Global Warming!

Wait a minute, this is not global warming. Where is the global warming??? We could certainly use some here in Illinois; and I know that they would probably appreciate some in Utah too! And wasn't there a big blizzard in North Dakota last week? Hmmmmm. It reminds me of the day at school in Charleston last year when it had to be at least -10 outside. The wind was blowing, it was snowing, and my liberal classmates and I were having lunch and watching CNN. On TV they were showing Al Gore receiving his Nobel Peace Prize for his work in bringing global warming to light. All of my classmates were nodding in agreement and saying, "It's about time he gets recognized for all of his work." All I could do was laugh and say, "Are you guys kidding me? Have you been outside today?" But anyway, this winter wonderland is what we awoke to this morning. Sigh. I thought (or maybe hoped is a better word) spring was here to stay.

Speaking of my Charleston classmates, I just spent a couple of days with them this weekend. We all get along a lot better after having had several months apart. :-) On Friday I drove down to Charleston for our internship reports. We all had to give presentations to our professors, a number of alumni, and this year's students about our internship experiences. Then we went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant: Los Potrillos. After dinner we went to the Tilford Dudley House (oh, the memories) for a reception to kick off the Historical Administration Program Association "Symposium Weekend" festivities. After getting everyone safely back to their hotel (many alcoholic beverages were consumed by my classmates throughout the evening), I was able to go stay at the home of my favorite Charleston family: the Stowells! They are such a fun, kind family; and it is so nice of them to always let me stay with them when I am in town. The symposium began bright and early yesterday morning. During breakfast I ended up at the same table with the Illinois State Historian (who was one of our speakers). It was a little stressful trying to make good conversation with him (I got the idea that he is not a big fan of the National Park Service), but I survived. :-) All of the speakers were very interesting. It is always nice to be reminded of why we crazy history people have chosen the museum/historical profession. One of my favorite presentations was by some EIU HA alums who now work at the Wisconsin Historical Society. They talked about their new exhibit: "Odd Wisconsin," which is a very cleverly packaged museum exhibition. Every museum needs good marketing people to come up with such ideas! Museum artifacts that might not have created a lot of public interest by themselves become big attractions when they are put together like that. After the speakers finished, it was time for the HAPA membership meeting during which Dr. Small gave everyone an update on how last year's class (my group) was doing. I got major props for writing my Zion book! I guess that not very many HA alums publish books. Unfortunately the employment situation is pretty bleak, and I was reminded again of how fortunate I am to have gotten the job at the Lincoln Home. Speaking of which, I start tomorrow! I was able to go back to the Stowell's house for a couple of hours before the evening banquet began. The kids showed me their new art museum which is very impressive. Sterling won first place at his school for a picture he drew of Abraham Lincoln! Poor Brother Stowell just had leg surgery a couple of weeks ago, and after seeing his leg with all of its staples and stitches, I will not complain about my little incisions anymore. They are such a wonderful family! Then it was time for the evening HAPA banquet. Thankfully I was able to sneak out after dinner and before the auction to raise money for the program began. As I learned last year, the auction quickly becomes an alcohol fest, and then everyone leaves and goes out to drink some more. As I was driving home in the pouring rain I was questioning my decision to have left Charleston last night , but since it ended up snowing during the night I'm glad I drove home when I did. Today at church we are going to have a combined Priesthood/Relief Society lesson about preparedness, and the bishop asked Greg to talk about funeral planning, so he's getting all ready for that. Hopefully some global warming will come and melt the snow!