Summer Swim

This morning I went swimming at Haldeman (at Pomona College) instead of the gym. While I was swimming laps, I was remembering all the good times I had at the side of this pool (as well as at Pendleton, also at Pomona) when my girls were growing up. After a spring of dusty softball fields, I always appreciated the cool blue of the pool, the soothing sound of the water while I watched swim lessons. Then when the girls were older, they were on the summer swim team. After a few years of practicing as a swim team, the coach organized a friendly swim meet with the Mount Baldy Aquatics.  We got the dads to run stop watches, we organized relays, and at the end of the meet in the dark we had a big potluck. Great memories.

Here is a photo from the swim meet in 2002. That was just a couple of years ago, right?

Week Round-Up in Photos

As I was out and about last week, I took photos for the blog, but didn't come up with any posts for them, so now I clump them all together. 

Book club members now live in the hills above San Bernardino. Here is the view from their 4 acres.

A walk through the Pomona farm showed us this statue. Presumably the goddess Pomona.

Streamers have been up at CMC since Alumni weekend. I like the reflection in the water.

The new arts building going up at Pomona College

The Marauder's Son - A New Ballet

On a lovely day-before-Easter, I decided to attend The Marauder's Son (based on Harry Potter and the  Sorcerer's Stone) at the Pendleton Dance Center at Pomona College. Emily Kleeman, a Pitzer senior, choreographed and put on this whole hour-long ballet, including fundraising for the event. The dance featured students from the 5Cs as well as a HMC professor (playing a Hogwarts professor). My favorite scene was the chess game. If you read this blog post today before evening, you still have a chance to see the free show at 7:00. Fun for the whole family!

Getting a Jump On Spring Break

Spring break at the colleges starts at the end of the day today, but a student is getting started early, here in front of Bridges Auditorium just before noon today.

Here's a link to a similar photo from several years ago at HMC.

Bridges Auditorium Doors

The massive doors leading into Bridges Auditorium are getting a cleaning and lightening up.

Goodbye Millikan!

Pomona College's Millikan building, home of the Math, Physics & Astronomy Departments, took a bit hit this week as the walls started tumbling down (on purpose). Built in 1958, it has been one of the older buildings on campus and has been in great need of updating. You can read about the project and see an artist's rendering of the new building here.

You can also see more photos at my friend's blog here.

Looks like an ancient ruin here

Slow Dancing

I think it's too late now for you to go see the art show Slow Dancing projected on Bridges Auditorium in the evening, but I managed to hear about it in time to go see it last night. Three large screens at the front of Bridges each showed a hyper-slow-motion video of a dancer. I got there just before sunset, and the projections were barely visible. By the time I left about 40 minutes later, the dark skies helped  show the colors of the video. 

View of projectors

 Front of projectors

Students walking by hardly looked up at the large screens. Maybe they had already seen it.

Getting darker

Look closely at this photo and see what looks like ghosts walking in front of Bridges. I was playing with settings on the camera, and this is what happened. I thought it was cool.

Full color coming out

Deutsch at Oldenborg

Hallo Liebe Leser!

Heute hatten wir unser Mittagessen im Oldenborg Center gegessen. Warum? Weil im Oldenborg können wir  Deutsch mit anderen Menschen sprechen. Wir wollen informieren, besser Deutsch zu sprechen.

Hello Dear Readers!

Today we ate our lunch at Oldenborg Center. Why? Because at Oldenborg we can speak German with other people. We want to get better at speaking German.

Oldenborg is Pomona College's Foreign Language Center with graduate resident assistants who speak various languages and facilitate language and cultural learning. On Wednesdays the tables are designated as beginner tables, so we felt that although we are past our first semester of German, it has been so long that we really need a refresher.

I was surprised at how much I could actually participate at my level, surprised at some words that came back to me, and surprised at how many words I have forgotten. Well, maybe not so surprised at that. As soon as someone would remind me of a word for which I was searching, I felt like hitting my forehead with my palm.

Anyway, I am once again reminded that the best way to learn a language is immersion!

Sagehen Cafe

In all these years I've been in Claremont, I have never eaten at Pomona College's Sagehen Cafe. I did not realize that it was a sit-down restaurant, but I was very happy for the great air conditioning inside today. The reason for the visit was for us to meet with a German professor who is from Switzerland to pick his brain for any ideas about living in Zurich and learning German. Besides learning more about actual Swiss life, he will give me contact information for his sister who is a piano teacher, living in Bern (the Swiss capital) who has Zurich music connections. That, in itself, was worth the whole lunch, which was actually very informative in many respects.

Oh, yes, the lunch was pretty good, too.

Enter Here

I have known for a long time now that the incoming first-year class at Pomona College runs through these gates at the corner of College and 6th St. Until last night, I have never witnessed the ritual. When I saw street barricades sitting by the side of the road on Saturday, it occurred to me that this might be happening soon. The Pomona kids get here earlier than the other colleges for orientation and to go on various trips (backpacking, community service, etc.). I looked up the orientation schedule online and found the entry for "Enter Here" to take place at 6:45 at College and 6th. 

When I started walking towards the intersection, I figured I was in the right place at the right time, as there were throngs of people wandering about. I didn't know exactly everything that was going on, but I took many photos.

