God is pulling no punches this week. Our group is going on a trip to help the poor. Yesterday we get the visit from the census folks doing research that leads to stats on the poor. Then, Ken gave a very angry sermon based on Amos about how badly we treat the poor (you “buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals” from Amos chapters 3 and 8, mainly). Wonder what God is trying to say to me?

Our address was selected at random to be part of the Census Bureau’s surveys. It involves being visited once/month for four months, then being “out of the survey” for eight months, then being back in the survey for four months again. They ask questions about how many people live here, do we both work, are we working full time, how many hours is that, etc. Each month also has a supplemental survey. One month it was about going out to eat, one month it was about smoking. This month it was about poverty and about health insurance. As part of that, we got a brochure from the Census Bureau on the latest stats on poverty and health insurance. Some lowlights:
– Earnings went up 1.1% last year, but real median income (they do not explain what this is, but it is different from earnings) has gone down 1.8% for men and 1.3% for women from 2004 to 2005. This has gone down for two years for men and three years for women.
– The number of uninsured went up 1.9 million people from 2004 to 2005, to 46.6 million people (15.9% of the population).
– 12.6% of Americans live in poverty (37 million people).

It is a little ironic (or good timing) that this survey happened the day before our group leaves for Habitat. I don’t have great answers to help the poor across the country, but at least some teenagers can help three families out.

I’m off to Battle Creek, MI, for this year’s Diakonos trip. Diakonos is the CVCA service group that helps with Habitat for Humanity. This year there is a group of about 25 students going, and we’ll be gone about 6 days (over spring break). I’ll try to keep notes like I did last year (check out postings here if you want an idea of what goes on).

We had a solid Fools show this last Thursday. It was a rainy evening, and it was the Thursday before spring break (a day that can be project/test/paper intensive), and there was an Ohio State basketball game on TV, and we still a decent-sized crowd of about 30 people. The audience was a little quiet, which is weird when you are on stage, but Meredith (who was in the audience) says she heard lots of murmured comments such as “that was funny” or “that was great.”

I was pleased with how the show went – we had a few slow spots, and as the director I noticed a few spots where I would have liked things to have been heightened or for relationships to have been stronger, but on the whole I think the Fools did well. The show went about an hour and ten minutes total. I also was encouraged in that a junior who was quite funny in Audience Participation Freeze wants to join the Fools; I asked him to try it this year for the five weeks remaining before our last show. I know it is not much time, but it will help him get used to improv, and it will help me get the Fools up to six people for the last show (my ideal case is 7-8 people). The last show should be on Tuesday, May 1st, so mark your calendars.

Mer and I did the whirl-wind tour to South Bend and back this last weekend. We went out to see Sis-der, Prof. Dad, and of course, the World’s Cutest Niece (WCN).
The trip out was uneventful. It takes about 4.5 hours to get to Sis-der’s house when we leave from CVCA (including one supper stop). For good measure, we threw in a bonus Dairy Queen stop just over the Indiana line, and then we managed to miss our exit, which resulted in a 20-minute delay. So, we got to Sis-der’s house about 10:00 or so, and after quiet greetings (the WCN was in bed), we all rambled off to go to sleep.

Saturday was a nice, sunny day. Mer and I slept in until about 8:30, and as good fortune would have it, so did the WCN. Prof. Dad had to put in some office time, and had an appointment as well, so he left shortly after I got up and had showered. While Mer got ready for the day, I took the opportunity to throw some Maura O’Connell on the stereo and danced WCN around the room. WCN then headed off to take a nap (taking after Uncle Mu!).

Since our friends who live in South Bend, Gen and Dan, were coming over to visit, and since it was St. Patrick’s day, Sis-der made soda bread while I watched her and listened to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me on the radio (a favorite Saturday pastime of mine). Mer joined us about 1/3 of the way into Wait, Wait.

Sis-der offered to take us to a museum, so we decided to go to the Healthwork’s Children’s Museum once Sammy was up. We got Sammy bundled to go, and we took the short drive to downtown South Bend. We parked in a parking garage and walked to the museum, where we were greeted by a large human heart. I was taking a liking to this place….

The museum is dedicated to teaching kids about how the body works, and they don’t shy away from some of the more disturbing things. I beat Mer in a quiz (by one question) on “grossology” that included questions about snot and sweat and such. There was a climbing wall made to look like skin, including a very large skin mite bug thing. There was a computer program that asked you about you (height, fingerprint style, eye color, etc.). The WCN was looking rather worried by an entire wall of intestines.

