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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
March 10 - March 16, 2005 Edition
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| Inventive
families in the spotlight March 10, 2005 By Peggy Isham
Their cars filled with gadgets and gears, recycled parts and colorful contraptions, the Faraca, Maynard, and Paradise families made the trip to Cambridge with an enormous amount of enthusiasm. Arranged by artist/engineer Arthur Ganson, the annual gathering is a time for all would-be inventors to come together under one roof at the university's renowned museum and participate in a performance event unlike any other. The Vineyard participants joined others from across the state, linking their homegrown inventions together into one huge chain reaction in a carefully choreographed exhibition. Connected with duct tape and string, all of the unique creations somehow became a piece of a larger structure, resulting in a domino-like effect. Weeks of designing, planning, collecting and building resulted in an assortment of unique machines that moved, spun, flowed, and rotated into one large exhibit witnessed by 1,500 paying observers. Cullen Paradise, a sixth grader at the Tisbury School, has been visiting the M.I.T. museum for years. Inspired by a great-great grandfather who was an inventor, Cullen has dreams of becoming an inventor himself. When he and his parents, Richard Paradise and Brenda Horrigan, heard about this interactive project, they became involved right away. They have drawn in two other Island families, the Michael Faracas and the Gary Maynards. “I had to think fast,” reports Mike Faraca, who spent roughly three hours, three nights a week with his son, Lee, working on their project. Mike and Lee, a student at the West Tisbury School, worked tirelessly collecting parts, gluing, wiring, and nailing things together in order to come up with their final design, a so-called “Three Ring Circus.” It included popping balloons, circus music coming from a music box, and a circus ride. Strings, pendulums, and spring-loaded toys all worked together to create a moving, colorful Rube Goldberg-like contraption. All the innovative designs are made by families and groups, and are hooked up together in a wildly colorful and kinetic display. A total of 27 contraptions were exhibited last November, and the families are already looking towards the future. Cullen filmed the whole thing and his science teacher gave him extra credit for participating. All three families enjoyed the excitement of working together inventing their machines, and momentum is already building for this year's event. “All I do now is think about it,” Mike says, although he insists, “It's really just for the kids.” He has become a regular at the recycling shed, looking for parts and kids' toys that can be used for the next post-turkey event. “It gave me the confidence I needed to do anything,” says Mike. “I just fixed a car and a toilet all by myself. I am now totally invincible.” Peggy Isham is a teacher at the Rebecca Amos Institute at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School. |
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