We are living museums.

Hello again. I'm not sure how long today's entry will be, but I might as well jump in. Today marked the final on-campus interview for our four RC candidates and we will be tasked with narrowing this list down to two of these candidates to receive the actual job offer next week. Since we have seen all candidates in person, the rest of the staff and I have been doing some comparisons in our head, although I appreciate that we do have some time to mull the past two weeks over. With that said, I should keep my lips sealed... and fingers... paused.

I wasn't the host for today's candidate, although I did drive the candidate back to the airport after our interviews were all said and done. I appreciate that the other RCs and I get to spend some time with the candidates that isn't a formal setting, whether it's lunch, on the road, or during the in-between times. I remember that during the down time in my own interview day, I taught some of the RCs how to play speed scrabble.

TC

Two RCs took a big group of students out to Mozingo for the senior trip, so the building felt pretty quiet, especially for it being a Friday night. Once I got back from the airport, I ordered some dinner with another RC and ate it at the desk with her and I spent the rest of the night either at the desk or in my apartment with a couple of the guys playing computer/video games. They definitely like to keep something digital at their fingertips.

TC

I did meet with the Dean today to discuss the Graduation Banquet next week, since I volunteered to create the visual aids for the night's events. I took this on last year, so I was able to use a lot of my old work to save some time (especially on the section introducing each staff member, since we only had one new person this year). One piece starts out as a student-created presentation that was shown at Wednesday's SAD Banquet. Even though I only saw pieces of that PowerPoint presentation, I was amused because after seeing two or three slides, I thought "Dr. Cleo will want to change this, this, and this". Sure enough, when I met with Dr. Cleo today, the changes he wanted to see happen included the items I already identified on Wednesday. At this point, I just need to sit down at the computer and work on these presentations, so with luck, I can sink some time into them tomorrow.

TC

Today's holiday was Heat Awareness Day. As I've said before, our building loves to hold onto heat, so since it was a nice day outside, we had several students create wind tunnels in the hallway by having windows open and creating currents that would go from one room to another. Since I remember the sticky feelings of summer, I think I've been subconsciously wanting to hold it off by keeping my apartment cooler. In my defense, it also helps keep some air moving, which keeps my apartment from feeling stale.

TC

You know, as human beings, we are living museums that preserve and can showcase our upbringing. While I was driving the candidate back to the airport, the subject of winter weather in Missouri came up and I had to preface it with "just remember that you're asking someone who grew up in Minnesota". Even though I haven't had a full Minnesota winter in four years, I think of snow fall in terms of how it related to my childhood. I think that years from now, if there is a year where it snows on Halloween, there will be some part of me that will just shrug it off because I've had Halloween costumes that fit around jackets and snow pants in the past. (Well, unless my future self lives in Arizona or Florida or something like that.)

I do plan to stay at the Missouri Academy for at least another school year, but I have thought about what my next step would be. One of my top choices would be to move back to Minnesota and then I think about how my experiences in Missouri would rub off of me, even after moving back to my home state. I've come to appreciate southwest sauce, sweet potato fries, Sonic's Drive-Ins and HyVees... although not all at the same time. My perceptions of both the Bible Belt and Tornado Alley have both changed after working with families from those actual areas. Even while being a small school, I've definitely regained pride in "the ol' hometown football team".

Of course, there are still pieces of my Minnesota upbringing that come across in how I hold myself. I still compare the weather to how I would expect it to be in my hometown or Minneapolis. I do look forward to seeing hockey games more regularly. Fortunately, I've never been really singled out as having the Scandinavian accent. In fact, the RC from Wisconsin that worked with me for three years was poked fun at for "being Canadian" even though my hometown is only 1-1/2 hrs* south of the Canadian border. In that instance, I say that my four years of schooling in Minneapolis helped me achieve the "Midwest neutral".

* So, there was at least one point where I thought it was a Minnesota/Wisconsin thing to measure a trip by the time it would take. Any experiences with that being a MN/WI thing? Midwest thing?

On a more sentimental level, we are also living museums because we will reflect the people that have made an impact on our lives - whether that's family, friends, teachers, co-workers, etc. There are RCs that seem to take on certain characteristics of old RCs after they left to pursue other jobs. There are times when I feel like I'm channeling college friends by what I say and how I act. (It has been amplified to a satirical level, but at the same time, I had a friend who liked to over-react to much of life.)

This topic is definitely half-thought out, so I'd appreciate what other people have to say on the matter. Do you agree/disagree? Other examples of ways you may feel like a living museum?

TC

Well, time for bed is near again. Even though there aren't any on-campus interviews, today will be a long day. The students may start preparing for tests and finals, but since it is a three-day weekend with Memorial Day, some students may just take tomorrow to have lots of fun. Either way, it'll be a good day. I have a good feeling. DFTBA.