For those of you who don't know, my husband is a recovering Star Trekkie. This post is dedicated to you, Mikey.
(Credit for finding this vid goes to the Lipstick Librarian.)
Mr. Spock speaks the truth.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Wicked
This is the green edition of Adventures in the Midwest. (Don't worry, I'm not going to preach environmentalism. Except for one little thing: RECYCLE!) I just have a few comments to make about the Broadway smash Wicked. Mike and I saw the musical last weekend in St. Louis and it's such a fabulous, smart, and funny show, I couldn't resist a little commentary.
First, a brief synopsis of the show (you can read more -- and hear some sound clips -- here): Long before Dorothy dropped in on the land of Oz, two other girls met there. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked: The Musical is the story of how these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.
The musical is, in large part, all about spin. About how a person is assigned a simplistic label and then, in the eyes of the public becomes that quality. (i.e., the Wicked Witch of the West). In a song called "Popular" that Glinda sings she says:
When I see depressing creatures
With unprepossessing features
I remind them on their own we have
To think of
Celebrated heads of state or
Specially great communicators
Did they have brains or knowledge?
Don't make me laugh
They were Popular - please
It's all about Pop-u-oo-lar
It's not about aptitude
It's the way you're viewed
So it's very shrewd to be
Very, very Popular
Like me!
This may seem like a non sequitur, but I'll go for it anyway: Since the Iowa caucus results blew all predictions of an "inevitable" race between Clinton and Giuliani out of the water, we have a bit of a chance to look at candidates with a (slightly) fresh perspective. Sure, Clinton has been labeled the "experienced" candidate, Obama the candidate of "change," Huckabee the "Christian leader," McCain the "maverick." But what does that really mean? Those one-word labels (like Wicked or Good) are completely meaningless when decontextualized, as they generally are in the press. In order to get any substantive information about policy plans, I think the best place to go is to a candidate's website to find out what is behind the carefully crafted look and message that is released through the media. It's not about who is "popular" or "wicked" or "good" or anything else. To participate in the process in a meaningful way, we need to know more than the brief and superficial descriptions we get from the media.
Ponder on one more lyrical example of how smart this show is. The Wizard sings the following lyrics:
A man's called a traitor - or a liberator
A rich man's a thief - or philanthropist
Is one a crusader - or ruthless invader?
It's all in which label
Is able to persist
There are precious few at ease
With moral ambiguities
So we act as though they don't exist. . .
First, a brief synopsis of the show (you can read more -- and hear some sound clips -- here): Long before Dorothy dropped in on the land of Oz, two other girls met there. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked: The Musical is the story of how these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.The musical is, in large part, all about spin. About how a person is assigned a simplistic label and then, in the eyes of the public becomes that quality. (i.e., the Wicked Witch of the West). In a song called "Popular" that Glinda sings she says:
When I see depressing creatures
With unprepossessing features
I remind them on their own we have
To think of
Celebrated heads of state or
Specially great communicators
Did they have brains or knowledge?
Don't make me laugh
They were Popular - please
It's all about Pop-u-oo-lar
It's not about aptitude
It's the way you're viewed
So it's very shrewd to be
Very, very Popular
Like me!
This may seem like a non sequitur, but I'll go for it anyway: Since the Iowa caucus results blew all predictions of an "inevitable" race between Clinton and Giuliani out of the water, we have a bit of a chance to look at candidates with a (slightly) fresh perspective. Sure, Clinton has been labeled the "experienced" candidate, Obama the candidate of "change," Huckabee the "Christian leader," McCain the "maverick." But what does that really mean? Those one-word labels (like Wicked or Good) are completely meaningless when decontextualized, as they generally are in the press. In order to get any substantive information about policy plans, I think the best place to go is to a candidate's website to find out what is behind the carefully crafted look and message that is released through the media. It's not about who is "popular" or "wicked" or "good" or anything else. To participate in the process in a meaningful way, we need to know more than the brief and superficial descriptions we get from the media.
Ponder on one more lyrical example of how smart this show is. The Wizard sings the following lyrics:
A man's called a traitor - or a liberator
A rich man's a thief - or philanthropist
Is one a crusader - or ruthless invader?
It's all in which label
Is able to persist
There are precious few at ease
With moral ambiguities
So we act as though they don't exist. . .
