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6/2/88 Thursday On the train to Switzerland

Drop off was at 6:30 a.m. and Charlotte got up to take me in to the train station where we were meeting. I told her I could take the subway but she insisted on taking me there by car. We had a little breakfast, then loaded on to the train to settle down for a 28-hour long trip. I sat with Tim, Sandra and Joerg, and wrote most of the day, and slept none. We took a ferry to Copenhagen (Helsingor) and had about an hour there which I spent with Mary walking around.

The next train took us clear to Hamburg where we switched to a sleeper cabin. In the sleeper cabin, I was with Roger, Doug, Shawn, Chris and Ross and after everyone settled down we actually went to sleep.

After lunch the Fishing Club met and talked about our responsibilities as a Christian in the USSR. Really good talk.

EDITOR: I was trying to have everyone write a little something in my journal toward the end of the year. Here are a few that were written on June 2nd.

Dear Grant

Well guess I'll just have to settle for being the second one to sign this, really want to thank you for having the guts to stand up in Bartlesville & ask the Christians to meet. It was so encouraging to find brothers and sisters in Christ in this cast. I'm glad we've had a chance to have a few talks this year and hope we will have a chance for some more.

You are really a fun, humorous teddy bear and I can't, believe you're only 20! I really pray that you will continue to grown in our Lord and to share his love with the folks you go back to and meet in college. J

It's too bad we don't have clowns in the show anymore, cuz you made a great ring master; you're also a great dancer. I'll always remember performing all the way on the other side of the stadium with you & Julie in Stockholm (you made me wanna SHOUT!)

Best of luck in college & your future & come visit me in L.A. some time:

In his love,
Sandra Jung

It was really great to have you in our cast. Unfortunately we roomed only once together in Campbellsville, but I remember this very well, when our host mother tried to find out where the girls in the magic trick came from. You were a great ring master.

I also want to thank you for starting the fishing club. It was a concern for me at the beginning of the year if I will find other Christians or not. But I'm very happy I did.

So I wish you the best for your future and if you ever come to Germany you're welcome to visit me.

Hey there big guy, you're a dear friend to me & always will be. I still remember our conversation in Tucson when we went shopping in the mall. Now I look at what we've become & can only smile. I'll miss you my friend but look forward to seeing you again. Never stop looking for more ways to be a Christian to make friends & to be humble. Life has so many opportunities take as many as possible. Best of luck in all you do! God Bless!

I¹ll miss you!

Love,

Cassi Kuck

6/3/88 Friday Lucerne, Switzerland

For some reason, they woke us up at 6:30 a.m. even though our ride did not end until 9:00. I tried to stomach breakfast, but couldn't do it. We stopped in Basel, Switzerland for a short time then on to Lucerne. The scenery was just awesomely breathtaking and I finally saw the Swiss Alps and they still had a lot of snow on them for being June.

When we finally got to Lucerne, we had a meeting by a lake (where the Wilhelm story took place) then free time to enjoy the weather. We walked around until we had to go to the hotel, but in the process, we stopped by and saw a great castle/fortress which had a fantastic view of Lucerne. Then picked up our stuff and went to the hotel to check in. We were split into two different groups. We only had enough time to check in then go to lunch.

We rehearsed for a while on this incredible stage that had neon lights, moving stairs, and a water fountain, but did a lot of sitting around. After dinner, we had the rest of the evening free, so Randy and I sat in the room and talked.

INPIRATIONAL MOTIVATION
From Darci Buck-Price
Hi Grant!!

Just dug up my USSR journal. I'll include some of it here if you want to just cut/paste and add to your entries it would be cool maybe this month to promote that we want to have EVERYONE dig up their journals and then you can just copy and paste as many as possible into your journal emails!! TRUE HISTORY!!! Hopefully we're on the same page. If you need my help I am SOOOO willing to help you in any way!! I know that it is A LOT of work‹but copy/paste is pretty easy!!! (plus that would get them into their pictures and memorablia and maybe get even MORE to the reunion!!!!) There is something therapeutic and nostalgic about reading my journal(s)-it brings me RIGHT BACK to that day. Let's encourage it!!

THANKS GRANT!!

Talk soon!

Darci

(EDITOR: So I am encouraging it. If you will dig out your Soviet journals, pictures, memories, I will send them along with my journal entries and Darci's beginning on June 6th. This will be a great way to hear what other people experienced in the Soviet Union and have one last push to get more people to the reunion. Thanks! Grant

6/4/88 Saturday Lucerne, Switzerland

This morning we were served breakfast by the Key Master/Dragon Lady. She had a fit when we started sharing our rolls with each other. It was actually pretty funny.

Today was a rainy, yucky day, so I'm sure glad we got to enjoy the beauty of Lucerne yesterday. We went to the performance hall at 9:00 a.m. and did stretch and worked on Russian words until we finally went on at 1:00. We did Sunrise and Up With People in 5 languages then went to lunch.

They ran out of food for Steve Ellis and I, so we had to wait, and finally got our food when everyone was getting up to leave. We rehearsed for 2 hours for the evening performance, blocking and running it. I was kind of bumming because I was really looking forward to dancing '50's but once again no dice Jack! When we finished, we wrapped up then went to dinner.

We had 3 hours to kill so we ate dinner, and hung around the hotel. The evening performance was 40 minutes long, but we did not have the production with video screens and the such like this morning. After the show, we had a chance to mingle and I met some really nice people from Ireland. I had a couple glasses of wine; was able to get 2 bottles to take back to the hotel; tried to call home; went back to the hotel and a bunch of us drank the wine and partied a little bit.

6/6/88 Monday - Lapeeranta, Finland

We didn't have to go until 11:00 a.m., but my family woke me up at 8:45, although I still didn't move until 10:00 a.m. I couldn't believe they woke me up that early after not going to bed until 3:00 a.m. Then they just stood at my door and stared at me.

When I finally got up, we tried to converse, but it was very difficult because they don't know English very well and my Finnish is a little rusty. Okay, non-existent.

The morning started with Carlos introducing Bruce Early who talked about all the media they have contacted: ABC, NBC, UPI, AP, New York Time, Chicago Tribune and all media that has a base in Russia. They also contacted everyone's hometown newspaper and every major affiliate possible.

Next Ralph Caldwell spoke to us about the film crew and introduced them. He told us how they went about deciding who should film us and what personality would be our host. Before deciding on Mary Hart , they had checked into Marilyn McCoo and Casey Kasem to be our host. It will be put all together then be for sale in September or August to TV stations around the U.S. McDonald's and Coke (Coca-Cola) has expressed interest in being the sponsor which will make it sell even better. It is incredible the marketing that is involved in doing this. Ralph also promised that we would each get a copy of it. I won't hold my breath! (EDITOR: It took me editing it together years later to make it happen. It never did air on TV)

When he was finished, Birger announced that his video will be fore sale in early fall.

We ate lunch, then had 50 minutes to go to town to get last minute things. I bought two 1 liters of Coke and 2 packages of crackers (the same for Kurt). Right before I got on the bus, I bought an ice cream cone, and when I put on my sunglasses, the ice cream fell off the cone onto the ground. They gave me another one for free and I laughed, but Cassi didn't find it very funny.

When we got back, we did an incredible fitness then worked on the dance for Footloose. I danced with Lisa and was pretty impressed how quickly I picked it up. It is a fun dance to do, following that we went in and rehearsed the Russian words, and blocked it into the show. It is a lot of hard work, but it is starting to become a reality.

I met Pauli and Arja (my host parents) afterwards to have a picnic dinner along with all the host families. Tony was pretty wild so after I showed them my Colorado information I went in and started getting ready for the show. We actually did almost the whole show with all Russian MC's, so it was kind of like a Russian dress rehearsal.

The show went pretty well, but the Russian songs were still weak. Everyone was sweating profusely because it was so hot, in fact, I think I have never sweated so much as I did tonight.

After the show, I got out of the strike to get my hair cut by Deedra. Cecilia cut a little more off the back but it was sure nice to have all that hair gone.

I was picked up about 10:15, went home and proceeded to wash clothes, repack down to two bags, took a shower, and did a lot of writing. Went to bed about 1:30 a.m.

BONUS JOURNAL
From Darci Buck-Price
June 6, 1988

The production team of 7 just joined our cast. It's 3:30 a.m. and I'm wide awake- white nights here in Helsinki. We go to the USSR tomorrow!!! Long awaited day for Cast A of UWP.

Darci

Tuesday, June 7^th , 1988 (leaving Finland for USSR)

Poost fsehg-DA BOO-det SONN-tseh!

It was a weird feeling because it kind of felt like another travel day, but not. When I hung up the phone with my parents I said, “I got to go. I’m going to Russia in an hour.” We took an official cast picture in front of the truck, and Hans said that Mr. Belk called to wish us luck one more time this morning then we hopped on the bus.

We finally walked our luggage through the inspection. They took a long time on me, and were talking back and forth. I think the beard may have concerned them because my passport is completely different. It was actually kind of scary. It is a weird feeling to be watched so long and hard.

We eventually left the border about 2:30, which means almost 5 hours at the border. Wow! It is now beginning to soak in that I am in Russia.

The landscape is very pretty, and a lot like Colorado, but more water. Mostly pine trees but also there are a lot of aspen trees. Different than what I expected, but my “preconceived image” was soon confirmed when we passed by a compound with many, many tanks covered up.

When we drove into the first city (Vyborg), it was like driving into the 1950’s and 60’s. Lunch was a salad (tomatoes & cucumbers) soup, steak (?) and potatoes, then a delicious ice cream. After lunch I made my first adventure into a Soviet bathroom, and it was scary. It was very dirty, smelly and the toilets had no seats. Luckily I didn’t have to sit down, but I will have to eventually.

…eventually (after doing a small performance of UWP and We Wish You Happiness) we got back in the sauna on wheels. I could not sleep because of the heat, so I wrote, read and talked to pass the next 3 hours on the way to Leningrad.

Dinner was amazing! There was caviar (black and orange), ham, roast beef (?), cucumbers, salami, salads, and little daisies made of eggs and carrots in the middle. It was incredible, but most importantly, there was lots of Pepsi to drink! Yeah! It was so hot and I was sooo thirsty. I practically downed one bottle instantly. We ate all we could eat, did a little dancing, then realized the main course was coming. Ooops, no room in the stomach. Little more dancing with Gretchen then some ice cream. When we were finished we sang UWP (Russian) for the Sputnick people, and congratulated a newly wed couple.

Back to the hotel. Denis had to collect our passports in order to get our room assignment. Room 737 with Brett Flood will be my home for the next few days. I brushed my teeth (another challenging task) with my water bottle. I think I am going to really be ready to go home after these two weeks because even after one day I missed some of the luxuries or givens like getting cold water from the sink, and being able to drink it and not worry. Getting an ice cold coke on any corner and just in general western conveniences. I finally went to bed around 2:30 after writing in my journal.

My morning started abruptly at 5:45 a.m with a phone call from Brett Flood. He asked me to look through his bag and find his Euro-rail pass, 100 kroner and his passport. I told him his passport was with the staff and then asked him what he needed it for. He wouldn’t tell me, but I still couldn’t find his stuff. I told him when we were leaving and that he better be there, and he hung up. I don’t know what the problem was, but I went back to bed. I couldn’t sleep very well, so I was up in plenty of time to get my stuff into the bus.

After breakfast we made an official presentation to the Leningrad Sputnik people. We gave them some records and cast picture, then went on our jolly way to Kalinin. It was about a 10 hour trip and very bumpy. I was in the very last row sitting with Lena, Randy, Wynand and Lynda. I laid on the ground in the back on the floor and I woke up to a wet shirt. Something had spilled, and as it turned out a bottle in my bag had broken and spilled.

We arrived in Kalinin at 7:00pm, had the bread and salt ceremony, sang UWP once and checked into the hotel. Something I noticed while we were singing UWP in Russian is that none of the “Big Wigs” know it. I thought that was awful ironic being they are always asking us to sing it, and want to look good for the camera.

We did dinner then relaxed by just sitting around talking and later playing cards. While we were talking some guys came into our room, wanting to trade a Russian record for an American tape. They did not speak English very well, so I was having a little fun with them since they wouldn’t leave. I asked them if they knew John Denver and they said “Yes, isn’t he heavy metal?” We said “Yes, that’s him.” And started laughing. Eventually they left and we did our thing.

We met this morning at 8:30, but we didn’t get up until 8:00. I wanted to take a shower, but the water was ice cold so I was only able to handle washing my hair. Breakfast, like all the other meals was a challenge to swallow, but I made sure I ate a lot of bread. After breakfast, Carlos held a meeting and passed out schedules (in Russian Cyrillic), then told us what they meant. When he was finished, Bruce Early had some quotes that he read off, and Paul Caldwell reminded us of how historic our being here is and how “We are paving the way for future generations.”

After the meeting, we loaded the buses to go on a tour around Kalinin for 1 hour. We watched this ceremony at this one monument for WWII veterans, and those who gave their lives. It was strange because they had an eternal flame and from the flame it had the sound of a heartbeat. It was eerie and reminded me of Bill Cosby’s The Chicken Heart. When the kids walked down the stairs and stood their post, the clock chimed 11:00, and the heartbeat changed to Tchaikovsky’s music. Hearing his music after seeing the Soviet Union, it kind of explains why his music was so somber.

Right before the ceremony we saw a newlywed couple come and lay some flowers on the stone next to the flame. Al (Bias) and I analyzed it and decided since they don’t worship God, they still need to show respect and have a specific ceremony. In order to do this they must go lay flowers on memorials of their fallen soldiers. Kind of strange, but makes sense (if in fact it is true). We continued our tour a little longer then ended up at this peace march (Wave of Peace). The Group I was in watched a bunch of dances performed by kids. They were really good and had some neat costumes. When they were finished, we performed a few songs, and tried to teach the audience UWP at the end of our show. Imagine a bunch of English speaking people trying to teach Russian to a Russian crowd that has never heard of UWP before. It was quite hysterical and pretty useless in my opinion. When we were done there we went down the street a little way and did another show. I stayed off to watch people’s stuff, and after the performance they started asking us questions about the USSR. They asked how many provinces there were and what was the first impression of Soviet people. They were pretty intense questions, and then they asked if we had any questions for them. Katrin asked them what their feelings were between East and West Germany were, and I don’t think anyone ever did answer it.

After we were quizzed, I asked if I could have one of the posters on the truck/stage that had an American flag and USSR flag circling around the world. They told me I could have it, and when I came down, some guys approached me. One guy gave me this great set of peace posters, and the other two gave me pins, and I gave them an UWP button. We left soon after to go to lunch.

Lunch was not that good, but I had a fantastic conversation with Almendra about the big Mexico City earthquake. She went practically minute by minute of how it affected her and her family. It was really an intense conversation and I really appreciate the fact that I am in an international group, but felt sad that soon I will not be able to turn to my neighbor and ask how this affected their lives in another country.

From there we went to a kind of camp, where we tried to mingle and participate in their activities. I had a hard time getting into it, but tried to get involved with Stacie, Birger and Kurt. We tried to communicate with this one family/group of people, with success but it was very difficult.

On the way back to the hotel for dinner we watched part of The Golden Child on video on the bus. We had a very quick dinner because we were going on a boat cruise from 7 until 10pm. Elin and I had a nice talk walking to the boat, to try and get caught up on each others lives. Before the boat left, a good song came on and Lynda and I did a country swing. She has definitely gotten better during the course of the year. I think the cameras were filming us. It would be interesting to see how we looked. I hope they put some in the show.

The rest of the evening we all (or a lot of us) were upstairs of the boat. It was raining, but we had a top over us and still had the fresh air. I danced a lot with Kelly Bates and really had fun with her. Half way through we had some Russian folk dancing performed for us by both a pair of adults and 2 pair of children. It was pretty good. The lady had on a very sexy revealing dress during the numbers so it was hard to concentrate on their dancing. (Editors note: This is the event that made me decide to teach ballroom dance once we returned to our homes after the year was over. It obviously made an impression on me.)

At the end of the boat trip, I was talking with Paula and Melinda and they said some very nice things about me. They called me kind, cute and a fatherly figure. I walked back to the hotel with Melinda, in the rain, and we had a nice talk. The rest of the evening was spent talking with Stacie, eventually raiding her room when she was asleep and also getting into Pia’s room. It was kind of fun, like being in college again.

For lunch, we were treated real special; we got 6 or 7 cookies and chocolate. No meat and nothing really substantial to eat. This day of all days in my life I have missed a Big Mac and Coke more than anything in the world.

After lunch we had stretch then dress rehearsal with full costumes for the cameras. They wanted to get close up shots of people and dances without affecting the show for the audience. It was a real challenge to keep the energy level very high, and not getting any feedback from an audience. We filmed several songs (none that directly affected me), but while we did The Proverb Song the first time I was in the front row behind the soloists. Mia decided she wanted a “pretty” face up front so she put Amy Roth there and moved me behind Brenda Borgnes and Susie. When we finally ran it, I stayed on the nine so I could see and be seen. We ran Gospel four times which became real old trying to be excited for no one.

We had a quick wrap up after rehearsal then went to dinner back at the hotel. It was very quick, then back at 6:30 for a show at 7:00. During Green room, we all stood in two lines and sang When the Saints Go Marching in and Swing Lo at each other. Then we all got in a circle to listen to a tape of Irma, we circled up, and we all divided into groups by what color shirt we had on. We couldn’t list to all of Irma because we had to go on stage. People tried to sidestep the fact that this is our last two-hour show so that we could still have a good show without crying.

The show went really well although I was not into it very much. Especially The Sunshine Song and The Proverb Song (with a non-rehearsed reprise), in fact they liked it so much they asked us to come back and do another show tomorrow. They asked us this at the end of the encores, unbeknownst to any of us. After a little bit of mingling we had a quick meeting to tell us we were doing another show tomorrow.

We went back to the hotel and sat in our room and talked with Heidi, Deedra, Brenda, Lynda, Bill, and Matt. I finally went to bed around 1:00 a.m.

We totally missed breakfast altogether and spent from 9:00 - 9:45 getting ready for the day. On the way to the Palace of Pioneers, our bus hit a trolley car that stopped in the middle of the road. We were trying to go around it so the side of the bus (one luggage door up to the window) was pretty dented.

The Palace of Pioneers was not like a camp like I was expecting, but more like a summer school for boys/girls scouts. We first received some history of the building from some 13 or 14 year old girls, then took a tour that ended up in a room they were all waiting in for us. We sat in rows across the table from each other and asked questions back and forth through a translator. They sang one song. We sang Peace, we both sang Happiness and Sunshine Song together. When we were finished we signed their guest address book. It was an okay time but rather strange. We went back to the hotel for lunch that I couldn’t handle, so I left to go to the tourist store. Unfortunately, many people had the same idea so there was a long line. I bought a couple of bottles of vodka to take home, and a six pack of Coke that cost me $13.00 dollars.

I made it back just in time to catch the bus to rehearsal at 1:30, but I had to savor one of those Cokes on the way. We went through some transitions of the new rundown until about 3:30, gave us 15 minutes to change and get make-up on and be in greenroom. Greenroom was very quick, but included a man playing the accordion.

The show started about 4:15 after all the stuff Hans goes through at the beginning to tell about UWP and then have to translate it. I did a lot of screwing around during this show. I hopped on a mic for ‘80’s with Leanne, then at the end of the show I skipped out of the Russian songs so I could put on an international costume. I ended up putting on Moku’s old costume and a bandana around my head, and became Japanese for a couple songs: Unfinished World and UWP. I was even in the UWP line. Mia stood right behind me on stage and asked me why I was wearing that costume. She was laughing but I don’t think she was too happy, but I really don’t care. I ran off for the encores because I didn’t want to be on stage for all those presentations at the end.

By the time they shut up and I got changed and on the truck it was 6:15pm, but things didn’t really come out to the truck until 6:30. After we got going, we made pretty good time and were finished by 8:00pm. We are supposed to have finished and eaten by 7:30 to go meet a family to go home with for the evening. When strike was done, they had some Cokes waiting for us. (I just remember that the film crew filmed strike also. Cool!)

We went back to the hotel, washed up a little, changed clothes, and went downstairs to meet a family. Monique Balsinger grabbed me as I walked out and asked me to come with here, and I said I would.

Paul and the father (head of the house) were there to pick us up, and we walked to their house on the other side of the Volga River. When we arrived they had a fantastic spread of food out, but also lots of mouths to feed. There were eleven people other than Monique and I and a collie (dog). Dinner conversation started slow, but between Paul (English translator) and one of the other guys, who knew German, we managed pretty well. I asked them what they thought of America, and they had really not heard much. They asked me of what I thought about Russia before I came, and I said onion top cathedrals and Siberia. They asked me a lot about my school, and a lot of questions about UWP. We talked about Communism and Capitalism (which they don’t know much about either one). I said the main difference was that in our society “The harder you work, the more you can get.” Here everyone works for the good of everything, and there is no motivation to do better. During this whole conversation we drank champagne, and had many toasts with Georgian vodka.

After dinner, the guys sat down and played Beatles songs and I tried to sing along. They also played some Russian songs for me, and when that got old, I pulled out all my Colorado stuff and pictures to show them. They seemed very interested in looking at where I am from and my family. We did that for about an hour and when we were finished I taught Olga how to country swing (or at least I tried). It was pretty funny because she had no concept of what to do, but considering this she still did well. We took some pictures had some dessert and started exchanging gifts. They gave me some postcards, this banner, a little I.D. book and a cassette tape of Russian music. Also various pins, cards, posters, and picture of a building they designed (They are architects). We presented them with a UWP record signed by Monique and me and UWP buttons to each of them. After one more toast (that I made) with some strong Russian vodka we left to walk back to the hotel. This last toast was several gulps of vodka, and definitely put me into the pleasantly buzzed category. Almost everyone walked back with us to the hotel except for Mom and Dad. It was surprisingly hard to leave. It is amazing how people could become so close, so quickly and not even speak the same language. It was a fantastic evening and I am so glad I went there. I felt I finally got a clear view of what Soviet life was really all about. I didn’t get back to the hotel until about 1:30am and packed until about 2:15 when I went to bed.

We loaded the buses first before we went to breakfast, and afterwards we did our presentations to Sputnik and took an official cast picture

My bus date was Diane and we worked on the statistics until the movie “The Bedroom Window” was put on the TVs in the bus. We watched that and figured out the number of shows and hours on a bus. We arrived at our hotel about 2:00 and went through our bread ceremonies, did The Proverb Song and UWP, then went to lunch. It was a fantastic meal (for once), and everyone just went wild.

After lunch we got our luggage, and checked into our room. I got into my suit and tie and met Christine Dorn and Ahmet Rhineike downstairs in the lobby. We took off on bus 87 to the Bolshoi Theater where we got off and walked to the Kremlin. As we walked up the hill (it took us 15 minutes to figure out how to cross the street) into Red Square you could see the top of the cathedral. That is the one thing that I have always thought of when I thought of Russia. It was the most awesome feeling in my lifetime. I felt like I was walking into a postcard and for the first time I really felt like I was in the heart of the Soviet Union. Wow! I think I will never forget that picture in Red Square.

We stood there for a while looking around and trying to get into the Kremlin. We finally started walking and ended up by the tomb of the unknown soldier. When we realized we were not anywhere near where we were supposed to be, we asked a police officer where to go. I had asked the guides earlier in the day to write, in Cyrillic, the place where Gorbachev lived. I showed the officer and he tried to explain where to go but he spoke no English or German, but some passer-byes stopped to help us because he spoke German. I’m sure glad Christine came because between the two of us we managed pretty well.

After asking several policemen along the way, we finally made it to the building the guides had written down for me. We started to walk in and were stopped by a man standing outside. He didn’t speak English or German so he went inside to get someone else, but the person he got was another man who could not speak either English or German. After trying to explain what we wanted and he had no clue, he took us down the street about a block and a half to another building. We went into the lobby before you get to the security checkpoint, and the man went to get someone else. He came back with someone who does speak English, and we gave him the UWP spiel (explanation of what UWP is). After about 5 minutes the guys asked us to wait a minute and 5 minutes later he came back with another man who spoke English.

We told him why we were there (to invite Mr. Gorbachev to our show) and told him who we were (that we were an international group spreading peace through understanding). I explained to him that we felt UWP is breaking the ice for the Reagan/Gorbachev student exchange program by being such an international group. He said “Well you realize that Mr. Gorbachev is a very busy man.” I said, “I understand that, but I would not be here if I didn’t think this was important.” We talked a little bit longer with him only being mildly interested until we finally mentioned that our sponsor was Sputnik. He seemingly became much more interested once we told him that Sputnik was responsible for bringing us to the USSR. He said “Why then did not an official Sputnik representative ask Mr. Gorbachev to attend the show?” I replied “Both Sputnik and UWP has sent official telegrams to him, but we thought it would be better and more sincere if we came and invited him in person”

At the end of the conversation he said, “The best I can do is try and get him a message from you and have him get in touch with you.” So Christine pulled out a business card and I put my name on the back. I also showed him our hotel card and he wrote down the name, my room number and when we would be leaving, and said he would try either way to tell us.

It was a disappointing ending, but more or less what I expected. I felt at least we tried and had fun doing it. Besides how many people in Colorado Springs can say they tried to talk with General Secretary Gorbachev in person.

We went back to the hotel for dinner and the rest of the evening was free. Some people went to the walking street at night, but I stayed in my room trying to get caught up with my journal.

Today after breakfast, we had another one of those fantastic bus tours. I was dead tired so I slept most of the time which I just hate doing but couldn’t keep my eyes open. The first 2 times the buses stopped I didn’t even get out. The third place was at Moscow University which was cool, then an overlook of the Olympic Stadium and also looked into an Orthodox church. When our bus tour was finished, we went to stand in line for Lenin’s Mausoleum and on the way half of us put flowers on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It took less than 30 minutes to get to the Lenin Mausoleum from a pretty good distance away. The guards, however, were constantly making people get as close together as possible and keep moving. You had to walk within the lines and in pairs, as you turned “the corner” you had to close your jacket, women had to wear shirts with sleeves, you could not have your hands in your pocket, cross your arms or hold someone else’s hand. Jerko had his arms crossed inside the structure and they pulled them apart and down to his side. We laid flowers outside next to the entrance just before we entered. Staying in groups of two in a single file line, we went down about 3 flights of stairs. The inside was made of black marble (not like the red outside) and was kind of cold inside. I was not expecting to go downstairs because I figured that is why it is so tall above ground level. It gave the image that we were going down to see a jewel.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, we turned right for about 4 feet, then walked up about six stairs that led you on to the platform that went around the glass case that contained Lenin’s body. The lighting in there was very smooth, soft light just on the body. He was covered in a black velvet blanket and raised at a slight angle. His right hand was in a fist and left hand flat. It looked wax, as everyone says, but his beard/goatee was not very well trimmed so maybe it grew after he died. We had about a total of 30 seconds to walk on 3 of the four sides of his glass case, down the platform, up the 3 flights of stairs and out. The whole mausoleum experience lasted less than 3 or 4 minutes from entrance to exit with 16 guards inside to protect a dead body. This was a memorable experience I think I will not soon forget. It was a very morbid, weird thing we did than hundreds of thousands do every year.

When we were out, we walked along a path with plaques of dead soldiers who were of some political power. Then lastly you walk by all the graves of the past General Secretaries (except Krushchev) and a stone bust of them. We ended back up in Red Square where the Mausoleum had just closed at one o’clock, so Leanne and I took a Red’s in Red Square photo as well as all redheads in Red Square picture. We also took an official cast picture with the cathedral in the background.

We started walking to where the buses were but several of us stopped to get a picture of Kurt and the back of the cathedral, which is the picture on the sweatshirt. While we stood there, this guy in a black car came speeding by us. I pulled Kurt back and right after that, it skidded to stop, but hit Doug in the process. It only hit him hard enough to knock him in the air a little and off his feet. The guy who hit him hardly got out of his car, and when Doug got up and we were trying to get him out of the way, the guy started honking his horn. He was so rude, I couldn’t believe it. We then went to the buses to go to lunch. Lunch was late so we missed out on the Kremlin, so instead we had about 45 minutes of free time on the walking street. I found these wall hanging hot plate holders and a little wooden box for my Mom and Penny.

We went to dinner and then to a car museum of Ladas. It was a joke because the cars are ugly to begin with, but also were in terrible condition. One of the cars had a windshield wiper missing and most were scratched. After about 45 minutes of complete boredom we loaded the bus and went to another facility. Once we got there we sat in the audience and watched two performances. One of a man who plays guitar and harmonica, and was rather funny (interpreted). The second was weird, but cool of a mime acting out the world being blown up. Right after him we went backstage, had a 10 minute greenroom/warm-up, then did a 20-minute Toa show. It was extremely hard to do, but we actually pulled it off. People were really dragging today (literally and figuratively) due to little sleep, being on a bus all day, and several people being sick.

Afterwards we had a light dinner (2 open faced sandwiches and a Pepsi) and there was a disco, but about 6 of us sat around and talked. It was good because I explained about the time capsule and Laurie told of a chain letter she wanted to start. It would go from person to person and each person was required to write something about what is happening in your life and sending it on to the next person on the list. I hope she does it and it works.

As soon as they announced that the buses were leaving, we all hopped up and hurried out to the buses to go back to the hotel. We really didn’t do much back at the hotel, but I was anxious to get back and relax.

6/16/88 – Thursday

Today is (was) a rainy, soaking wet day. We broke into four groups in the morning, but after breakfast they changed it into 3 groups. (set up crew couldn’t setup today.) One group (my group) went to Lenin’s Library and the other two went to Pioneer Palace.

We finally got to the library at 11:10, but the guide had gone to lunch and would be back in 10 minutes. We waited in the lobby until 11:50 and then we went on a weak-ass tour that lasted until 12:40. I don’t think I saw anymore of the library than if I would not have gone.

We went to lunch, then had the option of going to the monastery or to a Beriaska (tourist, hard currency) shop. They were at the same place, so a lot of people did both or tried in the 45 minute we had. At the shop I finished getting all my gifts: Dad- chocolate and candy, Scott – a box; Brett – chess set; for everyone a bottle of champagne and a bottle of vodka. I also bought a book on Moscow for myself and the family ( and had the whole cast sign it.) The book was $17.00 (10.30 rubles) and the rest of the stuff was $38.00, so I spent almost $60.00 Ouch! It will be worth it though. (Editor: What a big spender I was!)

From there we went back to the hotel to get ready for a folk music concert we were going to and have dinner. The concert was at the Cosmos Hotel, an awesome tourist hotel, in the theater there. It was really neat because the orchestra consisted of all guitar-like instruments, percussion and large glockenspiels The instruments sounded like they were from the same family as the mandolin. It was nice to be on the receiving end of a performance for a change. They had a few singers perform with them that were pretty good, especially one lady. I think the thing I liked best, however, was the way they ended. On the last song instruments just started leaving by ones and in small groups waving to the conductor as they left. It was done really classy, and was a really cool way to finish. Some people went backstage after the performance to meet some people in the orchestra. I went back to the hotel, riding with Laurie, and when we got there, the door was locked and the key was gone. We knew Doug was in the room and our bet was that Holly was with him and we were right. (Editor: I wonder what they were doing??)

The rest of the evening was spent running around checking out the scene, but ended up going to bed around midnight.

(Here comes that rainy day feeling again!) Today we split into several groups to go different ways. They did this at breakfast right after they introduced a girl from Lithuania who wants to travel in UWP and then introduced Mary Hart. I was actually a little disappointed, but I really don’t know what I was expecting. She is very pretty, but not the “Knock-out” that I remember from TV. Terry and all the other people with titles sat at her table and I’m sure Terry let her know that she slept in his bed when he was 2 years old.

My group went to the armory then the Kremlin, and others did the following; 20 did the Kremlin, and then the armory; 30 went to Pace talk conference with Mary Hart; 40 set up. The armory was really interesting, but I didn’t enjoy walking with the tour guide because I could not hear her. So, I did a self-guided tour, bur checking in occasionally with the group. Now I am really glad I got the book because it has some fantastic pictures in the armory.

When we were done there, we went to the Kremlin, but all we did was walk into a cathedral for a while then left. Dek, Meg and I got into it a little more, and got left behind, but caught up soon afterwards. Then we got on the buses and went to lunch. It was a relatively good tour, but very wet at the Kremlin.

At lunch I spent a little time talking with Hal Brown about doing commercials. It was really interesting and I really felt that is what I wanted to do. I actually got excited about doing that as a possible profession. I asked him about internships and he said yes they do them and to give him a call when I get back to the states. Although he was answering my questions, he seemed in a hurry the whole time and he kind of talked over me.

After lunch I made arrangements with Cassi to go to the Cosmos Hotel with her, to pick up some posters, but she left while Randy and I introduced ourselves to Mary Hart. So Randy and I went to try and invite Gorby to the show again, but ended up talking with this guy for about 20 minutes. We talked mostly in circles, but he was impressed how Americans make an effort to try and make positive contact.

When we were finished at the Central Committee building we went to Russia’s, actually the Soviet Union’s, largest and best shopping mall called Gumm (pronounced Goom). It was rather large but we only walked down one hallway on one floor. The shops were almost like the flea market where you stand at the counter, point at something you would like a closer look, then put it back or buy it. You never touch the merchandise except when you look at it and again when it is wrapped. If you decide you want to buy it you must take a slip to the cashier, pay for it, she gives you a receipt, then you go back for the wrapped package and get to pick it up by either showing the receipt or giving it to her.

We rode the bus back to the hotel, after getting a picture of the water machines, and finding out that a whole string of taxis had no time to take us to the hotel. They weren’t busy, but it seems to me they only work when they want to.

I got back to the hotel, showered and got ready to go to this Sputnik dinner. It was a pretty nice dinner and we even got to pop a bottle of champagne and toast to several things. We did a lot of dancing and just tried to have fun. It made me think of how the end of the year banquet would be. I actually only danced with Gretchen, Brenda La Mica and Corinne. I rode back to the hotel with Kurt, Gretchen and Nanette. When we got back to the hotel I walked Gretchen back to her room. Almendra gave me a Mexico pin and then Gretchen walked me to the door. I stopped her in the little hallway between the bedroom and door and gave her a kiss. Gretchen is a pretty good kisser. (Editor: Maybe she was my destiny? Must have made enough of an impression as to want to eventually marry her. :) )

I went back and changed and went to Doug’s b-day party in #1401. At midnight when we sang Happy B-Day and popped the champagne, and when that had happened I went up to Leanne’s room (1522) to see her surprise party. I sat there for 10-15 minutes then went back down to Doug’s. Deedra grabbed me however, and wanted me to go trading with her. So I followed her and we told everybody that we came in contact with that there was someone in a red shirt and jean jacket with a knife that had stolen some stuff from Rita and Monique. (Editor: hmmm, don’t remember what this was about.)

We wandered around for a while, but I went to bed abut 1:30.

After another “Breakfast with Mary” we loaded the buses to go to rehearsal, while some people went “shopping with Mary.” The performance hall is a sports area/ice rink that holds 35,000 people, and is pretty impressive. The stage went length wise and had our full stage and another stage for other bands facing one half of the arena. It was an awesome sight to see, but they were still building a structure behind our stage when we got there. I spent the whole morning working on costumes with Mary Huckins, Diane, Lena and Deedra. I didn’t really do much, but hang up the costumes after they were ironed. We did, however, enjoy reminiscing about the year and talking about different things that have happened to each of us. We all went to lunch at the hotel, and had a little time to get stuff pulled together for the show tonight.

When we went back for rehearsal we ran several things with costumes on so the camera could film. We had time to get ready for our first appearance on stage and eat a sack dinner before greenroom. At greenroom we had a quick few words from some people, but did not have much time before we went on.

The first segment of the show was all the performers on stage doing one song and jamming out. When we were done, we had an hour and 15 minutes to wait before we went on, so the fishing club got together for a while. Henry did most of the talking about his experiences in the hospital in Leningrad. It was pretty scary some of the things he was saying about the isolation ward he was in and the food he was served. It was really eye-opening for me, but somewhat what I expected. We talked a little bit about Lenin’s Mausoleum and our feelings about how they “worship” Lenin. We finished up by all praying together. It was really refreshing.

For our second to last greenroom we listened to the rest of the Irma tape that we started in Vitlander . All she said was that we were a great group and wished us all the luck in our show in the future.

When we were getting ready to go on stage I decided I wanted to wear the Japanese costume again, and Noriko gave me a headband to wear with it that is really cool. I was wearing the headband around behind stage and Mia came up to me and said “You aren’t going to wear the Japanese costume on stage again are you?” I said, “Yeah, I was planning on it.” She said, “I don’t think you should because you don’t look Japanese. I could understand if it were the German or Russian costume, but people in Japan are going to watch the video in a year and wonder why you are wearing that outfit.” I said “ I don’t think it is that big of a deal,” and just stared at her. She said “Do you have a major problem with it?” I said “As a matter of fact I do. It my cast year, I’m just having fun, and I don’t thing it matters, but I won’t wear it on stage.” (Editor: Sorry Mia-if you ever read this- for being a 20 year-old know-it-all.) Soon after I did take a picture with it on, but went on stage right away after I took it off. Needless to say I was not very happy with Mia and wanted to be in a good mood on stage which made it very hard. During the show, I was able to get on a microphone with Leanne for 80’s and Song of Peace, and had a blast. I went out in the audience for Shout and was nearly blinded by the spotlight while dancing in the aisle. It was a real challenge trying to stand on a step and not fall off. We were performing for about 12,000 people and the show was going great until we got to We Wish You Happiness the first time. We were also going to do that as an encore with all the bands so they all came on stage because they thought we were done, and we still had a good 20 minutes of performing left. The cast just went with it and kept going, but the “people in coats and ties” from UWP just went crazy especially Reed Thompson. They started up the smoke machines and he was back there trying to stop them yelling “Nyet.” The MC for the evening came on stage and was swaying back and forth with us (the wrong way), while Hans walked on stage with a concerned look in his eye. Lindsay and Mia were running around trying to decide whether or not to continue. They ended up doing The Proverb Song with everyone on stage then back into We Wish You Happiness for the encore. At the end another song was played while we went dancing and clapping in the audience. I enjoyed seeing the UWP powers going crazy and frantic more than performing tonight.

I got dressed right away after the show and went back to the hotel. I don’t remember the rest of the evening, but I probably stayed up and talked with Steve and Doug and wrote in my journal. I think in general people are holding up really well, but are getting a little run down. The most frustrating thing is (as the saying explains it), “Hurry up and wait.” That has been the cast motto for these past weeks and the whole year, but not as regularly used. Tomorrow is the last show but I don’t think that is sinking into too many people’s heads. I know it hasn’t hit me. It will! I’m sure.

6/19/88 – Sunday (Last show of the year)

We had the morning off until 1:30 when lunch was served. I slept in until about 11:00 when I got up and showered and wrote some postcards. I also finally wrote in Elin’s book. I told her I would write some questions and she could answer them in my book.

After lunch I bought some stamps so I could get my postcards in the mail. We loaded the buses at 2:30 and like usual we left around 3:00. They were going to take an official cast picture in Red Square in our show costumes, but it was raining so they decided to wait and see if the rain stopped. Well on the way to the hall, they changed their mind and we ended up at Red Square. We all changed on the buses as soon as we found out. It showed how far we have come since the beginning of the year. No one even hesitated changing, they just complained (because most people had been in their costume, but they told us to change into fitness clothes) and started taking their clothes off. I thought it was relatively funny, and what was even more funny was that halfway across Red Square it started raining again. All you could do is laugh it off. We were all in a “V” shape with our banner in the center in front of St. Basil’s. We took a few pictures with different Sputnik people then one with Mary Hart and that is when the cameras started rolling. She gained some respect from me when she proved she had some fun in her. On the count of three we all ran and rushed the cameras and screaming. It was funny and sure got some frustrations of having a camera round all the time out of our system. This is, however, where the epitome of “Doing it for the camera” happened. We all walked around Mary talking with her and walked around Red Square. It was really dumb, and there were a lot of people walking in the back bitching about it. At the front with Mary were the usual suspects: Rick, Ruud-Jan, Susie, Sean, Rodney and Brett. I was walking with Leanne, but there were a lot of Europeans around us. I think the Americans could understand why we were doing what we were doing, and had an easier time accepting it than the non-American, however. Most Americans thought it was a little ridiculous. When we were done, we went back to the facility to work Mary into the show. We all got into our show costumes (those that weren’t) so that we could film it. We must have run her little speech about 10 times. It got really old, but when we were finished and waiting for instructions we did The Load is Getting Heavier. It was like resurrecting something from the dead.

When we were done, we had a quick meeting then had a little time to eat our sack dinner and change into our costumes.

Our first green room was “the official” one with Sputnik, Hans making presentations, Mary wishing us a good show, and various other official people and stuff happening. We went on for this opening song soon after and there was very little emotion involved. Between the two shows I wrote about 15 postcards before we met for our final greenroom.

In the greenroom Lindsay spent the time thanking the production staff and told us the staff had gotten together about something, but wanted us to vote on something. In keeping with Russian tradition, they wanted to have a toast with Russian Vodka as an entire cast and wanted to know if anyone objected. Some people raised their hand in jest (Brian Eide), but they had alternative drinks anyways. We were going to do this toast at the end of greenroom, but the vodka started eating through the plastic cups so we had to do it sooner. “To Cast A” Nastrovia!

Lindsay continued by saying what a great group of people we were and ended up getting a little teary-eyed before she was done. When she was done, Christine did a warm-up, but each intern did one of their warm-ups that they were “famous” for. We did one last Who’s the best, who’s the best, Cast A! and walked away singing Go Bananas. I missed the last fishing club prayer which I could kick myself for but my head was somewhere else. Most of the “crying girls” were crying, but for the most part everyone was still stable.

I personally was not feeling anything as far as emotions, which I felt bad about, but came to the conclusion that maybe I have prepared myself for this better than others (Editor: But Boy Howdy did it hit me about three weeks later!). I later found out that several people shared my “non-emotions” and my same conclusion. We did a lot of hugging then went on stage and had one of (if not the) most energetic shows ever. I don’t think I have ever sweated as much as I did this night. I tried to put this whole year’s energy , excitement, frustrations and achievements into my performance. It was a good show and everyone held it together until Unfinished World then there were a few tears. I have to admit it almost got to me and I had a quick touching moment when I was screaming my lungs out on the AAAAAAAHHHHHH! I was standing next to Tim and holding Jo’s hand behind me. It was like I had expected, but felt good to be with friends. Then we went into our Russian songs segment, finish off with Mary making her little speech about “looking forward to the day when children don’t draw picture of missiles.” The ending tonight went much better although the MC still came up early.

Most of us went back to the hotel following the show, but one crew stayed back to strike.

We were just sitting in our room and Shawn and Wijnand brought in 2 members from one of the Russian rock bands that played with us. We were talking and people were straggling in, but before I knew it, it had turned into a party. We tried to keep it quiet for Denis next door, but people just kept coming. At one point in the evening there were 57 people in the room. I don’t know how (that’s Doug’s figure), but I know I counted 50 before that so it is possible. The highlight of the evening was when Hans, Carlos, Terry, Thomas and Reed came in loaded with liquor in their hands (and stomachs). I don’t know how many times Hans banged on his glass to make a toast or just to say something and eventually several people made toasts. At one point he clanked his glass and said “I just want to announce that my glass is empty.” It was a prime moment and I was out of film. I had used my last picture with Mary Hart and her brother that afternoon.

About 2:30 we started kicking people out, but didn’t succeed until about 3:00 A.M. The room looked like a tornado had hit it, but one broken table was our only casualty. I enjoyed myself especially when Denis came in to ask us to quiet down and came face to face with Hans. (Denis was not a happy person!) (Editor: Denis, have your forgiven us yet after 18 years?)

After packing a little, we were in bed no later than 3:30 A.M.

We got on the bus at 6:00 a.m. and I was plenty tired, so I slept (not as well as Deedra, my bus date though). We stopped in Kalinin for lunch at 12:00 (we were supposed to be there at 9:30am) until 12:30. I finish the story Roadwork in the Bachman books novel by Steven King. During the course of the trip several movies were shown. The Bedroom Window, Rambo, The Living Daylights (James Bond) and The Golden Child. We arrived in Leningrad at about 9:00 p.m. (15 hour travel day), but by the time we dropped of one group of people at the Palace of Youth hotel and got checked into our hotel it was 10:30 p.m.

Henry was my roommate and we stayed up and talked and wrote -postcards because he was doing some trading at 1:00am. They came to our room along with Marc DeGroot and Jeff Martinson who also wanted to trade. I got caught up in it because I decided I wanted a flag. I gave a pair of my black Mega Sport shorts, some razor blades, 3 packs of gum and a UWP lapel pin. He wanted my used deodorant, shirt (dress shirt), pouch to my black carry on bag, my sweat pants and my Jammin’ shirt, none of which I wanted to part with.

By the time they left and we got to bed it was 3:00 a.m. You wonder if these kids have parents and what they think of them being out this late (or early) in the morning. They couldn’t have been older than 16 years.

We woke up at 7:35, washed my hair then loaded the buses for breakfast at 7:45. After breakfast we left Leningrad for the border, but we stopped in Vyborg for lunch. It was really odd because we came back the same way we went and I recognized some of the same signs, houses, and just scenery in general brought back a wave of “first impressions.”

Lunch in Vyborg was actually very good, and what was funny was we got lost and pulled into the train station just like the first time. It was a major déjà vu. Mary Huckins bought me a local newspaper right before we left, then we went to the border. It was only about a 30 minute drive and I saw so many things that I first saw only 2 weeks ago i.e: dogs, tanks covered up, rundown houses, houses painted all different greens, and the beautiful scenery with the buoys in the water.

We got to the initial border where they took a count of how many people were on each bus. We got to the main border about 2:30 and everyone was worried about them checking luggage. We made it through relatively easily and I don’t think anyone was checked. The thing that took time was exchanging money. When I got up there I did not have the exchange papers with me because I didn’t think I ever got them. However I found out later that I had them in my address book. Brenda B. exchanged them with her rubles.

We passed through one more border (to check our numbers) then off to the Finnish border. We arrived about 4:30 – 5:00 (3:30-4:00 Finland time) and it was like a huge weight was taken off our shoulders (collectively). We all went through Finnish customs and laid outside waiting for the third bus. The weather was great and everyone was all ecstatic (excited) about clean bathrooms and being in the Western world again.

We arrived in Lappenranta about 5:00 and had two hours to kill before the meeting. I went and bought film ($10 for 1 roll) a candy bar and a chocolate ice cream cone. I was one of the lesser “Western world indulgers,” a lot of people went out and bought “normal food.”

We had a meeting at 7:00pm where we started saying goodbyes to Thomas Rhinecky and his wife and to Christine Stevens who is leaving early to get settled before she starts her job in Topeka. A teary situation but I have yet to get choked up.

My host family was about 15 minutes late, but when they picked me up I got comfortable, took a much needed shower, got my clothes together to wash, then relaxed by watching the soccer semi-finals. I tried imagine leaving tomorrow for Munich, but couldn’t. Thank God. (Editor: This comment was I

in relation to the fact at one point we were going to go do a show in Munich during the soccer finals.)

6/22/88 – Wednesday

I didn’t have to be in until noon, but I still was up around 10:00 taking a shower and getting ready. I did a little writing and packing before we left at 11:45. Only some people came at noon for lunch, the rest came at 1:00 p.m. for the meeting. I signed up for lunch because it was salad and I had not liked my host family’s food the first time I stayed there. After indulging in an ice cream cone, I went back for our USSR evaluation.

Carlos ran the meeting and Bruce Early taped everything everyone said. They asked if our first impression or preconceived ideas were correct. They asked what surprised us, what did we like or dislike, and a few other general questions. The last two hours were spent going around the circle giving our one (ha ha) best experience in the Soviet Union. Most everyone gave two or three in great detail so only about 25 people told their experiences. I was kind of disappointed not getting to share my experience (missed me by about 5 people), and I was really only going to take my one minute. I was just going to list meeting the clowns and trying to invite Gorbachev to our show, then tell about trying to teach my Kalinin Mom country swing. It kind of made me mad that people were taking 4 or 5 minutes. Matt told about our experience with the traders in Leningrad which kind of embarrassed me. He made me sound like a total rule breaker.

We finished up at 5:00 by asking a few statistics like: how many families did we visit; how many of us feel like they made a friend; how many got marriage proposals? When we were done, I met Paul and we went home to grab our swimming trunks and head to his summer home.

It was a nice place and I met his mother, uncle, uncle’s wife, cousin (or nephew) mother-in-law who were all there. We played darts for a while ( I could hardly hit the target let alone the bulls eye), then changed, sat in the sauna (my first Finish sauna) for maybe 5 minutes, then jumped in the lake, swam across and back then back in the sauna to rest. Whew! Paul decided there was enough wind (but very little) to wind surf. He went out first (his second time), but ended up paddling back to let me try. I had to start from the water (he started on the dock, which was a challenge in itself. After taking many times to figure out how to stay on the board and pull the sail out of the water without falling off, I learned how to stand. Just when I would get going I would head to the shore and not know how to turn. Every time Paul said “Good job!” I would fall off! (Murphy’s Law) I was going to keep trying until I got it, but it was getting late so I gave up, however, it was a very noble effort. We sat in the sauna little longer, washed off in the lake, dried off and started up the grill for dinner. They called them hot dogs, but it was just large sausages to me. They were good. We left about 9:30, and was home and in bed by 10:30 or 11:00.

6/24/88 – Friday

When I got up, I finished packing it was about 8:10 and we had to be at HDO at 8:00, but I had forgot to tell my family that it had been changed from 8:30. To help him hurry up, I told him that it had been changed to 8:15. I got to HDO at about 8:25 and had to find which bus I was on to put my luggage on. I found my name scratched out and switched to another bus than what Kurt was on, and we were supposed to be allocated together. I asked Catharina and she said I had been switched because Ruud-Jan had missed the bus so I had to go to this other city. I said “What if Kurt and I are roomed together and I’m in the other city?” She said “I doubt you are because a lot of people are alone.” I said “So you know how pissed I am going to be if I find out that I was supposed to be allocated with him?” Luckily Lynda was there and said the good news was that she could be my bus date still.

I was kind of upset at the whole morning because I didn’t have any time to say goodbye to anybody before we had to leave. Lynda and I had a good bus date, we didn’t say much but just enjoyed each other’s company.

