For The Inauguration (Jan 21)

• Happy Inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
• Going into today, I was a bit annoyed. We didn't have kids at the center today, we just had a meeting and then had to attend some of the MLK events on campus. Normally, I wouldn't be too bothered by this. But, seeing as today was also Inauguration Day, I was EXTREMELY disappointed that I didn't even have the option of trying to go to DC for the weekend (I mean, I guess I could have taken the day off, but I missed the last PD day and also would have had to make-up the training hours on my own). Plus, Laura Meyer went with the Michigan (U of M) Democrats group so I was super jealous of her - I think she's going to bring me a t-shirt though :D So I wasn't in the greatest of moods about my professional duties today. But, after our morning meeting, my boss told us that we'd only have to do 2 hours of lecture in the afternoon, instead of three - woo! A lot of the events were 2 hours long and overlapped time-wise, so trying to get 3 hours in without staying into the evening wasn't working very well. I was planning to stay in AA the whole day anyway, because of the lectures I was interested in seeing (they were later in the day) and because I had my dance class tonight. But this change allowed me to hang out with friends almost the whole day! After our meeting, we all walked to the keynote speech together. Then, after the speech, I met up with Mandy, Becky, Ethan, Sarah, and Michelle :) We ate at Panera (woo having a gift card!), hung out there for a while, and then wandered into Caravan, a store on Nichels Arcade. After that, Mandy, Sarah, Michelle and I went to Wesley to study (for me, work on WAY stuff) until the next lecture we wanted to see. When it was time, we walked to the Union and then to the grad library - because the lecture was full and we had to watch it via remote streaming - for the lecture. Later, Mandy and I went back to Wesley and talked about hospitality towards new students at church with Sarah and Becky before heading to her place for dinner. After that, I went to my dance class and had a great time - the choreography that Jayme is teaching is fun and challenging and I really feel like I'm getting it. Then after dance, I went to Meijer (I love being there when hardly anyone else is :)) and came home to watch: President Obama's 2nd Inaugural Speech and his introduction of Michelle and their dance at the Commander-In-Chief ball...the first made me tear up and the 2nd made my heart melt. I loved them both. Very happy to have those two leading our country :)
• I did learn a few things at the lectures I attended today. First, I learned a lot about prison abolition. This is a movement within our country to get rid of the prison system and work solely with restorative justice. The speaker, Dr. Angela Davis, was amazing and it was great to listen to her. I had just never heard of this kind of movement/policy before. Second, post-lecture Q&A sessions are a big gamble. They can be great, but they can also bring forward a lot of self-righteous people and get totally off-topic. Third, I learned a great poem about not smoking from the keynote speaker, Morris Dees. He spoke about many good things but one memorable one was the anti-smoking poem he recited that he was taught as a child by his most influential teacher. If I ever find a video, I'll post it here :) Fourth, I would love to move forward in my profession such that I'm asked to give a lecture as an expert in my field at some kind of special event. That would just be very cool. Lastly, (this isn't really something I learned...) I had a great time acting the part of a U of M student today. I hung out with my U of M friends, attended lectures, walked to and from said lectures in the bitter cold and snow, studied at Wesley, hung out around central campus. It was really fun and a pretty unique experience :)