Valentine's Day

Besides exchanging cards ourselves and Stephanie giving me Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," Stephanie took in the most loot for Valentine's Day. Stephanie's colleagues from the district office gave her flowers and a nice card, ostensibly for rushing effectively through ESL tests for her students, in the week plus they had left after the ice storm. Stephanie also got loads of candy and cards for her students (and some from her colleagues) (see below).

Vincent and Sam spent the majority of Valentine's Day at our house. They went to Odd Lots to buy "Kung Fu Panda" and ordered pizza, and then I took them to a Valentine's day dance at school (Vincent's last weekend as a Brown School student???) and they hung out some on Bardstown Road. Meanwhile, Stephanie and I watched the romantic comedy/dog movie "Marley and Me" (with lots of fun scenes in South Florida, which I visited for my book and will head back to in May for a conference - plus stories about journalists at papers I know - and some scenes of another city I know), then ate Skyline Chili, then went dining room table shopping at th mall. Late I stopped by the annual church Valentine's Day fund-raiser - this time dessert and dancing with the band led by Ryan, Jessi's brother. Turnout was a little low this year. I ate more desserts than I should have and helped clean up. Ian had been taking prom-type pictures all night, even though he was sick, and I helped them pack up.

-- Perry

Take that, Mr Claus!

Earlier in November Frisco (pictured above far right) and I walked part of the scaled back Vogueshopping area version of the St. Matthews Holiday Walk. St. Matthews once had a somewhat regular suburban downtown, with the big Sears shopping center nearby. Now, it has more bars and restaurants (along with some regular staples like a hardware laundromat, shoe repair store, and two liquor stores, a gas station, and a CVS. But the city helped recently restore the area around the old Vogue movie theater, and now there are more upscale stores and restaurants, plus Chenoweth Square shopping center, St. Matthews Station, and a range of businesses- some upscale, some like our podiatrist's office and orthodontist's office - in houses even nearer to where we live. Early in the Christmas season stores stay open late and offer refreshments. (Three years ago, in our first year in St. Matthews, all four of us took it in - back when they had a trolley and it took in the whole "Heart of St. Matthews" shopping area, even the part very near our house.) Towards the end of us circling around we happened upon Santa. I was going to ask Santa to hold Frisco and I was going to take a picture of them. However, Frisco didn't like Santa's beard or something and he tried to bite Santa (pictured looking scared above). And so that was the end of that.

-- Perry

Health scare

Back in November Frisco (pictured above) had stomach problems and we took him to see one of our vets, Dr, Kaur (below right). Everything turned OK and we did get a cute picture of Frisco out of it.

-- Perry

Weird Kentucky

Perry and I were introduced to each other through Perry's cousin Diana who I worked with at Alliance Data Systems (years ago). She thought I was interested in all kinds of weird things and had labeled me as "off the beaten path". When Perry came to Columbus to work on his dissertation research he moved in with his Grandma and Grandpa Beck and Diana. After several months of living there with Perry, Diana came to the conclusion that Perry was also "off the beaten path".

She showed me a picture taken of Perry during his sister's wedding and asked if she could give him my number. Months later Perry called. We hit it off, first as friends and then as a couple. Now we're happily (most of the time) married. But as far as Diana is concerned we still are off the beaten path.

This has been a little of a joke between Perry and me. I even bought Perry a book that listed all the strange, off the beaten path, places to visit in the U.S. This year for Christmas Perry bested me. He bought me the book Weird Florida that has lots of strange places in Florida listed in it. He bought this when he went down to Florida this fall. He got back to our house and couldn't find the book. So off he went to Barnes and Nobles and bought me Weird Kentucky, since the Florida book isn't sold in Kentucky.

Come Christmas day, I opened one of the presents from Perry and it was Weird Florida. Now Perry was a little confused but didn't say anything. I later came across another package for me from Perry that was exactly the same shape and weight as the Weird Florida book. I opened it and out came Weird Kentucky. He had forgotten that he had already wrapped the first present and put it under the tree. When he couldn't find the first book he had gone and bought the second, thinking he had lost the first. This is very much a Perry thing to do.

This past week I finished reading Weird Kentucky. Some of the places I knew quite a lot about Waverly Sanatorium (from Ghost Hunters), the Louisville Slugger Museum, the Kentucky State Fair giant talking insurance sales man, and the Creation Museum (there was a big controversy when it opened). Others I didn't know as much about like the Fugate family that had blue skin because of a blood disorder and the vampire cult murders in Murray, Kentucky where Vincent at one point thought about going to college. All of it was weird, funny, and fascinating and sadly Diana is right. I am off the beaten path. I'm already thinking about how to visit the hotel that has themed rooms (like a pirate ship and a tree house) or a walk through Cave Hill Cemetery (closer to home).



--- Stephanie

Prayer in school

My students had been looking forward to January 20th, 2009. They finally realized that it wasn't Alabama that was becoming president, but Obama.

Most of my students, even little third graders, had been following the election. During a writing assignment back in October where they had to write thank you letters to people in our community one student asked to write to the president. I wrote George W. Bush on the board. Saul exclaimed "no, the other one". I knew which one he meant but asked him to clarify (there might be lurking school board members in the hallway). He asked me to write Barack Obama's name on the board so he could spell it right. (Just to be safe, since it was before the election, I wrote John McCain's name on the board also...I didn't want to play partisanship.)

