Building Communities

This past week, we completed another one of our Masters classes, which was entitled Building Communities II.  We completed Building Communities I in the spring, which was a prerequisite for this course.  The purpose of the class was to learn strategies to help create communities within the classroom.  In this class, we learn by doing... our professor models community building by making our class into a community.

The final project assignment was to decorate a box.  The assignment was to decorate the outside of our boxes with words and pictures that describe us and define us.  The inside of the box was to be decorated with words and pictures that represent the things for which we are living... our goals and our dreams.  Seems simple enough, right?  Well, this box took hours and hours of thinking and cutting and pasting.

We set up shop in my apartment and began by reading our textbook to figure out what exactly our assignment was... 

Then, we began to assemble our boxes by painting them with our colors of choice...

Next, we began searching through all of my magazines to find words and pictures to use for our boxes.  I knew that keeping all of my old magazine issues would come in handy!

My apartment has never been as messy as it was this past week.  Looking at this picture makes me cringe.

Over the course of the week, we continued to cut and paste.  It took a lot of cleaning to get rid of the smell of the Mod Podge that we used.

Many great conversations happened over the making of these boxes.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week, we spent the morning portion of our class at Eagle Elementary School.  Our Doane classroom wasn't conducive to sharing all of the icebreakers and energizers, so one of the girls in our class arranged for us to meet at her school.

Some of the activities we did involved some seemingly strange props...

...and gave us some good laughs...

Another one of our assignments was to create a lip dub video.  This also required us to find some creative props and costumes.

The end result was this video:



Overall, this was another good class.  The best part, however, was getting to spend another week with my good friends.

Not Measuring Up

I am a very flawed human being.  I know that is not news to any of you.

Topping the list of arenas in my life where I have fallen short is the arena of friendship.  I have been a lousy friend.  I ran into one of my old roommates downtown last weekend, and realized that I hadn't talked to her for months.  Seeing her reminded me that I haven't seen or talked to one of my other former roommates since her wedding last December.  And a few weekends ago in Wayne, America, I saw my third former roommate for the first time in ages.  We used to talk daily and see each other many times each week.  Furthermore, a good friend of mine pointed out to me a big mistake I made regarding a previous blog post that was and had further potential to be misunderstood.

I have been spending a lot of time recently with my co-worker friends.  I have become closer to them in the past several months than I ever dreamed would be possible.  I am so blessed to have them in my life.  And for that, I have no regrets.

I do regret, however, that I have neglected to properly nurture some of the pre-existing friendship circles to which I belong.

I understand that life happens.
I understand that circumstances change.
I understand that not all friendships are forever.

Those things being said, I have no excuse for not at least attempting to check in with the other people who really matter to me.  I have no excuse for not making time for a dinner date or even a phone date.  And while I understand that the phone works both ways, I also understand that I have no excuse for not making the first move.

Similarly, I have been a bad sister, daughter, and grandchild.

My family means the world to me, yet I haven't instigated a conversation with them in a long time.  I wait for them to call me, which, thankfully, they are very good about doing.  I hate that I only talk to my parents a couple of times per week.  I hate that I talk to my grandmother even less than that.

Friends and family, I am sorry.  I'm sorry for letting the events in my life get in the way of maintaining good contact with you all.  I'm sorry for not calling.  I'm sorry for not visiting.  Although my actions do not reflect it, I deeply care for you all.

I will try to do better.  I am praying for help.

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon

me." 

- 2 Corinthians 12:9

Independence City

For the first time in years I didn't go home for Independence Day.  Nothing against my family, it's just that they all had plans of their own.  This year was my parents' 40th high school class reunion, which was held over this past weekend.  My mom was in charge of planning it, so my dad had to attend by default.  I'm sure that if the choice was his, he would have preferred to stay home.  My brother is also busy over 4th of July weekend.  He works for the city in the summer taking care of the parks and ball fields.  Many tournaments happen over the weekends, so Andrew spends most of his day working.  Except for during Water Balloon Wars.