We arrived in this town about 45 kilometers from Helsinki at noon and I, of course, was not allocated, but neither was Ruud-Jan. So I found out Steve Ellis had been changed out of a large group so he could be by himself. He asked me to join him right as I was approaching him if I could join him. So he took Clay’s place, I took Rick’s.

Our family never showed up, so this alumna went to their house to see if they were there, but they weren’t. He came back for us, and took our luggage over and put it on their front porch, then we walked downtown. We tried to hitchhike, but with no luck.

We ended up at this restaurant and had a pizza and talked for a while. After that we walked around and ran into Dale, but was unable to go anywhere because everything was closed due to Midsummer Nights (holiday). We ended up back at a bar and had a drink and tried to get a hold of our family. Still no answer so we called Timo (the alumnus) and he came to pick us up. We went back to his place and crashed for a couple hours.

When we woke up we knew no more info so Timo arranged for us to sleep on the floor in his sister’s house. We asked again about his summer home and if that would be okay because we would really prefer beds. He said sure and we took our stuff out there.

Steve and I were so psyched when we drove up because it is out in a forest in the middle of nowhere. There is one hose with running water downstairs next to the sauna, but an outhouse for bathroom accommodations. It is going to be like camping in a luxurious cabin.

After we dropped off our stuff, we went to this bonfire at about 9:30pm. It was supposed to be lit at midnight, but somehow got started at 10:00. We watched until 11:00 then left to go back to his place to get some food. We finally got back to our “home/cabin” around midnight and settled in.

We spent the first hour snooping around by candlelight in the dark, checking in every door we could find. The second hour we tried to get the wood stove going to boil some tea. After filling the house with smoke we sat in the kitchen and talked until about 2:00am. It was really cool being on our own, in nature, making the best of a potentially bad situation, and getting to know each other. We had never really roomed together except in Moscow, but I really get along well with him and we were equally excited about staying here.

6/25/88 – Saturday

First thing in the morning when I woke up I called Gretchen and Michelle. I had talked with Michelle on the bus yesterday and she was really up for going camping. We told them how great our situation was and they got excited and decided to come. However… they had no car in their host family, so we had the dilemma of how to get them out here. We thought of everything from hitchhiking to bus to have Clay bring them, but after much thinking, and a lot of telephone calls, we decided they should go to the train station and grab a taxi when talking with a taxi driver how much it would cost another taxi driver noticed that they were in UWP. It was Timo (our host dad) and he said, “You are trying to get to my house,” so he brought them out here free of charge.

While we were waiting for them Nannette called wanting to know how to get here so they could come visit. I gave them directions. When they arrived, we walked to go swimming in a lake. We tried a couple lakes before getting to the one that we went swimming in. We swam for a while then walked back, but on the way back Nanette and Brenda drove by us and picked us up and took us the rest of the way. We all lounged around, took a nap (with Gretchen and Michelle), eventually started a barbeque to cook some sausages/hot dogs for dinner. After dinner, Steve started up the sauna and Michelle, Gretchen, Steve and I went and sat in it, and eventually Nanette and Brenda went to sit in there. After that we sat around and talked and asked some serious questions like: Have you ever been in trouble with the cops; Have you broken rule number 9 this year, are you a virgin? were amongst the question. (Editor: Sorry, no answers were written in my journal.)

I don’t know what time it was when we went to bed because none of us were wearing watches because we didn’t want to keep track of time. We all slept in the same bed (except Steve).

6/26/88 – Sunday

I got up around 10:30 in time to see our guests leave. Michelle and Gretchen went to Clay’s house, and Nanette and Brenda went home. Steve and I laid out in the sun, sauna’ed, laid out some more, wrote in my journal, read my Moscow book (Nanette did some cool calligraphy in it for me), fell asleep for about two hours, did some more writing and listened to music. Timo came over about 6:00 p.m. with some firewood, and when he left we cooked our dinner, (sausages again). He called us back to tell us we were here for the duration which we were not too happy about. This has been fantastic, but without any TV or anything we will go crazy in another three days. He did bring us some more food which Steve was extremely pleased about. Later that evening we did more snooping out in the barn, went on an adventure in the woods, cut down a tree (Editor: see below for further explanation), came back, wrote in my journal while Steve added up all my statistics (that helped me a lot), then we talked a while about people and the banquet. Steve is an really interesting guy. Earlier he told me about a survival week he did; a summer job as a nurse in a small town mostly working on airplane crashes; all his interests in stocks, and at one time had about $130,000, but lost $60,000. He said he would also like to go through the whole interview process again, be accepted, go to staging with a beard and curly hair, and do the whole year again with no one ever knowing, and see if anyone questioned him or if he could really make it and how far. That would be so cool because you would know so much, but could play dumb and concentrate on the things you want to improve from the first time.

We have definitely done a lot of talking and I feel like I know him a lot better than I used to. It is neat because now he is someone I might keep in touch with more because of these past few days. (Editor: And I have!)

It is 1:12am and the sun will probably be coming up in the next hour (it just set an hour and a half ago), so I should go to bed. I’m starting to get a little homesick or at least America sick. Being here alone makes you think a lot.

Editors note: Henri was anxiously awaiting this day, and I have been asked by Julie Burgan to share with you “the rest of the story” behind the cutting down of the tree. Steve and I had two rusty axes and it took us way to long to cut down this three inch round evergreen, but it made us feel very manly and was quite the testosterone charged event. About two years later after we got off the road I received this very official looking letter from the “Finland National Forrest – Department of Legal Affairs”. It said something to the effect of “Dear Mr. Axton, We know that you cut down one of our precious trees without provocation and have issued a warrant for your arrest if you should ever return to Finland. Our trees are our most precious commodity and we prosecute those, to the fullest extent, who destroy them for pure recreation and with no regard to our laws.” Something along those lines. At this point I had not realized that there was a US postage stamp on the envelope even though the return address was from Finland. It wasn’t until I got to the second page that it said, “Here is to remembering a fun few days in Finland. Sincerely, Steve” Well, being a gullible college student, he actually had me believing the letter until I got to his disclosure.

I am not one to forget these things easily. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew there would come a time when I could retaliate and get Steve back for making me feel like a Finnish fugitive. My opportunity came about four years later when I was performing at the Big Fork Summer Playhouse in Montana. It turns out the playhouse was about 30 minutes from where Steve’s father lived and and he was going to be in town visiting, so he made arrangement to come and see me perform in one of my productions. As was customary at the beginning of each show we would have a little pre-show announcement about no flash photography, and candy wrappers, etc., and would introduce any family members of the performers or dignitaries in the audience. I had given the person who does the announcement instructions on introducing Steve, but with a twist. First he asked for Steve Ellis to stand and be recognized. Well, you all know he is not one to shy away from attention, so there he is, with 6 or 8 family and friends around him, standing and not knowing why he is standing. The person on stage then asks the audience to help him welcome the Chairman of the Finnish National Forestry Department, and to give him a round of applause for traveling thousands of miles to be at tonight’s show. I have never seen a brighter shade of red on a human face, nor have I ever seen Steve Ellis speechless! To make it even better, he had people welcoming him to America during intermission and after the show.

I know my days are numbered, and I am constantly watching over my shoulder for the retaliation from Steve, but for the time being, I have the last laugh! HA!

I hope you are enjoying reading these as much as I am sharing them.

Grant,

I have such fond memories of the house in Finland. I remember when Michelle and Gretchen came over and joined us, about five guys . . . and it is so sad I cannot remember all of us who ended up being there. And to save their honor, there were more ladies who joined us. We had a bunch of people at our house!

The point was that we had a big house, no host family, keys to the car (which we left at the airport parking lot with the keys under the mat . . . did I mention we had NO host family!), run of the house, all the food we needed . . . and Kevin had a Sauna! (Editors Note: Host Family was only there the first night to tell us where everything was and left the next morning on vacation - not before sitting in the sauna topless . . . I wonder why Kevin liked that Sauna!) What a blast and great memory for me! I remember those cold mornings crawling down in that dark hole under the house to put firewood in the stove to heat the water for showers. We had great breakfasts, listened to Sting records (yes, records) and had we found an axe . . . well, we may have cut down a tree or two. Sorry Steve. Wow. Awesome memories.

Thank you so much for sharing your memories with us. I have relived so much of this through your writing, but found it to be so cool that someone, in the same cast as me, was having a totally different experience. Very cool. It is a very small world.

Clay

6/27/88 – Monday

I was awoken at 10:00 am by a phone call from Gretchen wondering what our plans were for the day. We didn’t know, but after calling Kurt’s (and mine) host family starting Monday they said they were able to take three people (instead of two). We called Timo and made arrangements for him to pick us up around 4:00pm to take us to the train station to meet our family at 5:00pm. After such a strenuous evening last night of exploring and chopping down a tree with Steve, we needed to have our daily sauna. While it was heating up I laid outside to catch some rays. Steve and I sauna’ed and “showered” then he took a nap and I read The Running Man by Steven King. For lunch we had our usual corn flakes, but also had butter and sugar on a bread warmed up to perfection. We have had a great diet of either sausages or corn flakes. This is called roughing it! During the day we packed and cleaned up the house, and by the time Timo came we were all set and ready to go.

While we were waiting for Kurt at the train station, Mina approached us and told us she was our host, and we explained to her that we were still waiting for one more person. The 5:00pm train came and went and no Kurt so we waited for the next at 5:15. We saw Ruud-Jan get off the train and we found out Kurt was with him, so Steve and I thought we were screwed again, but the family said they could take all four of us.

Timo took us and our luggage over to their house and we had Cyndi and Suzy with us too, and the poor family thought it was all of us. We got our luggage and beds situated then had dinner on the barbeque. It was a pretty good steak and nice to have a well-cooked meal.

We talked a while after dinner, but went to a place called “The Upstairs Club around 9:00pm. It was pretty boring, although, quite a few people were there, I just was bored. I had a rum and coke that made me tired, but had trouble getting into the “club scene.” We left about 12:30, which was fine with me. I did spend part of the evening talking with Birger about making a tape of American music for the video so I will try to do that for him.

We pretty much went straight to bed when we got home.

6/29/88 – Wednesday

Most of the morning was pretty lazy just sitting around until Kurt left for Helsinki to get the costume bags settled. Steve and I sat and watched the movie “V” until the power went off, so we went to lunch. The strange thing is here the power goes off before the thunderstorm not during. We had these meal coupons to use, but the restaurant had no power either as we sat and watched the rain. It was cool to watch and really started to downpour. We ran out in the rain a little bit until the power came on and went back to the restaurant to eat.

They spoke absolutely no English, so Steve pointed to the two different things on the board and hoped they would be good. For all we knew we were getting boiled tennis shoes, but actually got something edible. When we finished we went back to watch the rest of the movie, but towards the end, the tape ran out so we never saw the ending. Ruud-Jan came home just as we were leaving without him. He had to hurry in order for us to get out the door quickly.

We met host Mom at the airport with our luggage and checked it in as soon as possible. I still needed a Finnish flag for my coat so it would be complete (with a flag from every country we visited). Mina went one way and I went another, but she came back with what I didn’t want. Oh well, it was a nice gesture and it worked anyways so I was happy I didn’t have to buy it. I hung around with Randy until we had to go through passport control. Today was full of just waiting, so while we waited, I took a picture of all the Coloradoans.

We got on the plane at 6:30pm, and my plane date was Jennifer (McDonald). She was not feeling well so we didn’t talk much, but I got some writing done. The whole flight home (to NYC) it was light outside so it was hard to sleep, and the movie was Moonstruck. I was not too impressed with the movie, but watched the whole thing. Walked around talking to people for a while (to Lynda) and played gin with Jeff and Darci.

We landed at 8:20 and Jeff Van Zyl notified us that we were now alumni. Weird thought! We waited for about 30 minutes for our luggage and the first thing on the belt was Kelly Bates. It was pretty funny, but reality hit hard when Leanne left to catch her flight home. She was the first American to leave.

I went through customs relatively easy. I told them I was part of the UWP group that was going through and he asked me where I was coming from, whether or not I had food, and did I have any alcohol. I told him I had a bottle of champagne, no food, and my most expensive purchase was not over $20.00. I didn’t think I should mention about the vodka, but I didn’t have any problems anyways. (Editor: Probably a good idea not to mention it since I was only 20 at the time.)

We all congregated out near the doors and said our goodbyes. Steve Riveria was here to greet us and say hello and goodbye and it was really good to see him again. It got pretty teary-eyed for all of us and I was finally able to get out some of my emotions. We slobbered over each other for about an hour and a half until I could call home after 10:00 p.m.

Mom didn’t know much about what was going on with my flight plans. I told her I was not able to get in a hotel room that night and that my plans to get to New Jersey fell through so I was back to square one. I had checked with Bill Parker on how to get to Tom’s River and he told me I would have to switch a couple of times to a different bus in order to get there. She said Mrs. Marko was not able to get any Cats tickets, so she suggested I stay in the city and see what I could do about getting tickets, but she didn’t want me to sleep in the airport. When I was done talking with her, I checked the ground transportation and they said I could only get there by personal car. Megabucks! So I decided to wait, spend the night in the airport, and try and tackle it tomorrow with a clear head. A bunch of people (about 10 of us) found a somewhat quiet corner, and took over. Welcome to the Kennedy Airport Hotel! Not quite as comfortable as a hotel bed, but at least it was cheap (free).

6/30/88 – Thursday

How great can a day start off when you start it by waking up in an airport on the floor? We sat around and talked and waited as one by one people started walking away. Finally all that was left was Michelle Bauckham and I, and we said our final goodbye and went our separate ways.

I met up with Marty and Bill and we talked and read the USA Today. I was able to leave my stuff while I called the Markos and told them I was in town. I also looked into tickets to Cats and they had some available but I had to have a credit card to reserve, and besides I didn’t know Mary Huckins’ plans. When I was done with that, I babysat luggage while Marty waited until Cynthia left. I was going to go with Marty to Newark Airport but it cost $17.00 and I would still have to get to Tom’s River from there, so I decided to go to Port Authority downtown for $8.00.

Marty waited until I left, and we laughed about this guy’s job it was to inform everyone in sight when the bus came and how much it cost. I answered this girl’s question as to what bus it was outside and he about had a fit.

After I got downtown, I checked my luggage into storage then went straight to Winter Garden’s box office (only stopping at the visitors center for a map to make sure I knew where I was headed) to check on Cats tickets. I was able to get one for tonight for $30.00 so I went for it and figured Mary would understand. I thought since I saved money on the ticket I could buy a Cats t-shirt for $10.00. (Editor: Yeah, I am a geek.)

After I did that I found the nearest telephone (across the corner from Winter Gardens) and called John Marko and told him my plans. He seemed real cool about it and I told him I already had bought my ticket. He said I could either call when I got there or take a taxi. I called home and told them I checked into an airplane ticket and only found things for no less than $308 smackeroos. I asked if Mom could find more info on the cheaper tickets to call me at the Marko house. They also received my postcard from Russia today which took a lot less time than I expected.

When I was finished talking with them I went across the street to the Pizza Hut and had a pepperoni Personal Pan Pizza! It was delicious! I didn’t think I missed it that much. When I was finished I took the subway to downtown Manhattan and saw: The World Trade Center two towers, St. Paul’s Cathedral (outside) Trinity Church (inside), Wall Street, American Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and was going to see Chinatown and Little Italy, but I ran out of time. On the way back I went clear to 57th Street so I could go to the Hard Rock Café – New York. I stayed there for about 30 minutes and had my first real wine cooler in 3 months! That Bartles and Jaymes was one of the best things I have ever drank! (Editor: Yes, I was quite the wine cooler connoisseur.) The guy standing next to me had a Swedish flag on his coat and I asked him if he was from there. He said yes, but had moved to the states several years ago. I told him that this Hard Rock was much better than Stockholm and he agreed. We talked for a little while. I left about 6:30 to head back.

On the way back I looked into Radio City Music Hall, the NBC building and read a LIFE magazine in the Time/Life Building. I got to the theater at about 6:50 and just sat around and waited to go in.

When I first got my seat I couldn’t decided whether or not they would be good seats. I was actually in the stage left wing and right on top of the stage. It was good because you could see extra things the rest of the audience could not see like the entrances and exits, but the things you couldn’t see far outweighed what you could see. Most of the time we were staring at their backs and could see nothing that happened on stage left down stage. It was still good and I was glad to be there, but I noticed some seats down front that no one ever took, so at intermission I asked the man. On my way down there I got Old Deuteronomy’s signature and took some pictures of the stage. Also once everyone was on stage looking around I got a snapshot of Old Deuteronomy. Oooh boy I don’t think he liked that. He was not saying anything when he signed autographs, but his look could have burned a hole right through me.

After intermission I enjoyed the show much better because I was still close to the stage, but could catch everything. My senses were going crazy trying to absorb everything. The makeup was just phenomenal and you could tell that they had studied the behavior of cats. The stage did amazing things with backdrops falling to make a completely different scene. From a junkyard to a ship. Then at the end this whole tire moved towards the audience and up to meet another staircase that came out of the ceiling to take Grizabella to the heavy side layer. They were constantly in the audience roaming around and really brought the audience “on stage” or maybe made the audience part of the stage. The entire audience and stage set design was all boxes, cans, bicycle tires and trash in general that were 10 times their original size. I knew that when the song “Memory” came on the audience would go wild because that is the most famous song from this musical. The first half when she came out to sing it it was good, but not a showstopper. However the second time being able to see her whole face and body was just incredible! She really did not have a great voice, but boy could she project. I don’t think I have ever shivered as much as I did during that one song. It was incredible!

After the show I walked straight back to Port Authority, picked up my bags, found out where to catch the bus then went upstairs and waited. The bus ride was about an hour and a half and I arrived into Tom’s River at 1:30am, called John (and Mrs. Marko answered) and he was there to pick me up soon after.

When we got home they showed me my room and the bathroom and I went to bed.

July:

Click here to choose a different month

7/1/88 Friday

Today was a real relaxing day for me. I got up about 10:30, showered, sat in the sun, wrote in my journal, went to lunch with Bob and John at a hole in the wall diner, came back and started calling travel agents. After I found out some information, I watched TV a while until Mrs. Marko came home Then she took me to get my ticket, went to the grocery store (got normal deodorant hooray!) and to get dinner, went back home, left again with John to the bank to get money, came back and had a delicious steak and corn on the cob dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Marko. After dinner I watched Dragnet on HBO until 10:00 then I went to bed. I really didn’t mind not doing anything, but Mrs. Marko felt bad about it. She didn’t believe me when I told her I was perfectly content. Oh well, it was a nice home and a nice stay, but I’m getting anxious to get home.

I also talked with Mary Huckins for a short time to see if she was coming to the city, but she was not. Good thing I didn’t wait to see Cats.

7/2/88 - Saturday

I had a fantastic eggs, sausage and muffins breakfast this morning, then she dropped me off to catch the 9:00 A.M. Express bus to NYC.

I went straight to the ticket outlet when I got there and stood in an incredibly long line, but it moved pretty quickly. I had no problem getting a ticket for A Chorus Line for the matinee this afternoon. I basically just walked around waiting for the show because I only had two hours to wait.

My seat was way left of the stage so right before the house lights went down I moved to the middle section for a more straight on shot at the stage. I was a little disappointed in the show actually, more so in the casting of the performers. Some of them just really did not look the way I thought they should look. I really liked the way Marsalis played her part and sang the song “I Felt Nothing,” but some of the other parts didn’t work. The girl who sang “Tits and Ass” was too old trying to look young. One thing I thought was really neat was that the character part of Sheila came from Colorado Springs, so I was going to try and meet her after the show, but didn’t. (Editor: Dang, quite the theater critic at age 20!)

After A Chorus Line was over, I went downtown to Chinatown and Little Italy where I looked around a while. I called home from a phone booth between the two and gave my flight plans to them and talked for a while. I was not impressed with Chinatown because it was very dirty with too many people.

From Chinatown I went down to Battery Park and just sat on a bench and stared at Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. I was thinking that so many people look at these places with the American flag waving and think nothing of it. After being overseas, the American flag stands for so much more and means more to me.

I headed back uptown to catch Godspell and was there by about 7:15. While I was waiting I talked with this usher and explained to me that the theater was owned by the church.

The Lamb’s Theatre was pretty small with a small stage so there were not many “bad” seats. I really enjoyed this production after it got warmed up. It was very up to date and down-to-earth. I would like to see another production of it to see if it is the show or the director that made the show good. The cast was 5 guys and 5 girls between age 20 and 27 and was very high energy with lots of interaction with the audience. It was actually very similar to UWP, and at intermission the audience was asked onstage for a Dixie cup of grape juice. I spent some time talking with one of the girls at intermission. I asked her if most of the performers had the same beliefs as what they were saying/performing. She said no, which should not have surprised me, but I didn’t feel like they meant what they were saying during the second half. The second act was much more serious than the first and was pretty deep. I really enjoyed this show and getting to laugh. If I come back to New York City, I will have to see more comedies.

When this one was over, I hung around and watched the actors and actresses leave, and it hit me that as soon as they leave that theater they become just another New Yorker. After 30 minutes or so, I went and got a Big Mac, fries, and Coke, my first one since I’ve been back in the states. From there I walked to the Hard Rock and had another wine cooler hoping to meet someone, but didn’t.

I took a different way home checking out nightlife. I actually felt relatively safe. I never saw a prostitute, but there were men selling watches every 10 feet on some streets (literally). It was very strange to me and I couldn’t figure it out. A commodity that is not a big seller (watches) and so many of them (sellers). I couldn’t understand why they sell watches.

I walked back to the Port Authority, but it was 1:00am so I couldn’t get my bags until 7:00 A.M. so I read my book in Burger King until they closed then I moved on to the street to sleep. I slept (or tried) on the bus station steps until 6:00 A.M. when I got my ticket to JFK. (Editor: Amazing how UWP and youth made me crazy enough to think this was okay to do. No wonder my mother wanted to kill me when I told her I slept on the steps of the bus station in NYC.)

While I was waiting for the parcel holding place to open, I dozed a little and two cops came and asked me if I was okay.

I guess this is actually July 3rd now. I loaded the bus, checked in my luggage and had about 30 minutes to spare before we left NYC.

7/3/88– Sunday

(Editor: These last couple days had nothing to do with our tour, but I found them interesting because of how random my thoughts were and how my whole goal was to explore my surrounding and my thoughts. This was not a common occurrence for me before UWP. Maybe it will remind you of your own experience of going home right after the tour and how disjointed it felt, yet so good to be home.)

My flight to St. Louis with continuing flight to Honolulu left at 9:20 A.M. arriving at St. Louis at 10:52 Central Standard Time. Coming in on our 747 our captain assured us it was beautiful 79 degrees. I spent the two-hour layover eating Oreos and playing a video game (Motorcycle).

Now I sit here buckled in my seat in the DC-9 that will take me home “to the place where I belong” (John Denver) [I’ve been reading too much Steven King lately; first Roadwork,, then The Running man, now The Stand. ] This is the first time I have been in Colorado Springs in six months! We are just taxiing to the runway and I already have butterflies in my stomach.

I can’t decide (“place this mask tightly over your mouth…” blah, blah, blah) whether I’m excited or nervous. I have ideas of what I would like to do when I get home, but I’m afraid I’m going to get really bored quickly. I hope I can appreciate the little things that I missed in Europe and that I yearned so much for. I hope that I can accomplish some of the things that I have been thinking about i.e: Ballroom dance Instructor, Community theater, a good job, classes at PPCC or UCCS, maybe go to UWP Dress Rehearsal. Dress Rehearsal… wow that seems like a lifetime ago. It was a lifetime ago! I have 130 friends all over the world that I am already starting to miss, and I feel like I’m just coming back home after a week at Jeff’s (my best friend at the time) in Salt Lake City. Yesterday sitting at the bay, looking at Lady Liberty I couldn’t help but think of Elin and Jo, Sanne, Tim, Diane all standing together seeing that spectacular sight for the first time. . Going to see Cats made me think of Elin and that same corner and Radio City Music Hall will always remind me of her.

I’ve spent a year of my life that none of my friends or family will completely understand what I went through. Was it worth it? Yes, I think so, but would (or will) I do it again? I don’t’ know, but I’ll answer that if I ever have to make that decision.

I was starting to read through this journal trying to come to some conclusions when people ask me questions which are probably not going to be: So how did you like it? Or what is Up with (the) People? The questions they are going to ask now are going to be centered around Europe and especially the Soviet Union, i.e.: What was your favorite country / place? What are the Soviet people really like? What does the USSR look like? I will try and write in this in a few months and see if I was right. As far as this entry, this journal will not be written in from an UWP perspective. UWP said my year was over June 29th but it won’t be over for me until I reach home. I will have then completed my full circle.

It is funny that in The Stand a girl talks about her boyfriend and how he always knows how he is being looked upon and he always tries to create the perfect picture. Sometimes I think I have written in my journal with the same thought. I have told several people that my main reason for trying to be so thorough and detailed is in the hope someday someone might write a book or make a movie about my life. Well future son, daughter, or good friend, that is now reading this, I hope this gives you a fair account of the trials and tribulations of just one year of my life. I hope I’m around to see how I am perceived by others through my writing.

1:20 – Mountain Standard Time

Decent into Colorado Springs

I can see the mountains so I must be home. The only thing in my head is the one line from a song in Anything Goes by the same title: “Come on and blow, Gabriel, Blow! Come on and blow, Gabriel, Blow!” (Editor: Not sure why this song was in my head. Weird.)

I look out the window and it is good to see familiar things: Pike’s Peak, the scar on the mountain, I-24, Black Forest and Colorado Springs. I’m not expecting anyone besides Mom, Dad and maybe Scott (my oldest brother), if anyone else shows up I will write it in here but otherwise this is my last entry. There is a lot of turbulence, Pike’s Peak is out the left window and we are about to land right now (1:28 and 54 seconds on July 3rd 1988) the day before Independence Day my Up With People Experience is over! (Editor: Damn! So dramatic. Was it that way for you too?)

Well here goes. Today is the day it all began 19 years ago. I didn't write every day, but I wrote a little bit most every day. These are not as long and detailed as the Soviet Union daily journal entries (which you can find on the cast A website if you missed any of them at: www.uwpcasta87.com). You can also find journal entries from Julie Burgan on the website daily. This is all in an attempt to remind you what a life altering year you had in 1987-88, and encourage you to attend our 20th reunion in Tucson, AZ from August 8-11, 2007. My goal is to get 80% of our cast and staff at next years reunion and I think we can do it. Start making plans now. In the meantime, enjoy A Day in the Life of Cast 87A!

Grant

**************

7/26/87 1:00 P.M.

Went to church this morning and took off to catch my flight from Colorado Springs at 11:20am and arrived in Phoenix at 12:35. While waiting for the flight to Tucson with Brad Wagnon, we met up with about another 12 to 15 UWP students also heading to Tucson. After introducing myself and meeting the others (and already forgetting their names) we boarded the plane. Just walking down the boarding hallway, I got a taste (and feel) of the temperatures we will be experiencing for the next five weeks. It was not until now that I finally realized I m really going and really going to be traveling for a year. I would have never thought a year ago that this is where I would be. I will miss my friends and family, but I suppose I won't have time to miss them too much. Kind of a rough flight to Phoenix with a lot of turbulence, but we were greeted by rain in Tucson, however it was still 98 degrees.

10:50pm

Well the first day is over, and I m at my host families house. Sandie Mott and her two children Debra (14) & Carrie (9). Nice people. This is definitely going to be an experience. I went through registration without any problems. People are very friendly and anxious to meet other people. It s like putting 5000 Grant Axton clones in one room. There is so much to know about and remember, but I suppose it will get easier. Every one talks with people as if they have known them for a long time. Everybody is also very hyper and anxious and excited, and don t listen much to instructions, but somehow they are hearing what they need to hear. My roommate for the next 5 weeks is Steve Bailey from Lynchburg, Virginia. I also met a guy named Jim Mangam whose mother works with Aunt Katie. Gee, what a small world!

7/27/87 12:00 P.M. Noon

A bowl of Cheerios to start out the day before the 9:00 a.m. meeting. It opened with a Mexican band, and excerpts from Time for th Music show. It was a lot like a cheerleading pep rally; very energetic and exciting. After meeting Mr. Belk (the president and founder) he talked about the travel plans and introduced us to the people from other countries. I suddenly felt like I was in a fantasy world and could travel anywhere in the world and not be harmed in any way. It seems like there is some sort of safety shield that surrounds Up With People. We broke into smaller groups (mine was #12) of about 40 and sat in a circle, face to face and met other people. Then we sat in the group and discussed concerns and what we were excited about. It helped get some of the few inhibitions out that were left. It was very worth it.

7/28/87 Tuesday

We had our first meeting in our color group. I am assigned to the blue color group. We will find out where we are going and what cast we are (in) at the end of this week on Friday or Saturday. We had a short meeting this morning with our color group then met with another color group and had our first vocal rehearsal today. We learned the parts to Sunrise which is the opening number of the show, and Too Many People. We had our first fitness session from 3:15 5:15. It was not too bad, but it is extremely hard to put over 500 people in two ballrooms and try and learn dancing. Luckily I was in front and was able to see pretty well. You can imagine the heat that 500 sweaty people create (and the smell) . We did a little bit of aerobics and learned the steps for Up With People. People are learning really fast, but we have to watch our voices or we re going to lose them. I have to be careful so I don t get into a shouting match.

7/29/87 Wednesday

Opening meeting: the travel plans

Cast A tour

- New Mexico; Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Tenn; North Carolina; Midwest U.S.; (Iowa, Ill; Missouri;) 2nd semester Texas, Ohio, Europe (Nordic countries) Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, (cruise ship), then to New England. Possible Japan tour

Cast B tour

- New Mexico; Northeastern States, Indiana, Chicago; Philadelphia; New England, Mass, Boston, 2nd semester: (Nordic Countries) Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, West U.S. California, Oregon, Washington

Cast C tour

- New Mexico, Eastern Canada, 22 cities, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, Ontario, 2nd semester: Europe (Central) Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain, North East U.S.

Cast D tour

- Arizona, California (L.A.); Finland, Sweden, (cruise ship) Germany, Netherlands, Dutch Royal family, Belgium, 2nd semester: Southeast tour, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, etc.

Possible tours: Japan, Korea, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, Australia
December 19th: end 1st semester
Leave Tucson: on 28th, 29th, 30th of August

6:00pm: Bus stop

We had our second fitness session. This time it was the full 2 hours and it came right after my dance placement that lasted about 45 minutes. I think I did pretty good, well, at least I picked up the steps fast, I don t know whether I looked good or not. We learned a few more songs today: Unfinished World and the French part to King Richard. I hope tomorrow I will have a voice workshop. We had to take the bus to the University of Arizona this morning. Sandie has been taking us, but now we are leaving earlier. We did a little bit of swimming last night and are going to go to an UWP party tonight. I hope I make it through to the end with Steve, he s too laid back and doesn t treat the host family very considerately. I guess I just got to do my own thing and let him do his. I miss my friends, a little more now because I enjoy all the different types of personalities that I have in my friends. I ve always been the one who is always happy and making people laugh, now there is 500 people competing for the attention. It is definitely an adjustment.

We find out about which cast we are in on Friday or Saturday. I wouldn t mind any of the tours (see previous), but if I got to choose I would like Cast C.

7/30/87 Thursday

The party we went to last night was really a lot of fun. I met a few new people and really enjoyed myself. Drinking age is 21, but you find ways to get around it.

We started the morning with a presentation from the promotions team. They showed us some of the TV commercials and told us a little bit about it. After that we had vocals and learned The Picture which is my favorite song (right now). We also polished some of the other songs. Then after lunch we learned Maybe and the Japanese song called Roppongi Shinju. It is a pretty rocking song, and fun to learn and sing. Moku was the one who taught us the words.

I didn t get called back for a voice workshop, but got called back to the MC workshop. It was pretty interesting. We each had to just talk or introduce one of the songs. I did so by including other song titles in my introduction to spice it up. I feel like I did well and the others clapped for me. I don t know what that means, but I will find out in a few days. The thing that was really neat is some of the foreign students did it in their native tongue such as: Mexico, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Ethiopia all did the intro in their language. It was real

We missed most of the fitness, but when we came back they were just starting the dance (part of it) for Black and White and Lift Me Up. I can actually see the beginnings of a great show, but the days are long and full. I feel like I ve been here for two or three weeks, but we still have a lot of hard weeks ahead. I haven t heard about a voice workshop yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

7/31/87 Friday

We started off the morning with a vocal rehearsal, then I went to a meeting about the educational aspects of UWP that was really informative and exciting. We had another vocal in the afternoon and then fitness. Nothing too much out of the ordinary. We find out what cast we re in tomorrow. I personally think mine is Cast A. I would like Cast C but Cast A has the possibility for the Japan tour so that is a neat opportunity too. I'll just have to wait and see.

August:

Click here to choose a different month

8/1/87 Saturday

We found out what cast we are in. We were late getting here which bugs the heck out of me tobe late so much. Anyways I'm in the Cast A and will tour New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa and Minnesota during the 1st semester and then to Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland (or a possible Japan tour) then back to New England area for 2nd semester. It is amazing how many people are unsatisfied with what cast they have. You would think they would be happy just to get a chance to go to where ever they are going. Oh well.

1st Cast A meeting
Start tour: August 27th, 1987 to December 21st
Start 2nd semester: January to July 5th, 1988

Cast director: Carlos Acevedo
Cast Manager: Terry Adams
Music Production Assistant: Christine Stevens
Dance Prod. Assistant: Paula Leland
Production Mgr.: Kathy Lee
Marketing Mgr: Darci Buck
Recruiting/Admissions: John Morgan
Finance Mgr.: Dennis Cournoyer
Merchandise Mgr.: Kathy Bates
Operation Mgr.: Bill Parker

UWP
- mission
- history
- alumni
- future

Cast
- individual
- teamwork
- skills
- background

Community
- host family
- sponsors
- culture
- local concerns

"Team": notice how it doesn't have an I in it.

Grant: Cast A Up With People Axton
What is expected of me:
Host families are the number one thing that is most important!
Host families contribute in one year between 7 and 9 million dollars
Food:try it!
Monday/Wednesday/Friday - we eat here
Write thank you s and put it on the bed under the cover.

8/2/87 Sunday

Well, I have survived one full week so far. Today we went to a water amusement park called The Breakers. It was a special price for all the Uppies and their host families. Debbie (host sister) came with us (Steve and I) and it was a lot of fun. It strengthened my knowledge of how good looking the girls are in all the casts. This is really going to be an exciting year, but I m ready to start traveling. The fitness is getting old. We stretch for an hour and a half and dance for a half an hour. I m read to dance and work up a sweat and feel like I m learning and accomplishing something.

I'm already getting tired of this host family. I m getting sick of the kids always hanging on me and everything has to be read out loud and commented on. There is no time for privacy and I notice it is starting to grate against my nerves. Besides that we have had chicken in some form or another for 5 of the seven nights we've been here. This is the good and bad they talked about.

I talked to Mom and Dad this morning for about an hour. They had their pancake breakfast this morning at church for the Fun Walkers and was real successful. I told them my schedule and some of the things that have been happening. It was good to talk to them.

I got hold of Dr. Roberts (my High School Principal who moved to Tucson) last night and talked to him for a while. He invited me to his house for dinner next Saturday night. He lives in a place called forty-niners club, and from what I understand it was pretty nice and ritzy. It will be at least an interesting evening and a good break away from the host family for a while.

8/3/87 Monday

History of UWP:
Sing out 65 - 1st performance in Stamford, Conn. On Aug. 7th (1965)

UWP became incorporated in 1968 (Aug.)
Began calling the show Up With People in January of 1967

Night: Today started out with an orientation of the history of UWP (see above). Then after lunch I had my first dance workshop. In it we learned most of the steps for the Mexican dance. It is not too hard, but I have a good dance partner which helps. Then after that I got a full haircut from Glemby s Hair Salon. They were doing free cuts for UWP people all afternoon. They did a nice job on me. Then Cast A had a special fitnes session with a guy named Frank (Manton?). This guy has worked with Michael Jackson on his new 25 minute video. He traveled in UWP in 1981 and is now a professional dancer in New York.

We ate dinner at the Student Union (The Fiddlee Fig) and that will happen every Mon, Wed. & Fri. So our host family doesn t always have to worry about feeding us all the time. It is impossible to get food and eat in less than 1 hour with 500 people eating at the same place and same time. I can tell from here on out it is going to get extremely busy.

Talked to Wayne tonight and he, his girlfriend Tess, Mark Gannon, and Cindy Cole are going to try and come to Tucson on Aug. 16th. Wayne said he may try and make it to the dress rehearsal also. It will be good to see all of them. (Friends of mine from high school)

We started the morning off with our cast going over more rules and regulations. Then we had an all casts vocal rehearsal. After that I finally got some sheet music from Yuva (oova) to help me with the parts. After lunch another all casts vocal session and then fitness. Fitness is getting tough, but I think that is because I m working harder and trying to trim up and get more out of it. Half way through fitness I left to go to an MC workshop. The part they gave me to learn opens the second act with what they call a surprise party. I would dress up in a ringmaster uniform and invite younger kids with birthdays that week to the stage. Then they help do a little bit of magic. It is the longest introduction and a fun part of the show where I can ham it up. I hope I get to do for dress rehearsal so Wayne, and Mark and Cindy can see me. It doesn t look like I will get a solo right now so I have to be happy with what I ve got so far.

8/5/87 Wednesday

Dr. Carolyn Lee

The 7 Points of UWP:
1. The UWP experience is personal.
2. UWP is educational. (potentially)
A) action (the actual experience)
B) reflection and
C) documentation
D) understanding (then back to action)
1. UWP is a sensual experience.
- You need to see it, hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it.
2. UWP is cultural.
3. UWP is hard
4. UWP is an emotional experience.
5. UWP is a temporal experience. (It is bounded by the beginning, middle and end)

We are climbing a majestic mountain.
Keep your eye on the ball!

Wow! What an inspirational speech! I think it gave us a good sense of how our year is going to be. I would like to hear that speech again after the year is over.

After that we had a vocal rehearsal. This was the first one that I have felt I really have a grasp on the part and what I'm singing.

After lunch we learned the 1st half of the show blocking from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30. We actually accomplished quite a bit. For now I was put on one of the six chorus mics with a girl from Boulder, Colorado named Priscilla, which gives us a little bit more room and our voices are the ones that are really heard, so I have to be really strong with my part. I was also given the MC part for the Ringmaster who does Be a Clown and The Surprise Party. It is a lot of talking and interaction with the audience. Just because I had it today doesn t mean I get to do it for dress rehearsal, but I m going to work hard to make sure I keep it.

After the first blocking rehearsal we met by sections of the U.S. or by language, and country. Nobody in Colorado knew what section of the US we were in, so half of us went to the Southwest and half to the West. This was just so we could talk and share our views with people from similar upbringings and backgrounds. It was good but we didn t cover much ground. We kept getting stuck on a few topics, but it was nice to be able to talk and share and have everyone understand completely.

When that was over Randy Roach asked to speak with me and another guy named Chris that he went to CC (Colorado College) with. He has finally realized that he is out of college and college life is over, and it is really hitting him hard. I tried to help him by relating it to when I left high school. I think it is similar but college is more intense and I just haven t experience that yet. I got really profound, and realized something for myself. I told him the more you are involved in something the harder it is to leave (and it doubles the amount you get out of it). And he said So basically everything we do is just setting ourselves up for a fall. But isn t that what life is all about? To do things to say I've done that. And experienced it and this is what I got out of it! It is like what was said in the speech. (Editor: Randy, I was either brilliant or screwed you up for life. Who knew I was Dr. Phil at such a young age?!)

The dinner on campus, and home for the rest of the evening with the girls and an evening swim. All in all a pretty good day.

8/6/87 Thursday

We started off with a vocal rehearsal for a couple of hours, then we stood in a line for a half an hour to get a costume. Once we got to the front we only got pants and were told we had to wait for the shirts. My pants were just a little long without shoes so I think they will be okay once we get shoes. I asked if they would hem the pants if I needed and they said that it was our responsibility if it needed hemmed. You would think after $7300 dollars they could give us costumes that fit us well.

Then after lunch, Cast A practiced in Centennial Hall. We Previewed the 1st half and learned parts of the 2nd half. They keep telling us that the names they call off for positions are not necessarily the people who are going to be doing it for the dress rehearsal show. I found myself extremely frustrated today when they kept calling off the same names and using the same few people for everything. I thought the idea was to spread it around a little. I know there are other able bodies besides myself that could do the things that they are asking of those few people. I think part of my frustration was partly due to the fact that I was pretty tired. Tomorrow will be better, and Saturday we will be working with the band.

We went straight from blocking to the dance workshop for the Mexican dance. After that they (the dance staff) showcased all the international dances for us, so we could see how they looked from beginning to the end.

I came home and Debra went and picked up my package (shoulder bag) that Mom and Dad sent me last Monday (7/27). I ve been needing it for almost two weeks. Andy and the kids took off to the Tucson Mall so I had dinner at McDonalds and the evening to myself for a change.

At the cast sale today I bought Mom and Penny each a coffee cup and Brett & Scott lapel pins, and Dad an UWP tie. I thought they would make good X-mas presents. Plus I bought one of the UWP jackets with Time for the Music embroidered on the back and my name, Cast A, 87-88 on the front. It is a real pretty royal (or sky) blue, but it cost $55.00 bucks, which is really not too bad, but I can safely say Merry X-mas, Grant.

(Editor: Did anyone else have an UWP gift-giving X-mas for their families that year?)

8/7/87 Friday

Almost a whole other week has past. Wow! This week went fast, but it still seems like we ve been here a long time. This morning started off in Centennial Hall with small groups talking about who they (we) are and where we come from. I didn t get a whole lot out of it. , but I guess other people did. We stayed in Centennial Hall until noon running all the blocking. I am now moved off the mic and I now come on with the rest of the cast. Needless to say they keeping knocking me down and humbling me. I'm finding it very hard to keep in perspective because for the first time in my life I am only average and just like everyone else. That s what I ve been striving to get rid of for most of my life, and become someone and make a difference, and I don't feel like I m being allowed to do that. I guess it is very similar feelings as when I went to college and felt like a nobody, but yet not quite the same. (Editor: Now you get to see me as I REALLY was, a 19-year old kid just dying to get to perform. Funny how things always seem to work out in the end.)

It is also hard with the fact that I m trying to keep myself from getting jealous of Dean and I don't want to be jealous because I think he is a really super neat guy. I don t know whether it is good or bad, but he seems to confide in my advice about how he sounds. Today he showed me the words to two of his songs and sang them for me. I guess he has written 30 or 40 songs and he is going to sing (the 2 songs) for the UWP staff and see if they are interested in using them in one of their future shows. From what little I heard of them, the songs sounded really good! The ironic thing is he asks me if he is singing the right part during one of the vocal rehearsals when he has such a nice voice.. Oh well! I have had several people tell me that they think I fit the part of the ringmaster very well. Let s hope I get to keep it. (for a while anyways) I know what happens now is not going to matter in a couple of months, but it sure would be reassuring if I could get a solo, or quartet or anything.

(Editor note: I had just finished one year of university on a vocal music scholarship and majoring in vocal music, so to not be doing any singing for

the show was quite a shock to my system at the time. I never really did do any singing in the show which was one of the main reasons I joined.

However, I guess I became the consummate Ringmaster! I never really did become jealous of Dean, but instead learned to respect his huge talent.)

We had vocals after lunch and then fitness. I slept through half of vocals, which helped me make it through the rest of the day. In fitness we stretched a lot and cleaned up Too Many People, Time for the Music, and Shout. It seemed pretty productive. During lunch we took a picture of all (Or as many as I could find) of the Colorado kids. I ll send a copy to Kent (Phillips) and the Denver (Colorado) UWP alumni Association. I thought it would be nice.

We take a cast photo tomorrow and I also go over to Dr. Roberts house for dinner. More later!

(Editor side note: I found out about four weeks into staging that the film in my camera never loaded correctly, and all the photos I had been taking for those first four weeks were never really taken. Talk about being bummed when I found this out.)

8/8/87 Saturday

We started out the morning with a run through of the first half of the show. I got to do the part of the ringmaster MC. I received a lot of complements of how well I did it, which made me feel good. After lunch (with Debbie, my host sister, because she spent all day with me) we took our Cast A photo. It took over an hour but we got it done. From there we had a vocal rehearsal then fitness. At fitness they let us take pictures and then the dance staff showed us the rest of the dances for the second half.

I came home after fitness and got ready to go over to Dr. Roberts house for dinner. (Editor: Dr. Roberts was my high school principal that I got to know pretty well when I was Student Body President my senior year. He moved down to Tucson the year after I graduated) He and his granddaughter Nelissa (16 years old) picked me up at 7:00pm and drove me by his new high school (called Sabrino High School) on the way to his house. His house is incredible! The guest house was half as big as my host house. It was a great evening, the only thing that I thought was funny was that they had a Mexican chicken casserole. I think I ve had enough chicken to last me a long time. Nelissa was a pretty & nice girl and was from Colorado Springs. She went to East Junior High School (my old Junior High School) and was in "Bye Bye Birdie" as the mother. She knows Mrs. Melahn (my junior high school music teacher) rather well and told me a little bit about her new baby girl (Yikes!). I got home about 12:00 midnight and really truly enjoyed myself. They asked me to come back again sometimes before I leave, and I think I will try to do that.

Editor note: Okay, today had nothing to do with any of you. Sorry. Still waiting to see if there is any fall out from Dean from yesterday's entry. :)

8/9/87 Sunday

We had a chance to sleep in a little this morning and woke up about 10:00 a.m. Called Mom and Dad and talked for about 45 minutes. Aunt Katie is there so I got a chance to speak to her real quick too. Scott (my brother) got a permanent job from Digital which was nice to hear. After that we took off to Sabrino Canyon and had a real fun time. We jumped off a cliff a couple of times into some deeper water called The Crack. Met some cute girls (twins) and met a guy who is going to be going to Sabrina High School and I told him about Dr. Roberts. When we are out and around different people one starts realizing the full effects of being in UWP. It almost gives you an excuse to just start talking to a total stranger. It s great! As much as I've bitched in here, I sure am glad I'm doing this and taking time for myself and try to find myself. I think I made the right move doing this year, and I wouldn't trade places with anyone I know right now.

And just as an aside, I'm starting to find Linda Cullen attractive and intriguing. What's weird is I feel like I can read her mind.

(Editor: I am SOOO getting in trouble from my wife by leaving this in. What do you think Linda? Could I read your mind back then?)

8/10/87 - Monday

This morning we had a guest speaker that is on the board of directors for UWP and the President of a communication systems company. It was kind of boring, but informative I guess. Then we had an informative orientation on AIDS from the man who was the main speaker for the national AIDS convention in D.C. It was really very interesting.

After lunch we had a music run-through of the first act (half) that went slow, but good. I'm back on the mics for the 1st and 2nd half with Leanne the only other redhead in the group (Cast A) but did not do the ringmaster today. I was told we looked cute. And I got a lot of questions asking why I wasn't doing the ringmaster. After the run-through we had a vocal, then dinner. Pretty basic day.

I did learn something yesterday while we were in the canyon. There is such a thing as a mesquite tree, and they use the bark for a special flavoring while Bar-B-Q ing. I also learned about the Saguaro cactus while on the tour of the canyon. The Indians believed that the cactus were the spirits of the old warriors and how they lived their lives. If the arms grow upwards that means that the marriages they had were good. If they grew down that meant the marriages they had were bad. The number of arms were directly proportionate to the number of wives. It was a neat FYI to know.

8/11/87 Tuesday

Dr. Morris Martin:
- Difference between education and learning.
- Education is done to you; Learning is what you have to do.
Writing is the road to thinking, and therefore is the heart and soul of learning.
- Maps: Who is in the center? (U.S. for U.S.; Europe for Europe)
Write it down!
It s Greek to me Shakespeare
And many, many more phrases

The morning went really well today. Actually the whole day was fun and prosperous. We started off running through the show from the beginning (in the Middings Bldg.) We also did mic tests, and I was with Leanne again today. We were told by Yuva himself that we blended well. At 10:00am I left to go to a workshop to learn the 50 s dance. I had talked to Al yesterday (or Saturday) and told him that I had a little experience doing 50 s dance and I was really interested in doing it. Sure enough I was put on the list to learn it. We were short the number of girls so I danced with different people on the dance staff, which was great because I could concentrate more on my stuff and what I was doing and knew my partner would be right there ready for me. It was a lot of fun, but it gets harder as you get farther along into the dance. Each cast did it by themselves and I danced with a girl named Melinda. We did really well and looked like we were having fun ( I was having fun; I don t know about her). We must have done good because they put us together for the afternoon 2nd half run-through. Anyways we worked on that til lunch and then had a guest speaker named Dr. Morris Martin. He was pretty good, but kind of redundant. He did point out an interesting point about maps and how each country makes his own map with their country in the middle. After that we learned more of the 50's dance (this is where it got a little harder). Then we went to the run-through and it went well. We got the forms to get tickets for our real family, of which mine consists of: Dr. Roberts and his wife, Wayne, Mark & Cindy (all friends). We also saw off the PR teams for Roswell, N.M. and Borger, Texas. Henri is on the Borger team and I think I will miss him and I look forward to getting to know him better over the next year.

We went to a Tucson Torros baseball game tonight. It was fun to just mill around and talk to people. I met this little girl named Amanda (6) and sang Dum Dum Ditty Ditty and Whatali-atcha with her. It was really kind of a special moment. Now isn t that special. (Editor: I had to laugh. This must have been written because of John and Brenda doing the "Church Lady" so often.)

8/12/87 Wednesday

The morning started with another guest speaker named Stephen Rhinesmith who has a big impact on UWP and helping them try and get into Russia. He had some interesting things to say, but was not real exciting to listen to. I found myself day dreaming quite a bit. Then we went to another 50 s dance workshop form 10:30 to 12:00, and worked extremely hard, but I think I got it down (as much as we ve learned anyways). We have only learned through part of Great Balls of Fire. I really like it a lot and am having fun doing it, but I find myself getting bored when I get back with the rest of the cast. I think that is because I m not being kept busy enough.

Cast A was in Centennial Hall for the entire day from 10:30 to 12:00 and 1:00 to 5:30. It was a slow long day, but I got a chance to run the whole thing of the ringmaster, and I really enjoyed it. I would rather do the ringmaster and the 50 s dance than just the mic group (if it is between one or the other). I'd like to do all three, but I doubt that will happen. Most of the day was spent working on the music part of the show because Herbie was there.