When January 20th finally came we had read together So You Want to be President which is a children's book that gives lots of fun and wacky details about all the different presidents. The TV in the classroom was on (muted) waiting for the momentous occasion when the inauguration would really begin. Samy and Yesse were jumping up and down excitedly while Saul explained that they think Obama is "hot".

I would explain who some of the famous people were when they came out for the speeches. Many of them (mind you they are third graders) actually gave a thumbs down for W. But then the true speeches (the ones the kids might follow started). I unmuted the TV and we all gathered around. After some time and explanations Rick Warren started his prayer. I figured this was a historical moment they will all remember (plus I was probably just as excited) I let the prayer go on without muting it (most of the country was watching this right?). An extraordinary thing happened in my room, it still gives me goosebumps to think about it. Rick Warren finished his prayer with the Lord's Prayer. Slowly, first with my Cuban student and soon followed by my Mexican students, they joined in. One in English and four in Spanish bowed their heads and said the Lord's Prayer with Rick Warren. My Japanese student asked me what they were doing, and I explained when they were finished.

While I am not a proponent for bringing prayer back in schools, this was an amazing thing for me to witness. We say the Kindness Pledge, the Pledge of Allegiance, and have a moment of silence every morning (which really is NEVER silent), but this was different. These students understood the significance of the inauguration itself and the reason we have prayer.

No matter anyone's political views, you can't argue that January 20th was not a historical event. For me, I was excited to have a president I can believe in (When I heard them announce Obama as the President of the United States before his press conference on the economy I got giggly and told Perry I felt like I was watching West Wing or something. It can't possibly be real), but I also saw a moment I'm sure I won't see again. Students were actively participating in a religious experience at school.

Then the moment was broken. After explaining to Shota what the Lord's Prayer is, applause broke out on screen. Aretha Franklin had taken the stage. She started singing and my students, always full of questions, asked "What's that on her head?"

--- Stephanie

High point

For better or worse, this past week I have rediscovered YouTube music videos and concert clicks. Monday night while Stephanie finished the second book in the "Twilight" series - and both of us stayed up late - ultimately leading to Vincent being late to school Wednesday - I surveyed mainly the 1970s. Once before on our desktop I had reviewed some old videos to help Vincent make a concert selection. But those were mainly videos from the MTV revolution period (early 1980s). I have long called the 1970s (that long decade of excess, license, happiness, and heartache) - half serious, half joking - the high point of American culture - from "The Rockford Files" and "Kung Fu" to disco and Southern rock and the beginnings of punk and even rap and the high points of Album-Oriented Rock - to flannel shirts and silk shirts (here - I'm really talking about the mid-1970s, when I became a teenager). This is partly a part of U.S. culture that Stephanie and I do not share, thanks in part to our age difference. Part of a chapter in my Florida book was in fact a paean to the 70s, with my focus on K.C. and the Sunshine Band and the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Monday night I focused on the 70s - going back to the early days of disco (and watching almost all of these clips for the first time), from George McRae's "Rock Your Baby" to the BeeGees' "Nights on Broadway" to Kool and the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" to the Ohio Players' "Love Rollar Coaster" to K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight." I also got to watch two crucial movie scenes: John Travolta dancing to "You Should Be Dancing" in "Saturday Night Fever" (which served as a model for a key scene in the "Starsky and Hutch" movie) and Robert Carlyle dancing to "You Sexy Thing" in "The Full Monty." Widening my scope, I also watched some clips of two tragic, non-disco figures from the mid-1970s, the late John Denver and the late Karen Carpenter. I dipped back into recent movies to see Abba and up to the late 1970s to see Sister Sledge and Chic. I moved up into the MTV revolution to watch several David Bowie "Let's Dance" clips, including that great "Modern Love" video (which Stephanie remembers), the back to 1970s rock to see several videos/clips of Rod Stewart from that fabulous "Foot Loose and Fancy Free" album, including "Hot Legs" and "If Lovin' You Is Wrong, I Don't Want to Be Right." I finally quit, but have picked up a bit where I left off later in the week. I'll leave you pondering YouTube and the 1970s with the two movie clips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mepFmJNqsus

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCw-7rk_Oag

-- Perry

Frost/Nixon

Out of a quartet of Watergate movies, "Dick" is the lightest and 'All the President's Men" has the most gravitas. "Frost/Nixon," Ron Howard's probably money-losing but Oscar-nominated adaptation of the stage play (which I saw tonight), has both light and serious moments - and the theme of one of its key scenes overlaps heavily with that of Oliver Stone's dark "Nixon." Michael Sheen (of "The Queen") and Frank Langella shine as journalist/entertainer David Frost and former President Nixon, respectively. Sam Rockwell and Kevin Bacon are also great as aides. The movie portrays both as somewhat sympathetic characters. Perhaps less a Watergate movie than a story of media innovation (a la "Quiz Show") and a character study/buddy movie (a la "Lethal Weapon"). Filmed occasionally as a pseudo-documentary, this movie requires no intimate knowledge of Watergate to follow and no great interest in Watergate to find it interesting.

-- Perry