Find peace, Grasshopper

David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV show “Kung Fu,” which mixed Asian characters and influences with a Western setting and “Fugitive” story arc, apparently killed himself in Thailand this week. Carradine, who beat out Bruce Lee for the part, played a half-white North American, half-Chinese Shaolin monk who fled China to escape imperial authorities in continued to pursue him and find U.S. family members in the Western United States. His character’s name was Kwai Chang Caine.

Along with “The Rockford Files” and “Barney Miller,” this was the favorite show during my two years of heavy mid-1970s TV viewing. I probably identified with a rare Asian character on TV: a character who was, like my sister and I, half-Asian and half-white (we even shared a family name). The final episodes of the third and final season – particularly the series finale, “Full Circle,” which I’d love to watch again (along with the “Miami Vice” series finale) - even more directly tackled issues of racism, interracial romance, and violence against Asians and Asian Americans.

The show de facto showed that Asian immigrants were not new to the United States and dealt – usually delicately – with racial issues when black-white issues were still at the forefront and North America’s contemporary new immigration (partly of Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans) was just beginning in earnest.

Another favorite actor of mine, Bruce Lee, fled Hollywood after losing this part (to a non-Asian actor) – after allegedly developing the series idea – and began filmmaking in Hong Kong. There he produced several hit movies – including the extraordinary “Enter the Dragon” – but apparently stayed bitter about Hollywood racism and ultimately died young.

“Kung Fu” – which promoted an ethic of justice and personal serenity (always starting with flashbacks in a Chinese monastery – where Master Po calls Kwai Chang Caine Grasshopper) - and ending with a fight that Caine feels forced to get involved in (Caine as a somewhat standard circuit-riding do-gooder – a la “Quantum Leap” or “The Pretender”)) - probably both reflected and contributed to North Americans’ interest in martial arts and Asian culture and religions. (Before Jackie Chan and “Kung Fu Panda,” it no doubt also helped inspired Carl Douglas’ disco smash “Kung Fu Fighting” (even though the show had its own great theme music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0.)

Alas, Carradine enjoyed little professional success after “Kung Fu,” despite a short revival in a mediocre mid-1990s version of “Kung Fu” set in a modern-day U.S. city, except for a recent recurring role in Quentin Tarantino’s ultra-violent “Kill Bill” movies. (Penny and I did serve in a Hollywood test audience for a mediocre movie with Carradine and Stockard Channing that became “Death Race 2000.”) Carradine, 72, was in Thailand filming a new movie. He apparently hung himself in his Bangkok hotel room.

A revamped movie – a la the new “Star Trek” movie – is apparently in the works.

-- Perry

Very early June update

We did not end up going to the baseball game in Columbus this weekend. Saturday I went to a training on how to approach visiting sick church members. Stephanie mowed and clipped the front lawn and tended to some more plants. Our landlord’s air-conditioning repair people replaced the house’s central air-conditioning condenser outside.

We also took a nap and went somewhat inadvertently to the movie “Lymelife," a tale of Lyme disease and 1970s suburbia that reminded me a bit of Ang Lee’s somewhat edgier “Ice Storm.” It featured among others Jill Hennessy from “Law and Order” and “Crossing Jordan,” Alec Baldwin from “The Hunt for Red October,” and - from another 1970s tale of suburban woe - Timothy Hutton, from “Ordinary People.” (One of the two Caulkin brothers in the movie, Baldwin, and Hennessy in the movie pictured below.)

Sunday was our church’s big annual outdoor Pentecost Sunday service plus potluck. We weren’t able to talk Vincent into going to that – they honored graduating seniors and gave them a cake. But Vincent pleasantly surprised us by going to the annual end of the year church youth group picnic and swim (another potluck) at the Jewish Community Center (with parents too). He had basically not been to a youth group event since the start of the year Deam Lake event (see “Deam Lake”). But his girlfriend’s parents have put her on a diet of two visits with Vincent per month. After a late night out with Vincent and her older sister’s former (?) boyfriend Seth, Samantha was also on a cell phone ban. So, cut off somewhat from her Vincent went with us to the pool party and then went out for some more food with Stephanie, his former prom date (Jessi), and her mother and a friend of Jessi. Afterwards, somewhat manic Vincent came home and had a somewhat long, interesting conversation with Stephanie, which I didn’t catch all of.

