The Wild, Wild West of Illinois Politics

Rod Blagojevich

Our esteemed governor, Rod Blagojevich (pronounced bluh-GOY-uh-vich) has apparently been trying to sell Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. Great. This is just the latest incident in Illinois's very sordid political history. My hope is that this doesn't hurt President-elect Obama too badly -- he's not implicated in the mess, but of course Fox News has jumped into the Obama angle of the story with both feet. Since I didn't grow up in Illinois and didn't take Illinois history, I need a little insight into when and why things went so wrong. Somewhere between Abraham Lincoln and George Ryan, ethics and morality completely excused themselves from politics in this state.

Another movie post

A friend and I went to see Twilight yesterday. Yes, I read all four books. No, I am not 15 or a children's librarian or a YA librarian. No, I didn't read them just because the author is Mormon and so am I. Yes, I'm a little bit embarrassed at how much I liked the series. Why? Because it's about teenage vampires and it's a pretty sappy romance and I was an English major and should have higher standards for the stuff that I read.

Now that the Q&A is out of the way, here are my thoughts about the movie, Twilight:

• It is lesser than the book.
• It could be much worse.
• The movie includes some cheesy dialogue, bad special effects, and not particularly great acting. But it's not all bad.
  
• The movie (and the book) totally capture the despair and wonder of teenage love.
• The movie very successfully evokes the spirit of the book.
• The movie captures just what it's like to be in high school.
  

So, I enjoyed the movie. Mike was totally uninterested in seeing it (and I know he would have been groaning and rolling his eyes throughout), so I'm glad I got to see it with a lady friend rather than subjecting Mike to the experience. My very funny brother-in-law, Mike's brother, is blogging about his experience reading the Twilight series. Check it out: Edward Kidnapped My Wife.

P.S. One more thing -- recently on Times and Seasons (a Mormon blog) there was a review of Breaking Dawn, the final book in the Twilight series. ** Spoiler Alert ** The reviewer claims that Breaking Dawn is "a profoundly Mormon book by a proudly Mormon author" because it concludes the love story not just with a marriage, but with the promise of an eternal partnership (a tenet of Mormon belief). The book also makes the heroine a perfected and immortal being after her death (which is also a part of Mormon theology). Any thoughts from those of you who've read Breaking Dawn? I personally wasn't thrilled with the book, though it did satisfactorily tie up all the loose ends and effectively finish my addiction to the series.

The Fountain

Mike and I watched this movie last night and I'm still thinking about it, which is the sign of a good movie, if you ask me. Movies that stay with you and make you think for hours or days are often more worthwhile than the type you forget as you're leaving the theatre. I'd recommend the movie if you're interested in "love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world" (summary from imdb.com).

Yes!

Halloween 2008

We had a fun trunk-or-treat party at our church last weekend, with lots of fun stuff:

• kids in costume
  
• games
• a chili cookoff
• a dessert contest
  
• and candy!

On Halloween night itself we hung out with our friends, Heather and Devin, and watched the movie Clue and handed out candy to their trick or treaters. Good times!

Visit from the Bowles parents

Mom and Dad visited October 17th-22nd and we had such a fabulous time! We're so glad that they took the time to come and visit us in central Illinois.

We showed Mom and Dad around campus, including (of course) several libraries. Dad is one of the most curious people I know and he had loads of questions that I couldn't always answer (though I nearly always make an attempt to B.S. some kind of response). It made me think -- maybe this is why librarianship is so right for me.

We went to an Illini football game and they beat Indiana 55-13.
The game was a lot of fun and Memorial Stadium is truly impressive.
At church on Sunday, the children in our congregation presented a special program. I direct the kids' singing (I'm the Primary music leader) and so my parents got to see all the kids that I teach each Sunday. They all did a wonderful job singing and saying their spoken parts.

Last Monday we went to Springfield, IL together to the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library and to the Lincoln House (pictured below). This is the home where Abraham and Mary Lincoln lived from 1844-1861 (when they moved to Washington, D.C.).
We spent two days in Chicago together and we got to see Wicked, go on a Chicago Architecture Foundation walking tour, and go to the LDS temple in Chicago. It was an action-packed visit and we all nearly walked our feet off, but it was a fabulous time!

M&M in front of the Chicago Temple
Tiffany glass in the dome of the Chicago Cultural Center -- absolutely stunning!

Homecoming

Alma Mater with an electric guitar. Theme of Homecoming: "Feel the 'Nois." Get it? No? It took me more than a week to catch on: 'Nois is short for Illinois and it sounds like "Noise." Now do you get it? Yeah, me neither.

This is a club that builds high-powered lawn mowers to pull stuff.

This float had the Chief gutting a gopher.

This past weekend was Homecoming at University of Illinois and, sadly, the Illini lost the big game to the Golden Gophers of Minnesota. Too bad. Mike and I went to the parade and enjoyed the floats, marching band, and carloads and carloads full of parade organizers. OK, honestly, I mostly just enjoyed the marching band.

I tried to upload a video of the marching band, but am having trouble "processing" the video. Maybe fate is intervening on your behalf, protecting you from the blast of brass and odd prancing steps of the orange-clad instrumentalists.

Mom and Dad are going to be here for a visit Friday the 17th through Wednesday the 22nd. Can't wait to see them!