First-years walking to the north side of the gates

Many, many kids in Ask Me T-shirts, many with carnations to hand out to the newbies

No idea what these students were supposed to be

Nor these

It was quite difficult to get a good photo of the kids since parents must think they have some sort of right to block everyone's view

The first students through the gates

Cecil Sagehen

Hamlet's Last Act - Wayang Kulit Style

Due to my various connections with music at the colleges, I heard about a performance of Hamlet (or the last part of Hamlet) as told with shadow puppets and Balinese gamelan (wayang kulit) on Saturday afternoon. Having had some experience with gamelan and having seen a more traditional wayang kulit, I was intrigued, so I had to go.

I did not realize that this performance was part of Pomona College's Edward Gordon Craig Conference, or even that such a conference was taking place, so I was surprised to see the auditorium at the Scripps Humanities building full on a Saturday afternoon.

The performance was just over 30 minutes long (traditional shadow puppet plays can last all night long), and it was helpful to know the story of Hamlet, since it started in the middle, but I enjoyed the different perspective of this well-known play.

A close-up of the king and queen with the tree of life (a symbol from the wayang to signify the beginning and end of the play)

A shot from the gravedigger scene (Alas, poor Yorick)

Puppets seen from behind the screen

Day 2 - Clutter Cleanse: one of two cream pitchers that I own. I rarely use one, so there is certainly no need for two.  It was a gift to me about 20 years ago from a friend who I have long ago lost touch with. I will donate it.

Nano Days at the Library

I just returned from the library where my friend David (physics professor at Pomona College) was hosting Nano Days, a science event for everyone. The room was bustling with people of all ages who went from table to table where they could learn about something related to nano science. Each table was staffed by a volunteer - a teacher, a student, someone who was interested and knowledgeable about their topic.

I really enjoyed the hands-on experience, which is what makes any kind of learning much more fun and memorable.

This is not the first Nano-on-the-Road experience. You can read about Nano Days at Sycamore at my friend Judy's blog.

A full room! Fun for all ages!

These people are learning about memory wire. You can stretch out a wire spring to any distorted shape, but when you heat it up (with a hair dryer this time), it returns to its original wire shape.

We learned about incandescence - from butterfly wings to nail polish dropped on water (dip dark paper into the water under the polish and create a cool oil-slick image.

Add a few crystals to water, and they absorb it all, just the way a disposable diaper works.

(S)Trolling

Recently I noticed that there was a new hand-painted crosswalk on College Ave. just south of 6th St in front of Alexander Hall. It said (S)troll. This is a place where pedestrians love to jaywalk. I don't necessarily disapprove of jaywalking, but if you do so, I believe that traffic has the right-of-way. Since College Ave. is a frustrating drive during change of classes at Pomona College anyway, an additional pedestrian crossing is quite unwelcome to motorists. Most often I try to use College Ave. between classes, if I can remember when that is.

Turns out that this crossing was a prank, and the colleges blocked the break in the hedges to prevent jaywalkers, and yesterday crews painted over the graffiti. According to the Courier, officials found the spray paint can and are dusting it for fingerprints.

Inside/Outside Weekend

It's been another weekend where I look forward to the regular week day so I can slow down a bit...

It was also the kind of weekend of crisp, clear, windy, chilly weather where some of our activities were outside. I believe that fall is actually here to stay for a bit.

Some of our outdoor activities:

Showing off the Turrell Skyspace to some of our church friends who had never seen it before.

Embracing the elements, we attended a memorial service at the RSABG for our friend Steve who left us too early at a young 63 years. This is a photo of one of the bowls he had made that was on display for us to enjoy during this lovely tribute to a life well led.

 

Along with many Sunday church activities, we also heard a few concerts which you can read about at my music blog. Yay for indoors activities, too!

The Barbarian Nurseries

I believe I heard about this book because it was the choice for the freshman read at Pomona College this year. I should have read it this summer along with the first-years and then gone to hear Hector Tobar on Sept. 2. Oh, well.

This might be my favorite read of 2012, or, at least, in my top 3. It is a rare book that marries good plot with good writing, and this one does just that. It also sets the place very well, and Orange County and Los Angeles can be considered characters in this novel.

None of the three main characters hide their flaws, from themselves or each other, and yet they seem sympathetic because their circumstances in life seem to have created them. I appreciated that there was growth for each of them by the end of the book.

I think I will choose this book for one of my book clubs because there will be plenty to discuss.

Pomona College - 125 Years

While walking to the Claremont Library on Friday, I noticed that a carousel had somehow appeared on the quad in front of Big Bridges. After asking around, I found out that Pomona College is celebrating its 125th Anniversary (quasquicentennial) today. Here is an article with the specifics.

Random Friday Photo

If this is not a door, I wonder what it is?

seen at Pomona College

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The word was out on the street.  Pomona College's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was good enough to spend a few dollars on and wile away/while away a sunny afternoon.  The audience had a fair share of Pilgrims in attendance since the word must have been out at Pilgrim Place, too.

I have not been to a theater production at Pomona for a long time.  Some, in the past, have been good, some, no so much.  This one has a thumbs-up from a friend of mine, and I had the spare time yesterday afternoon.  I thoroughly enjoyed the show.  I have not seen this musical before, so I can't compare it to another version, but given the chance, I would see it again.

Art Exhibit

Yesterday Hal and I took a look at the Montgomery Art Center at Pomona College. Right now they have an exhibit called The New Normal. The art in this exhibit only made sense to me after reading the information about it, and then I found it quite interesting. This traveling exhibit is free and here until October 18.

Skyspace

JoAnn and I went over to Pomona College yesterday evening to watch the Turrell Skyspace change colors under the twilight sky. Today I made a little video of pictures I took as the colors morphed with music that I am working on. Then I created a youtube account and uploaded my first video to the web! Click here to watch the 25-second video.