cool american history

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

A friend of mine from camp came to visit me last weekend. It was such a blessing to have her come out. This was her major vacation for the year - as well as mine even though I wasn't traveling anywhere. We had all kinds of fun. I saw a lot of new things during her trip. Some of the highlights include meeting up with her brother who also happened to be in Boston for work. We ate at Legal Seafoods which is pretty good as far as seafood goes. We saw the Boston Public Gardens which I really enjoyed - very beautiful! We also took a Duck boat tour - which was a first for me. I am going to go again when my mom and aunt come to town - I think they will really love the ducks. You get to see quite a bit- even if they don't go in the north end... Dana and I also did some of my old favorites - the USS constitution (where she got her picture taken with an actual sailor - who was pretty excited that such a beautiful girl wanted a picture with him...), Gloucester, and Rockport.

Dana and I spent a day in Concord, MA. Concord was somewhere I had wanted to visit since moving out here and was just waiting for someone to go with me. It is the hometown of some of the greatest American thinkers ever. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lousia May Alcott (Little Women), Henry David Thoreau (Walden), Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) all lived in this small town. Not to mention the guy who sculpted the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial - who was mentored by May Alcott (Lousia's little sister - Amy in the book/movie.) The world gets even smaller: the Alcott's were active in the underground railroad and at one point had Harriet Tubman in their home! HARRIET TUBMAN! The home I am referring to is Orchard House, made famous by Little Women. Not only that, the man who lived in Orchard House after the Alcotts taught a young girl who was legally blind who later went on to teach Helen Keller - Anne Sullivan!

I need to take a breath. Whew!

So, while in Concord we went to Orchard House, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and Walden Pond! The Walden Pond of Thoreau fame. However, that was a bit of a letdown since it was pretty hot that day and so a lot of people where there swimming. I was expecting Walden to be a bit more like one of the lakes that someone has to portage to in Northern Minnesota. I suppose in Thoreau's time it was a little more peaceful.

Monday morning, before Dana left - I took her and my friend Jua to Ocean Lawn. It is part of the Coolidge (as in President Calvin Coolidge) reservation. It is a beautiful rocky shoreline with great views of the ocean. It was a great way to end Dana's New England vacation... I think.

Most of my friends are home, but will soon be returning for the new semester. I don't actually start class until after Labor Day - which is nice. Tomorrow is my last day at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity - for real this time. I am actually working for a couple of hours before I am off to the airport once again. This time to pick up my USF friend Kim who is moving to Boston for graduate school. She will actually live in Boston though - unlike me.

One last story and then the slideshow of pictures.

A couple of days ago I took my friend Jua to the RMV (think DMV) so she could take a test to get her driving permit. Jua is Korean by the way. That is why she doesn't have her license. Anyway... So I brought my large Introduction to the New Testament book - trying to finish my New Testament semlink before the fall semester starts... Anyway, I'm sitting there reading my large book and I look up and there is a HUGE camera pointed directly at me. Not kidding! I was a little shocked - not entirely shocked because when I was in NYC a little kid kept taking pictures of me on the Staten Island Ferry. Apparently I'm photogenic (haha.) Anyway, he explained that he was a reporter doing a story on the RMV staying in downtown Beverly. I thought it was funny that he would take a picture of me - since I wasn't there to take a test nor did I really care about the story. Well, I checked the other day to see if I was famous - and he didn't use my picture. He must have thought I didn't represent the "average" RMV patron. So, I was almost famous.

Good luck to all those who are in a transition to school mode. Whether you are starting a new school, returning as a student or even a teacher or dealing with the absence of a student from home.