The background for the late night and Samantha diet (he had still been walking her home from school almost every day, evading her parents’ ban in that respect) includes him urging her to resist her parents’ wishes more and him starting to hang out with Seth, a 20-year-old with a car who apparently also lives with his parents and has no job and is not going to school (all like Vincent). Seth supposedly has a kind of trust fund, was the youngest KY elected official (serving on the Moorland city council), and plotted last year with two 14-year-old girls to kill one of their friends. To learn more click here:
http://www.wlky.com/video/15979277/index.html

At the youth group picnic we learned that a church family knows the would-be victim.

So, now instead of going over to Samantha’s family’s house every night or walking her home every day, Vincent is riding around town with this accused murder conspirator who ironically ended up pleading guilty to the charge Vincent originally earned (making terrorist threats).

Monday, I remembered, was the fifth anniversary of my first day at the Presbyterian Center (June 1, 2004), and in the afternoon I remembered to bring in some treats.

I have been discovering with my new position (especially administrator of the Presbyterian Panel) I am more responsible for bringing in my own paying clients. Click here to see my first product as new Panel administrator (I wrote the summary based on results of a survey we take every three years – my predecessor wrote the survey and there is no client for this once every three years survey: http://www.pcusa.org/research/panel/summaries/08fall-summary.pdf )

It’s remotely possible that without such clients someday someone could decide to end the Panel, which might also involve cutting my position. Having some of this in mind made meeting all of these researchers in government and especially in the private sector (Gallup, Nielsen, Arbitron, etc.) at the conference in Florida more interesting.

Monday was the last day of school for students in Stephanie’s school district. Stephanie has been winding down for a while, since she has stopped pulling students. Wednesday was a second annual International Festival which she helped organize and got a front-page article in the local paper (lunch pictured): http://www.news-tribune.net/archivesearch/local_story_148134641.html

Monday Stephanie kept on eye on 5th grade students who had not earned a trip to Holiday World in southwestern Indiana.

Tuesday and Wednesday Stephanie has planning, grading, and clean-up days (though grades were due back on Friday). (We weren’t able to get Vincent up to work on his classes on the faster computers in her room.)

Next week she’ll substitute tutor for a couple of days. Then summer school will take place 8-12 for the final two weeks of June.

-- Perry

The Money Man

Driving through sleepy Florence, IN, minutes after Mine that Bird's miraculous victory, and turning around the bend along the river to see the towering Belterra casino (obviously a big local employer) was something of a shock. We rushed in to get tickets before the 7 p.m. show (early so people could gamble afterwards) and quickly noticed that Louisville and Jeffersonville's indoor smoking ban did not apply to some parts of Southern IN. We shifted just in time to a smallish casino concert hall. Twenty years earlier I'd seen Eddie Money (singer of late 70s hits like "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Take Me Home Tonight" and the early 1980s MTV revolution era hits "I Wanna Go Back" and also my favorite, "Shakin'," in the famous Palladium theater. This theater - off of Union Square and scene of Club MTV - which my apartmentmate Belinda and her boyfriend danced in - for a couple of years. Although Money had been a NYC police officer before he became a rock star in the late 1970s, he and his Mr. Entertainer banter (complete with loads of mediocre jokes) seemed a tad out of place in the hip club. Although the Belterra's audience was older and spread somewhat thinly through the concert hall, he almost seemed more at ease in the casino. He talked up gambling there and had apparently played there three years earlier (when we were nearby in Louisville - this was our first trip to any of these IN casinos. I had only been in a casino some 15 years ago when I stopped in Vegas to visit with my cousin Scott and his family and they showed me around the town). (After the Grand Excursion, Stephanie and her friend Jo and two others had also been to another river casino - the one in Fort Madison, Iowa, along the Mississippi River. Stephanie had also visited a river casino boat on a trip to St. Louis with her friend Rita some 14 years ago.) I didn't really manage to get any good pictures of Eddie Money or the casino. Money performed most of his hits, a few new songs, and a Motown song from a new cover album. He talked up gifts he was selling to raise money for care for HIV-infected children. Money, 60, was backed up on vocals by his daughter, Jessi, who also sang three songs herself. His band, which I suspect had changed personnel in 20 years, was solid.

