Ryan and Debi Cragun’s Blog

Debi and I came up with some new costumes for Halloween this year. We were really excited about them, but we are guessing most people can’t guess who/what Debi is without seeing my costume. So, here it goes. Here’s a photo in Debi in her costume. The first person to guess it will receive…. A Canon MP3000 printer (if you want it). And if no one guesses, I’ll post my picture and then see if anyone can guess it. Happy guessing:

For those who can’t tell that she is an Orion slave girl, here’s the second part of the costume - me!

Admittedly I don’t make a very good James Tiberius Kirk (I’d be a better Riker from TNG, but Debi won’t dress up ad Deanna L’Troi [sic]). And one more picture, from the newer series - Enterprise - showing the source for her costume:

I flew into Portland, OR last night for a conference (SSSR). I’ll be here until Sunday. Lack of foresight left me thinking the sessions started bright and early this morning… Not so. The sessions don’t start until around 1:00 pm, which left me with an entire morning in Portland to blow. After forking over an inordinate amount of money to the Marriott Corporation for internet access, I checked my email and RSS feeds, then decided to walk around downtown Portland. I scoped out a few places where I should stop, but the priority was where I would eat lunch.

A quick search for vegetarian restaurants basically left me speechless - there were dozens and dozens of vegetarian restaurants, many of them within walking distance. But, one stood out - Veganopolis. I kid you not, there is a restaurant here called “Veganopolis.” And, of course, it is 100% vegan. I couldn’t pass that up, especially since it received a lot of positive reviews on the site I checked. So, I plotted a walking course that would end up at Veganopolis and allow me to hit some major sites.

It’s actually rainy and overcast today here in Portland, which is unfortunate (tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be nice and I’ll be in conference sessions the entire time). Even so, the downtown area is great for walking. So, I decided to head first to the Chinese Garden. I always forget at least one thing on a trip - this time it was my nice camera. So, I’m limited to these crappy pictures from my cellphone.

On the way to the Chinese Garden I happened to see Voodoo Donut, and after hitting the Chinese Garden I returned to Voodoo Donut for a vegan donut that was excellent - I mean, really, excellent!

I asked for directions to Powell’s Bookstore from there. Another 10 blocks or so and I was at Powell’s, the very famous, very large, new and used bookstore. I’ve heard about it many times and thought it might be fun to visit. I entered the abyss, and 30 minutes later my book addiction had had enough - I bought two books and ran.

I then headed back toward my hotel, stopping at Veganopolis on the way. I had a great vegan taco salad for a very reasonable price before heading back to my hotel. I was amazed not only at the quality of the food (that was kind of expected), but also by how busy they were and the variety of clientele. In Cincinnati, the only people inside a vegan restaurant would look like, well, today’s version of hippies - the tree-hugging type with dreadlocks and what not (I’m not poking fun; I had dreadlocks at one point too, and I’m there). Not so in Portland. Several people who looked to be manual laborers were there, along with a bunch of tourists (like me, kind of), and several professionals wearing suits. Seems so strange to me…

Anyway, sessions start shortly. But, I have some time on Sunday to do some more sightseeing. Hopefully I’ll get to see some other nice things around here - there certainly are some great places. I also hope to sample more of the excellent vegetarian cuisine.

So far, Portland is a very cool city.

Oh, one other thing. I took the light rail from the airport to my hotel last night - cost me $2.00 (way cool). On the train, another person attending the conference and I were verbally accosted by a rabid atheistic supernaturalist. Yeah, doesn’t make sense, but that’s really what he espoused. He started out by saying that Portland was chuck full of religious fruitcakes and that they should all be killed. He, personally, was an atheist. Then he claimed that the current political leaders of the U.S. - Republicans - were actually not humans but shape-shifting demons and they, too, should be killed. His preferred method of slaughter - dropping them in a volcano. Too cool!!! Where else in the U.S. will fruitcakes be anti-religious? Only in Portland…

(Note: Can’t seem to get the photos off my cellphone at the moment; will post them later…)

Debi and I went to Tall Stacks this past weekend (Saturday). One of our dance students from the Copacabanna set up a deal to get tickets on the Salsa cruise on the Harriet Bishop. We thought it might be fun, so we paid the $30 per ticket to see what all the fuss is about.

