Hey! It's Spring Break! For those of you not on your way to Ft. Lauderdale (do people still go there?), we have suggestions for how to be a tourist in your own backyard, meaning Springfield, and one suggestion that involves getting Spring Break tutoring!

First on our list is a visit to the Indian Motorcycle Museum, located at 33 Hendee Street, Springfield, 413-737-262 (call before going! we couldn't get them on the phone). Did you know the Indian Motorcycle, invented right here in Springfield, was not only the first American motorcycle but was also the world's best selling bike? At the Museum you will find a display of almost every model produced before the company folded in 1953. From the time line on the Indian Motorcycle Web site:

"By 1911, Indian riders hold every American speed and distance record. In 1914, over 3,000 employees work on a 7-mile long assembly line in Indian's 1-million square foot Springfield, Massachusetts plant."

(You might also want to rent the movie from a couple of years back -- The World's Fastest Indian -- with Anthony Hopkins playing Burt Munro, the legendary speed bike racer from New Zealand, who set several land speed records on his Indian Motorcycle).

Next, did you know that Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn while he was living right down the road in Hartford, Connecticut? Go visit the Mark Twain House and Museum, located at 351 Farmington Avenue, (860)-247-0998, and explore the House's treasures, including a large collection of object d'arts from Louis Comfort Tiffany. From the museum Web site:

"The (current) exhibition has a particular focus on period decorative and fine arts objects and displays more than 100 objects arranged in four thematic sections, the largest of which is devoted to the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the founder of the famed Tiffany & Co. jewelry store. Louis Tiffany, who later became known for his stained glass lamps and windows, founded an innovative interior design firm known as Associated Artists. In 1881, Sam and Livy Clemens engaged the firm to redecorate the main floor and other areas of their Hartford home."

Continuing with our literary theme, have you been to the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst? Located at 280 Main Street in Amherst, 413-542-8161, the Museum just opened for its 2008 season on March 1, and is open Wednesday through Sunday. From the Web site: "The Museum consists of two historic houses in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts, closely associated with the poet Emily Dickinson and members of her family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." If you have a love of poetry in general, and this poet in particular, do not miss this opportunity.

Okay, we know you're waiting to hear about tutoring opportunities during Spring Break. Kathy Muller, the Director of Student Success, has informed the STCC community that tutoring is available in the following areas: Math, Algebra 1 and 2, English 100 and 200, U.S. History, General Chemistry, Physics, General Psychology, and Western Civilization and Society. Kathy recommends students make appointments by calling 413-755-4553.

That's it for now! Have a good time.