Water Balloon Wars is an event that happens every 4th of July in my town, and is sponsored by the high school FFA chapter.  Water Balloon Wars is basically capture the flag.  If you get hit by a water balloon, you are out.  Really, it's a fun game to play, but the competition is way too fierce for this girl.  Usually, I go simply to be a proud supporter of my brother.  It is a big deal to him, as his team usually claims the championship trophy.

Here are some pictures from past years:

Water Balloon Wars Championship, 2008

Championship Game, 2009

Championship Trophy, 2009

This year, it rained on July 4th.  It rained a lot.  Therefore, Water Balloon Wars was cancelled.  I wasn't there to see it, but I'm sure that my brother was in a state of mourn.  Furthermore, the hot dog eating contest on ESPN was apparently not an exciting competition this year without that Kobayashi guy.  This event is another staple of my brother's 4th of July experience every year.  He looks forward to these events all year, and to not have them was a huge disappointment.

Hopefully, my brother understands that, although they are fun traditions, those kinds of things are not what Independence Day is all about.

The town of Ralston, Nebraska, certainly understands the true meaning of Independence Day.  That's where I spent my Sunday.

My kind friends Ashley and Jeremy invited me to their hometown to spend the day with their closest family and friends.  All year, I hear about how amazing Ralston is on the 4th of July.  They have even nicknamed the town "Independence City."  Finally, this year, I got to experience it for myself.

Just like in Superior, though, it was raining in Ralston.  We were slated to go on some sort of "fun run," which are normally two words that do not appear together in any sentence I construct.  It was only a mile, and you are allowed to walk, which I definitely would have had to do.  Because of the rain, though, they opted out of this "fun."  Thank goodness.

We did, however, go to the parade.  It was the perfect year for me to attend the event, as they were celebrating their 50th consecutive parade.  A bunch of old people around us were talking about how in all 50 years of this parade, this was the first year that they were being rained on.  That would be my luck.

These people are NUTS about their parade.  So much that they go stake out a spot a week in advance.  Literally.  When we arrived, I followed as the whole family set up camp inside a large square that was defined by lines of caution tape that had been staked into the ground.  I have never seen the likes.  It was a good spot, though.  We could hear the announcers and watch the step teams dance in the street, and yet we were far enough away from any parade clowns that might have potentially scared me the small children with whom we were sitting.  

It continued to rain throughout the event, and although I had my umbrella, I was still getting wet.  And you know how well my hair doesn't do when it is rainy and/or humid.  Oh, well.  Here are Ashley and I trying to stay dry at the parade:

Still in good spirits, even though it was raining!

I should have taken more pictures of this parade, but the only one I took was this one:

I don't know why, but it was intriguing to me.  They called themselves the "Candy Corn Mothers," which, I presume, is some sort of club/secret society.  Marching behind this float were younger people dressed in a similar color scheme, and they had their own candy corn title.  I did some Googling, but didn't come up with an answer.  If you know anything about this group, I'd be interested in hearing the story.

Rain or not, it was a fun parade.  It lasted nearly an hour-and-a-half, which is definitely longer than any parade my hometown has ever produced.

After spending a bit more time with Ashley's sweet family, we went over to the Harrell family's house, which is apparently Ashley and Jeremy's second family.  They were the parents of Ashley and Jeremy's best friends, Mike and Casey.  This family gave me such a warm welcome, and I really enjoyed getting to know them.

After a few hours there, we headed off to the Ralson community fireworks show, which is almost as highly regarded as the parade.  Instead of caution tape to mark off our reserved fireworks viewing spot, they had rope being held together by 3-foot-tall metal stakes.  Although some of the family seemed embarassed by the measures that were taken by Mr. Harrell, we ended up with a great spot for fireworks viewing.  They put on a pretty stellar show!

