Correspondence

A sampling of Henry's correspondence with his cousins Julius Ojuka and Nora Detling... (They all turn 1 next month.) Henry is very appreciative of his cousins and their peer advice.

Dear Cousins Julius & Nora,

So, according to my parents, my hair is growing faster in the back than on the top. I think my mom is considering a slight trim to get it off the back of my neck and let the top catch up. She said I have an SFLB. I don't know what that is, but it sounds bad... so I am inclined to agree with her about the trim. In regard to my last email and upon further contemplation, I believe that my parents opinions are indicative of their personal preferences regarding their own hair. I have noticed that my dad hasn't changed his hair - like ever! My mom changes her hair all the time. I can see the silver lining on both accounts. There is something to be said for conservative simplicity. There is also something to be said for frequent spontaneous change. I applaud my parents for holding fast to their ideals. It is my greatest hope to be a worthy combination of both.

Love
Cousin Henry


Dear Cousin Henry,

I apologize for the delay in my response. This summer has turned out to be quite busy. I enjoyed a fantastic visit from Grandma Kathy in June and then before I new it Aunt Jenny, Uncle Ben and my cousins were in town and it has just been go go go ever since. I've had so much fun but I'm worn out and I've been sleeping alot.

Anyway back to the problem at hand. When I received your last email I was inclined to agree with your mom. You see, I don't have much hair, so the thought of cutting any of it off seems ridiculous. I'm not sure why you would ever want to do that. Plus, your pictures looked great! So much diversity. I must admit I'm a bit jealous about that. My mom keeps telling me that mine will grow and it will probably be curly. I think she's crazy. It looks completely straight to me. I actually think I'll take after my dad...I don't think he has any hair. But he makes it look pretty good so that will be ok. My mom changes her hair all the time too. It must be a mom thing.

I will say this...I did some research on SFLB on the internet. Basically it's like business in the front and a party in the back. Make sense? I did find out that it is a more common look in the south. I think you live in the south...so you could totally pull it off if you want to. Then you don't have to cut any of your hair!!
But on the other hand a change can be good...like when mom changes my diaper. That's a good change. So maybe a trim wouldn't be so bad. But just a trim. Don't let them go crazy.

Let me know what you decide.

Sincerely,
Cousin Julius


Dear Cousins Henry and Julius,

I regret the fact that this email is so delayed. We got the blue screen of death on my parents computer a week ago and so I have been unable to keep up with my correspondence. Please know that my belated response is not a reflection of the importance I put on your letters. I feel deeply about your every follicle.

Back to the problem at hand (or head)...I hear what you are both saying. Henry, I understand how you would be confused with such differing opinions. I'm sure both of your parents want only the best for your looks. Your dad - while conservative and unvarying (I saw his 5 year old pictures from his birthday blog post) has maintained a respectable and up to date look for almost 100 years. Very commendable - not many have done it. Your mother's hair do's do (pardon the potty puns - I have an older brother) change a bit more. But I must say I have always admired her sense of style.

I have heard the same thing that Julius has heard of this so called SFLB. Your right, it is not a good look. It sounds bad because it is bad. When I play hair salon with my baby dolls - I advise them all against it. I must say Henry - I am inclined to think that those who are unable make up their minds regarding their hair length are the ones who end up with an SFLB in the first place. As Julius said - "business in the front, party in the back." I see them having deeply conflicted personalities. This is not you. So, I urge you to make a decision...and fast. And whatever anyone says - a rat-tail is NOT a compromise.

Good luck. I know you will do the right thing and make your parents proud.

Your Loving Girly Cousin,
Nora

Happy 35th Birthday!

Happy Birthday James! I polled the kids yesterday and got some good responses...

What does dad like to do? What is he good at?
Maya - "Run. Study. Help clean. Check his email. Plan lessons for YM. Read his scriptures. Cook breakfast. He is good at helping with Henry."
Annie - "Run. He runs fast. Play with his kids. He is good at learning."
Ruth - "Run. Clean. Go to work. Go to the store with his kids. Get on the computer. He is good at fixing things. He uses tools and fixes cars."

