100 Days Project -- Day 7

Watched this today. So good. The best kind of movie -- funny, both heart-wrenching and -warming, and deeply insightful about the human condition.

My favorite line?

"Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right, then it's not yet the end."

100 Days Project -- Day 6

Friday night. We go out to dinner on Friday nights, and sometimes I see my students when we're out. Tonight, we went to The Yard House, and when we walked in to the very crowded waiting area, there was one of my current students, sitting with her boyfriend, waiting for a table. I immediately knew she was my student...but I couldn't remember her name, and I wasn't sure which of my three classes she's in.

Now, when I see a student out in public, especially if it's a student I don't know very well, I try to let her (most of my students are women) take the lead in making a connection. I figure that the last person some people want to see when they're out trying to have a good time is that professor that makes them do a lot of work. Tonight, though, this student smiled comfortably and enthusiastically when she saw me, so I smiled and returned her greeting. I immediately got embarrassed because I didn't know her name, and it was easy in all the noise and commotion of putting our names on the waiting list to turn away and avoid introducing her to Bob. We went to the bar to get a drink while we waited, and every now and then, I felt bad that I hadn't talked to her more because she was so friendly.

Then we got seated...and, yes, after we'd gotten settled and ordered, I turned, and there she was. Sitting right behind us. It wasn't awkward, though, as it's really loud in there, and she was engaged in conversation with her beau. They finished before we did, and I had my chance to introduce her to Bob as they walked by us to leave. She volunteered her name, very graciously, and it was quite comfortable. Nice. It felt good to have a student recognize me AND seem genuinely comfortable chatting with me for a moment in public.

About 6 or 7 years ago, I had a very different experience running into a student in public. My friend, Denise, and I went to an Aerosmith and Lenny Kravitz concert at The Save Mart Center. Lenny played first, and during the break before Aerosmith came out, we headed out to the lobby area to use the restrooms. As we walked, I spotted one of my current students walking toward us through the crowd. It was only a couple weeks into the new semester, and she was in a lower division GE course I was teaching. And, though I couldn't remember her first name, she stood out to me immediately because I remembered that her last name was Reid. She was the first student I ever had with my last name, same Scottish spelling and all. As usual, though, I nonchalantly looked away, trying to find a happy medium between not-being-rude-but-giving-her-room-to-not-have-to-chat-it-up-with-her-professor at a concert, of all places. When she was about 5 yards away from us, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, looked me straight in the face, and in a drunken slur, body teetering back and forth, pointed and yelled, "Hey! Hey! You're in my class!" Of course, I started laughing, and as she got closer and continued to try to figure out who I was, I finally said, "Well, actually, I'm your professor." She stopped dead again, and as the young man at her side held her steady, she stared deep into my eyes, struggling to focus and figure out who the hell I was. As the realization dawned, her posture weakened a bit, and she just said, "Oh...yah." Her friend, who was clearly quite sober, apologized profusely, explaining that she wasn't usually like that. Of course, I told him not to worry about it while she teetered there, still dazed-and-confused, and we then went our separate ways.

She had a difficult time looking me in the eye the rest of the semester.

So, yah, sometimes I run into my students out in public. And I try to give them some space.

100 Days Project -- Day 5

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
It's Thursday.
I'm tired.
This'll have to do.

100 Days Project - Day 4

Hearts

These hearts are from the place where Bob first told me he loved me.


And these hearts are from the city where he worked Sunday evenings through Saturday evenings for the first year that we dated.


I bought these in the town where I brought Bob for his surprise birthday trip the first year we dated.


I found these in a shop by the beach, just down the way from one of our favorite little breakfast restaurants.


And I got these at a street fair in the little beach town where Bob brought me to celebrate my 45th birthday.

Gotta love hearts.
Gotta love Bob.

100 Days Project - Day 3

The Lisa Project

The statistics are staggering. In 2013, there were more than 2,100 substantiated reports of child abuse in Fresno County. That is an average of 6 substantiated cases every day.
That is an astounding number. But it becomes much more real, and much more meaningful, when you hear the true stories of these children, as they would tell them.

Michelle and I went to the opening of "The Lisa Project" this evening. This is a multi-media interactive exhibit on child abuse that First 5 of Fresno County, along with 11 community partners, has brought to Fresno for the month of April. The narrator of the self-guided audio tour is Lisa, and she begins by sharing a real 911 call she made at the age of 6 when her stepfather was severely beating her mom and her two younger siblings. She pauses in the telling of her own story, though, to let other children -- each in a separate room throughout the exhibit -- tell their personal stories. Children from toddlers to teens, living in poverty and in plenty, suffering physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of the people who are supposed to keep them safe.

The stories are pretty hard to hear, and are made more real by the children's voices and the artifacts of their lives. A filthy kitchen where a child sleeps in the corner. A bathroom where a sheer shower curtain is all that separates an adolescent girl from her predator father.

As powerful as all of it was, I found I was most moved in the very last room when Lisa concluded her story. At the end of all of these very dark rooms and heart-wrenching stories, her real story gives the visitor hope. And motivation to help prevent child abuse.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and if you have a chance to go to The Lisa Project, you'll realize just how important our voices are.

100 Days Project ~ Day 2

The Hijab Challenge

What would happen if I was dressed like this the next time you saw me?