With a waitress's encouragement, we moved up closer to the front as soon as the show started. Because I didn't know if we would make it, because I wanted to avoid the Ticketmaster extra charges, and because I was told on the phone that the show was unlikely to sell out, we waited and got tickets at the box office as we arrived. But we quickly left our back-row seats (still - it was so small - there were no bad seats). But we weren't right up front and we didn't join the mainly women my age or older dancing up front - which would have positioned us to get better pictures. We chatted a little with the women who moved up near us, including one who bemoaned Money leaving out a hit from his set list.

Money periodically played saxophone in the show.

I haven't been able to find any video of this exact show on YouTube.

But here's a performance of "Shakin'" at a casino in Connecticut from the same tour - two months before we saw Money and his band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDP3PGdP2Rc

Here, from a week after we saw him, is Money performing the 1980s hit "I Wanna Go Back." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF9XEub8mDM

By the time he'd got the crowd going more at the end, Money said: "I don't do this for the money - I do this for you." - even though he'd joked earlier about money. "I sold 37 million records, but I don't know what happend to all of that money. . . . Who knew?" he asked, suggested that he had spent like he thought he was going to keep selling millions of records forever. Speaking of money: After the concert, we walked over into the casino, which shifts effortlessly to the boat. Again, Stephanie discouraged me from taking pictures, and I got no good ones. Apparently there was a vantage point from which you can look out on the river, but we missed it. Stephanie knew some of the tricks. There were lots of slot machines and then blackjack tables, including those with $100 minimums. Early on we walked through a quiet, smoke free back room where people were playing poker, and this was kind of cool to see. I've seen much more of casinos in movies (like in "Casino Royale" and "Ocean's Eleven") than in person. This definitely wasn't Vegas or even Atlantic City, but it was interesting to see nonetheless (plus this slice of Kentuckiana broadly construed - We hadn't been able to consider taking Vincent because the whole facility is apparently age 21 and up - because of the gambling.) I wasn't tempted to try gambling - though Stephanie had tried it in Fort Madison (she broke even, she said). I joked that I didn't recognize anyone from the Creation Museum at the casino and that I definitely would not expect to see anyone from our church at either of these locales. As we walked out, some people - dressed up, including women with hats somewhat like the one that Stephanie had bought for Derby but didn't get a chance to wear - were arriving on a shuttle from Churchill Downs and the race. (I had developed a whole elaborate plan to board the dog - if we had decided not to try to go to the concert but only to the mall and the museum - but we ended up leaving late neough that I thought we'd get back in time.) As it turns out, Vincent surprised us by going back home from his girlfriend's (where he'd spent the previous night) at 8:30 p.m. and so he was there to rescue the dog (and - eventually - talk with Stephanie). We headed across the street to retrieve our car and drove off to do a little more exploring (in Vevay, Madison, and Bedford). Furthest below is video I took of Money (not his real family name, I bet) and his sax solo from "I Wanna Go Back." Click on play to watch and hear.

-- Perry

Tuesday

We had an interesting conversation with Vincent’s counselor late Monday. Of course, she couldn’t tell us the details of their conversations. She had a somewhat more positive spin on things, saying they were making progress. She said they hadn’t talked so much about our family recently (since the family seemed OK, she implied – moving on to other things). (Of course, during the house arrest, Vincent and we were getting along pretty well, and so that may be one of the reasons (rather than them simply having exhausted that subject).) She said they were working on him valuing himself and making decisions accordingly. She seemed a little surprised when I said he seemed to be mainly watching TV and then over at Samantha’s house (plus eating) during the day, with maybe two or three hours of school work per week. I said it seems possible that his current school would eventually exit him, since he’s not enrolled in the number of classes he’s supposed to be enrolled in (only two, instead of three, classes) and – at six months per class – he’s eventually going to start getting timed out of these classes. She seemed to think that Vincent should – in principle – be able to graduate from high school. She clearly liked Vincent and said working with him was a break from working with the more disturbed kids – often victims of child abuse – who she also works with – work that helped get Vincent off in court, since that’s probably why the prosecutors had heard of her (she’s testified for them/her clients – in child abuse hearings/trials). She was tougher on Vincent’s girlfriend, whom she met last week when they both went to counseling with her late Monday a week ago. Samantha seemed to the counselor to be more disturbed than Vincent and the counselor said she’s not convinced this is the right person for Vincent. The counselor said that June – when Samantha is slated to go to Denmark where Vincent’s host from last summer – with whom she spent a lot of time last fall – awaits her (a potential love triangle). We remain perplexed how it would work out that Samantha could go with us to Ohio in a week and a half, but it remains to be seen how tough it will be to get Vincent to go without her.

