Garry Trudeau

On March 25, I went to Coe’s Annual Contemporary Issues Forum. Garry Trudeau (a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist of Doonesbury) was the speaker, and I thought it was a really cool event...so naturally I thought I should recap the evening for you!

I work for Coe's Public Relations Office, so I served as an usher and sort of a "behind the scenes" helper for this event. The PR Office has truly been an awesome internship this spring because there are a variety of tasks I get to do -- in and out of the office! Helping with this forum was definitely another one of those great experiences.

Trudeau arrived in Cedar Rapids on March 25, ate dinner with a small group of people at 5:30, delivered his actual speech to the Coe and surrounding communities at 7:30, and concluded his night at a reception at the Alumni House from 9-10. I went to Sinclair at 6:15 and within five minutes, we already had guests arriving for the big evening!

Everyone was seated and Trudeau’s presentation started around 7:30. I thought his speech was funny and informative. He started off with a comical remark about his daughter having a longer Facebook bio than even his own. Drawings of his works and clips from video were used as visual aids throughout his speech which kept the audience engaged and lively. The crowd seemed to be very entertained by this and Trudeau’s natural humor in his delivery. The presentation ended with a question and answer session, and guests who RSVP’d attended the reception in the Alumni House at 9 for social time, food and drinks.

I’m glad I was able to attend this forum, as well as be a part of the organization and ushering in Sinclair. The next morning, my boss invited me to go out to breakfast with him and Trudeau. This was SO much fun. I was able to actually meet Trudeau and speak to him in an informal coffee-shop setting. I never read the comic section in the newspaper, but after meeting Trudeau and previewing some of his work, I'm definitely going to look for Doonesbury this week!

Spring Break

After a very exciting spring break week of traveling and visiting friends, I just arrived home to Toledo, Iowa, last night! In the last three days, I traveled from Cedar Rapids to Toledo, Toledo to Nebraska, Nebraska to Toledo, Toledo to Ohio, and today – Ohio back to Toledo. That means I have been on the road, driving from to place to place for over 25 hours in the last 56!! Thankfully I made all of the trips without any major problems, and I had an awesome time – in and out of the car!

Last Wednesday my roommate Amber and I went to Omaha, NE, to visit our best friend Molly from high school who goes to Creighton University. We went shopping and out to eat that night. Thursday morning Molly cooked us some delicious pancakes, we packed up to leave and we were back on the road for home by noon.

Amber and I stopped at Jordan Creek Mall in Des Moines to do a little shopping before arriving back in Toledo at 5:30 Thursday evening. Good thing it was only 5:30 because I had plenty to do before leaving the state, once again, at 8:30 to watch my other roommate, Holly, who qualified for the NCAA National Indoor Track Meet in Ada, OH. I had made plans to ride with her aunt Kathy and three cousins to the meet, nine hours away!! We drove through the night, but not without a few bathroom breaks and one unscheduled stop that wasn’t by choice…halfway through Illinois, we ran out of gas! This was my first time ever running out of gas, and it was on the interstate at 12 a.m., nonetheless! We called 9-1-1 and a cop came to help us. I thought he was just going to bring a tank of gas, we’d pay him and be on our way; apparently he had other plans.

After 40 minutes later of waiting, the cop finally arrived. However, he didn’t bring any gas! I volunteered to be the criminal, and the cop graciously opened his rear passenger door to take me to the gas station…that was honestly my first time ever in a police car and quite the experience! He was extremely nice and soon after my ride to and from the gas station, Kathy’s vehicle had a full tank of gas, and we were back on the road again to Ada. We pulled into Ohio Northern University around 6:30 a.m., found a lounge area in the Union Center and crashed for three hours…we were all desperate for sleep!

The national track meet started at 12:30, so we went to watch Holly warm up around 11:00. The next time I looked at my watch, it was 2:00 and my roommate was officially an ALL-AMERICAN hammer thrower!!! Holly threw 16.47 meters which was good enough for 6th place and some really proud Kohawk fans. It was so much fun watching Holly compete!

I took this picture from the bleachers, a mile away from the winner's stand, but Holly is up there - in the 6th place spot!

Nationals & Spring Break

With papers and midterms last week, I was really busy studying and typing multiple papers...but I finished all of my work, it's officially the first day of spring break!! We have a full week off, so I think most Coe students went home, to Panama, or somewhere else where there's less snow. I'm still in Iowa, but still having a great time. :)

I didn't have class on Friday, so I went to the NCAA National Wrestling Tournament at the U. S. Cellular Center in the afternoon. It was awesome. Coe qualified 5 wrestlers, and all 5 advanced to today, knowing they would place -- meaning all of them are All-Americans! Tonight, 3 competed for a national title. I was at the meet this morning, but since I wasn't able to go back tonight, I watched it live online. Even though the Internet doesn't create quite the excitement that the U.S. Cellular atmosphere generates, it was still worthwhile to watch. We ended up with one-1st place and two-2nd place winners! Check out how all of our studly wrestlers did at http://www.coe.edu/athletics/wrestling/index.htm.

This week I'll be traveling between home (Tama-Toledo, IA) and Cedar Rapids, just enjoying the break from classes and trying to plan my life after I graduate in May! The NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Meet is next weekend, and my roommate Holly qualified for the hammer throw!!! I think my other roomies and I will be traveling to Ada, Ohio on Thursday night to watch her compete on Friday. It's almost a 10 hour drive...that will be great for some quality bonding time! I'm just excited to go somewhere -- even if it's Ohio! -- for break.

Classes will start back up on Monday, and after that, there is only six more weeks of class before finals. Time is going even faster ... check back for some pictures updates later this week!