We are going to find out tomorrow the choices of design for t-shirts or sweatshirts for Cast A. And today we became official in Cast A because we got our nametags (plates). That was kind of exciting. Somebody suggested to me to country swing for a possible special talent to open the second half of the show. I might give it a shot, teach Melinda or some other girl, and show it to someone and see if we can pull it off.

I don't know whether I'm going to be able to find a ride to Tempe to see the Broncos (football) with Wayne, I kind of doubt I will get to go. We ll see.

8/13/87 - Thursday

Mr. Blanton Belk

4 points to think about on the road:
1. Go with appreciation instead of comparison everywhere you go; care don?t compare
2. Give more than you think you can give; Don't have any fear; Take risks
3. Be a participant and not a passenger.
4. Make places into people. 80 cities with 80 family friends.

We started this morning running a couple of song with everyone and then went back and did a mic test with everyone getting a chance to sing in order to find out how they sound on a mic. That took most of the morning, but I left at 10:30 (after half falling asleep) to go to a clown and ringmaster workshop. Only Kurt (from Denver) and I were from our cast doing the ringmaster. It was a lot of fun and kind of relaxing for a change. We will get to work with a professional magician who happens to be playing at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City opening for Kool and the Gang. Then after lunch we talked with Mr. Belk, the President and founder of UWP. He answered quite a few questions about everything from the beginning of UWP and before, and then looking into the future and what he thinks UWP will become. It was enlightening. After that I went to a costume committee meeting. I was chosen to learn the costumes and what goes with what, and then we show the rest of the cast and are responsible for making sure everything is there once we're on the road. We got done with the meeting in time to get to wrap up. We voted on the design that we wanted on our Cast A shirts. We decided on Kurt's (from Denver) design of the world with the flags representing everyone's country in our cast. Then above the world says "Time for the Music '87-'88" - and on the bottom it says "Cast A World Tour." It is really neat and will look good on a shirt. I think on the back they are going to make a screen of everyone's signature. It is really hard to believe that it has been almost 3 weeks since we got here and only two weeks from today is our first performance for the dress rehearsal.

I talked to Wayne last night and he said he bought me a ticket to the Bronco game. And I think Kurt is going to the game and he said he would give me a ride. I'll know for sure whether or not I'm going by tomorrow.

One thing I forgot to mention about Belk. It occurred to me today that he seemed somewhat fake to me before today. But now I truly believe that he is sincere and for real. I just thought I would add that, and say how impressed I was of him.

(Editor: Man I was opinionated about everything. Even Belk! Sacrilege.)

8/14/87 - Friday

Again we had a performance of part of the show (the same part) for the guest speakers. The speakers were Mr. Don Weiss (Executive Director
of the National Football League) and Mr. Mel Blount (Director of the NFL player relations). They didn't really say anything new, but I got the feeling they were there because they were important and because the NFL is one of the big sponsors of UWP. Which I suppose is fine because we will get a chance to meet (or at least hear from) some pretty important people.

After the speakers I was late to vocals so I had to sing a verse of 'Tarantella' in front of everyone. Then as soon as I sat down, several people were asked to leave and go to a mic group workshop. (Myself included in that list.) It was really neat because they were some of the better singers and we were able to move fast without having to correct the same mistakes more than once. Then after lunch I went to a Mexico workshop, and we were working with the man who choreographed that particular dance. It was neat, but we went very slow and relearned a lot of things that we already knew, but he did fine tune and give some details about the things we knew.

We finally did a complete run-through with no stops from about 3:30 to 5:30 (after the Mexico workshop). It went good, but people are still slow and not on the ball. There is an obvious improvement, but there is an obvious long way still yet to go. Unfortunately I was too much on the ball because I jumped in on the ringmaster MC a song too early, but I did it convincingly and people really thought we were not doing the gospel number. Oh well, it is better to make the mistakes now than in three weeks. I have to get it memorized better so I can ad lib it if I need to.

What was neat today during the run-through was that I got to be on a mic group, do the ringmaster, and do the '50's dance. I would like it to stay that way until dress rehearsal, although I don't think it will.

After a nice dinner/talk with Randy Roach in which we kind of bitched back and forth, I went to the talent show. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be a joke with a bunch of people fooling around on stage in front of an audience, but it wasn't. There was only a few of the acts that were really hokey, but a lot of the acts were songs and dances that were written by the students. It was a true 'Talent' show in most cases. It didn't get over until 8:00pm (the Sun-Tran buses stop
running at 7:10) so Steve and I got a ride home with Anushka. Chris (a girl) came home with us and they are all watching "Heartbreak Ridge" and eating cookies and cream ice cream right at this very moment. Just in case anyone's interested and reads this after I'm dead and gone.

(Editor: Good golly, I am too darn dramatic. Luckily you got to read this before I am "dead and gone."

8/15/87 - Saturday, 6:25

I'm writing this from Dick's University Drive-In in Tempe, Arizona after finishing off a hamburger and fries, getting ready to go to the Bronco/Green Bay football game. For the first time in 3 weeks (that I can remember) I truly feel like I'm in Up With People, which is really ironic because I'm missing the UWP picnic (with host families) to be here for the game. Let me go back and rehash today's events and then I will expand on that thought.

I started off the day by missing the bus. Steve is really hacking me off because he is so darn irresponsible. He wanted to borrow money from me to send Chris home after the movie. He even called Sandy to see if she would come home just so she could take Chris home. Then I found out this morning that he checked people's car to see if there were keys in any of them, and stood out in the parking lot asking people if they would take her home. I couldn't believe it!

(Editor: Oh, how Steve tormented me in those early weeks. He was unlike anyone I ever had been around in my life. Luckily, I learned to put his antics in perspective, and I eventually learned to quit being such a stick in the mud.)

Anyways we missed the bus and the next one didn't come until 8:55am, so we waited at a bus stop. Some guy drove into the dry cleaners next to the stop and Steve asked him for a ride to the University. We got there just in time for Cast A's meeting in Gallagher Theater. That meeting was just a time to share our ideas and thoughts about how things have been going so far. It was nice what everyone was saying, but I was not in the mood for 'You're all wonderful' and 'I love you all.' After that I sat next to Elisa from Memphis and Gwendolyn from Canada during our vocal rehearsal. We goofed around too much, but I got to appreciate what each of them has to offer. Especially Gwendolyn; I was really excited to find out what a super neat girl she is.

We had lunch and then a Mexico workshop (which I missed) with that guy from L.A. again. I was too busy trying to arrange to get to Phoenix. So I left the University about 1:30pm to get home and ready to catch the 3:00 bus. Sandy took me to the bus station (Greyhound) and waited with me 'til about 3:00 p.m. We finally left about 3:25 and I found out we stopped in Tempe on the ASU campus about 200 yards from the stadium and that's where I called Mark and Cindy. That's when I went over to Dick's. From there I went over the Manzanita Hall and finished off Richard Bachman's (Steven King's) "Rage" and waited for Wayne, Tess and Mark to go to the game. They picked me up about 7:35 and we missed the first touchdown (by the Broncos), but saw the majority of the game. We found Cindy and her
folks at half time, and arranged to meet Cindy at Dick's. After the Broncos soundly defeated Green Bay 20 to 14 we met Cindy and then went to Dairy Queen and talked and laughed all night 'til about 12:30 when we took Cindy home. After we dropped Cindy off we went to Wayne's apartment and by the time Mark and I fell asleep it was close to 2:00 a.m. It was a nice apartment but was kind of awkward with Tess and Wayne sleeping in the other room together. (Editor note: Don't worry, they have now been married for 18+ years.)

8/16/87 - Sunday

(Editor: I almost didn't send this today as it is a bit disjointed and means nothing to you, but hey, who am I to keep you from the full Grant Journal experience.)

We woke up about 10:30am when Wayne had to go to work, but Tess realized after he left that her car keys were in his car. So by the time he got a chance to bring the keys home, it was 2:30, so we didn't even get to ASU until about 3:30. Then Mark ended up not being assigned to a room, so we waited until about 5:30 and nothing happened so we went to dinner at Flaky Jake's and then afterwards went to place called Mellato's which is like ice cream, but all the air is taken out of it. Strange concept but good ice cream. By this time we were joined by Cindy's RA from last year Carmy (Carmelita), and was a lot of fun. She is a super neat girl. After that we drove around campus for a while and then finally went back and got Mark checked in and finally got a room. Then we left from there to come back to Tucson. Cindy brought me back with Carmy and Mark and got a chance to meet the Motts (my host family). I think those three, Wayne and Tess, and Dr. Roberts and his wife are all coming to the show which will be really neat. I need to try and get two more tickets so Tess and Carmy can come too.

Cindy, Carmy and Mark left here about 10:00pm to head back to Phoenix. I'm really glad I got a chance to go and get away for a while and just be with my good friends. It was relaxing and fun, and very fulfilling. I am truly blessed with the best friends a man could have! It is kind of special when I gave Cindy a hug and told her I loved her and she had a couple tears well up in her eyes. That's is extra special when it comes from Cindy.

8/17/87 - Monday

Ralph Caldwell; John Gonzales
Producer of UWP electronics; Director of UWP video and NBC sports director &
producer

12:50 p.m. We missed the bus again, but got a ride with a lady from the UWP office. She is the same lady that I met that is from Colorado Springs. We started off the morning with a '50's dance workshop, and God we moved fast. We only had an hour to learn the last part of 'Great Balls of Fire' and it is the hardest part of the whole dance.

After that we went to the modern language auditorium and saw the 58-minute video that Cast E did up in Toronto, Canada. Wow!! I got that same feeling again from when I've seen all the other UWP shows. It is the most incredible feeling in the world. It gave me that whole warm feeling and that sensation that I may only be one person, but I'm one person that can make one hell of a difference in this world. And the neat thing about it is that I will get a chance to give that feeling to hopefully thousands of other people. That is one thing that I hope (I know) that I can give of myself, and make people feel like they too can make a difference in life. I love that feeling and by God I'm not going loose that feeling during the year.

We are now meeting with the guy who is working with UWP in Charlotte, N.C. and organizing us to be at the stock car races. He said they have sold out for the first time and the audience will be approximately 160,000 people.

10:50 p.m. - Well, after meeting this guy, they showcased the costumes and then we proceeded to do a full run-through with costumes. They did most songs twice so we had plenty of time to change, but it is going to be hard to change costumes so fast. I think the run-through went really well, but Lynn gets mad too easily. She then bitches at us which makes us frustrated and loose concentration (what little we have) and begin to mess up worse, which gets her more upset at us and a vicious circle is created. We seem to do just fine until she comes to our rehearsals. I did the ringmaster, was on mic 2 for acts I and II, and did parts of the '50's. I'm determined to learn and get down that '50's dance, so I can do it cold, and start concentrating on how I look and come across. I'm going to prove to them and
to myself that I can do this dance.

After running the show, the costume crew got that distinct honor of helping clean up and put things away. I didn't like it, but it wasn't really all that bad. Then I talked to Cassi and told her how good she looked on the China dance, and we were going to do dinner, but I lost track of her. We're going to try and 'do' lunch or dinner tomorrow. While walking to the bus stop I had several people chime in together 'Ladies and Gentlemen, etc.' I suppose I'm getting this image of the ringmaster which is okay by me I suppose. Got home and went to see 'Revenge of the Nerds II' and had a guy throw up in front of us. It was fun.

(Editor: "It was fun!" What was fun? The throwing up part or the movie or what' I had to laugh at myself on this one.)

BONUS

Grant:

Thanks for the news about Mok. My show went to Monterey this weekend and I hung out with John Flores for spell. He did my hair and a blast was had by
all. We picked up exactly where we left off and he's coming to the reunion next year. I am looking into bringing the show to Tucson during the reunion.
Do you know the exact weekend'

Susie

8/18/87 - Tuesday

Financial Orientation - Jim McClennan: Executive Vice President

UWP is an incorporated independent non-profit organization

- all profits have to go back into the company
- UWP does not pay taxes
- People who donate can get tax deductions

Fiscal -87 (from July 1st, 1986 to July -87)

Where money comes from: (Revenues)
Student fees - 34% - $3,550,000
Show Revenue - 38% - $4,022,000
Sale of products/merchandise - 7% - $755,000
Gifts and grants - 17% - $1,811,000
Investment income - 4% - $366,000

Total revenue - $10,504,000

Jim Boswell (largest cotton producer) is the largest donor to date with
$3,300,000

Expenses - By Department (Way the public sees it)
Student Services - 31% - $3,134,000
Show Scheduling & Promotion - 28% - $2,832,500
Cost of merchandise - 4% - $429,000
(Fund raising) Development - 5% - $523,500
Production (of show) - 20% - $2,049,000
Interest - 2% - $190,500
General & Administrative - 10% - $1,098,500

Total expense - $10,257,000

Expenses - by function
Salaries - 34% - $3,545,500
Transportation - 23% - $2,317,800
Merchandise Lost - 3% - $299,400
Communication - 5% - $490,000
Office Expense - 8% - $817,300
Technical - 6% - $632,600
(advertising) Promotion Scheduling - 5% - $513,400
Food & Lodging - 11% - $$526,00
Other - $5 - $526,000


Cast B- -86--87 Revenue (Cast Budget)
Show revenue - $813,500
Products - $131,800
Gifts - $13,000
Total revenue - $958,300

Expenses
Production - $84,900
Promotion - $147,000
Operations - $197,000
Admissions/Ed. - $15,300
Cast - $326,100
Merchandise - $44,500

Total Expense - $814,800

Net gain - $143,500

We started with a vocal and then we had the financial orientation meeting from which the above figures are from. They had several pie charts and explained very thoroughly where the money comes from and where it is going to. It helped me understand it better so hopefully I can explain it better. Then we had a run-through of most of the first half after lunch and after that we had fitness. After fitness we had a party for Uwe (Oova) and Lorritta who are a part (a big part) of the summer crew for Cast A. It was a nice idea, but I was so exhausted I left early to go to dinner. After dinner I ordered my Cast A t-shirt, and then came home.

I finally got some mail today! I got letters from Brett, Cindy M. and one Mom forward to me. It was nice to hear from them, but made me miss being there. I need to write some postcards, so until tomorrow.


BONUS:

Hey Grant,

Been enjoying your journal. I noticed the name Anushka in your journal. Was that Annushka Theobold from Tucson- If so, she married a high school
friend of mine after meeting him at the Denver 1990 reunion - he didn't travel with UWP, was there with another friend who married a Cast B 1987
gal. Anyway, I speak with Annushka often since she and her husband live in St. Joseph, MO.

We just visited the National Mall in DC yesterday - we are on vacation - and are currently staying at my in-laws in Lynchburg, VA home of Melinda
Connell, Steve Bailey, and my wife.

Thanks for sharing your journal.

Paul

8/19/87

We went to TCC (Tucson Community Center) at about 9:00 a.m. and spent the whole day there until 6:45pm. The morning was spent doing
workshops and a vocal rehearsal, and then after lunch we tried to run it clear through without stopping. We didn-t stop too much, and we didn't talk
as much between transitions, and the transitions went a lot smoother. All in all I think it was a pretty successful day. After a spaghetti dinner a
lot of us were outside and some girls were doing a form of woodshedding (singing). It was kind of a neat quiet time. We also got a chance to just
lay on the stage for about 10 minutes and get rid of our stress. It was a nice change.

When we got home, Sandy and Debbie were fighting so Steve and I went swimming over at Gehert's host house with Heikki. It too was relaxing
and good to get away from here. I'm again totally exhausted so I'm going to bed.


BONUS:

Hey Grant,

Just wanted to let you know I am truly enjoying your journal!!! What a detailed account...brings back so many memories...Centennial Hall, the
Fiddlee Fig, and Sun Tran....those were the days! Wasn't it great to know it all and be so sure that we knew it all (big laughter)!
Oh, also wanted to let you know that I saw you on a 'behind the scenes' type deal concerning Blind Date last week when we were in Vancouver...it was
pretty cool. The first time it was on I was in the other room and all of a sudden I heard your voice...I told Kelly..."Hey, that's Grant" and I got into the room and caught the tail end of your tour around the office. The next day I caught a repeat of it (actually a repeat of the repeat I suppose) and was all excited until I looked at the chyron and they misspelled your name!!! Okay, it wasn't that bad, they had Gran Axton instead of Grant...but damnit my friend deserves the "T" in his name!!!! Alrightythen...so I calmed down and realized that it was still pretty cool to see my friend on TV!!!!

Hope all is well, say hello to Gretchen and the girls for me!

Bren [Brenda Perkins]

8/20/06 -

Wow! What a day. I think today was a sample of what a 'normal' day could be on the road.

The morning started off by getting our potential careers report from Dr. Felton Gamble. I was amazing to find how close it pinpointed me. It showed me that advertising would be in the general areas that I would be good at and comfortable doing. The four career work fields the computer close for me were: Counseling, Service, Promotional and Operational. Really pretty interesting and seemingly accurate. After that I went to a clown workshop which was done mostly by the professional magician Franz, and he showed us how to do the little tricks as well as the special birthday box. It was really incredible working with him, and he is a super neat guy. By the time I got to do it I had seen it done several times and I just went all out. One of the first times I did it he asked me if I had ever done any of
that stuff before. I said no and he told me that I was very natural and did a really good job as if I had done it before. I was really flattered because that is practically somebody famous telling me I was doing good in something that he does professionally. He did some of the special effects for the Michael Jackson 'Victory!' tour and after he is done with us tomorrow he is leaving to go do some more with the new Jackson tour. It is exciting meeting all these notable people. I hinted at Franz that if he ever needed an apprentice to look me up.

After lunch we worked on some more clown stuff and tried to clean it up a little, and we got a chance to watch a portion of Cast B's rehearsal. After that I went down to Giddings to get ready for a '50's dance workshop, but had about a half an hour to kill before hand. So I worked on the dance by myself and I think I got a much better handle on it. Then at the workshop they threw all of the Johnny B. Goode dance at us. It is really not that hard, but it is very physically demanding, especially since it comes at almost the end and you're already tired. So we basically have been shown (and done it a few times) the whole '50's medley. Now let's
hope we can put it all together.

While I was doing workshops all day the rest of the cast learned how to strike the set (in the morning), and vocals and fitness in the afternoon. Then at wrap-up we learned about our concerts in Oakridge, Tennessee, and about the possibility of going into Canada for three weeks.

After dinner I got home and Dr. Roberts called to find out what the plans were and see if I was interested in coming to his place on Sunday and spending the whole day at the Country Club (the 49 CC to be exact). Could be fun. Mom and Dad called at about 9:15 and talked for about an hour.

I was watching "The Charmings" tonight and it reminded me of Betsy Potter who does all our costuming and makeup for our show. She also is up for an Emmy for the costume designing on "The Charmings". Just an FYI to remember.

8/21 - Friday

We started in Centennial Hall with a guest speaker, Pat Ectoy, who is a lawyer in the San Francisco area. She talked to us mostly about
drugs and what to look for in case we are ever confronted. After her speech and questions & answers she sang us a song from when she was in UWP. Then we saw the clown act performed the way we ill do it in the show, but the ringmaster was Franz. I thought he was a great illusionist, but he didn't seem very comfortable with this particular MC. I even had a couple people tell me they thought I did a better job than him. I was flattered to say the least, unfortunately he gets paid and I don't. Cast A changed into the international costumes and then ran through the first three numbers before lunch. That was while I still had energy, even after it took us 15 minutes to just get on stage the right way (by Lynn's standards). After lunch we started from where we left off and did the rest of the first half. It
actually went pretty good and the clown act and magic went really well considering it was the first time with full costumes and on stage. I think that will be really fine tuned by show time. Then just as our energy was picking up, we went back over to the Senior Ballroom and watched a depressing movie called Peege (sounds like Peach) about a lady in a nursing home and how her grandson deals with it. This was to get us prepared for our CID tomorrow. It was just an okay movie, but it really moved a lot of people. It got to me a little bit because of the scene of the grandson walking down the hall of the nursing home looking in all the rooms as he
walked by. That especially hit me hard, because that is definitely a vivid memory of going to visit Mimi in her nursing home (my grandmother). So the rest of the movie was hard to watch because of the flood of memories, and things I never got a chance to do or say. But after the movie we had a nice cry/discussion session. It was neat to see everyone sharing their emotions, and it did me good to do some reminiscing, but it ruined the energy for the rest of the day.

We came back to Centennial Hall and started the second half and I was paired up with Melinda. She was half panicked because I wasn't there. I was with Franz, Mia and the rest of the clowns watching Franz's video from Caesar's Palace. By the time I got there we still had plenty of time before we went on. I got on stage and just blanked out on most of the show. I was too worried about my pants being too big and too long, rather than concentrating on what I was doing. From there I just got more and more frustrated. We finished a little early and went to dinner. We found out U of A is in Sorority Rush week and there was a banquet for all 1220 of them
in the three ballrooms. I got home and Sandy told me that all my pictures of the first three weeks (on the first roll of film) didn't develop. Something never advanced my film, so while I was taking all those pictures, my counter was counting but the film had never advanced. So I lost record on film of my first 2 1-2 or 3 weeks here. It also had the picture of the Colorado people that I was going to send to the Colo. UWP alums, now I have to find someone else who has the picture and get a copy. Needless to say it was a great way to end a bummer of an afternoon.

8/22/87

What an interesting day this has been. We broke into our three groups (7, 8 & 9) in the morning, and were briefed on where we were going and what to expect. Then we rehearsed for a half an hour and left the U about 9:30 a.m. Our first stop was the Pima Country Juvenile detention court which is basically a holding facility for juvenile delinquents awaiting a court date. Most of us were really tense and did not know what to expect, especially after they told us that the seriousness of the crime
was as wide as shoplifting to murder. Well after we were briefed a little more (at the detention center) we set up the equipment and waited for them to come in. When the students came in they were all wearing either dark blue or tan colored jumpsuits, and most of all of them were wearing the same stone cold look on their face. After they came in and sat down we got up and went and talked to them. There was 48 kids and about 35 of us so it was pretty even to reach every one. The first person I spoke to was a girl named Tracy, who was 15 years old, and really kind of cute. She was a runaway and had only been there a week. While I was talking to her, I couldn't stop thinking of why she was there and what led up to her being there. She was definitely a girl that I would have given a second glance
at, and would have tried to get to know her. The girl that was sitting with her was 2 weeks shy of 18 and also was getting out the day before her birthday. She was also pregnant.

After talking for a while we did our 'acoustic' show, which went fairly well for the first one ever. In fact the head guy (Warden so to speak) told us that we were the most organized best looking and best sounding UWP group of the last four years that had come there. After the show we went back into the 'audience' and visited with them some more, but the whole time I was performing I couldn't stop looking at her because she wouldn't stop looking at me. It was really kind of eerie. When they finally had to leave to go to lunch, we went and had a question and answer session with the Warden. Then came lunch. Wow! What an experience that I
would have never had a chance to experience. The food was really good; we had ham, corn, coleslaw, and bread and juice, but it is absolutely impossible to eat ham with a small plastic spoon and still be civilized. We soon learned that fingers are the most important utensil. After lunch we had a quick tour of the facility and saw for the first time holding cells, and a padded cell (that cost $26,000 to build). After going through there you have a lot of 'whys.' Why if they were so kind to us, can they not do that (and be that way) on the street.

After the detention center we went to a retirement village called Villa Campana. Interesting, but what a complete shock and whole different setting than from the morning. We got something to drink and talked with some of the residence before the show started. I met a man named Jules, his daughter and her niece. Really nice people and very familiar with UWP because his daughter's son (his grandson) was in UWP. We then performed and went back into the audience to talk some more. A couple ladies asked me if I performed in the Jordan tour. They were recently in Greece and said that they broadcast parts of the show every Friday night.
That is where they saw a red head that looked like me.

After that engagement we went back to the U of A to meet with our whole cast. Each cast did a total of 6 stops, so in all of UWP we reached 24 different places. It was neat to hear some of the stories everyone had to share about where they went.

After that I was able to spend some time listening to Mark (Cast C) and Dean Lindsay do some of their music. I told them that I hope I get to be the one who gets to represent them (as their manager/agent). Who knows, it could happen? Now I'm not afraid to uproot and take a chance. We came home and went to Coco's for dinner, then straight after to a party. It was a huge house, and really beautiful. The party was a t-shirt signing party, and was a lot of fun (partly because there was a lot of people there). Maybe one of these days I'll really feel like I fit in at a party. Crazy! Maybe?

A wonderful day in Tucson and a great first CID. It is 2:30 a.m. and I'm tired so I'm going to bed.

8/23/87 - Sunday

I slept until 11:00am, which was nice, and got up and called Mom and Dad. Talked with them for about an hour (Penny, my sister, was there too). They told me that Mike Morgan (an associate pastor from my church) was going to be leaving to go to a little town on the Western slopes. So I probably won't get to see him for who knows how long. When I hung up with them I called Wayne to make sure he is coming, but he wasn't home so I left a message on his machine.

Then at 1:00pm, I went over to Dr. Robert's house (he picked me up actually) and had lunch there, swam in his pool, went on a bike ride, came back and watched 'Paint Your Wagon,' had a wonderful dinner of roast beef, stopped by Centennial Hall to show them where it was, and then went home. An incredibly relaxing day and it gave me a chance to get to know the Roberts a little better. I got home about 9:00 p.m. and have been doing little odds and ends like drawing the record on the back cover and reading my checkbook. A really nice day and ready to work hard this week.

(Editor note: The "record" on the back cover was the spreadsheet I used to log all of our miles on the road. I kept it on the back cover of my journal.)

8/24/87 - Monday

We started the day by going to TCC and spent the day in the arena until noon. I spent the whole morning in a '50's workshop in which we mostly concentrated on the lifts (and the roll across the back). It was helpful and I'm starting to feel more comfortable (especially with Deedra). Then we had lunch and did parts of the second half and concentrated on 'Time for the Music' and 'Unfinished World' to the end through the reprises. About 2:00 we moved to the little theater and had some more workshops. Mine was for the MC's and they basically told me I had a real good grasp on what I was doing. Finished off rehearsal by going back over what we did earlier to make sure we knew it.

Got back to C.H. and bought my make-up I had to purchase and eye pencil also because my eyebrows are too light. Had dinner and then came home (in the rain). Steve had stayed home because he was sick from the food he ate the day before on his trip to Mexico. When I got home I watched the last half of the Bronco game against Miami (Broncos 31-28) and then watched a show on George Gershwin that was real interesting. Who knows, maybe some day someone will use this to help make a movie of my life. Anyways Wayne called and told me for sure that him and Tess were coming to dress rehearsal, and would meet Dr. Roberts around 6:45 in the lobby of C.H. I'm glad all of them are coming. It will make it a little more special for me, and more incentive to learn everything extra well and perform better. I
think I will call Cindy tomorrow night just to check with her.

I need to spend time getting some letters written before I leave, so I will do that sometime this week. I need to get my film developed also.

I noticed people are starting to get nervous and don't feel like we're ready. We are not ready, but it is good people are feeling that because I think they will work especially hard these next few days. We will be ready. I'm sure of it.

BONUS:

Hi there!

I just wanted you to know I am hosting four students - and it is a total blast!

Three girls and one guy - the guy is from Nepal and the girls are from California, Colorado and New York. After the Twin Cities they head to Mankato for a week then South Dakota, then Wisconsin. They will be doing 6 weeks in Japan and then on to Brussels!

Oh yes! Please let everyone know that I am going to Brussels from the 1st to the 10th of November. My sister has a BOG meeting there and my mom, her friend Joelle and I decided to tag along! Up With People will be performing in Brussels the weekend of November 3rd! I want to see whoever can make it to the Up With People show as well as see people I haven't seen in forever!

Jo - I will be looking at a map to see where Gent is!

Stacie Welch :)

8/25/87 - Tuesday

We started this morning with a guest speaker in C.H. named Dr. Hermann Bleibtreu who is a professor at the U of A. He was a pretty good speaker and kept my attention. We also had a special song from Pol for the staff that was really nice. From there we went to TCC again and ran through the first half of the show until lunch, had lunch, and then finished up the second act. They put Deedra and me on one of the 18's to do all the jumps and twists. It was a little bit of a challenge to work in such a confined area. We got through it and had time to do a couple extra songs for a TV station called CNN (Cable News Network) who will be covering the staging until we leave on Monday. They are doing a feature story on UWP and with an emphasis on Weine (Ethiopia). We are the only cast featured. After that we went to the little theater and struck the equipment. Then we learned some songs from 5, 10, 15 years ago to sing for the alumni convention on Friday. We had wrap up there and came back for dinner, and now at this very moment I am sitting up in the balcony of Centennial Hall getting ready for the first dress rehearsal performed by Cast C (7:35 p.m.). I'll write an update after the show.

12:25am
The show was pretty good, but I think we will be more prepared for disasters. Two girls forgot words to their song, which made everyone panic, but the second half was great! And their dances were real tight! That is one area we need to work on, but I think our vocals are better. Not only do we have more talented soloists, but a better sounding chorus. I also got more complements about how I did the ringmaster much better than the person
tonight did. But there wasn't one singular birthday in the audience tonight, and I'm sure it is going to be that way on my night, so I better learn to compensate just in case. All in all they did really well for being first, and we can learn a lot from the things they did well, but on the other hand I'm more confident of our show now.

8/26/87 - Wednesday

Steve made me miss the bus this morning. If I would just leave I would be on time, but I was brought up that that was inconsiderate. So we went to the office and Retta said that she would take us (Heikki and Jeff) to TCC where we spent the whole day.

We started out discussing the good and bad from what Cast C did. Then I worked most of the day with the mic groups on almost all songs that I'm not on stage for. Not that it killed me, in fact it did me good, so in case I am on stage at those times. Then we did a little work on the alumni medley and ran the clowns once. Then had lunch. And after lunch we did some troubleshooting and cleaned up some bad spots. Then at 2:30 half of us struck and the other half had a real relaxing experience and learned some more about each other. It was really worth it. Then we did some work on Japan and Black and White and had off until wrap up, in which time I
finished a letter to Brett which I'll send tomorrow. We had wrap-up, then loaded the buses back to campus, ate dinner and changed. Then I volunteered to host this evening for Cast B.

The show went really, really well. They can start looking at, and paying attention to details, and really fine tuning an already good sounding group. So after the show I got a ride home with John, Heikki, and Gerhut (Gert) who is in Cast C and leaves tomorrow morning. It is hard to believe a cast is already leaving and not too far away is when we leave.

BONUS
dear grant and gretchen,

thanks for getting michelle's # to me. we got together on monday and enjoyed a couple hours at the beach.

on a sad note, i just found out that my dad has cancer again (third time in 5 years) and my grandmother is in the beginning stages of alzheimer's.
please pray for them and esp my mom since she's the one who gets the most stress when dad's ill.

aloha, sandra

8/27/87 - Thursday - Dress Rehearsal Day

Once again we started off by talking about the show the night before (Cast B) and what was good and bad. Then we started with our stretch and vocal warm-up. Then we combined the two by running around the building singing -Go Bananas! Go, Go Bananas!- (You lean to the left, You lean to the right; You peel the banana and uh take a bite.) It was a lot of fun and it pumped us up. Then we did a little work on -Unfinished World- and by that time Lynn finally showed up and we all went off stage to do our little
gift to Lynn. We came off the stage singing our ‘Zoom, Golly, golly, golly' song to her and gave her a flower. Needless to say it started her day off in a good way and helped us a lot too. After that we started with the second half and ran what we could before lunch. Then had lunch and finished off the second half. After that we had five minutes to get ready to run the show from the top. We did the first half stopping as little as we could and
then went straight into the second half and did it without stopping at all. After that we had dinner (which I couldn't eat very much of) and had to be dressed and ready in the green room by 7:00. On my way to C.H. after dinner, I went and walked through the line and the front doors to see if I could find Dr. Roberts and the rest of them . While looking for them, I ran into the lady I met at the retirement center and promised we'd get her some
tickets. Well I guess she got the tickets. While talking to her I spotted Dr. Roberts and his wife, but Wayne and the rest of them were not there yet. After I talked with them for a while I went to the green room.

In the green room, Kathy Lee talked to us for a little bit and introduced several other people that made announcements like Terry, Carlos, and Christine, We acknowledged our staff with flowers, and met some of the Cast ‘A' alumni who wished us well and taught us the Cast A song. Then our last good luck wishes were from Mr. Belk, and we presented a Russian fishing hat to him.

(IN MARGIN) Get all excited. Going to tell everybody that Cast A is number 1. Repeat X3 - Cast A is number one!

From there we pulled together and Kathy Lee led us through a quick trip back to when we first saw UWP, to when we interviewed, when we were accepted, the time spent raising money, the day we left to come to Arizona, through staging, guest speakers and fitness, and now it is dress rehearsal! Open your eyes, you-re here! Wow! I sure was. The whole cast was psyched up and ready to go. Especially after several verses of ‘Go Bananas.'

It seemed the show would never start, but when It did it went extremely fast. We had a little bit of a problem with the sequence on “Maybe”, that slowed our continuity down and we picked it up pretty quick, and from there on the dances and singing went really well. I was told that Helene some of her words in 'The Pictures' but covered really well. I was real pleased with the ringmaster/clown act. I think it went exceptionally good. Then I met Wayne and Tess, and Dr. Roberts at intermission and told them I would meet them in the lobby after the show.

We started the second half with a good strong '50's number. I danced with Deedra and we did pretty good except we were early on the final lift., but we held it until the others caught up. The rest of the show went really good, and we finished the show strong. Afterwards I saw Cindy, Carmy and Mark in the balcony and met up with them and the rest of the gang and we walked down to an ice cream shop. Sandie and the kids met us down there and we spent about 45 minutes eating ice cream and talking. It was really nice
to see them all, and get a chance to say goodbye to them. Then came home with Sandie and talked for a while and went to bed.

(Don't forget you can revisit all of these Tucson places during next year's reunion in Tucson from August 8-11, 2007.
DON'T MISS IT!)

8/28/87 - Friday

Well the day after the show and I'm exhausted. We had to get up at the same time as always in order to get to the U, because we had a concert for the alumni reunion at La Paloma Hotel. What a place! We spent most of the morning practicing the alumni songs and then had a really nice lunch at the hotel. After lunch we had about 2 hours to our self. Most of the cast went swimming or tanning until we had to perform (get ready by 1:00) at 2:00pm. The performance went really well, and I remembered the words to their songs. It was neat because most of the alums were singing with us and some were crying. After we changed, we had a cast meeting and talked about leaving Monday and what to do then. We then loaded the buses and took off to the Tucson Mall. I rode over to the mall with Cassi and had a really good talk with her, and even walked around the mall with her for a
while. It was really neat. It will like to get to know her. We left the mall at 5:30 and went back to the U and had dinner (with Stacie Brockman). Then we went to Cast D's show that went really well. They didn't make any mistakes, but had really low energy during the first half. They did pick it up, however during the second half and gave the alums a great show.

After the show, I met up with Randy, Carole (New Orleans), Chris (CC), and Jim (from Garden Grove) and took a few pictures of us. That was probably the last time I will see Carole or Chris (at least for a long time). I really wish I could have gotten the chance to know Carole better. She seems like a wonderful human being.

When we got done taking pictures Sandie came and picked Steve and I up and went home and crashed right away.

BONUS note:

I hear good things about that tiny TV station called CNN. Cable news could be the wave of the future...

;^)

My God, this great stuff, Grant! I finally stopped having UWP dreams awhile ago, but now I'm having them again (all good, of course). See y'all in 2007!

Dale Shaver

8/29/87 - Saturday

I didn't get up until 11:00 a.m., which was nice to get a chance to catch up on some sleep. After I took a shower I took off and went to the U of A to get some things 3 hole punched and check out the music and drama buildings. I wasn't able to get into the drama building and I was not at all impressed with the music building. When I started walking back to the bus stop, it started raining. Needless to say I got soaked, but it was kind of nice. I walked the whole way because how many times as an adult do you get to play in the rain, let alone just walk in it. I came back home and got out of my wet clothes and wrote a couple of letters. We had dinner and now I'm sitting here listening to the Bronco vs. L.A. Rams game and will probably go to bed fairly early.

BONUS note:

Hi Grant,

Did you ever see the CNN special? I just barely remember CNN doing something on our cast and I don't remember seeing it at all. Then again, I watched very little tv in 1987-88 and what tv I watched usually put me right to sleep.

I had a fun day today. Max Baucus, one of Montana's senators (5-term senator) was visiting our company today as part of a tour of high tech companies working in Montana. He's on the Senate Finance Committee and I guess as part of that, he's trying to bring some good high-tech jobs to Montana. Anyway, he was to spend 1-2 hours with our group to see what we do.

Turns out he sat with me the whole time, answered the phone, helped customers, and kept me in laughter for much of the afternoon. He (and I) were having so much fun that he stayed a half hour longer than he was supposed to. I guess maybe next time he comes up for election I might have to consider voting for him. (0:

Max has been in politics for so long that I remember seeing him in a Deer Lodge parade when I was about 6 years old. I remember it because when one is 6 years old, any politician in a parade appears to be the president (plus, he waved at my brothers and me as we tried to get our broken down go-cart to start).

That's about all the news from this end. I'm really enjoying reading your journal entries. Because the band was separated from the rest of the cast for much of staging, it's fun to read what you all were up to!

"Hi" to Gretchen and the girls!

Cheers,

Julie

8/30/87 - Sunday

I woke up about 9:30, showered, called home and no one was home, and then wrote a letter to Russ. Mom and Dad called back about 11:00 and we talked until almost 12:00. After we talked for long enough, Sandie, Debbie, Keri, Steve, and myself took off to Colossal Caves which is a lot like Cave of the Winds, but is completely dry (unlike Cave of the Winds). On the way there we stopped by the mailbox and picked up the mail which included a letter from Mom which had my newsletter in it and $5.00 ( I really appreciated it and the money was definitely good timing). After the caves (with a redheaded female tour guide) we drove through the Saguaro National Monument which was pretty boring, It is a good thing we didn't pay for it. After stopping by a friend's house and the grocery store, we came home and had delicious spaghetti. After dinner, went for a quick swim, and then came in and packed. From now on it is living out of a suitcase. We leave tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. for T or C, N.M.
*********
BONUS note:

Well so far hosting has been awesome! I had them try fried cheese curds and sweet corn on the cob at the State Fair as well as chocolate chip cookies and off to the dairy area where you can drink all you can handle of milk - we watched the parade where 10 of the Uppies were in it - this was all at the Minnesota State Fair. Then took them to my friends lake house where they went tubing, played on Sea Doos and kayaks and had a bonfire - all very Minnesota. Tonight is the show - last night the Alumni from the cities hosted a potluck dinner for the cast .

Oh yes I got an e-mail from Jo- I will be going to Gent to visit her in November! I am so excited to see her! Plus, I will see the UWP show again there in Brussels.

The show - we performed some of it at the reunion this summer is very good - it is brining it back to our times!

Stacie (Welch)
************
BONUS note:
(EDITOR: And now the REAL stories come out...)

Ooopppsss. Brian Eide and myself (after partying with Brian's "Host Brother", all nite @ LaPaloma's nite club/bar), remember looking across the bar, seeing Carlos Acevado our tour manager. I turn to Brian and say "this is some kind of way to kick off a year".

We find ourselves in the back of a pickup truck with one eye open @7am. Looking up we see our 2 UWP busses heading up the mountain to perform for the alumni. We say to each other "I think a drink at the pool will somehow fix everything."

Needless to say I passed out on a raft (caught some serious sun) and I think Brian was inside catching Z's as well. The rest as they say is ah.....history

I'm glad all of you enjoyed the show @ LaPaloma, and perhaps I could be apart of our 20th yr show ( I just hope I don't miss this one..... A Big NY BooYa going out to everyone......OooooooooAahhhhh

Bman (Brian Merriman)

Bonus Note:

TOOO Funny!!!!

Wow, the things you never know about--- Brian- you crazy guy(s)! And Grant- how did you spend those five bucks? I guess that was a lot more back then-- fun to hear all of your insights.

This makes me want to go dig out my journals and post an entry or two- hmm- now that would be fun. Mine will seem pretty tame I'm sure...

Blessings and a big shout out to a FUN group of people!!! Cannot WAIT to see ya'll next summer!!!!!!

Darci

8/31/87 - Monday - TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES,NM

Admissions meeting at UWP conference room:

My Role:
a) representing UWP
b) recruiting
c) interviewing
d) admissions team

We met at Tucson mall at 7:30 and left about 8:00 a.m. and went to the offices and had a meeting about admissions and then a tour. We left here at about 10:30 a.m. and headed for ol' Truth or Consequences, NM. I can't say I was really sad to go because I was ready for a change. We rode the bus until a rest stop just on the Arizona side of the border. We stayed there to finish lunch and stretch for about 1/2 an hour. From there we went clear straight through to T or C. About 3 miles outside of T or C, we started getting escorted by the police into town. We met up with another cop, a fire truck, a hay (flatbed) truck and the sheriff's posse, and they all paraded us through town to the high school where all our host families were waiting for us with the high school band. This raging town of over 5,000 people was pretty dead because most of the town was waiting for us . Gosh darn it was exciting to get that kind of welcoming. This is one of those great benefits of UWP.

We got a packet of info and our roommates. I got stuck with Steve Bailey again. Just my luck, huh. (Editor note: It was somewhere around here that I went to speak with Terry, almost in tears and contemplating quitting. I asked him if we have to room with the same person for the entire year. I was assured that the allocations would change throughout the year and not to worry.) Our host father and son was waiting for us, both named Earnest Cummings. Earnest the younger is 17 and student body president of the high school. Cool, I can relate to him and there are no little girls around. Besides that we have our own bathroom. The elder Earnest is a teacher at the middle school (grades 6, 7, 8). We got home to a wonderfully cooked spaghetti dinner cooked by wife Velma. We have had a real nice evening talking about everything and playing guitars. They seem like a really (normally) fun, down to earth family, which is nice for a change.

I wrote Sandie a thank you note. I also received a letter from Russ. I'll send him a postcard telling him where I am. Mail call was pretty funny because it was so exciting. It was kind of like it would be on M.A.S.H. (An American TV show)

BONUS note:

We are sooooooo LUCKY to have such a great motivator and dedicated leader. How can any one of us read through these old memories of yours and still not be moved a little in our own memory? I think we will have a larger turnout for this reunion. That is my prediction. (Grant: I hope so. It is time to get ALL of us back together.)

Thank you again for all you do. Hope you had a great summer.
Jeff (Martinson)

*****************
BONUS note:

Don't even have to check my journal - I recall the pictures in my head, and also remembers the icecream-bar I visited with "my" dress rehearsal guests after the show (Haegen-dazz ). It was hard going to sleep that night. Thanks for doing this - you are the best. Love to all of you - Sanne

September:

Click here to choose a different month

9/1/87 – Tuesday - TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES,NM

We rode to the old middle school with Earnest Jr. and then started the day with announcements from Terry. After that the rest of the morning was spent more familiarizing us with the admission responsibilities. Lunch was sandwiches and pop from Sonic. After lunch, group Bartles set up stage, lighting and costumes while group 2 (Jaymes) went to the veterans' center and then to the natural hot springs. I, being in Bartles, help get the platforms set up for the stage and then spent the rest of the afternoon working on costumes. After I finished costumes, I set up and put together the magic box. When we finished that, a few of us went to a convenience store and on the way back I found out a lot more about Christine (Germany) and Deedra. I learned that they have both been through a marriage and a divorce. It was really enlightening and it was from the female perspective. We then had a short meeting discussing how we did, then we had an all cast wrap-up. After the wrap-up, Earnest picked us up and took us to Ralph Edwards park for a picnic dinner. We met Earnest and Velma there and did a little bit of two-stepping, polka and some swinging (dancing). I did most of that with the girl that is on PR for this city, Renee, and besides that she had red hair. It was a lot of fun at the park with the old folks playing the fiddle and guitar. We also had some square dancers, and they taught us some dance steps and we taught them the UWP song. After the picnic we came home and got our swimsuits and went to a pool party at the host family of Paul Kuntz and Mary Huckins. It was a lot of fun, but we even had more fun when we went and visited Nanette, Beth, Stacie and Gretchen at their host house. We just sat there and talked for about an hour, it was really a whole lot of fun. We just sat there and laughed about different things. We got home about midnight and have been talking with Earnest for about an hour, so we have really gotten to know him better, too. It is 1:15 a.m. so I'm going to bed. P.S. Maggie (Rodiger) gave me the responsibility for keeping mileage for the duration of the tour.

*******************
BONUS

Friends,
Please check out this important documentary (Tab Benoit is an old friend from Houma) and pass the link along:

http://www.hurricaneonthebayou.com/

Thanks,
Doug

http://www.fireministries.co.nr/

Hi, my name is Kelly, and I am the founder and director of Fire Ministries. Thank you for taking the time to read our web pages and find out what we are doing! Fire Ministries was birthed in the late 90's out of a desire in my heart to seek the Lord in a deeper way. It resulted in an extensive stay in Ireland . There the Lord did a new work in my heart as well as putting a great love in me for the Irish people. During that first trip to Ireland the Lord moved in a powerful way. The end result has been the birth of Fire Ministries with as many as three trips a year being taken to Ireland. Fire Ministries and all the trips we take have been bathed in the original longing and desire for Jesus that I experienced in my original trip.

About me personally, I have been serving Jesus for close to fifteen years. I have graduated from a three year Bible College and make yearly trips to the mission field around the world. The most important thing that can be said about me is that I Love Jesus. I have no greater desire in my life then to bring Him glory. I hope that you will consider getting involved with Fire Ministries.

10/30/87 - Friday - Freeport, IL

Cast in Mankato, MN

Not too long after we got to the office, Steve and Priscilla went to the Holiday Inn and got some rooms donated for staff. I stayed and retyped a letter to churches, addressed envelopes, getting ready to send them. When they came back Priscilla and I worked on host families. She got a hold of Steve Tanton and he asked if he could take us out to lunch. Naturally we said yes and he came and picked us up. We thought he was just another host family, but later found out that he is an alumni and traveled in ‘72-‘73. Real nice guy and extremely willing to help. All afternoon I worked on calling host families and by the end of the day had 45 beds confirmed.

After leaving the office we went to go judge a costume contest for kids. After we did our judging, they paraded to the playa and announced the winners for each division (under 5, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12). They also had an overall winner that I got to announce because in addition to winning $20, they also won an Up With People album. Before I announced the winner, I gave a plug for the show of when, where and what time. There were about 400 people there so I believe we reached a lot of people. From there we went straight home and got ready to go on a hayride with Randy and Jackie's Sunday School group. It was a little chilly, but a lot of fun. Afterwards we came back home and had dinner and sat around and talked. We gave a plug for the show and asked them if any could be hosts (another 4 beds). Finally went to bed about 12:00 midnight.

10/31/87 - Saturday, Halloween - Freeport, IL
Cast in Mankato, MN

We slept in until about 9:30 and laid around until noon, at which time Priscilla and I went to the store and picked up my developed film. 3 rolls. The pictures turned out really good, and almost all of them were developed. At 2:00 we went to the mall to judge an adult costume contest. There were over 40 costumes and we narrowed it down to 11 (it was supposed to be ten, but we couldn't decided on which of two to put in so we had them both) then had to rank them 1 to 11. Wow! Was it hard and a couple of the times the audience sighed a heavy 'Aaaah.' We were very aware of where the closest exit was just in case they started throwing tomatoes at us. It lasted until about 3:30, and afterwards we rushed home so we could get ready to go to DeKalb.

We left at about 4:00 and arrived in DeKalb at 5:15 to meet the team from Batavia (Anne, Heikki and Laurie). We all met at Hardee's then went to dinner at Rositas (a Mexican restaurant,) and had a real nice dinner. After dinner we went to campus (all six in a four passenger car) and found the fraternity house of the same fraternity Steve belongs to and asked where the parties were. They told us that they were having one at 9:00 and to come back. So we went to a bar called the Crystal Pistol and had a few drinks. I had two strawberry daiquiris that were absolutely delicious. It was a real nice place, and we sat and talked and laughed for about an hour and a half. About 9:30, we went back over to the party, which cost us two bucks each. It was a wasted two dollars since I didn't drink because I was designated driver but I still had a good time. Anne and I had a nice long discussion about girlfriends and boyfriends in general. We left there at about 1:00 a.m. and went to get some coffee before we headed home. I want it stated now that I tried coffee once again and reconfirmed that I do not like coffee because it tastes like dirty water. Mom would be proud I tried it. (EDITOR: Long story, but my Mom always swore that I would start liking coffee when I got to college. I still can't drink the stuff.) We left for home at about 2:00 and I had an extremely hard time staying awake. To add to it, it was so foggy, I could only see abut 25 feet in front of me which meant I could only go about 45 miles an hour. We finally got home at 3:30 and boy was I tired.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker

Saturday Oct 31st. Mankato. - DAY OFF
I slept until 9 AM and then took a long hot-tub bath. Wonderful. Started some letter writing and did some laundry. At 12 PM I had an appointment to get my hair cut. She did pretty good but the style will not be easy to hold. We shopped a little and had Chinese for lunch. In the afternoon I got my suitcase cleaned up and some more letters written. I also cut my pumpkin and it was placed out side the front door with a candle inside when the local kids started coming to get their trick or threat. It was fun to see all the different outfits they were dressed up in. Later we went to a place called 'the haunted house'. A horrifying place with ghosts and awful decorations. Typical American Halloween my host family told me. It's been a good long day off with interesting things happening and a wonderful family to be with. My host mum even paid for my haircut.
(Editor : Keep in mind this was my (and I guess a lot of others as well) first ever experience with Halloween. Today 20 years later Halloween is also celebrated a little in Denmark but nothing compared to the way America celebrates)


***************
SPECIAL HALLOWEEN GREETINGS

Dear Grant, Gretchen and children

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all of you !!!

