Grand Teton National Park

My friend Rich teaches a class called the American West at Hunter High School.  During the summer, he takes a group of students from the class on a camping trip to Grand Teton National Park.  This year I went along as a chaperone.

I have been to Yellowstone many times but I have never camped at Grand Teton National Park and it was beautiful!

We stayed in the campsite by Coulter Bay in tents that were almost like cabins because they had reinforced walls and a roof.  They were pretty nice but it was very cold at night.  There was a wood-burning stove but we let the fire go out the first night.  I was vigilant about keeping the fire going the second night!  I was with the girls in this cabin.

On the second day we went rafting on the Snake River.  The level of the river was higher than anyone remembers it ever being and the guides were even nervous about the conditions.  They gave us a safety briefing that was comprehensive, to say the least.  After that I didn't know if I wanted to do it any more!  To be honest, I was pretty terrified.  I had gone river rafting once before on the Athabasca River in Canada but that was a bit tamer than the Snake River.  They made us wear wet suits because the water was so cold.

Here we are in our raft before we started down the river.  Notice that I am in the back in the middle.  Our guide wanted the two bravest people in the front as the lead paddlers and the most scared person in the back!  Ha ha!

Rafting the river was amazing!  We hit some really big rapids and we all got drenched but it was a thrill!  It felt like the biggest roller coaster you can imagine but it was completely out of control.  I loved it!  Our guide took this picture of us on a calm portion of the river!

On the third day we went on a hike around Jenny Lake which gave us spectacular views.

This was such a fun trip and the students were so great.  Some of my favorite moments were sitting in the bathroom charging our phones, making s'mores by the fire every night, an epic Monopoly game, and the Hootenanny in Moose.  I hope I am invited to go again next year! 

Summer Reading: Small Great Things

The next selection on my summer reading list was Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. My former book club read My Sister's Keeper, House Rules, and Leaving Time, all of which I enjoyed to varying degrees. Jodi Picoult can always be relied upon for a thought-provoking read and this novel certainly delivered. Ruth Jefferson is a well-respected labor and delivery nurse with twenty years of experience. She is also African-American. She is assigned to assess Davis Bauer, the newborn son of Brittany and Turk Bauer, who happen to be white supremacists. They make a request that Ruth not be allowed to care for their son and a note is placed in his file. On a busy night with many deliveries and an emergency C-section, Ruth is the only nurse available to monitor Davis after a routine circumcision. When he goes into cardiac arrest, she tries to save him but, fearing for her job, immediately stops ministering to him when others arrive. When the baby dies, Turk and Brittany hold Ruth responsible and she is arrested and charged with murder. Kennedy McQuarrie is the overworked public defender who is assigned Ruth's case. It is her first murder trial and she hopes to win in order to advance her career. The narrative alternates between the perspectives of Ruth, Turk, and Kennedy and I found all of them to be compelling and believable, although Turk made me extremely uncomfortable. Of course, this novel explores the overt racism of the white supremacists which we would all agree is utterly reprehensible but Picoult also explores the subtle racism of Kennedy, a good person who asserts that she doesn't see race yet makes decisions about Ruth's case which silence her voice. This also made me very uncomfortable as I began questioning my own implicit bias. Some of the most powerful scenes in the novel are when Kennedy tries to experience what it is like to live inside Ruth's skin. While there are some aspects of the novel that I questioned, especially the transformation at the end which was not entirely believable, I highly recommend Small Great Things for bringing up important and timely questions about race.

Have you read Small Great Things?  What did you think?

