The BEAR on campus today...

Weirdest text from campus alert service ever: "Black bear reportedly sighted on campus near north King and High Street. Please use caution."

Follow-up message a little while later: "Bear last seen going into the wood behind the Clarion Hotel. If bears are seen avoid contact move to a safe place and report by calling 911."

Here's a picture, courtesy of Shepherd's Facebook page. Apparently someone in Admissions snapped it.

Happy birthday, Walt (a bit early)!

Walt Whitman's birthday is tomorrow. (It's also my parents' anniversary, so two events that were deeply formative for me happened on May 31.) Anyway, check out this terrific response to a truly complicated situation. I love Walt so much, but yeah, he had some pretty deplorable ideas. How do we deal with that complicated legacy? Click the link!
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/05/30/quote-for-the-day-ii-69/

Picture it...

Here's a crazy image from yesterday that would be sure to entertain (or scare!) anyone driving by my house yesterday: Me, in gym shorts, a ratty t-shirt, and a sweaty baseball hat (lovely, right?), listening to my iPod, pushing a lawnmower, and singing along to "Rainbow High" from Evita. That's some juxtaposition of glamor and well, the opposite of glamor. If you don't know the song, you can give it a listen here. (The link is from the Elena Rodger version, which I saw on Broadway last summer. My preferred version, of course, and the one I was singing along to, is the Patti LuPone version, but I couldn't find a decent youtube version.)

Most of the time, I listen to podcasts when I mow the lawn, but I felt like music yesterday. This is probably not the best decision for my public image (which matters so very much to me!), though, as I find that I can't help but sing along and even kind of dance when I do so. The mower becomes a reluctant dance partner.

Again, what an image!

Krista's Baptism

Previously.tv and Rectify

After a long wait, the folks behind Extra Hot Great, one of my all-time favorite podcasts, and, (before that, one of my favorite websites) have started up their new venture: previously.tv. And it's pretty amazing--tons of great writing about television. Even though the site just launched on Monday, they've been collecting writing for some time. Explore a bit and you'll see some great pieces from earlier this year. Check out, for instance, this lovely piece about Andy on Parks and Recreation, written back in February. Or this one on Chummy from Call the Midwife. Both are parts of a "Characters We Love" series.

Which leads me to my next point: you all need to be watching Rectify. What an amazing show. So much is said through gestures, single images, the way a scene is laid out. The people behind this show get everything right. And of course, previously.tv has some smart writing on it. I just finished watching the episode that first aired a week ago and it blew me away, especially the last scene. Sarah D. Bunting says it best: "Don't let the pace fool you; Rectify is the unlaziest storytelling on TV right now."

So close...

I was less than ten minutes away from having the lawn completely mowed and the skies opened. I had to stop. Now there's this weird patch on the side lawn that will have to wait until tomorrow. It's driving me crazy (you know, "perfectionist, type-A personality" me).

Making matters worse, I pretty much waited all day until the skies looked clear and the radar on weather.com looked clear to get started. The best laid plans of mice and men...

So add one item to tomorrow's to-do list: finish that weirdly shaped patch of grass.