Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Tale of two cities--one university campus

Just arrived in Urbana-Champaign today, with only 4 hours sleep (up packing 'til 3am, last minute hurry).

It's now 9:45 pm, and I want nothing more than to sleep. I'm lodging in a very interactive dorm called "Unit 1: Live and Learn" where they host visiting artists. Previous artists-in-residence at Unit 1 include: Patch Adams, Fred Ho (jazz musician/activist), Barbara Trent (filmmaker, "Panama Deception"), Born with Two Tongues (spoken word), and the Spiderwoman Theater group. I'm in the resident artist/visitor apartment--a very nice suite, actually, with high-speed internet on the Dell, and a kitchenette. I just walked about 2 miles to find the health food store--Strawberry Fields--so now I have my rice milk, a fresh loaf of bread, and bar of cucumber soap.

I am leading a workshop in the Chicano/Latino cultural center called La Casa, and will be visiting two Latino/a Studies classes tomorrow. Busy schedule.

But I will stay focused on the moment, relishing every nuance of this trip. Oh, one interesting nuance is that this campus is partly located in Champaign and partly in Urbana. Kinda weird, cuz at any given moment, you might be leaving one town and arriving in the next--by merely crossing a street. The university basketball team lost a BIG CHAMPIONSHIP game last night. They were in the FINAL 4. Everybody seems to be wearing orange (school color) today.

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