back in minneapolis, and it's looking good

I couldn't have possibly had a better welcome back to Minneapolis than today. 

Spooky Town is exactly what I needed after two intense weeks of Junie B. Jones. Laurie and Marya, the teaching artists, have pieced together three ghost stories and written a few really, well, spooky songs to string the stories together. It's by no means a masterpiece, but it's fun and leaves lots of room for the kids to improvise and make fun character choices. 

In the real world, Laurie and Marya are a musical theatre writing team, so they work together all the time. It's incredible how seamlessly they transition the room's leadership back and forth between each other. There wasn't a single moment when one stepped on the other's toes, yet they often jumped in without hesitation when the other was teaching a song or staging a scene or leading a game.

Because Junie B. Jones was a big show to put up in two weeks, we weren't able to spend a lot of time reflecting or even really exploring the kids' creative potential. Spooky Town, on the other hand, is a much less ambitious project, so I feel like I'm getting to know this age group (4th-6th grade) in a whole new way. We spent thirty minutes today allowing the kids to cross the room one by one, using their bodies and faces to express the "spookiness" of the town, and reflected on what was successful about each person's choices. It's funny to hear this group reflect, since I don't think they're used to reading into their observations. They're very good at noticing things like "so-and-so's foot moved a few seconds before so-and-so" but their instinct is never to discuss what about that particular observation was noteworthy. It's something I never had the opportunity to observe during Junie, and I find it fascinating. They're even good at coming up with similes - passing energy around the circle was like popping popcorn or the way brain cells communicate with the rest of our body - but unless prompted, didn't offer any thoughts as to how that exercise could be useful to them in performance.

It's a much smaller group of kids (we only have 11) and they're all really wonderful and unique. I'm looking forward to getting to know them and seeing them work this week.

Dinner tonight was inspired by a beautiful bunch of dino kale I bought at the Seward Coop yesterday. My mom has always been an advocate of veggie-laden pasta sauces, and I'm trying to do more with kale than making kale chips (though I made those tonight as well), so I sauteed it and put it in marinara sauce along with some mushrooms, half an onion, and a couple cloves of garlic. It was really delicious over whole wheat pasta. 

To quote my friend Paige, "I just don't understand why anyone ever eats anything but whole grains and vegetables." With a dinner like tonight's, I can't see why you'd ever need to. 

I took my first yoga class after being gone for a week and was surprised how much I retained in some ways and, conversely, how much more difficult certain poses were. My strength and balance weren't too far from where they were a week ago, but my flexibility all but disappeared. Hopefully tonight's stretching loosened things up and I'll be back to normal in a couple of days. 

I'm three minutes away from my self-imposed bedtime, so I'll bring this post to a close. It's good to be back!