My clear favorite was this picture of just the eyes and the brain. How much more 50s monster movie can you get? It reminded me of the optometrist sign in The Great Gatsby.

After about 45 minutes in the museum, it was time for the WCN to eat. So, Sis-der FORCED us to go to the downtown South Bend Chocolate Cafe. What a wonderful store. Not only was it a very nice and comfortable cafe, but it had lots and lots and lots of chocolate. I did have a real sandwich first, but then I had a very good turtle cheesecake, washed down by a dark hot chocolate. I was feeling pretty queasy then. Next time I go, I will have to try the Chocolate Explosion cake – it is the biggest piece of cake I have ever seen – it was between 10 and 12 inches high, and they were not shy about cutting it rather large (which is good, since it costs $10 per slice).

Since lunch was so exhausting, we went back home, where WCN and I decided to take naps. Once I got up from my nap, I watched WCN and Prof. Dad play in the “Playpen of Wonder” (it’s all in the marketing) until it got close to WCN’s bedtime. About that time, Gen and Dan came over for supper. Sis-der and Prof. Dad had made a very good meal of chicken and soda bread and a potato/cauliflower dish. Dessert was a light cake, made heavy by a good portion of chocolate ice cream. It was great to see Dan and Gen – they are funny and interesting people. It always makes me think when I am at a table with two doctors, two lawyers, an English teacher with a Masters degree, and me. At least for now, I have more education than the WCN!

After I was done eating, I excused myself to the much more comfortable couch. I have some back issues, and I do not like sitting in wooden chairs for longer than I need to. I finished the evening by reading most of Shaw’s Pygmalion, while listening to the conversation in the dining room (the adjoining room).

Sadly, Mer and I had to leave on Sunday morning, but the weather was good, and we made it home in almost 5 hours on the dot. We still hope to get back to see WCN and company about once a month.

After several months of obsessing about it, I finally got a Dobro (or resonator guitar) today. I really love the sound of Dobros. I hope to spend several happy months learning the basics. Click here or here to hear this model (a Gold Tone PBS) of resonator guitar being played by someone much better than I am.

Last night was the big Fools reunion party. What a great time! Nine of the twelve graduated Fools made it, which is very good given they are all in college and have real lives not involved in hangin’ with a 36-year-old.

We had the usual Riordan party fare – pizza from Domino’s, chili and whoopie pies and peanut butter cake from the Hartville Kitchen. We all sat around and ate and gabbed for about 30 minutes, then spent an enjoyable hour and a half watching (and commenting on) The Princess Bride. We then got to spend about an hour doing improv. We just went around the room, and everyone got to pick a game that he or she wanted to do, and the people that should be in the game as well. I wish this had been a show – it was a REALLY funny evening. Here is how things went:

Josh picked Superheroes. The Psychosomatic Platypus had a crisis of mouth tumors, so he called on his friend, Liquid Plasma (Kevin). They needed more help, so they called on the help of Dr. Phil (Michelle). Things were finally solved by Mr Shifting Spaghetti Face Man (Steve), who ripped the tumors off of the Platypus’ mouth.

Kristen then picked Blind Line, where you pick up lines off of the floor (which were all the closing lines of famous movies). The scene was a funeral, so Kristen was kind enough to go to the funeral of Emily’s goldfish. It turns out there are many goldfish funerals in Emily’s life, and Kristen could relate because of the death of her moon-howling multiple-personality dog. There was some tension as Kristen belittled the goldfish and Emily pointed out that maybe Kristen took after the dog.

Steve picked Genre Rewind, where Clarice was trying to sell him bath bubble products to make him happy after Steve’s wife (Brandon) ran over the family dog as she stole the family car. Brandon returns and is shocked to find another woman in the house, but is intrigued by the prospect of romantic bubbles. The scene was played out twice more, once as a French romance (with really great bad accents) and once as a bloody horror film in which Brandon solved much with a chainsaw.

Brandon’s turn came up and he picked The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Advice with Kristen and Josh. Brandon played a hick (and quite well – I don’t know what this says), Kristen seemed quite into violence, and Josh channeled all his answers through the spirits. The panel helped solve problems ranging from how to get rid of mice to how to beat diabetes.

Emily picked New Choice with Steve and Josh (Josh as the “new choicer”). The scene was about Emily being a new, just-off-the-plane tour guide in Mozambique. Steve was a camera-happy tourist. The local groups of people (at the airport) included a man who waved a sharp stick around. Steve thought the man was going mad after his picture was taken, but Emily explained that it was just a show of affection from the man. After a second picture was taken, Emily explained the man was just waiting for Steve to explain his true feelings for the stick-waving man, which Steve did.