The Godfather

I have a confession.  Before last Sunday I had never seen The Godfather!  I know!  When I mentioned this to my movie buddies there was a stunned silence as if they couldn't believe it!  It is widely considered to be the greatest film in American cinema so when I found out that it was going to be screened as part of TCM's Big Screen Classics, I knew I had to get a ticket if for no other reason than to be able to say that I had finally seen it.  Now I know what I have been missing.  It is a masterpiece!  The plot centers on the Corleone family, particularly the relationship between Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), the head of the family, and his youngest son Michael (Al Pacino).  Initially, Michael is a disinterested outsider but is drawn in after Vito is gunned down by a rival and eventually becomes the ruthless leader of the family.  I found the story to be utterly compelling and my attention never wavered during its three hour run time.  I was very impressed by the performances of Marlon Brando (who won the Oscar for the role), James Caan as the oldest son Santini, Robert Duvall as the consigliere to the Corleone family, and Diane Keaton as Michael's girlfriend and, later, wife.  However, it was a young (and extremely handsome) Al Pacino who absolutely captivated me by his intense portrayal of a man who becomes more and more hardened by events.  The scene in the restaurant, with a close-up shot on Michael's face as he decides to kill two of the family's rivals, is brilliant.  You can literally see the exact moment when Michael makes the decision.  I also found the christening scene to be fascinating with another close-up on Michael's face as he recites vows in a church while his associates assassinate the leaders of all of the rival crime families.  The juxtaposition is so jarring but effective!  I think what I appreciated most about this film is that, even though it is about organized crime and there are scenes of violence (there is that famous scene with a horse's head), it is not excessively gory and there is very little profanity.  I loved the use of light and shadow to convey a mood and the score is also incredibly atmospheric.  At the end of the film everyone in the packed theater applauaded enthusiastically because it is a masterpiece!  I am so glad that I got to see it on the big screen.

Note:  I found it amusing that Sofia Coppola played the baby being christened!  I am so looking forward to her film The Beguiled.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at HCT

My friend Scott, who teaches high school theatre, says, rather derisively, that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is the most overdone musical of all time. He has a point, as I have seen it performed countless times, but it is so popular because it is usually so fun and entertaining. It tells the well-known Bible story of how Joseph rose to become the Pharaoh's second-in-command after his brothers betrayed him for being their father's favorite with songs that span every musical genre. Each production adds their own special touches and Hale Centre Theatre's version, which I saw last Saturday night, is no exception. In "Journey to Egypt" the Ishmaelites are portrayed as a motorcycle gang, in "Potiphar" the title character plays miniature golf trying to hit the ball into a Sphinx-like feature (which I thought was hilarious), in "Go, Go, Go, Joseph" the dancers emerge from psychedelic VW buses, "The Song of the King" is performed as a Las Vegas floor show complete with showgirls and waiters offering cocktails to audience members, and the "Megamix" is performed in a nightclub with Mrs. Potipher as the DJ spinning the tunes. These were all really fun touches and both Joseph (Zack Wilson) and the Narrator (Amelia Rose Moore) have incredible voices, but I didn't really like this production. Perhaps my friend Scott is right and it is overdone because I have seen much better versions. First of all, the lighting is way too dark, relying on colored lights and illuminated stars strung throughout the theatre to light the action. Sometimes I had a hard time seeing what was going on. Next, there was a lot going on. The stage at Hale Theatre is small and intimate and this is a big show with a large cast. There were many times when the action seemed to be a bit unwieldy, and even messy, with the moving on and off of set pieces and props and those set pieces and props were so completely over-the-top that they detracted from the action. Finally, I did not like the costumes at all. I thought they were dark, edgy, and a bit too avant-garde for my taste. In my opinion, they should be fun, colorful, and whimsical. My complaints all have to do with style; the music is, as ever, what makes this musical so popular and the cast does a fantastic job with all of the songs. I'm sure that most people will enjoy this production more than I did.

Another Saturday of Rugby

Last Saturday morning found all of us back at Murray Park for some rugby!  It is becoming a ritual just like football was in the fall.  I can't believe that I actually get up early on a Saturday!  Bountiful played Olympus, Hunter, and Herriman.  They barely lost to Olympus, they got killed by Hunter (I bet some of the players were little brothers of my students), and they beat Herriman.  Despite that win, Sean wasn't very happy at the end of the morning and could barely smile for me (but at least he did it!).  Here are a few action shots of him in the game against Hunter.

I overheard one of the Moms say that she had absolutely no idea what was going on.  Same!