After counseling, Stephanie, Vincent, Samantha, and I went to see the “Star Trek” movie, though it appears that in the end Samantha’s parents weren’t thrilled that she went out to a movie on a school night.

I talked with Mom this morning also and learned that her doctor’s appointment turned out to be with our family doctor, instead of with the nurse practitioner. They’re still awaiting some test results. Dr. Kepper was concerned about Mom’s back problems. With the apparent curvature of the spine – which Mom has self-diagnosed as Dowager’s hump, due to osteoporosis and tiny bone fractures – Mom has dropped over the past few years from over 5;5: to a little over 5 feet tall. It’s no wonder that she spends so much time shortening – and re-shortening – her pants. I talked recently to an acquaintance who had surgery when she was in her 20s for a version of this problem. She’s been in car accidents since and her back still bothers her. But she said the surgery was successful on the whole. But she did say general prognosis for the surgery is better for younger people than for older people. Dr. Kepper is sending Mom to an orthopedist and probably to physical therapy for her back problems. Mom may wind up working with a colleague of Dr. Fahey – the orthopedist who surgically repaired one of her knees two years ago – but not Dr. Fahey himself (same practice but different doctor). I know Mother is afraid she won’t be able to do something like physical therapy without retiring from her job (but she may not be able to do her job forever without some rehab). Mother, they also found, is borderline anemic and has low protein. So she’ll go back to taking iron – as she did for a while after her surgery two years ago – and is supposed to eat more meat (or other kinds of proteins, I suppose). So, in general, Mom is somewhat weak. I hope Mom will be able to boost her energy level a little and mix her job, physical therapy, and tai chi. We’ll see.

Mom had also talked with Penny, cousin Diana, and Aunt Sandy about our Ohio trip in a week and a half. I had tried to extend the trip so we could see more people at a slightly more relaxed pace. But Stephanie has to work Friday and so Stephanie and Vincent (and Frisco?) won’t arrive until late Friday evening (or maybe Vincent and Frisco could come with us?). Penny, Serge, and Jacob will leave Friday morning and take the scenic route all the way from near Charlottesville, Virginia, and so they also won’t arrive until late Friday evening. Mom has talked with others about seeing Aunt June, who has throat cancer and is losing weight rapidly, Saturday. We may see June at cousin Diana’s and perhaps also Aunt Barb, who lives at June’s. Then she’s talked about going out to Aunt Sandy’s in Marysville on Sunday, partly to see Grandpa Beck. Mom also wants to stop by Pioneer Cemetery in Westerville (Memorial Day weekend), where Grandma Beck and other relatives are buried.

We also hope to visit with some of our relatives on Stephanie’s side of the family – including Stephanie’s mother, stepfather, and grandmother – and perhaps her father and stepbrother. We also hope to go to church and perhaps to Concord Cemetery. It’s possible that Vincent will spend some time with his father. It’s very remotely possible we’ll have Samantha with us. And, of course, we hope to visit with Grandma Martha and with Penny, Serge, and Jacob. I’m not sure how it’s all going to work. We may have to split up some – Mom and Penny et al. vs. Stephanie (with me going back and forth between). Vincent doesn’t always do well with all of this relative visiting. It’s possible with visit with more of Stephanie’s relatives on Monday. Penny et al. will leave for Virginia Monday morning, whereas in the abstract Stephanie and Vincent can wait to leave until late Monday afternoon. Mom isn’t flying out of Ohio until Tuesday morning and I’m tentatively slated to stay on in Ohio until then to drop her off at the airport. I’m taking most or all of Tuesday off at work. Between the 2 ½ families, we’re slated to have three cars.

One other consideration: Although we missed a Mother’s Day event at Stephanie’s grandmother’s last weekend, we’re planning to go to a wedding anniversary event in Mt Vernon during the first weekend of June, which will allow us to see folks in Stephanie’s mother’s extended family.

