Here's what a typical day at Chautauqua looks like.
This morning I arose just before 7, threw on my clothes and walked to the Farmer's Market which is at the front entrance five mornings a week. I bought two pieces of vegetarian/whole wheat pizza which will be my dinners for the next two days.
On the way I bought my copy of the Daily Chautauquan. One page three were several pictures of the opening church service yesterday. My picture was prominently displayed, taken during the processional. This seems to happen to me alot, whether it's the Washington Post or the tv cameras or now Chautauqua. What can I say. . .they know a beautiful face when they see one. I'm the only choir member with my mouth open which suggests: 1. I always have my mouth open, 2. I am the only choir member who knows how to sing, or 3. I was not supposed to be singing. You make the call.
After breakfast I went to my 8:15 motet choir rehearsal. This is the smaller group that needs an audition to belong. I love singing in this choir. I could sit for hours with a good director and a good choir and sing through music. What am I saying? I do that on a regular basis!!! We sang the first weekday service. The choir leaves the choir loft before the sermon, but I went back in to listen. They get some really gifted preachers up here, and all are worth hearing. It was a great part of the day.
After church I went to the morning lecture. The topic this week is "Kids" and this was an interesting presentation by an economist (shout out to Dave. . . .I would ask if you know James Heckman, but that's like asking me if I know a music teacher from California. . . but who knows?) who was speaking about the economic implications of focusing our efforts in this country to early childhood education. Very interesting. This was a great part of the day.
I ate lunch and went to the Hall of Philosophy to stake out my seat for the afternoon lecture. This was Elaine Pagels and the crowd promised to be huge, so I went an hour early (a regular practice here) and took my knitting. I was not the first person there by a long shot, but I got a really good front row seat. Pretty soon a choir buddy joined me with her knitting. I'm officially an old woman!!! Elaine Pagels has won awards for her work researching the "gnostic gospels" which are manuscripts discovered around the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but which have been written about (by her and others) in recent years. She is so fascinating, and I was rivited to her talk. She spoke about the gospel of Thomas and compared it to the gospel of John, and it was so interesting. Tomorrow she discusses the gospel of Judas. Really sheds light on some of what has always been believed about early Christianity. This was a super great part of the day.
I had to reluctantly leave the question and answer part of that discussion to make it to my writing class that I signed up for. Luckily that class takes place right across the lawn from where the lecture was. The class is wonderful. Six participants and the teacher. There are three men and three women taking the class. We spent the first session getting writing prompts, writing for 10 - 15 minutes, and then sharing. It was really fun and non-threatening. The other participants are highly educated, interesting, friendly people, which is the norm for Chautauqua. I look forward to this whole week with these people. This was a super super part of the day!
I had my dinner and took a walk around the grounds while the crowds poured in from the outside world to attend the Garrison Keillor performance. The ticket to that comes with our gate pass. He had been scheduled to sign books at 5:00. I walked past the location around 7 and he was still signing books and talking individually to each and every person. I found that amazing and was able to go back to my room, get my camera, and go back and snap a couple of pictures of him. I got a great seat for the program. It was just him and a microphone. He came on stage at 8:00 and sang and told stories for 2 hours and 15 minutes! He never even took a sip of water. He had the audience positively rolling in the aisles the whole time. What an extraordinarily gifted man he is. It was so thrilling to get to see him in person. I would have loved to see a Prairie Home Companion broadcast from here, which he has done here about 15 years ago. But this was like hearing two hours of the news from Lake Wobegon. This was a super super duper part of the day.
And that is a pretty typical day. I'm hoping to maybe skip the morning lecture tomorrow so that I can go back to the gym. I don't want to miss Elaine Pagels at 2:00. It's an embarrassment of riches around here in terms of all there is to do and the lack of time to do it all. Today the Turtle Island String Quartet was on the grounds, but I couldn't work the performance into my day and I would have given anything to see them. Choices, choices!!!!! Stay tuned!
