Day-Cappers are places for you to stretch your intellectual muscles, to try something a little risky, to dare to have fun! Here are a few ideas that illustrate the kinds of things that might fit into a Day-Capper:

• The Great American History Smackdown. Attendees divide up into two teams and battle it out in a no-holds-barred contest to see who really knows the nation’s past. Along the way you’ll learn what parks and cultural sites need to do to make history more relevant to a society where “the past is a foreign country.” Be forewarned, however: Things could get ugly. Very ugly....
• Was John Muir Living in a Dream World? Widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the national park idea, Muir’s brand of mystical nature appreciation struck a chord with many people at the beginning of the 20th century. But is he still relevant now, a century later, in a world where nature is under siege from ever-growing human demands? Or do we need to emphasize a more hard-headed, utilitarian approach to parks? Two debaters, one pro and one con, will lay out the case. Then it’s your turn to join the debate.
• Eating Your Way Across Philly: A Gustatory Ramble Through America’s “First City.” How do you take your Philly cheesesteaks — hold the onions, or smother it? Mozzarella or Cheez Wiz? Ya want fries with that? These are the Really Big Questions we all have to answer sooner or later. Participants will learn how “food culture” is an important part of the life of any city. How can parks introduce this important but neglected subject into its interpretive programs? Samples will be provided.
• The Resource Management Piñata. Participants whack a piñata whose contents are clues to solving a mysterious and sudden decline in the population of a rare species. Once the clues are out, you have to figure out how to put them all together to come up with the most likely cause of the problem. (Beware: some of the clues could lead you down a false trail!)
• Who Needs the Rest of the Planet? The National Park Service as an International Leader in Nature Conservation. Whether by design or not, the exporting of the “Yellowstone Model” of national parks to countries around the world has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism over recent years. At the same time, many would argue that the mantle of leadership once worn by the U.S. National Park Service in matters of international park conservation has been ceded — by default — to organizations such as The Nature Conservancy. Is that good, bad, or does it even matter?
• Commemorating 9/11: The Importance of Perspective. One of the many consequences of the terrorist attacks was to bring to the forefront of people’s minds the process of commemoration: Who gets to decide which stories of that day and its aftermath will “count” in the official process of creating memorials? Indeed, should that process be led by officials in the first place, or should we let “the people” decide? And should we not wait for some years in order to get a better sense of where 9/11 fits in to the long-term picture, rather than attempt to create memorials so soon after the fact? Join us for small-group discussions of these important issues.
• The Emergence of a Nation: A New Version of the “Philadelphia Story.” In grade-school history we learned that the American nation was born in Philadelphia. The recent controversy over interpreting the presence of enslaved people on the site of the Liberty Bell Pavilion begs a larger question: What does it mean to create a nation? If, in the beginning, there are large numbers of unfree people (e.g., African Americans), people who don’t even count as persons (Native Americans), and people who are “invisibilized” (e.g., immigrant laborers from less-favored countries), then can we really say that we’ve created a nation? This session will look back at Philadelphia as it existed at the time of Independence and consider how nation-building might have looked to those who were unfree, or non-persons, or invisible.

We hope these ideas spark your creativity! (By the way, if any of them really strike your fancy, feel free to use them as the basis for an actual Day-Capper proposal — they are just illustrative examples, not actual ideas under development.)

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