catapult magazine

Has anyone done anything fun or interesting this summer? Like visit a new place, visit an old place, learn something, do something, read something…?

I did stuff that I think is cool. I drove from California to Iowa, and that in itself was amazing. The changes in scenery were striking to say the least. My new favorite place in the US is the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. I’d driven through it once before, but didn’t know what it was. It’s simply stupendous.

I also worked at an English immersion camp for international kids, and have SO much fun with them. I also started a livejournal, which has been fun. I love summer.

Despite the fact that I don’t really HAVE summer vacation, I’ve succeeded in going to more concerts this summer than I have probably in my entire life (9!), got a drink and hung out with a ‘famous’ band member, done a ton of housesitting in some posh neighborhoods, flew home to Washington for an old roommates wedding, seen some great movies, drank some great beer, read some good books (thank you, Kristin, for Life of Pi!!!), and worked my arse off at my job. Oh, and I’m taking a 2 day road trip to St. Louis to go to another concert. All in all, it’s not that different from the rest of the year, but dang, I’m having a good time.

what is this “vacation” you speak of? just kidding . . .

it’s been a very busy summer for kirstin and i. we’ve been preparing to open a fair trade store in three rivers called world fare (check out http://www.worldfare.org for pictures and updates . . . okay, i have to do some of that yet, but it will be up eventually). we’ll be opening at the end of this month during a blues festival. we’ve been working a lot on renovating a historic downtown storefront (from 1800 something), developing relationships with people and churches interested in justice issues and fundraising to get the store off the ground (it is another non-profit).

even though it has been an incredibly hectic summer (working 14-hour days far too often), it has also been a very rewarding summer. we’ve met a lot of great people and we can’t wait to develop all of the opportunities having a physical space provides.

The family and I went camping in the Rockies (CO) for a week. Lots of wildlife and great times. Lots of rain that didn’t spoil anyone’s fun at all. We got lost on the way back to CA in mid Colorado and saw some of the most beautiful scenery along the way that we had ever seen.

Now back to the ordinary…

This summer was all about theatre. I worked on two puppet shows (one of them my own) and went to an international theatre design conference called the Prague Quadrennial. I stopped in London where I saw Richard III, then went to Prague (besides the PQ I caught a showing of Hamlet Machine) and then on to Budapest for several days. The trip lasted a month. The quadrennial was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced in terms of art and theatre. After the trip we staged our puppet show here in Minneapolis., and now I am working on preliminary designs for a production of Macbeth.

My summer has been dedicated to learning French. I took two months of courses in Montreal and a 5 week immersion program here in Victoria which I’m just finishing up. So for my break from school I’m going to school. And now that school is almost done I’m going back to school.

I did an internship at my home church. Pastoral ministry is eating my lunch! There are so many things that happen in church life that I had no clue about. It takes a lot of people to keep a church going, and so much never gets mentioned. It’s really been eye-opening (in more ways than one).

For my wife’s birthday I set up babysitters for seven nights and for each one we went to see a movie. This might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but after we had our first child, our movie watching dropped to about two a year. So far this summer we have seen :
“Spellbound” (about the national spelling bee, excellent)
“A Mighty Wind” (we both thought it hilarious)
“Whale Rider” (from New Zeeland – i got a little misty-eyed)
“Bend it Like Beckham” (a great deal of fun)
“North Fork” (some weird stuff — interesting images though. Couldn’t quite make sense of the spirtual subtext)

We’ve also travelled to Wisconsin, the U.P of Michigan, and Stratford, Ontario (excellent production there of Aristophanes’ “The Birds” See it if you get a chance. 2,500 year old play that hasn’t been seen on the professional stage in probably a hundred years)

We leave tomorrow for our last hurrah — a reunion of my college roommates in Snow Mountain ranch (YMCA) in the Rocky Mountains.

I also read a lot and wrote some.

Wow…it sounds like everyone is making good use of their time. My summer vacation actually started yesterday—I’ve been teaching all summer but now I’m done until September 15! I did visit the frightening depths of backwoods America on the cino camping trip, and I have another trip in the works….but it’s not final yet so I won’t jinx it. Other than that, my summer has been dedicated to practicing piano—I’m working on tons of new repertoire for some auditions this winter.

Dan—are you fluent in French yet?

Anton—what are some of the challenges you’ve faced in your internship? Have you enjoyed working behind the scenes for your church?

I did a solitary retreat to a mtn cabin in Georgia, visited a 400 year old tulip poplar tree in NC—we had a nice visit—antiqued, and hiked Whiteside Mtn.
My two sisters and I with our families spent a week on Sanibel Island on the Gulf coast of Florida talking, beaching, shelling, laughing, eating, shopping, and reconnecting.
I read lightly for entertainment—legal thrillers and murder mysteries. I re-discovered the History channel and Biography and old movies.
I laughed a lot.
I ‘hanged-out’ with my teenagers…long talks in den with 18 year old son…cool. Chauffered and tried to keep tabs on 15 year old daughter…beach bum, island hopper this summer!
And finally, I worked too many hours at renovation/cleaning/weeding in my high school library but the outcome will be worth it when school begins this week!