Back in Bama

I've been incommunicado for a fortnight. Two weeks ago today I got hit with a nasty stomach bug. Nasty, enough said, I won't gross anyone out with the details. I was actually worried that I wouldn't get my appetite back, but that charmed condition didn't last very long. The day after I felt back to normal (not wobbly) - which was last Saturday - I flew to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio for a week-long workshop with my job. This consisted of me and my other co-workers training teachers on how to help us develop our product. I won't go too much into that, but most of the time at KSU was very pleasant. The weather was very cool, which was a wonderful break from the 90 degree temperatures here in Silicon Holler. I was very curious to see the memorial and markers of the four students that were killed duing the riots on May 4, 1970. If you don't know about the "four dead in Ohio" from the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song, you can learn more here.

http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/4may70/exhibit/chronology/index.html

The memorial was beautiful, four simple slabs of polished stone (maybe granite) and a marker with the names of the four dead and nine wounded. Near the memorial and right next to the dorm I stayed in was the area where the students actually died. It is now a parking lot, but each spot where a student died was marked with lights and a marker with their name. It was very moving.

Kent State is also populated with black squirrels, which I remember seeing when I lived in Ft. Riley, KS. According to one of the professors, these squirrels were brought to the campus about 15 years ago and have since populated about a 12-mile radius. They seem to be genetically dominant. There are still some grey ones here and there, but the little black ones appear to have taken over. I was able to unwind each night with a nice quiet walk around campus and a bit of squirrel watching.

Strangely enough, having to be "on" each day and having to present and teach didn't leave me as stressed and drained each night as I thought I would be. I think it had to do with the fact that for a week, after I finished work each day, all of my meals were cooked for me, I didn't come home to a messy house (just a small room) and I had no TV or internet to distract me (consequently no depressing news to listen to), and some great books to read. I must be afflicted with modern life.