Hippie Fashion

The IEL Fashion Show is an educational and charitable event designed to support student success in the workplace. Faculty members model how not to dress during a job interview, while students model effective interview attire. In any case, all models walk the runway in true fashion-show style. At the end of the event, students are allowed to "shop" for free interview clothes that have been donated by the community. This is a super fun, worthwhile event. 

For my part, I dressed as a hippie, complete with a buckskin, beaded jacket with fringe, a tie-dye bandanna, and a silver peace medallion. This is one of the few professional events that allow me to free my hair.

One of my students asked me after the show, "Were you a hippie in real life? You seemed like a natural." I answered that I was a child in the 70s, so maybe that served as my source of inspiration. 

I was so cool that the SCC Bigfoot mascot asked to pose with me for a picture! LOL. 

 

In honor of my temporary hippie fashion, I shaved my face in foo-manchoo style. Unfortunately, my beard was not dark enough, but I was able to darken it with mascara. Funny thing was that more than a few students complimented my "new look" and suggested that I actually keep the foo-manchoo. "No thanks!" I said. No hesitation there!

What a great event! I had a blast being a hippie for a day. 

My Crazy Family

My brother and his family came back to the States for the first time in several years. 

During their visit, we had a barbecue and a couple dinners at my sister's house. Most of the time, I left my camera sitting on the table, and I really only took a handful of pictures. Of course, I've been so busy, that I never downloaded the pictures until long after my brother went back to Europe.   

So, I finally downloaded the pictures yesterday, and I discovered that everyone took a crazy self-portrait. It's funny too, because they all succeeded in doing this without my knowledge.  

Now I'm wondering what kind of conversations they had when I wasn't listening. They must have thought it was terribly funny, and they probably even laughed when they pictured my reaction. And of course it is funny, especially since I am the blogger of the family, and they must have known that their crazy mug shots would be posted on the world wide web for all to see. 

;)

To my family, I say when you see this, remember that I love you. These pictures really did make me smile. It was wonderful to see you and to be together again as a family. 

Karaoke

The Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication was a powerful and transformative experience, but sometimes my head hurt from all the deep thinking. Fortunately, SIIC also gave us an opportunity to laugh and have fun. On Thursday, we all gathered for a night of dancing and karaoke. I would have been happy to just socialize and observe, but Pamm and I got pulled into singing a positively awful rendition of Love Shack by the B52s. By the way, this picture shows me straining to hit the high notes of the song (I had no idea the notes were so high until I actually had to sing them in public).Thank goodness no one seemed to mind the musical quality of our performance. Everyone danced like it was the best song they ever heard.

Salish Karaoke

The Salish Karaoke Contest was one of the highlights of the 2011 Celebrating Salish Conference convened at the Northern Quest Casino and Hotel. 

Of course, now that it's done, I can look back and say how exciting and wonderful it was to sing before an audience of 350 people, but at the time, I was a nervous wreck. For my part, I sang "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley. The song did not translate easily into Salish, so I re-branded the song with new lyrics: kʷi swinum̓ti, kʷin x̣menč (you are my beauty, you are my love). I can honestly say this was not my finest vocal performance, but I earned a few cheers and a 4th place prize of $90. Those who placed higher absolutely deserved their winnings.

Everyone gave a phenomenal performance. 

A video of my song and several other photographs appear below:

I translated the lyrics as follows:

kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
ta nem x̣ʷelncn.
qʷamqʷmt x̣est łu in x̣ʷlx̣ʷilt
nełi kʷin x̣menč.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nem unexʷ łu i sqeys.
čnunxʷene l' anwi,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.


tl' qsipi, kʷin x̣menč,
x̣ʷl a snx̣pew's.
tl' nišut tl' i spuʔus,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nem unexʷ łu i sqeys.
čnunxʷene l' anwi,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nk'ʷuʔ łu qe spuʔus.
mił čyec lemti x̣ʷl anwi,
nem qe kʷntwexʷ.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nem unexʷ łu i sqeys.
čnunxʷene l' anwi,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.

It is easy to become discouraged when we consider the potential extinction of our Salish languages, but this conference renewed my faith in the future. In particular, the karaoke contest helped us all embrace the language in a way that was light-hearted and fun. I am proud of everyone who put themselves out there in support of the language.  

Silverwood

Whitney got a free ticket to Silverwood for completing a special reading program at school. I don't remember the specifics, but she had to read so many minutes per day and keep a log that was signed by either parent. Dakota and McKenna had the opportunity to earn a ticket as well, but they did not complete the program. Summer came to an end, and Whitney was the only one of our children to go. Dakota was a little jealous of his sister, but there's something to be said for natural consequences.



We gave Whitney the opportunity to choose one parent to go with her, and she chose me. In this picture, we're riding to the top of the Timber Terror roller coaster. We have not yet made the first plunge, but Whitney looks on with trepidation and clutches my arm.



We had lunch in the main restaurant and got this picture of ourselves in a giant mirror.



Whitney modeled the consequence of standing up on the Tremors roller coaster.



The Aftershock is a new "high intensity" attraction that drops straight down and then twists all around. I begged Whitney to ride with me, but she refused. It was actually kind of cute how she said it. "I'm not ready for that ride," she said, "Next year, I promise."



Whitney riding the Log Flume.



Whitney holding the sun.



Waiting in line.



What a fun day. It was a memorable experience for both of us.