Whitworth Parents' Weekend 2005
Whitworth Parents’ Weekend 2005 was great! Only one thing was not great – the Harrisons were not there. Since Nathan was off in the UK on the British Isles Study Tour, it didn’t really make sense for them to come. I sure did miss them. This year, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Last year we sat in cold, cold cloudy, dreary weather to watch the football game. This year, the game took place in perfect fall football weather – sunny and crisp, the leaves on the trees surrounding us in varying stages of their autumn color change. Whitworth smoked their opponent, Menlo, 48 to 10 (it was 48 to 3 until the final moments). Jonathan was on the field taking photos for the Whitworthian the entire time, so we didn’t get to sit with him, but it was fun watching him with his photojournalism professor from last spring, discussing ways to get the best shots, taking photos, and just being a student. His professor is the photo advisor for the newspaper and yearbook photographers this year. He is working with the kids to help improve the quality of photos going into both publications. Jonathan really likes him and appreciates his help and criticism. Kirk let Jonathan use his two digital SLR cameras during the game, which was really exciting for Jonathan. One of his photos did make the paper, and can be seen here (click). Some of them could well end up in the yearbook as well, since the paper and the yearbook share the photographic staff.
Aside from the game, the other highlights of Parents’ Weekend were the mini-college we took and the play we saw. The mini-college class was taught by Dr. Forrest Baird. The class was on epistemologies – “how do we know what we know?” I learned more in that 90 minute class than I could possibly have imagined! He is an enthusiastic professor, very much “in love” with his subject matter. He is funny, exuberant, and delightful. The 90 minute session flew by, and ended much too quickly. He had a ton of information we didn’t have time to cover, to my dismay. I strongly encourage every student at Whitworth to take as many classes from this guy as you can! He put most every professor I had in college to shame. I emailed him the following week and told him just how much we enjoyed his class. He responded warmly and enthusiastically to my email. We exchanged a couple more about our children, educational “roots” (we both went to college in Santa Barbara, CA just a year or so apart, although he went to Westmont College and I went to UCSB), and the frustrations that accompany parenting a college student who continually underperforms. Turns out one of his daughters graduated with the President’s Award for maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout her college career at the same time his other daughter was suspended for poor academic performance. Daughter #2 did get her act together and graduate on time with a decent GPA and went on to enroll in graduate school at Gonzaga with a desire to teach inner city kids in service to Christ. That was heartening to hear. As frustrated as I get with Jonathan, I need to remember, God is in control and He will work things out the way He intends them to work out. Easier said than done. It is so hard to relinquish the control we think we have to God, who is in control anyway, despite what we may think. Life would be so much less stressful if we would just remember that He is in control and stop worrying about every little thing. Why are we so stupid? Why do we insist on worrying and making ourselves sick and stressed out when doing so won’t change a doggone thing? We humans are such odd creatures.
The other highlight of the weekend was the play. The Whitworth theater students performed Our Town, the well known and well loved play by Thornton Wilder. I made Tom and Jonathan go to the play – and sit through the entire thing. They actually both laughed at all the right places, seemed sad at the right times, and seemed to enjoy it, despite their protestations to the contrary. I had seen Our Town performed when I was in college, with John Ritter as George and Sian Barbara Allen as Emily. I had forgotten they were the stars of that play until we sat down in the theater. Then, the scene with the ladders, the sparse set, and the pantomiming the actors engage in, immediately brought the memory back to me. I can still see John and Sian on those ladders talking to one another as if from their respective bedroom windows. Our Town is an interesting play in that there are very few props, virtually no costume changes, almost no set whatsoever, and the actors pantomime their actions. In description, it sounds like a very odd, boring play. On the contrary, the lack of props and the pantomiming make you focus on the characters, what they are saying, how they interact with one another, and the emotions they are expressing. It’s a powerful play with a powerful message – life is short, enjoy it, don’t take it and others for granted, pay attention to what is important – love and family. It was very well done by the Whitworth students, and a delightful end to a spectacular day. The following morning we had brunch with Jonathan, did a bit of shopping, said our goodbyes, and headed home, glad to have seen him, glad he’s at Whitworth with their incredible staff, and glad he is enjoying this year so much. It was a great weekend, but we did miss our friends, Tom, JoAnn, Lynsey, and Nathan.
