Erik Shook

Hello everyone. I'm settling into my Senior year nicely. I thoroughly enjoy all but one of my classes. The odd one out is AP Statistics. But I've got friends with whom I can share our dislike of the class. The aura of negativity of this class is by far overshadowed by the sheer capacity of awesomeness that the other classes provide. A great way to wake up in the morning is with my spanish teacher, Senor Shelly. An energetic teacher who combines the methods of lecture and pure fun perfectly. He's also a great Scholars Bowl coach. Orchestra is great as well. We're playing some great music, the two most difficult pieces are the Concerto for Strings by Ginastera and La Muerte De Los Angeles by Golijov the second movement to the Last Round. My only complaint about our amazing conductor is the bias that has corrupted him like so many other musical program leaders. I am quite convinced a blind audition would have put me ahead of the person directly ahead of me but oh well. Again I have lots of friends with whom I can share complaints. Film Studies is a great class and my only regret is not having taken it earlier. It is a blast. Already we're filming our first short film and this weekend some of us are heading out to Olatha KS for a film competition. One of the by far best classes of all time is HL Biology with Mr. Weigand. What a great person. Though he speaks more politically incorrect words than others, we all accept that because it makes the class that much better. Just to give a better idea here are some examples of the awesome dialogue that he has shared in my class. "You see we need digestion and enzymes because you can't fit a hamburger through a cell wall." Upon failing to find the owner of a small female jacket that had been left in his room he gave it to my buddy stephen who, upon trying on the jacket recieved mr. Weigand's compliment "Sexy, thats what that is." I don't think I've ever laughed more constantly in any other class. He also is very gifted with a frisbee but unfortunately doesn't participate in our actual games. My European History teacher Gary Harden or GH is just plain crazy. He has a million stories and videos to share along with his great interpretations of the history he shares. Last and most definitely not least is Maack. I've known him for these past four years of high school better than any other faculty member. I've shared the highs and lows of ultimate and he has shaped and molded not only my ultimate skills but my character as a whole. And now I get to share literature with him as well in my HL World Lit. class. A subject about which he is just as passionate about as ultimate. Looking forward to a great year. As for college, I'm looking at Tulsa, St. Olaf, Carleton, and I think it was Vermont. Thinking its gonna end up Tulsa though, as i will be able to continue sharing the companionship of a couple of my best buds Stephen and Dan. Also by the way. I've discovered the secret of flight. Though I can only keep myself in the air for a few seconds I can cover quite a distance. You think I'm kidding but come watch some ultimate and you will find that once you've found a passion for something as powerful as I have for Ultimate, even gravity can't hold you down. This isn't me but here's a great video of some pro ultimate players and they are gooood. Observe what I mean about human flight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq3pg0JcJSI

Autumn at the Pasture

We have had such beautiful days in the last couple weeks. I love all the different flowers and grasses at this time of year so as I mowed I decided to take some pictures.

Now the hedge balls are another matter! It seems there should be some sort of "Profit" one could acquire from them but so far we haven't been able to come with anything. So...we continue to pick them up and move them out of the way of the mowers. This year Aunt Vicki got to help with the job!

Our "break down syndrome" still continues and now we have a new mower at the pasture. One of the old ones just completely gave up as I mowed a few weeks ago! (The repair man at Haven was nice enough to come and haul it away.) Of course the new one is supposed to be much faster and more reliable than the old one! Grandpa gave it a trial run yesterday and decided "yes" it really is faster. Hopefully it will be more reliable too.

Grandpa continues rehab at the heart lab and working with the Friends of the Library. My spare time is spent working at the Zoo, the Cosmosphere and helping the Friends of the Library when they are short of help.

Happy Autumn to all.

Love, Grandma & Grandpa

The Point that I Have I'll Get To It

My bike got stolen. That certainly doesn't sum up my experiences since I have gotten back to school, but it has changed things a lot. It was probably a week or two ago (I haven't been counting, I don't pay attention to the days particularly), but I still haven't found a replacement. Although I hadn't thought about it this is now a slight plea for relatives still in the Hutchinson-Wichita area: I am looking for a used road-bike. Nothing fancy or expensive it just needs to be rideable right away.

