Up the Midwest!

so i spent the weekend in richmond, indiana, visiting my little bro (heretofore "t-rob," to protect the innocent. or, the guilty, if one is talking about underage drinking on a dry campus. is heretofore really a word? i think i made it up...) at earlham college.

(for those i haven't told... earlham is a quaker school just over the border of indiana from the dayton, ohio area. it's small--1100--and actually has a peace and global studies (get with the program, wes!) their president is also named doug bennet, and they even call him douggie b, but he's on sabbatical and is way cooler than our douggie b. or at least, theirs is actually left-wing, anti-war, and speaks clearly. and pays attention to students. i think one douggie b might be the bizarro version of the other)

it all began with 2 flights to get to indianapolis. dad got a direct flight, but i ordered my ticket a week ago and they only had layover flights (long story, not me procrastinating i swear). so i got to go to the mall of philly airport! like the mall of america, except not big and lacking a log flume. so, actually, nothing like the mall of america. mostly pretty boring.

so i arrived at indianapolis late enough that what with dinner and all (all the fun of parents visiting the college student and taking them to dinner away from campus, without the eating campus food normally!) we were almost an hour late to this presentation/concert of country blues music. and it's a good friggin thing. the beginning was a 1 1/2 hour lecture about the music, which was interesting... for about 10 minutes. so, good thing we only caught the last half hour. but then, the guy and another guy (according to the first guy, who is an ethnomusicologist and somewhat of an expert on country blues, the second guy is the best harmonica player in the world) played some tunes. that part was pretty cool. especially the train song, which is a harmonica solo where it sounds like a train leaving the station. and it really does sound like that. so that part was cool. and the rest of the live music.

saturday, we went and met t-rob's profs. or, 3 of them. one called my little bro "the tall skinny kid" which threw us all off, cuz he wasn't always tall. we looked around at all the other departments' tables, and just seeing all the social science books made ma all nostalgic for college... till i remembered all those books i bought when i was in college, and never finished reading. maybe i'll read them now that i have some free time =D

then we went to SagaLunch, aka the fancy on-campus meal where they make the food better and put tablecloths on all the cafeteria tables (yes, they do it at other places than wesleyan). this did not make me nostalgic for college. but we did meet a pennsylvania nader-voter. while i do agree with a lot of nader's politics myself... she's polishing the silver on the titanic; it's all goin' down if bush wins again (10 points for whoever correctly identifies that quote!). but i didn't really get into a discussion with her, seeing as i didn't even know the woman. she was the only non-kerry supporter we met all weekend--and in a solid bush state no less! we also saw more "support the troops" yellow ribbon car-magnets than god. one had a "bring them home" heart underneath, which was cool in that at least there are magnets challenging the supporting troops/opposing wars binary, even if it all tends to oversimplify the issue. anyhoo, enough soapboxing for one blog...

so then we went bowling! somehow, even having grown up in the MA, both my parents kicked some serious big-ball bowling ass. i came into my stride by the end of the first game, and then developed a bit of a blister on my thumb and lost it again by midway thru the second game. but at least i can sympathize with derrick lowe =) so then i chilled w/ t-rob while the 'rents went off to some museum. it was pretty dorm-tastic. and generally college-tastic, in a hanging out, surfing the internet kind of way.

so after dinner, we went to this student concert of two percussion groups, a jazz group, and the gospel choior. the whole thing was rawk-tastically awesome. especially the ERP (earlham revolution propaghandists. or, more accurately, earlham rhythm project). THEY PLAYED BUCKETS!!! it was like what would happen if a bunch of real drummers did samba, and had a much more complicated piece, and no whistle, and wore funky black and red outfits and were on a stage instead of at a protest. not exactly sambahots (but, in all honesty, what is?), but amazing-tastic-rawkin' all the same =D

then we went back to the b&b and watched the snl version of the debates. but, i mean, i dunno what they thought was so funny... being president *is* hard work! but we're turning the corner! and working hard! seriously tho... i don't think "bush/cheney04: guys this is hard" will be a very successful campaign slogan... oh we did see real, honest-to-goodness campaign ads! wow! kerry's was totally better. bush's reminded me of hangman, and my mom of a powerpoint presentation (or, as *our* douggie b would say, "shit on a slide").

this morning we went to richmond's county's friends meeting. i actually really liked it. i thought about stuff, and a couple people spoke... i mean, typical meeting fare, only earlier than the ones here, but i guess i was just in need of some introspection. so on that note...

fight fight, inner light, kill, quakers, kill!
knock 'em down, beat 'em senseless!
do it 'till we reach consensus!

come on, you know i don't get *that* serious on this thing =)

to sum up, earlham=cool. and earlham=the wesleyan of the red state (oberlin already claimed the "wesleyan of the midwest" title... i mean, i say it can be the wesleyan of the swing state or something).

what's coming up:

so i'm almost positive this is my plan for the next few weekends (and by next few, i mean the end of october)... i'll go down for homecoming! and probably (hopefully!) crash at 19 fountain. there will be much revelry and some giving john stossel hell. the following weekend, i'll stop for a night at wes (maybe halloween party night, but maybe not) the night of the 29th, and hopefully stay with r-brig, and then the next day go to KPd's so we can go see green day that night. woot! then, to break up the drive, i might stop in m-town on the way back up on the 31st, for lunch or something. but maybe not, since i'll also go on nov. 2! for the election party, in full regalia (read: my sweet-as "november 2" t-shirt. oh yes, i'll be "that guy"). i'll get there not wicked early, as i get out of work at 6, but i'll get there. but then i'll have to not visit for a bit, for fear of becoming a truly sketchy alumni who keep showing up even tho she graduated and it's 2 hours away from her house. but anyone and everyone are welcome to visit me any time!

oh and also, bring it, anaheim! GO SOX!