Another exciting event is scheduled for this evening (Tuesday): Stephanie has been growing out her hair for months so that she can have the hair cut off and donated to go into a wig for someone who has lost their hair due to cancer treatment. Her appointment to have her locks shorn is at 6:30 p.m. tonight. Good job, Stephanie! We’ll see if she takes before and after pictures.

-- Perry

Transitions

Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra has been sold and turned over to another trainer. You might recall that the previous owner was dead set against allowing a filly (female horse) to race against colts (male horses). The new horses may reconsider this, and so it’s possible that the horse – which you’ll recall won the all-fillies Oaks, on the day before Derby – may race in the Preakness next weekend in Maryland. Calvin Borel, a Lousiville native who last weekend rode both Rachel and dark horse Derby winner Mine That Bird said that – if Rachel runs the Preakness and the new team gives him an option – he’d have to race Rachel instead of Mine. Rachel has won five straight races with Borel jockeying.

Published reports say that University of Louisville men’s basketball Coach Rick Pitino is considering jumping ship to the NBA’s Sacrament Kings. The Kings – formerly the Kansas City Kings – haven’t been good since Houston Rockets Coach Rick Adelman was their coach. Pitino has gone back and forth between the college and pro ranks during his career. He was the New York Knicks coach when I got to New York City in 1987, and he spent five years with the Boston Celtics in between coaching down the road from here at the University of Kentucky, before returning to Kentucky to the Wildcats’ arch rivals, the Louisville Cardinals. The local paper put this story on an inside page in the sports section, which makes me think they’re skeptical about the reports.

In an even more local sequence of events, it’s been a whole month – in the post-Oscar movies to the discount movie theater lull – that I’ve been to the closest of the two local discount movie theaters, Apex’s Village 8 Cinemas, on the other side of St. Matthews from our house (near the gym). We went there last night to see “Adventureland,” and – in the interim – a new manager apparently came in and got rid of the hot dog machine, which we used a lot, and cleaned house with the staff, as most of the staff people we talked with regularly (and during parts of the year we or I am there about twice a week) are gone – some of them involuntarily. (A week ago we picked up an Apex theaters job application from the sibling Baxter theater, but it looks like Vincent has let this opportunity – like others – slip away, since he hasn’t touched it). We’ll miss the hot dogs and the people we’ve liked.

-- Perry

Babe's revenge?

I got electronic communication late Thursday from an organization that a former student of mine helps lead that argued that “swine flu” originated not in Mexico but in a North Carolina pig mega farm (factory farm). It turns out that – as with chickens – megafarms have developed that keep pigs – apparently for their whole lives – penned up in a small, single pen by themselves. Pigs find this stressful, and they’re more likely to get sick. The organization cited some evidence that the mix of pig, bird, and human flu that apparently begat the “swine flu” now infecting humans got it start maybe more than a decade ago in one of a handful of North Carolina pig megafarms.

Ironically, a high school friend of mine – after helping condoize St. Augustine (FL) Beach – got his big break in the construction industry helping build refrigeration for the pig slaughterhouses in North Carolina – slaughterhouses that I suspect killed and processed the pigs that grew up on these megafarms. Refrigeration helped make it possible to ship pig products around the country and around the world. Even with a recent push for people to “buy local” with their groceries, the push towards flying food around the country and the world means that it would be more difficult to contain, to localize an illness like this.

So we may not only be suffering now (by starting to contract “swine flu”) from failing to help Mexico and other countries beef up their health care systems and confront economic inequality and exploitation of people and natural resources by multinational corporations. We may also be suffering from permitting animal rights violations that have come back to haunt us (hence the blog entry title).

Other flu updates: While some affected states cancel some public events, Stephanie and I hung out early Thursday evening at the Pegasus Parade, a huge public event. An outdoor event like this is probably safer than hanging out with a bunch of people – some potentially sick – in an enclosed area (as Vice President Biden somewhat inelegantly reminded us of).

One of Stephanie’s favorite students confided in her that an older brother of hers – who stayed back in Mexico after they all went home for Christmas – is now in the hospital and she and her family fear he has the flu.

