Leadership Conference 2016

Less than an hour after I got off the plane from Chicago I was on the road to St. George to meet my student body and class officers for a leadership conference at Dixie State University.  I have never been more tired in my life but I had so much fun with this amazing group of students!  I had a great group of kids last year but I was in the middle of selling my house and my head just wasn't there.  This year I soaked it all up!  We had keynote speakers, workshops, activities, and service projects (and one or two midnight runs to McDonalds).  One night we were able to see Peter Pan at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre which was amazing, another night we had a barbecue and pool party at the Washington Rec Center, and on our last night we had a black light dance.  We dominated every roll call with our loud cheers and, by the end of the week, every other school knew who we were!  It was a wonderful opportunity for my new officers to get to bond with each other and plan for the 2016-2017 school year.  I am really looking forward to our year together.

Leadership Conference 2015

Leadership Conference 2014

A Day at the Art Institute of Chicago

Whenever I am in a big city for a few days, I always like to visit a major art museum (like I did in New York City).  Marilyn and I had a morning free in Chicago so we decided to visit the Art Institute of Chicago.

Because we are such tourists we had to find what is arguably the most famous painting in the museum:  A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.  This painting is featured in the movie Ferris Beuller's Day Off and because I love that movie it was really fun to see this.

Another really famous painting in the collection is American Gothic by Grant Wood.  It took us quite a while for us to find this painting but it was absolutely spectacular to see it in person.

I am a huge fan of Impressionism and I was thrilled to find a huge collection of paintings by some of my very favorite artists.

Cliff Walk at Pourville by Claude Monet

Houses of Parliament by Claude Monet

Stack of Wheat (Thaw, Sunset) by Claude Monet

Stacks of Wheat (Sunset, Snow Effect) by Claude Monet

Stacks of Wheat (End of Day, Autumn) by Claude Monet

Two Sisters (On the Terrace) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Venice, Palazzo Dario by Claude Monet

Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Water Lily Pond by Claude Monet

Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather by Claude Monet

Woman at the Piano by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazarre by Claude Monet

Poppy Field (Giverny) by Claude Monet

Drapery, Pitcher, and Fruit Bowl by Paul Cezanne

Self-Portrait by Vincent Van Gogh

It was incredible to see all of these paintings, which I had studied in college, up close and in person.  I highly recommend a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago!