We headed down to the river early to check out the rest of Tall Stacks, getting there around 6:30 or so. We walked through the whole shindig on the Ohio side. There were a ton of people there, though, intriguingly, the only black people we saw were working (odd for a city that has such a large population of blacks… not sure what the deal was). There’s something about these types of events that doesn’t really appeal to us. Part of it is we are cheap and everything there costs an arm and a leg. Honestly, and this is going to reveal our true, geeky nature, I think we’d have more fun at a Star Trek convention… We kind of got the impression that it was really just kind of an excuse for people to get together and drink.

Anyway, we did meet up with a fellow graduate student and his wife at one of the musical performances. The band was Rhett Williams and the True Believers. The music was pretty good and, as is always the case with this particular grad student, the conversation was good. We enjoyed that part. An added “bonus” - they shot off fireworks while we were there, which was kind of fun (I have mixed feelings toward fireworks… they are very expensive and I think the money could be better spent). I don’t think I’d mind occasionally visiting an event like this for the music, but I think my graduate student guilt complex is too ingrained to allow me do this often - I like listening to music, but only as I do something, anything. Hanging out with friends will do, but only if I don’t have to yell over the music…

We left the concert a bit before it was over and headed across the Purple People Bridge to Newport-on-the-Levee to find a place for dinner. We’ve eaten at the Irish Pub there and it’s pretty good, but I was in the mood for something different. So, we went to a new Japanese place called Aio. Debi was skeptical, considering our dining experience in Japan. I mistook this restaurant for Pacific Moon, an Asian Fusion restaurant that recently opened, and thought they would have more vegetarian options. Oops! Not surprisingly for a Japanese restaurant, they hardly had anything vegetarian on the menu. So, we ended up getting vegetable tempura, a tofu salad with wasabi sauce, and a vegetarian sushi roll. It was good, but I can’t recommend the restaurant for vegetarians - the selection is just way too limited. It’s a nice place and not too expensive; so, if you’re not vegetarian and like Japanese food, you may want to give it a whirl.

On the way back across the bridge I snapped a few shots of downtown, something I’ve wanted to do for a year or so now:

I really never get downtown - this was the first time I’d walked the Purple People Bridge. It offers some great views. While I was snapping some photos Debi bought some candied pecans, which complimented our Japanese meal quite well (sweet with protein).

We made it back across the bridge just in time to board our cruise - a paddle boat called the Harriett Bishop. We had carried our dance shoes with us the entire time just to dance on the boat and were kind of excited. When we boarded the ship and saw the dance floor, our excitement crashed… The dance floor could comfortably accommodate one, yep, that’s right, 1 couple! It was probably 8 feet wide by 16 feet long. That would be good for two or three couples, but for some reason the band and singers set up on 1/2 the dance floor, cutting it down to an 8′ by 8′ square. It was tiny. Disappointed, we headed up to the second and then the third floors to see if there was additional dancing space. Nope. There was a bar on each floor, but otherwise it was jam-packed with chairs and tables. It was at this point I realized the purpose of these cruises - drinking! My earlier assumption about the purpose of festivals like Tall Stacks was confirmed. There weren’t even speakers to pump the music from the bottom floor up to the other two floors. And the sound didn’t carry. So, if you were on the third floor, not only could you not dance, but you wouldn’t even be able to hear the music. That left one thing to do - drink!!!

Determined to dance, we went back down to the bottom floor and squeezed into a couple of chairs. The band started up and… nothing. No one was dancing. The music was good and the band was fun, but no couples seemed courageous enough to put on a show for the 100 or so people packed into that microscopic room. If you danced you’d basically be doing a show since no one else could take to the floor while you were on it. After two numbers came and went and no one took to the floor, I told Debi to put on her shoes - we brought them and we were dancing. Salsa isn’t our best dance (that honor probably goes to Cha Cha), but we went to dance so we were going to dance. As it just so happened, two other very good couples decided to take to the floor on that same dance. Oh well, the three of us did what we could in that tiny space. It was fun, but oh so cramped…

We did a few more dances - they played a couple Cha Chas, more Salsa, and a Merengue and even a quasi-Rumba. Eventually the floor filled up and it wasn’t really worth it. So, we just watched and talked with some of the other people there.

