Category Archives: Clemson

Clemson, Friends

I’m Back!

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Oh it is good to be back to writing! I have missed this. Where have I been? Well, mostly at work – or should I say, at play? Allow me to elaborate:

As the Administrator of the US Play Coalition, my primary responsibility has been the planning and execution of the 2013 Conference on the Value of Play, which took place February 17-20 in Clemson, South Carolina. By all accounts, it was a huge success, and it could not have been more fun. We had over 300 people participate, 10 countries represented, 3 keynote speakers, 1 keynote panel, 70+ educational sessions, 1 full hour dedicated hour of play with many more short activities, 2 adult tricycles, 1 giant parachute, 20+ hula hoops, and more smiles than you can imagine. At the closing banquet, we awarded $6,000 in grant funding in the form of one $3,000 research grant and three $1,000 action grants. In conjunction with our conference and official play hour, Clemson Provost Dori Helms declared February 19 as Clemson University’s Official Play Day for the second year in a row. We also were covered by the Anderson Independent, The Tiger, and had three hours of live cut-ins on Fox Channel 4. All in all it was tremendous fun, and I am already looking forward to making the 2014 conference bigger and better! Plan to join us, you can ask me how.

13.2.20 Anderson Independent Conference Coverage 5
Just a regular “day in the office”

On top of the long hours both before, during, and after the conference. I have been doing my best to stay in touch with numerous friends, read for book club, watch awards season, complete my online coursework, rehab my injured foot, learn big ideas from TED, maintain awareness of current events, find a new place to live, oh and sleep too. There is so much I want to fill you in on all at once, but for now, we will both have to settle for this brief reconnection via the blogosphere. It’s good to be here, and thank you for reading. Be PLAYful!

My new book for... you guessed it!
My new book for… you guessed it!
Clemson, Discovery, Media Consumed

MOMIX

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On Thursday night, I saw MOMIX: Botanica, and I was dazzled. If you wanted to pigeon-hole MOMIX, I think “modern dance” would be the title given, but this does not even begin to do justice to the visual sorcery of the performance. From the moment the curtain rises, the dancers bring you under their spell.

Creating illusions with their bodies and their dress, the boundaries of reality were extended. I was amazed at how simple costume alterations, a black line here or an all-brown body suit there, could metamorphose the human figure into another being. The entire production was a demonstration of our ability to seamlessly transfigure ourselves.

Light and dark become play things as your perception is bent this way and that. For instance, a deep red backlight with no front, side, or above lights transforms the dancers into black shapes without distinct features, or the trickery of a black light on reflective sleeves worn on the arms and legs opens new stretches of the imagination.

The dancers also make deliberate use of props, objects that are often lithe in design and motion while bold in statement.

Altogether, the show is captivating. I highly recommend seeing it if you have the chance.

 

Adventure, Boogie Down, Clemson, Media Consumed

Welcome (again) 2013

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Yes, I know it is a little late to be welcoming the New Year, but to be fair, there are still people I am wishing a Happy New Year for the first time. I think this is socially acceptable until February.

So far 2013 has been a great year. I celebrated my birthday more times than I ever have in the past, including with my parents before returning to Clemson, in downtown Clemson day of, at a surprise party the week later, and at lunch with my co-workers the week after that. Let’s keep the party going!

Surprise Cake! You should wish you had some... yum!
Surprise Cake! You should wish you had some… yum!

 

The one and only

I’ve taken my pseudo-resolution to “dance more” seriously. Thus far, I have made two trips to the Blind Horse Saloon to learn and practice my line dancing – yee haw! (To the right is a very poor picture of the blind horse.) I also have been practicing my moves with my xbox kinect. Let me tell you, it takes a special kind of confidence (or lack of self-consciousness) to try to keep up with the game.
ZeroDarkThirty2012PosterI have seen two movies since returning to Clemson: Zero Dark Thirty and Waiting for Superman. Zero Dark Thirty was good, but for me, Argo was better. The suspense I felt during Argo even though I knew what was going to happen was palpable, and never quite reached that level during ZDT.

Waiting_for_Superman

Waiting for Superman was at once disheartening and inspiring. You cannot watch that movie and walk away feeling like every child in America is getting a fair chance at education. We need change.

My guilty pleasure has been re-watching season one of Gossip Girl. They were all so young! It’s funny to see how similar the characters behaved then and in later episodes. You don’t pick up on it the first time through because you are just meeting them, but it is wholly evident when watching a second time. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

There was a weekend adventure through Great Smoky Mountain National Park (before it flooded) and a weekend non-adventure in the dungeon lab of Lehotsky. The views at Great Smoky Mountain were far superior. This upcoming weekend should provide good fodder for blogging. I also hope to have some exciting job news to announce soon. There’s the short long of it. It’s good to be blogging again.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." John Muir
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” John Muir