Gretchen, you know that I think of you a lot during this time of the year. I'll always remember my first "pumpkin carving" experience, yeaks !!! Normally Halloween is not celebrated in Belgium, but since a few years we cannot get around it and via shops, movies, etc... we are getting familiar with Halloween. In fact Lore (8) worked around the theme a lot in school. Now today she wanted me to make pumpkin soup and she made a basket full of candies (most of them are candies and cookies that she doesn't like, but hey, it's the thought that counts...)because she wants to be prepared when children come to our door. We had only a few so I guess she will have to eat it all by herself! Lotte (11) is at the moment celebrating Halloween with her friends. She wanted to be "Vampire-ella", I told her she didn't need much of make up, but she didn't agree :-)

So, as you can see I'm digging into my memories of Algona to keep up the Halloween spirit !!! I think by next year I will have to make a complete Halloween lunch, - dinner and party! Lore wanted to carve a pumpkin but I passed for this year - remembering my first fiasco ! But I promise to practice on melons this summer!!!

The day after tomorrow Staci W will visit us. Gosh I can't wait to see her. I will give you a full report, and we will also attend the show in Brussels on Saturday. As I see it there will be lots of alumni there (Jerko and Monique C. will be there for sure) As soon as I can I'll mail you some pictures. I'm so excited I can hardly sleep! (EDITOR: Take some pictures of the three of you so I can share them with the cast, and tell Monique that she needs to make sure she doesn't get lost again!)

Have a very happy Halloween BOOOOOOOOOOOOOH
-Jo

EDITOR: I need the casts help. I don't have the dates as to where the cast was when I was on PR. Does anyone have a journal/calendar that would say when you traveled from one city to the next? Gretchen was on PR too, so she is no help. If you have a list of our tour by dates, please send them my way.

******************
SPECIAL PRAYERS AND CONSIDERATIONS
From Erin Lynch-Harnish

Hi Grant and Gretchen,
Thanks for the daily messages, I can count on them to bring a little smile. I just wanted to let you and the cast family know we've been going though a hard time lately...

You may remember that we had lots of difficulty having our son, Andrew. We are so blessed to have him after 3 pregnancy losses. (I was very sick with each pregnancy and I also lost the one that I had happily told everyone about at a reunion...)

Anyway, we have spent the last year working with doctors, a surrogate, agencies and even lawyers as we hoped to have a surrogate pregnancy. I had procedures to collect eggs after stimulating multiple ones to mature at once. Everything seemed to be finally working out, but then two weeks ago on the day we were to transfer our eggs to our surrogate (Doctors don't think I should be pregnant again), we were told NONE of our 10 embryos would survive. It was like miscarrying all over again. We are not sure what we are going to do now, but we will be thinking and praying hard to move forward.... They don't think we should try again.

Pete and I both have had the immediate reaction that we are so so lucky to have Andrew and enjoy our family time (even if it is a smaller family than we had hoped.) Next we'll be rethinking adoption or having Andrew be an only child. (we both have siblings and wanted that for him!!) Sorry for sharing bad news, but I wanted to let you know what was going on.

Love, Erin

11/3 - Tuesday - Freeport, IL - Cast in Batavia, IL


I was up at 8:00 a.m. to get ready for the day, but stayed home until 12:00 waiting for the video to arrive. At 12:00 I went to speak at the Kiwanis Club. We had chicken again, and the speech went real well and they even asked questions after I was done. As an appreciation gift they gave me a Kiwanis letter opener. When I got back to the office, I typed a letter to the alumni, then went to lunch at City Lights. Pretty good food, but expensive. We worked a little longer, then came home and ate dinner. I spent the rest of the evening writing letters.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov. 3rd - Batavia

Starting off the day we had a small welcome-ceremony for our cast director 'Mr. Vice President' Carlos to congratulate him with his new title. He was promoted last week. We did set up after which we did the school project we had been preparing. It went by OK but it seemed like the students we talked to had no problems whatsoever, only somebody they knew did. (editor: don't remember what this was - must have been something with kids in trouble). At least we kept them interested for 50 minutes and they answered our questions. After lunch we had premiere on our new sound assembly and it turned out real good. Much better than the old one. We had one hour free time before having a full cast-meeting. Carlos talked a little and then asked what had been happening since he was with us last time, and then he finally broke the news that we would be reuniting after Christmas break in Las Vegas to do a special show, after which we shall tour the US until April. Head for Scandinavia and perhaps end our year in Scotland. So that sounds great to me.

I called Doris (editor:my Tucson host mum, with whom I still have close contact) - she was glad to talk and understood my decision to go home for Christmas. Had a relaxing evening with my host family - pizza for dinner.

************

BONUS NOTES:
From Sandra Jung

The latest on my dad is that he has some kind of scarring on his liver which is a relief that it's not cancer, but we don't know much about this scarring. so far we've raised over $300 from the cast and I'm about $300 short of my goal, but i still have til nov 9 :) The Axton's and I had a mini reunion at my house Sunday and a great time eating in the backyard (it's still warm enough to do that kind of thing in la) and catching up. can't wait to see everyone at the reunion.
love, Sandra

11/4/87 – Wednesday - Freeport, IL - Cast in Batavia, IL

I was up at 6:00 a.m. this morning in order to make it to the 7:00am Kiwanis meeting. This is the one Randy, Ed and Kim Grimes belongs to. I came back home and fell asleep, and eventually went to the office around 10:30. I kind of piddled around and addressed the alumni letters and when Steve and Priscilla came back from their meeting we went to lunch at A&W. Priscilla and I went to the high school and talked with the lady who is helping us with planning a sound assembly. In the afternoon, I called all the churches to see if they were going to put my letter in their newsletter and if we could speak to any of their groups. Most were pretty cooperative. After that we went down and talked to Ted Alber about using some 4-wheelers for cast pick-up. We were hoping for 3 or 4, and he said he had 12 we could use! So we are going to arrange something if we can. At 3:30, we visited the Sleezer Juvenile Home and talked with Roy, the director, ‘til about 4:15. At that time we took off for Janesville and arrived at about 5:30 p.m. It was real good to see them (Roger and Cynthia Lynch), and besides that they had lots of mail for me! We had dinner in Jamesville and got back home about 8:30. Watched the video and went to bed.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 4th, Batavia

An ordinary show-day, with set-up, lunch, show-prep that Carlos and Terry ran (they taught us this small dance-section – quite fun) and rehearsal where we practiced for an acoustic tomorrow. During the afternoon I tried calling home but no one answered and after more missed attempts I was upset with the fact that I could not get a hold of them. I was not in the mood for the show at all, but Brenda P came and grabbed me to tell there were visitors. Surprise – visit you can say – my wonderful host-family from Ogelsby were there. That turned my day around – it was really sweet of them to drive here even on JJ’s (hostson) birthday (EDITOR – another family I still have a little contact with). During strike Ken told me we could not be bus-dates the day after tomorrow anyway, but oh well I guess there will be another time we can manage. He promised to teach me some sign-language. (Grant-So did he ever teach you sign language?)

Hi Grant!
I saw the cast website...it is great!! After all these years, what a pleasure to see everyone back. I just loved to see the family pictures, everyone is looking wonderful! If it wasn't for all those cute kids, I wouldn't realize how much time has actually gone by!

I hereby send you a few pictures of my family; my husband Frederic, and my two boys Maxime (8) and Timo (6) . Maybe you can add some, next time you update the site! thank you for this website and thank you for keeing the cast alive!

Darci, thanks again for finding me back.. I just still can't believe it, I'm very excited about all this!
regards,
Monique

11/5/87 – Thursday - Freeport, IL - Cast in Batavia, IL

I had another meeting with the Golden Key Kiwanis, the senior men, that went extremely well. They asked me some great questions for about 10 minutes and were really responsive. When I got back to the office, I confirmed my meeting tonight and sent out the brochures to Dave at Park Hills Evangelical Church. We had a morning meeting and went to lunch with Jim Graham at a nearby sandwich shop. After lunch, I called a few more families and was able to get 5 more beds to put us at 80 beds, which was our goal for today.

In the afternoon, Priscilla and I picked up the VCR and TV, picked up a tape to copy the highlights video on to, and also stopped by and checked about putting UWP on some marquees. After we stopped by HCC, went back to the office to get ready for the sponsor meeting. Randy, Connie, Jim, Ed, and JoAnn (Chamber of Commerce director) were all there. We watched the video and talked about what has happened this past week. I passed out copies of the cast ethnic breakdown, cast goals and pie charts of how our money is spent. When the meeting was done, I came home, ate dinner and went and spoke to the Embassy Church choir. Judy Buus is who I arranged it with, there was only about 20 people, but they were real interested. I also talked a little about the Kafkas and filled them in on their lives in Colorado Springs. (EDITOR: A girl that moved to Colorado Springs and I went to high school with that had recently moved from Freeport, IL.) That was basically my day.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 5th, Batavia

It felt strange that we did not have to travel today and most of all it felt like a day off. I tried calling home again but still no answer. This makes me a little sad. We had C.I.D all day but all met at some facility and before leaving for CID a very kind lady let me borrow her phone and I got my airline-ticket booked to go home for Christmas. That felt good and relieving.

Our first CID stop was a juvenile detention with approximately 270 inmates between the age of 13 to 21. Only 70 selected (the most well-behaved) were allowed to join us in the gym. We talked a little before doing our acoustic. They liked the show and a few of the guys from there also performed a couple of rap-songs that they had written themselves. They were very very good. Then we played some volleyball with some of them which was fun and they also seemed to enjoy it.

After lunch we went to this other place – Mooseheart Institute. Mooseheart is non-religious and non-political institution, where members pay a fee to be a member and thereby secure their kids a safe future should anything happen to the parents. Also there were some kids there who's parents had not been able to take good enough care of them. The kids live there “on campus”, do not get out of there to be with other kids. They are not allowed to get involved/couple up with fellow students and they are all restricted onto where they can walk and be at campus. Some of the kids don’t even know how to call on a pay-phone. But they seemed to be happy to be there. We performed , got a tour around campus and also had some “free-time” to mingle with the kids. They were very open-minded and interested in our presence. Back at the meeting-facility we had a cast-wrapup meeting where we discussed the things we experienced at those 2 places today. At home I helped Diane (hostmum) feed the baby and also did some laundry. I hope I can call home before going to bed.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Lynda Cullen-hall
BATAVIA & CHICAGO

Yes, we're going backwards instead of forwards. (Editor's note: I was constantly plating catch up on my journal.) We arrived in Batavia and Aunt Lori picked me up. We went out to Paba Riba for Spanish "tapas." I tried all sorts of new things~ grilled oysters, chicken, shrimp, a beef brochette, duck canneloni in a hazelnut sauce, a cold eggplant salad, and of course~ dessert. I had a really fattening piece of chocolate mousse-type cake with cocoa powder on top. It was wonderful! The 2nd night we went to 2nd City which is a theatre for improvisation. Apparently alot of great names have gotten their start there. Wednesday was show day and Jennifer excused me from set-up so I could sleep late. (Thanks Jennifer!) I also managed to make my flight reservations for Christmas. By the way, Pia decided not to go home with me at Christmas.

11/6/87 - PR in Freeport, IL / Cast in Sioux City, IA

When I woke up, everyone was gone so I went over to the office and picked up the mail on the way. There was a letter from Denis Cournoyer and Cassi Kuck. Denis postcard was pretty funny, but didn t really say anything. Cassi had a little more to say about the Halloween party and various things. She said it seems like we ve been gone for a long time, and I agree. It has been two weeks since I have been with cast not including that short amount of time at the brewery.

I did some writing for a while then Priscilla and I went to Aquin High School to talk to a couple teachers. When we came back, I wrote out a second news release and typed it, then I wrote a second block letter for tickets and Steve typed it. I also wrote an alphabetized list of the host families and will type it up for Jim by Tuesday morning. I went home about 4:30 and kicked back and relaxed. I started a fire after dinner, and started writing letters. Jackie, Priscilla and Steve went to a wine tasting function at the Holiday Inn. (EDITOR: Since I was only 19 at the time, I was not able to go. :( )

Randy came home about 8:00 and we sat there and talked til about 10:00. It was real nice, and we talked about everything. He said that he thought I was a loner, and just did things by myself. It is ironic, but true while I ve been on P.R. I finished writing a ton of postcards and went to bed.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Lynda Cullen-Hall
11/6/87

It has definitely been a long time since my last entry. (Editor's note...last entry was 10/23 and made reference to Bill Becker and Leanne....so you two will have to email me personally if you want to know what it said.) Today we arrived in Sioux City, Iowa and of course Holly is ecstatic because Doug is back with the cast! She is so funny! She is head over heels in love with this guy. I just hope she doesn't get hurt.

The 11 hour bus ride was a blast today. Chrissy R. and I sat together. We had a bitching session for the 1st hour; slept for 4; and I looked through a bridal magazine for a while. She is so funny! We were thinking it would be fun to go to Chrissy's house and she and her mom can teach me some trades of Italian cooking. Then Chrissy an I can go to Boston to visit Holly. Then we could drive Holly to Ithaca for school. After that, Chrissy and I could spend a few days at the lake house or in Rochester and she could fly home. What a blast that would be.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 6th, Batavia

Before going to bed last night I called home and finally got a hold of my family. They were all there and were all ok. Father was even home from the hospital and felt better. He doesn t need his oxygen-mask anymore but he sounded short of breath and very tired. Poor dad he has to suffer so much but it felt good talking to him. (EDITOR this was the last time I talked to him, yet I did not have a clue that he was in that bad shape at that time)

Another 11 hour travel day that I had hoped it would be by myself but I was not that lucky (editor good thing it doesn t say in my journal who took up that other seat would have made me sound terrible). I did get a little nap and also wrote some letters. I m soooooo tired. My new host-family is so sweet and once again I'm by myself.

BONUS PICTURE
Julie's child during Halloween. It made me laugh, so I thought I would share.

11/7/87 Saturday - PR in Freeport, IL / Cast in Sioux City, IA

After we woke up we went straight to the mall and sat there all day with the video, pamphlets and information. It was boring and I was in a bad mood, but we did sell 8 tickets. Cynthia ( Not Cindy , I am constantly reminded by her) and Roger came to the mall. Roger went home and Cynthia left with us at 4:00 when we came home. We watched the movie Mannequin and got ready to go out. Jim Graham picked us up at about 6:15 to go to Canova s then the Royal Scot s Show Americana 87. It was good music, but kind of corny choreography. I wasn t real impressed, but it was a nice free evening. After that we came back and watched Saturday Night Live, then they left at 12:00 and we all went to bed.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 7th, Sioux City

Super-crew was setting up so we could sleep in and did not have to be in until 9AM. It gave another dimension to this day. We had a speaker about how you can develop and educate yourself. It was very interesting. After that we drove to a girls club where some got involved with some of the girls and taught them a few songs from the show. I was with the group that prepared lunch with some other girls and then we played some games together. It was really neat how open they were. Held our hands and liked to mingle. But I was sooooo tired.

Back at the show-facility we had show-prep with circle-training (EDITOR what was that?) and then some concentration-training. We had to do that with someone we did not know too well so I did it with Jim Ness. First we had to do part-to-part movements (we did nose-to-nose). Then we had to do 15 minutes with total eye-contact. We had to look deep into each-others eyes and then go through different emotional feelings while keeping eye-contact (happy, sad, disappointed etc). It was hard to concentrate in the beginning but after a while it got better. It was a very good exercise and I learned a lot from it. In the cast there is always someone to talk with but from this I learned how to think about my own feelings in a new way. There was a certain atmosphere and everyone was quiet and enjoyed it. Dinner was very delicious. I sat at a 2-person table with Kevin Jonas and we had a nice conversation. I am going to miss him when he leaves on PR. The show went OK. We performed at a ice-stadium, and even though they covered the ice it was still cold there.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Lynda Cullen-Hall
11/7/87

Well today we did our 1st mall show. It really went well. Bill Welch spoke with us about "elevating" our show with regards to the quality of performance. Basically I think that means they'll keep the same people on dance lines and solos for a while. They won't be doing quite so much switching around. I think that will help the show quite a bit. (EDITOR'S note- spoken like a performer that wasn't looking at the "total UWP purpose.")

11/8/87 – Sunday - PR in Freeport, IL – Cast in Latimer, IA

I slept in Priscilla’s bed, and Steve was on the couch so that Priscilla and Cynthia could sleep together. I got up about 7:30 to get ready for church, and we left about 8:00 for the 8:15 service. It was a boring monotonous service and my mind wandered a lot, but it was good for me to be there. Sunday School afterwards consisted of doughnuts and socializing, and not much learning. We got home and had chicken for lunch and watched part of the Bears game. I made two batches of “No-Bake” cookies that everyone seems to enjoy. I took Shelly and Ed Stukemberg’s daughter, Kirsten, to the church so they could go to a movie by Billy Graham called "Caught!" It was alright, but kind of dull. After the movie we went to the church and had pizza and I provided the entertainment. I taught them Dum Dum Ditty Ditty and Wattaliacha and they seemed to get into it. On the way home I dropped off Kirsten and went to say “hi” to Ed and meet his wife Debbie and daughter (17) Laura. We sat and talked until about 9:45 (almost 2 hours). I really had a good time just talking with them and doing nothing. When I came home, I don’t think Jackie (my host mom) was very happy with me. Oh well.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 8th

Another travel day but only 31 2 hours. We did not have to be at HDO until 1.30 PM so I joined my host-family for church and then we went for brunch at a nice restaurant. They are very nice and comfortable to be with and we had a nice morning. Their older daughter came to HDO and I was very sad to leave. But that’s life. On the bus Ken taught me the alphabet in sign-language. I’m proud to have learned that (EDITOR- if only I remembered better :::J) We had a good bus-date and I also slept a little. My new host-family lives out in the middle of nowhere but they are extremely nice. I’m so tired.

11/9/87 Monday - PR in Freeport, IL / Cast in Latimer, IA

Mondays have a bad rap because today was really not that bad. I typed a preliminary host family list before Priscilla and I went to Aquin H.S. to talk to two classes with the video. She did the first class which was her first time and she did alright. She has just got to be more in control of her audience. (EDITOR: I guess I felt I was the expert in speaking to kids. Who knew I knew so much at only 19? Sorry Priscilla.)

Then I did the second class which was an all girl's speech class, and they were pretty responsive. When we came back, I did some more typing and went to lunch at Burger King. I went back to the office and started typing allocation cards and sent the rest of the alumni letters. We were at the office until 6:00 p.m. and then we came home and ate dinner and watched TV. We ended the evening by getting a total of 93 beds (which might be all we need) and then Steve copied his demo tape onto Priscilla s and my tape. Went to bed about 11:30.

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 9th,
Latimer, Iowa

Or should we say Colter outside town on a farm. Set up , school kitchen lunch, after which I had plenty of time to write a few letters. Our sound-assembly today was not only for the school but also to celebrate that the school had been elected as one of the best in the state. The governor was there, speakers and others and the show was well-received. After that we had a speaker "the hat-lady". She owned 5000 hats and each one had its own history. She was very special and neat. Evening off we had the most fantastic dinner and I ate too much. We had a relaxing time in front of the fire-place, Heidi and I telling about our home city. I also got some letters written. I'm exhausted.

11/10/87 Tuesday - PR in Freeport, IL Cast in Latimer, IA

We started the morning at 5:30 in order to get ready to go to an interview at WFPS radio. We were at the station from about 6:30 to 9:00 a.m. and had about 5 ten-minute spots and hopefully reached a lot of people. I went to the office to make a few phone calls and then went straight to Aquin High School because I thought I had to be there by 10:00, but I didn t have to be there until 10:50. So I spent the hour writing a letter. My first speech was for an all-boys speech class (all football players, too) the second was for a sophomore speech class. I stopped and talked to the guy at Service Master (about his marquee), got lunch at Taco Bell, and went back to the office.

Later that afternoon we did an interview with Sue from Savannah for Today s Woman. She was recording it and introduced me to Mary Axton. Hmm, maybe I should change my name. We went home about 5:00, had dinner and then I went to the Lion s Club meeting at the Elk s Club. Before I left I started my tape for Mrs. Miller and the people back home. The Lion s Club tried to feed me dinner again, then I did my speech and even told a joke afterwards. (The To hell with your canoe joke) It went over okay, but the meeting in general was pretty good. When I got home we watched the movie The Warriors, then went to bed.

11/11/87 Wednesday - PR in Freeport, IL / Cast in Clarion, IA

We slept in until about 9:30 then went to Nick s Continental Restaurant and had breakfast. After breakfast, we had a real nice discussion about how things have been going as far as promotion, media, schedule, sponsor relations, team relations, and have we reached our goals. It was a nice talk and we got some things out in the open that have really been bothering me. We were there until 11:45 talking and discussing what has happened so far, and what needs to happen in the next week.

When we got back, I checked on having cast lunch on Saturday at the Golden Corral. It was a pretty good price: $4.25 for a meal, salad bar, soup and beverage. We will have to okay it through Bill. We then put labels on the Chamber of Commerce s monthly newsletter (for Jeannie). After that I called Ted Alber (not there), Dr. Descourourez (not there: checking on a possible career day with him) counted number of beds (103 now) and called on ticket outlets (220 sold all together). Steve and Priscilla decided they wanted a haircut, but wanted me to get it donated. I called Roger s Hair Salon and I offered him two free tickets if he would cut our hair. He bought it, so we ran over there right away and he did it. Although he made me look like Wolfman Jack, he did a good job. We spoke to the Highland Scots and I went with Jim and spoke to the Jaycees and won a six pack of pop.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson

Grant-I have so enjoyed reading your journal entries and I finally dug mine up and have typed up some stuff for you. We (Elin and I ) were on PR in Charles City during the beginning of your PR so I picked up on the 11th of November. (I was such a geek :)) They are quite short so hopefully you will get other people to write as well-- One's that are more interesting.

Wed Nov 11th,

Tomorrow the cast finally comes. YEAH!!!!! Elin and I are both so excited!!!!! It seems that after three weeks of promoting the show, etc, that it can't be true-that they are really coming. Today was extremely busy. We had speeches at the junior high school and then we had to finish preparing everything. I know that we have done a good job on PR. The sponsor is very pleased and we have always been ahead of schedule.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Lynda Cullen
11/11/87

We had our Batavia performance Wed evening and Aunt Lori and Uncle Lee were there. They seemed to enjoy it. My new host family was there and the kids were so cute. Mary was star-struck! Thursday my group went to the St. Charles-Illinois youth Center which is for male delinquents age 12 - 21. We visited with them, did a short show (during which I fell while dancing Mexico) and played volley ball with them. In the afternoon we went to Mooseheart which is a type of orphanage. I spent some time with a guy name Donald. He seemed like a really nice, outgoing 16 year old....I was impressed. We did a quick show and spent the afternoon talking and bowling.

We departed Friday am for Sioux City, Iowa. Cyndi and I were roommates. We stayed with a very nice couple, Cynthia and Randy. Cynthia was telling us about the ghost, Caspar, at the nursing home so naturally we had to see for ourselves. Well, we didn't see it but we heard it in the kitchen...pretty bazaar!!

Sioux City was pretty low key, nothing else happened.

Next stop was Clarion/Latimer and MAN...was our host dad weird. Really!!!

11/12 /87– Thursday - PR in Freeport, IL – Cast in Charles City, IA

I had an early Rotary meeting at 7:00 a.m. at Highland Community College that went okay, but nothing special. Then I went home to get the VCR, but was unable to because the house was locked. So I went to the office to wait for Steve and make some phone calls. After he came I went back to HCC and set up a table for about an hour, but had to be back at the office by 12:00. We grabbed a bite to eat and ate it on the way to Rockford to do our taping for WREX-TV “Take-5”, which is on for five minutes during Good Morning America. I got nervous which kind of surprised me, but it was a neat experience.

From there we went and visited Jackie at her hospital and had a tour of the maternity ward. Then we came back home (to work ) and called back all our messages. We also finished typing all of the allocation cards and called all the host families about the Host Family Meeting on Monday the 16th in the County Court House in the County Board Room. We even made it home before 6:00 p.m. and had dinner. After dinner we watched Bill Cosby, then played Trivial Pursuit until about 11:30. I was feeling amazingly smart, but did not win. But I did have four pies all by myself. I had a great day today! I felt good about everything I did: I looked good (I parted my hair to the side), I did a TV interview, we got things accomplished, we had fun together and I finished the day by feeling smart.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
Jeff Martinson
Thur Nov 12th

Well today the cast finally arrived. I slept in until 10:00 am and then got ready for their arrival. We (Elin and I) finished a lot of last minute things. The cast arrived at 2:15 pm---LATE! We both were so excited. It was a strange feeling that I cannot really explain. The day ran really smooth. Host Pickup was a little difficult because it was dark and people had a hard time finding their luggage. Thank God the cast is finally here. (On a side note- I missed the cast so much while on PR and felt like I was missing out on everything. I chose to never go on PR again after that experience. The PR experience was not bad itself, I just felt alone and a bit abandoned in the middle of Iowa. I am so glad I got to spend the time with Elin. We did manage to get to a Kenny Rogers concert in Rochester, MN, and a Whitney Houston concert in Iowa. Elin and I had some good laughs. One thing I remember is both of us hearing a Debbie Gibson song called "Shake your love". Elin thought it was so stupid - meaning how do you shake your love? I think something got a bit lost in the translation. Very funny even to think about today.)

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Lynda Cullen-Hall

Next stop was Clarion/Latimer and MAN...was our host dad weird. Really!!!

Okay, we're going back further in time to Mankato, MN with Monique, Amy, Todd and Lexi.

We enjoyed the Halloween party; dressing up as pregnant baseball players and participating in string licorice races. Saturday was a free day and I loved every minute of it. I slept in, relaxed, talked with mom and dad, grama, Bob and Craig. At night I made my chicken, mushrooms and mozz cheese dinner and then we went to a few bars. Alot of people were dressed up for Halloween. I felt like a normal person for a day!!

The city prior to Mankato was LaCrosse, WI and I roomed with Sanne. They were very nice;real modern home and great meals. We tried to go to a haunted house because Sanne had never seen one but it was closed.

Muscatine, Iowa found me rooming with Gro. I had a jazz fanatic for a host dad which was fine with me. We (the girls) went out and saw FATAL ATTRACTION. We ran into several UWP people....Roger, Bill, Priscilla, Darcy, Dennis, Rodney, Sean (must have been Shawn) Chrissie, Dave O. lots of sun and what a great movie.

I guess that catches me up to date on my journal. Time to go to sleep.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker

Nov 11th, Clarion

This day seemed to start far too early. I was extremely tired. We started out going to a care-center with elderly and handicapped people. We talked and sang songs with them and followed them around. For one hour I had a nice conversation with this very sweet lady. She was half-deaf so she did most of the talking and I just sat still and became more and more tired. I really had to pull myself not to fall asleep. We then did a little rehearsal before lunch. The sound assembly was not all that good. No one seemed to be very motivated. At fitness we had some “relaxation exercises” which helped us get more motivated and focused. During wrap-up I got personal compliments for my interactive participation especially in the “clowns-act”. That felt good. We had a delicious dinner before the show. I feel so tired these days and really need a day off. Not sure if I’m becoming ill. Bill asked if I would do PR in January, with cast arrival January 30th. I will sleep on it and decide tomorrow. I guess my birthday can also be nice just with one cast-mate with me (Editor: the speculation was that my birthday is January 28th and I would have liked to be with the cast on that day. I did not do that city after all due to what happened later in November when my father died.)

Nov 12th.
Our travel day did not start until after lunch, but during the morning hours the staff had a meeting, which made it possible for us to prepare our staff-appreciation-surprise. They were surprised when they came back. We had a small sketch for them, and some had made medals for each of them. Food-crew had prepared a wonderful potato/egg dish and hot chocolate, and we really had a good time there. It was only a 2 hour bus-drive to Charles City. I fell asleep. I did tell Bill I would do the PR in January and asked if I also could do a city in Europe – which he was certain I would. We will see..... but I’m anxious to know who I will be doing the January PR with. Before HPU we saw a movie. My host mum has a granddaughter age 18 who really wanted to take Mary and I out. But we postponed until tomorrow.

11/13/87 – Friday-PR in Freeport, IL – Cast in Charles City, IA

We slept in ‘til about 8:45 then stopped by the office and then went to the radio station WFRL and did a talk show. We did not have any calls, but had fun. After that I went straight over to HCC and set up a table from 11:00 to 1:30. I had a lady stop by and tell me she had a son at Chileda Institute in LaCrosse (where the CIG went) and he really enjoyed us being there. She also said thank you and it was really nice for us to do things like that and she really appreciated us. (EDITOR: This is the story I told you would be coming about three weeks ago. She said that our visit really affected her son, who could hardly speak, but for two weeks would hum the UWP theme song)

After I left HCC, I went home and had lunch and stayed until about 2:30, then I went to the mall and bought some of those amino night pills to see if I would lose weight. I’m feeling really good about every aspect of myself except my weight. (EDITOR: Yep, I am still fighting that battle...) I also bought some Dep hair gel, because I’m going to try wearing my hair like this for a while. (Parted to the side) (EDITOR: 19 years later still parting my hair on the side.)

We had a sponsor meeting at 3:30 (only Ed and Connie were there) and we told them about second week progress. Afterwards, Ed asked if we wanted to go get a drink at The Esquire, so Steve picked up Debbie Stukemberg and we all met over there. Before you knew it, I had drunk 3 Seagram’s Wine Coolers and was feeling okay. In fact I really shouldn’t have driven home but we all had a car so I had to. We came home and got ready to go over to Lathrop’s for dinner. Dave, Jan and Leanne were really nice. Leanne traveled in ’83-’84 and knows Terry Adams. We had a real nice dinner and laugh a lot, then we watched Pee Wee Herman (don’t ask me why), Police Squad, and a tape of Leanne’s show year. We got home about 11:30 and went to bed.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Fri Nov 13th

Today was a basic day for the cast. They had a sound assembly for the junior high school in the morning. It went OK and then they had rehearsal. The show was good, although the cast is very tired. The auditorium was almost sold out.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 13th..

Mary and I both thought HDO was at 08.30 AM but it appeared it was already at 8. Anyway, we did a sound-assembly for the school students and they really liked it. We had school-kitchen lunch after which I utilized my free-time to go and get a hold of my airline ticket for Christmas. I even got it changed so that I can be home already Dec 21st (against a fee of USD 27). I received a letter from mum – she wrote that father is now in a wheelchair (they did not mention that when we talked last week). I cried a little because it’s so hard to think off when I’m this far away. I also received a letter from Doris with the monthly sponsor-ship (editor: Doris my Tucson hostmum sent me 10 dollars every month through our year – she is now 79 years old and still sends me and my family presents for Christmas and birthdays – she is the grandma I never had ). After rehearsal I found a quiet spot and practiced the “gymnastics”. I can soon do it. After the show we had no strike or interviews so we went to a party at Paula’s place (a girl from cast C who is with us here to be able to perform at her home town). It was a nice party – they did some different games and we had a little beer. Al came over to me and gave me a big hug and told me how energetic and good he thinks I look during the show. I grew about 15 centimeters and it felt so good, especially because I’m only doing my thing and not involved in any dances or songs yet.

11/14/87 Saturday - PR in Freeport, IL Cast in Charles City, IA

Today was basically a lazy day. We watched a tape of Beverly Hills Cop, sat around, read a little and ate. Priscilla and I finally went out about 1:20 and put flyers on cars then came back. I made an arrangement with Dr. Descourourez to shadow him for a day on next (this) Tuesday.

We left to go to dinner at 5:30 with Jim and Debbie Graham at a bar/restaurant called Flo s. After dinner (Jim picked up the tab) we went to the high school musical Annie get Your Gun. We had free tickets, that Jim arranged, but would have gladly paid for it. I talked with Mugger (the director) yesterday about possibly doing the show for the cast on Saturday afternoon/morning. He is working on it and is going to call Monday. I m also working on a possible chance for a guy to stay at the local fire station. I m trying to get it okayed by the chief and the mayor. We had a real quiet, peaceful day today, and I really enjoyed this evening. I m going to miss all this, but I m looking forward to seeing the cast!

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Sat Nov 14th

Today was the cast's CID (Community Involvement Day). I went with a small group of 8 people to the pig farm and they really enjoyed it. Boy was I surprised. Then I went with the rest of the crew to an acoustic at the nursing home. Everything ran really smooth as we had planned. Elin and I were both very glad about that. The cast was happy to have such a nice schedule. The show was not very good tonight actually but the audience didn't know it. Almost sold out the house again. We are almost done with PR!.

A side-note about the pig farm. While Elin and I were trying to plan things for people to do our sponsor (I think) recommended visiting this real live pig farm. I think Elin and I went out there ourselves to see it and I was convinced it was a bad idea. I (being such an opinionated 18 year old) thought I knew what people would and would not like. We did end up putting it on the schedule and I remember "knowing" everyone was going to hate it and that we (Elin and I) would look like fools for having planned it. When we arrived we all were given these hospital booties to keep our shoes clean. The owners of the pig farm had worked like crazy to clean and were so eager to have us there. It was actually a great part of the day and we ended up being so glad that we had added that to the schedule.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 14th
Charles city

I did not feel well and called in sick. I slept until 11AM. Wrote some letters and cleaned up some books and stuff in my suitcase. Relaxed and enjoyed being home in the quiet.

11/15/87 Sunday - PR in Freeport, IL Cast in Charles City, IA

Got up, went to church, came home ate lunch, Dad called, after lunch I called back, and we talked for an hour or so. They got their first snowstorm today (while we were talking) and as a result, a DC-9 airplane flipped over at Denver Stapleton killing 26 people. That makes one feel real good about going home for X-mas and stopping at that airport on the way home. I bet that made my folks nervous. Luckily, I talked to them before it happened.

After that I taught Priscilla the first part of the 50 s dance and then went and played racquetball with Jim Graham (I won one to 15, he won one to 11 and he won the tie breaker to 7) then with Steve Rivera (he won 25-23) it was a fast paced good hard game. Afterwards came home, got showered, and left to go to a bar in Rockford called Blue Suede Shoes. Ed and Debbie Stukemberg joined us (Jackie, Randy, Priscilla, Steve and I) and we had a great time. Steve and Priscilla got carded, but I did not. I don t know whether that s because I look older or because I was at the end of the line.

Once we were in we did some dancing and I participated in a contest. First the girls had to blow-up a balloon with their left hand behind their back until it popped and then the guys. I won against the four other guys, and then it was battle of the sexes: The Woman vs. Man (I was the Man). She won but one more blow and I would have had her. It was fun! With my luck I would have won, and got a free beer bash, and got carded and not been able to use it, so it is probably best that I lost. I also won a trivia contest for answering the name of a song. Steve actually told me the name and I ran down there to claim the prize. It was a neat place and a lot of fun, but we had to leave about 10:15 because of all the adult workers needing to go home. We came home and went to bed.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Sun Nov 15th

Today was the cast's "Free Day". I slept in and then met Elin at 2:00 pm to go shopping for our host family's gift and to clean out our office. Then Elin came to my house and we finished the city report. YEAH--- This is finally over!

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 15th
Charles city

Day off. I went to church with my hostdad and after lunch we spent some hours at the mall. Delicious dinner and relaxation in front of the TV.

11/16/87 Monday - PR in Freeport, IL / Cast in Algona, IA - the "Mystery City"

Well, I m actually writing this on Sunday the 22nd because I have been soooo busy and tired that I haven t had time to write. I m going to try to fill-in what I remember.

We spent most of the day getting ready for the host family meeting by typing the host schedule, and making sure everything would be ready. The host family meeting was at the county board room at the Court House at 7:00 and we showed the video and passed out all the papers that they will need. The meeting finished about 8:15 and from there we went over to Jim Graham s house and watched the Bears/Broncos game. It was real nice (especially since the Broncos won 31 to 29), but was supposed to be a Beat the Broncos Party and only one other guy came. We still had a great time though and left about 11:30.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Mon Nov 16th

We finally left Charles City at 9:00 am. It felt SO weird to be be back. I sat with Gro- and she was "Overly Friendly". It felt so odd to be a part of the group again. It is hard to explain. It is almost relief mixed with anxieties. Thank you God for letting our city turn out fine. My roommate in Algona, Iowa is Rasmus. We have the strangest host family. They are so nerdy. NOT what I needed on the first day back.

Side note- I remember this family and the mother in particular deemed it necessary to criticize my choice in "fashion". Back in the 80's it was kind of cool to wear pants with suspenders- but you would actually have the suspenders hanging off of your pants and not on your shoulders at all. I had this pair of "Really Cool" blue pants (Well I thought so anyway) and she would literally make fun of my clothes. For an 18 year old who is finally developing their first taste of independence away from a parent she and I were never going to be close. I don't know if Rasmus remembers this family and perhaps he had a better experience with them.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 16th - Travel day to mystery city

On the way to Algona we stopped at this stone-museum . A very religious place where everything was decorated with small stones in a lot of different colors and shapes. It was very attractive but the weather was cold and wet. At arrival Algona we had some hours to kill at the mall before HPU. I m with a wonderful family and we had a nice evening, but I got to bed far too late.

Journal Entry Rated PG-13 - Don't read further if you are opposed to the occasional curse word.

11/17/87 Tuesday - PR in Freeport, IL / Cast in Algona, IA (The Mystery City)

Today was a real relaxing educational day. I spent the morning from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with Dr. Frank Descourourez following him around while he made his daily rounds. It was interesting, but depressing. I was also hoping for a chance to see surgery, but he purposely scheduled me on a day that he didn t have surgery. After the morning was done I met Priscilla, Steve and Steve Tanton and his wife for lunch at the Unicorn.

After lunch we went back to the office and started typing and allocating. I finished what I was working on and was asked by Steve to help Priscilla allocating students to families. She was already cranky because we wouldn t let her do the bags until later. She was reading the families careers and their cards with special requests while I was checking students interests and who they had or had not roomed with. We took a dinner break (ordered Domino s) and were joking around and teasing Priscilla. When I came back into the conference room I said something like Oh, it s okay dear, and reached to touch her hand and she pulled back and just hit me. Then she said Fuck off and don t call me dear, so I said Okay fine. I sat there waiting for her to go on and finish up allocating and she just sat there and out of nowhere she said Grant, go to hell! So I said fine you finish it, and threw down my pen and walked out. I refuse to sit there and just get cussed out for nothing.

Steve gave me some copying to do so I sat by the copier copying 130 at a time then waiting for 15 minutes. She walks in there and said these had to be typed up and walked out with me holding the allocation index cards. I wanted to say a million things, but just kept my mouth shut. I asked Steve if they had to be typed or if I could write them, he said I could do them how I wanted to. So for almost 2 hours I wrote names and roommates and copied the schedule. While I was in the copy room, I heard Steve and Priscilla fighting. Basically she was just on the rage all night, but finally apologized later. We finally left the office at about 11:30. (EDITOR: So I guess the year was NOT all warm and fuzzy all the time. Luckily Priscilla and I remained friends. Right Priscilla? :) )

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Tues Nov 17th

Today was the first snow of the year. It didn't stick but people like Almendra were so excited to see snow for their first time ever. We had a basic day. Then Elin and I wrote letters until noon. Then rehearsal. We were allowed to be in the show but I didn't get to do any dances. I was a bit let down by that because Joy and Marsha had come all the way from Charles City to see us perform. I hope I will be dancing soon. I really miss it. I went home immediately after the show because I did not have to interview.

PR Team Response from Jo:
Sorry Jeff for your "not understanding" host mum !! I have pictures of you and your suspenders , and I think they looked great !! Gretchen and I did our best to find only the BEST hostfamilies, but you know how it goes ... some slip through. I feel sorry for you and I don't think you have ever told me :( I sure you got over it soon !!
Jo

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Sanne Jensen-Juncker
Nov 17th - Algona

I was on set-up crew and we did real well I think. We get better each time. During set-up a little snow came out of the sky and for some people in the cast it was the first time to see and feel snow so that was fun. It was a cold and wet set-up.

Lunch and the normal procedures -show prep and rehearsal. People are tired and not very motivated. Perhaps a lot of us are ready for a break and longing for Christmas vacation. It seems like most of us are a little tense and not in the mood. I had some mail from friends at home which felt good. Dinner was pot-luck with our host families, and that was fun and with a good atmosphere. My host family is so sweet. Show was good and after that I got my commission from merchandise selling, - 31 dollars unexpected really made me feel even better. I was surprised I did so good. When we got home I tried calling home but no one answered. Got a hold of my granddad who told me/reminded me that mum is away on a work-skill-training this week. It was good and fun to speak with him. He promised to get a hold of Tina (editor: my cousin who was supposed to move to New York later that month) so that she could call back tomorrow and let me know when she would be here.

CAST ARRIVES IN FREEPORT!!

11/18/87 Wednesday - PR in Freeport, IL Cast Travels to Freeport, IL

I spent the entire day typing up the final complete allocation list that took me close to four hours to type and copy off. We got to the park (the ice house) and Priscilla was still working on the bags. She was still in a bitchy mood, so I tried to stay clear. We finished everything at about 3:15 and the cast was supposed to arrive at 3:30. Ted Alber had all the four-wheelers off the truck and started showing us how to run them. We had 10 people on the four-wheelers: Ed Stukemberg, Jim Graham, the Mayor, Laurie Scott (director of Chamber of Commerce), JoAnne Knodel (Ambassador Supreme), Steve Priscilla and I and Ted and his son. So basically we rode around and got used to the feel of them while we waited for the cast.

The mayor had a radio and a policeman was waiting at the entrance to the city and told us when they came in town. They had been having bus troubles so that s why they were late. When they finally did arrive it was great! It was funny because I would drive by the side of the bus and see faces just plastered up against the window-smiling and pointing. You could almost hear them saying Look at Grant he has a beard! Needless to say they were surprised. I talked to few right then, but for the most part I waited so we could lead them down to the ice shelter and do our hugging and stuff there. It felt great to see the cast again, and I got a ton of complements on my new look (hair parted to the side and beard). Nanette kept saying Grant you look great! I have never seen you look so good. Kelly said I love it! Whatever you do don t let them make you shave it off! Steve & I got a lot of great positive feedback, which made me feel really good. I had quite a few people say they truly missed me and I really think they did. I m really starting to feel good about myself. We had a little bit of free time, and Priscilla picked up Margaret Rodiger at the hotel and brought her there. This is her first city back, since she left. Host pick-up went smoothly and everyone got a home. So we went home!

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Tues Nov 18th

Today we left Algona for Freeport, Illinois. I was so excited to leave my nerd family, but the problem is that I got the worst family ever. They are huge nerds, the house is a pig sty, she didn't even change the sheets or even make the beds and there were crumbs in my bed. We had to make our own dinner (TV dinners) and there is junk everywhere. My roommate here is David Outterson. PR is catching up with me. I am so tired. My bus date was Leanne. It was good to talk with her after being gone for so long. I fell into a really deep sleep on the bus. I hope my next family will be good.

Side note-- Geez-- I guess I liked the word nerd back then and I was awfully harsh considering that these people opened their home for me. I do have to admit that I am still grossed out about the thought of climbing into a bed with food crumbs in it.

(EDITOR GRANT: Sorry Jeff, that we didn't give you a very good host family. It was such a crap shoot that you get host people that are clean and nice. It is amazing we didn't get more families that were like this over the year.)

11/19/87 Thursday - PR in Freeport, IL Cast in Freeport, IL

The day started at Faith UMC with our morning meeting and even a nice around of applause for the Advance Team! Yeah!! Oh I forgot that before that at 7 a.m. we met with the Ambassador Club and updated them on what we are doing. After morning meeting we had a presentation from the interns on how their internship went and from the staff member that they were under. After that at 10:00 I kind of explained what we were doing and everyone loaded the buses. I told everyone on my bus (Crew One) about the place we were going, the Parkview Nursing Home, and someone said they wanted a joke first. So I told them about the headhunters and To Hell with your canoe!. (EDITOR: This must have been my new favorite joke.) Then we went in warmed up and did the acoustic. About 8 of us went up to the infirmary and sang for some of those who could not get downstairs. after a little while, we ate this tremendous steak and potatoes lunch for about an hour then left.

From there we went to Aquin Catholic School and practiced a little while for the TOA system show. Right before they got off the bus I told them the joke about the two nuns.

(EDITOR: Okay, okay... 2 nuns are walking home at night after midnight mass when suddenly out of the darkness, two men jump out and begin to accost the two women. The first nun looks up to the sky and says "Lord, forgive them for they know not what they are doing." The second one shouts from nearby, "Whoo Hoo! This one does!")

At 2:00 we did an extremely successful show for about 200 students. After we took down the equipment, we went to the Stephenson County Senior Center and did an acoustic then played Bingo. I got to call off the numbers and really enjoyed it. I had told a Polock joke before that place. (EDITOR: Sorry, I don't remember this one.) We had a very calm, unstressful day, and had plenty of time to spend with the people at each place we went to. After the Senior Center we went to the HCC theater and had wrap-up and find out how everyone s day went, and gets some feedback. People seem to have a good day, but very tiring. At wrap-up we picked up the new forms for the new intern.

From HCC we went straight downtown to Luecke s Jewelers for business after hours, which is basically a party (wine and cheese) for Ambassadors. We were there until about 7:30 and then we went to City Lights for dinner and drinks. There was a bunch of us there: Priscilla, Steve, myself, Randy, Jackie, Debbie, Ed, Jim, Debbie, Cassi Kuck, Chrissy Randazzo, (they were staying with Jim and Deb), Joanne and four others that were Ambassadors. And boy did we party! We were there for about 3 hours and I bet our bar and food bill was over $200! We had a super time. From there I took Priscilla, Chrissy, and Cassi to a party and we stayed there for about an hour. Then we took them home and went home.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Thur Nov 19th

Today was a CID day. We started by going to a facility for mentally handicapped people and then we went to a nursing home. I met two older women. One could not speak because she recently had a stroke. She was so touched she kissed me and cried. It felt really good to make someone happy. Then we went to play volleyball with some kids from a juvenile home. I played awhile but then layed down for a rest because I felt a little dizzy. I am a little worried because I have been feeling this way for awhile. I think it might be a head cold. Well David and I actually got a real dinner tonight. The family is trying to be nice but I can't wait to leave them.

11/20/87 Friday - PR in Freeport, IL Cast in Freeport, IL

Another very low stress day starting at the high school with a short meeting. Then I stayed with Crew One and went to the Stephenson Nursing Center. Once we arrived we did an acoustic and then broke up and had one on one time helping some write letters and just talk. I spent that time reading all of the letters I received the day before. Then we had lunch with the residents and finally left at 12:10. I gave them one more joke to finish the day about a little boy mouse and a little girl mouse. (EDITOR: Sorry, I can't remember this one either.)

When we got back to the H.S. we had rehearsal and show prep, and I took Sandra Jung over to see the kitchen and facilities that they would be using for food crew. After rehearsal we were performed to by Showtime, the high school choir. They did two songs and were really good. Most of them had been in the musical the week before. After that we watched a video of where our 50 s songs originated from. We had the Magic Time workshops and then wrap-up. At wrap-up Cecilia presented me with my secret spook. It was a pair of thermal underwear pants. After that, went home for dinner and back by 6:00 p.m. to get everything ready with the Ambassadors. We introduced everyone at Greenroom and then watched the show in the front row. I had a great time watching it and made a lot of people on stage smile and laugh. It really rejuvenates me to get back in the show. What was funny was that I felt like a proud father watching my kids, because they are still creating a lot of magic on stage. After the show, we went home and some people came over for a little party: Studkemberg s (including Laura), McFalls, Grahams, Lathrops, Paul Kunz, Terry Adams, Chris DeGraff, and us (P.R. team). It was fun, but we were up too late. Terry stayed at the house tonight. Shawn surprised me by having me come on stage to make a presentation to the cast. He forgot the names of the sponsors, so I went up and said them. It worked out fine even though it was unexpected.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Fri Nov 20th

Today I was on set up crew and then we had rehearsal. Paula called Almendra and I and told us that she was desperate and needed us to dance "Gospel". YES! I was excited but I needed a lot of work. Jerko took Almendra and I and worked us on it. It went GREAT in the show with only a few mistakes. (Kind of an oxymoron?) I also got to perform Scando, 50's and was in the UWP dance line. I wish I could do Black and White again.

11/21/87 Saturday - PR in Freeport, IL Cast in Freeport, IL

Host drop-off and morning meeting was at Faith United Methodist Church, and then we had a presentation by Chris DeGraff about Life in the Fishbowl. Chris is the head of the Tucson Promotion office and will be with us for about 10 days. After that we had an hour and a half, presentation on Canada. It was really informative, but I was extremely tired and had trouble stopping yawning. Right after that I took the cast to the Golden Corral for lunch and we actually got everyone through by 1:00. It was pretty good food, and it was nice and leisurely. When rehearsal started I went home I got some things done and then went to the show at 6:00 and saved some seats. Again a fair audience of about 650 (both nights), but right after Too Many People started, the lights blacked out completely. Without any lights and no spotlight it was pitch black on stage, but the cast just kept going and even sounded better in the dark. Terry then came up on stage and said we were having some technical difficulties with the lights, and the cast will come out and meet you until they are fixed. It was about five minutes before they were ready then they walked on stage like it was the beginning and started with King Richard I. The rest of the show was great. Both nights I had trouble sitting still, and I made funny faces at them the whole time. I enjoyed it but went home completely exhausted.

GUEST JOURNALIST:
From Jeff Martinson
Sat Nov 21st

Today we had presentations from Chris DeGraff (promotions in Tucson) and the Canadian students. It was a long morning. Then we all went and had a great meal at the Golden Corral. Then we came back for rehearsal. Elin and I were debriefed finally. That went well and I told Bill my problems with PR. Then I went and talked to Brenda LaMica about them. We talked for a long time. I told her she needed to take a break from all of her work. The show went well. I performed the same numbers as last night. Strike was SOOOOO cold.

(EDITOR GRANT: I thought it was just me, but I have noticed it in Sanne, Jeff, and Lynda's journals too. Almost every day I mentioned what the meal was or what we were eating that day. I guess food was a big deal while on the road.

We slept in, then got up and did laundry, taped the Take-5 and the video on to my blank tape. Anne Stainforths folks brought her over to my house right after a great breakfast. We then all took pictures and loaded up our suitcases in the truck. Needless to say host drop-off was very hard especially seeing Jim, Randy & Ed almost in tears (not to mention us three) It was a nice send off though, with all our new friends. It is hard to believe just three short weeks ago, I had just met these people. Who would have ever thought it would have turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences in my entire life.

I was supposed to bus date with Cassi, but somehow we lost our seat so we sat across from each other and talked a lot. It was only an hour and a half long bus trip. It was a nice way to ease back into the cast. I got my first new host family since October 28th. It is kind of weird getting back into the swing of things, but Stan and Sue had a real nice dinner prepared after watching the Broncos stop the Raiders 23 to 17 with their daughter and son-in-law. After dinner Dec, Bill, Ty, Stan and Sue went on a tour of Janesville but I decided to stay home and catch up in my journal. Im almost there!

