Colorado High

I have just returned from a quick trip to Fort Collins, Colorado, to visit my daughter Sara and her family and, once again, I am impressed with this modern world in which we live and grateful that a feeble nonagenarian like me is still able to make such a trip. The flight west was primarily above thick clouds, which broke as we passed over Fort Collins, with a magnificent view of Rocky Mountain National Park and Long’s Peak to the west. Skies were clear for most of the flight home and I was able to observe the remarkable change in the landscape, from the near-desert of Nebraska through the rich farmlands of Illinois to the lush Pennsylvania countryside. It certainly is easy to see the difference a few inches of rain each year make.

Sunday, we drove to Boulder to see Ian perform in “Inherit the Wind”. The drive south, paralleling the Foothills is always interesting, a succession of modern suburban communities separated by stretches of old-fashioned prairie, with the snow-capped Rockies in clear view to the west. I was particularly amused by a sign on the west side of route 287 celebrating “Berthoud, the Garden Spot of Colorado”, planted in the middle of a large colony of prairie dogs. The east side of the highway was occupied by neat single-story homes; one wonders how soon the prairie dogs will be forced to migrate.

The play was outstanding. Much as I love the 1960 Frederic March/Spencer Tracy film, seeing a play “live” is always a superior event. This presentation was no exception; I found it gripping as well as being relevant to many of today’s controversies. To refresh your memory, it is a fictional version of the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial”, when a Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher was convicted of disobeying a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution. The two gentlemen portraying prosecutor Matthew Brady (William Jennings Bryan in real life) and defense attorney Henry Drummond (Clarence Darrow) were ideal for their parts. Ian’s role was that of an enthusiastic Bible-Belter, rejected for a seat on the jury because of his Fundamentalist beliefs.

This has been an interesting experience for Ian. He has been interested in the theater since performing in “Lord of the Flies” as a ninth-grader, an interest that has culminated in his being part of a Fine Arts program in Theater at the University of Colorado. The dozen or so shows in which he performed previously were primarily school-related, one-weekend productions involving young people. “Inherit the Wind” was produced by The Upstart Crow Theatre, an ensemble community theatre company in Boulder dedicated to staging the finest works of classical theatre. The repertory company includes folks of all ages; the opportunity for Ian to interface with veterans of the stage is invaluable. Also, this is the first time he has been involved with a play being performed more than two or three times; one wonders how different it is to repeat a performance a dozen times.

Immediately after the final performance of the play Ian is leaving for three weeks in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he is taking a three-week course in film making, along with fifteen of his Colorado colleagues and a handful of Scottish theater students. While there, he will be one of three actors in a short movie filmed at three different locations. Other students will function as directors, camera operators, etc. The script for his film is still being developed; it will be interesting to see the outcome of this effort. It certainly is a “near-real-world” experience.

Tuesday evening we went to the Rocky Mountain High School Music Department’s annual Awards Concert, in which Claire participated as a member of a massive combined choir. The concert was held in the auditorium at Faith Church, a modern “megachurch”. I estimated that it could hold fifteen hundred people; there must have been twelve hundred in the audience for the concert. Rocky Mountain High has a student body of around twenty-five hundred; about three hundred of their music students participated in this concert. Quite a contrast to the handful of band members and singers who performed for Ted Robins and Alma Weise at Bridgeville High School seventy-five years ago.

The program began with the awarding of medallions (the equivalent of athletic letters) to about two hundred of the students; Claire received a gold medallion. The musical program was in four parts, punctuated by other short award ceremonies. First came the symphony orchestra, then the concert band, and then the combined choirs. The orchestra played an arrangement of the Finale of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony quite capably. The concert band played an enthusiastic version of the Gandalf movement from Johan de Meij’s popular “Lord of the Rings” symphony. The Rocky High choral program consists of four regular choirs and four extra-curricular groups. Claire is a member of “Prima Voce” and of “the Syrens”, a jazz group. The combined choir sang three pieces a capella in perfect unison. My favorite was “Ballade to the Moon” by Daniel Elder. The finale was an excellent rendition of “Baba Yetu” by all three organizations. For those of you who are not up to date on contemporary culture, “Baba Yetu” is the Grammy winning theme song of the 2005 video game, “Civilization IV”. Its lyrics are the Lord’s Prayer, in Swahili. I am favorably impressed with the high school; their music program is outstanding.

In between these events I had a marvelous time just visiting with Sara and Jim and the kids. I am impressed with the way Ian has matured during his time in Boulder and am delighted with Claire’s general interest in and knowledge of a broad variety of topics. The day I left for home she was off on a field trip sampling invertebrates and measuring BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) in a local stream. My greatest blessings today are my children, their spouses, and my grand-children.

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