So I am working as a stage manager for the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts as my assistantship. I got to meet Emmylou Harris and be her security guard. It's well worth it for the free tuition. On Sunday, I worked the Dan Zanes event. Dan Zanes is the bluegrass equivalent to Raffi but with Andy Warhol hair. It was basically little kids and their parents dancing around like mad. We were all hoping for a is year old to stage dive and/or start a mosh pit to no avail. He likes to have guest artists perform with them. The highlight of the concert was when Papa Goose did some hip-hop/reggae versions of children's songs. Think, "Come on, mon. Put your hands in the air fo ole' MacDonald.....Raise the roof fo Humpty Dumpty!"

I noticed another trait among Midwesterners. Having spent most of my life in Boston, you tend to keep communication with strangers to the point as possible, nothing more. In Baltimore, when people you hardly know ask you how you're doing, you feel obliged to answer them. Back home, it was at most times, a longer but more polite way of saying hi with little or no expectation of an answer. In Baltimore, just a hi back would get dirty looks. Here in Urbana, they create an environment where it feels effortless to answer back or to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger with no other reason than to pass time. Asking for directions or purchasing groceries could flow easily into banter. I've been handling this change much better than I thought I would.