In honor of April being national child abuse prevention month Oswego’s Child Advocacy Center, located in Fulton, New York,  has set out to spread awareness through Oswego County by placing blue and white pinwheels around the area.

These pinwheels are a part of a national campaign that multiple organizations take part in, in order to spread awareness of child abuse through communities and get the conversation started that children need to be looked out for not only by their families but their community as well.

Executive Director of Oswego County Child Advocacy Center, Karrie Damm, gave some insight as to why the Pinwheels are placed throughout the County “The pinwheel gardens that you see throughout the community are intended to start a conversation. We would like people to see those and have a conversation amongst themselves, amongst their friends, and especially with their children.” Although the conversation may seem touchy Karrie stressed how important it is to begin having conversations about serious issues such as this one. Because the first step to preventing incidents is spreading awareness, which the conversations help to achieve.

Although the child advocacy center is not well known throughout Oswego County it is an important organization that more people should get involved with. Take Craig Stewart for example, he is an electrician for the building, but STILL volunteers and aids the employees there because he does it for the unfortunate children that have to seek help at the organization.

If you would like to volunteer as well you can visit that website at oswegocac.org, Facebook message them, or call them. If you are not able to volunteer and would still like to help out this organization you can make a donation right on their website.

On November 20th, on a Wednesday, Oswego Theatre Department premieres their play “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” originally written by Sara Ruhl. 

This play, written in the early 2000s, focuses on the significance of human interaction and how technology plays a huge part in our daily lifestyle. 

Based on the playwright’s personal life, important topics such as mortality, interactions, relationships, technology, and more are all present in the show. 

With a small cast, in a total of 8 cast members and all in different years, they are putting on a absurdus play, which will put the topics in more of a comedic, interactive and exciting concept.

Ahmanee Simmons, Director of the play and senior tells her experience directing and the significance of the play. “Dead Man’s Cell Phone was definitely to highlight the human connection and the way we have kind of, sort of, lost that…And with the use of cell phones and technology, I kind of wanted to highlight that. But I also wanted to highlight the false perception of life that we get through social media and stuff like that. ” She said. “We have moved from that paper culture kind of society before and now, to this very digital, more efficient way to live our lives, and I think now it is about finding the balance between the two. Right now, everything is more digital, which is good as this does help us be more efficient as individuals in work, school, or social life, but there is also that boundary where we let it control our lives. This is also something that we address in Dead Man’s Cell Phone.” She also said. 

Giovanni Rodriguez, the assistant director of the play also commented about the production. “Working with the cast has been great. I enjoy working with my director, Ahmanee Simmons. With the play itself,  I believe the moral of the story is that we are all disconnected in our own ways and a simple ‘hello’ or ‘how are you’ can connect the most unlikely people in an instant. This is really about disconnection and what we don’t do due to technology. [In this play], I believe is going to open people’s eyes ” He said. 

“You should come see it!!”-Ahmanee Simmons

The play will take place in Tyler Hall’s Lab Theatre and will extend from November 20th to November 23rd.

To purchase the ticket online, you may visit https://oswego.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx

For more theatre plays, you may visit https://www.oswego.edu/theatre/theatre-0