Off Topic: Fairview School

Several of my students and ASU colleagues just performed this past week for an event at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and I too was in California this past week; I just got back from a brief family trip to San Diego and the Los Angeles area. Sea World was fun as always, and among other sights I very much enjoyed the model railroad museum and briefly visiting an elderly relative in Riverside.

These past few weeks I have been able to experience quite a cross section of the United States. This photo is actually the location perhaps furthest removed from southern California that I visited; it is my mother standing in front of the rural country school she attended for the first to eight grades. Yes, an honest to God one room school, the Fairview school near Howard, Kansas. Her mother and grandmother went there too. I recall going inside as a youngster with my Grandparents for a card party–in the period that it was the Grange Hall. That whole midwestern work ethic that came from my parents and grandparents experiencing rural life in the 1930s is a part of what motivates me to this day I am sure.

I always find seeing differet parts of the country interesting. We in the middle of the country get used to building codes and zoning that require good-sized parking lots with plenty of spaces. Much of California is built to different standards; the natives seem used to them. And the roads there! There were many spots where they were so rough I thought I was having a flat tire. But I suspect the natives hardly notice, it just seems normal to bump along like that, just as to the Kansan the vast, wide open spaces seem completely normal. Talking to friends, sure, the California weather is great, but I wonder how they can afford to live there. I am happy to be able to live and work in Arizona. For anyone who thinks Arizona is too hot, our weather is great about nine months of the year! Think about that when you are freezing to death in a snow storm up north in the middle of the winter.

In terms of horn for me this travel was a great break and a great time to sort out some thoughts on a large writing project that I have underway. On to the summer!