-- Perry

Collective punishment

Let's stop beating around the bush. As more details come out about the U.S. government's reign of torture on terrorist suspects - I say that word very loosely - mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan - held in Guatanamo Bay, in Abu Gharib, and probably in secret prisons around the world, it's become clear that Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. military personnel - both with and without the support and direction of higher ups - mercilessly tortured (one "high value" suspect "waterboarded" 168 times) hundreds or even thousands of prisoners/suspects, not so much for intelligence information they might produce - although this might have been how some of it started and this might have occasionally been an ancillary benefit - but to punish individual people for the crimes (crimes that many of them had nothing to do with) of Al Qaida and Taliban affiliates in both countries, at the World Trade Center and on board the U.S.S. Cole; for the crimes of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq; and for the crimes of just being Iraqi, Afghan, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, non-Christian, non-English-speaking or non-white in general. A mix of bad policies and some bad people produced this horrible melange. No doubt even many out-on-patrol regular military personnel - perhaps even our friend Julian - and personnel of the Blackwater private security firm - not just supposed interrogators and guards - who were scared and bitter about being stuck in dangerous, unfamiliar places and - as in Vietnam decades before - took revenge on those people whose liberties they were supposedly there to defend. Of couse, no politician can call a spade a spade and denounce both the policies and the personnel, and who knows what you or I - those of us who were not there - would have done (if we were there). But the kinds of scenes that I became familiar with in supposedly left-wing documentaries I've watched and blogged about during the past year were apparently all too routine. The abuse, torture, and general inhumane treatment - treatment that has further endangered U.S. people abroad (including in Iraq and Afghanistan) (if not also here in the United States) and undermined U.S. interests - and whether or not it produced intelligence that prevented future 9/11s (and I haven't been convinced that it did) - was so pervasive and so dressed up in lies, faulty legal arguments, and smug, misleading "24" episodes that it can no longer be dismissed as isolated incidents committed by a few bad apples. Take that for being Iraqi! Take that for being Muslim! Take that for not speaking fluent English! That'll teach them.

-- Perry

Happy 18th, Vincent!

Vincent woke up early for breakfast and then went back to bed. Sunday he did chores and got closer to taking the World Civilization final exam, and we watched on video at home "In Bruges" and "Rock Star." Today he has scheduled a counseling appointment and probably a birthday dinner out with us. Tuesday at 1 p.m. is the next court hearing, when he hopes the house arrest will be lifted (and we hope his lawyer is able to reach a plea agreement that does not involve Vincent even pleading guilty to a misdemeanor).

- Perry

Thunder Over Louisville

Thunder Over Louisville is a big fireworks show (reportedly the largest in the country) and air show extravaganza that essentially opens up the two-week Kentucky Derby Festival each spring in Louisville. Sometimes - due to trips out of town, Vincent’s big 16th birthday party, bad weather – we’ve skipped it. But this year – with Vincent linked with us for at least three more days- we essentially reprised what we did three years ago. In both years – with good weather – we parked our car in front of my old Phoenix Hall apartment, walked the 1 ½ miles to the Presbyterian Center, retrieved some folding chairs I’d stored in my office (having paid $30 in advance to be able to get into the office – most importantly to use the bathrooms), and sat out on a blanket and chairs and watched the air show, wandered off to buy food, and then watched the fireworks. Frisco accompanied us both times (even though he doesn’t particularly like the air show’s loud noises). This year – as I was aware of – we had less of the Center’s lawn to work with. Of course, we ran into some Center people. And – inevitably – we ran into some other people (when there are close to 1 million people, on both sides of the river) – including Vincent, who is of course not allowed to stray from home or us and not allowed to run into friends intentionally. Above is the view of the 2nd Street bridge - closed since Thursday, where some of the fireworks were to be fired from, and behind it the $500 million indoor sports arena being constructed. Below, Frisco and Vincent have already settled on in our front lawn spot, with the Center parking garage (which obstructed our view from this particular perch) in the background.

Stephanie took some pictures with the digital camera, including this one (below) of me looking up into the sky during the air show.

Vincent (who had to be with at least one of us at all times - I even walked to the bathroom with him) and I went down to the Chow Wagon, even closer to the Waterfront, to buy food. We bought extra Pegasus pins and got a bunch of not so good for us fair food to bring back.

We reprised the dish Stephanie had gotten last summer at the state fair, hot beef sundae (pictured below).

Frisco only got a few scraps.

Vincent tried some of the blooming onion (which we weren't able to finish).

