ten more rad things in provo, part trois

1. provo peace  i was über disheartened by lady hate like this and this (the second one's personal, as my daughter's a barnard senior, my other daughter attends a women's college, and my husband and i both have degrees from women's colleges) recently, but boy am i heartened by the justice-seeking young people of provo.  plus, what good taste in poets they have!  i look forward to celebrating international women's day with them tonight.

2. gamelan bintang wahyu not every community has its own gamelan, an indonesian percussion orchestra, and we're lucky to have one right here in provo.  they played with the 700 student provo school-district elementary choir last night.  also, their director, professor jeremy grimshaw is super rad (and funny)  and has a new book out about experimental composer la monte young, of mormon extraction, who influenced everyone, i mean everyone, who did anything cool in music in the 60's and 70's.

3. slab pizza for five bills you can get a hand-stretched slab of pizza and a drink just south of byu campus.  their sauces are homemade--my favorite is the new mexico green chile with a fried egg on top.  love the convergence of artisan, locavore, and diy going on at slab.

4. kimberly johnson this gal's the real deal (or the 'rill dill' as we say in provo) of poetry.  she recieved a guggenheim this year, and her book leviathan with a hook is fantastic.  read it.  and know that poets are among us.

5. andrew the cheese monger technically he works in orem at the harmon's on 800 north, but just a hair over the provo border, so i'm gonna count it as provo.  andrew's for real (rill).  he went to cheese school and everything.  his cheese section enables provoans to create cheese boards like this one.  seriously, if you want to expand your taste buds and kick your parties up a notch in sophistication, go in and talk to andrew, get yourself five cheeses of various hard and softnesses, some bread, fruit, and beverages, and you'll be feeling all french in no time. (i'm excited to go make mozzarella with him tomorrow.)


6. elders every day my neighbor sets off in her black tracksuit with white stripes down the legs and arms at an alarmingly fast clip.  i don't mean fast for a 93 year-old dame.  i mean, the girl is race-walking.  she has never missed a day or slowed a smidgeon in the five years i've been her neighbor (okay, maybe that one time she got taken to the hospital in an ambulance).  but she was soon back to her walking, fast as ever.  the structure of our community means that we have a lot of mixed-age interaction, and i'm so grateful to know so many folks in their 90's.  vigorous, smart, classy, and giving me perspective on the world.  i'd love to know if we have more 90 year-olds living in provo than in other places, or if i just see them more often.  our clean living makes us prone to old age, and it's good to see people who do it with style.  (though i could wish my neighbor backed her white caddy out of the driveway just a tad more slowly.)

7. provo orem word, march edition, 2012.  check out the cool things provoans write and do.


8. dual immersion language programs we have spanish, chinese, french and german.  if i have my facts straight, we have to most dual immersion language programs per capita of any community in the united states.  i have a few concerns as an educator about full inclusion in these programs, which we can talk about some time, but in general, the more words we have to describe the world with the better.  i love that my community values language so much.


9. tight-knit communities of course we can always do better at making sure everyone feels included, but i think we do a pretty good job of taking care of our neighbors here.  we have a neighbor in need right now,  and i know our community will rally to help him.


10. kodaly string program kodaly is a lovely way of teaching music to children.  we happen to have creative and energetic music teachers here who, in collaboration with the district specialist dr. jerry jaccard, have created a string program integrating kodaly training.  as far as i know, this is the only kodaly string program in the world.  it's a beautiful thing, and the children can really sing and play here.  best of all, it's a public school program available to all children.

legwear:  bare under maxi-skirt
inspiration:  men and women working for equality
looking forward: to full parity