Journal 7: I wish I may, I wish I might

The Planetarium, the place to study the thing that we take for granted. Stars. Growing up I loved climbing the ladder up to our roof at night, dragging a blanket behind me to snuggle up and watch the stars. Now, I enjoy taking night walks on warm evenings with my boyfriend who also enjoys the stars, maybe even more than me. But those nights, cloudy and cold… Those nights are what the planetarium was made for!

Planetarium (looks even cooler when your there)
from  www.physics.sfsu.edu

In the UWSP planetarium, on can enjoy learning about constellations; see how throughout the night other pieces of the night sky begin to emerge and the sun fades deeper and deeper to the other side of the earth. Orion of course and the big and little dipper were covered but so was Tartus the bull. We also looked at the milky way and studied stars in general. One thing that really stood out to me is how stars that we see every night may have actually already disappeared, but because they are so far away, their light is still on its way to us. Some stars could have been dead for years, decades, centuries before we know here on earth.

I find the planetarium inspiring, educational, and interesting. It is free to students and plays every week. I really encourage each and every person to make the evening trip to campus to enjoy the planetarium presentation. Hell! Go as a date, go with friends, go to procrastinate on homework; you won’t regret it. 

Michael Perry Presents

Attending Michael Perry's evening seminar was really an enjoyable experience as he touched on his book while not shying away from sharing his life, making us laugh, or a few comments young children would not understand and good thing. But he was all over a very enthusiastic and entertaining speaker.

Michael Perry and his Truck

 As Perry was speaking, he touched on his book Truck: A Love Story and mainly described his truck which he described in details that I could not repeat to you no, but what he so distinctly implied as...a perfect piece of crap. I don't think that I will ever understand the connection that males feel towards their cars, and maybe I am stereotyping men, but I just know, that the way that Perry spoke about his truck grasped every man in the room a different way than it could ever have held onto me. Seeing the connection that Perry has to his truck really make the whole 'love story' part a bit humorous  and although there is a real romance in the book, the bond that Perry has with his truck is also in Truck: A Love Story.  All of the personal stories that Michael Perry share in his books really bring his writing to life because he is passionate about it, and that was easy to see when he spoke. I look forward to possibly picking up another one of his books soon.

Perry's Sarcasm

Coop: a Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg by Michael Perry was a book unlike any other that I had ever read, and left me tempted to live my own life out in the middle of nowhere and grow my own food, or have a husband that would grow our own food anyway. The story was very well balanced and characterized through the vast about of humor that could be found in Perry, the husband. Throughout the good and the bad times, this character always has a way to leave the reader in a light mood because of his sarcasm and humor. 
The main example of this that I think about is how Perry accidently kills three of his chickens in the most bizarre ways possible . These parts of the story are a wide mixture of emotions where the reader can't help but to want to laugh and cry. The entire book of Coop really consists of scenes like these as it allows the reader to experience a city family adjust to living on a farm of their own.

Journal 6: Music Coming Alive

IO Echo's is really brought to life by Matt James in his article "IO Echo: Ministry of Love". I have never heard of the band, but the cover photo that was displayed with the article was quite intriguing and I continued to read about this asian group that has put together some very energetic and wonderful music. Matt really put a lot of imagery into the article describing and bringing to life various songs and albums that have been produced by IO Echo. As the article continues, you learn that the group not only has odd music, but may not quite fit in themselves as they live in LA, but seem to be comfortable in either traditional kimonos or leather.