To all those who are celebrating today, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

11/23/87 - Monday - Janesville, WI

After the morning meeting, Steve and Priscilla and I went to the Janesville Gazette (where the P.R. office is) and worked on our city report until late afternoon. There was only one typewriter (and one prehistoric one) so it took longer than I expected. I ate lunch at little restaurant/bar by myself, but had a great hamburger. We finally decided to call it a day about 4:30, and Roger took me home. We had dinner about 7:00 and went to the movie ?Fatal Attraction? afterwards. It was a pretty awesome movie, very suspenseful. When we came home Stan had his living room turned into a photography studio so we were up ?til 12:30 taking pictures. Kind of not that big of a day, but I?m enjoying the relaxed schedule because when I get back in the cast I?m going in head first!

GUEST JOURNALIST
From Linda Cullen-Hall
11/23/87

Okay, okay~ so I'm a bit behind again. Time is going so fast.

Charles City, Iowa treated Pia and I quite well. We stayed with Lori, Wayne and their 4 children. We had such a good time!! Sunday was such a family day. I got up late, went to noon Mass with Lori. (Ran into Dek and his mom.) (EDITOR'S note...Dek- Do you have ANY IDEA how big my crush on you was???????) We spent the afternoon playing with the kids. In the evening we ate lasagna and I fell asleep in front of the TV for a while. It was really hard saying goodbye to them; they're such great people.

In Algona, Weini and I stayed with Denny, Rhonda and their 2 girls. Denny and Rhonda are really nice but Rhonda obviously doesn't discipline the girls at all because they basically run her. They don't do anything around the house!!! (Editor's note: Oh brother...like I knew how to parent back then...sometimes I feel like I still don't know how to parent!....so judgmental...ugh!)

Next stop was Freeport, IL with Holly Harris as a roomie. What a blast we had, definitely a tension releasing city. Randy, Sue and Jason were so much fun. Jason is THE most mature 7th grader I've met in my life. He's a definite candidate for UWP. Sue is the dean of students at the Jr high and Randy works for a plastics company. They couldn't be nicer and couldn't do enough for us. Holly and I sat up late talking and drinking. The last night Jason told jokes and did a Reagan impression. They had some friends over and we all had a GREAT TIME.

I left early Sunday for PR in Swift Current, Canada. We spent the day (from 7am - 12 am....17 hours) in the air, airport and station. We also were majorly harassed in Winnipeg @ customs. They were going to tax us in excess of $1000.00 for our publicity materials. once in Regina we got our materials back, which at that point were bonded. Today we spoke @ the rotary club and went to the high school to check things out, along with several errands.

11/24/87 - Tuesday - Janesville, WI

For morning motivation I had to sew a cloth heart on Kelly Bates butt blindfolded. I did pretty good, in fact I even won. Before all of this happened, when we arrived the girls escorted us men to the foyer and had doughnuts and juice for us. Today is 'guy appreciation' day so they (the girls) did various things for us all day. After morning meeting we had a little bit of time to sign 'Leaves.' The leaves are thank you leaves for Thanksgiving to write what you are thankful for about others in the cast. It is a great idea, but I didn't get to sign everyone's before we left. Right after that we watched a movie by Leo Buscalglia and then went back to the office to finish our report and evaluation. At noon we went back for lunch because we were basically done except for typing the evaluation. After lunch the entire cast went to the YMCA for 1 1/2 hours of fun, I basically just wandered around because I didn't have any exercise clothes with me.

From there we went to the high school and the stage was already set up. The girls had set it up the day before and it was a surprise for the guys. They came out on stage and sang 'We love you Guys, oh Yes We Do' and that was about it. Sometimes I really wonder why girls do nice things for guys at all, because guys never appreciate what girls do for us. Well I appreciated what they did.

Unfortunately, all this happiness was quickly dowsed with sorrow, because Sanne announced to us that her father had died just hours before. I have never heard Cast A be so deathly quiet before. It was really kind of scary because even when we are supposed to be quiet there is always rustling or whispering or something but there was no sound period. It was like walking into a room with no people in it except yourself. Needless to say, the dress rehearsal of the second half had no energy at all. (EDITOR: I never fully understood the scope of this event in my young naivety until I lost my own father. I can only guess how difficult this was on Sanne.)

Then at wrap-up we found out that Steve Riviera would not be going to Las Vegas with us, but is instead leaving Sunday for another cast. Then Rene stood up and told the cast that she would be leaving early Friday morning and that this was basically her last show with us.

So after this abundance of sad news, we ate dinner. I went and reserved a seat and when the house opened I went and sat down. I heard a girl talk about interviewing behind me, so I turned around and talked to her until the show started. I was really afraid the show would be a real downer because of all the news we received today, but it was surprisingly good. Heikki and I sat near the front and were bouncing around and laughing and enjoying the show. After the show, I talked with Chrissy for a short while about Steve but left soon after that. When I got home I went straight to bed.

11/25/87 - Wednesday - Northfield, MN

Stan and Sue dropped us off at about 8:00 and all the girls loaded the luggage in the buses. The guys all signed up for a seat on the bus last night, and the girls got on the bus in the morning and put their very own designed men's underwear on a seat. They did not know who was sitting there in the seat until after we sat down. It was our first mystery date of the year and mine was Leanne Monahan. She had ruffles on 'My' underwear and had stitched in 'Up With People' Stud-Cast A '87-'88. We had a good time listening to a tape of Broadway Hits, but slept most of the way. We saw snow on the way to Northfield, and it had snowed in Janesville but there was no snow here in Minnesota.

We had super allocation bags with a cookbook in our bags, but that is to be expected with Lee Snider. It is too bad to that she is leaving on Monday. Speaking of goodbyes, today was the last day we will see Rene Swallie. Susan picked us up with her mother (Joann) and took us home. Home was 45 minutes away in Minneapolis/St. Paul which is kind of neat being in a big city. The house is almost 100 years old and is really nice. I spent the evening copying Kurt's video tape of the show in Oak Ridge, TN that Steve had taped. I also called Wayne and then Kara and talked to her for a while (both good friends), and spoke to her mother just a little bit. She told me a lot of gossip. It was nice talking to her. I miss home a little bit.

11/26/87 - Thursday - Thanksgiving - Northfield, MN

We didn't even get up until after 10.00 and I pretty much lazied around until I had to get dressed at 12:30. I was able to get some writing done and I made some phone calls. I tried to call (my best friend) Russ, but not even his parents were there so they must be with Russ in Kentucky. Then I called Cindy Geanetta, but she was in the shower so I called back an hour later. She was really surprised to hear from me and we had a nice talk for about 30 minutes and we blabbered on as usual. I miss her lots!

After all my phone calls, I got dressed and went downstairs and met Prince (Sierra Leona) and Him (Malaysia) who joined us from an exchanged program from the University. Then we spent most of the day watching TV (football) while the women were in the kitchen finishing the cooking. We ate dinner at about 4:00 and they asked me to say the blessing. It was an incredible dinner, but there was no cheese whiz on the celery. (EDITOR: Ah, the important things in life. Cheese Whiz!)

I called home at 7:30 and talked for about an hour to Mom and Dad about everything that has happened in the last week. They decided to have Thanksgiving tomorrow because Brett and Scott were goose hunting and Penny couldn't get off work, so thus they postponed it a day. We watched some more TV and I did some writing and that was basically Thanksgiving 1987, my first away from home.

11/27/87 - Friday - Northfield, MN

We had Susan take us to Northfield and we met at St. Olaf College and had a short meeting discussing everyone's Thanksgiving. When the crews split up to CI and set-up Priscilla, Steve and I went to debrief with Bill Parker. It was good and made me feel very complete because I was able to talk about things that I wanted to say, but not had the opportunity to.

After we finished, I worked on some of my thank you notes for Freeport. That didn't last long before I was asked if I could help with setting up quick change. So I helped with that until we went to lunch and the Laura Baker School where they served us a really nice Turkey dinner. We also had a skit from the Thanksgiving crew about the beginning of the holiday. After lunch we had a speaker who is also the father of three UWP alumni. He talked about 'The no fun town' which is what our tour supposedly was. He started out by giving us some important dates from our year so far. He had some really neat things to say that really made one stop and realized how much we have already accomplished.

After the speech we went back to the school and had a quick rehearsal until about 5:00 at which time they had wrap-up. At wrap-up Steve Rivera mentioned that this was his last show before he left for another cast. They also announced the new interns for the next session and to my surprise I was chosen to be the new merchandise intern with Elin. I was really excited to find out, but I thought my first choice was Admission (John Morgan corrected me; it was my second choice). After the meeting was dinner, but I took that opportunity to call home and talked to Scott, Brett and Penny. We talked for about 30 minutes and I really enjoyed it. I actually miss them. (EDITOR: Spoken like a true teenager.)

This was my first show back with the cast and I performed both ringmaster and couple #4 in 50's dance. I really had a good time and I reconfirmed that I really did miss performing. Ringmaster was a little rusty, but we also only had two girls come out of the box, and they came out the first time instead of the second. I said 'I just wanted to share that with you, and enjoy the rest of the show.' I was a little bit sore after the 50's number, but had a super great time. After the show Pierre and I got permission to leave early since we had such a long drive back to Minneapolis. I went straight to bed when I got home because I slept most of the way back anyway.

11/28/87 - Saturday - Valley City, ND

We left about 7:00 a.m. in order to get to Northfield by 8:00 a.m., and it is a good thing because the roads were extremely icy because it had been raining all night. I tried to sleep because the driving was making me very nervous, so I figured if I didn't watch it wouldn't be as bad. I helped load the bus while it was pouring down rain. I was soaked, but no one else was helping Kurt so I helped him load (even though he was not even supposed to be loading). My bus date was Cassi and we had a really nice time, and talked about a bunch of different things. Brenda La Mica was right in front of us and turned around to talk to us and I found out so much about her life that I never knew: she didn't speak until she was ten; she is half Japanese and half French; she throws a dart at a map and that is where she goes on a trip for her birthday; she has been to Venezuela, Italy and many of the United States; she wants to finish school in Italy; and numbers of other amazing things that I never knew. It was great and I learned a lot.

We arrived in Valley City at about 3:30 and went on a hay ride and froze our rear ends off. It was kind of a drag and has taken the fun out of a hay ride to do it in such cold weather. We finally ended at the city auditorium, got our allocation bags, found our host and then had a pot luck dinner. I really was not in the mood to go through the whole host family thing again, which is the first time I've ever felt that way and unfortunately it showed. After dinner we went home for a while and I was very tired and was not very talkative.

From there we went back to the field house ('the bubble') where we set up the stage until about 9:30. It only took us about 2 hours, then straight to bed when we got home.

December:

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Terry decided to let us sleep in today because there were a lot of people sick yesterday, so they cancelled some of the activities in the morning. We came in at 9:30 a.m. and left at 9:45 for an hour long trip to Roosevelt National Park. It was interesting, but I'm glad we weren't there for 3 hours like originally planned. Then for lunch we had soup and sandwiches in a saloon and Gretchen, Heidi, Lena and I had fun taking some crazy pictures. Then Gretchen, Heidi and I went across the street and played on some awesome playground equipment.

We finally got back around 1:30 and the band gave us a concert for about an hour to raise money for the X-mas banquet. It was 50 cents and your ballot for semester awards to get in and it raised about $55.00. I don't know how or why, but we are now over $1,000 because they did several fund raisers and Bill donated (or UWP did) $6.00 per cast member. After the concert we had show prep (the mic groups got together again,) rehearsal and magic time (workshops). I got Christine's tape and tape player and worked on King Richard I; Gospel: and Black and White all for about 20 minutes each. From what I understand they really want me to do it, but Doug Barkley is working on it also. At wrap-up they made sure that we knew what time we were leaving in the morning and that we needed our show costume for a mall show in Saskatoon on the 5th. We were only allowed an overnight bag and had to make sure we had everything we needed including our passport.

During the show I did ringmaster and 50's with Melinda (#6). I practically destroyed the ringmaster and for the first time really messed up. I went to call Antoinette and called her Cuco from France, then Jeanie from England and after struggling a little bit finally remember her name. I had to look off stage to remember Deko was next. After that it went okay and I had the cutest little girl help me out. She didn't know a magic word, so while waiting for Cuco to tell her a word, I said to the audience, 'This is what you call a station break.' I didn't realize how many people heard it until the next day. I guess it just amazes me that people pay that much attention to me.

For the 50's, Melinda and I ran off because we didn't think we could do the lifts because of room on the stage, but we did finish the dance.

I was on interview crew and did an interview with Priscilla and we interviewed a real perspective young man (Greg Schmidt) who will graduate in May and wants to travel in July of '88. We thought he was real good, but Paul did not think as highly of him, although he still accepted him (accept 3) we accepted him as a high accept 2 (90). We finally left about 11:30, went home and packed and went to bed at about 1:00am.

Host drop off was at 6:00 a.m. and we left for Canada at 6:30. My bus date was Anne and we talked a little about not much, but ended up sleeping most of the way or did some reading. We arrived at the border at about 11:30 and it was pretty exciting. They had some problems with the students from the Netherlands (Whynot, Ruud-Jan and Monique) because they did not have the correct papers. They were given a two-week visitor's pass, but after all of that, 2 hours had passed away. It was 1:30 before we left the border, and we finally arrived in Swift Current about 7:00 p.m. We had a real nice beef stew dinner at 7:30 and host pick up was at 9:00 p.m. After almost 13 hours on a bus I did not feel like doing to much and my family was real good about letting me do some writing. Actually our host families are called billets while in Canada. We are in a different country for the first time, my first time out of the U.S. and for the first time I am a foreigner. Wild, huh!

BONUS NOTE: From Lise Steensland hi grant guess what? i gave birth to a little baby girl 6 weeks ago - one month before she was due. it has been rather caotic since then- this is my first time on the pc since pre-baby. :-) i'll send some pictures once they are ready. her name will most probably be sophia... she goes by that until now. maybe she'll have one more name. all is well w us, except for her having major stomach pain 24 hours a day. (kolikk? colic?) - so sleep has become a rare commodity. anyway, just wanted to tell you this (before she reaches puberty). :-) please give gretchen my best, and i hope everything is well with you both. hugs and kisses lise

I spent the morning with Joel on a career day at the newspaper. He is 25 and works in advertising at the paper and he gave me a tour of the facilities. He also showed me the process an ad goes through i.e: sales, layouts and printing. He took me with him to talk to one of his clients, the marketing manager at the mall. After walking through the mall a little bit, he took me back to the high school around 11:15. For lunch we all met at the curling rink and the group called the Kinsmen (kind of a service club) fed us lunch. Curling is kind of like shuffleboard with large marble balls, but on ice. It was interesting but kind of not very exciting to watch for very long. We had a short show prep then rehearsal at which time they ran me once in King Richard and I did okay with the words, but had no clue where I was walking on stage. We had about 30 minutes of magic time, when Paula helped me with where to go on stage.

At 3:30 we had a special presentation from the European students about Sinta Klaas. We had to draw pictures and write notes to him and my group wrote a song to the song 'Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.' I got spanked by his helpers for talking in my sleep, but I still got goodies.(EDITOR: Huh? Don't quite understand this.) Jerko put it all together and I really enjoyed it. Wrap-up was short and then off to dinner. At dinner I was showing this alumnus some swinging dance steps that I was doing with Cassi earlier this day. I was trying to teach him the pretzel.

We went back to the high school to get ready for an early show at 7:00 p.m. I was given the responsibility of doing King Dick tonight so I got into the costume early before the show, so I wash sure I was ready. It was funny to see myself because I really did look like a King! Actually I looked more like King Henry VIII than King Richard I. I was extremely nervous which was surprising, but I got out there and started out real good, but lost the words. I ended up skipping the last couple lines altogether because I jumped ahead to the end of the second verse. Luckily I didn't freak out, and was able to do all of the second verse, but I felt terrible afterwards. It was real hard to be happy the rest of the show. Everyone was real consoling but I finally told someone that I needed to be told that I really blew it. And someone did and that was all it took to start laughing. I was still upset about it, but not as bad. It was not a very good show because a lot of things went wrong, but that is now old news. After the show, I was on strike crew and we finished about 11:30.

After we were done we went to a place called WK Kitchen with Abe, Sonia, Albert and Randy and had some drinks and dinner. I did the Cha-Cha with Sonia and impressed Anne and Julie who were there with their billet. We also met four girls, one named Michelle with red hair who Randy and I danced with. We laughed a lot and had a nice time, and did some dancing in the mean time. We left about 1:30 and went home, and I went straight to bed.

We got up a little late, but showered, finished packing and made it to church by 11:00. It was a real nice service with a lot of singing and a great sermon. It was a beautiful Pentecostal church and we even had communion there. Sonia handed me a folded up bill and said 'Here take this for spending money.' I said that it was not necessary, but she said 'Just say Thank you!' So I stuck it in my pocket and said Thank you! We took pictures at the church of the family and then went to a freezing cold host drop off. I really enjoyed the family, but was surprised when they did not force a little of their religion on us. They are planning on coming to see the show in Saskatoon. We'll see if they make it.

When we got into Saskatoon, we went clear through to some riding stables, where we did a hayride, roasted marshmallows, and watched roping bulls. Kind of a waste of time to me, but I guess it was okay way to spend a free afternoon. It was a different afternoon.

We went to where host (billet) pick-up and had a short meeting. This was how we met our family because they wrapped our allocations in this wrapping.(EDITOR: I put a piece of the wrapping paper in my journal.) Clay and I were a little worried about the inscriptions on the inside of the paper about "3:00 a.m. feedings and changing diapers". We didn't know what to expect because he was also a Reverend. Well, we found a lady with a baby and that was her, and she too is a minister. From one church family to another. We had a nice dinner but spent most of the evening just talking, and oogling over Alyssa (7 months). (EDITOR: Who is now probably 20 years old and in college. How weird is that to think about?) The bed and the room are pretty small and they were expecting girls, but I think they are pleased.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT UWP/CAST A HISTORICAL DATE IS COMING IN TWO DAYS? STAY TUNED... DOES ANYONE ELSE CARE TO SHARE THEIR DECEMBER 9TH, 1987 JOURNAL ENTRY?

  Free Day!!  Yeah!  Clay and I didn’t get up until about 10:30 or 11:00.  At around 12:00 we went for a walk to a nearby mall and did a little shopping.  I bought a frog for Penny (my sister) for Christmas made of shells melted down and molded. It is real ugly, but exotic.  We came back at 2:00 and sat around for about 1/2 of an hour then took off to a mall in downtown Saskatoon. It was a pretty big mall and of course we saw a bunch of Uppies there.  We shopped around and I finally decided to buy a sharp looking golf shirt with the Canada maple leaf on the left chest.  I also bought a bumper sticker, a patch, an American/Canadian flags pin.  We finally went home for dinner at around 4:30 and stayed there until 8:30.

Word was out that a lot of people were going to a bar/nightclub called Confetti's so we decided to check it out.  When we arrived, Clay and I met Matt and Wilfred’s host mother, father and sister (Michelle). There was no cover charge before 9:00 and she got us all a free drink.  The drink had to be a highball so I got a rum and Coke. She had reserved a table because her Dad works there.  After I introduced myself, I asked if she liked to dance because I was ready to boogie all night long.  (EDITOR: Good heavens, what a geek I am.)  We hit it off really well and before 10:00 had exchanged addresses and home phone numbers, and talked about at least becoming pen pals.  I really had a great time and I danced every dance with her except about 4 or 5 songs that I was with other people.  They also had a swimsuit and lingerie fashion show. It was kind of funny to watch and we were making it a big joke.  I started waving a dollar bill out at these girls and holding it in my teeth. It was okay, but most of the models were kind of slutty, you know what I mean, eh?  It makes me laugh when all you hear all the time is eh?  Anyways, Michelle and I had a super time, and I did find out she has a boyfriend.  I guess this guy doesn’t like to do a lot of the things she does.  She seems like a really great girl, but who knows if I will ever see her again after we leave Saskatoon.  She is only 5 foot tall, and I would sure like to make an effort at seeing her again.  This is my first on the road, out of the cast, semi-love affair. (EDITOR: So apparently dancing with a girl all night long is a "semi-love affair".)

Clay and I finally got home about 12:30 by way of Chris (a girl who had a crush on Clay) and Susan ( a friend of Chris and Michelle and she had red hair).  We laid there in bed and talked about dark, deep secretes until who knows when, probably about 1:30 or 2:00am.  I slept terrible again on the small bed, and thought about Michelle most of the night.

  P.S. I fed a baby for the first time ever. Alyssa and I (both redheads) relate on a very good level. (EDITOR: As much as a 19 year old and a 6th month old can relate, I guess.)

BONUS NOTE From Cyndi Flynn-Yung:
Grant,

It's funny you mention about your host family's 7 month old daughter now being 20 yrs old. I'm so excited about going to Tucson in August that I searched and was able to track down my host family there. They still live in Tucson and we will be seeing each other during the reunion. And since I worked with UWP for two summers after our year, I stayed with them during those times too. First time I stayed with them their youngest child was only 8 months old and now she is a sophomore in College and their oldest son (at the time was only 4) has since graduated from Colorado State University and now lives/works in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is funny how time does fly and boy I'm starting to feel old. It's so great to be able to get back in touch with them and seeing the picture of their kids and how they have all grown up.

Thank you again for all your journal entries. They really make my day... I'm enjoying all of them and reliving our time on the road again. I've actually pulled out my journal and was reading some of the things I wrote about. It is pretty funny to re-read all the stuff that I said and the things I thought about back then is pretty funny....

Say hello to everyone for me...Have a wonderful day!

Cyndi Yung

DON’T MISS TOMORROW’S JOURNAL ENTRY.  HISTORY WILL BE MADE. SEND ME YOUR DECEMBER 9TH, 1987 JOURNAL ENTRY AND I WILL POST THEM ALL TOMORROW.

Connie dropped us off at Mount Royal collegiate High School at 7:30 a.m. and we had the normal morning meeting.  Crew one started setting up the stage at 8:00 and had it set up in time for show prep at 9:00.  We were having a few problems with the TOA, but seemed to have them fixed by the time we did the show for 1500 students.  It went over pretty well, and afterwards we changed clothes and split into crews again.  Crew two struck the set and one went to classrooms to talk.  I went with Kelly K., and Woody and we had a great time because we got them laughing and asking questions. From there we had lunch until 1:00 at which time we went to the Parkridge Center.  It is for handicapped kids and adults, as well as senior citizens.  We changed back into our costume and had a short presentation on the facilities. After that we helped bring the residents to the show from their rooms.  We did a TOA, but had to lengthen it under the contract, so he (Terry) flashed us signs telling us what songs we were adding at the last minute.  It was kind of funny.  From there both crews went to St. Joseph’s Rectory/Church for a surprise!  We were all just exhausted and piled on each other and went to sleep once we got there.

  At 5:00 p.m. the staff greeted us with little red bow ties and told us it was Cast Appreciation Day.  When we got downstairs they had hors d’oeuvres for us, sang songs and then fed us dinner.  Bill Parker cooked the beef Stroganoff, and was not all that tasty, but it is the thought that counts.  They had mistletoe placed all over the room, so I situated myself under one (near the sewing table) and waited.  It worked so good that people started stealing my idea and standing with me. I was getting smooched all over the place!  (EDITOR: What a horn dog I was/am?)  After dinner, they put on some soft Christmas music and a lot of us danced.  It was a lot of fun, but it was cut short due to the fact we had to go caroling.

  Laurie Wralstad and I had a good long talk about missing home before we started rehearsing the carols.  We divided into seven groups and went our separate ways.  My group was made up of Kelly K, Clay, Woody, Lea, Rita, Jerko and a couple of others.  Our first house we told the lady we were collecting canned food for the Salvation Army Food Bank and she gave us a $50 bill.  It was incredible! We actually only went to about six houses and received 2 bags of food and about $56.

  When we got back, each group sang their favorite song and told about any special experiences.  We told about the money and sang “O Come All Ye Faithful” with the chorus in Latin.  The staff started the 12 days of X-Mas and gave the cast an X-mas tree named Sven.  The host families brought desserts and we stuck around to talk to Michelle’s mom for a while and showed off Alyssa, but left by 8:45.

  I called Sonja and Abe (Prince Albert hosts) like they wanted me to, and later on called Michelle.  When I called she seemed real cold, so I kept it short, but I asked her to buy me a University of Saskatoon notebook for my next journal. That was about it, but she called back later and told me her boyfriend was there when I called the first time. So we talked for a short while and she told me she thought I was a sweet guy, but just wanted to have a friendship relationship with me right now until we got to know each other better. I don’t know what brought that on, but she obviously had been talking to Matt.  She is a real nice girl, and is a great ego booster (especially for me).

  Not too much longer after we hung up I went to bed.

BONUS NOTE From Clay:
Guess I was more of a lady’s man than a dancer that night, huh!?  I remember that host family and getting to know you.  That was definitely one of the best roommate situations of the trip!

  Thank you for sharing.

  Clay
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From Mary Huckins

Hi Grant!!! 

I’ll email more later… but I think I do know what historical date is coming up in 2 days because if I am thinking correctly, I remember the exciting phone call we got in North Battleford while I was on PR with Mok and Shinichi.  Hmmm…  Thanks for these.  They have been fun!  Love ya!  -Mary J  (hi to Gretchen too!)  XXOOXXOO

  The day started out average, but ended in a climax!  We had morning meeting where Carlos Acevedo was introduced as being with us until Christmas break. I basically just sat around and worked on my pictures until we left for Vanier Fine Arts Elementary School. We did a TOA there (I sang Johnny B. Goode along with my normal MC)  and afterwards, I taught them the vamp to Up With People.

  Right away we had lunch when we got back to the Centennial Auditorium over at the YMCA.  After lunch we had show prep, rehearsal, the magic time. During that time I helped Michelle B, Cindi F, and Laurie W. with the ‘50’s number.    

At wrap-up is when it happened!  It started out very innocent with announcements and then Carlos was asked for his announcement.  He started reading a letter about how “Up With People has received an invitation to go to the Soviet Union and are really excited to go. Although all the casts are a great representation of the UWP program, we feel Cast A…”  I didn’t hear the rest because the whole cast jumped in the air and was yelling, screaming and hugging for five minutes.  Needless to say we were a little high strung for the rest of the evening.  After we calmed down a little he told us that the dates are tentatively set for June 7th to June 21st and we would do a three city tour: Moscow, Leningrad and one more.  We may even have the possibility of doing a show with Stas Namin (writer of We Wish You Happiness).  He also said that we will be acquiring several staff members for our Russian tour.

  After the exciting news we went to dinner at the Swiss Chalet Restaurant, then back at 6:00 to help set up the audience sellers with Eva.  I also was doing King Dick, so I had to really run around a lot, then right afterwards change into ringmaster.  While waiting for the ringmaster, I restocked the merchandise bags so that they were ready for intermission.

  After the show I did as much of the paperwork that I knew, but at 11:00 they still were doing interviews so they asked me to help.  I did an interview (Jim; Kurt and John’s host brother) with Anki and I did all the paperwork, so she could do another one.  During the show Michelle and company held up signs that had our names on them (Matt, Wilfred, Clay and I).  I almost lost it when I saw it during King Richard, but really brightened my day.  Michelle interviewed after the show but got an interview later, and did not get a second. She seemed upset after the show, so she must have known.  She also gave me the notebook that I asked for and she wrote in the front page.  

  We went straight home and went to bed.

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BONUS JOURNAL
From Brenda Perkins-Dahmer

....must be the day we found out our tour didn't really SUCK after all!!! :)  Oh, come on...we all thought it that day in Tucson when we saw cast A staff!!!!  Anyway, here's my journal entry for that day...

  My Diary Wednesday December 9, 1987

       Okay tonight goes down in HISTORY. You will not believe what Cast A found out today.  Tonight at wrap up Carlos read a letter from Mr. Belk to Casts A,B,C,&D concerning the invitation to the Soviet Union.  Guess what?  CAST A IS GOING TO THE SOVIET UNION!!!  I am very excited.  Actually I feel a lot of emotions.  I am very happy to have this opportunity.  I am scared that it is all just a dream and that it will all be taken away in the morning.  I haven't called home yet.  I don't plan to do that until Minot, ND.  I know Mom will be just thrilled!  I am actually rather speechless about the whole deal (Editor: imagine me, speechless...I bet Kelly wishes that would happen again!!).  I cried when Carlos told us this afternoon.  I hope that the other casts will be happy for us and support us.  That will mean so much to me (Editor: gee, I wonder why that was...anyone else remember my ridiculous crushes on Johan and Joe from Cast B??  Garth Brooks had the right idea...Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers....)

    Cheers!

Brenda Dahmer
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BONUS NOTE From Stacie Welch:

December 15th reservations open up for the Reunion!  Do we know who is coming?!  I may be going in early – not sure when you are planning on getting there – I do know that whoever books the most cast members (my sister says that Cast D Tommy’s cast has been going hard core about getting everyone to Tucson) gets something (I believe a suite) for the $99 rate for the entire reunion to hang out in, etc.

  Hope all is well with you guys!  I tried looking at my December 9th but I didn’t date it – I know I was in Saskatoon and Corinne was my roomie – and Monique and I were having to finish our reports and were able to be in the show there – but that’s is all I wrote!

Oh yes and I went to Confetti’s too!

  Stacie
*********************
Hi awesome cast A!!!

  I think that WE can be the cast with the MOST in attendance at this reunion--- let’s go for it!!! Even if you book your reservation but your plans change, usually you can cancel your hotel without penalty (but be sure to ask when you call as it depends on the hotel &/or event policies). 

So, mark your calendars for Friday morning December 15th (the first date that we can call and reserve our rooms!!!!) and call the Westin LaPaloma!! (520) 742-6000 is the number I have (grant- is that what you have too? please correct me if I’m wrong) and let’s all book our rooms that morning and ‘represent’! It’s going to be a ‘not to be missed’ event.  I also think that the hotel will be sold out soon—so the sooner we book, the better.

  And please give an e-shout out to grant after you book your room so he can keep track of ‘who is in’!!!! That would be fun to keep a running count on all of us who are attending.

  See ya’ll there at our 20th reunion in Tucson, AZ at the Westin La Paloma August 8-12th --- the more, the absolute merrier!!!

  Darci (Buck) Price

*********************

I just realized the cities I listed as Swift Current were actually Prince Albert. Ooops. Sorry.

We were dropped off at the Best Western Yellowhead Inn and said goodbye to Connie. Michelle and family arrived right after we did with Matt and Wilfred, and we took a few pictures. I gave her the cast photo that I had brought for her, and by this time she was kind of teary eyed. I tried to say my goodbyes quickly so I wouldn't get caught up in the crying.

I got the mileage reading off the buses and went up to morning meeting. Most of the meeting was spent discussing Russia now that it has had a chance to soak in. Most people were genuinely excited, but some were afraid to tell their folks, and some had mixed emotions. We talked about how the other casts would/are handling it and how we should act towards them. It was a good follow-up discussion to get an idea of how people felt.

Following that, we had a presentation from the CIG and they explained about all the things they did as if it were a movie. The Suburban had broken down and a rental car had a blow-out tire and got rear ended, that is how it all started. They did, however, have a good time and enjoyed the experience.

For the next hour and 15 minutes we had a picture exchange. That means that about 8 of us brought in our pictures, numbered them and people came by and ordered from our selections. I have over 60 people who want at least one picture, and over 200 pictures to have made over Christmas break.. I'm going to be busy!

After that I loaded on to the Suburban with Kelly, Eva, Joerg, Elin and myself (the merchandise crew) and Bill and Wilfred in the front seat. Kelly briefed Elin and I on most everything we wanted to know about the merchandise intern. After we talked for a long time we put all the seats down and stretched out and went to sleep.

When we arrived in Swift Current, we unloaded the buses and put all the luggage into one little room. We then changed into our costumes while half of us cleaned up the mall with UWP t-shirts on, then we did an acoustic at the mall. They had me do the opening MC, international, and closing MC, but Ken cut me out of the closing.

I saw Marie Anne while we were performing so right after our meeting I grabbed her and then my luggage and got out as quick as possible. When we got home, I got settled, had dinner and worked on my pictures to get them organized.

*****************

BONUS NOTE AND PHOTO From Leanne Monahan-Voyles

Hi Grant!

Last weekend Dean gave Lena a 40th birthday party and he invited us to join them! It was a lot of fun to see them and their two beautiful daughters. Lena's mom was visiting from Sweden and she baked the cakes. YUM! Lena looks awesome- which isn't a big surprise! She is running marathons and recently won an aerobic competition. Lena said "I have known Dean for half of my life!" Wow!

On Sunday we came home from church to a big surprise. Their were news crews and policemen in our front yard. We looked again and someone had driven their truck into our house! We live on a dead end street in a quiet neighborhood! Thank God we were not home and we are all safe. She ran into the "toy room" so we were able to seal it off with tarps and stay in our home. We were on all 3 major news channels for about two days! We are famous!

Just thought I would share that little story with you! Thanks again for sharing your journal! I can't wait for Carlos to tell us we are going to the Soviet Union!

Your Cast A red headed friend,

Leanne

What a crappy, terrible day! I got up about 5:00 a.m. and took some Pepto-Bismol and went back to bed. At 6:30 it hit! Jo was in the bathroom, so I grabbed a trash can and had a little talk with it (in Technicolor yawn). I wasn't feeling good, but I went in anyway because I had commitments. (EDITOR: Sorry I get a little descriptive sometimes. I don't know why I couldn't just say "vomit.")

The staff did 2nd & 3rd days of Christmas. First they pegged us with apples and oranges, and then chocolate kisses. Sven, the Christmas tree, was sick. Then they told us that we would not be able to get into the facilities until after lunch. So instead we divided into groups of four, sat in a circle, asked a question and everyone went around and said their answer. I really enjoy those times, but I enjoy them better when I'm feeling good. At 9:15, we went to the Wheatland Mall to shop. Elin and I sat down with Kelly and went over some Merch forms. We were there almost the whole time.

I didn't do much shopping, but did pick my secret Santa (Deedra) and went straight to the bus to lie down. When we arrived at the school, the staff had already set up the stage, and they passed out candy canes. Then we had lunch, which I couldn't even stomach the smell, so I asked Terry (after some coaxing) to go home. I was pretty pale by now, so I was rather convincing.

I called Marie Anne and she came and picked me up (we also picked some Sprite up on the way home). I went pretty much straight to bed once I got home, and slept from about 12:30 to 4:30. When I woke up, I felt a ton better, so I called Al to make sure that they didn't need me to come in to do the show. It was a real restful evening after the family left, because I just wrote and watched TV. (Charlie Brown X-Mas Special and How the Grinch Stole X-Mas).

I finally went to bed around 11:30. That was the first show I have missed while with the cast.

BONUS NOTE From Lynda Cullen:

Grant,

Thanks for sharing this entry (Soviet Announcement). I was on PR and got a call from Bill rather than hearing the news with the cast. I hope more people share their entries on the Soviet announcement.

I had a big concert Friday evening and another one (same one, same venue) tonight. Today will be spent attempting to get a few holiday decorations up. I am a little behind the 8 ball on that one this year but not very concerned.

How did the girls fare in the dancing competition?

Lynda

(EDITOR: They did very well as a matter of fact. Janelle got a 4th and a 6th place, and Jeanna received a 1st place and a 4th place. They dance about 5 or 6 dances each. This is one of the bigger competitions in the area and both represented themselves very well.)

Since I was gone yesterday, I got the only seat available. It was in the very back next to Christine and Dek, but it really wasn't so bad being in the back seat that does not recline. When we arrived we did a little shopping (for Deedra ­ my secret Santa) and then did a mall show. I was not in it because I didn't have my costume, so I passed out flyers.

We had to make two trips home because we had so much luggage with five guys. When we got there, we split up into our rooms and I got the single room by myself. Walter is a reverend and Gay is from New Zealand and has a cool accent. We had a free evening and just talked until 7:30 at which time the guys met at the school and set up the stage. It went really fast. I set up the display with Denis C. for the first time, and then walked home a half a block away after we were done. My bedroom was freezing but I survived with my long underwear.

When we met in the morning, we pretended that the girls had set up again and we appreciated them. What was really funny was that all the stuffed animals that had been stolen were all hanging from the trust. We had the 'True colors' from Dek and Gretchen and then the Scandinavian gave a presentation on St. Lucia (Santa Loocia) which is their Christmas holiday. It was really neat and I learned something I never knew before.

Elin and I worked with Kelly while the rest of the cast made decorations and ornaments. After lunch (that I didn't have) we had another meeting about going home, and re-entry with our families. Then show prep, rehearsal, wrap-up, then to dinner (that I didn't go to) so that I could get familiar with the display merchandise. While setting up Michelle and her family came from Saskatoon to see the show again. I did not do King Richard, but did do ringmaster and Œ50's and that was hard enough. We sold an incredible amount both in display and audience.

After the show, I said goodbye to Michelle and packed up the display and we went home.

We came to school in our costumes because we did not have much time in the morning, so we had a quick warm-up and rehearsal. At 9:15, we did our sound assembly for the high school, and after that we had time to work on the expression session. At 11:00 we started the second annual (semester) Expression Session. It was pretty fun because I was in several things. I was a last minute help for Birger and stood at a mic and said 'Bounty.' It was kind of dumb.

The second thing was a big hit with everyone. We did an imitation to King Richard, but it was called Queen Richard (or something like that). Nanette wrote it, Melinda sang it and Kurt, Jerko and I danced to it. We three learned the girls' dance from King Richard and did it behind Melinda. We forgot a lot of it, but still we were pretty close on being exact, and the only thing we wore was jeans, a sports coat and tie. It was really funny and went over really well.

The last thing I did was with Heidi; we started out waltzing and then I said ŒNo, no stop. Let me show you how we do it in Colorado. 'Then we broke into country swing to the last (fast) part of Mountain Music by Alabama. We got going really good at first, but then she tripped over my feet and hit hard on the ground. They cheered us on and told us to give it another shot, so we did and we did okay the second time.

After school, we set up the display to sell to the students, just for the heck of it, and ended up selling over $300. That is including a $142 purchase from one man.

I ran the audience sellers, and did King Richard, Ringmaster and danced '50s and in the show. Things went pretty well, and we were out of there by midnight. I also started handing out the slips for paying me for the duplicate pictures.

Today is the first day to reserve a room at the La Paloma Resort.  Our goal is to get the most cast members registered so that we can have the presidential suite available to our cast for the duration of the reunion.  This could be used to help those that are considering not coming due to financial concerns.   Registration for the reunion will begin on March 15, 2007.  They will have a contest to see which cast has the biggest registration during the month of March.  The cast with the largest registration will get additional discounts or rooms which also might help more of our cast attend the reunion.

Reunion information can be seen at: http://www.uwpiaa.org/pages/reunion_2007_landing.php

Information about the resort where the reunion will be held is at: http://www.westinlapalomaresort.com/

And everyone will want to try the Slidewinder, the 177-foot waterslide!

Some have asked to find out the interest level of having a Cast A only gathering a day or two before the reunion begins either at the La Paloma or at another Tucson location.  If we can get enough people committed to the idea then I will come up with some solutions.   • My suggestions is that we meet at the La Paloma resort beginning on August 6th and have two days of Cast A only events.   • Opportunities for Cast A only events during the reunion will be limited as they have a special event planned for the current Cast A07 to perform for alumni on the night we would have available for a cast only dinner.

Please let me know your interest level to attend a Cast A only reunion for two days before reunion begins.

Either way, make plans NOW to attend our 20th Reunion from August 8th – 12th, 2007 in Tucson, Arizona.

We had another wonderful host drop off time at 6:00 a.m., and boy was it ever cold!! We stopped in Saskatoon, at 8:00 a.m. and it was still -17°C (below 0), so I am convinced it was really cold at 6:00 a.m. My bus date was Cassi and she had asked me, because she didn't have one. I originally signed up for a van, because I couldn't find one, so I switched to the bus with her. Ken and Paula were right in front of us and we were the only four awake all the way to Saskatoon. We had a real nice ride and talk, but she was pretty upset about something.

We arrived in Minot about 5:30pm because it did not take long at the Canada/U.S. border. They gave us the info we needed, then we went to a cookies and punch reception. Our host families wrapped our allocation code, so we had to open a present to find our code to find our family. This lady I was talking to about getting mobbed by being near the Christmas tree ended up being my host mom. Colleen took us to Jerrod's choir concert where we caught the last song, then we went on a search for my luggage. We stopped by the hotel and checked the buses, then went back to the school and it was there up by the school. Then we went home and had dinner and afterwards I taught them how to fold origami birds. Shinichi just looked at me because it was a different way than what he was used to. I tried to go to bed as soon as possible, but I ended up writing my monthly (Nov/Dec) newsletter.

BONUS NOTE from Michelle Bauckham-Galloway:

Aloha everyone,

As our move back to Arizona approaches, we are growing in both pure excitement and sorrow. We can't wait to return to Greg's family and our Flagstaff home and ohana, but leaving my family in Hawaii is unthinkable. We are practically moving out Saturday (Dec. 16) when we sell everything in our garage sale. After that we will be in the process of moving and without much access to e-mail. If you need to reach us, please call (808-235-5459) or at my parents' (808) 261-1489. We'll surely have a "See You Soon" party in Hawaii before we leave for those of you who live here. We leave the Islands Jan. 8, arrive in Arizona the day after! We'll be back in Flagstaff Dec. 16!

I just passed an awesome night with Whynot as he was out here playing with Gavin Degraw. We had so much fun hanging out and talking on the phone on the days I couldn't join him.

Have a very Merry!

Love, Michelle, Greg, Alana (6 3/4) and Ian (2 3/4)

P.S. Our address is Flagstaff will be the same as before (no phone yet), but of course, we'll be forwarding our mail:

22 E. Ridgecrest Dr.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
**************

BONUS PHOTO From Clay's Dad, Richard:

Hey Grant,

This is a photo (file size reduced) that Jon Clay sent to us. I thought it was good and wanted to pass it along.

Clay and wife Wendy are on the right and left, 13.5 year old Hannah is next to Wendy and almost 8 year old Abby is next to Clay. Abby must be standing on something, or you'd see only down to her chin...

Click here to see the photo.

12/16/87 ­ Wednesday ­ Minot, ND

Host drop off was not until 8:30 but we were there by 7:30 because Jerrod dropped us off on the way to school. We basically sat there until morning meeting, and afterwards the high school band played a few songs for us and we had a question and answer session following. When the students left we had a full cast meeting with Carlos about re-evaluating our goals that we had set at the beginning of the year. It was a nice lengthy session and plenty of time for discussing and inputting our opinion. We did an exercise where we told the person next to us how we perceived them at the beginning of the year and how it is different from now. Melinda was next to me and was really surprised of what I thought about her in Tucson. It was a real good healthy discussion session.

When we were finished, we had lunch and then Amy took Elin and I to the office so we could do some paperwork and count the order from Tucson that merch received. We were there all afternoon and everyone else reconvened at the auditorium, so we met Jerrod there and he took us home. We also took Anne and Laurie home with us so they could shower and get ready. On our way home, we stopped at Target to exchange all our Canadian money. We left for the Christmas banquet at about 5:45 after taking pictures.

It was incredible seeing everyone dressed up and looking so nice. It was almost like going to Prom or Homecoming. We had our individual picture taken, and eventually were allowed to go in and sit down. We were assigned to a table and had a bunch of stuff at our place like: program, address book, Christmas in other countries and candy cane grams. We had an opening invitation and did the prayer for dinner. Then I went around and took pictures for people of their table. It was a buffet meal and was pretty good, and after dinner Carlos and Terry said a few words. Then they called out the staff and they all brought out a bottle of champagne and we had a toast to Cast A. After that we did the cast awards which were everything from nicest tush to best smile and everything in between; it was really funny. Leanne and I won cutest couple (that is not a cast couple) and was cheered on enthusiastically. When we got to the podium, I told everyone we were going to start a redhead colony.

After the awards Clay put on a fantastic slide presentation, and one of the funniest pictures was of the Japanese students and me on that travel day in the Suburban with all the Japanese students. People really laughed hard and I didn't know why until afterwards, but people were saying (singing) 'One of these things is not like the others,' because I was the only American in the picture. I laughed later when I understood why they were laughing.

We had a presentation for Kathy and Bill to kind of formally say goodbye. It was kind of a sad moment, but we followed it up with dancing with music from the high school band. Gretchen and I danced the last slow dance together and she cried some more about Shawn. (EDITOR: Hhhmmm, a foreshadow of things to come?!? Now I get the last slow dance EVERY time.) Then right after that we all stood in a circle with candles and sang Silent Night and they played Love in Any Language. It was really hard for me to sing with a lump in my throat.

Jerrod picked us up at 11:00 and we pretty much went straight to bed.

FROM HOLLY HARRIS

Brenda B. and I have our room!!  Overlooking the pool :)

FROM BRENDA PERKINS-DAHMER

Well, isn't this special???? I just made our room reservation for our 20TH reunion next year!!! Talk about quick and easy...(alright, Ellis, I'm talking about making the reservation!!!). They don't charge a deposit until 7 days before the reunion starts so don't worry about plans changing...book now, better to have a room than be stuck out in the heat (remember Tucson?). Well, I just wanted to share how simple it was to get a room booked and I'm so looking forward to the suite upgrade because I know Cast A is going to have the best turnout!!!!

Cheers!

Chocolate

FROM RITA SARNES

Hi Grant!

Just wanted to let you know that I've just booked a room to share with Helene and her sister at Westin La Paloma 8-12th! We're in!!!

Rita

12/16/2006:

I just got the official announcement today.  Don’t delay in holding your room reservation.  They will certainly go fast! - Grant

Reunion 2007 hotel reservations at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa are now open!

Go to www.uwpiaa.org  and click on the Reunion 2007 page to find the link for reservations at the UWPIAA Reunion rate of $99/double and $115/triple or quad (plus tax). This special rate is available for all attendees of Reunion 2007, August 8-12. The rate will also be extended for UWPIAA attendees as early as August 6 th until August 15th if you wish to stay longer. You can also call for reservations: (520) 742-6000 - mention the UWPIAA Reunion and your desired dates.

All suites at the Westin La Paloma Resort are being offered as prizes in our Reunion 2007 Registration contests:

* Your Cast Rep can win an upgrade to an incredible suite through our "Suite Life Cast Contest" .  * The "Presidential Auction" will offer the use of the Presidential Suite to the highest bidder( hint..consider joining forces as a cast for a specail location for a cast gathering).

Details of these contests will be posted at www.uwpiaa.org along with Reunion Registration information - so keep checking back!

Reunion Registration will open online March 15, 2007 . See our web site www.uwpiaa.org for a schedule of activities and don't miss Reunion 2007 in Tucson, Arizona!

Drop off was at Minot Auditorium and we were there early so I put out my pictures again for those who wanted to order that did not get a chance to. After morning meeting we went right to work on merch. Stupid me forgot to count display after the last show, so that is what I spent all morning doing. It was a very frustrating day because I could not find $27 in the books anywhere. This actually happened after the cast sale, at which we made almost $1300. That along with making quota both nights in N. Battleford, we are doing really good for the week. Elin and I made over $8.00 in commission both nights, but no commissions for cast sale! After cast sale, I stocked back up when I shouldn't have and forgot to count what I put in. Needless to say, I was batting a thousand. I spent the whole afternoon getting even more frustrated with the numbers not working out. I skipped dinner and got ready for the show and went out to set up the display. Lynda Cullen sold with me and we did okay, but for a crowd of 2100, we missed a lot of people. Once again Grant, the brain, forgot to count display before it was all packed away. This time it was okay because we were going to take inventory in the next city anyways. We made another $9, but overall a very frustrating day.

**********

FROM BIRGER HUSTED

Hi Grant

I have booked a room for 4 persons today. I have it booked from the 6th to the 12th.

Thank you very much for your wonderful work.

Very best regards

Birger Husted

********

ANOTHER ROOM BOOKED!

From Julie Burgan

Hi Grant,

I am formally announcing that I booked a room Friday at 8:02am overlooking the pool at the La Paloma. If Brian decides not to come (which I suspect will be the case, but he hasn't formally decided yet - I think he's afraid of Tucson in August), someone is welcome to share it with me.

Cheers,

Julie

*************

Gretchen and I are set with our "mountain view" from August 5-12. We can squeeze extras in our room too if you need a place to be. Anyone up for a Cast A game of golf on August 6th? Let me know and maybe we can get a tournament together.

Grant

Once again we were the first ones dropped off in the morning because Jerrod had to go to school. We left for Whapeton at 8:30 and I was riding in a rental car with Carlos driving, Marty, Cindy, Amy and myself. It was a nice ride and I learned a little more about Carlos than I knew before, and he now knows some about me. We stopped in Fargo at this mall because we were about one hour and a half ahead of the cast. When we stopped we soon found out that the buses decided to do the same thing.

We arrived in Whapeton about 8:30 and stopped for some ice cream. We left to go to drop off at 5:00, and I was the navigator. I took us directly to the high school with no problem. The only problem was that drop off was at the community bank. Oops! We were only about 10 minutes late, and Tim had already found our family.

We had a real easy evening, but I spent most of it typing the new statistics report. I did however, call Mom and Dad at about 10:15 to make sure we were on the same mind set. I went to bed about 12:30.

BONUS NOTE AND PICTURE FROM ERIN LYNCH-HARNISH

Hi Grant!

We made our reservations for the hotel for the reunion! I think they actually gave me two confirmation numbers, but I will keep both room in case we need it. (Maybe we can get a grandparent to come with us.) I will let the cast know before we cancel it just in case someone needs it (They only had King bed rooms available.)

Here's our Christmas card and picture. Please send it on to the cast for me. (Hard copies available upon request.) See you soon...Aug.

Love, Erin

We had a morning meeting at 7:45 and then they handed out are evaluations of ourselves that we wrote in September in Bartlesville. We talked with Terry for about an hour on how close we were on reaching our goals and have they changed. I realized that I didn't reach any personal goals, but other goals that I had not planned on like King Richard and merchandise intern. When we finished with that the rest of the cast set up while Elin and I worked on paperwork. Lunch was rushed and I picked audience sellers at the last minute because we had a matinee show at 2:00 p.m. We did a pretty good job selling ($10.00 commission for us), but I don't know how the show went as a whole. That is one bad thing about this internship is that I miss the whole show except for what I am in. I did King, Ring and 50's. Afterwards I counted the money (the cast struck the set) and got everything settled for Denis. I also was in a strip show for Cynthia's birthday ($14) and heard a little bit of a cassette tape Cast B sent us. We finally went home about 6:30 with Linda and Tim's family came with us. We had a nice lasagna dinner and went to the Casino Night at about 9:00 p.m. It was okay, but kind of dumb. I did however deal Black jack for about 30 minutes, danced a little then went home.

