![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/7155965134_dc42e6f147_z.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOne Turtle and Four Humans<\/p>\n
As a former high school teacher and current organizer of community events, I feel that much of my success is contributable to the collaborative effort of an active community. Whether it\u2019s collaborating with another teacher to organize experiences overseas for a group of engaged students or it\u2019s facilitating community events that spark conversations among Akronites who might not otherwise have the opportunity to do so, my projects usually center on community. But I tend to use the unexpected community moments as my inspiration\u2014moments where people unite under unorganized circumstances.<\/p>\n
Take Sheila the Snapping Turtle for instance.<\/p>\n
Stretching the length of Northeast Ohio, for nearly 80 miles, within Ohio\u2019s only National Park, the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail entertains thousands of cyclists and hikers each year. It\u2019s also home to many species of birds like the great herons, mammals like beavers, and reptiles like turtles.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the fauna of the national park leisurely travel across their home, placing them in danger of human behavior and technology.<\/p>\n
Roads stretch through the parks, slicing the protected lands like a grid, creating a challenge for animals who might like to visit their animal aunt and uncle on occasion.<\/p>\n
Sheila the Snapping Turtle found herself in this predicament last year. On her slow and steady stroll from the Cuyahoga River to her cousins in the still waters of the old canal, this reptile stood shell shocked on the warm summer road that crossed her homeland.<\/p>\n
Cars raced by, nearly nipping her pointed nose, an uppity nose more often associated with snooty humans, but in this case, it was just the simple anatomy of a snapping turtle\u2019s upturned snout.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is that?\u201d I asked my wife Terra as we approached a still Sheila. \u201cIs that a turtle?\u201d<\/p>\n
I zoomed by in my car and realized it was indeed a turtle in the middle of the road. A lost reptile, confused by the lack of natural vegetation on her way to visit her family.<\/p>\n
I stopped the car and threw the Mazda into reverse, squealing backward without a single idea as to what I was going to do when I reached the turtle.<\/p>\n
Terra and I jumped out and stood by Sheila.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do we do?\u201d I asked. Terra shrugged, expressing her puzzlement.<\/p>\n
A car approached and roared by us, honking its horn as it did.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally?\u201d Terra asked after the racing car.<\/p>\n
Another car approached and pulled over, stopping behind the Mazda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d the lady asked from her car.<\/p>\n
\u201cA snapping turtle,\u201d Terra called back.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s trying to cross the road,\u201d she said, oblivious that Sheila was a female.<\/p>\n
\u201cHold on,\u201d the woman called. The woman stepped from her car and joined Terra and I as we stared at Sheila in the middle of the road.<\/p>\n
Another car whizzed by.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you try to lead the turtle to the other side?\u201d the lady asked.<\/p>\n
I stood out in front of Sheila, \u201cCome on, buddy, let\u2019s cross. C\u2019mon!\u201d<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know his name,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can at least watch for traffic,\u201d the lady said.<\/p>\n
Another car stopped. \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d a woman asked from the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cSnapping turtle,\u201d the three of us said in unison.<\/p>\n
The woman walked toward us, looked at Sheila, and walked back to her car. She opened her trunk and pulled out a cardboard box.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just moving my son into his apartment,\u201d the woman said. \u201cIf we can get the turtle into the box and take him across . . .\u201d the woman said before taking a moment to gauge her fellow Americans and their ability in scooping up turtles into boxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWow! That\u2019s perfect,\u201d I gleamed.<\/p>\n
I took the box and squatted like a catcher in front of Sheila, while my teammates strategically positioned themselves as lookouts and encouragers.<\/p>\n
I had never picked up a snapping turtle before, and on my first attempt, Sheila hissed and snapped, sending me on my ass, startled by her antics.<\/p>\n
My second attempt was much more successful. I lifted Sheila by her shell, and the woman positioned the box just right, allowing me to place Sheila inside.<\/p>\n
In an awkward waddle, I raced Sheila to the other side of the street, where her relatives waited.<\/p>\n
A car whizzed by.<\/p>\n
The four of us humans took a comforting breath and we congratulated our teamwork. The woman took her box back, and the lady thanked Terra and I for stopping. We thanked her.<\/p>\n
Terra and I looked back at Sheila as she crawled into the green of the Cuyahoga National Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cHope the little dude makes it,\u201d I said before driving off.<\/p>\n
Sheila, once safely hidden by some wildflowers, looked back and said, \u201cCould have done without that drama,\u201d before continuing to her aunt and uncle\u2019s place.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo CC Matthew Peoples<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How did the turtle cross the road? The answer according to Greg Milo: thanks to a cardboard box and a community. One Turtle and Four Humans As a former high school teacher and current organizer of community events, I feel that much of my success is contributable to the collaborative effort of an active […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":3730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548,136],"tags":[25],"coauthors":[742],"class_list":{"0":"post-3713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-creative-community-fellows","8":"category-reading-list","9":"tag-community","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3713"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3762,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713\/revisions\/3762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3713"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}