What does daddy say a lot?
Maya - "Yo"
Annie - "Go play in your room. Wash your hands."
Ruth - "Go to bed. He whispers in my ear and says it's time for my one-on-one with him."

Why is he a good daddy? What do you like to do with him?
Maya - "He takes me on one-on-ones. I love him and he loves me."
Annie - "Because he's smart and he plays with us a lot. I like to tackle him and play with him outside."
Ruth - "Cause he takes me on one-on-one dates. Cause he likes to read the scriptures and go to church. He takes us outside."

Daddy is turning 35. Is that old or young?
Maya - "Young, because the fifties and sixties are old."
Annie - "Old, because when you're parents you are half way old."
Ruth - "Old."

Is your daddy tall or short?
Maya - "He's in the middle."
Annie - "He's tall."
Ruth - "He's a little bit tall and a little bit tiny."

(Like James used to tell me when we were dating... "Tall in spirit, Em.")

The kids voted for this picture... daddy at 5 years old.

July 4th

We had a fun fourth. Hope you did too!

Family Twister (Maya was our photographer.)

James helping Annie with her sparkler.

Maya

Ruth

First Fourth of July and Henry didn't like the fireworks.

More Pictures from China

School kids clapping along to the music

Indiana University duo playing with the village music teacher.

Dad handing out books to the children.

Kids, teachers & guests in the school yard.

Helping Children In China

This is a great story! It's long but well worth reading. My dad is still traveling in China and sent this email to the family. For the last several years my dad has been organizing concert tours for music groups from the United States to China with his business partner Tang Cai. (I can also vouch for the fact that Tang Cai is an excellent cook! He visited us in Louisville a few years ago and cooked up a delicious, authentic, 7 course Chinese birthday meal for me.) We always love hearing what dad is up to on the other side of the world. Thanks DAD!

Hi everybody!

Thanks for the birthday and Father’s Day wishes! I often forget these things because I am usually traveling during June. I really appreciate your remembering!

This year, Tang Cai and his family also remembered. Tang Cai’s son, Tang Jiwei, is back in China for the summer from his studies in France. So Tang Cai, his wife Wu Caifang, and his son organized a special dinner and some other surprises. As he usually does, Tang Cai cooked up a storm!

Let me tell you a bit about one of the highlights of my past couple of months. I didn’t find time to write to you about it earlier:

Several years ago, I first visited the small village school where Tang Cai grew up as a peasant farm boy. Later, after he managed to complete middle school, high school and was the only young person from the area’s villages who attended the university, he got a teaching degree. He then taught for 7 years at the small elementary school in his own village where he had first gone to school and at several other village schools in the area. (Later, as you know, he went on to corporate work and to a law degree from a prestigious university.)

Several summers ago, while visiting his home region in Heilongjiang Province in the far Northeast of China, I insisted that he take me to visit his village school and also the other schools where he was a teacher. The physical facilities were very meager, but the older teachers all remembered Teacher Tang warmly, and the kids were curious and eager. I took some photos of the teachers and students…including of the music teacher in Tang Cai’s old village, whose only resource was an old erhu (Chinese stringed instrument) hanging on the damaged wall of the small shared faculty office.

Almost immediately after that, I began to talk with Tang Cai about an idea that was hatching in my head: We do a lot of international work and bring wonderful professional musicians to China. They perform in urban centers at theaters, universities and music conservatories. In contrast to the people in those audiences, most of the village school children may never experience much beyond their farm work, may not be able to imagine a life beyond their village and the limits of their local experience, and may never think that they can accomplish anything important. So, wouldn’t it be wonderful to surprise the kids in the village with a visit by some foreign musicians! At the very least, it would be a unique experience in the lives of the kids, and if even one child were inspired to think about going to high school or beyond, it would be a complete success.

(I also think often about how I grew up in a coal mining town where the broad experiences of “culture”…literature, music, art, history, language, international interests…were not parts of the imagination of some of my young classmates. Somehow, I had parents, family, and others around me who encouraged me to seek the broader world, even though they often didn’t really understand why all of that interested me!)