We stayed up and talked for a while and finally went to bed about 12:30.

ANOTHER ROOM BOOKED!

I just wanted to let you know that I just booked my room for the reunion. I'm so excited and look forward to seeing everyone in August!

Thanks,

Cyndi Flynn-Yung

**************

Room booked overlooking pool!

Randy Roach

****************

Steve Ellis called today saying he has booked his king sized beds party room over looking the pool.

BONUS NOTE & PHOTOS from Mok:

His birthday was today and I sent him a note. He sent back this sentence and photos.

Dear Grant,

Thanks. My daughter is still sick. But we are fine and I have a great day.

Dr.MOK

We had a small breakfast with Tim's family then went to drop off at 7:00 a.m. We said our goodbyes to Norm's bus going to Minneapolis and Norm said bye to us. All the host families had happy hankies like the Twins had in the World Series. I sat with Bill Graul, but walked around and talked for the short hour or so trip. Those of us who could, checked our luggage in, but Beth and I had to wait; no one was at our counter. We sat in the lounge until the first batch of people left at 11:30. At that time we got up and moved in front of gate 3 (out of 4 gates) where Beth's and I's flight left from. We played cards for a little bit, but Beth and I stretched out on the floor and fell asleep. Second batch (Randy, Steve & Bill) left at 2:40 (to Denver) so it was just Beth and me. We went and had lunch and then got cleaned up and ready to go (or wait another hour in this case). We finally left at 5:55 p.m. from Fargo to Bismark (or Bisquick as the stewardess said), and had a 45-minute delay because their #1 tank fuel gage was not working. I arrived in Denver at 8:20 and was supposed to leave at 8:30, but was delayed until 9:25. I'm anxious to get home and it is really hard to sit here and just wait. Beth and I had a nice talk on the plane. She is the last connection I will have with any Up With People people until January 4th in Las Vegas. Kind of weird that I have not been home or in Colorado for 5 months. It is weird feeling to be home. Kind of empty, but kind of exciting.

When I got to Colorado Springs, I was greeted by Mom, Dad and Scott, and a few minutes later by Kara, Russ, Cindy and Kristina with confetti and everything. They came home with me and I showed them my stuff and did what they told us not to do. Oh well. (EDITOR: I don't remember exactly what this is. I think we were instructed to not force our whole tour on our family and friends with pictures and stories all in one sitting.)

ANOTHER ROOM BOOKED

Hi Grant,

Just wanted to let you know I've booked my hotel room for the reunion. Do you think I have a chance of winning the prize for traveling the furthest distance? :) We're talking a good 15 minute drive...sometimes 20-25 depending on traffic.

Denis Cournoyer

If you are coming to the reunion, call five people and tell them you would like to see them at the reunion!

Darci had sent me an email awhile ago, but I didn't quite know how to send it out, so I decided to save it until Christmas break.  See some of her journal thoughts down below.  

I hope everyone has a great holiday season, I may resume my journal emails on January 4th.

Grant

*************

BONUS JOURNAL From Darci Buck-Price:

Hi Grant!

Just found MY journal—and thought I’d give a few highlights from it from Sept ‘til now--(however, much like Leanne, mine too should just probably go back up into the attic!!!).  I know this is LONG—so feel free to use or not.

  Sept 1:  The cast is taking charge of themselves and it’s super! Ras, Randy- “good eggs”.  Amy Roth is helping me out with Ed. Stuff and Roger and Anne want to help too!

Sept. 4:  Doug Barkley is VERY funny and Amy Roth is great!  White Sands monument was fabulous- we had a great time at the dunes.  Heikki is a lot of fun too.  

Sept 8: Borger, TX. Met with the Mexicans and Kurt/Leanne re: amigo secreto & Mexican Independence Day. Sept 10 & on… (…I write a lot about Dennis- we decided to be a ‘cast couple’ but our jobs were to come first and that we’d need to be very approachable to everyone in the cast- and while I hope that was true, I mostly journaled about ‘us’).

Sept 15: today’s priorities: stats with Grant; Ed reports-Dale; Mexico-trivia; Planning session; Amy Roth- surveys; Education open house- explain ‘career days’.

Sept 18: Riding in the van to El Dorado, KS with Steve Ellis (who is now sleeping on my shoulder), Elin, Rita, Bill G, Dennis, Denis, Gro, Jeff M, Jo and Cassie- FUN Group!

  Sept. 25:  Al Bias wants to know how to make production time more educational in nature- very cool!  All of the staff is very educationally inclined- love it.  

Sept. 26: Bill Parker gave Dennis a hard time tonite and said he ‘dressed up’ because he’s in love.  Dennis’ parents are at the show….his mom took a picture of Sedrick, Dennis and me.  Kathy Lee and Bill give Dennis a hard time about me (teasing). Rodney Blake said that he & Leanne dubbed us a cast couple.  I don’t mind, but I want to make a conscious effort to sit by many different people on the bus, at meals, etc. and make work my #1 priority.

  Sept. 29  Jeff and Dennis unloaded the whole truck by themselves tonite…I knew they’d do that.

October 1:  October goals: Ed crew formed and specific jobs delegated; Canadian Thanksgiving; Halloween Party planned; Birthdays delegated; News- Ras; 2 B/W discussions; High School Project; Amy- that she knows her job; Ed box.  

  Anyway—it’s fun reminiscing—

  Talk soon!

Darci

Reunion Excitement is building!!

If you have not booked your room yet call the LaPaloma Reservation line toll free at 800-325-3535.

Sometimes their website says they are full so double check by calling if you find that out from their website.  I have heard that 66% of the rooms are booked, so don’t delay, you can always cancel later.

Watch for Christina Stevens on a float in the Rose Bowl New Year’s day parade and if you missed Melinda on Find & Design on A&E she was awesome!  I think it is going to be on again this week, but I am not sure and I can’t find the information.  I will try to find a way that you can log on and look at it.

Have a Happy New Year!

Grant

Here are some comments from those that are coming:

Grant I just booked a room too.  I'm going alone and have a room with two double beds so if there are any ladies looking for room mates send them my way.  I heard from Laurie too and although she's not planning to stay at the hotel, she is planning on attending as many of the events as possible, traveling from her Dad's house in Sierra Vista..

Looking forward to this summer!!

Anne (Stainforth-Dearrington)

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Grant,

Your email messages have met your goal of getting everyone excited about the reunion.  I say keep sending your journal notes if it isn't too much work for you.

Happy Holidays.

Denis Cournoyer

********************************

Hey Grant,

   First of all, thanks for all of the memories with your journal entries.  It is great to relive those moments when life was simple and exciting. Not that it isn't exciting now, but definitely not as simple.

   I have not made my room reservations for the reunion yet. How much interest has been generated regarding the Cast A mini reunion and which hotel is everybody booking? (EDITOR:  Quite a few have said they will be there as early as the 5th or 6th)  I would like to get this part taken care of asap before I get stuck in a Motel 6 twenty miles away from the cast. I can't wait to see everybody. I'll send out an update on my family and some pictures in the next few days.   

I hope that you and Gretchen and the kids have a very Merry Christmas.

   Sincerely,

   Kevin (Jonas)

*********************************

Grant,

I am hoping to come...(planning on it despite financial concerns) but would welcome the opportunity to room with whomever in an attempt to cut costs.....don't care if there are several people in the room either....BUT....if it's with Ellis and Merriman....make sure they know that there will be no sexual favors!!!

   Lynda Cullen-Hall

*********

Hi Grant,

    If you are not getting sick of distributing your journal, please keep on typin'!  I am thoroughly enjoying the memories...your journal is so detailed of the activities we did compared to mine (which mainly reads like an ode to Cast B...once again I say thank God for unanswered prayers!).  Anyway, I'm sure it's working to spark excitement for our reunion.  I talked to John Flores last week and he's still planning on coming.  I can't wait to see everyone!  

Cheers!

Brenda (Chocolate)



*************

My 13 year old son just found all my UWP tapes of various performances and the ones put together for the cast. He's blackmailing me and it's HILARIOUS.

(Shawn) Patrick Faucher BONUS PHOTO

Heikki’s daughter Tilda

Click here to see the photo.

**********************************

dear grant,

keep the journals coming :) it's great to read about what we were doing 20 yrs ago. thanks for all you do ! looking forward to seeing everyone in august :)

love, sandra

January:

Click here to choose a different month

Well here I am on the airplane to Las Vegas, Nevada and I already feel like I'm back. While waiting in the Denver airport I ran into Brett and Heidi so I didn't even get to Las Vegas before I saw people. In the Colorado Springs airport, I ran into Brenda Reed (a high school friend) who was going back to Seattle, so when we got into Stapleton airport in Denver, we had lunch together and a real nice talk.

I had a real nice break, but Mom as usual did not think I spent enough time at home. I got a chance to see just about everyone I wanted. Sunday I finished seeing my close friends and then went home and finished packing. All in all it was a great break, but I'm ready to get back with it.

It was nice to have the whole family home for one more year. It was a pretty good Christmas for me, but for everyone else it was an Up With People Christmas. (EDITOR: In other words, everyone received some kind of paraphernalia with Up With People written on it whether it was a mug, a tie, a...)

I called Laurie Wralstad to tell her my flight plans and called Michelle Carlson (host friend from Saskatoon). Hmm very interesting way to start out a New Year!

It is impossible to believe 1987 is gone and 1988 is here. I have a lot to look forward to in 1988 and it will be action packed year. This is the year I lose my teenagehood. Wow, I guess I'm not a kid anymore.

When I got to Las Vegas it really was great to see everyone and everyone was talking a mile a minute and very excited. We had a short meeting to meet the PR team (Alamendra and Whitney who is new), and both Terry and Carlos welcomed us back. We went home with the Blodeauxs who lived in Henderson, NV, and later that evening we drove to Vegas. We first went downtown and then to the strip. Once at the strip, we parked at Caesar's Palace and went on the people mover into the casino and looked around for about an hour and a half. We finally got home around 11:00 p.m. (EDITOR: I would have never known then that 17 years later I would find myself back in Caesars Palace working on a tv show for 6 months. It is funny how things come full circle.)

We had our morning meeting and then a cast meeting where we spent 2 1Ž2 hours talking about the break and what we did. I brought up the fact that people/friends asked me if I was scared to go to the Soviet Union. Several people in the cast said that they too were asked that question, and like me had not really thought about it. After getting mail, a little basketball and lunch, we went to the community Center and rehearsed. We had our first rehearsal with Lindsay which I missed most of because Elin and I were with Kelly going over merch. Later we had wrap-up and then I got dressed so I was ready for the display.

Lisa Solomon (a friend) showed up about 5:00 and we talked for about 45 minutes while I was getting the display ready for the show. We had Kelly, Elin, and I there so it was not that big of a deal, but I felt very uncomfortable while she just stood around. It got real busy, real quick so we said our goodbyes, but she still stayed and watched about 30 minutes of the show. It was nice to see her again. The show was not very good, but immediately afterwards I got directions home and then changed into nice clothes for my 'date' with Paula Leland. (EDITOR: This was my prize for guessing the Mystery City, (Algona, Iowa), which ironically was my wife's PR city. So in essence, my wife earned me a date with Paula. Hhhmmm, that is weird.)

Our show ended at 7:30 and "Ain't Misbehavin'" began at 8:00 at the Sahara. Bill drove us there and dropped us off on the wrong side of the casino, so we had to run from one end to the other. When we found the theater, we got into this line and asked the man in front of us if this was where we purchased tickets for the show. He said 'No, this is the bar line, but here' and he turned around and gave us two free tickets to the performance.

The maitre'd asked us where we would like to sit and Paula said as close as possible because she forgot her contact lens. They put us one table way from the stage in the dead center, the hot seat for audience participation. Sure enough one of the ladies came off stage, played with my beard and asked me if I was alone. It was a great show, and the whole cast and band was black. (EDITOR: Sorry, I don't know why this comment was made. I didn't have much "color" in my world growing up, so this was still a novelty.) Afterwards we had our picture taken in several poses that she picked for us. We later bought two of them: she bought the one of her up against my chest with my arm around her and I bought one of us kissing. We purchased those after a nice buffet dinner at the Sahara and we had a real nice talk during dinner.

We finished the evening by playing a few slots and poker machines and then walked back to Circus Circus and ran into Kelly right away. We stopped off in her room for a minute then she drove me back home. Kelly and I had a great talk on the way to my host home, but got a little lost because we couldn't find the right street. We stopped at a 7-11 for gas and directions and eventually got home about 12:30 at night. Don was waiting up for his wife and heard me come in; I felt a little bad but the evening was well worth it!

FUN FACT: Did you catch the UWP reference on page 8 of next weeks TV guide?

We dropped off at the Henderson Convention Center and then were bussed to Caesar's Palace. We tried several times to have a morning meeting but were uprooted several times until the third time we finally got a room (they did bring in a fork lift to move the piano though). We just discussed how the day would work and what our responsibilities were and to make sure we were flexible. After the meeting we went on a tour of Vegas and they told us quite a bit about the different casinos. Then we saw several 'stars' homes: Liberace, Wayne Newton, Bubba Smith, Michael Spinks, John Denver's old home, Paul Harvey, Redd Foxx, Phyllis Diller and some others. After seeing the homes we went to Ethel M's Chocolate factory and saw how they made chocolate and got to sample some. It was a well arranged tour and very informative. We were then dropped off at Caesar's Palace and had lunch across the street at McDonalds downstairs of the Barbary Coast.

After lunch it was back to rehearsal full steam and boy was it a long one! They demonstrated several of the fireworks that they would later use at the end of our show that evening. It was a seemingly stressful and extra long rehearsal, but probably good for us to jump back into it with both feet.

After rehearsal we had wrap-up and that is when we gave our presentation about Paula's and I date the night before. I told them generally what happened, and then Paula said 'This is how the evening began.' And showed her picture (of her leaning against me) and I said 'This is how it ended!' and showed my picture (of us kissing). They of course responded typical of our cast by ooing and aaahing at the first one and whooping and hollering at the second one. It was fun to share.

From there we went to Circus Circus for dinner at the buffet and then some free time around the casino. I played some more poker and slots and finally got the courage to sit at a blackjack table. The dealer kept yelling at me because I was doing several things wrong. I lost about 48 dollars, but was up four dollars at one time. It was kind of fun to know I was only 19 and looking 23.

We went back to Caesar's got ready and sat around and waited. It was really weird because I would walk by a machine and practically be drawn to it. Then put one quarter in and walk away with five (except I always put it back in later), but it happened a couple of times. Weird!

It was a good show, and it was quite a spectacular finale with all the fireworks at the end. After the show the director said that we were last because Fats Domino could not do a show that was able to follow ours. As soon as we could we took down the equipment (before the union workers came) and had it ready to load into the truck so that was all that was left to do. The reason was because there had to be one union worker for every one of our workers and it would have taken forever for five people (that knew what they were doing) to do the job of 40 people. We were done at 11:00 and I put another $10 into the poker machine before we left at 11:30. Pick up was at the Henderson Convention Center at 12:15. When I got home Amanda and I stayed up and talked until about 1:30.

We left at 8:00 and arrived at the Hoover Dam about 9:45 and stayed there for about 30 minutes and did some fun poses on the border. Somebody took a picture of Margaret and I kissing but each in our own state. My bus date was Beth Wahlert, and kind of boring because all we did was sleep. We stopped at a McDonalds and most everyone went to see the Grand Canyon at $2 a person. Several of us who had seen it stayed behind and sat around and talked. Laurie, Kelly Bates, and I were sitting at a table talking when Kelly tried to suck water through her straw with her nose. She succeeded and I don't think she meant to and about drowned. It was absolutely hilarious, and Laurie and I must have laughed for 10 minutes straight.

We arrived into Flagstaff around 6:30 and got our schedule as we got off the bus. We found our family right away and went home to a great spaghetti dinner. I read the newspaper and tried to watch TV but fell asleep in the process.

John took us for a doughnut before host drop off and then we took off at about 8:00 for Wilcox. On our way, we stopped in Tucson to spend about 3 1Ž2 hours there. Some people met up with their old host family and others (like myself) walked around and did nothing. Cassi, Julie and I really had a good time just walking, talking and spelling. (EDITOR: Yeah, we were crazy rebels.) On our way out of Tucson the bus I was on broke down for about an hour and that made us an hour late for pick up. We never did hear what had been wrong with the bus.

We met the Wackerlys, went home, had dinner and watched an old video of Up With People and it just so happened Carlos Acevedo was in it. We laughed a lot and enjoyed watching him.

BONUS NOTES:

From Kelly Bates-Kinch

too funny! man, I did not even remember that! Hmm...sucking up a drink through a straw in my nose....maybe subconsciously I was trying to forget that incident! hahahaha

Thanks again, Grant, for all you do. The journal entries are GREAT!

Hi to Gretchen and your girls.

Kelly

******************

From Sandra

well gang, i've finally hit it big :) i was at a swing danceathon in november raising money for cancer research and was dancing with someone new. he had someone video tape us dancing (i think he was using his camera phone), but i totally forgot about it. last thursday, that guy (chris) came up to me and reminded me of our dance and said he posted us on youtube. here's the link. now you know someone famous (okay, not that famous) online :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuFzTrfcoYI

have a great new year,

sandra

This morning is the beginning of a crazy couple of days because we have many people from Tucson coming to teach us more and fine tune us. The whole morning was spent talking about Las Vegas and how things were going and how it felt to be back. After that we then met all our visitors from the staff of Cast E and new staff members of all the other casts. While the stage was being set up, Elin and I organized the truck and logged everything.

During lunch, I finally met Kelly from Cast E (merch. Manager), and Pat who is from the Tucson office. Then after a very short lunch we had the rehearsal we had all been waiting for with Lynn Morris. It actually was not that bad, but it sure started out like staging in Tucson. We walked on the stage for the beginning of Sunrise five times before we even started the music. The rehearsal was long, but good and effective. After the four-hour rehearsal, a rushed dinner, and a quick change into my costume, I ran to get things ready for the audience sellers. By the time I got there, the Kellys had already put the bags together and were set. The only thing I did in the show was the Ringmaster and Pat came and watched me do it. It is nice to know her face now instead of just a voice on the phone. The evening was relatively early because Kelly Bates offered to take it home and finish it for us. Besides that it was an early pick-up since we have two shows this city.

We were able to sleep in for a while, had a nice breakfast and then I walked to the school at about 11:00 a.m. The rest of the cast came later about 12:00, but Elin and I counted the display and did some other work. When the rest of the cast arrived we had a morning/afternoon meeting and at the end of it, we watched part of the video that Carlos was in. Elin and I then said our goodbyes to Kelly Bates and then worked on the paperwork.

When we joined fitness, Lynn was leading it doing crazy things with the cast. Something about getting your energy from the center of the earth and the center of your body. I don't know, it was pretty weird, but it was kind of neat to see that side of Lynn. Then we went straight into rehearsal and did different songs, some using different people. I got the chance to do King Richard and we only did it once unlike almost everything else that we did twice (except Ringmaster) I don't know whether there was too much wrong to correct it, or to good to have to do it again. I would like to think that I did it flawless and need no work on it. At wrap-up Lynn and Herb did not really say much, and it was pretty much your basic wrap-up. Kelly had already announced the day before that she was leaving to go on PR and so this was our first wrap-up as a staff/student cast member.

We went home for dinner and had a nice dinner, but very short because I had to go back to set up the display. When I was trying to turn on the lights, and tried a breaker because I couldn't find a switch and turned on the fire alarm. Ooops. It was kind of funny but no one came to turn it off for about 15 minutes. I did not do much in the show except for King Dick and Ringmaster, otherwise I was off stage the whole time. It was kind of neat to watch the second half because Ross did the sign language to God's Skin and it was incredible! My host dad was filming the show, and of course the batteries went dead right after 50's so he missed Ross and God's Skin. I was pretty much bumming but at least I got to see it. We did as much paperwork as we could before we left, but did not balance. We basically survived our first night without Kelly.

BONUS PHOTO

Bill Becker's kids at Christmas. Check out his son's expression. I laughed out loud. Thanks for sharing Bill!

Grant - let me know if you get the golf tourney set for the 6th - I'll try and make it. Right now, though, we're booked in from the 7th to 12th. Happy New Year to all from the Beckers in snowy Maine, attached is a pic of the kids on Christmas Eve... Bill

Gary had to drop us off early so he could make it to work on time, so Jerko and I sat in the Safeway parking lot until 8:40 a.m. Everyone else came about 9:00 a.m. and we left at 9:30.

When we arrived in Socorro, we had a parade through town to the college where we were going to perform. I rode in an old car and threw candy at people and when we arrived we had to set up before host pickup. Elin and I built a super structure display with an extra three metal screens. It looked really good but was pretty big for the number of boxes we had. We got free popcorn and pop while we were there. We (Heikki and I) found our family right away and went home, and for the first time I got a good-looking host sister. It turned out our original host had to back out because a relative had become very ill, so they asked Fabbie if she could take us. We told about where we came from and our background and I learned a lot about Heikki I never knew. They told me they had a daughter in Colorado Springs at Fort Carson. We had a nice dinner, took some pictures and went to bed. We didn't see much of Judy because she was gone then went to bed early.

At morning meeting, we finally got a schedule for second semester and heard officially about a private show in Washington D.C. for some senators. We talked a long time about where we are headed this semester. Right after that we sat down with Lindsay and she told us about herself and her background. It was really nice until she dropped the bomb on us. She said she wanted to keep basically the same line up for the next 6 weeks, so she could start fine tuning things. She was going to concentrate on the soloists so that she could finally work on the chorus. Needless to say most everybody was pretty upset, and I was the first one to stand up and say something. I said "I hate to be the bitcher or ass, but I want to be frank; I personally have just lost all my drive to learn anything new because I won't be able to perform it anyways." For the most part I think people were behind me and what I was saying except those who already have big parts (or lots of them). She reneged and said no, that was not what she was saying, but trying to get so much emphasis off of the show and on to the experience as a whole. I think by this time people felt like the damage was already done and wouldn't help to say anything. The mood was very somber and was hard to get through rehearsal, and hard to get psyched for the show for middle school students (about 400 of them). The sound assembly went really well, but a poor audience (you know kids).

After the show, we had an admissions presentation from Henri that was pretty informative. Then we went to wrap-up where Terry told us that we were all going to get to go to Washington D.C. for a public show and a private show in March. I think that eased the tension about only 40 being able to go. (at least for me)

We had dinner, did the show (I did audience) I also did King Richard & Ringmaster, I was off a little bit of money, had strike, went home and talked for a while then went to bed. We had a real nice talk with Fabbie.

*************
BONUS PHOTO

Click here to see the photo.

Click here to see the photo.

Hey grant..thanks for updates .Plan to spend reunion poolside in my Euro designer swim shorts, along with my friend, Captain Morgan. Does anyone know of a Liquior store in the area? A friend of mine would like to know. Hope all stay safe from now till then. Hi to all across the world, and have a peaceful year!

p.s. no screaming kids poolside, I will be nursing a cold beverage. SHOW UP EIDE dont be a Puss. *********

This morning drop off was not until 12:30, but some guys were meeting at 9:30 to play basketball at the college. There was eight of us who came to play and after one game with them, I went and played a game of racquetball with Meg (I won.) After that I showered and got ready to leave. We arrived about 5:30 and unloaded our luggage on this mountain and got our allocations. I guess Kurt and Brenda had quite a few problems with the sponsor and had to change sponsors a couple of times. So to make it even more confusing, they threw out little ping-pong balls with a symbol on it and the families had the meaning, but there was no connection in between.

Oh well, we found Luis and Janice and loaded all our luggage in the truck and went home in the car. We had a nice dinner (chili/stew), and a quiet evening. I spent about 30 minutes pulling off Pepsi tabs for Laurie Wralstad because she is collecting them for someone who needs a kidney dialysis machine. I pretty much went to bed after we took some pictures.

After morning meeting, Elin and I set up merch and finished the paperwork. Right before lunch we called Kelly and Pat. We talked with Kelly for about 20 minutes and I told her about my first merchandise nightmare. For some reason we were back in Las Vegas and we were selling like crazy. People just kept coming back and needing more and more to sell, and I lost track of how much I was giving out and at the end of the night we were thousands of dollars off. It was scary, but she just laughed (because it was pretty funny). After lunch we had fitness with Dolly which I was really not in the mood for and was for some reason really dragging. After that we had rehearsal, but Elin and I were working clear up to and through dinner. Sales went okay, but not too good. Heidi, however was fun to work with.

The usual happened, we struck, went home had some cookies, talked for a while and went to bed.

(I forgot to mention Pat was really nice to talk to.)

Luis basically dropped us off and left. There was a lot of focus on Bill because the night before he gave us his farewell speech and was in tears the whole time. It was a sad, touching moment for all of us. I signed up for the bus alone, but then Lindsay asked if she could sit next to me and said yes, but she stood me up anyways. I did get some reading done that I wanted to do, so I accomplished some things.

My family was late in getting there because their son had a basketball game, so Al and I were almost the last ones to leave. We went straight from there to Godfather's Pizza and met a whole bunch of people who were hosting and we all had dinner together. I had a real nice time, and on the way home we stopped by where my real family was staying to see if they were here yet. They weren't so I left the tickets and the phone number where I was at the front desk and went home. They called about 9:30 that Mom, Scott, Penny and Michelle were there and Brett and Dad arrived while we were talking. We made arrangements for tomorrow and hung up. The evening was real relaxed and comfortable. I basically just did some writing and watched a little TV.

I was still in bed, but Mom called to say they left about 10:45 and said she had gotten a hold of the Sawyers and I should try and call Jim. I tried later, but he wasn't home. I don't know what I would have said to him if I would have got a hold of him after 13 years. (EDITOR: This was a childhood friend that lived on my street that I had not seen in 13 years.)

When I did get up, I spent the whole day watching football games. The Washington Redskins beat the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos beat the Cleveland Browns 38 to 33. So it is the Broncos (again against the Redskins in the Super Bowl. I sure wish I was in Denver again with all the Super Bowl hype going on. The rest of the day was spent vegging on the couch eating dinner, watching TV, and Mom finally called about 9:00 p.m. saying they were home. We stayed up and talked for a while then went to bed.

We got dropped off at the mall at 7:30 and were going to leave at 8:00, but with all the snow we had last night the roads were closed outside of Farmington. To waste time we walked around the mall, and we met back together at 9:00 a.m., at 10:00 a.m., and at 11:00 a.m. while they would fill us in on whether or not we could leave yet. We finally took off at 11:30 a.m., I had a good ride with Denis, and we got into Carlsbad at about 1:00 p.m. we didn't meet, we just found our family and left.

After we all got situated in our rooms, we sat out in the living room and talked with Mary for a while. About 10:30 we walked over to John and Marty's house (one house away) and several people were already over there (Mary, Pia, Gretchen, and the sponsors as well as all of us). We sat and talked for a while then went and played Pictionary in a back room. We had a really great time and was over there enjoying ourselves until about 10:00 a.m

When we got to the Carlsbad Civic Center, I picked up a package for me from Pat that had the cast achievement awards in it. We had our morning meeting then set up the display and worked on paperwork. We didn't have to come in until 10:00 so we were a little bit rushed but got everything finished although we worked through lunch. During rehearsal we worked on the "Time for the Music" vamp and practiced our Spanish. Our warm-up and fitness was video taped along with a bunch of various other things we did and people talking so that we could send it to Cast B.

Dinner was Taco Bell and then I rushed in to get ready for sellers greenroom. I was hardly on stage at all because all I did was Ringmaster and one of the later couples in 50's. We were pretty close to balancing, but still had work to do the next city. After we got home, we went over to Mary and Gretchen's family (across the street from John and Marty) and had pizza, beer, and coolers. We walked Pia home and went to bed about 2:00 a.m.

We all thought drop off was at 7:30 so we were half an hour early for drop off. We put all our luggage on the bus then took a tour around the town and saw points of interests. We left at 8:30 to go to Carlsbad Caverns and arrived there at about 9:30. We had a short presentation about the caverns, and then watched a six minute film about bats. After that we spent two hours down in the cave itself, and I was really amazed. We had about a four and a half hour long bus ride and I really tried to use the majority of it to find out more about Staci Brockman. I really feel like I know now where she stands on how UWP operates. It was a very nice bus trip.

When we arrived, we had to wait for a while but finally met up with our families. We also had some country music and we had to dance with our host. Well my host was a single man in his late 20's, so I danced with Cassi instead.

When we got home, we talked, had dinner and rented a movie called Angel Heart. Kind of a weird movie, but a real nice evening which ended in a king-size bed to myself!

We had a real nice breakfast, then went to the high school. After morning meeting we were taken to the Southwest Collegiate Institute for Deaf and were given a lecture on the deaf and misconceptions about deaf people. It was very informative, and he was a fantastic speaker.

After that, we met together with some deaf students and teachers and together they taught us the sign language to Up With People. It was very tiring and cramped my hands. I supposed I would loosen up after doing it for a while.

From the college, we walked to the Federal Prison Camp, signed in, and went straight over and performed because we were running late. What an incredibly receptive audience, and were very curious. We ended out in the audience after the show and they were so thankful that we came. After the show, they gave us a little background on the camp, and then we went to lunch. I sat down (by myself) with a couple of the inmates and had a nice talk with them. One left, but I had an intense talk with the others about God, and his beliefs and convictions. I was able to be very frank with him, and ask him if he was such a good Christian why was he there. He became a Christian while at the camp and has plans to go to Japan to be a missionary. When we finished lunch, we took a brief tour of the factory, the greenhouse and dorms. It was a good look at a Federal prison.

I spent the rest of the afternoon farting around, working on the display, filing the M1, talking to Laurie and trying to call Kelly. For an afternoon treat we had Swedish cinnamon rolls and Coke. At wrap-up, we gave out the awards for surpassing a certain volume of sales. During dinner the fishing club got together to listen to a Christian comedian. Henri brought the tape in and it was a nice change of pace.

I ran display with Laurie and kept up with our show budget. We figured that we have to make $737.00 for each of the last shows in January in order to make budget. After I had everything put away they asked me if I could do an interview because they had so many. I did one with Saori and she was good, but young and only got an accept 3 from us. That made for a long evening, but I pretty much went straight to bed when I got home.

Kyle dropped us off at the college at 7:30, but when we got there, he realized he forgot to grab our lunches, so he went back to get it after he dropped us off. He seemed real pleased that he hosted us, and I'm sure will do it again.

It only took about an hour to get to Midland so we arrived at 9:00. I had a short and uneventful bus ride with Erin. I'll need another time when we have a little longer to spend together.

They briefed us very briefly (no pun intended) and then we were off to our specific location. I was on the Super Tex (crew) so I went straight to the high school. On our way we dropped off a few people at their career choice. Set up went rather well considering there was so few of us. While I was setting up the display, I walked by a locking clip (that are on all the boxes to keep lids locked down tight), and it reached out and bit me. It ripped my jeans in an 'L' shape 4 inches by 3 inches and scraped my leg. It is one of those scrapes that doesn't look bad, but stings like Hell. Besides the fact that it hurt, I ruined a good pair of jeans. Oh well, I have to admit it looked kind of funny with this flapping hole in my pants. Someone made the remark that if I would just rip it in a few more spots it would be fashionable.

We went to a petroleum museum to look at for 2 hours, which I have to admit I was not looking forward to (because I was exhausted) but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. We did have a boring, monotone speaker, however, to put everything about petroleum into perspective.

We went from the museum to the Midland Center to meet our families. They had packs of gum with our name and code word on it. And then we looked for our families. We found Rick (Enrique), Olivia and Marc and headed straight for the food. After we ate, they gave away some t-shirts, and then had some Spanish/Mexican dancers do some songs. While they were changing, we attempted to do Up with People in Spanish. I don't know it, and I don't think many felt comfortable with it, so it was not that good. After the fiesta was over, we went home and got situated. Later in the evening, some people came over so Matt and I spent most of the evening talking about ourselves and the program. We wrestled with Marc for a while, but hit the sack relatively early.

Henri and I signed up to spend the morning with this advertising company as a career morning. I was pretty disappointed (as was Henri) because we were told it was an advertising company, and my preconceived idea was of an advertising agency. They were nice people, but I was bored and talked more about Up With People than they did about advertising. The type of layouts they did were no different than what I did in high school for the yearbook. Their computer did make it 10 times less risk free, and was neat, but that was the only highlight. (EDITOR: Wow! A computer. That sounds cool. I wish I could use one of those.)

We went to the college and looked for Henri's bag that he left there and we got to the mall at 12:00. First thing that was said to me was that I was doing the MC and to change and get the information I needed. Luckily, I had plenty of time because they were still in the middle of the fashion show.

For not having done it in a real long time I did rather well without stumbling. After we finished the TOA during the last (closing) MC, Carlos and the sponsor came on stage because she had something to say. I handled it real cool and it went over just fine.

After the show we were getting ready to leave and this girl called my name. It turned out to be Karen and a couple of her friends. One of them (Michelle) also knew Kara (a good friend from high school). I was real surprised to see her, because I didn't think she would even consider coming. She couldn't come to the show, so that is why she came to the mall show. She has changed and seemed very stressed out, or bored, or something, but she is still very pretty (as were the other two). I'm glad she made the effort to come see me.

Then we went to Lee High School for rehearsal and I finished merch. For dinner we went to a nice Mexican restaurant called La Bodega and had a great meal. This was a great show, well the quick change was great anyways. We only had one room and the only thing to partisan it off with was boxes that were shorter, than me in height. The guys only got a small portion of the room compared to the girls, but it sure gave us a great view of the girls changing. I think there were more guys in quick change than on stage, in fact at least one guy missed an entrance due to the distraction. It reconfirmed the fact that we have some fantastic looking girls in the cast! (With great bodies!) (EDITOR: What a bunch of horn dogs we were, but the statement still stands that we had the best looking girls in UWP. So good I married one!)

Merchandise went pretty good, but the good news was that I balanced the first time and finished all the paperwork and truck loaded by 11:50. I was psyched and feeling really good about myself. When we got home, we talked for a while then went to bed.

I didn't realize how much we had affected Rick until we were getting ready to leave. He said he always makes the sign of the cross on his friends or children's forehead to wish them well and safe journey. He wished us the best and asked that God watch over us while we travel around. He was extremely close to tears, because he sure had a lump in his throat and had to keep clearing it.

We designated one Suburban for the fishing club, and although there were several people upset because there was not enough room for everyone, I think it was very beneficial for us. We (Monique, Gwyn, Tim, Leanne, Henri, John M., Mary and myself) didn't really do anything special until about an hour and half before we got to College Station. Someone asked how we would change or react if we knew Jesus was coming in five years and that started the ball rolling. It was an intellectual and expanding discussion. The Suburbans came later, but the whole cast was early anyways.

To meet our family, we had to find the equation to match our answer. Luckily we found ours relatively easily and met up with Nancy, Bob, & Jennifer. We went home and ate dinner, and sat down and talked a lot. They are very involved in FCA (Federation of Christian Athletes) and so is Sedrick, so they hit it off right away. I could tell this would be a really good family from the beginning because: they were good Christians, Nancy was an alumnus of UWP, it was a good-looking house, and it was full of good-looking teenage girls. Shannon and Jennifer freaked out when I told them I was only a year older than them (and two years for Jennifer). I was even younger than her boyfriend Corbin. We had a real nice evening talking and watching "Back to the Beach" with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. Good Golly, was it dumb! We went to bed around midnight.

I finally got to take the day off for merch (Elin too), so I slept until about 10:30, got up, showered and wrote in my journal until about 12:30. Then Nancy came home and took me to lunch at a steak house. And we had a great talk. We came back around 1:30 and then Corbin and Shannon took me over to the Texas A & M campus and showed me around a little bit. After that we drove around a rather rich settlement to look at the houses. We also stopped by a bookstore to look around. When we got home we had a real rushed dinner and then off to an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) meeting. It was a nice meeting and they gave us about 15 minutes to talk to the students. I spent about 5 minutes talking about the UWP program and Sedrick spent the rest of the time telling about his life and how FCA had affected him. I think they could really relate to Sedrick well, and he really influence some people. When we got home, we sat around and talked for a while and then Corbin, Sedrick and I went to the movie "The Princess Bride". We got home about 11:30 and went straight to bed.

We didn't do much in the morning except set up and do a little paperwork for tonight's show (since all work from last show was already done). We also gave Kelly a call and talked for a while about nothing in particular. Mostly about her not having a job when she came back and that she was going straight back on P.R. when she got back. She also quizzed us on all the things we like to eat and drink. Hmm, think she is up to something? We went to lunch and then I went and bought some B-Day cards for Margaret.

Rehearsal was really beneficial because we finally took time to work on clowns. We split into three groups (clowns and me, band and everyone else) and all concentrated on our own individual things. The clowns worked on what their personalities are, the cast learned how to load and set all the tricks, while the band worked more specific sounds. Then the clowns and the band put it together while the cast worked the vocal parts. Then finally we put it all together and it really is making a difference. The clowns now bow at the end of the act which really makes it finished instead of just ending.

After rehearsal and wrap-up, we had a presentation from the Texas people. They taught us some of the lingo and history from Texas. We then went to dinner (actually I did not because I didn't have time) and then the show. We did not sell very much because they told us there would be a lot more people there than what was there. So we did not make budget like we were hoping to do in this city but we will still make it.

They kicked us out very quickly so we were not able to finish the paper work before we left.

We didn't have to leave until 12:00 so we were able to sleep in for a little longer. Nancy let the girls "oversleep" so that they could see us off and have breakfast with us. We went to drop-off at 11:30 with Nancy Corbin, Jennifer and Robin and was kind of hard to say goodbye when it was time to leave.

We arrived in Brownwood to a posse and several of us being 'arrested.' It was nice but anti-climactic. I found my mom and brother right away, and was able to get my luggage quickly. I was really not looking forward to being by myself but tried to make the best of it. We went straight to dinner at the Golden Corral and I had a salad. I didn't know how much to order because I couldn't figure out their income status so I ordered what they did. We then took a tour of the town and they showed me every important or non-important building in town. I was not really interested, but pretended.

When we got home, we talked (because she loved to talk) and I played a little guitar. Which led to a drum solo (Jingle Bells) by Chris, the host brother. I wanted to laugh so bad, but didn't. I went to bed as early as I could.

We had a very early morning because we had to do a show for the Chamber of Commerce during breakfast. I got dropped of at 6:45 a.m., we had breakfast, Terry talked for about 25 minutes then we did a TOA (1/2 of us). Afterwards, we had a cast meeting then went to the high school to set up. Elin and I finished our work early so we had plenty of time to mess around. We did, however, call Marty and talked with her a while and told her what merchandise we needed. Then we were switched over to a girl named Kelly who took all our statistics. During rehearsal, we worked on clowns a little more and the whole cast watched and critiqued us. (For lunch Saori, Elin, Denis and I (and Jon) went to Burger King so we could spend some of Kelly's budget.)

After rehearsal, we had a little free time when I just vegged out and then dinner. I skipped dinner and went and worked on the audience bags so they would be ready. We had a pretty good show and was picked up about midnight.

Charlotte and Chris dropped me off and went off to school. I was on the bus by myself so I slept most of the way. It was good to see Kelly again. Because that means we survived the three weeks. They had interesting allocation cards on the bags, because almost all the guys were rooming with Kelly and almost all the girls with Brett. It was funny, but the hard thing about finding our code word was that we had to meet 5 host families do something for them, then collect a toothpick. After we collected 5 toothpicks, we could get our allocation code. We got our code and found out from Roger and Marty's family that they would be a little late.

Once we got all our stuff loaded we went home, got situated, then took off to dinner at The Alamo in San Antonio. (not the real one just a restaurant) We had dinner with the families of Jeff Van Zyl, Cyndi Flynn and Brenda LaMica, and Roger and Marty. It was really ironic that Kurt and I were roommates because we just spent all day together in San Antonio at the Alamo and about 1 1/2 hours at the wax museum and walking along the river walk together. We had a really good time together especially in the museum quizzing each other. After dinner we went to Wal-Mart to get a movie and ice cream and headed home to watch it. Most of the family fell asleep except for Carmen and I watched all of "Light of Day".

After morning meeting, Elin and I found our merchandise room in the back. It was kind of hard to miss because of all the decorations and snacks inside. Wow! We were loaded down with food. In between snacking and relaxing we (I) set up the display, and then went to lunch with the cast to PoPo's Restaurant. I sat with Mary Huckins on the bus and then at lunch. We also had entertainment from this country singer who played some swinging music for me and I grabbed Lynda Cullen and went for it. Then I asked Cassi and she was able to keep up with me a whole lot better. She is naturally very good at it.

Our show was kind of weak in the afternoon and the crowd was not the best. We lost our lights because we were running on a generator and had a power surge. We had wrap-up and during wrap-up all the Coloradoans got up and did a little song and skit about the Super Bowl. It went over very good and was a lot of fun. We sang the Colorado song with a few different words. We went straight into dinner and I got ready for my plans with Margaret. I made sure everything was set and ready to go (Kelly was not back with the candles or wine coolers but went for it anyways.)

Lynda escorted Margaret to the band room and sat her there until I was ready. When I came in she knew something was up, so I took her outside and explained to her about having a romantic birthday. I was sent in the place of her boyfriend and was trying to the best I could. I led her over to this fence and we stared at the sunset for a half a minute, then I led her into the truck and she just started laughing. I sat her down and told her to tell me about herself, so we sat there talking until Lynda came with our meal. She was dressed up and wearing a bow tie and cummerbund. First she brought us cocktails (pineapple juice that Michelle's parent brought from Hawaii), then our meals and drinks. At that time, I told her to get "the other thing" (Steve). I'm surprised Margaret didn't figure it out because Steve stood outside and tuned his violin. She did say once "Did I hear music?" but that's when he quit. Not long after that he came in playing nice, smoothing, romantic songs. She was loving it and really impressed, but he stayed a little longer than I expected him to. Oh well, I can't complain, he was doing it on his own time. We took several pictures and had a really nice time and she spent the rest of the night bragging about it. People really complimented me on such a neat idea. (EDITOR: Thanks Lynda for helping pull that off. It was fun!)

To add another feather in my cap and oversized head, I had Brennen's (from Cast E) brother and father come up to me separately and told me how much they were looking forward to me doing King Richard tonight. That was before I even saw Brennen! They said he had told them how good I was and since they had seen him do it, in his cast, they were excited to see the difference. Unfortunately I had already told Doug he could do it because he had a cousin in the audience. The night ended like all the other show nights we have had.

BONUS NOTE:
From Leanne Monahan-Voyles
Here is my San Antonio Riverwalk memory... I spent most of the day walking around with Jeff M. but we had lunch at Schlotsky's with Julie. We were sitting eating outside and a bird pooped right on my arm! The ironic thing is I was there 7 years later with Trent and he got pooped on too! Aren't you all glad to know that little bit of trivia!?

Thought from Jeff Martinson:
Leanne, I still remember the birds pooping on you and thinking it was so damned funny. ;-). Those Texan birds must have it out for you.

We said our goodbyes to Carmen then stopped and got a couple of egg burritos and took off for the high school. We arrived about 15 minutes early so I could decorate our (Margaret's and I's) bus seat. I enclosed it in garbage bags then hung streamers around it that said Happy Birthday on them. It looked pretty cool, but I knew it wouldn't last the whole bus trip. After we did that we got working on decorating the buses and Suburbans with shoe polish saying Go Broncos and various other pro-Bronco sayings. It looked neat and people sure knew where we stood on who we wanted to win.

When we arrived, it was beautiful weather and started us all thinking warm. During the meeting, Susie did a B-Day song for Margaret to the Adams family song. It was very creative and on that note, we were sent out to meet our host families. I thought my host was not there, but we just kept missing each other. His code word was on his t-shirt and I never thought to look for a shirt with an allocation code on it. When we finally found each other, we went home and talked for about an hour and tried to find out a little bit about each other. Then was able to watch a little bit of the Super Bowl. It was looking really good because the Broncos scored on their first possession the first time they touched the ball. They scored a field goal on their second possession, but second quarter came and the Redskins scored 35 unanswered points. Which was a real dilemma for me because I didn't know whether to root for the Skins to score another touch down which it was 28 to 10. Well, they did anyway which was good for me because I won $25 in our Super Bowl Lottery. Then since the 3rd quarter was the same I won another $25. Not a bad days work for not doing anything. I didn't even see the 3rd and 4th quarter because I went to dinner with Daniel, Irressma (his girlfriend) and Ray (a friend).

The restaurant we went to was in Mexico (Matamoros) and called the Drive Inn. I really had a good time and a fantastic dinner. What was really interesting was the whole new world of Mexico. Once you cross the border it is a whole new atmosphere. It was weird (and they drive crazy). After dinner we went straight home and to bed.

BONUS NOTE:
From Kelly Bates-Kinch
Hey Grant,

Just wanted to drop a quick note to say "thanks again" for all you are doing to keep the Cast connected. It is a LOT of fun reading through the journal entries. What GREAT memories it brings back.

There was an UWP Alumni reception last week here in Denver. Amazing! So much fun to see people, some I have not seen in almost 20 years......It is awesome the connection and bond there is because we have a shared experience.

I would encourage everyone who has a chance to attend an Alumni reception in their area to do so. Tommy Spaulding is an incredible man with a passion for Up With People, a passion for impacting people and communities and a true heart to see young people become all they can be.

They are still asking the Alumni to help them in recruiting qualified students for the upcoming casts. Their goal is to have TWO casts on the road this summer, and there are many positions still available. We heard from two students who just recently finished their tour, and MAN.. the amazing difference in the Up With People of TODAY.....vs when we traveled. Many of the things we wished were different....ARE.

The casts will also be spending time in under developed countries......soon to be going to Thailand. The students need to experience ALL of the world, not just the "wealthy nations". It's great stuff!!!

Please feel free to pass this on to the cast. The changes are really exciting!!

Hi to Gretchen and the girls for me.

~Kelly~

PS. I've attached our family Christmas photo if you want to pass that on as well. Thanks Grant!

February:

Click here to choose a different month

We got up a little early so we could go to breakfast at the Holiday Inn with Daniel's girlfriend. He dropped me off about 7:30 so he could make it to school on time. During morning meeting, we did a thing called "Taking Sides," and what it is, is two things (usually opposites) and you have to choose what is best for you. For example: cake and ice cream: capitol punishment no capitol punishment; etc. It was kind of interesting to see who took what side. They also announced the winners of the Super Bowl Lottery (Paula 1st quarter, me 2nd and 3rd quarter, Randy 4th quarter). After that, we set up our office and worked on paperwork. When I set up the display Michael Liedecker (Ringmaster from cast E, new PR for us) was out there and we talked about technique and what he does compared to me. It was nice to get another perspective. Right after that, before lunch, Paul Kunz asked me to go on PR again to Brownsburg, IN with Anne Stainforth. I of course said I would think about it, but was pretty sure I would want to. I think I will really enjoy working with Anne.

From lunch on was pretty average (working on paperwork and fooling around) then after wrap-up, we had Julio Lozano come talk to us about Mexicans and this area of the nation. It (and he) was rather boring, but then we were off to diner at Antonio's (Mexican food). We had people waiting in line and no one to sell or take tickets, so I was in a panic. Luckily I didn't have to do display because I would have gone crazy. I was cranky as it was. Daniel came at midnight.

We were dropped off at 8:00 a.m. and were allowed to spend four hours in Mexico. A bunch of us got on to a van for 25 cents and went to the market. We had a great time bargaining and bickering with the Mexicans. I ended up getting a snakeskin belt for $13 (from $18) and 2 t-shirts for $10 from ($13). We had money to eat down there but waited Œtil we got back in the U.S. It was a good time, but eye-opening and sad. I felt really rude walking by people talking to me but you had to in order to get from one store to another. And the kids down there begging for money, fake crying, then would turn around and laugh.

My bus date was Julie, but kind of uneventful because it was only an hour and a half. Once we got there, we had a little time for sports after a cast meeting (I was washing the bus windows).

We were having a potluck there at the boy's club and my family was late. When they got there, we ate dinner and then we went to Mexico for a while. Not much was open or happening especially for a Tuesday night, but we had a Coke and a nice talk. Then we went home and talked for a little longer and I called home. I talked with Dad for a while, but Mom was at sorority. Finally went to bed about 11:30.

BONUS NOTES:

From Beth Wahlert-Lohmeier
Grant--

I remember Brownsville... Roomed with Kelly K. Host Family fed us GOAT. Went to across the border to Matamoros (sp?), Mexico. Drank YARDS of BEER.

My Poodle skirt fell off during the 50's slow dance!

Grant you sure did go on PR a lot! (EDITOR: This is just coming up to my second time. I did a third time in Copenhagen. Yes, I spent a lot of time on PR)

--Beth
*********

From Jeff Martinson

Hey Grant,

Leanne's comment about San Antonio also got me remembering how really neat that day was. Walking along the riverwalk and it was such a nice day. One thing that I can still see from that day is Rita Sarnes getting up and singing Summertime at some outside bar in front of a bunch of us and the whole restaurant. Her beautiful voice sang out and it was awesome to see her performing like that on the riverwalk.

I hope you are enjoying your exchange student. That is a great thing that you all do and I imagine the girls must be fascinated to have someone from China in the house. (EDITOR: We are hosting 2 13-year old Chinese girls from an exchange program with us. It is always fun to learn about new cultures and share our with them. They will get the whole Super Bowl experience this weekend.)

Hope all is well.

Jeff
**************

From Brenda Perkins-Dahmer

Hey Grant,

I had these thoughts after reading Kelly's note and looking at her family Christmas photo, so I decided to send them along instead of keep them to myself.

First I thought, well of course she is excited and has a great connection with Alumni and vision of UWP...I remember Kelly as being one of (if not THE) most down to earth, honest, compassionate, caring, and fun loving people I'll ever know. (Who could ever forget her rendition of "You've got spinach between your teeth"?)!!! Then I opened her family photo...talk about aging GRACEFULLY...Kelly looks beautiful and what a great looking family!