Speaking of which, we actually knew a lot of people on the cruise. The person from our class who set it up came with her boyfriend (whom she met on eHarmony, I kid you not). The owner of the Copacabanna, Rhea, was there, along with another couple that competes and teaches. Several more of our students came as well, including two adolescents who are probably only 16 or so. When I saw them dancing I said to Debi, “Where do we know him from?” She didn’t remember but then it dawned on me that we taught them the Salsa about 2 months ago. Just as I realized this the boy’s father leaned over to me and said, “Do you remember them? You taught them to Salsa a while back.” I replied, “I was just realizing that.” Then I added, “I’m amazed they remember it so well; they’re doing really well out there.” They were, in fact, remembering all of the steps we taught them. That was nice to witness for a teacher. Some of our other students ventured out onto the floor as well.

Anyway, it was a fun experience, but the microscopic dance floor was a big drawback. I don’t know who planned this thing, but if they consider doing it again in the future, they’ll have much happier patrons if they do the following:

• quadruple the size of the main dance floor on the first floor
• add similar sized dance floors on each of the other floors
• find a way to pump the music from the first floor to the other two

If they made those changes, I’d do it again. If they don’t, well, I’m not really interested…

The cruise left the dock at around 10:30 and got back at around 12:00am. We disembarked and headed back toward our car. Along the way we passed one of the stages where the bands play and were astonished to find this:

As you can tell, we don’t get out much. This is probably typical for such events. Even so, the picture doesn’t really do it justice. There were bottles and cups and all sorts of other junk littering the entire field. It was sad… I mean, okay, I understand people accidentally dropping a cup or two, but damn! What a bunch of lazy asses! The one “up side” to throwing trash on the ground - it will bring more blacks to Tall Stacks… to clean up after the inconsiderate white slobs who can’t clean up after themselves! And yes, that was sarcastic.

Overall, Tall Stacks has a lot of potential and clearly is popular among white people in the Tri-State area of Cincinnati (I don’t know why there were no blacks there - honestly, I saw more Indians than blacks). If we’re here in four years, maybe we’ll go on the ice cream or dessert cruise… Anyone interested?

It probably won’t get published, but I had to write the following letter in response to this op-ed piece that appeared today in the NYTimes: No Undergrad Left Behind.

Dear Editor,

I’m writing in reference to the Opinion piece by Eugene Hickok in the October 11, 2006 edition of the paper. Mr. Hickok seems to want to take a failing system, “No Child Left Behind” (which the President’s own brother dislikes), and apply it to higher education. What Mr. Hickok is failing to realize is that the problems he details in higher education are, at least in part, a result of the “No Child Left Behind Act” - colleges and universities are now spending much of their time bringing students up to the level of education they should have attained in high school. Colleges and Universities are now “high school finishers” for many students.

Higher Education is doing exactly what it needs to do - screening out those students who cannot succeed. It sounds elitist; it sounds arrogant, but not everyone is cut out for higher education - be it a result of lack of motivation, lack of commitment, or lack of earlier education. If we take the approach advocated by Mr. Hickok, the result for higher education will be the same for high school - a general “dumbing down” of graduation requirements. If that were to happen, a college degree would quickly be as worthless as a high school diploma. By continuing to keep graduation requirements high, college diplomas remain a sought after commodity.

Mr. Hickok is trying to pass the problem on to the current solution. Lowering educational criteria is not the answer. Raising the bar earlier in education is. Testing every student as often as possible is not the answer. Educating students to succeed in careers, in their future education, and in life is the answer. “No Child Left Behind” is resulting in unprepared students being sent to college. Colleges and universities are doing what they can to raise those students to the level they should be upon exiting high school. If Mr. Hickok had his way, those unprepared students would, like in high school, be passed from classroom to classroom and ultimately be handed a diploma, just because they were there. That isn’t an education. That is educational welfare.