Something from everyday goings on.
While I don’t agree with them all the time, the vatican is taking a step in the right direction. they are going green.
the activation of a new solar energy system to power several key buildings and a commitment to use renewable energy for 20 percent of its needs by 2020.
This is a step in the right direction, one that every EU country has to do by 2020.
Well my show is open, with strike happening tonight. This weekend was pretty uneventful. The kids played with friends on Saturday, with today being a stay at home day. Although Arden was sick today so that threw some things for a loop. That seems to be one of the hardest times to be a parent. When your kid is sick and cranky(really cranky) and even though you tell yourself to cut them some slack, you get extremely frustrated with them. But beyond that things are ok.
I find myself doing a lot of department head things lately. Reports, budgets, student requests, faculty requests etc. I’m glad to do most of it, since it needs to get done and is quite necessary for the department to run. But I’m finding less time for the fun stuff : teaching, designing, being in the shop. Hopefully soon I can get a decent balance between the two opposing forces. Well, until that balance comes, I guess I will consol myself with the fact that my new office has two big windows filled with natural light.
I voted, He voted, did you?
A couple of weekends ago I led a trip of students to New York City. Rob Mish and I were the chaperones, and we had 5 students with us. The students were exposed to a broad range of theatrical experiences. We arrived on Thursday, and went to ALvin Ailey’s Studios to see a reading of an original play. The legend of Sleepy Hollow, an adaptation by Christopher Cartmill an alum of Washington and Lee University from the ’80s. A lively inventive version that integrates dance and theatricality.
We got a tour of a prop shop for film and television, called Eclectic Encore. They do a lot of work for Law and Order, and Saturday Night Live. Then we walked a couple of blocks (and saw Jeff Goldblum walking down the street) to a talent agency and talked to another alum that works there.
That night we went to see Equus written by peter Shaffer and starring Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. A very well done production.
The next day we saw an Off-Broadway show down in Greenwich Village, called Fifty Words, one of those great dramas filled with people that have lots of underlying problems that all pop out over the course of one long night.
Then we broke up to see different shows, the students went to see Spring Awakening. While I went down to Union Square to see Fuerzabruta. It was an amazing show that is hard to explain. It was like a magical dream of interconnected vignettes. The audience was brought on this journey about struggle and finding connection that ended triumphantly. I am making our next group of students go see it(whenever that might be).
Here is their official clip on YouTube:
You can find more YouTube clips Here, or find pictures on Flickr(photo sharing site) Here.
Here is a funny Web sit eIf Palin was president.
Currently I am on my way to a conference in Colorado City at Colorado College. Probably by the time can post this I will have arrived at my hotel. It is for department chairs of theater and dance. While I had to get up really early to drive down to the airport, the travel has not been that stressful.
A Web site I like has a new video out. It is from Common Craft show, and they explain how phishing scams work.
Another good one from to prepare you for the halloween season is this one:
Everyone has things they are afraid of, and they change as you get older. McKelvey currently is worried that there is a ghost in the closet. It is only after we read this silly book (that I don’t think is scary at all) about some who loves pie and comes out of the ground when he smells a pie baking and then he wants to try a bite. She was never worried about the closet until that book.
On the other hand,I have fears now that I never had before.
McKelvey is in 2nd grade now. So she has fire drills and tornado drills at school. After the tornado drills(and watching the Wizard of Oz) she was worried about tornadoes. Now it was easy to reassure her that there aren’t going to be any tornadoes that will take her house or school away. But she has a drill that we didn’t have when we were in elementary school, crisis drills.
When McKelvey has a crisis drill, the teacher covers up the little window. Then all the students have to crouch in the corner of the room that can’t be seen by the window. Have you guessed what the crisis drill prepares for?
I am so glad they are preparing for every eventuality. I never thought about it before, and now that I do it freaks me out a little. Then McKelvey asked me one day what the crisis drill is for. So I said, “what does Ms. Suter say?” then McKelvey got distracted by something and we never got back to the topic of crisis drills.
But now I have something else to worry about during the school day.
.. and then donate some money to your local school board.
Ann Cooper’s talk on school lunches
A must see talk.