Jazz Game with Tashena

While I sometimes miss the little girl who used to love to play Barbies for hours on end, I have to admit that the teenage Tashena is also pretty fun.  Recently she told me that she really, really wanted to go to a Jazz game so, clearly, we had to go to last night's game against the Dallas Mavericks because it was the last home game of the season.  I am so glad that Tashena talked me into going because it was intense!  The game had huge playoff implications for both teams as they were both battling to clinch a spot.  The crowd was loud and rowdy and Tashena and I definitely added to the noise.  The Jazz stayed with the Mavericks with some electrifying three-pointers from Joe Ingles to end the first quarter and they ended the second quarter down by just four points.  It was so much fun listening to Tashena analyze the game.  In the third quarter the Jazz were down by as many as eleven but then went on an 8-0 run to get back in the game.  The Vivint Arena was absolutely out of control cheering for the Jazz at this point and it was so much fun to watch Tashena take it all in.  There is nothing like a Utah Jazz crowd when they are playing well!  In the fourth quarter the Jazz could not seem to make a basket no matter what they did.  Gordon Hayward eventually got a nice three-pointer and made two foul shots to bring Utah within five in the last few minutes but it was not enough and they ended up losing to Dallas 101-92.  It was a heartbreaker because the Jazz lost control of their own destiny and now need to beat the Lakers and they need the Rockets to lose to the Kings to clinch the final playoff spot.  Needless to say, we were a bit more subdued walking out of the arena than we were walking in, but I had so much fun at this game.  It was almost as much fun as playing Barbies!

Fun at the Bees Game

Saturday night Marilyn and I took Sean and Tashena to a Salt Lake Bees game against the Sacramento River Cats.  We had so much fun!  The Bees played really well (with a dramatic home run in the third inning) and eventually won the game 6-0, but being with Sean and Tashena is what made this night such a good time.  I sure do love them!  We got laughing so hard that I could not breathe and I think we were more entertaining to the people around us than the game was.  At one point Sean was taking a bunch of selfies with Marilyn's phone and the lady behind us started photobombing.  Good times!  After the game there were fireworks which is always a lot of fun. It did eventually get a little bit chilly but sitting outside in the sunshine and watching some baseball made me get really excited for summer!

Gwinna

Yesterday I went with my family to watch Tashena dance in CDT's production of Gwinna at Capitol Theatre.  The production, based on the children's book of the same name by Barbara Helen Berger, tells the story of a little girl who has wings but doesn't know that she can fly.  A woodworker and his wife want a child desperately and ask the Mother of the Owls to help them.  She promises them a child but they must let her go when she turns twelve.  The couple agrees but when their child, Gwinna, develops wings, they bind them up so she can't leave them.  Gwinna hears a melody that only she can hear and it frightens her parents.  When Mother Owl calls her home her parents try to stop her but they are turned to stone.  When Mother Owl learns that Gwinna can hear the music, she sends her in search of it.  With the help of a griffin Gwinna finds Druantia, the guardian of the trees, who tells her that her song has been forgotten and that she must bring it back to the world.  Gwinna builds a harp and the wind teaches her how to play it.  She flies back to her parents and brings them back to life by playing her harp.  I really liked the story, the choreography, and the music.  The costumes were really beautiful, especially all of the owls and their wings.

Tashena's dance (which was at the end!) was called "Wind in the Harp" and I thought it was very elegant and graceful.  My favorite part of the choreography was when Tashena had a very dramatic leap to mimic the wind.  I always love watching Tashena on stage because she expresses everything she feels through dance.

Tashena did such a good job and we are so proud of her!

Gwinna will be performed once again at the Sandy Amphitheater on June 21 (a free concert) and at the Utah Arts Festival on June 25.  Come see my beautiful and talented niece perform.

The Three Questions

Crumb and the Pirates

I Saw the Light

I have definitely heard my fair share of country music lately!  While I am not usually a fan of the genre, I have been looking forward to I Saw the Light, a new biopic about country music legend Hank Williams, because I always enjoy stories about interesting people and I was hoping that it would be as entertaining as Walk the Line, a biopic about another country music icon, Johnny Cash, which I really enjoyed.  Hank Williams lived a life that was every bit as compelling as Johnny Cash did but, unfortunately, this movie certainly does not live up to Walk the Line.  I saw the film last night and it chronicles Williams' (Tom Hiddleston) first marriage to Audrey Sheppard (Elizabeth Olsen), his early days as a radio performer, his first recording contract in Nashville, his heyday on the Grand Ole Opry, his descent into alcohol and drug abuse, his second marriage to Billie Jean Jones (Maddie Hasson), and his untimely death at the age of 29.  In my opinion, the narrative lacks cohesion.  Events seem very random and there were many times when I wondered what was going on.  This is particularly true when Williams is in a sanatorium trying to get sober.  Out of nowhere we see Williams writhing on a bed and then, in the next scene, we see him signing himself out as an attendant tells him he looks better than when he came in and Williams vows that he won't be back.  We see many early scenes of Williams behaving badly, before becoming famous, but we never really know the cause of his ennui.  The script briefly touches on his mother's possessiveness, his absent father, and his not-even-remotely-talented and self-serving wife's attempts to use him to further her own career, but these themes are abandoned quickly and I wish that they had been explored with more depth.  What redeems this film, somewhat, is Hiddleston's amazing portrayal of Williams.  Like Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line, Hiddleston physically inhabits the role while performing all of Williams' songs himself and, while he doesn't sound exactly like him, he does a convincing job of capturing all of his idiosyncrasies.  I will admit that there were times when I lost interest in what was happening on screen but my attention never wavered when Hiddleston was performing, especially when he sings "Lovesick Blues" during his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry.  I had goosebumps!  Such a brilliant performance deserves a better script!  I would recommend that you give it a miss.

It's That Time of Year...

A favorite photo of the Student Council at Leadership Camp last July.

Last week I began the process of electing new Student Body and Class Officers.  It is definitely bittersweet.  While it is a lot of fun to get to know a new group of students who are enthusiastic and full of great ideas, it is always really hard to say goodbye to the group you have worked with all year and this group has been especially wonderful.  I'm not sure that I can let them go!   They have worked so hard and accomplished so much this year!  I have grown to love them so much and I am incredibly proud of them!  I know that it is time for them to move on to bigger and better things (I have no doubt that they will all accomplish great things) but I will certainly miss them!  While they have set the bar really high for the 2016-2017 officers, I am hoping that this year is just the beginning of some great traditions at HHS!