This makes me even more excited to see as many as possible in August! Each time you attach a photo, Grant, I am amazed at how little everyone's changed over the past 20 years!

SO looking forward to Tucson,

Chocolate (Brenda)
**********

From Tim Dittrick

S**t, I don't remember Brownwood....where the H*** was I? I vaguely remember the hill country...I had an allergic reaction to something up there....maybe it affected my memory.

Anyway thanks for the, errr... reMINDers.

Tim

ps...it is @##$#@ COLD up here!!!! (-34C with the windchill!)

*******

From Grant:

To tell the truth, I can’t remember Brownwood either. I do remember Brownsville, but if it were not written down I would have never remembered.

Wow! That is cold. I won't complain about my chilly 55 degrees. :) Grant
***********

From Tim:

Are you sure we visited Brownwood, or were we just supposed to visit it. I know there where a lot of towns in Texas that we were suppose to go to, but ended up not going to. But, if you still insist that we went then perhaps that was when I was distracted by Monique B.

What is worse about this cold is today I learned it is caused by (two words I hate to hear together) an ARCTIC VORTEX!!! These things once they get in place, don't move! So, it is predicted that the cold will remain for as long as they can predict...which means at least two weeks. (If I could get the time off, I would not be staying here!.... It's painful to go outside.)

The usual morning stuff: i.e. morning meeting, paperwork, setting up etc. for lunch we went back to the Boys' Club for McDonalds, then afterwards back to the Civic Center. Elin and I worked all afternoon, went to wrap-up, then to McAllen Athletic club for 1 1/2 hours of fun and exercise. I played Mega a game of racquetball and won 21-12; Michelle (me 15-6, and beat Jeff Hanson 21-6. Matt & I were leading in a doubles match against Jeff and Paula, but had to go eat. I wolfed down dinner and went back to get ready for the show. I did display, but we did not do very well because of our location and a considerably older crowd. The show went well and we had a nice early evening and like most families they were surprised at Kurt and I's role in the show. We went to bed about 11:00 after talking for a while with Tom and Donna.

Our planned sports day was changed to an optional drop-off at 10:30. Kurt and I decided to go to Tom's High School and talked to his class (Health) and a drama class. His class was dead and the drama class was doing paperwork while we talked to them and was very distracting. They were, however, much more into what we were saying. We met everyone else at Pan American University for a great chicken lunch. After lunch, we went back to the Civic Center and had to do all the counting and paperwork from the night before.

We were having a Yugoslavian presentation, but Elin and I still had work to do. We worked clear through dinner in order to get it done. We made it and I worked audience, which was really convenient because I was right next to the stage. In fact, I missed my entrance for '50's, but made it on stage only a step behind Deedra. The show and sales went well, but balancing was a little off. We were picked up at about midnight and straight to bed.

Once again we did not have drop-off until 10:30. Then at 11:00 we had a version of the newlywed Game with cast couples. It was funny and something that broke up the routine of road life. However, we were back into the swing of things by 1:00 (after eating our sack lunch) and back on the bus (or Suburban in this case). My official bus date was Erin, but on the Suburban you are just kind of with everyone. We really had a good conversation about drugs and I learned some things about Brenda Borgnes and Ty that I never knew. (EDITOR: I don't think what I learned about Brenda and Ty had anything to do with drugs. Sorry, no word as to what I learned about them.) We had a good time and Erin made one heck of a bus date. She has great built-in pillows. (EDITOR: I almost took this out, but laughed out loud and figured "pillows" was practically a medical term and Dr. Erin would appreciate my knowledge of medicine.)

We were early so we just stayed in the Suburban and slept and talked. Very interesting situation. My hormones are acting up... (EDITOR: Ahhh, to be 19 and surrounded by beautiful women...)

We had our usual cast meeting and city briefing and then went to meet our families. Well I waited and waited and ended up being the last one to leave an hour after host pick-up. They were called at 6:30 and said that they would be right over. It took another 30 minutes for them to get to the school and they only live 4 blocks away. Needless to say I was not a happy person and was heading into this family very negatively, not to mention not being by myself. We had a nice dinner and watched some movies ("My Science Project", and "Special Delivery") and then went to bed.

I slept until about 10:30 then got up, took a shower and watched Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and Places in the Heart. Finally I left my couch potato position and went and played some racquetball for about an hour. I was crushed by Ken and Marty but killed Birger. I got a ride home from Ken & Birger’s host mom. When I got home, I showered, ate dinner, and wrote in my journal. Mike’s niece from across the street came at 9:00 p.m. and took me with her boyfriend, and her sister and her boyfriend to a movie. Sure enough half of the audience was Up With People. The movie was Wall Street and it was kind of dumb and didn't go anywhere. We cruised Main Street a few times until I started falling asleep, so they took me home. I went straight to bed.

BONUS NOTE:

From Stacie Welch-Swinney

I do remember these places - but I also have pictures of Grant Gretch and I wearing sombreros in Mexico - a picture I just ran by of Gretchen and I by palm trees and then a picture with Jon Cormier, Marty, Cyndi, Gretch and I by the Alamo. Anyway, Tim says it's cold - it is very cold! Up here in Minnesotah- the high was like 7 degrees with a windchill of well - minus 30 or something this morning. It's supposed to be like this all weekend -

We had morning meeting (during which Kurt did his true colors), then set up, while we worked on paperwork. Kelly started showing Michelle about display and told us Moku was the other intern. We had a great all-you-can-eat barbecue fajitas and boy were they good. Following that, we had a cast meeting mostly on trust and how we deal with it in our group. It all eventually came down to trusting us in Dallas at the hotel, but yet on a broader sense too.

We missed rehearsal so that we could concentrate on getting everything inventoried and straight on the truck. After wrap-up, I came home for dinner and a half an hour nap then back to set-up display. Sales went okay for such a small audience. We packed everything up and I went home with the Willows about 10:00 and I was in bed by 10:30. It was great.

During morning meeting Sedric gave his true colors then everyone left to visit the Navy Base (except for the dedicated merch). We spent the morning counting and doing paperwork from the night before. We did, however join the cast at the base for lunch and after lunch Anne and I had a nice discussion. She is still very stuck on John, and I wonder if we could carry on a conversation without him being a topic. Kind of scary, but it will be interesting to see what becomes of it.

When we got back we were supposed to rehearse, but I went to the back of the auditorium and wrote in my journal. I just couldn't handle being in rehearsal today. For some reason this is my time of the month and my mood swing is real low right now, but it feels like it is on its way up. To top it off, I lost my keys which just did not help things. Most of wrap-up was Willis (from Tucson Technical Director) explaining to us some concepts for the new 1989 show. It is hard to absorb the fact they are already writing a new show and this one just came out. It was rather interesting.

After wrap-up, we went to this church for dinner and we had a presentation on Ethiopia by Wieni. After her talk we all went outside and when we came in we picked a number out of an envelope. This determined which social class you were in depending on one being high, 2 middle, 3 low. We were fed proportionately depending on our social class (I was a 2). All one's got waited on and fed salad, steak and potatoes. The two were served second and received rice and beef stroganoff and the three's got rice and water. It was eye-opening to see how people reacted and how it really relates to life. It was a good exercise.

Back early for the show, but Kelly and Michelle did a lot for me because I was King Dick, Ringmaster and couple #2 in '50's. I was busy but I enjoyed it. That is about the second or third time, I've done couple #2 and still have never done couple number #1. I talk to Lena about it, and she was going to see what she could do.

Sales went really well (display and interns made quota, $1.75 per person) and we had all the paperwork done and merchandise on the truck, door locked at 11:30. That sets a new record, beating the previous record of 11:50. By coincidence I was doing paperwork that night also. Steve Ellis (PR) brought me home at 11:30, so here I sit finally caught up in my journal! Hooray!

After I took my shower I went back to my room and found a bag with a Beeville, TX t-shirt and a box of candy on my bed. I put it on over my dress shirt and wore it the rest of the day. They gave it to me so I wouldn't forget them. It was my first real host family present and I was really touched. I really didn't think a whole lot of them, but I guess I made an impact.

From HDO, we went to the American Legion to watch The Color Purple for the Black American Awareness month. I wrote host family thank you notes while I was watching so I felt very productive. We left at 12:30 after eating lunch and we made one stop. Later on about 22 miles from Harlingen our bus broke down because it was loosing water. Kelly and I used somebody's phone to call Tucson so as to get the PR team's number. By the time we got back they had put water in and left not much later. We broke down right as we came into town again, but not as long. We finally made it to drop-off, had a quick meeting, then announced the new interns, and finally went home with our families.

There to meet us was three guys in military uniforms and Lorraine. We loaded all the luggage in the van and went back to the military academy. First thing we did was go to mess (dinner) and eat, then we came back and unloaded the luggage. The weather was really crappy, drizzly stuff, but we didn't melt. The cadets carried our luggage for us and we went off in twos into four different barracks. Jerko and I ware in Echo Company and being treated real well by the captain. His name is Brad Hawkins and he is only 18, but he carries some weight around here. After we dropped off our bags we went to choir rehearsal with Prowell and they were working on There Ain't Nothing like a Dame from South Pacific. They were really undisciplined and unorganized which was kind of funny considering where they are (a military high school base). This is a high school though and some of these kids are as young as 9th grade. I know I couldn't have done it in 9th grade let alone now.

After rehearsal, we came back and Hawkins showed us around and then we talked until about 11:00, and it was really informative. I think they have changed my whole opinion of cadets, but I still have no desire to go into the military. It is really weird how this particular academy is very similar in values, rules, and structure as Up With People. Maybe UWP is really a form of military with an international twist. Hmm?

Our first morning at the base they didn't have PT (physical training) because it was too cold, so we fell out at 6:20 and went to breakfast. The biscuits and gravy were surprisingly not half bad. We came back at got ready and at 7:30 we all met the Commandant. We talked with him for about 5 or 10 minutes then took off to the auditorium where we were leaving from. The bus was still having troubles but we finally got on the road and headed to the beach. It was about an hour long drive and I had the best time with Paula during that hour plus. We had a super good talk about dating, and life, and marriage and other stuff.

The first thing we did when we went to the island was to go to Sea Turtles, Inc. and meet the turtle lady. She was kind of weird, but at 83 full of life and love. It was pretty educational and we were there for about an hour and a half. From there we went to go on a cruise, but it was having mechanical troubles so was delayed an hour and a half. Randy and I walked down to this ice cream and fudge place and got some ice cream. Cassi caught up with us and we all had lunch in the parking lot of the car wash. When we got back to the boat we had to wait still yet another hour, but the sun broke out for us for a while. We were content lying in the sun. At 1:00 they told us it would be another 30 minutes before we left, so Paula and I took off to the beach. When we got over there, there was nowhere to change, so we went into the laundry room of a beach front hotel to change. I was a watch out while she changed and vice versa.

We ran to the beach and ran into the water and it was freezing! We ran back out, and did this routine about 4 times. We dried off and went back to the Isabelle Queen tour paddle boat. We had to wait almost another hour before we left at 2:30, when they gave us the option of going or staying on the island. About half stayed on and half went shopping. I stayed and enjoyed a fuzzy naval and just relaxed. The tour lasted almost 2 hours and we got back at 4:30 and left to go back home about 5:00. We got back to the auditorium and Lorraine was there to pick us up to take us straight to dinner. After dinner, we talked about going out tonight and decided to go to a movie. We found out there was a theater within walking distance and what was playing. So we all met out by the telephones about 9:15 and set out. Well we got about half way and got a ride from someone on base the rest of the way. We saw "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and then jogged most of the way back home. I was in the back of the back because my back was killing me. We got back about ten Œtil 12:00.

SOME EXTRA UWP HELP NEEDED

Calling ALL the reunioning casts of reunion 2007 this summer!

Picture this... It is 9am on Friday August 10th, 2007 we are at the Westin La Paloma Hotel main ballroom.... reunion 07 opening session is about to start... the 1000 plus expected alumni and family members in attendance take their seats.. lots of mingling amongst the many familiar alumni in attendance from 7 different eras spanning the 42 years of Up With People... all of the sudden lights dim down and familiar music fills the air... then in the sides of the dark stage on the large projection screens a magnificent sequence of images from that special year in your life come alive to make you laugh, shout and cry and and reminisce while you are seated next to your buddies from from your cast from way back then...

Sounds good? well, for that to happen I need YOUR help!! As in the last several years, I'm working on putting together few special multimedia segments for the reunion for your enjoyment, it will be a big task to produce it and so I need your support...

I need a good selection of pictures from each reuniting cast, good quality shots, preferably [200 dpi plus] of your tour, pictures from staging, travel days, host pick up / drop off, community service & Involvement, rehearsals, special events, international presentations, expression sessions, show, set up & strike, banquets, bus life, speakers, merch sellers, greenroom, silly ocations, the band at work, the staff, scenic travel shots, dressing rooms, back stage! etc... [what kind of great pictures from your yearbook would you like to see in a huge screen?]

I need shots preferably of groups of people instead of individuals as to try to include as many people as possible... please take sometime to look in your scrapbooks and photo albums [and shoe boxes!!] and I hope most of you have already scanned some of your pictures if not please do for this cause and send them to me!

If you don't have a way to scan your pictures and you still want to help me, please contact me directly to give you a mailing address for you to send and I promise to take good care of them and return them promptly...

I look forward to a fantastic reunion this summer and I can't wait to see very many of you there enjoy these audiovisual presentations.

*** Important notice ***

By sending me your pictures, you authorize me to use your photographic material not only in the multimedia presentation itself for reunion projection, but also for a possible use of the produced multimedia presentations in a reunion highlights DVD for sale after the reunion to all of you as a momento of the Reunion 2007.

Please send pictures and comments to: reunion07pictures@gmail.com

I will appreciate your support in this project, please forward this message to your castmates, muchas gracias!

Eduardo Aguirre [edú] 84E and few more

For Reunion 07 info go to: http://www.uwpiaa.org/pages/reu07home2.php

We are in the military now! Up at 6:00 a.m. breakfast, then leave at 0730 hours. Kind of interesting, but I sure would like to sleep in longer. During morning meeting, we discussed The Color Purple for a while, and at the end of the meeting announced that this was sweetheart city for the girls and the guys would set up. So we got everything set up and I worked out at the display trying to teach Moku what to do.

We had lunch at the auditorium and then had rehearsal which was my first whole rehearsal to attend in a long time. I had a real bad attitude because I really felt like people couldn't really care less about responsibility and UWP in general. After wrap-up we had Dean's host father who is a professor and has been over to the Soviet Union. He speaks the language and really answered a lot of trivial question we all had. After he was done, we drew names to see who our sweetheart is and who we would be treating special for this city. My sweetheart is Weini. From there, we all dressed up (the guys) and went to the elementary school for dinner. We had about 1 hour Japanese presentation then we served them a Japanese dinner. During the presentation, they showed us a typical tea ceremony that had us all captivated. Then we served our sweetheart dinner and after I had done that I sat down and bitched at Kelly for a while. I feel good telling her things because she always seems to be non-partisan when it's the right time. I just rambled about how I thought people were being really irresponsible and how some staff listen through one ear and out the other. It was good to get some of it out of my system. I went back pretty soon after that, and I got dressed and set up the display. I was working with Moku and training him on how the display runs. Sales went pretty well and the show went great. I did King Richard, Ringmaster and '50's #2 and it went really well especially with about 50 guys from the academy in the audience . They were wild and sure made life on stage more fun. After the show, we stopped by McDonalds and had a bite to eat then back to the barracks. We stayed up until about 12:30 talking to Brad and then went to bed (Brad gave Jerko and I an Echo Company shirt).

2/12/88 Friday (Historical Day in UWP) - Harlingen, TX

We started the morning by going to the PX and checking out the good they had for sale. I bout a couple of patches to go along with the shirt Brad gave us last night. We were only there about 10 minutes and when we left to go to the auditorium, Lorraine gave us each a Marine Military Academy t-shirt. These people are ready and willing to get us whatever we want. We are getting spoiled that's for sure.

All the guys arrived early so we could open the girl's doors and carry their bags inside. They all waited out in the lobby until everyone came, and then we escorted them in to sit down. We had three lighting boxes on stage and you could see people behind them but could not tell who it was. The music started and Al announced each person and they stood up and showed their wares. They each wore just shorts (or bikini briefs) and oiled their chests down. It was pretty funny and the girls went wild like they had never seen a man before. I wanted to do it but I would have been too embarrassed and would not have looked good. The finale to the guys was Sedrick, who else? After the skit, we started morning meeting with announcements and then morning motivation with Greg and Margaret. Morning motivation was doing the Time Warp and was a lot of fun. Everybody took off for their tours while the band, staff and us merchandise people stayed to do work. We counted the display and did paperwork. After that we all went to lunch at Pizza Hut while the band went to a Mexican restaurant. We had a long, relaxing fun lunch and after we were done Kelly and I ran to the H.E.B. across the street. I bought some sweetheart candy for Weini, Kelly and Elin.

When we got back, we were supposed to do a circuit warm-up where each station was doing something for the girls, i.e.: neck massage arm & back massage, feeding them grapes, kissing booth, and a couple more stations. But it was cancelled for some reason and we went straight into warm-up and rehearsal and worked on Black and White.

Our rehearsal was abruptly interrupted by Terry, so we knew something big is up. It was especially obvious when all the staff came on stage with us, so I knew it was serious. I thought he was going to tell us Russia was cancelled, but luckily he didn't. The big news is that Margaret is being asked to leave the program and Steve Bailey is suspended for four to five weeks. People were just stunned and dead quiet. We were not told what they did, but one could guess pretty close based on their personalities. With Steve, I'm sure it was an accumulation of things because he has been talked to several times already. I personally didn't feel any emotions except confusion. It doesn't make sense to me because I would think one warning would be more than enough. It was enough for me, and I wasn't even the one warned. I went off to be by myself after a while and do some writing. It was a good thing because I would have just gone off on a tangent. I think I was also angry because it is not fair to us (the cast). While I sat outside, Paula came and sat by me, but we didn't talk. Paula left and Kurt came and we walked around and worked on Ringmaster because he was supposed to do it tonight. After 45 minutes the cast regrouped together and talked about how we were feeling with Terry. There was a wide range of emotions, but most everyone felt like Terry did what he had to do and we trust his decision. We talked for about 30 minutes then we ran Black and White only and then went into wrap-up.

Most of wrap-up was filling us in about the Corpus Christi schedule and making sure we understood how busy we would be so we would be prepared for it. It sounds like a really busy city but fun busy. A lot of what we are doing is different forms of community involvement, so it should be a lot of performing but a lot of fun. Terry had to call Carlos in Oslo twice mostly about the situation with Margaret and Steve, but was also told that the schedule is looking very exciting. There is now a possibility we may be doing a quick trip to Switzerland for four days. It is not written in blood yet, but looks really good for it. We as a cast went through a wide range of emotions today.

For dinner, I was in the crew that went to Bonanza after which I worked with Kurt a little more on Ringmaster. Then it turned out they were short on Gospel dancer so he had to dance instead. I suppose the show went okay under the circumstances, but I don't feel like I did very well with King Richard, Ringmaster or '50's #6. Oh well. A good point about the show was that we (Moku and I) finished all the paperwork before we left.

After strike (which the guys did) those of us at the Academy (plus two cadets who interviewed) went to Whataburger on the way home (Whataaname!) When we got back to the barracks, there was a note on Hawkins door to wake him up when we came home. We did but he was really out of it, and then we went to bed.

BONUS PHOTO:

Hi Grant this is a picture of Brenda and I last week. She came into town for a long weekend. Lot's of fun, shopping, eating and drinking, (drinking for me, Brenda is pregnant).

See you in August!!

Click here to see the photo.

We slept in until 11:30 and at that time I got up and showered then went to lunch. We spent all afternoon in our room writing and reading until dinner. Jerko left at 7:00 to go with Shawn to Beth, Weini and Lena's house (Dean went too). After much collaboration with Laurie and Anne about trying to do something, we decided to do our own thing. She, Anne, Jeff V.Z., and Carlos were going to a pizza party and I didn't feel like going. So Lorraine took Matt, Woody, Ruud-Jan, about 6 cadets and myself to a party at Brian Eide's house. It looked like it was going to be a real bummer party, but it livened up about 9:30. We left at about 12:15 and that was probably good because one more glass of champagne and I would have been buzzin'. I had a real nice social time there and on the way home I took a picture of the Iwo Jima Monument. We got in and to bed by about 1:00 a.m.

BONUS NOTE
From Paula Leland-Kent
OH my goodness! I love those memories! Such fun and silly all the time. Yes, I remember the bus ride and the beach. What a great day!Thanks for the Email so good to get the nice memory blast.

We three Kent's (my boys and I ) just got back from Tahoe skiing. We trudge up there almost every weekend in the winter to ski and my boys love it as much as I (thank goodness). I really feel very strong about skiing as a family. I did it growing up and I believe it brought us very close because of the long drives and the family dinners and the cards and chess games that fill the weekends. We invite anyone and everyone over for dinner who wants to sled and throw snow balls and I just love it.

FYI....I have a very wonderful man in my life...about time... I'm kidding...worth the wait...and you won't believe it but he is from my hometown..he dated my sister (one date) and our parents know each other from home. I did not know him growing up because he is 7 years older than I...but I knew of him..kind of. Yes, he lives here and he is a skier too...yep, an Olympic skier ...no joke... love that! He is much more than that but I just had to write that because I find it so unbelievable!

OK, Thank you for the Email and the thoughtful memories.

Take good care,
Paula

Lorraine dropped us off at the auditorium and we said our goodbyes quickly and gave her a sweatshirt. The buses were late getting there, so we were rushed when they came. All the girls gave the guys Valentine bags, and the guys finished off the sweetheart city by loading the luggage. My bus date was Weini; I gave her a heart with candy hearts in it. She was a good date because she told me her whole life story that I missed during her true colors. It was a really fascinating story and gave me an idea of what kind of life she has led. It would make a pretty good movie if you ask me.

When we got to Corpus Christi, we had to unload the bus that was going back to Harlingen. From there we got briefed on the city, and then I had free time while others either set-up or played volleyball. I mostly threw a Frisbee around and just laid out. It was really relaxing and was a nice day to let your mind go out to pasture. I watched a little of the volleyball and then “Bash on the Bay” began at 2:30. The performance went okay with a fairly good crowd out in the lawn in the front of us.

After the show they did a mock disaster drill using about 20 cast members smothered with fake blood. We watched that for about 15 minutes then struck the stage. While we were striking, the volleyball team continued to win and ended up the champions. We received our allocations and got briefed on the city and then met our host families. My host dad was dressed as a clown and playing with the kids up on the hill. Hmmm! Definitely a situation I have not been in before, and to share this lovely experience, I have Wilfred and Rick with me. We will be here for a whole week! When we got home, we had dinner and a quiet evening in front of the tube.

On the next few pages, I would like to include some of the nice Valentines I had in my bag that the girls gave me. (EDITOR: Sorry, you won't get to see those.)

Reunion 2007 is around the corner!
Registration for Reunion 2007 opens March 15! Go to uwpiaa.org http://www.uwpiaa.org for full reunion information. OVERFLOW HOTEL ADDED – MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW AT WESTWARD LOOK RESORT for Reunion 2007

The Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa is currently fully reserved by “early bird” alumni and we anticipate an exceptional turnout for Reunion 2007! A second Reunion 2007 hotel has been added and reservations are already filling fast, so hurry and make your reservations at The Westward Look Resort, located only four miles / 6 minutes drive from the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa. This premier resort offers fantastic amenities and a shuttle will be available for transportation between hotels for Reunion 2007 events. Registered Reunion attendees who stay at the Westward Look will still be welcome to enjoy the pool and all Reunion 2007 activities at the Westin La Paloma – no worries!

To reserve your room, call Westward Look Reservations at 1-800-722-2500 (in the U.S.) or (520) 297-1151. Or email reservations@westwardlook.com. Identify yourself as part of the Up with People International Alumni Association to receive the special rate of $99/night (plus tax). A credit card number will be required at the time of reservation. For general info see www.westwardlook.com http://www.westwardlook.com.

Please note that you can be put on the waiting list for a room in case of cancellations at the Westin La Paloma by calling (520) 742-6000 ext. 7845. We highly recommend you get on the waiting list as cancellations may occur. Our group agent will monitor cancellations and call the waiting list based on a ‘first-call’ basis.

SEE YOU IN TUCSON

Danny dropped us off at the high school and we had morning meeting. After the meeting, Crew one had free time and workshops. Mia and Bill took us and showed us parts of Cast E’s Dress Rehearsal and showed us the changes they have made in the show. We did that for about an hour, and went right to work cleaning up clowns/ringmaster. I feel very rushed, but it will definitely keep it moving along.

At 11:00, we went to the Starr Street Café for lunch, and then back to the high school after lunch. For rehearsal, we were working mostly with Mia and Christine. First we learned the new jazzed-up Too Many People then ran Time for the Music which is sped up and sang by a guy only. Then we went off with Christine and worked on parts for Can We Sing a Song of Peace? And these are changes that will be implemented into Saturday night’s show. Then we came back and worked with the band on those changes and a new ending to Unfinished World.

During wrap-up, Paul started an Olympic watch to help people keep an eye on what was happening. It was really informative and will help me stay up to date. After wrap-up, we went to dinner at Snoopy’s Pier and had shrimp and oysters. After a nice dinner (as far as seafood goes) we went to the beach for a bonfire. We made some s’mores and then Meg and I went walking along the shore and had a really nice talk. It had the potential of being really romantic with our shoes off, squishing sand and foam between our toes under the stars. We walked and talked for almost 2 hours and when we were done we got on the buses and went to our shuttle locations.

Danny picked us up at Dillard’s and we went home and had another nice evening to ourselves.

BONUS NOTE:
From Stacie Welch-Swinney

I am going to the reunion - and I will be there early - are you planning on a road trip again or will you just fly out? If you need a place to stay you can stay with me and my sister if you come in early. I have a 6month old boxer puppy - who is also going stir crazy from not being able to play outside.

My parents will probably be at the reunion as well -

My father retired a couple years ago and is on the Board of Directors for the Haualapai Indian Reservation - this is the tribe on the north side of the grand canyon - grand canyon west - they are putting a clear glass walkway out over the grand canyon - not sure if you've seen any information on this or not yet - it's very impressive - I guess the grand opening is sometime in March -

Dakotah is playing Club Volleyball for a group called Club Tonka - she is on the 14 black team (14-1's team) they took second place in the Crossfire Tournament at Bethel University - next week - or this coming Friday we drive to Omaha, Nebraska for the President's Day Tournament - many college recruiters and college volleyball players that coach various teams will be there - it should be very enlightening -

Keep warm up there - and keep in touch!
Stacie

At morning meeting, I stood up and announced about Danny being a professional clown and that people should come to Dallas (the club) on Thursday. Also if people were interested in learning country swing that I would be teaching people during lunch on Wednesday. And lastly that I was reading an article about Curly from America (the clown in the Ringmaster segment of the show) who was a retired assistant police chief from the Freeport, Ill. Police department and is now living in Tucson. (EDITOR: How ironic that I did PR in Freeport, IL) After mentioning it to Mia, she said Curly had come and worked with Cast E during staging. It was kind of an interesting coincidence. We had a quick show prep putting two students in our show, and then got dressed for the show, then off to mingle. The sound assembly started at 10:30 and went real well, and was a very responsive audience. After the show, we had lunch then free time Œtil 1:00 and that is when I copied the Swedish Ringmaster and King Richard and listened to Anki's tape, she made for me. I definitely started having second thoughts about doing this after hearing the tape.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon running all the changes and we tried to run the whole show. After we finished rehearsal, we went straight into wrap-up and towards the end of the wrap-up, the PR team did a little skit. It started out with Dee talking to George Winston's agent about us promoting our show at his performance. They had also asked if he might be able to come to our show or at least our green room, but he was not able to. George did, however want to plug our show and would also like to give us 120 free tickets to his performance/concert. Talk about people going crazy. It was almost like we had been told we were going to Russia. So on Friday night we are all going to the George Winston concert together. After the news, we had a full cast strike, and then host pick-up. Paul asked me to do the Olympic rundown so I stayed up to watch the pair's figure skating.

CAST A MEMBER LOOKING FOR A HOST
From Christine Dorn-Freitag

Hi Grant, hi Gretchen, hi everybody,

Thanks a lot for all your emails and all the information about the cast members to keep in touch. I'm doing very well, my family also. The kids are growing, Melinda is now 16 years old she is becoming a beautiful lady, Desire our clown is 14 years old and the youngest Dominik will be 13 next month. I'm very involved in the dancing, giving classes in new dance and contactimprovisation also sewing dance dresses in good quality of natural eco fabrics.

My eldest daughter Melinda is very interesting in learning English and French. She wants to go abroad to live in USA for some weeks. This Eastern she has the opportunity to fly with her girlfriend to Florida. Her girlfriend is half American and she is visiting her father together with Melinda. Melinda's English-teacher has recomanded that it would be a good chance for her to stay in USA more than the two weeks of vacation. So now my question of all of you: Are you interested to have Melinda for maybe 2 to 4 weeks at your home? Or do you know friends who would like to have a german girl in their family? That she can learn American lifestyle and talking. She doesn't need to go to school but if it is possible to visit a school it would be good.

Christine Freitag

We had direct drop-off at Roy Miller H.S. and went straight into morning motivation/meeting. The cheerleaders and drill team had learned the Black and White dance and performed it for us. They were pretty good, but they said they thought they were better than us, and they definitely were not that good. We have been doing it 7 months compared to their 3 weeks.

Crew 1 then began setting up the stage with full sound in time for show prep at 10:00 and get dressed and ready to perform by 11:00. They were a very radical crowd and really got into what we were doing almost to the point that we couldn't hear ourselves. This school was 99% Black & Hispanic and it definitely gave me kind of an eerie feeling. (EDITOR: Keep in mind that where I grew up there were only 3 black kids in my elementary school and maybe two dozen in my whole high school and about that many hispanics. UWP was the first real eye-opening multi-racial experience in my life. Seeing that much color was completely foreign to me and this experience was the first chance to BE the minority.)

After the show, we had created a sense of peace and excitement about life, but that was put back into perspective when I saw a fight on the way to lunch.

After lunch, I came back early and taught some people the Cottoneye Joe, the Shasa , and some swing moves. I had a good time getting hot and sweaty, but I got tired. At 1:30 Rear Admiral James H. Scott briefed us on the U.S.S. Lexington and answered questions that we had, and then showed us a video tape.

Most of the stage was already down so most everyone had free time from 2:00 3:30. At 2:00, however, I had a meeting with the sunshine committee which I guess I volunteered for. It is a committee to keep an eye on people who are having a bad day, homesick, or just sick. It is a good idea, and what is weird is I was just thinking about doing that. At wrap-up, I did the Olympics rundown and we talked about making money from winning a gold medal, and Val talked about figure skating. The team then briefed us on what yacht we were on and who our captain was.

We loaded up the buses and headed to the dock, while the DC-40 went to the auditorium for rehearsal then to the athletic Club to stay the night. The 11 of us found L'Esprit Libra and waited for the crew to show up. Once we got going it was very slow because there was no wind, so I felt guilty not doing anything, but it was sure relaxing. It was kind of neat because the fog rolled in and we couldn't see anything so it added a new dimension to sailing. We came in late and from then on, it was very rushed everywhere we went. We got on the bus and went to the Bay Front where we had a dine and dash. The PR team was on skates and greased back hair, and served us pizza and Coke on the bus. Then I got on the Suburban and Denis took me to Moody H.S.

Danny picked us up, took us home and I went straight to bed after a little confrontation with Wilfred about religion and weight. What a combination of topics! Probably the two worst things to confront me on in an argument.

We had direct drop-off at 8:30 at the hospital and we left immediately to go on an interview crew. There was 13 of us in the Suburban (I was stuck in the back with the luggage) and it was a 50-minute drive to Texas A&I in Kingsville. Chrissy and I were an interview team and we did one interview in the morning that was really good. Then we all shoved down a Burger King lunch and drove back to Corpus Christi to go to another college called Del Mar. We did another 6 interviews and only one was even a little bit good and she was a 17-year old white American Female. So at 5:00 we finished, and Rolando (an alumnus) took me to my drop-off/pick-up location. When we got home, we ate pizza and got ready to go to the nightclub Dallas. We got there about 7:00 and they asked for I.D., but Lanky (my host Dad's clown name) got us in. You kind of feel weird walking in with a clown. It was okay, but I was disappointed in the music because they hardly played any fast swinging music. Cassi, Ken and Meg showed up so we danced a little and drank a lot (Lanky was picking up the bar tab). We left about 11:00 and I went home and went to bed.

BONUS NOTE from Paul Kunz

Grant, After reading Paula's e-mail, it reminded how much I treasure our family vacations.Typical of our vacations, we spend a lot of time driving, staying with friends, visiting educational sites, entertainment sites, and sites of natural wonder. This past summer we drove from St. Joseph, MO up to Chicago, Cleveland, Southern NY, Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame), camping outside Lake Placid Olympic Sites, Montreal, Ben& Jerry's, camping in Acadia National Park in Maine, a Puffin Nature Cruise off the Maine Coast, Springfield, MA (Basketball Hall of Fame), Long Island (Bridgehampton), NYC, Washington DC, Lynchburg, VA (my wife's hometown) and St. Louis, MO and back home. Approximately 4500 miles and loads of lifetime memories. Since I haven't sent any family pics in a couple of years, I've included a few shots from the vacation. We probably won't make it to Tucson since we were there in 2005, but maybe we can make it part of our swing out west - the kids want to go to Glacier National Park and Yellowstone, and I want to go Northern Idaho (my first teaching job), Portland, OR and Redwood National Forest in Northern CAL. Swinging south may be too much.

Paul

We had a wonderfully relaxing morning and didn't have to be there until 12:30 at which time we were dropped off at the park where we had our first show. We first had to get our picture taken for yearbook then ate lunch in the outdoor theater. After lunch, they (Christine and Al) got right down to business and tried to fill us in on what was happening for the day. We were going to implement some of the changes plus add, learn and memorize "Anchor's Aweigh", the Navy fight song. We worked on it for an hour then we had to leave to get to the aircraft carrier on time which was a 45-minute drive away.

When we arrived, the USS Lexington was not even there yet, so they told us that none of the equipment was on the ship and we would be delayed by at least 2 hours. So we basically sat around and did nothing for the next 45 minutes and then at 3:30 they decided we would set up the stage in the road and bring the sailors to us. So we all got busy doing that (with full sound) and did it remarkably fast. We were ready to perform by 5:00, but they said 5:30 we would definitely start the show. On the original schedule we should be completed with striking and eating dinner on the ship not just performing. We finally started the show at 5:45 (*which we should have been touring) with sailors still getting off the ship. There were maybe 1/3 of the 1500 sailors supposed to be there. We finished about 6:15 and were given the option between seeing the aircraft carrier and missing the first half of the George Winston concert, or seeing all of the George Winston. Most everybody voted for the concert, but a few of us did get to go on the ship for a very short while.

When I ran off the ship, they were still loading the truck, but also loading the bus. We were still waiting for the other bus (any bus) to show up and never did. So somebody decided that everyone should get on the bus which took about 15 minutes. Once everyone was on, 'they' decided it was too full and half the people got back off. So a whole half of an hour was wasted just getting on and off the stupid bus. The bus took off to the concert while the rest of us waited. It looked like the bus would not be back until 9:00 p.m. and it was only 7:30, but another bus came to pick up some sailors and we all got on. We made it to the concert about 8:30 and went straight up to the balcony and stretched out to relax. George Winston is mostly mellow type of piano music that puts you to sleep, but it was a nice change of pace. At intermission we ran down to the parking garage and shoved down a burger and fries, then back up for the second half of his show. Towards the end of his show, he gave a good plug for our show. Danny came to pick us up about 10:30, and took us home to go to bed.

BONUS NOTE
From Beth Wahlert-Lohmeier

I will always remember Corpus for the George Winston show! How wonderful it was!!!

I remember watching you and Susie and others dancing ON STAGE while Winston played the Peanuts theme song...I think of it every time I hear that piece of music. Cool memory!

--Beth

The morning started out normal with morning meeting, then I had free time. During the morning meeting Carlos talked to us about our overseas tour, Switzerland and our flight back. There will only be one flight back to the U.S. on June 29th and that is the end of our year. He also told us that he had the staff applications with him and they needed to be turned in by March 1st, so that is how I spent my free time filling out the application.

Halfway through set up/free time Paul wanted to brief Anne and I for PR, and we went over the basics and it went pretty quick since we have both been before. After getting some names, numbers and facts we needed to know about the city, we went to lunch at Pizza Hut. After lunch we had our rehearsal, and while rehearsal was going on, Anne and I got briefed by Mia on the operations of Brownsburg. By the time we were finished, it was time for wrap-up. Danny was supposed to do something at wrap-up to show us how to make our tricks more showy, but we ran out of time, because everyone had announcements. That was also the time Sandra explained to us about the Chinese New Year, which was on February 17th.

We had to then get into our costumes right away to go to dinner with VIP's. People who were there paid $40 to eat with us and see the show. During dinner, they made a presentation to us as a whole and we each received a t-shirt and coffee mug.

After dinner, I left right away to go sell for the Olympic selling event. We met in the merchandise room and exchanged fighting words and high expectations. We were each given numbers and had to come up with the winning Up with People selling pose. After Kelly took some pictures, and at the count of three we were off! Six different countries vying for the individual gold and three different teams. Alamendra - Mexico and Tim Canada team #1; Joerg - Germany and Eva Sweden were team #2; and Elin from Norway and me, the only American were team #3. I immediately conquered the balcony and no one else was able to sell there if they tried. Every time someone bought or inquired, I announced what we were doing and that they had to 'buy from the redhead.' I ended up winning the gold by selling over $280 (2 videos and 5 cassettes after the show alone) and Elin won the Silver and I think Joerg won the Bronze. I earned over $25 to add to my other commissions from January and February which should come close to or over $100.

I helped strike because I didn't have interview clothes, although I wasn't on strike crew.

IMPORTANT CAST NEWS

Cyndi Flynn said that Southwest Airlines has posted their lowest fares available for August. She was able to get a killer deal for flights to Tucson. You might want to jump on it soon and book your flight. Reminder that reunion registration begins on March 15th and if we can get a large number registered by the end of March we get something cool. ( I can’t remember what, but it will be worth it.)

We loaded up at 8:30 and took off for Dallas. I was in a Suburban with Kelly and Ken driving and we had a real nice time. The Washington DC-40 is gone and I won’t see those people until March 13th and some I won’t see until April.

We arrived at the Grand Kempinski Hotel in Dallas in late afternoon, moved into our rooms, changed into nicer clothes, ate dinner and performed next to the bar, where just hours before they were having a fur sale. The show was a joke and unorganized but the hotel is fantastic! Rooms are normally $150 a night at least and it has everything you would want. I called home and then spent most of the rest of the evening at the bar with a wine cooler, and strawberry daiquiri. I did visit Laurie’s room for a while and took a walk with LeAnne. I was back to my room by 11:30 (with roommates Paul and Dek) to finish filling out my staff application and go to bed.

FROM KEN FRYE
I remember the Winston concert well. The music was so mellow. I took a great nap. I woke up during the Charlie Brown Theme Song to see those with more energy that me on stage dancing their hearts out.
Ken

FROM RANDY ROACH
GA - Remember the "D.C. 40" group? I was part of that little break off and I think we left from Corpus Christie to go to D.C. Once there, it was the only time all year I performed in the Do-Wop quartet for 50's. That costume smelled to high heaven! Did you go on that jaunt? (EDITOR: No actually, I was getting ready to leave for PR, so I did not go with the DC-40. I would have loved to hear you do the Do-Wop though!)

We all met down in the lobby at 8:30 and waited around for breakfast. As soon as it came, we grabbed what we needed for those in the Suburban and zoomed off to the airport to drop Tim and I off. They dumped us off right at the baggage check, we said our goodbyes and they were on their merry way. Our plane didn't leave until 11:15 so we had about an hour to wait. Once we landed in Dayton Tim's sponsor was already there waiting, so I said goodbye and left to find my connecting commuter. I left about 45 minutes later in this toy airplane with only about 20 seats. When we arrived I grabbed my own bag (which was a no-no), kissed the ground (okay not really, but the turbulence was really, really bad), and headed inside. John Mallott was waiting at the top of the stairs with his UWP badge on and that is how we met. We talked while I waited for my luggage, and then we took an impossible way to Brownburg from Indianapolis. Our first stop and my first PR duty was to watch his son in a talent competition play the marimba. From there we drove through downtown and out to our office at Mid State Bank. At the bank, I met Don Peoples, the manager, and sat down to have a Coke and talk until my host dad, Dennis Dawes came to pick me up.

Dennis took me straight home to meet his wife Yao Xshin and son, Christian. I had a relatively quiet evening trying to explain Up With People to them (who never heard about it before sponsoring). First thing I did was hang things up and put things in drawers. I tried to hit the sack pretty early.

We picked up the car yesterday so I had the ability and time to do some things like set up the General Delivery mail, turn in my film, drive around and get my hair cut. After doing all that it was time to go get Anne at the Indianapolis Airport. Her flight arrived at 2:10 and she said everything went great in Washington D.C. while we were waiting for her baggage. When it finally came and we headed home, I got lost coming home, so it took considerably longer. I'm excited and ready to get to work and I think we will work well together. I filled her in as much as possible before meeting Don, and after a short meeting we were off to do our first speaking engagement. It was at the Green Street Station at 6:00 p.m. for the Chamber of Commerce. I did all the speaking except for Anne introducing herself. After the meeting we got swarmed with host families, contact, names and numbers. It was great!!

Needless to say, we left with big smiles on our faces and a lot of determination. We went straight to Dawn's to get Anne situated, met Peg, talked for a while, then went home.

When I got home, I called Jeff to see what arrangements could be made to go to Kalamazoo. Of course, he said I would stay with him and it would be no problem at all. After talking with him I went to bed.

BONUS NOTE & PHOTOS
From Paul Kunz

Grant,

After reading Paula's e-mail, it reminded how much I treasure our family vacations.Typical of our vacations, we spend a lot of time driving, staying with friends, visiting educational sites, entertainment sites, and sites of natural wonder. This past summer we drove from St. Joseph, MO up to Chicago, Cleveland, Southern NY, Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame), camping outside Lake Placid Olympic Sites, Montreal, Ben& Jerry's, camping in Acadia National Park in Maine, a Puffin Nature Cruise off the Maine Coast, Springfield, MA (Basketball Hall of Fame), Long Island (Bridgehampton), NYC, Washington DC, Lynchburg, VA (my wife's hometown) and St. Louis, MO and back home. Approximately 4500 miles and loads of lifetime memories. Since I haven't sent any family pics in a couple of years, I've included a few shots from the vacation. We probably won't make it to Tucson since we were there in 2005, but maybe we can make it part of our swing out west - the kids want to go to Glacier National Park and Yellowstone, and I want to go Northern Idaho (my first teaching job), Portland, OR and Redwood National Forest in Northern CAL. Swinging south may be too much.

Click here to see the first photo.
Click here to see the second photo.
Click here to see the third photo.
Click here to see the fourth photo.

Paul
*******
From Kurt Larson

Where didn't you do PR? If memory serves me right, didn't you have three trips? I was happy when they told me Brenda and I would get to go out, but the only time they would let us was during Christmas break. Guess I was just a home boy. But I did enjoy Brownsburg. Thanks for the updates. They are great. For those of us from DC-40 sleeping in a fitness club on mats left a little to be desired, and carrying our luggage through the subway was interesting with costumes and stuff. Thank heavens I spent most of my summers there so we didn't get lost.

Thanks again.

EDITOR: Yes, Kurt, I seemed to have been on PR more than with the cast. I have another stint coming up in Copenhagen for 6 weeks. I think my year was significantly different from yours. :) Sounds like I didn't miss much by not being part of the DC-40. Thanks for reading the journal and sending a note. - Grant

No sleep for the weary! Up and at Œem to do a 6:45 a.m. Kiwanis breakfast (which I was late for), but being the nice wonderful person I am, I let Anne sleep in. After the meeting, I picked her up and we planned our attack. We decided not to split things up so we could more effectively cover everything. I don't quite understand that philosophy, but we will give it a shot. We spent all morning at the office and Rita called to make sure everything was alright and see if we sent in all our forms and such. At noon we were kicked out of the office because that is when they close, but had plenty to do around town like getting supplies and the like. Around 4:00, we went back because they are taking pictures so the office is opened and worked 'til 7:00. At 7:00 p.m. the committee and Dennis showed up so we could discuss what the plan was for the next 3 weeks. We were there 'til approximately 9:15, and from there went home to hit the sack.

BONUS NOTE
From Beth Wahlert-Lohmeier

Ah yes, the DC 40...
Luggage loaded with all our individual costumes for the different parts of the show. Walking for BLOCKS with all our worldly belongings in tow. Got so tired of walking and carrying my junk I started DRAGGING my garment bag and ripped huge holes in it.

Shawn and I finally hailed a taxi, gave the driver the name of the hotel only to find that we were a block and a half away. No big deal, EXCEPT that the taxis in DC are all zoned and so a ride across town costs as much as a ride one block away. Yikes that was an expensive ride! Good times...

--Beth

EDITOR: These came from Jeff Martinson. I wanted to catch him up to my journal so I thought I would send these few days separately and then I will begin adding him to my PR journal entries. Thanks Jeff!

Today began VERY early. I had to get up at 3:00 am because my parents and family had to drive all the way back to Houston to catch their flight back to Idaho. They dropped me off at 3:30 am at the Hershey Hotel (Corpus Christi). My mom didn't cry too much which was good. I had to wait in the lobby with my luggage until the bus arrived at 5:00 am. Then we picked everyone else up and went to the airport. We got into DC about noon. We took the subway to our hotel and had to walk with our luggage for about 6 blocks. (GRANT- I have heard this story now from 3 of the 40. It must have been a very memorable subway ride and walk.)

We ate lunch and then took the subway to rehearsal. It was at a beautiful museum building with huge pillars and was being restored. We rehearsed over and over again. It got to be very frustrating. Then at 7:00 pm we took the subway back to the hotel to eat dinner. Our show was at 10:00 pm. By the time everyone got there we went straight into the show. It was very rushed but turned out good. I danced 50's with Cynthia and Gospel. After the show we were allowed to try the food. I tried sushi (only one bite) for the first time. It was OK but rice, raw fish and seaweed just don't sound that appetizing to me. We then went back to the hotel and my roommates were Reudi and Declan. I went to bed only to find about 12 people jumping on me--- I don't remember everyone who did it because they woke me up but a few culprits were: Doug, Roger, Shawn, Kurt and Beth.

I slept in and then Staci, Cassi, Rita, Motoko and I went shopping in the small stores. We ate at an Italian restaurant and I really had an enjoyable afternoon. At 3:30 we all met at the airport to fly to Kansas City. When we got there we then boarded the bus to go to Neosho,. We arrived at 11:30 pm. My roommate is Dean and this family seems very nice.

Today we got to sleep in until we met at 11:30 at the grocery store parking lot. We then drove to the grade school where we broke into small groups with the 4th and 5th graders. We played games with them which was fun. We then went to three different facilities to take a tour. My crew went to the fish hatchery, and the George Washington Carver museum. We then went back to the school for wrap-up and we picked up staff applications. We went home to our host families for dinner. Dean had stayed home the whole day. Our host father took us around town and then we went to see the "Spooklight". Supposedly this is a light that just appears out of nowhere. No one knows why. It has been studied. We saw it but I had a hard time believing in it. (Did anyone else see this?)

Today Dean and I were late getting to the Morning Meeting. We walked in late while Brenda Perkins was giving her "True Colors". It's weird but every time someone gives their true colors they cry. The next thing we did was Crew 1 had a discussion about the international fair that will take place in Ohio. For rehearsal we did 1 1/2 hour of aerobics. Blah! For dinner we had a great meal which was donated by Tyson Chicken. It was Chicken Cordon Bleu and it was so good. The show went well. I danced 50's with Rita and Beth and I both got to dance Black and White. I also sang Hawaii with no mistakes. We had someone throw flowers up on the stage during the show. That was new. I interviewed with Cyndi Flynn. I thought the girl we interviewed was great but Denis and Cyndi thought she was just so so. When we got home I repacked my suitcase as it was a mess from DC. All day today I felt a terrible urge that I wanted and needed to go on PR (I don't really want to go, I just feel I need a break from the cast). Leanne, Ziggy, Corrine, and Gretchen are all leaving soon for Norway. I am happy for Noriko. Dear god, please give me some sanity. (OK-- I was REALLY dramatic for an 18 year old-- these journal entries always make me cringe and laugh).

Your basic working day, but I went to the elementary school (White Lick) to sell tickets from 11:30 to 1:00. It went relatively well, 35 tickets, and I wrote Mom a letter and got my newsletter done so that was nice to finish. I worked mostly on news releases and anything else I could think of I also starting planning the Pizza/ticket-a-thon and calling people. My idea being that for every Up With People ticket you buy you receive a discount on a pizza. I don't know if it will work, but it may draw some extra attention to our news article. Who knows? We did work extra late again (until 8:00) so that we could get as much done as possible before we left this weekend for Kalamazoo. Then we went home and to bed. Not together, alone.

BONUS JOURNAL
From Jeff Martinson

Feb 25th

Today was our travel day to Canton, Ohio and my bus date was Cecilia. It was a 9 hour travel day. Cecilia is SUCH a great person. I got compliments from everybody on the new sweater I just bought. It felt nice to be told that I looked good. My roommate is Heikki and our family is nice but different. We then watched some of the winter Olympics on tv which was interesting and fun to watch.

RECAP - ... We then went back to the hotel and my roommates were Reudi and Declan. I went to bed only to find about 12 people jumping on me--- I don't remember everyone who did it because they woke me up but a few culprits were: Doug, Roger, Shawn, Kurt and Beth.

Response to Jeff's Bonus Journal from Kurt Larson

Loved the bonus entry. But, you need to know, why was Jeff sleeping? I wasn't asleep why was he? He was young, male and....? Boy some people's kids. Kids, never mind. But in DC. Of all things. It was fun jumping on his bed, softer than mine and he had to remake it. Besides, he could "sleep next year".