Places my bike has taken me

The internet is rife with creative writing ideas, and here's a favorite, the six-word story.

This dorm has an ant problem.

I have more room for activities.

I have avoided injury so far.

The writing lab, currently, is dull.

This past week was an odd one for the school, our "5th Annual Symposium on Democracy." For two days we had no classes and instead attended a series of lectures (War: An Inevitable Evil by Brigadier General McFarland, 14 Steps to a Successful Insurgency by Dr. Sean Gourley, Rwanda: A Study on Conflict Genesis and Resolution by Antoine Rutayisire, The Literature of Witness to War and Conflict by Carolyn Forche, and Pragmatic-Idealism by Secretary James Baker) and smaller sessions we could choose from in-between the larger lectures. Dr. Gourley, a statistician/physicist/entrepreneur, had presented before at TED and was a fascinating man with interesting insight into how insurgencies across the world work based on statistical data. A former Rhodes Scholar, when he got fed up with academia he trained for the Olympics before tearing his Achilles. Carolyn Forche's entire presentation was presented as though she were reading a poem, and I attended a second, smaller session after hearing her speak. Secretary Baker was a big deal for the school, but his speech was only okay.

Philosophy and Literature is an excellent class, I spend large (very large!) amounts of my time planted in front of my desk reading texts and writing responses before turning around and focusing my thoughts in my journal. I've begun tying together many of my individual thoughts and seeing a coherent whole emerge for the first time. Some of it is excellent. Philosophy and Literature focuses on the existentialists, the school I identify with the most (gratuitous Nietzsche quote: "Let us strive against one another like gods") and lets me interact with a group of people as interested and at the same level in philosophy as me. This hasn't stopped me from being late to it...

The night before (it was a Wednesday) Justin and I spent a long time discussion why I had to get up at 8 every morning for French when there was a 1-1:50 class I could have taken without interfering with Philosophy and Literature. I just kept repeating I didn't know why but I thought they had interfered with each other, that Philosophy at 2 would have meant overlapping classes. But, it clearly didn't. It didn't make any sense. So the next day I loaded up for class, plugged my earbuds into, cranked some walking music and left for class about 15 minutes early. A pretty normal time it seemed. Coming into to the building I could see Dr. Geenen talking to the class already, I thought it was a little weird but he's usually early. Push open the door, everyone's staring and my usual seat is taken. I hesitate, then yank my earbuds out and repeat, aloud and to myself, "Class starts at 1 doesn't it?" It does. Philosophy is at 1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on MWF at 2 I have Cultural Anthropology...that's why I couldn't take French and Philosophy. Nevertheless I spent the next hour after class discussing parts of the assignment with Dr. Geenen along with several other students--so no harm. Then the next day I was late to a writing lab meeting.

I'm also looking for a small recliner for my room, I have the space for it beside my desk and it would let me move around the room some. Currently I spend many, many hours sitting in my (rolly!) chair in front of my laptop, a change of scene would be nice. Even if it means staring at a poster of John Belushi in a "College" sweater. Justin and I also learned the price of our privacy, it's $40 each. For that price, $20 a semester, our dorm room is the demonstration room for prospective transfer students looking at "Triangle" where we live. We haven't decided yet if my stolen streetsign constitutes something illegal (the admissions department told us they didn't want to see "anything like a keg or bong") if it comes down than my side of the room will be really bare.

Also congratulations for making a splash Hutchinson!

Much of a Muchness

Heartfelt congratulations to everyone! This past round of blogging was completely successful and we have come full circle back to Kurtis and I. Believe it or not, the last post we did was a little over three months ago!!! And, for us, things certainly are changing...