Isn't that an interesting question?
One afternoon last fall, I was walking to a talk that was being given at the Henry Madden Library on campus. For once, I was early, so with about 10 minutes to kill, I noticed a booth set up in the Free Speech area (a central quad filled with booths for student organizations and where a lot of activity occurs each day) where women were being fitted in hijabs. Intrigued, I walked over, and read about "The Hijab Challenge," an opportunity to wear a hijab for a day, then share your experiences with a photographer named James Ramirez, and have a portrait taken. Some portraits will be included in a photo exhibit that Ramirez, currently a Fresno State student, will have on campus next year.
So I took the challenge.
I didn't have much time to think about it. I just did it.
In those brief moments before I was covered, I mainly wondered what strangers would think when they saw me. How would they react?
What I hadn't had time to consider was
how people who already knew me
would react.
Strangers were the most comfortable.
Good friends were intrigued, and immediately asked what was up.
It was the reaction of acquaintances that was the most surprising. Double-takes before turning away. Uncomfortable side-glances. Recognition? Yes, I think so. But an interesting experiment in what happens when you're not who people thought you were...even for just a few hours.

100 Days Project ~ Day 1

I love to write. I'm a writer. But I haven't been acting like one for, well, ever. I want to get back to it. So I'm going to do the "100 Days Project," and every day for 100 days, I'm going to write a blog entry. No rules about length or topic...just entries with writing. Here I go.

I did the Fresno Urban Run this morning. Soooooo fun! It's been a long time since I've done an organized run AND had Bob there as my personal paparazzi -- it was like old times.

This was the inaugural Fresno Urban Run. The start line was in Chukchansi Stadium and it finished at the top of the Grand Tower. For those of you non-Fresno-ans, Chukchansi is the ballpark for our minor league baseball team, The Fresno Grizzlies (a San Francisco Giants farm team). It's downtown, near the Fulton Mall, a walking-mall-type area.

Felicia at Pinnacle Training Systems is still coaching me, and she's had me running stairs for some time to get ready for this. I love to climb when I'm on the bike. I love to climb when I'm running. I have no idea what's that's about, but it simply is. And The Fresno Urban Run had plenty 'o climbing.

When Bob and I got to the park, I first had to decide which self-selected starting corral I should be in.

Hmmmmmm...Corral A for elite runners? I think not. After all, that's Maia Pucay there, starting from Corral A. She's the Site Supervisor at Campus Children Center, one of our Child Development Labs at Fresno State, and, on a regular basis, she qualifies for runs like the Boston Marathon. One of her current goals is to run a marathon on every continent...the only ones she still has to go are Africa and Antarctica. Certainly not the corral for me. I seem to be a "middle-of-the-road" athlete in all the sports I try, so I unashamedly headed back to Corral B for intermediate runners. Even that made me a little nervous.

I mingled with a few folks I knew back there, like Jonna Hooker and Jamie Eropkin, from my cycling days. Used to coach for the Team in Training Cycling Team with Jonna, and I think she has done multiple centuries every year since our introduction to cycling back in 1999. Amazing.And just like when we were cycling together, at the start line, I'm praying that I'll survive, and Jonna's all calm-and-collected.

We heard there were 250 people allowed to register, and that even included firefighters in full gear. Those are some tough dudes.

Unlike any other race that I've ever done, runners were sent off one at a time at the start since we'd be running so many stairs. We started at one end of the ballpark, and ran up and down each section of stairs through the entire lower tier. Not only did the individual starts keep us far enough apart to be safe, but it provided a lovely opportunity for any friends who started behind you to cheer...which Jonna, Jamie, and their group kindly did for me as I headed out.

It rained the night before, so the concrete was a bit wet, but other than trying to be careful because of that, I went as hard as I could. I was only one of a few people, though, who took the steps one at a time on the way up each flight...I tried two, but am just short enough that I was afraid I'd do a face-plant if I kept that up. After all, I've been known to do face-plants on flat ground.

We got a list of "Final Instructions" before the start, and one of the instructions for inside Chukchansi Stadium was "Do not run/step on top of dugout. Doing so will result in a DQ." Glad they told me that, or I woulda been all over 'em. After running up and down all the stairs, we exited the park at the north end.

Bob didn't see me again until the end, as he went back to get the car and drive it to the finish. So I'll do my best to recreate the course (with a little help from Google Images). The course then took us onto Fulton Mall...

...and into a 6-story circular parking garage.

We ran up the winding ramp on one end, and down the other. Though I at first thought I might get dizzy from all the running-in-circles, this actually was super fun, especially running down. To and from the garage, one of the course instructions was "Do not dumpster dive."

Though I was tempted, of course, I pushed on...and made it down the length of the Fulton Mall and to the base of the Grand Tower.

This was the grand finale, as I now had to "run" up 10 stories. Believe it or not, I loved it. And I felt like I looked like this...

And I felt as happy as if I'd seen these on my way up...

But more than likely, by about the 9th floor, I probably looked like this...

Once at the top, after being cheered by course volunteers, I took the elevator down with about 6 other contestants. I'm thinking that elevator needed A LOT of Febreeze at the end of the race. Back on the ground, I found Bob, and he took this lovely shot of me with the miniature bat I earned by finishing the race.

We then headed over to the "After Party" in a nearby parking lot, and enjoyed a complimentary Michelob Ultra while visiting some local vendor's booths. We bought some great citrus from a vendor from Sanger, and I tasted some delicious iced tea from Raizana Teas, a local husband-and-wife tea shop that opened on Tuloumne Street in 2009. Delicious! And, of course, we had to check out the finisher's list.

I don't know how many women ran, but I feel good about how I felt and finished (22nd for women). Of course, now that I know there are stair runs -- "run-ups" -- all over the world, I just found out about this woman...

Suzy Walshman of Australia. In February, she won the Empire State Building Run-Up for the fifth time. 40 years old. 1,576 stairs. In just over 11 minutes. Apparently it takes most participants about an hour. Wow. I'm happy with my finisher's bat from the first-ever Fresno Urban Run, though. Who knows. Maybe I'll do a "run-up" on every continent.