Bullet-points and notes on a friend

I'm currently on a 45 minute flight to

Milwaukee where I'll connect to a DC flight, and the sun is coming up:

So I thought it couldn't hurt to update the blog. A few thoughts:

1. Yesterday was my second day in the office in five weeks. It was more exhausting than I remember (it was also a visit day). This will be an adjustment in a week when the bulk of travel season is over. It turns out 8 straight hours of talking to people and being "on" is draining. Yet strangely addictive...

2. This morning I left the house at 5:30 am for a 6:50 am flight. Hooooboy, that was early. I doubt my half-asleep Matthew remembers driving me to the airport. He did manage to hug me and hand me a Luna bar, though. What a sweet one.

3. I'm going to DC today until Thursday. Months ago when I booked this flight to arrive a day early, my plan was simple: leave time for the National Museum of American History. When the shutdown happened, I hoped on a daily basis for the dummies in DC to come to an agreement to benefit us all. And duh, so I could visit the Smithsonian for the first time in 14 years. 

4. THE SMITHSONIAN deserves its own bullet-point. This place is where, as a 7-year-old visiting for the first time, I fell in love with American history. Because there, you can see it in front of you. I loved seeing objects, artifacts, and clothing from actual historical figures and events. I decided a dream job would be to work there as a grown-up. I'm not quite there yet... but who knows. I'm only 27. I did, however, keep that fascination alive when I went to college and discovered the major of American Studies. Reading about and analyzing not just events and dates but "dense facts" of what people and objects tell us...(a larger story for another post)...it led me to a larger awareness of this country, its culture, and my place in it. 

And notes on a friend:

Needless to say, I'll be thinking a lot about my dear professor, mentor, and friend Jim Farrell on this trip. As a first-year attending info sessions about different majors, I stumbled into Jim's presentation about American Studies. After talking with him, I was hooked. I went on to not only declare the major, but take four classes with Jim and work with him as my adviser and faculty supervisor for my independent research project. To say Jim's teaching style left an impact on my life forever is putting it mildly. He taught me how to learn. How to consider perspectives beyond what was in front of me. How to question everything but also to be present and content with simple things. I think about Jim almost daily, and most of the time on accident: when talking to students, when coming across an article I want to send to him, and wondering what he would have said about the mess in Washington. Jim passed away this summer after battling leukemia, and I still don't believe it. He should be in his book-filled office, walking the campus sidewalks with his signature long stride, discussing politics and sustainability and television and college culture with his students and colleagues. I'm not alone in thinking this - he is deeply missed on campus and by the thousands of students he taught. 

But what a wonderful legacy.