Pals forever

Oak Park Indian Guides: Potawatomie Tribe at Camp MacLean, Wisconsin Feb 10, 2008

Pals forever, that is the motto of the Indian Guides, and the time we spend together, just us guys, fathers and sons, is so very special. This weekend we braved the snow and cold and did the winter campout with the Prairie federation at Camp MacLean, near Burlington, WI. This particular YMCA camp is very rustic and the only activities avaialable were sledding or crafts. We made several runs and a braved the toboggan chute, but after a few hours of being wet and cold, we opted for the crafts and made several necklaces and bracelet's. Our tribe won first place in sled appearance, though our Klondike like sled did not do very well in the race. Clearly some more engineering is needed. We won second place in the tribal chant but our accumulated tribal property, including the new dream catchers we made in January, still does not amass to the same collection some of the older tribes such as the Saux Fox, Ute and Cherokee have. The whole tribe except for our newest members all made the camp out and are pictured here. The Bones left early and are not in the picture, nor are the Kellys. It was -7 with -45 wind chill when we got up on Sunday morning, so not a lot of folks stayed to play. What a great time was had by all.

My trip to southern Illinois was postponed due to inclement weather. I got a call at 6 AM this morning in time to stop me from getting on the Saluki. The ice storm shut down SIU today and likely tomorrow too. My trip is rescheduled for March 17th. It should be nice weather by then, especially in Carbondale. I have played my cards close to vest and have not discussed my reasons for going to SIU with any but my closest confidants. It will be hard to stay mum for another month. Seeing the schedule they arranged for me it will be a daunting though very exciting venture down yonder. They had me scheduled to meet with no less than 30 folks including the Dean of the College of Sciences, the Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate College, professors from other departments on the search committee, plus all the faculty in the Department of Physiology. Each of the colleagues who agreed to write letters in support of my bid have been most encouraging and supportive. One good thing about even entering into this is the positive effect its had on my own self esteem. Imagine me being a chairman of a department. I can do this, yes I can! I anticipate that this is an exercise at this point and likely the best that will come of it is leveraging me into a better place her at UIC. However the idea of a more bucolic life in a college town nestled in the Shawnee National Forest is most attractive. Realizing that the nearest Trader Joes is 100 miles away in Saint Louis and that there are no Starbucks in Carbondale puts this into perspective. Great places to ride my bike though, no doubt about it. We could buy a farm and raise alpacas. But how are the schools? It's a college town, right? much to consider and this will be on hold for another month.