After the fireworks, we navigated back to the Harrell house so that I could head back to Lincoln.  We traveled through some of the strangest fog that I have ever seen, but I made it home safely, thank goodness.

I've been invited back to Ralston next year to experience a rain-free Independence Day clebration.  Although I know that noboy can give a rain-free guarantee one year in advance, I do hope to be able to partake in the festivities again next year.

Please thank a veteran today.  The sacrifices that they have made and are continuing to make so that we may enjoy all of our freedoms are tremendous.  Thanks.

Bieber Fever

The day finally came.  Justin Bieber at the Quest Center.  Thank goodness I'm not the only twenty-something-year-old who has a major teensy bit of an obsession with this boy...

Meet Kelli, my partner in crime.

It would have been embarassing to go to the concert alone.  Thank goodness I knew at least one other person with good musical taste who would accompany me.

Before we headed to the concert, we made a stop in the Old Market for dinner.  We ate at Billy Frogg's, a bar and grille at which neither of us had ever eaten.  Of all the things on that menu, we ended up with a grilled cheese sandwhich, a kids chicken strip basket, and cheese balls.  We decided to justify our childish order with the idea that, since we'd be spending most of our evening with tween girls, we might as well eat like tween girls.  Legit, right?

It was at Billy Frogg's, however, that we began to realize that we had forgotten many concert necessities.  Because of our old age, we have completely lost touch with what all the cool kids do in preparation of a concert.

The first thing we saw was a group of girls with homemade Justin Bieber shirts.  Bright, neon-colored words professing their love for Justin Bieber adorned their shirts.  One group of girls even made matching shorts.  Why didn't we think of homemade Bieber attire?

Next, as we were fighting through the soccer mom traffic trying to find a parking spot, we realized that we didn't make signs that professed our love for Bieber.  Darn it, I knew we were forgetting something.

Another trend we noticed was that concert-goers these days dye their hair pink.  Neither of us brought our pink hair dye, so we had to just go with our normal hair coloring.  Shoot.

After an experience with a very rude police officer/traffic cop, we finally made our way to our seats.  Here we are, anxiously anticipating the concert:

After only a few minutes of sitting, we realized another thing we forgot to bring...

Ear plugs.

I have never heard so many screaming girls in my life.  And I am convinced that we were fortunate enough to be sitting directly in front of the world's loudest screaming girls.  I really felt like the old person when I resorted to plugging my ears whenever I anticipated screaming girls.

A few notes before I post pictures from the concert:

Did we have amazing seats?  No.
Do I have a really nice camera that takes amazing pictures?  No.

So, don't get your hopes up of seeing some really high-quality Bieber pictures.  If you want those, I suggest going to Google Images.  That being said, here come the pictures:

(I do not have pictures of the first two opening acts.  I did not know who they were, so I figured that I had better save my pictures for the real deal.  The first act was a group of five women who sang some cutesy songs about love and/or dancing.  Think Pussycat Dolls for a slightly younger crowd.  The second act was some girl named Jessica something.  The girls next to us seemed to think she was a big deal, so maybe I should've taken her picture.  But I didn't.)

Then, Sean Kingston came on stage!

He was a great performer!  I had forgotten how many hits he has had.

But now, on to what we all came here for.

They told us they needed a few minutes for a set change.  It was then that this mysterious ball appeared on stage:

What do you predict will happen to this ball?  Stay tuned to find out...

The next thing we knew, the ball moved out of the way and Justin Bieber was rising up to the stage from that black hole that was under the ball.

(cue screaming girls)

He opened with the song, "Love Me."  It's a catchy tune, I assure you.

Ready for more?

Next, they did some sort of chair routine.

Now, I know it is killing you to know what the purpose of that ball was, so I'll cut to the chase.

After some monologue about Justin wanting to come take a closer look at all the pretty girls in the crowd (cue more screaming), the ball, which has now transformed into a heart, drops down toward the stage:

He sat down in the heart while some stage people made sure he was secure.  They handed him his guitar, and off he flew into the crowd:

He serranaded the crowd with an a capella song.