One problem with my idea has been the fact that it is expensive to fly musicians to that northeastern area, and we had never been able to arrange for concerts in the region. But this year, Tang Cai finally managed to get a gig for our piano/saxophone duo…wonderful musicians from Indiana University…in Heilongjiang’s provincial capital, Harbin. So we worked to carve out some free time in the schedule when we could drive them to Tang Cai’s village. Tang Cai spoke on the phone with the school’s principal, and we tried to figure out what would give a lasting benefit to the school and the kids. For Tom Walsh, it was no problem to take his sax to play for the kids. But we couldn’t carry a piano for Luke Gillespie, of course.

Tang Cai and I wanted each child and each teacher to have something. So while we were still in Dalian, we went shopping at a big bookstore and found enough bilingual (Chinese/English) children’s books to buy one for each of the 71 village kids from kindergarten to fourth grade. We brought those to Dalian in my luggage. We also went to many music shops and decided on a very good electric keyboard and asked one of Tang Cai’s friends in Harbin buy it from a music store there.

The evening concert in Harbin at the lovely old music hall was a real success! Then, the next morning, one of Tang Cai’s friends drove us to the village, where the teachers and all the children had crowded into one bare concrete classroom. We unpacked the keyboard…and the IU two guys played piano/sax tunes: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, etc. while the kids clapped along! The guys had also learned a couple of traditional Chinese pieces for their concerts, so we got the music teacher to bring his old erhu to play with them, too!

The children were really excited about the books, and many of the children were still clutching them later when we gathered in the dirt schoolyard for photos. To the surprise of the principal and the teachers, we also told them that we were donating the keyboard to the school.

After that, we walked through the village and talked with local folks. Of course, all of them know Tang Cai…he’s a local celebrity…and many of them have gotten to know me a bit, because I am the only foreigner who ever wanders around the fields and houses there! We went to the home of Tang Cai’s number one older brother, Tang Yi. His wife cooked up a farm feast for us and we ate outdoors in the yard.

It was all very satisfying! And I kept wishing you could all have shared it with me. At least, I can send you a few photos.

I love you all and look forward to seeing you soon!

Dad

PS: I'll send a lot more photos later...I have to run to the airport now.

I love you!

Where in the world is Grandpa Doryl?... Mongolia

Hello everyone!!!

It has been a very hectic time with a piano/saxophone duo followed immediately by the vocal performance group (winners of the Lynam Competition at UNCG). At the end of their performance tour, we spent some time in Tongliao, a small city (ca. 500,000 population) in Inner Mongolia (Chinese Mongolia) at the School of Music at the Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities in Tongliao.

Wow!!! What enthusiasm!!! I really wished you could have been there! I think this was quite possibly the first concert of Western opera music ever in Tongliao. Some of the students at the university's School of Music study Western voice...but it is done in a vacuum, without any chance to experience live performances of the music. So our opera director answered questions, taught master classes, gave a lecture to very eager crowds of students and teachers. The recital hall/theater was completely packed for the concert! Our group did a varied program: opera's greatest hits...arias, duets, quartets from Marriage of Figaro, Lakme, Carmen, Pearl Fishers, La Boheme, etc...with a couple of show tunes ("It's a Grand Night for Singing" and "You'll Never Walk Alone") and a couple of Chinese pieces thrown in ("Jasmine Flower" and the Beijing Olympics song). It was a real hit! But for us, it was just as thrilling to hear local Mongolian music!!

The after-the-concert dinner with the School of Music leaders, performers and other teachers was a wonderful and unexpectedly wild event. At least 2 dozen different dishes of delicious Mongolian food around a huge, round table seating more than 20 people. (Including probably the best leg-of-lamb I have ever tasted in my life!!!)

I have returned to Dalian (via Bejing). I go to Shanghai again before I return to the US. I miss all of you!! I can hardly wait to see how all the kids are growing. I have been able to keep up a bit by looking at your blogs... THANKS!!

