Growing Rock Candy

Kelly: Interfaith exchange

You've heard of speed dating, where singles meet new people briefly and then rotate to the next station and the next? At a popular lounge this week in Omaha, with jazz music piped in overhead, there was an unusual variation.

It wasn't speed dating, but rather speed dialoguing. Yes, it was also face to face, but this event was called “Face to Faith.”

It was another example not only of Omaha's diversity but also of a growing openness, which bodes well. Participants identified themselves as Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Unitarian, agnostic and atheist.

Organizers say they know of no other cities that have borrowed the speed-dating concept to bring together people of different faiths or of no faith.

“Omaha is a great test market for commercial products,” said Beth Katz of Project Interfaith. “If it works for candy, why not be a test market for really creative interfaith work?”

As about 40 people took their places Tuesday at the Slowdown rock club and bar north of downtown, Katz urged them to follow the ground rules, which included no proselytizing. She drew laughter when she said that for experienced speed-daters, “This will be a little d�j� vu, minus the romantic overtures.”

Conversations sounded friendly and animated — each in five-minute increments before a whistle blew, signifying it was time to change partners. When the round-robin ended an hour later, participants were upbeat.

“It allowed people to be comfortable in Omaha as a welcoming city,” said Lonnie Michaels Jr., 30, a Baptist and a quality-control manager.

Katie Hensley, also 30, a speech therapist in Council Bluffs who worships at the Community of Christ, called the evening a grassroots effort “where we're not battling each other and can find common ground instead of focusing on differences.”

Neil Thorne, 23, who recently arrived in Omaha from Virginia, said he is “non-committal” on religion but enjoyed hearing about others' faiths.

Sarah Gettie Burks, 29, a hospital chaplain and ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, called the event “a fabulous way to get to know like-minded young adults who really value talking about cultural, religious and faith differences.”

Omaha is gaining attention for its planned tri-faith campus — with a temple, mosque and church. A Canadian Muslim author recently asked on his website whether Omaha is becoming “the interfaith capital of the world.

Growing Rock Candy Crystals: A Summer Fun Science Experiment | Science

Experiment and it also makes a wonderful sweet treat too!

SAFETY FIRST! Please get an adult to help boil and handle the water and scissors. Do not spill sugar on the burner as it can cause a flame.

You will need:

Clean Glass Jar Cotton String Scissors Pencil 1-2 Cups boiling water (get your parents help) 2-4 Cups white sugar (use approximately twice as much sugar as water)Sauce panStirring spoonTissue Tape (optional) Step 1: Have an adult place the water in a sauce pan and heat over medium. Sugar will dissolved more easily if the water is boiling or almost boiling. Stir sugar into the water ¼ C at a time. Completely dissolve the sugar into the water each time. You will know that the sugar is dissolved if the solution is clear and no crystals remain. If you see sugar crystals in the bottom of your pan that will not dissolve then you have saturated your water. Set the pan aside to cool while you prepare the jar and string.Step 2: Tie a piece of string to a pencil and hang the string in the glass jar. If your string is not rough, have an adult fray the string slightly with scissors. Rest the pencil across the top of your jar and tape it in place if necessary. Make sure that the string does not touch the bottom or sides of the jar.Step 3: Once the sugar solution has cooled for 10-15 minutes pour the solution into the glass jar. Cover lightly with a tissue and place the jar in a cool location out of the way.Step 4: Leave the string in place over night for small crystals. Leave the string in place for several days or weeks to grow large crystals. Sugar crystals grow best in a cool location with low humidity. Do not move the jar or remove the string often because it can slow the crystal growth.Check your crystals daily. You can also add food coloring to make your rock candy fancy!

Big Rock Candy Town

Rock candy

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Sugar growing and refining, a comprehensive treatise on the culture of sugar yielding plants, and the manufacturing, refining, and analysis of cane, beet, maple, melon, milk, palm, sorghum, and starch sugars; with copious statistics of their production and commerce, and a chapter on the distillation of rum

The Big Rock Candy Mountain