26 May, 2017

MN Mondays #13: St. Christophers

We were unloading from the bus at one church or
another and one of the basses snapped this.
#youngandthin
In 2000, Jacob became the music director at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Roseville, his first gig in MN though he had years of experience in WI.

We had agree that it was absolutely not a good idea for me to sing in his choir.  Too many opportunities for things to get uncomfortable and dysfunctional.  So I was going to look for a section leader position someplace and he'd run his choir.

Then he came home from his first choir rehearsal.  "I have one man.  I need you to sing."  And so I have been ever since.  :)

St. Christopher's was the first community we joined "together."  And it was a special place for us.  We met some folks who have been our close friends ever since.  We made some great music and did some really fun things.  Like singing monthly Compline services at the (haunted) mausoleum in Northeast Minneapolis.  Or doing Halloween Organ Crawls around to churches in the Twin Cities as fundraisers.  Or doing creepy Good Friday Tenebrae services.

But the biggest and most special thing we did together was to take the choir to England in 2008.  The whole group planned and fundraised for over a year.  We recorded audition materials were accepted to sing in several places.

We landed in London and went straight to Coventry where we sang a joint evensong with the parish church choir right next to the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral.
We were supposed to sing evensong at Yorkminster but there was the unfortunate event of a tourist dying whilst climbing the tower... So we ended up offering up some songs including Beautiful Savior by F. Melius Christiansen (of course) after a said Evening Prayer service.  (We were mobbed after that by some weeping Minnesotans who went to St. Olaf College and just happened to be there on vacation...  Of course...)
We sang in the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral right below the "diving Barbie" statue of Mary.
We sand in Durham Cathedral after having to walk up from the bottom of the hill because the bus couldn't navigate the tiny streets.
Ripon Cathedral...
Touring Windsor Castle...
All Saints Margaret Street...
Seeing Westminster and Kings College Cambridge...
And on and on.

It was a wonderful trip and I know Jacob and I are dying to go back.  So, hopefully this is a case of a memory to be revisited.

08 May, 2017

MN Monday #12: Wheelock Woods

When we left Blair House in 2009, it was to go to Wheelock Woods.  It is a wonderful 1962 mid-century modern gem of a place.  We worked on it from 4 years and I think we stayed really true to its roots and its bones. But it is a lot of house and, at the time, all the major house systems were reaching the end of their original life expectancy.  In many ways, it had been a stretch to own, but it was a dreamy house.  An "up north cabin" in the heart of the Twin Cities, a tree house firmly attached to the ground.  We were lucky to have it for a time but the time came to let it go.

So our friend Roberta came and took some wonderful pictures of the place for us and I stitched together a little video when we put it on the market.  Enjoy!  (And blow it up to full screen, for crying out loud...)



02 May, 2017

MN Monday #11: A Carleton Knight

After only few years working at the Y, I knew I needed to get back into academia.  It really is the only thing I'm good for.  How to do that was another question entirely.

With a masters degree, it is absolutely possible to teach at a two-year college and that was my first route.  I've loved teaching ever since I was a undergrad TA and tutor in the Physics department back at NCSU and given their emphasis on teaching (as opposed to research) I thought that a 2YC would be perfect.  Turns out I'm not the only one.

Even in a region with a bunch of two-year public schools, there aren't that many full-time geoscience positions.  Go figure.  Most institutions have 1 FT geo faculty if they have any at all.  The big flagship 2YC nearest me had three (!!!).  And people who land those positions stay in them until they die, which I can't blame them for one little bit.  On top of that, the number of faculty positions at four-year institutions has been dropping as these universities turn more and more toward (slave-wage) adjuncts.  So a big portion of the shiny new PhDs entering the market are also looking for a position and many of them are choosing (?) the 2YC route as well.  2YCs with a pool fool of PhDs and MSs would be crazy not to pick the PhDs, all things being equal.

So I stayed longer at the Y that I would have otherwise.

I'd been concentrating my search in the seven-county metro area of the Twin Cities.  We weren't going to be moving anywhere.  We had a house and Jacob had a job of his own.

But one weekend in the spring of 2003, I was doing a run-out concert with the Gregorian Singers at Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault, MN.  It's a private, Episcopal prep school in rural MN where the scions of diplomats and foreign dignitaries have taken their prep schooling.  It's also a fair New World imitation of Hogwarts.  No lie.  It's all lovely and charming and I get to thinking on the hour+ drive down and back that driving from one side of the Metro to the other would take longer in rush hour than driving to some spot out here in the countryside.

When I got back to my computer that night I broadened my search parameters for institutions a little further out.  Turns out there are some.  Gustavus Adolphus, Winona State, St. Olaf, Carleton...  Hold on, what's this?  On the Carleton website, there was a job posting for someone with a geoscience degree (only a BS required!), an interest in education, strong office and communication skills, website building experience.  This was awesome!  A position almost tailor-made for me.  I got my application materials put together and sent them in as fast as I could.

I was thrilled when I got a call to come interview with this little office named the Science Education Resource Center (SERC).  I showed up in my best (only) suit and was greeted by one person in shorts and t-shirt and two others in casual summer academic clothes.  I knew that this was going to be a good place to work.  And really it has been.

This fall I hit 14 years at SERC.  It's hard to believe, really.  I've met so many amazing people doing wonderful things in their classrooms to connect with their students.  I've learned so much.  As of the end of last year, I've supported or run 50 faculty professional development workshops, presented 26 talks or posters at professional meetings, developed a score of websites for projects, and so many other things that have shaped me as much as or more than they shaped anyone else.  I work with great people who really, deep down, hope to change the world.  Save the world, with our work.  On the best days, it's truly inspiring to do this work.  On the bad days, it's just as crappy as anyone else's job, have no fear.  :)  But the average happiness is very high.