Both of us ended up having a great amount of success at our summer jobs -  

A Few Thoughts from Kurtis on His Summer: Kurtis was feeling a bit overwhelmed by his current job and was unable to give out his own words afterall...so I thought I would go ahead and share with you anyway. He had a great time at PSF, overseeing the shop staff there and helping them produce work on time and efficiently for the first time in 3-4 years. It was such a success that he has already been asked back for next year with a promised position for me if he returns. Still holding out to see what NYC work is going to be like before making any kind of decision on that one.

A Few Thoughts from Mary on Her Summer: Overall, I had a great time with Maine State Music Theatre. I never felt as though people were being overly political, which is rare in any business, and when all was said and done I would be happy to return again next year if it came to that. We produced three shows while I was there - My Fair Lady, Chicago, and Spamalot. It was a surprisingly relaxing summer as I was true to form in any shop that I run and continued to have the shop pump out things ahead of schedule to allow for a bit of a breather in between the craziness of summer stock. Furthermore, Maine was absolutely beautiful, with much less than Kansas heat and the ocean to greet me every now and then! Kurtis surprised me and arrived a day early to spend a few days in Maine before my contract was up with the company and a few connections from this job are already starting to pay off in NYC.

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From Maine, we traveled to upstate New York to visit Gina Holsopple, Matt Wood and Rueby. There were a couple of important reasons for the visit, not the least of which included a promise to both of them to make it up their way and tattoo fun with Matt. We had a wonderfully relaxing time with them in Oswego, NY where they live and were quite happy to have taken the couple of days to make this trip happen as it was only a short detour on our way to the city.

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On August 17, 2010, we drove (that's right, DROVE!) into NYC and Brooklyn!!! This became much less scary as the week progressed and the realization that driving in NYC is about the same as Kansas really just with more cars and a little less patience. We stayed with Dad at the Marriott in Brooklyn for several nights as he was speaking in the city and agreed to hang out with us for a few more days before moving on to his next engagement (that was really fun and made the first several days less scary and homesick). The search for housing began immediately and Kurtis started a job two days later in Brooklyn, but I'll let him tell you about that...

Through PSF, Kurtis was able to meet Ashley, the scenic paint charge, who connected him to a company called JCDP (John Creech Design Production), which is a scene shop devoted to building anything and everything from fashion show runways to Broadway set pieces. He worked with them for about four weeks doing over hire from day 2 in NYC up until this past Monday when they briefly ran out of jobs to be able to keep him on. So, he has now shifted in to the Signature Theatre that is getting ready to put up Angels in America (Parts 1&2) by Tony Kushner. He has been working everyday for anywhere from 10-16 hours at this theatre and thus the incapability to share in this round of blogging...sorry!

This is the view down the street.

The day before Kurtis started work, we set out on the housing search and spent a strong 5 days(mostly me) continuing the search until we found the place that we intend to be living in around November. The good news is that in NYC, there are plenty of housing options - the bad news, there are plenty of housing options! As expensive as it is to rent here, we were prepared for this so we set out with a budget in mind and saw three or four places the first day out. Here's where it gets a bit weird, but I think the story is worth telling... So, the first day, we found a place we liked well enough to put a deposit down - this secures the apartment and takes it off the market so that no one else can potentially swipe it away. Then, your application has to be approved before you have the place. As we waited on the application to be approved(via credit check, bank statements, etc) we found Tim Aumiller's place. This is the place that we are waiting on now - it is an adorable basement apartment at the bottom of a Brownstone in Brooklyn(think, the Cosby home -- minus a few trees). One bedroom, three exits, two outdoors and one up in to the house, laundry that we get to use for free, a dishwasher....all sorts of goodies! 

Street we live on between pizza & chinese place - sideways.