Michelle gave us Poetry Slam/Interpretive Dance with Clarice. It was a moving rendition of Michelle’s original poem, Shiny, with perfect choreography to match the emotional words.

Clarice then gave us another rendition of Superheroes with Kevin, Steve, and Michelle. Kevin started off as Da Initiator, who quickly realized he could not find his dress. So, he called in Michael Jackson, played disturbingly well by Steve. They then had to call in The Computer Inept (Clarice), who was not able to help. Finally, the whole thing was solved by The Machine Gun Nun (Michelle), who blasted a hole in the wall, revealing the dress.

I chose Political Debate, where I squared off against Emily and her “ideas man,” Kevin. My “ideas man” was Michelle. We had a round debate on the merits of Hungarian clocks (clocks in Hungarian) and on the issue of mandatory wearing of folk costumes.

Mer choose Paperback with me being the reader. She was trying to sell me a Rolex watch from in her trench coat, while I responded out of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. It never ceases to amaze me how well Paperback works, and this went really well.

We ended the improv with Kevin choosing Location-Vocation-Means of Death with Josh (who started), Clarice, and Emily. Josh had to act out being in a laundromat, as a barber, who was killed by the running of the bulls. I don’t remember all of the details of who everyone thought he or she was, but they did guess barber (as well as baseball pitcher).

I ended the evening by drawing names from a hat to give away the extra food and stuff. I had bought two pillows that had arms on them, which I am told are called “husbands.” Thus I have the great satisfaction of saying that Michelle and Josh both left with husbands.

It was a wonderfully fun evening. These guys are very talented, have great chemistry, and are just a lot of fun to be around. Some of the Fools had not done improv in almost two years, but they still were awesome at it. These guys mean much to me, and I am very happy most of them could come over for a reunion. I’ll have to have another Fools party once schools let out (but before it gets too hot in the house!).

Today, I had visitors to my blog from France and Germany. The French hits seem to happen about once/week. The German hit is new. To my international fans, bonjour and Grüße!

To both Mer’s and my recollection, this is the first time in 5+ years the cats have all snuggled together. Overload of cute!

Yesterday was a fine day at school. In the morning, we had a Chapel speaker who has cerebral palsy. She spoke from her wheelchair, and she did have slurred speech. The great thing is that she loves God and loves to talk about him, even with the disease she has. So, even with her trouble talking, she is now a professional speaker, and has been to five countries, even though she cannot drive. She was funny, animated, and engaging, and you could have heard a pin drop (except when we were laughing at her jokes). What a fantastic speaker. She pointed out that we all have disabilities before God, and so we need him. She also said that for awhile she wanted a “normal” life, but God showed her to want more. She said that if you aim for a normal life then that is all you will get, and we should be extraordinary for God. She was amazing.

Later in the day, our school carved out time from academics to host a basketball game for the Broadmoor School, a MRDD school near Cleveland. The entire school went to the gym, and we had a full contingent of raving fans, cheerleaders in uniform and the pep band playing, and we were all pulling for the Broadmoor Bobcats. I went, not knowing what to expect, and I ended up never caring so much for a basketball game in my life. The Bobcats did win (I think the score was 36 to 28). Our students went absolutely nuts for the Bobcat team. They cheered madly every time a basket was scored, led cheers of “We are the mighty mighty Bobcats,” cheered wildly when one of the Broadmoor students danced for the crowd, and chanted “De-fense De-fense!” many times when CVCA had the ball. What was also neat was we had one or two Broadmoor students playing for CVCA, and one of our students played for the Bobcats.

I am proud of our students, and I am proud of the administration and faculty for supporting this event, and I am proud of the Bobcats who played so very hard. I choked up several times during the game. I remember one of the Broadmoor students almost made a basket several times (including one that rolled agonizingly around the rim), and I remember thinking, “Please, God! Let him score!” I do not remember now if he did, but I was pulling hard for the Bobcats.

One of the very basic things Christians are supposed to do is to love. Our students did that yesterday – they genuinely loved the Broadmoor students. They showed them the respect and dignity that people deserve, and I am very proud of the kids for that. There was just good will and genuine love for the Broadmoor students (even to the point of booing one of the CVCA students who actually scored a CVCA basket!).

One of the great perks of working at a school is getting to be around young people. One of the great perks of working at a Christian school is getting to see the love of God at work in young people.

Yesterday was a very good day.