Dad

The Princess Academy

Last week was the kids first full week of summer break so we had big plans. It was our first annual Princess Academy. We filled the week with all things princess - academics and activities. Our first class was 'What is a Princess?' After a little discussion, this is what the girls came up with... A princess is a lady, friendly, someone who cares for others, nice, smart, someone who works hard, knows what she wants, knows how to be royalty, lives in a castle and takes care of a kingdom, gets to have a pet, never fights, knows the separation between her wants and needs (Maya), and has fun.

MONDAY
ANTHR 101 - Debunking Myths: What is a Princess?
MATH 101 - Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication & Division
HUM 103 - Penmanship and Correspondence
PE 101 - Courtyard Fitness
HFL 103 - Beginner Bed Making
ENG 101 - Princess Books and Authenticity
HFL 101 - Tea Party Preparation
HFL 106 - General Hygiene
Princess Post
Manicure & Pedicure
Movie & Treats

The girls woke up to princess gift bags from Grandma Kathy.

We put up all of our princess books.

Princess buns

Maya was Princess for the day and got to wear the special crown and check the Princess Post at lunch.

Beginner Bed Making. Ruthie makes a cute hospital corner.

Math in their workbooks

Courtyard Fitness

Manicures & Pedicures

TUESDAY
ARTHC 101 - Castle Basics
HUM 101 - Music Appreciation
HFL 107 - Poise
HFL 109 - Manners
PE 101 - Courtyard Fitness
GEOG 101 - Where in the world are we?
IFS 101 - Computers
HIST 102 - Family History
Princess Hat Making
Sugar Cube Castles
Movie & Treats

Annie - Princess for the Day

Princess Hat Making
(Well, on this project I made them and the kids enjoyed wearing them.)
Thank You to our good friend Juanita Dunlap for sending the beautiful fabric to make our hats!!

Sugar Cube Castle Making

Poise (The book race)

Every night we watched a different princess movie and had popcorn and treats. This is us eating our banana shakes, soaking our feet and watching Sleeping Beauty. (Our movies for the week were Beauty & the Beast, Sleeping Beauty - both firsts for my girls, Roman Holiday & Enchanted.)

WEDNESDAY
ENG 103 - Introduction to Creative Writing
MATH 102 - Fundamentals of Fiscal Responsibility
HUM 102 - Coloring, Drawing and Staying In the Lines
PE 101 - Courtyard Fitness
BUS M 101 - Commerce for Beginners
HFL 108 - Conversation
HFL 104 - Meal Etiquette
GEOG 102 - Where in the world is Grandpa Doryl?
Dessert Making
Castle Tower Making
Sponge Painting

Ruthie - The Princess for the Day

Intro to Creative Writing. The girls made books from old dust jackets.

Castle Tower Making

Coloring, Drawing & Staying in the Lines


Fiscal Responsibility - the girls with their pennies and Kroger ads

There was a huge thunderstorm between Fiscal Responsibility and Commerce.

THURSDAY
ENG 102 - Rindercella: A Jensen Family Classic
HFL 102 - Chore Basics
HFL 105 - Clothing: Color, Coordination & Coverage
Tea Party
Service Project

Tea Party (Cucumber Sandwiches, Strawberries, Lemon Tarts, Chocolate Chip Cookies & Lemonade)

FRIDAY
HIST 101 - Kings, Queens and Other Important Royalty
REL 101R - Seminar
FSN 101 - Healthy Eating: Fruits and Vegetables
PL SC 101 - Introduction to Diplomacy
BIO 101 - Introduction to Genetics
EF 101 - Leadership
ENG 104 R - Introduction to Great Advice from Princess Literature
Manners Dinner
Family Dance/Princess Academy Soundtrack

Friday was a fun day. We postponed our Manners Dinner until next week. James got home from Boy Scout Camp at 7:30 just in time for our family dance. He was a good sport because he was pretty tired. Thanks to dad for making our soundtrack. The girls had fun making suggestions.

Until next year...

(What was I thinking???? I should have preapplied for the Betty Lou Award! What a missed opportunity!!!)