Of course, this put us in a slight pickle as we now needed to get that $1450 deposit back - oh yeah, did I mention that New York is expensive?! So, without a letter of employment turned in for Kurtis yet, we lucked out and after an intense hour of texting(weird, I know), our application was not approved!!!! Hooray!!! First time in my life that I have ever wanted to have something truly fail. Currently, we are residing in a three bedroom, three roommates, apartment that we are subletting for a couple of months as we wait on Tim's place and keep our fingers crossed that everything works out for them. In the meantime, we'll keep trekking away in our little bedroom here at 4417 4th Ave in Brooklyn. (I included a couple of pictures so you could see our neighborhood - two wonderful things about it - we are right beside the subway entrance and in between the Pizza and Chinese place!)

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A couple of questions you might be asking yourself at this point:

*What in the world did you do with your car? 

Door which leads into a hallway and up stairs to 2nd Floor.

After moving the car around in Brooklyn at Sarah and Joe Clark's house for nearly a week, I finally drove the car to Baltimore one evening as Kurtis worked. In Baltimore, Al and Donna Holsopple agreed to keep the car for us there until we figure out when we can drive it back to Kansas :) We had a great evening chatting and catching up and fell so blessed to have such wonderful friends!

*So, Mary, are you just being a lazy bum and letting Kurtis do all the work?

Our bedroom in the 3 bedroom apartment - furnished by the subletter.

Contrary to popular belief, I am still in search of jobs here. Just yesterday I sent out my resume to 2 more companies and a few days ago I had an interview at Starbucks which is to be followed by a second interview! Oh, yeah, and I did get a job working house staff for a Broadway Theatre - more popularly known in the late 70s as a dance club - Studio 54. This one pays pretty little, and is pretty much being a glorified usher for the theatre, but I'm working in a theatre and enjoying being able to watch the show every night! Plus, there are a couple of nifty comp ticket perks that go along with the job. Also, those connections from MSMT I was talking about paying off worked out for me in an Assistant Design Gig for Kurt Alger on a New York Musical Festival (NYMF) in a new show entitled Things As They Are, which is about the photographer Dorothea Lange. In addition, I am working my Mary Kay business and just trying to keep everything sorted out in my head!

*What do you do with  your free time in the city?

Free time in the city is so easy to fill. There is never a lack for things to do here whether you are awake at 2am or have a Saturday available to roam. It turns out that Kurtis has had much less free time, but I have enjoyed lots of activities with him, with Dad, with friends, and in between searching for jobs. We had ice cream under the Brooklyn Bridge, wandered around Prospect Park, went to Farmer's Markets, strolled through the new High Line Park, went shopping down in the Fashion District, saw a few shows here and there, hung out with friends in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island, went to Eataly, got a public library card, rode a boat out to a floating island in between the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, worked the Marc Jacobs fashion show and of course have eaten lots of yummy and delicious food.

*Are you happy to be there?
We are very happy to be here. Despite missing family and missing out on a few important things, we can't imagine living any where else right now as we are starting to see some of our career dreams come to fruition because of being in the city. It still makes me happy just to surface from the subway in to the middle of Times Square or to see the Statue of Liberty on the train ride home at night.

View of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Staten Island Ferry - this is the connector from Brooklyn to Manhattan and one of my favorite sites right now in the city.

P.S. After this entire blog was posted a few wonderful things happened that I wanted to share with all of you:

1) I received an interview and job in a millinery shop in the city(camhats.com)!!! It is part-time most weeks, though fairly flexible and I will be learning how to make hats completely from scratch - felt, straw, and buckram - lots of pictures to follow on this I'm sure!!! This is the kind of job I have been searching for. I also received a call from Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) and will be working on a few projects for them. This brings me up to 5 jobs - Assistant Designer for NYMF show(done soon), MTC, Studio 54, Mary Kay and CamHats(millinery)!!! So exciting!!!!!

2) I literally just received the call from Tim Aumiller saying that they were approved for their mortgage and will be officially moving out of their place which will then become our place in time for us to have a November 1st move in date!!!!!!!! We have a home where we will be able to put our things at last!!!

Hope you are all able to focus in on the positive things in your lives too - thanks for keeping up in your thoughts and prayers as we embark on this new journey here!