in 1959; John Burns, who led the vision for the new capitol building which was completed in 1969; George Ariyoshi, the first American of Asian descent to be elected governor of a US state; John Waihe\u2019e III, the first Native Hawaiian to be elected governor of a US state; Benjamin Cayetano, the first Filipino American to serve as governor of a US state; Linda Lingle, the first female governor of Hawaii and first governor of Jewish descent.\"\"<\/a> \u201cA lot of firsts,\u201d she said, \u201cwe pride ourselves on our diversity here.\u201d Current Governor Neil Abercrombie is a former New Yorker of English\/German\/Irish descent, arriving in Hawaii a month after statehood to study at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Possibilities. Imagination. Ah. Perhaps that\u2019s what Kayla felt as she surveyed the room from the Governor\u2019s leather chair; as she took these photos of governors who have served. She looked thoughtful, to be sure.<\/p>\n

And then there was the Heaber family. We went to the 4th<\/sup> floor next to get a stamp for our Hawai\u2019i State Capitol books. Just ahead of us a family of four walked in, glowing and bragging; good reason, too. \u201cThis is our 50th<\/sup> State!\u201d Mom Donna announced. \u201cWe\u2019ve been to all the capitols now.\u201d They posed in front of the state seal, the parents and two teen-aged sons with bust-a-gut grins. \u201cWe started this ten years ago,\u201d explained Donna, \u201ctraveling in our motor home as time allowed. We thought it was important for the kids to see. We\u2019ve been to the national capitol too, and Puerto Rico, on the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good job, Heaber family of San Jose, California. What a gift you have given your kids, and yourselves. The Ah Factor, times 52.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton posting from Honolulu, Hawaii \u2013 I\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 kids love capitols. Why else would granddaughter Kayla make a statement like \u201cI love this day!\u201d as we returned to our room footsore and damp and too tired to think? We hadn\u2019t been to Disneyland. We hadn\u2019t been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4586,669],"tags":[683,681,42,676,674,3066,680,682,673,678,684,687,685,688,675,677,686,679],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2260"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15543,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260\/revisions\/15543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}