It's hard to capture ths air show - hard to even snap pictures of the planes, hard to capture the experience without the loud noise - but a few pictures are below. There are loud, fast supersonic jet fighters, lumbering transport planes, biplanes and other prop planes, and even helicopters. A Facebook friend of mine protested the military nature of the air show, in that some of these air show planes essentially mimick bombing runs similar U.S. government planes make in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The four of us walked briefly along the river - from which many more people would be watching the fireworks than on Witherspoon Street - and we got a hint of the throngs that constitute that 1 million people figure.

On house arrest, Vincent is forced to do things with us if he is going to get out of the house. After getting us to take him to a movie last night, Vincent did some of his laundry and chores this morning, came closer to finishing up his on-line social studies class, and then headed off to Thunder with us, late. Later he did something he hasn't done with me in years: threw frisbee and (even later) a football. My back/shoulder/neck hurts, which limited my football throwing range.

While Vincent and I were back again at the Chow Wagon, buying dessert, Stephanie snapped some more air show pictures

As darkness began to settle, we got a little punchy.

Eva was one of my Center colleagues and - in this case - church mates we talked with (a couple of hours after seeing and talking with her children).

We tried going up to a rooftop stairway landing/patio, but it was too crowded. So, while Stephanie watched the fireworks from another landing, Vincent and I stood and sat on the proper observation point at the front of the building. Not only is the display (at 30 minutes) singificantly longer than most and not only do you have a great physical and cultural environment for the show (the Ohio River) but also everything happens in double during the shows - there are two identical, parallel, and simultaneous displays - less than half a mile from each other, on the river. I got pictures of fireworks coming from the western end only.

During the long walk home, we met more acquaintances of Vincent - in this case, a former school mate).

Just to give you an idea of Frisco's ability to bark at all flying objects click on the video below.

Willly Wonka and AYP

I believe in recent years teachers and kids at Stephanie’s school have put on a play each fall and a musical in the spring. Last spring Stephanie’s English as a new language colleague Stephanie and the music teacher, Sally, another friend of Stephanie's, helped direct the musical ("101 Dalmations"). This year, the daughter of Susie Gahan, Abby, the principal (whom we’d seen back when she was in high school in “High School Musical,” embarked on her directorial debut, with “Will Wonka” (which cost the school $400 to buy the music to).

When I arrived at the front of Fairmont, the school lobby was festooned with decorations. Later Stephanie would help sell flowers to defray costs. Parents, staff, community folks, and students not in the play bought $3 tickets also to defray costs, and the cafeteria staff pitched in to make desserts which having a ticket gave you a chance to eat. Folks from the Church of God church down the street that has partnered with Fairmont had helped make lots of the costumes.

The production involved a range of lights, sound system (with a few kids having microphones taped to their faces Madonna style), and recorded music. All produced glitches at times.

Before the show got started, the principal told the audience what she had told Stephanie and her colleagues a few hours earlier in an after-school faculty meeting. After missing the Indiana version of “No Child Left Behind” “Adequate Yearly Progress” targets last year (and this becoming labeled a kind of failing school in – it turns out – a failing school district), the school this year passed AYP – no doubt in small part due to Stephanie’s students' improvements in the fall IN standardized test. A couple of years ago the state shorted the amount of time students had been learning English before their scores counted towards the school’s overall scores, and so last year Stephanie’s students dragged down the school’s average scores (though privately the superintendent – now on his way out – told Stephanie’s principal – who likes her program – not to worry).

Once again Stephanie had several students in the show, which featured regular set changes, singing, dancing, and some colorful costumes and props. Abby introduced the show (below).

On the far left is one of Stephanie's Asian American students, from China, who played the Candy Man.

I had to leave during the intermission/dessert buffet to drive to church to lead a phone focus group for work. On the way out Stephanie and I took a good look at the decorated lobby.

As I left, Stephanie and Ms. Gahan gave their colleague Katie a hand selling flowers. Stephanie said eventually they sold out!

Stephanie, who saw the show dress rehearsal Wednesday, said the show improved each time, and the second half I missed was the best yet. I had seen another of Stephanie's students in a cowboy hat (Mike Teevee). But I missed a third student of hers and lots of classmates as Oompa-Loompas. I did, however, make it to church with almost 10 minutes to spare and - with Joelle and Ellen on the phone - led one of the better of the six resourcing congregations for mission endeavors we've led this past week.

-- Perry