Adele in Chicago

I absolutely love Adele!  I love her music but, more importantly, I love the fact that she is unapologetically herself and refuses to conform to anyone else's idea of what a pop star should be. When her album 21 was released, I was basically obsessed with the song "Rolling in the Deep" and I played it over and over.  When the song "Hello" was released, I was even more obsessed with it!  I downloaded 25 the first day it was available and listened to it on repeat for days.  Adele is not usually a touring artist but I really hoped that she would tour with 25.  I vowed that I would go to any city so that I could see her live!  When her tour was announced, I thought briefly about Denver (I've done that several times) but Chicago worked better for my schedule.  The tickets went on sale during one of my classes so I gave my students a big assignment to do on their own so I could get online.  It took forever and all three concerts in Chicago sold out in minutes.  Of course, I went to StubHub and was able to get two tickets for a lot more than Ticketmaster but such was my mania to see Adele!  It was worth every penny because it was an incredible concert and I'm still on a high from it.  She began with "Hello" on a platform in the middle of the floor and the crowd went absolutely crazy!  For "Hometown Glory," she walked up to her stage which was shaped like a diamond with two large screens in the back and a platform in the front.  She stood on the platform most of the time wearing a long black sparkly dress and her band, including a grand piano and strings, was behind her.  During "Hometown Glory" she had images of London on the screens and at the end she put up images of Chicago which got the crowd cheering once again!  Then she sang "One and Only" and pulled people on the stage for selfies with her!  One older man was so flustered to be on stage with her that he couldn't remember where he was from!  In between songs, she would tell stories and go off on funny tangents.  I thought she was hilarious!  She told the crowd that she had two upbeat songs, which she would sing next, and then after that we could all be miserable together!  The two upbeat songs were "Rumour Has It" and "Water Under the Bridge."  Next she sang "I Miss You," which is one of my favorites from 25.  Then she talked about being asked to write "Skyfall" and how excited she was to win an Oscar!  I loved the staging of it because she had very dramatic lighting.  She did an acoustic set for "A Million Years Ago," "Don't You Remember" (which had a new country-sounding arrangement because she is now obsessed with Alison Krauss), and "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)."  She talked about recording her first album 19 and how much she wanted to cover Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love."  She sang it with so much emotion!  Before singing "Sweetest Devotion," she talked about her son which was really endearing.  Then she walked back to the platform in the middle of the floor to sing "Chasing Pavements" and "Someone Like You."  She had scrims around the platform with images of her projected on them which was really cool!  She complained that the cameras got too close to her face and showed her "spots."  Did I mention that she was hilarious!  During this set, she thanked the crowd profusely for supporting her and waiting so long for her new album.  She said she had to live a little bit so she could have something to write about!  I love her!  For "Set Fire to the Rain" it looked like it was raining on the scrims then she disappeared into the floor!  For the encore, she sang "All I Ask" and talked about the sound issues she had at the Grammys.  After her performance she told her manager that she thought it went really well and he said, "Ummm..."  She had to get In-and-Out Burger to recover!  When she sang "When We Were Young," she had images of her childhood on the screen.  She was a sassy little girl!  She ended the concert with "Rolling in the Deep" which got the whole audience up dancing!  I loved that she began with "Hello" and ended with "Rolling in the Deep" which are my two favorite songs!  This is definitely one of my top five concerts of all time because, not only can she belt out a song (which I expected), but she is so funny and personable!  It was a great weekend in Chicago!

Weekend in Chicago

Last weekend Marilyn and I went to Chicago to see Adele at the United Center.  Chicago is one of my favorite cities and, even though we were only there for two days, we were able to see and do quite a bit.

Willis Tower (Sears Tower)

Chicago Skyline

Navy Pier

Navy Pier

Chicago River

Chicago River

One of the many skyscrapers in Chicago

Pumping Station (One of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871)

Cloud Gate in Millennium Park

Another view of the famous "bean"

Chicago Skyline and Lake Michigan

More views from Lake Shore Drive

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago Skyline at night

Trump Tower

Chicago River at night

Skyline at night

Summer Reading: The Girl Next Door

I was expecting a typical murder-mystery when I first picked up The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell. Instead, I got a psychological drama about a group of people trying to recapture their youth. The novel begins with the cold blooded murder of a young woman and her lover by her jealous husband.  The murderer discovers their affair when he sees them holding hands so he ruthlessly severs their hands, places them in a biscuit tin, and hides the tin in an underground tunnel where his son and his friends play during World War II. Sixty years later, the biscuit tin is discovered, and in a half-hearted attempt to solve the crime, the police gather the people who played in the tunnels as children to question them. I thought it was odd that the murderer is revealed in the first chapter but the novel is less about the murder than about the effect the murder has on those involved. In fact, the murder is only relevant in that it brings a group of people back together after a lifetime apart. Memories are stirred. Relationships are rekindled. Truths are uncovered. When the murder is solved, it is almost anticlimactic compared with the upheaval is has caused in the lives of the characters. There is an almost bewildering number of characters (including a bevy of brothers whom I could never keep straight) but several emerge from the field.  My favorite character is Rosemary, whose husband leaves her when he is reunited with the proverbial girl next door. She is completely undone by his betrayal but eventually creates an exciting life for herself and refuses to take him back when the affair runs its course. Even though this is a very unconventional murder-mystery, I enjoyed the character development and I particularly liked the fact that the characters, who are in their 60s and 70s, have complicated and interesting lives. Give it a read.