Homecoming 2007

Chris and Katherine, all dressed up for homecoming

Andrew and Kitty, ready for the big dance

Homecoming at Mount Pleasant High School is a big, big deal.
The Lumberjacks of Saginaw Arthur Hill surprised the Oilers with a 39-29 win at Community Memorial Stadium in the football game -- the Oilers' first loss of the season. (I guess I can accept an AHHS win; that's where I graduated.)
But the big deal is the homecoming dance. It's formal, it's fancy and it's crowded. Out of a school of about 1,200 students, the student council sells nearly a thousand tickets.
That's one heck of a budget, and a heck of a good time.

Down the Chippewa

Sometimes, I absolutely love my job.
The assignment: Do a feature story about fall and changing leaves. How to tell the story was up to me.
Sun photographer Lisa Yanick and I decided the best way to tell the story was to come up with a better kind of fall color tour: In a canoe.
Check out the video Lisa put together:



And the colors will just get more intense as the fall wears on.

The Applefest crew

Kissy Missy is past president of the Mt. Pleasant Zonta Club, an organization of professional women. Each year, the big fundraiser for the club is Applefest, which takes place at the McIntosh Orchard west of town.
Well, Kissy Missy must have learned to "use her resources" somewhere, because she's pulled all of us into this thing. I designed the poster -- which looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. The apple art's original with me, as well as the design.
The kids have been involved as volunteers for several years, and this year, much of the Zonta contingent in the Mardi Gras parade looked suspiciously like, well, us.






Is this the new look of a Zonta lady?



















Robert and Andrew march down Main Street handing out Applefest fliers.

Kissy Missy sells, sells, sells the event to the crowd at Mardi Gras.

Zontian Monica Fox and Katherine cruise past the Broadway on Broadway.

Yes, I know the question -- Mardi Gras? In September? It's a downtown promotion, and a big one. No one seems to care that it's in the fall -- and that it's on Friday.

Oilers win at Atwood, in third statewide!

The Mount Pleasant Oiler Marching Band put on traditional band uniforms for the first time in three years, went to the Flushing Invitational at Atwood Stadium in Flint, and came back with a first-place trophy!

"Socially Numb," based on the music of Pink Floyd, still has some rough spots, of course. This was its first competitive performance. But the 50.2 the Oilers scored still was higher than the band earned last year with "Elemental Led" at the same event.
Other bands in the Michigan Competing Bands Association Flight III competed in two other competitions -- last weekend at Novi and this weekend at Brownstown. Defending state champion Ferndale is in first, with always-tight Dearborn Crestwood in second. The Oilers are third. The top 10 bands in the Flight earn a trip to Ford Field in November for the state finals.
The images are from the Oilers' home football game Friday against Saginaw Heritage. The football team, which entertains before and after halftime, is 5 and 0, ranked seventh in the state and the only undefeated team in the Saginaw Valley League.
Here are the Marching Band standings after this weekend:
Place Band Points Above Bubble
1 Ferndale 58.85 15.8
2 Crestwood 53.6 10.55
3 Mount Pleasant 50.2 7.15
4 Linden 49.95 6.9
5 Trenton 49.55 6.5
6 Chelsea 48.9 5.85
7 SCS Lake Shore 48.1 5.05
8 GibraltarCarlson 46.95 3.9
9 SCS South Lake 43.2 0.15
10 SCS Lakeview 43.05 0

Another year, another European tour ...

Robert's on his way to Europe.
Bert was among the very first musicians selected for the 2008 version of the Blue Lake International Exchange program's Southern Winds concert band.
He's excited as I've ever seen him. Last weekend, to help fund the trip, he and I, with considerable help from Kissy Missy, collected empty cans from CMU's Saturday afternoon fraternity parties and a massive tailgating bash before the game. Let's say that it pays better than radio did, but not as well as lap-dancing.
The specifics: Rehearsals are scheduled for November, April and May; Intensive Week begins June 6 (the day school gets out); the plane leaves from Detroit Metro airport June 14, after a concert somewhere around Detroit; the band returns July 12; there's a mini-tour July 24 and 25, and the homecoming show at 7 p.m. July 26.
The tour dates aren't set yet, but Southern Winds will be part of Blue Lake en France, and the band is to spend a week en La Belle France.
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I have to apologize for the hiatus. Semester start has been, ahem, a bear, and it doesn't help that the newspaper lost another reporter. And now my Mac laptop has developed an apparent power supply problem. Not good. The CMU techs are tut-tutting; hopefully, it will be repaired soon. But for right now, all my images are on that hard drive, and I cain't git to'em!