He went back on stage for a few more songs, and then the ball/heart appeared again!  Only this time, it was a different shape.  And, again, out he flew:

Then, after a costume change and a few more numbers on stage,

We got a drum solo!

This kid is way talented.

Next, they brought Sean Kingston back out for "Eenie Meenie."

This is Kelli dancing to "Eenie Meenie:"

Justin then claimed that the next song would be his last.  He sang another a capella number and exited the stage.  There was even a cute little video tribute to Justin that played on the big screens.  The end of the video said, "Goodnight!  Love, Justin."

Kelli and I knew better.  We knew that there was no way that he would leave us without singing "Baby."  Pretty soon, the big screen said, "Do you want more?"

(cue loudest screaming of the night)

He came back out on stage for an encore performance of "Baby."

And then he said goodbye for real.  Sigh.

But, what an amazing concert it was!  I have no shame in having gone.
I think.

One Class Down

This past week, I had my first graduate class of summer.  I took Research Methods, which I'm fairly certain will be the most difficult course of my Masters program.

Why spend a week of summer reading miserable research articles, you ask?  Well, it's because I'm fairly certain that we have created a downhill ride by getting this class out of the way.  Had we chosen to put this class off until the end of the program, we would have spent the next year dreading it.  Instead, we went in with the attitude of thankfulness... we were thankful to be getting it out of the way.

Amber and Tiffany were a group, and they researched cooperative learning.  Adam and Steph were a group, and they researched parental involvement.  I worked alone (believe me, I work better that way), and I researched ability grouping.

So many hours within the last week were spent reading.  Reading and reading and reading and typing and reading and reading and reading and typing and reading and reading and reading and reading and typing and typing and reading and editing.  Whew.  By Thursday, we were mentally exhausted.  Among the three groups, we had read countless pages of research articles and had written more than 100 pages of text.

But, friends, we are now officially done!  Can we have a moment of celebration, please?

YIPPEE!  HOORAY!  WOOT WOOT!

Thank you.

After getting this class out of the way, I have come up with a list of five things that I love most about my experience so far at Doane.

Drumroll, please........................

5.  1 week, 1 class, 3 credits, done.
The scheduling is so easy and convenient.  I can still schedule in all of the summer activities that I want.  If I want to spend a week in Wayne, America, volunteering for NASC's Summer Leadership Workshop, no problem.  I just don't sign up for a class that week.  And if I want to vacation with my family in Chicago, no problem.  I just don't sign up for a class that week.  And if I want to spend four straight weeks of summer taking four straight weeks of classes, which is the maximum Doane will allow without having special permission?  I can do that.  And I am.

4.  Free Parking.

For comparisson, at UNL, it cost would me $480 for a parking permit.  $480 is a lot more than free.

3.  Free copying and free printing.
There is no Google image with a sign that says 'free copying and free printing.'  You want to know why?  Because something that good just doesn't exist anywhere but at Doane.  I don't even want to think about how much it would have cost me to print off all the research articles I used in the last week.  Or to print off four copies of my 40-page paper for peer revision, plus printing one more final 40-page paper.

2.  Free coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.

 No need to spend extra time in the morning brewing a pot of coffee.  Doane provides it for you.  For free.  How great is that?

1.  That I get to spend more quality time with these fine people.

Words cannot express how amazing these people are.  They are some of my very best friends.... who also happen to be my co-workers.  And now, they're also my graduate school classmates.

What a blessing it is to have such a tremendous group of people whom you don't get tired of seeing.  Besides spending every day this past week from 8-5 in class, we also spent Monday night watching The Bachelorette.  And we spent Wednesday and Thursday night at the Cownies' house reading and working on our research papers.

And we may or may not have spent Thursday night celebrating being done with our class.

Being with these people makes me realized how much I am richly, richly blessed.  My cup runneth over.