2015-2016 Student Body Officers & Class Officers

This year I am working with the Class Officers as well as the Student Body Officers and I am loving every minute of it!  Here are some of the pictures taken by my friend Lesa at the International Peace Gardens a few weeks ago.

SBOs & Class Officers

Student Body Officers

Senior Class Officers

Junior Class Officers

Student Body Officers

Senior Class Officers

Junior Class Officers

SBOs & Class Officers

Being the student government adviser is a lot of work (we are in the middle of Homecoming and I just now picked up $343.00 worth of curly willow from a wholesale florist because my group wants to turn the dance floor into a forest and don't even get me started on the pinata) but it is also so much fun!  They make me laugh every single day!

2014-2015

2013-2014

Labor Day Weekend 2015

Labor Day weekend is generally considered to be the end of summer and I, for one, am glad to see the end of it!  I spent the long weekend with my Mom, Dad, and sister at our favorite KOA in Fillmore and I saw signs of fall all around.  The afternoons had a golden glow, some of the leaves were starting to turn, and the nights were quite cold (observe below)!  

It was absolutely lovely to relax for a few days before my life gets crazy (it is Homecoming next weekend and I am moving the following weekend).  Even though I will be really busy for the next little while, I am really looking forward to fall, my favorite season, for lots of reasons.

Taylor Swift at Energy Solutions Arena

I started this summer with a U2 concert in Denver and I ended it with a Taylor Swift concert last night at the Energy Solutions Arena.  Not too shabby!  I will tell you right now that this ticket was ridiculously expensive and I can't even justify the expense, like I could for Paul McCartney, because I am a relatively new fan.  My only excuse is that I love the Red album and I seriously regret not seeing that tour when it came through SLC so, in a fit of madness, I bought a ticket for the 1989 tour.  I am certainly glad that I did because the show was spectacular!  Worth every single penny!  It included pyrotechnics, backup dancers with intricate choreography, multiple wardrobe changes, a runway (which eventually elevated Taylor high above the crowd), and bracelets which lit up in sync with each song for everyone in the crowd.  The setlist included "Welcome to New York," "New Romantics," "Blank Space," a sultry version of "I Knew You Were Trouble," "I Wish You Would," "How You Get the Girl," "I Know Places," an acoustic version of "You Belong With Me," "Clean," "Love Story," "Style," "Bad Blood," a rock and roll version of "We Are Never Getting Back Together," "Enchanted/Wildest Dreams," and "Out of the Woods."  For the encore, she played "Shake It Off" which turned the ESA into a huge dance party!  My favorite moments of the evening were her light-up dress and the light-up umbrellas used by her dancers for "How You Get the Girl," her performance of "I Know Places," which is my favorite song on 1989, and her bad ass performance of "We Are Never Getting Back Together," complete with black leather catsuit and electric guitar.  I also really loved all of her inspirational messages throughout the show, especially when she said that you are not the opinion of someone who doesn't know you.  Preach it, girl!  Taylor Swift is an incredible performer and she definitely knows how to work a crowd.  She always seemed to know where the cameras were and would frequently flash a look that whipped the crowd into a frenzy!  I sang every single word and I think the woman my age sitting next to me (who was only there because her young daughter was in the crowd with her friends) thought I was crazy.  I don't care because I had such a great time and it is a night that I won't forget any time soon!  Like I said, worth every penny!

Note:  Many of my students, especially my officers, were really jealous that I was going to this concert.  When I was in high school, I couldn't imagine any of my teachers doing anything this cool!

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

On Sunday night my weekend film trifecta was complete when I saw The Diary of a Teenage Girl.  In my opinion, seeing three movies in three nights is a perfect way to spend your time!  I saw Diary of a Teenage Girl at Sundance this year but I wanted to see it again because it is incredibly powerful with an astonishing performance by Bel Powley.  Minnie Goetze (Powley) is a typical teenager who enjoys drawing comics and lives in San Francisco during the late 1970s.  Her mother Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) is a party girl and leaves her to her own devices most of the time and her father is not in her life.  One evening, as she is roughhousing with her mother's boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard), she inadvertently gets him aroused and feels a tremendous sense of power by her ability to excite him.  She then pursues him and loses her virginity to him.  They have an on-again off-again affair because Monroe knows what they are doing is wrong but can't seem to help himself.  Minnie really enjoys her new-found sexuality and begins a relationship with a boy at school and even pretends to be a prostitute to make Monroe jealous.  When she receives a response to a fan letter from Aline Kominsky encouraging her to continue drawing comics, she realizes that she has more to offer than just her body and says goodbye to Monroe.  I love so many things about this movie!  Minnie narrates the story into a tape recorder as an audio diary so we hear everything from her perspective, including all of her teenage delusions about love, her insecurities, and her inconsistencies.  I love that no one rescues Minnie from her behavior.  She sees for herself that she is not emotionally ready for a sexual relationship and that Monroe is weak and not worthy of her.  Powley, who is in every scene, is absolutely brilliant as Minnie and her portrayal is real and honest.  I loved the 1970s rock and roll soundtrack and the art direction is fabulous (her house has a sort of Wes Anderson vibe to it).  Some people may object to the subject matter (there is a lot of sex and nudity in this movie) but Minnie's journey is ultimately so empowering, especially for girls, that I would highly recommend it.

Meru

While waiting in line for screenings at Sundance I had some amazing conversations about independent film with people from all over the country.  Inevitably, I would ask them about their favorite films from the festival and, more often than not, people would mention Meru.  I didn't know anything about this documentary but when I saw a trailer for it a few weeks ago, I immediately remembered these conversations and decided that I needed to see it.  As I mentioned, I tried to see it last Friday but it sold out all day because Jimmy Chin, one of the filmmakers, was giving a Q&A after each screening.  (Now that I've seen the film, I'm a little bummed that I missed hearing him talk about it).  I tried again on Saturday night and, I'm happy to report, I was successful.  The documentary is literally breathtaking and I found the story of the climb to be not only inspiring but also extremely compelling.  Meru follows climbers Conrad Anker, Renan Ozturk, and the aforementioned Jimmy Chin as they attempt to be the first to conquer the Shark's Fin on Meru Peak near the mouth of the Ganges River in India.  Interspersed with spectacular footage of the actual climb (shot, unbelievably, by Chin and Ozturk as they climbed) are interviews with the climbers and their loved ones telling the backstory of what led each of them to attempt something so dangerous as well as narration from Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air (which I have my sophomores read), about the specifics of big-wall climbing in the Himalayas.  All three of them are fighting inner demons and are almost obsessed with conquering a peak so challenging that Krakauer says that it's not meant to be climbed.  There are moments when they are in genuine peril and I found myself holding my breath!  When asked about why climbers put their bodies through so much, Anker answers, "The view, man.  The view."  The view from my seat at the Broadway was absolutely amazing so I can only imagine what it must have been like at the top.  Do not miss this epic adventure!

Note:  Meru won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award at Sundance this year.  Good stuff!