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Very happy holidays
I know it's a bit late now to wish you happy holidays, but I hope you enjoyed the season as much as Mike and I did. We had a wonderful trip to Cache Valley, got to visit with lots of our family members, and spent some great quality time together in the car as we criss-crossed the plains.
Highlights of the trip (in chronological order -- more or less):
Highlights of the trip (in chronological order -- more or less):
- Listening to Driveway Moments from NPR as we crossed Illinois and Iowa
- Spending an afternoon and night in Laramie, WY when I-80 was closed due to wind and snow
- Driving into Cache Valley from Sardine Canyon and seeing the whole beautiful place laid out before us (while listening to Christmas music on the radio)
Do you see why I love Cache Valley so much?!?
- The Hansen family Christmas party at Aunt Roxane's -- visiting with everyone, eating, giving gifts, opening presents
- Church in Fairview -- seeing lots of people we love
- The grandparent party on Christmas eve -- and visiting Grandma Hansen's new house and visiting Grandma & Grandpa Bowles
- Getting all matching PJs with the Bowles family
- Watching movies, playing games, and generally hanging out with the fam
- Staying up late talking to Rob and Sarah
- Talking to Justin on the phone on Christmas morning
- Cross-country skiing in Mink Creek on Christmas day
- Having lunch with Karl & his mom
- Eating at Cafe Sabor with Jensie, Tyrell, and Lucie (one of the cutest 2-year-olds we've met)
- Visiting Grandma Terry and Aunt Rosie
- Meeting Rachel & Jake in Logan for a great visit and an awesome lunch with Grandma & Grandpa Brough and Uncle Mark
- The Bowles family Christmas party -- visiting with cousins, aunts, and uncles and eating great food
- Listening to This American Life and The Things They Carried on the drive back to the flatlands.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Packing
I just pulled out our suitcases to start packing (we're leaving for Cache Valley tomorrow!) and Simone wriggled into one of them. She's going to be so disappointed to find out that she's not going with us . . .
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Alma Mater in Roses
In case you hadn't heard, the Fighting Illini are playing in the Rose Bowl on January 1st against the USC Trojans. Illini fever has swept the campus. The most charming proof of Rose Bowl excitement is the Alma Mater statue (she is flanked by Labor and Learning) decorated with roses. Some art and design students adorned the Alma Mater with red, blue, and orange roses to celebrate the upcoming bowl game.
See more pictures of the bedecking here.
See the official "Tournament of Roses" website here.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
School's out, snow, etc.
We got several inches of snow yesterday and last night. Here's the view from our front porch:
Today our church meetings were postponed until 11 a.m. so that hopefully people will be able to get there. For the last two weeks our church meetings have been canceled, so we're happy that we'll get to go today (but just for one hour instead of the usual three -- I know my little brothers are so jealous right now). Mike is outside shoveling the driveway as I write this.
Simone is my little helper
On Thursday we're leaving for Cache Valley and we're so excited! It will be a really long road trip, but we're checking out a bunch of audio books from the library, loading some podcasts on the iPod, and we're praying for good weather. Hopefully the roads will be good and we won't drive each other nuts cooped up in the car for ~20 hours together.
I hope that you are enjoying the run-up to Christmas and that you feel the joy of the season. I felt the Christmas spirit arrive the other night when we watched Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. At the end, the Grinch has a realization:
Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
Isn't that true? It's easy to get caught up in all of the exciting gift-buying, gift-getting, decorating, going to parties, eating lots of food, etc. But that's not what the holiday is all about. I recently read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and was impressed with this quote:
(You can see a video clip from the Grinch here or read about the making of the Grinch here. Both links are from NPR.)
Today our church meetings were postponed until 11 a.m. so that hopefully people will be able to get there. For the last two weeks our church meetings have been canceled, so we're happy that we'll get to go today (but just for one hour instead of the usual three -- I know my little brothers are so jealous right now). Mike is outside shoveling the driveway as I write this.I finished the last of my coursework for this semester on Friday and it feels great to be done. It's remarkable that I was able to finish my final paper under these working conditions. Simone was sleeping on the laptop!
Simone is my little helperOn Thursday we're leaving for Cache Valley and we're so excited! It will be a really long road trip, but we're checking out a bunch of audio books from the library, loading some podcasts on the iPod, and we're praying for good weather. Hopefully the roads will be good and we won't drive each other nuts cooped up in the car for ~20 hours together.
I hope that you are enjoying the run-up to Christmas and that you feel the joy of the season. I felt the Christmas spirit arrive the other night when we watched Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. At the end, the Grinch has a realization:
Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
Isn't that true? It's easy to get caught up in all of the exciting gift-buying, gift-getting, decorating, going to parties, eating lots of food, etc. But that's not what the holiday is all about. I recently read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and was impressed with this quote:
I am sure I have always thought of Christmas-time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely. . .
(You can see a video clip from the Grinch here or read about the making of the Grinch here. Both links are from NPR.)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
The Presidential Politics Edition: The Good, the Bad, the Funny
Hello to our faithful blog readers. This is Mike, composing a few thoughts on the race for the White House. For those of you who know M & M, you know we're both interested in politics, so you had to see this one coming.
Let's start with the funny. By now, you may have seen the video of Chuck Norris stumping for Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. If you have seen it, come on, you know you want to watch it again! If you haven't seen it, here it is for your viewing pleasure.
I don't want to dwell too much on the bad (there's plenty of that to go around when it comes to politics), but I'd have to say that the worst part of the presidential race, so far, has been the media coverage. How many times have we heard that Mitt Romney needs to make a "JFK-style speech" about his religious beliefs? The fact that reporters keep making the comparison between Romney and JFK without much analysis highlights the shallowness of media coverage of the campaigns so far. (I did hear some in-depth reporting on the Romney-JFK connection on NPR a couple of days ago, after Mitt made his long-awaited speech. Here's the link to the story I'm referring to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16981132.)
Like I said, I don't want to harp on this too much, but I've also been frustrated by the way the media uses the language of fist-fighting and boxing to describe candidates' disagreements, and I'm tired of the media's constantly emphasizing "top-tier" vs. "second-tier" candidates. Listening to, watching, or reading the news, you almost feel like it's a foregone conclusion that the general election will be between Rudy Giuliani and Hilary Clinton. Sometimes it feels like reporters forget that it's up to voters to decide who will win their party's nomination.
Where's the good in all this? Allow me to quote Barack Obama. In his book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes, "a polarized electorate isn't good enough. What's needed is a broad majority of Americans - Democrats, Republicans, and independents of goodwill - who are reengaged in the project of national renewal, and who see their own self-interest as inextricably linked to the interests of others" (40). Is it possible for citizens who are sharply divided along party lines to unite for the common good in some way? I hope so, and I'm very glad to see at least one candidate who is talking about cooperation and unity across party lines. Whoever wins in 2008, I'm hopeful that the "project of national renewal" Obama refers to will become a reality. Until then, enjoy the circus of Election 2008!
Let's start with the funny. By now, you may have seen the video of Chuck Norris stumping for Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. If you have seen it, come on, you know you want to watch it again! If you haven't seen it, here it is for your viewing pleasure.
I don't want to dwell too much on the bad (there's plenty of that to go around when it comes to politics), but I'd have to say that the worst part of the presidential race, so far, has been the media coverage. How many times have we heard that Mitt Romney needs to make a "JFK-style speech" about his religious beliefs? The fact that reporters keep making the comparison between Romney and JFK without much analysis highlights the shallowness of media coverage of the campaigns so far. (I did hear some in-depth reporting on the Romney-JFK connection on NPR a couple of days ago, after Mitt made his long-awaited speech. Here's the link to the story I'm referring to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16981132.)
Like I said, I don't want to harp on this too much, but I've also been frustrated by the way the media uses the language of fist-fighting and boxing to describe candidates' disagreements, and I'm tired of the media's constantly emphasizing "top-tier" vs. "second-tier" candidates. Listening to, watching, or reading the news, you almost feel like it's a foregone conclusion that the general election will be between Rudy Giuliani and Hilary Clinton. Sometimes it feels like reporters forget that it's up to voters to decide who will win their party's nomination.
Where's the good in all this? Allow me to quote Barack Obama. In his book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes, "a polarized electorate isn't good enough. What's needed is a broad majority of Americans - Democrats, Republicans, and independents of goodwill - who are reengaged in the project of national renewal, and who see their own self-interest as inextricably linked to the interests of others" (40). Is it possible for citizens who are sharply divided along party lines to unite for the common good in some way? I hope so, and I'm very glad to see at least one candidate who is talking about cooperation and unity across party lines. Whoever wins in 2008, I'm hopeful that the "project of national renewal" Obama refers to will become a reality. Until then, enjoy the circus of Election 2008!
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