Yes sir, you gotta love those early morning. We were at the Waffle House by 7:00 a.m. (on time) to speak at the Sertoma Club meeting. It was a terrible breakfast, a small crowd of 20, but full of questions. I think it was one of the best interactions I have ever had with a club. At the end of the meeting we talked with Bill, who was the one who set us up for the Sertoma and who owns Green Street Station, and we told him we would like to come visit him and check out his restaurant. And he said "You will come to the restaurant on me and I will pay for it." I obviously did not put up a fight, and graciously accepted his offer.

From there we took an announcement to the junior high with posters, so that we would have announcements running at both the junior high and the high school. Anne dropped me off after picking up some flyers from Turpin printing, so that I could make phone calls. I made arrangements to get our picture taken at the Danville Pizza Hut and the Plainfield Noble Roman's pizzeria. This covered both the guide and the flyer and hopefully will reach a lot of people. We passed out some posters in Plainfield, then went home to turn around and go to the basketball game to sell tickets and put flyers on the cars. We went home after half time because we weren't doing any good selling tickets.

BONUS JOURNAL ENTRY

From Jeff Martinson Feb 26th

Today my crew went to a nursing home. We played games such as volleyball with a balloon, wheelchair races and such. We then did an acoustic and ate lunch at the back of the auditorium. For rehearsal we worked on Gospel. The workshop was OK but too short. Gro made my day. She said she was talking with Paula and that Paula had said that Weini and I were great because we really got into the spirit of the Gospel number. I was surprised to hear that as I thought Gospel was the dance I did the worst. (I am laughing now today as I know I didn't do this number when the show finalized for Russia :-). ). For dinner the theme was Mardi Gras and during Green room the black students gave a presentation on the speech that Martin Luther King gave. I did interviews with Cyndi and then Heikki and I went to a frat party after midnight. It was fun and I got a buzz. I met a girl named Kim who was real cute and we talked all night from 12-3. Before I finally went home I kissed her (french kiss even) but I know that I will never see her again which is ok.

Another morning where we get up and get right to work. Don picked me up at 8:15 a.m. and we picked up Anne and headed to Danville for a radio interview. We were listening to the station that we would be interviewing on, and those who were also listening were probably asleep. We arrived on the location at Cindy’s Hamburgers ready for our interview in casual clothes and realized as we walked in that we were probably over dressed. It was a scary place not to mention the looks of the two ladies (?) interviewing us. The interview lasted about 15 minutes and went smoothly, so for those six people who were listening, I’m sure they liked us. One lady, the owner of the restaurant, fell in love with Anne right away and was very “huggy” about it.

We had breakfast following, and then Don took us home by about 10:30. I picked up the car, grabbed my stuff, picked up Anne and was on the road to Kalamazoo. I was in headed the right direction initially, but was gun shy after getting lost once, so I turned around, then back the right way eventually which was the original way I was heading. (EDITOR-I should explain that my best friend Jeff from Colorado Springs had moved to Kalamazoo, MI which is also where Anne's boyfriend (now husband) and sister were attending college. We took a weekend trip to Kalamazoo to visit and this is our journey.)

It took us about 4 1/2 hours to get there with not too much backtracking, so we got there about 3:30. I let Anne take over when we arrived in Kalamazoo which was a mistake! She was anxious to see John and was driving crazy, but she found the dorm. He gave a cold welcoming, which bothered me, but I don’t have to deal with it. I headed off in some direction and miraculously found the street I needed to get to Jeff’s house. I finally found the house after some circling around, and he had just gotten home. So we sat around and talked and waited for Anne to call to explain what we were going to do. When his folks came home, and Anne had called, we drove around Kalamazoo and eventually went to the grocery store then home. We then went swimming for an hour, came home ate dinner, left right away to pick up Scott (Jeff’s friend) and went to McGonagles which is a bar. Anne and John were there, so we sat down and waited for her sister.

Jenny (Anne’s sister) came not too much later and brought her roommate Jen and her boyfriend Steve. We had a nice time (at least I did), but didn’t get into the group dance scene. I think Jenny Stainforth is a very nice, fun, attractive girl, and I enjoyed spending time with her. I taught her the cha-cha and before the night was over, I taught Anne and Jen also. Jen also learned the Tango because she is a dancer (and how!) and picked up the moves very quickly. She has definitely got the sway and feel of those very romantic dances. We ended up leaving about 1:30, dropping Scott off and going home. We stayed up and talked for a while and Jeff gave me a Hard Rock Café sweatshirt that was too small for him. It was still in the package, and from Chicago so how could I lose.

BONUS JOURNAL ENTRY
From Jeff Martinson Feb 27th

Today was our bus day to Effingham and my bus date was Valerie. It was great to see Tomoko again and she really enjoyed being able to do PR. She didn't get my letter though. Hmmm. My roommate is Michael Leidecker again. It is funny how I keep getting roomed with staff members. Our family is GREAT. We watched the Olympics and in skating Debbie Thomas ended up getting a bronze. We then went to a party with our host brother. Melinda, Brenda, and Ruud Jan were there. It was OK, I got a buzz again. When we came home I went straight to bed. ( Gosh, I didn't remember drinking that much in UWP).

GUEST JOURNALIST
Brenda "Chocolate"

Hey Grant,

I am submitting this entry because Effingham was one of the best cities for me...last year I reconnected with them and talk about no time passing...Melinda, you might remember them as well...we had a birthday cake for you and they had the little dog named Tacky! Funny story there, when we were unloading our luggage at the house just as I was setting my bag down the dog came out of the house and Mrs. Hartke says "Oh, that's Tacky"...I said "well I don't have to bring it in"....she says "Oh, no...I meant the dog, the dog's name is Tacky"...we all had a good laugh!!! Anyway, here's my entry:

My Diary Saturday February 27, 1988

What a city! What a family! I am having a fantastic time already! I had such a great time laughing and joking with my family. I have three host brothers and one host sister who stayed at college this weekend. My oldest host brother, Tony, is home just until tomorrow because he has to go back to school as well. We had a blast tonight. Tony took us (Melinda and me) out to a party and I had so much fun. We met our cousin Jeff (Thomas)- he's really a neat guy. Really beautiful voice - super bass. This is going to be another Batavia or Peru for me - if not even better. I feel so at home in this family. I am really getting along fantastic with the whole family. They had bridge here before we left (Editor: for the party I suppose) and all the people were very friendly. I am looking forward to putting on a hell of a show for this city (especially my family!). I guess Tony is leaving for school again in the morning. That's too bad because I was hoping to talk him into interviewing. I think he would really enjoy UWP. Boy his friends are a riot. The only thing is I think his girlfriend was a tad upset with him- oops. (EDITOR: the Hartke's really turned out to be a perfect UWP host family!!! Twenty years later Mrs. Hartke sent pictures and time flies...the kids are all grown up and Tony and his wife just had a baby boy last September. Turns out my host sister Amy is a breast cancer survivor, that was nice to hear after losing Mocha in March. I definitely encourage anyone who isn't still in contact, to write to a favorite host family, they'd probably LOVE to hear from you and still think of you after all this time!).

This trip down memory lane is beyond words Grant....what a FANTASTIC idea!!! Keep on writing!!!!
Chocolate

I got up to go to church with the Thompsons (Jeff had to go to work), and it was an incredible Presbyterian church made to look old and gothic. The church was almost 100 years old, and had incredible acoustics. The choir did a couple two choir numbers, and was really neat to listen to.

After church, we went home and had a wonderful lasagna lunch, and basically sat around and talked for a while. Then Jeff and I took off to the beach at the lake (an hour away), walked around on the icebergs and talked for a while, then drove home. When we came back in town, we stopped by the university to see Jenny and for me to look at the rooms. We (Jenny, Jen, Jeff and I) talked for a while, but then went home and made it an early evening.

BONUS JOURNAL ENTRY
From Jeff Martinson

Feb 28th

Today I went to church with my host family and it as a catholic church which made me feel at home. We then came home and had brunch and then were dropped off at the hospital. We toured the cancer facility and mingled with the patients before doing an acoustic show. We then met as a group and the black students did a presentation on black history month. It was very good and we had a great question and answer period after it. We then had a southern meal and they showed the movie "Soulman". Leanne, Julie and I went downtown instead of watching the show. At 7:00 pm some of us left to do a TOA show at the catholic dinner. It was so funny. We began to do Japan and the whole stage started to roll. It was on wheels. I laughed through the whole thing. I sang UWP and when I grabbed the mic the cable fell to the ground and the wrong tape was playing. It was very funny.

I slept in for a while and when I woke up, I just talked with Mrs. Thompson and did some writing. Jeff got home about 12:30 and we went to Wendy's Hamburgers with a friend of his. After lunch we walked around the mall for a while, and did scamming mostly. (EDITOR TRANSLATION: Looking for Chicks!) After a lot of running around and checking out where he works, we went home to make plans for the evening. We called Anne and was going to do a movie and dinner with her and Jenny, but Jenny had homework so we just did dinner. We went to a pizza joint and had a nice time. We went back to his house to get his car, and we waited as long as we could but decided to use my car. He put his fuzz-buster in my car, (EDITOR TRANSLATION: Police Radar Detector) and we headed out to pick-up Jennifer (Jeff's girlfriend) and Andrea. (There are definitely too many Jenny's / Jen's/Jennifers in this story and Kalamazoo for that matter). Anyways, they live clear out in BFE, (EDITOR TRANSLATION: Bum F***ing Egypt - Sorry but true) and it took 30 minutes to get there. We did, however get to the movie ('Three Men and a Baby') early and sat in the car and talked. I kind of felt like I didn't fit in, but tried to be a part of the conversation as much as possible. Of course, I ended up trying to explain Up With People.

After the movie, we went to Big Boy's to have a shake and talk. We headed for home about 12:00 midnight so we could take them home and still get home at a reasonable time. On my way out there, I got in too much of a hurry, and feeling confident that I had the police detector on. I wasn't paying attention to how fast I was going, the detector beeped once, and I slowed down almost to a complete stop because I had to turn left. Well after I made the turn, he turned on his lights and pulled me over. He asked me to step back to his car, and speak with him (after giving him my license and registration). I explained to him that I didn't know the area and didn't know where I was going, and told him about Up With People, and tried to be as cooperative as possible, but none of that worked. He did, however, lower it from 76 in a 50 to 60 in a 50 which is a difference of a $40 fine. He asked if I had $25 to post bond for my license otherwise he would have to take my license. At first I told him I didn't hoping he would drop it, but he didn't so I 'checked my checkbook for some money.' After we did our 'business,' he told me what I needed to do to pay the rest of the money and enter my plea. Jeff came back to the police car to ask why I had to pay and the policeman thought he was accusing him of bribery. It was kind of funny actually. I really wasn't too upset about it, maybe because I'm an old hand at it, but it bothered me that I don't have time or the ability to represent myself to get it talked down. (EDITOR: There goes my squeaky clean image. I am a fugitive in Kalamazoo, MI.)

We talked about on the way home and a little bit when we got home, but then went to bed. That is how you celebrate Leap Day!

BONUS JOURNAL ENTRY
From Jeff Martinson

Feb 29th

LEAP YEAR. Also one month until we leave for Europe! Today my crew had our first setup with the new system. We did really well and setup didn't take that long. For rehearsal we didn't rehearse. YEAH! Instead, we discussed our past 6-8 weeks and critiqued it. I think we all agreed on one thing-- We spend TOO MUCH TIME on rehearsal. For dinner we had a great meal that was cooked by a church (Turkey, potatoes, etc.). We came back and Al and Paula were working on Black and White with Gro. Gro got to perform it tonight which was great. I still don't agree with any of us being taken out of the dance. It makes me so mad.

March:

Click here to choose a different month

I left the Thompsons (Mrs. and Jeff) at about 7:15 a.m. to meet Anne (John and Jen) at a Big Boy's, and that's where we left from. I told Anne about the ticket and she was a good listener (I debated about telling her). She slept most of the way, but the drive went a lot smoother on the way back. When we got in town, we went straight to the office to try and finish off the day. I was not in a very good mood because we had problems with the facility that were not making John Malott or John Sharkey very happy. Plus we missed Paul's call four times while we were gone. I was glad the day was over!

BONUS JOURNAL ENTRY
From Jeff Martinson

March 1st

Today was our travel day to Kokomo. My bus date was Leanne and my roommate is Jeff Hansen. I called home and talked to my mom and Al. They have done so much for me this year.

Dear Cast -
Please look ahead to your journal entry for March 4th in Plymouth and LaGrange, IN. I have been made aware of a story that I had never heard before and I am curious to know if others wrote about it in their journals. If you did, please send it to me today or tomorrow so I can include it on the March 4th entry. Thanks. Grant

We had a tight morning since we had to leave by 12:00 noon today. I got 10 or 12 news releases out to surrounding communities and cities. Brett called right before lunch and Bill Graul and his mom stopped in on their way to Kokomo. He was checking out schools in our area and thought he would stop by. He is going to Norway so we won't see him for a while.<

We left at noon with Don Peoples to go to lunch and look around Indianapolis. We had a great lunch at a nice delicatessen (that Don paid for), then stopped at the Children's museum, pointed out radio and television stations a long the way to Union Station and downtown. We packed a lot in, in such a short time. Don gave us a pretty good tour of the area.

We got done about 4:30 enough time for me to get to Danville. It had been raining all day and was starting to freeze, so I was not looking forward to driving there and driving back after it was really frozen. Wait this is tomorrow when it was raining. Okay forget it and transfer that to tomorrow. (EDITOR: I am sorry you get to see what a Geek I was. I obviously was trying to "catch up" in my journal and put the freezing rain storm on the wrong day. I don't know why I didn't just do it instead of talking about moving it. Weirdo.)

Because I put it wrong in the news release it said the Pizza/ticket-a-thon was at the Brownsburg Noble Romans on Wednesday March 3rd. So Anne and I sat in the Noble Romans in vain and did some writing. They didn't even know we were coming. At 8:00 p.m. we left and went home to go to bed.

BONUS JOURNAL ENTRY
From Jeff Martinson

Today was a relaxing day. We had our morning meeting and then we learned some sign language as Ross is coming to join us today. We then broke into groups and started to discuss plans for Prep Europe. Our group spent the whole time discussing stupid things such as how to eat. We then went to the mall for lunch and shopping. Then back to the YMCA for games and to work on the international fair. I looked up information for colleges and I think the University of Wisconsin sounds like a good school. I am a bit worried about what I will do after this year is over. Tonight Amy had a party at her house. It was fun and almost everyone was there. I got feeling really good and kissed Gro. Then I began feeling guilty as I know she likes me and I don't have the same feelings for her. I finally told her and at first she was angry and then I got upset. We went upstairs and talked for a long time about a lot of things. She has had such a hard life. I really feel bad for her that way. Anyway we are really good friends. It was really a strange evening. It is Katherine's Birthday and 3 of us (Sedrik, Kevin and I) had whipped cream on our bare chests. Very fun evening overall.

We started the day with the Brownsburg Student Council at 7:15 in the morning. They were half dead and didn't respond very well, but we ended up getting two host families as a result. This was the day that it was rainy and yucky and cold all day. We were in the office for the whole rest of the day.

By the time it was time to go to Danville, the roads were getting bad and about an inch of ice had completely covered my car. In fact I broke the ice scraper trying to get it off. So I had to wait a while for the defroster help me get it off. I drove real slow, and got there about 5:30 p.m. As I pulled up to the restaurant, the whole street's lights flickered on and off, and stayed off for about 5 minutes at the most. I ended up leaving around 7:45 because I was in the dark as much as I was in the light.

I took it real slow all the way home so the roads were not too bad. When I got home all the lights were off. It was actually kind of fun, and reminded me a lot of when I was little and the lights would go off and Mom would pull out the candles. All four of us sat by the fire and talked and just enjoyed the moment. Eventually I went up stairs to go to bed. I had to put on my long underwear, sweats, a sweatshirt and had an extra blanket figuring the power and heat would come on sometime in the night. Well, it did not and was off until 7:00 a.m. 13 hours! The longest I have ever been without power that I can remember or knew about is 2 or 3 hours. These ice storms (my first one) are powerful.

A TEXAS GATHERING:
From Leanne Monahan-Voyles Hi Grant!

Last weekend Cast A was in the Dallas area. The show was so much better than I imagined! It seems like they took the best parts of UWP and made them even bigger and they got rid of the less important things. I loved it! I wasn't sure if I should go interview or go to the alumni reception! Since all my old friends were going to the reception, I thought I would follow them! Laurie, Dean, and Doug were there! We missed Sedrick and Lena! Terry, Bruce E., and Kim Clark (my old PR boss) were there too. Fun time!

On that same day, we found out that we were chosen to adopt a little girl! Her name is Mary Beth Grace. She was born on Oct. 22nd weighing 2 lbs, 10 ozs. Now she is about 9lbs. and she will be coming home to us in a few weeks. She has been through a lot and she has a lot ahead of her but we are excited that God has chosen us to watch her blossom!

That's the news! Attached are pictures!

Click here to see the first photo.
Click here to see the second photo.

Love you guys!
Leanne

EDITOR- It is so good that I have trained you all to take a picture and send it to me. I love seeing these little gatherings. It makes me feel like I was there. Sorry Lena, Sedrick and Meg were not there. We have a gathering of our own coming up next Saturday with Sandra, Jeff Martinson, Whynot, Gretchen and I. Does anyone else want to come over for dinner? We are just missing Suzie who is in town with her production this weekend, but has to leave on Monday night. We will send pictures next week. -Grant

BONUS JOURNALIST
I am putting Brenda Perkin’s journal entry ahead of mine and it is much more poignant than my day in Brownsburg. I had never heard this story until now. - Grant

Hey Grant,

I thought I'd send along this entry hoping that others do too...interesting to see what others' take on this city was...I'm sorry that you missed this city because your journal entry probably would have been outstanding since you are so detailed. This is the city that Sedrick was refused service at the high school basketball game the night before our show....

My Diary Friday March 4, 1988

Today has been a really interesting day. We left Kokomo and about 5 inches of snow and came to Plymouth and La Grange, Indiana --no snow. But the weather is still cold! It turns out that when I get here I have no allocation bag. So I don't want to stay by myself because I have a bad feeling about this city. Anyway I end up staying in the house that Amy and Gro were supposed to stay in, Gro didn't come because she has a cyst on her tailbone which needs to be operated on. I am staying with Staci Brockman. I was upset about that at first because Staci is leaving on PR on Sunday and I'll be by myself. I felt a bit uncomfortable about that because the Plymouth information pamphlet says "There is no Negro or foreign element in Plymouth. This is naturally favorable due to the good schools." I was very upset and a bit angry about that. But I ended up staying in this situation --it is easier for Monique this way. But Nancy was a total BITCH about it. (Editor: sorry Nancy...no doubt I was truly shaken and nervous about the Negro comment...I'm a little tougher these days). I apologized to Staci for being kind of bitchy earlier. I didn't mean it towards her. That pamphlet kind of took me by surprise and I just cracked. Michael (Liedecker) and Dean said goodbye today. I am really going to miss Michael. I got kind of attached to him (Editor: don't know what that's all about, but I do have a picture of Michael, Ty, and I dressed up at the party in Kokomo...).

P.S. Grant, I talked to John Flores Sunday evening...he's certainly planning on coming to the reunion and is quite excited about it. While we were talking, he got a call from Steve Ellis, so I let him take it...can you believe I got pre-empted by Ellis? Anyway, it sure seems like we'll have a great turnout...can we party with you and Gretchen in the Presidential Suite when you get the upgrade? :)

Cheers!

Brenda

GRANT’S JOURNAL ENTRY

3/4/88 – Friday - Brownsburg, IN (Cast in Plymouth, IN)

I got up to call Anne about 7:00 a.m. right after the power came on and they said (the Sharkeys) that school was closed. I stayed up for a while, Anne called and we discussed what we were going to do (we were supposed to speak to classes today), and decided to go in to the office around 11:30. So I went back to sleep.

We went to the office for a while, but at 1:00 I went back home for an interview with the flyer. It was a good interview session and took a great picture. Then back to the office to check in and then to The Guide to be with Dawn Sharkey while she interviewed. Straight from there to Varsity Gym to talk with Buddy Imhouson about the set up and what we needed. After that we were not able to do much more at the office, so we went home to make plans for the night. Dennis was able to get two free tickets to both of the major cinemas in town, so Anne, Dawn and I decided to go to a movie. We went to the “big city” (Indianapolis) to see Good Morning, Vietnam with Robin Williams, and learned that it was abased on Pat Sajak’s life. It was a real good flick. It was late so we ended the evening and went home to bed.

SPECIAL NOTE
From Erin Lynch-Harnish
HI!

I finally have a day off! You would not believe how hard it is to be a pediatrician in the winter unless you have children of your own who have been sick this winter too! Pete has sent me out of the bedroom on a call after hearing the beeper countless times and yelling "are all the children in Longview sick???!!!" He had been trained to sleep through it, but it has been a little crazy.

Well, a day off and seeing "the Smiling Americans" (as my friends in College used to tease me as part of our segment of Up With People) from the Dallas gathering and hearing the Good news about Leanne's little girl Mary Beth Grace have lifted my spirits!

Much love,
Erin

PS: "The Smiling Americans" was from either David Letterman or The Simpson’s (or both)...no disrespect to the international folks....actually, I guess it is infact, just making fun of the Americans in the group.

*********

From Kurt Larson

Great pics of the Texas crowd. But who is that old guy next to Dean? I yeah, that’s what its like to hit a tree, get hit by a car, and then "leave the building" and be able to tell about it....... Best wishes to Elvis! The rest look great. Did they just get off the road?

We could only work ‘til 12:00 noon, so we did what we could do and then left to go to Union Station and look around. We had lunch there, and did some shopping. I bought a poster for Kristina Kafka with a collage of Judy Garland, I also got some postcards, and a couple Irish/St. Patrick’s Day buttons. I didn’t spend much on myself mostly on other people. After dropping some news releases at the Indy News and Star, we went home. We decided to use the other two tickets to go see The Last Emperor. We missed the first part of the movie because I got lost, but it was kind of a confusing movie anyways. We got home around midnight or 12:30.

Okay Cast A , the time is coming near. I haven’t been sending you this stuff every day for the last 9 months just because I like to type. It was because I want to see you at the reunion! Reunion registration starts in 10 days. Please consider registering during the month of March. Even if you are on the fence about attending, go ahead and register, and you can always get a refund up until a month before the reunion. However, once you see how many of your cast friends are going to be in Tucson, I am sure you won’t want to miss out on the fun. I already have over 40 people said they were planning on going and that is not including staff or others who have just not told me yet. Put March 15th on your calendar so you can be one of the first to register! - Grant

I went to Sunday school and church with the Dawes, and found it very hard to concentrate for some reason, not to mention I was somewhat tired. After church we went to his brother's house for lunch with about a dozen other people. It was a great turkey dinner, but I got bored quickly.

When I got home, I called Penny (my sister), but she was not home. She wrote me a letter telling me to call her and also contained $10 and some stamps. So I called Mom and Dad and talked for a while and Mom told me I was an Uncle! As of last night. Topaz (Brett's dog) had 14 puppies. Wow, 27 puppies in 2 years (last year on St. Patrick's Day and then this year almost on his birthday). When I talked to him a couple days ago, he said she was about ready to pop. Mom said all of the pups were black but if they lighten up and turn brown it is a difference in price of $150-$200 for a black lab compared to $500 for a chocolate. If they are all chocolate labs he will make $7000 which will be paying for a two week trip to Hawaii in June for my brother.

We talked for about an hour, but didn't say much really. Later Penny called me back and we had a nice talk. She is going to visit a friend in Virginia, but was going to go to Washington D.C. and try and see the show while she is there. It turns out she is going there the same day we perform. Cool huh.

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet and uneventful.

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
Sun March 6th

Today crew 2 left for Plymouth at 10:00. When we got to Plymouth we had lunch then rehearsal. After rehearsal we had a Belgian presentation then dinner. I was supposed to sell display but instead I will have to wait until tomorrow. I felt really sad today, for no real reason. I think my closest friends are gone and I felt that I had lost the friendship with Roger, etc. (Hmmm.... Not sure what that is all about. Roger any clues?)

A FUNNY STORY...
From Julie Burgan

Brenda's funny story about the dog named "Tacky" reminded me of my host family in the northern-most Canadian city we did (I can't think of the name, but it was snowy and cold). They had a dog named "Julie". A great family, but a little nerve racking with all of the "Julie, go outside!", "Julie, NO!", "Julie, stop that!". Fortunately, most of the reprimands were for the dog.

Anne spoke to jr. high classes most of the day while I stayed at the office and typed and made phone calls. In the afternoon, I went downtown to get some maps of Indianapolis, get boxes and do general running around. Then I went back to the office and we worked Œtil about 7:30. I stopped by K-Mart to get a few things then went home for a restful evening. Anne and I went to Green Street Station for dinner. Free!

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
Monday Mar 7th

Today my crew had setup. Then I worked on dances, wrote, etc. At rehearsal I got to sing Unfinished World and Lindsay said that I was ready to perform it. Yes! (hmmm never did sing that :) ). After the show I was chosen to interview with Holly. Then we all sat around the table filling out our cards (Shawn, Deedra, Cyndi, Carlos, Holly, Mary and I).

Another one of those work days, but tried to get more marquees, and I got marquee commitments at Wendy’s, Dairy Queen and Toddy Liquors. I also got more boxes. Paul called today and we talked quite a while about everything, but especially sponsor relations. At 5:00, I went over to Noble Romans and at 5:30, we had a sponsor meeting and really stressed that we needed more host families. We did, however, sell two tickets so this whole Pizza/Ticket-a-thon is worthwhile now. The rest of the evening I did not sell anymore after the meeting. It was a good meeting and filled them on what was left to do. I went home right afterwards and tried to relax.

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
Tuesday March 8th,

It has been a terrible day. It started out fine. We left La Grange and drove to Louisville, Kentucky. There we had some free time and I went shopping with Julie and Brenda LaMica. We got to talking and Brenda told me that Rasmus doesn't like me. This really bothers me as I don't think I have ever done anything to him. Then to top it off Brenda also told me that past roommates I have had told her that I take too long in the shower. Right now I don't really know or feel like I fit into the cast. I feel rather lonely-- this is something that I didn't think could happen to me but it has. I am sad, angry and hurt. My roommates here are Matt and Dennis H. We have an OK host father but the whole house has a terribly disgusting smell of cat shit. Gross! Our host father made chili for dinner and when he went to set two of the bowls down I saw the cat jump up on the table and eat from one of the bowls before he returned with the other two bowls. I did not tell Dennis and Matt but I can tell you that I definitely did not eat from that bowl! (Sorry Matt and Dennis).

A FUN NOTE
From Mary Huckins
Hello Grant!

I LOVED the little extra note from Julie about "Julie the DOG". Made me laugh! I really enjoy reading everyone's extra notes! :) I have been reading through some of my journal entries (although, I did a lot of catch up and didn't write every single day)... I have a lot of additional memories regarding the DC group, etc that maybe I'll send later. Often humorous, but also insightful observations of a 21-22 year old. So much of it really makes me laugh but also reminds me what an INCREDIBLE life-changing and life-shaping journey that was for someone of that age (& from SD). It is one of those years that will never happen again and I cherish it and all the people who made it so special & memorable.

**I just opened up to a random date in late January in my journal, the cast was in Carlsbad, NM and the entry reads, "I had kind of a bad night tonight with a cold only to get home and hear that the dog dragged ALL my socks & underwear outside through the puppy door and my suitcase and toiletry bag were FULL of ants from the brick floor it was laying on... But I stayed up late and played some piano duets with my host sister, taped some music and read an essay she wrote on Mayonnaise, Mustard and Ketchup personality types (a H.S. survey). It was neat and very interesting." -Mary Huckins

A NEW CAST MATE ONLINE
From Cynthia Lynch-Winn

Hi Grant and Gretchen,

Thanks for saying Hi, I have missed everyone. But it's just so time consuming being on this computer. My computer and I have a love/hate relationship, because it seems every time I do try to use it, something goes wrong. Hope all is well with you. Holly keeps me informed on EVERYTHING THAT GOING ON WITH UWP. You really are the best for keeping us all stuck together and we love you for that. I'm looking forward to the reunion. Take care, Cynthia (see Email List for Cynthia's new email address)

Today is the one year anniversary of Brenda June LaMica-Hoge's death. Think of her when you read today's journal entry.
Grant

I unfortunately have gotten behind and I am going to try and remember the happenings of this past week. We spent the morning in the office and spent the afternoon dropping off posters at the high schools in Danville, Avon, and Plainfield. This was after picking up some boxes in Indianapolis. By the time we did all of that it was time for me to go back to Plainfield to Noble Romans. I didn't sell anything and had to leave by 7:30 to get back for the host family meeting at the Brownsburg Library at 8:00 p.m.

The host family meeting went pretty smoothly and was able to take pictures of about half of the families. (EDITOR: That was our host pick up was providing each cast member with a photo of their host family and that was how you were to find your family.)

We only showed about half of the video so that we had plenty of time to plead for more beds and families. We left about 9:30 and I went straight to bed.

FROM KEN FRYE
Erin,

FYI: The Simpson's referred to UWP at "Hurray for Everything" on their Super Bowl spoof. And they sang: "doot dat doot dat doot dat do, doot dat doot dat doot dat do, dancin', dancin', dancin!'" I still chuckle about that one.
Ken

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
Wed March 9th

Today 1/2 of us went to the Louisville bat factory and then to a tobacco plant. Then my crew went to a facility for emotionally and mentally handicapped children. It was really an emotional place to be but I really put forth an effort. It felt good to be in charge as a crew leader. We then came back to the school and did some fun drama exercises. We got mail today but I did not get the mail I was expecting from my parents. Damn! I sold display but only made $2.30 with over 500 people in the audience so that was not good. I called home at night and things are fine. Oh this year has gone by fast.

Your basic work day, getting the last few boxes, type some of the city report, and I left a little earlier so that I could drop a package off for Kris Kafka (a poster of Judy Garland collage). Noble Romans for the first (or second) time paid off because I sold 3 tickets.

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
Thur March 10th

Well today we left for New Albany (Thank god to get away from that stinky house) and we came to Clayton, Ohio. My bus date was Saori. We stopped in Cincinnati for some free time and I walked around with Liesbet, Diane, Woody, Jo and Sanne. When we got into Clayton the sponsor gave us a speech of what she expected from us. She made me so mad! I am alone here but I have a very nice family. We went to dinner at Arby's and then to my host brother's soccer game. We then talked for awhile before watching the movie "Black Widow". It was a good movie!

I spent from 7:45 to 12:15 speaking to Brownsburg High School students, and then I went to lunch and back again for another hour from 1:30 to 2:30 for a total of about 300-350 people I spoke to. Then after my last class I did an interview with the school newspaper. I had to be at Danville at 3:00 and got out of the Brownsburg H.S. parking lot at 2:55. I arrived in Danville at 3:15 and the teacher had just started the video. The class was loud, rude and didn't pay attention to me hardly at all. All my other classes were fine except for the one in Danville. By the time I got back to the office it was 4:30 and closing soon, so I left soon after. I was going to have a quiet evening at home, and I did for a while, but eventually checked out a citywide Sock-Hop at the gym that part of Hoosiers was filmed in. After meeting Amy, Chad, Toni and some others I decided to go. I was hoping to go out with Amy, but she called three times before I came home and didn't call back after I got home. Anyways, the dance was okay; great music, but I felt out of place. I stayed Œtil about 1:30 and went home and talked with Dennis for a while. He told me about him biking from coast to coast when he was younger and just really enjoyed each other's company.

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
March 11th

Today my crew had classroom involvement. As a crew leader I was in charge of the group and it felt nice. My group spoke to 3 classes. It was a bit boring really. After lunch we learned a new warm up dance. Then Al and Jennifer told us about the new changes for the show. We will cut King Richard, Russia, Clowns, and the LOAD! We will add La Bamba, Roads, Man in the MIrror, a Russian Song, UWP twice and a few other things. I am really excited about the changes. We then broke into squads and played some games. During this time the crew leaders had to separate everyone into separate crews for CID tomorrow that this sponsor planned (rude). For dinner the band parents prepared a pot luck for us which was very good. My host family gave me a t-shirt and a 35 mm camera tonight. (does anyone remember this sponsor and why I have written such bad things about her?).

We finished up most of our copying and stapling the schedule together in the morning. I went home for lunch and Anne brought her boxes over. Talked a while with Dave Fountain a friend of the Dawes. I spent the rest of the afternoon putting allocations in the boxes until dinner. Right before we left, Meg called and gave us about four allocation changes. So I was upset that we had to make so many changes, but went to dinner. We picked up Anne and took her car, and went to this real nice Italian restaurant. I left a little earlier to go to the airport and pick up Steve and Doug. After I found them and their luggage I took them to the Red Roof Inn and got them checked in. I was supposed to call Amy when I got home and she was not home. When I hung up the phone, Anne called me with more changes from Meg, so by the time we could have gone out it was getting late and I didn't feel like going anywhere. I stayed home and discussed my frustration with Dennis and Yao-Hshin and went to bed.

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
March 12th

Today we had the CID and were divided into four focus groups. My group went to a retirement home where the people were expecting a show. We had no idea that they were expecting a show so we did the best that we could do. When we got back together we had a meeting on what exactly we are going to do when this year is over. It was interesting to see what people plan on doing. After lunch we had the expression session. It was good but I think the second one was better than this one. I did the squirrels act with Motoko. It actually turned out well. We also did and act with Gro with Junk Jam but this was with Junk Food. Very fun. We then has a short rehearsal where we learned the new magic dance. Dinner was chicken pie, etc. My host family from Effingham came tonight to the show and both of their children interviewed. Crew 2 won the sales competition. Yeah!! To end the night Ingi and I did an interview.

NOTE FROM SANNE

hi Grant and Jeff,

Clayton was one of my best host families. We are still in close contact, and when I visited them 3 years ago with my family, I remember we talked about the sponsor and my host mum also remembers her as stressed and not very polite. In my journal it says " In Clayton a very strange sponsor gave a welcome speech. She was almost hysterical and pleaded us to stay with our Host families at least for the first night. Then we could "goof around" the other 2 nights. She has done most of the set-up herself and the PR-team have not had a chance to do much or have a say on things.". On March 12th I wrote "our lovely sponsor had arranged CID for today. She did this in a rush yesterday when she found out we had some free time......... (and later)....... After many discussions with the sponsor we were allowed to have "expression session" in stead of rehearsal. She must have made quite some impression...... Wonder who the poor PR-team was ??!!

Thanks for keeping us "on tour". Can't wait to reunite in Tucson.

Love Sanne

I am always telling you to make sure you take pictures and send them when you have little get togethers that I am embarrassed to say I didn't follow my own advice. Gretchen and I had Whynot, Sandra, and Jeff Martinson over for dinner on Saturday, and the wine was flowing and we totally forgot to take a picture. We hope to all get together on Whynot's birthday and see Rita Sarnes while she is in LA performing in May. I will try to remember during that time to take a photo. However, I will say that Whynot looks great and Sandra and Jeff are as busy as ever.

Grant

I slept in this morning and when I got up I finished arranging the pictures and allocation cards Œtil after lunch. I left to pick up Randy at the airport because his plane was supposedly coming in at 1:10, but did not come in until 3:10. He misread his schedule and 1:10 was the departure time from St. Louis. So I left from the airport to go get Steve and Doug at the hotel at about 1:30 and they weren't even up yet! I couldn't believe it!

By the time they were ready and I dropped them off at the high school, it was 2:15. I rushed home to load the Eurosport with boxes.(My car was loaded already and sitting at Anne's house, and Dennis had already taken one load.) After we got all the boxes unloaded, I left Anne to worry about putting pictures and allocation cards on the boxes.

I arrived to pick up Randy at 3:10 and his plane was delayed until about 3:50. While I was waiting, Mia Hauser and Scott Dickey came off the plane one gate down. I offered them a ride to the hotel, but they decided to take the shuttle instead. Finally by the time I got Randy to the high school with his luggage it was 4:45, which was 15 minutes after the cast was supposed to be there. They weren't there. We waited and waited and as soon as I took Randy to go get a hamburger they pulled around the corner.

We got all the luggage unloaded and there was mixed emotions about getting allocation boxes. Some really enjoyed them and would use them, others left them at the school for us to take care of. We had a nice reception welcoming us back, although I'm sure we didn't look too happy when they arrived. We were both to our limit on frustration. It was a really short meeting and introductions then they went home and everyone got somewhere. I was able to leave by 6:30 to go home for a real nice dinner with Ras, David, and host family Dennis, Yao-Hsin, and Christian. After dinner a girl down the street called (Laura) and asked if I wanted to meet them (her family) for dinner at Pizza Hut. I told her we had eaten but Ras and I would come and say hi and maybe we could go to a movie or something.

When we got there about 8:30 we talked and had a Coke with them, and decided to go to a movie (with her mother's third degree and finally her permission). Ras went home with her family and I took Laura to 'Frantic' with Harrison Ford. It was okay, but we (or I at least) had a real nice time. She was a good conversationalist and I felt very comfortable around her.

After the movie, I took her home, we talked for about five minutes in the car in front of her house. All in all it was a hellish day, but a real nice evening.

GUEST JOURNALIST
JEFF MARTINSON
March 13th

Today I slept in as I didn't have host drop off until noon. Then we all met as a group and had an evaluation on the USA. It was kind of neat and I can't believe that we leave for Europe in only two weeks. I am so excited. We then left for Brownsburg and I rode in the van with Gro. We had to stop at the Indianapolis airport to try and find the other suburban. We had a hard time finding it and were late for host pick up. I am alone again and we are about 20 minutes outside of the town. This family is very nice and they love to talk.

We started off the day with morning meeting and then went right into set up and got the day rolling. After things were starting to happen, I took Tim and Lena to the office, made some copies, went back to the school, dropped off all the copies, asked Randy if he wanted to go with me to "The Big City." So he joined me going into Indianapolis to get a performer's permit (whatever that is). On the way back, we turned on a couple wrong one way streets to add a little excitement. We made it back for lunch to make sure that it ran smoothly and after lunch I was around for most of rehearsal to try and catch all the new things they are adding. Rumor had it that clowns was being considered to be cut, King Richard was cut, and so I was not feeling real excited about coming back.

After rehearsal we had wrap-up and I discussed the possibilities of what to do on their free day. Right after wrap-up we went right into Donna Brown speaking to the cast while I took Deedra to McDonalds to get part of dinner. We got everything set up and I still had a chance to see the last 20 minutes of Donna.

After dinner got going, I went home and changed and got ready for the evening. I was back at the school by 6:30 and trying to look as busy as possible meeting alumni and making sure everything went smoothly.

In greenroom we had a ton of alumni! Probably a dozen or 20 alumni plus sponsor host families, real families and everyone else . The show went okay with not too many problems with the new stuff although not perfect. I did not miss the show as much this time as I did in Freeport, I think maybe because I don't feel like I have anything to look forward to production wise.

After the show, I talked with Bob Veatch, an alumnus, for quite a while about life after UWP. I also talked with John Malott about whether he would sponsor again or not. He said yes, that even after loosing $2,000, he got a lot of advertising out of it and was over all pleased with the show. He said he would sponsor in the future because he thinks it will be more profitable the second time. I stayed around to participate in the tape peeling party in my suit and tie. I made sure everything was cleaned up, took Scott and Mia to their hotel and went home. (EDITOR: I am not quite sure what a "tape peeling party" is or was. Sounds fun though. :) )

BONUS NOTES
From Paul Kunz
Replying to Sanne's comments... Clayton, OH. I remember that I couldn't believe that at 27 years of age, I was having to counsel a sponsor contact my mother's age on human relations skills. I remember Tim Dittrick had about lost it with the sponsor, and Tim did not seem to be the type to get easily agitated ( unless the Canadian curling team was losing in the Olympics).. We all talk about the skills we learned in Up With People and how they have helped us in our lives. This is the type of situation that benefited me most - dealing with difficult people --especially in the teaching field. I'm sure many others run into this daily, too. I bet Laurie Wralstad Lacy could share a few memories from her Rolling Rock Springs, PA (or is that a beer company?) set-up.

Paul Kunz

FROM BIRGER
Thank's a lot. Just watched it and downloaded it for inspiration for remaking of my living room.

Take care, I am ready for the registration for the reunion.

Very Best Regards
Birger Husted

FROM STACIE WELCH-SWINNEY
I can't wait! My sister just got back from a BOG meeting she called on her way back from Vancouver anyway, she asked if our cast was psyched and ready to register on the 15th I said of course so we can get Grant and Gretch the party suite! So everyone book Thursday!

Stacie Welch

FROM LAURIE WRALSTAD-LACY
Hey, Grant - on that note...here you go! UWP was in the suburb right next to mine in Feb. for a week. We were able to host 2 girls from Rhode Island and China - a REAL treat! Except I do have to tell you, I NEVER in my right mind dreamed that someday I would be the "host MOM"! Very strange to be introduced in Green Room in that capacity! At the show we were well represented as alums with Doug, Leanne, Dean and I there as well as Terry Adams (here for a Board mtng.) I think we're all headed to AZ in Aug. w/ only Leanne iffy. Was fun as it always is to see old friends. Laurie (Editor: Leanne sent me the same picture, but in case someone missed I have attached it again. - Grant)

Today was a cast free day, but I told Anne I would work on the city report today so we could get it done as soon as possible. Her family is coming to see the show in Orville, Ohio, so she wants to finish the report so she can be in the show.

I worked on cleaning up the office and typed a little bit of the report until she came in. I came in at about 9:45 and she came in around 11:30. We got quite a bit done and cleaned out the office then went to lunch about 2:30 at Taco Bell. We kind of thought it was symbolic because that was where we had our first meeting.

We had a fantastic talk about how we thought things went and both basically felt really good about our outcome. We finished our talk with an evaluation of team relations, and must have talked for 45 minutes or an hour on this subject alone. She really laid it out to me about how she felt about me. She gave our relation a 6 and I gave it an 8, and our main problem was communication. I very much dominated her and did what I wanted to do with or without her approval. She had a lot of good points, but don't think it was completely my fault 100%. I think it is a two way street and we should have talked about it a week or two earlier. After lunch, I went and bought a puzzle with Colorado Columbine in front of mountains and looked like Colorado. I also shared all my Colorado/family pictures and info with the Dawes (my host family). Nice evening at home packing.

NOTE FROM TIM DITTRICK
Paul is very right I was really loosing it with our contact in Clayton! I remember Brian Merriman offering the best description "Dragon Lady" and that so fit!

Hey we need a blog! This email thing is great, but still limiting. Any chance?

Tim

EDITOR: We have a cast message board that rarely gets used. I don't know how to set up a blog or have ever used one for that matter. Anyone care to try to get one going and explain to the rest of us how to use it?

Welcome back to the real world! I originally signed up for the bus by myself, but Gro ended up joining me and we had a fine time. We arrived really early and we had a quick meeting and at that meeting Terry and Lindsay announced their engagement! I knew it was coming, but it was really exciting and fun. After that we had two hours to work the International fair, which I was not a part of so I did all my P.R. thank you notes and some postcards. It was convenient because I wrote about 6 or 7 cards and got rid of some of my old ones.

At 2:15, we had our official cast meeting and in our bags was a Smuckers t-shirt. (Ooops, This all happened in Orrville, Ohio and not Circleville!)

Anne and I finished typing our city report in the typing class. Elin was able to arrange it even though she was really sick. We were all done except for the evaluation needed typed.

I had a real relaxing morning after morning meeting. During morning meeting, we celebrated Lindsay's birthday with help from Kelly (Irv), and Diane told us a little about Ireland and St. Patrick's Day. After that I finished up my last few thank you notes, and wrote the evaluation. I then gave it to Anne while she practically rewrote it and typed it while I took a nap.

After lunch, I was kind of in rehearsal, but was not real active. We worked mainly on learning Where the Roads Come Together, and the parts for it. Before you knew it, it was time for dinner. After dinner, we had one show at 6:30 p.m. and one at 8:30 that each lasted 1 hr. 15 minutes. They both were poorly attended considering it was such a small auditorium anyways.

I helped strike the stage even though I was on interview crew because I didn't have interview clothes.

We went home at midnight and I stayed up and watched a little basketball.

Drop off was kind of wet and muggy, but I had a good bus date, Kelly Bates, and she is always good for a long talk. We arrived around 2:00 and had a quick meeting and that’s when Terry announced his engagement to Lindsay. Half of the people then went to set up the stage and the others worked on the fair. Anne and I got debrief by Paul for about an hour and then I went to work on writing some letters. (EDITOR: Sorry to be confusing. Sometimes I would write in my journal a few days later and try and catch up so I had something for every day. By this point in the year I had something for every day so I was trying to maintain that record.)

We had an auction for host pick up and I was the auctioneer and I sold everyone for a certain price. Nancy was there to pick Moku and I up and took us home where John had dinner ready for us. They sat with us for a while, but had to go to a dinner party, so they were gone most of the evening until about 11:00. Their daughter came home to get ready to go to New York with her boyfriend. I watched some basketball for a while, but went to bed real early.

We had an incredible breakfast and then John took us in at 8:00 a.m. After morning meeting, Bruce Earley spoke to us about life in a fish bowl. Bruce graduated from CSU and is the VP of Corporate Communication for UWP. It was a really nice talk and I think opened some eyes in the cast.

We had about 2 hours of rehearsal with Lynn, Mia, and Scott Dicky before lunch and then another 3 hours after lunch. We made a lot of changes in the show so that Ralph Coldwell could see them. He talked to us for a short while about the Soviet Union and the signing of the contract in Washington D.C.

Then your basic end of the day stuff: dinner, get ready, band time, greenroom, show, then early pick up at 10:00. I’m feeling it is really hard to get motivated since they took King Dick out, I’m only being used as a fill in for the 50’s principal dancers, and clowns is possibly going to be cut and I won’t do it in Europe anyways. So I need to get out of my post PR, bad mood.

The question was posed to me “What do I get for my registration?” Well, lots. See the proposed schedule below, plus you are supporting the UWPIAA. I also hope to plan a Cast A party if I can find time in the schedule and figure out how to get all of us to a party location. I will keep you posted.

Thursday:

• Era reception with hosted bar and appetizers
• Welcome to Arizona! delicious Southwestern Buffet
• Dance party with the band “Arizona,” and “Memories” multi-image presentation

Friday:

• Continental breakfast
• Opening Session with exciting production segments, special guests and inspiring speakers. J Blanton Belk Outstanding Alumnus/Alumna & James E. MacLennan Everyday Hero Awards presented.
• UWPIAA General Assembly
• Regional Meetings — connect with people from home & get more involved with Clubs/Chapters
• Alumni Marketplace — come & see what business services and products alumni working with or selling. Purchase items such as artwork, jewelry, purses, pottery etc. (vendors must pay an additional fee)
• Gala dinner
• Ticket to the UWP Show at Centennial Hall, featuring the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen, and Casts K & T

Saturday:

• Complimentary Coffee / Tea in the morning
• Special musical/book presentation “A Song for the World” with the Colwell Brothers & Herb Allen
• Photographer provided for cast photos (photos for purchase at additional cost)
• Era Rehearsals — rehearsal CDs, band equipment, full stage equipment & crew provided
• Alumni Marketplace continues
• Era Show with full stage production/multimedia presentations

Extras included:

• Complimentary roundtrip airport transfer from Tucson International Airport to Westin La Paloma for arrivals Thursday Aug 9 / departures Sunday, Aug. 12
• $10 off coupon at participating Westin La Paloma food outlets (new this year!)
• Free ‘Internet Corner’ to check your email (back by popular demand!)
• Access to meeting rooms for cast functions and assistance with event planning

We woke up to about 8 inches of snow on the ground, and when we got in, we had a very short morning meeting so Bruce could speak to us on USSR. He really laid it out for us and said it was our responsibility to know about the Soviet Union and people because if we didn't want to do the research, he could find a lot of alumni who would gladly take our place.

He really laid it out to us and spoke quite serious in comparison to his speech to us yesterday. After he was finished, people were let go to get prepared for the International Fair. Since I didn't have anything to work on, I spent most of the time writing and just vegging. After lunch, I walked around the fair for a while. The best attraction was the Midwest "pull and learn" box with Ken inside doing his animal impressions.

Since I wasn't doing much, John asked if I would do an interview, so Weini and I interviewed this girl. She was pretty good and we gave her a second with John. By the time we were done, so was the Fair, all the old and current merchandise interns went out to dinner at a place called The Barn with Kelly Bates. The interns: Tim and Almendra, Joerg and Eva, Elin and me, & Moku and Michelle all chipped in money to get something for Kelly, but everything was closed, so Moku's and mine parents bought some flowers for Kelly. While we were at the restaurant I had to call home so I could find out about Penny's plans in Washington, D.C. When I got back, we had a great dinner and conversation and was a lot of fun.

As we were finishing up, I gave Kelly the flowers and when I sat down, and the moment was real nice, the waitress walks up to me with a dish of ice cream with a candle in it. They all broke into Happy Birthday, and I think I got more flustered than I have been in a long time. I didn't know if they knew that it wasn't my birthday until after the waitress left and they all started laughing. It was fun and I don't get caught off guard very often but they got me this time. We took some pictures, but had to leave in order to get back in time to get ready for merchandise. I was selling tonight so it was good for me too. I ended up top seller, but the crowd was very small.

The show was put back the way it was before they made all the changes because they decided they didn't like them. I had worked on "Where the Roads Come Together" yesterday, but it was axed. Oh well. All that rehearsal time for nothing!

I was on strike crew tonight and was trying to have as much fun as possible. Well, I was riding one of those flat dollies down this little hill and came up behind Lynda Cullen. Her foot got stuck and when she turned around, she kneed me right in the right eye. She was hopping around saying how much her knee hurt and I was playing it up making sure her knee was okay knowing very well that I had a tremendously black eye forming. When she finally looked up and saw my eye her eyes just widened and she said "Oh my God, put some ice on that quick!" When I looked at it, it was worse than I thought, but just kept working figuring the bump would eventually go away. It did; the next morning it turned from bump to black eye.

BONUS NOTE
From Jeff Martinson

I HAVE REGISTERED. :) Can't believe we are only a few months away!

Thanks Again for everything you and Gretchen do for the cast. You DESERVE that room. Come on Cast A. Apparently there is a bet going on that Cast D can get more people there this year than we can. Hmmmm---- I say--- "No Way"!

Jeffrey Martinson

(EDITOR: We already have a fair amount of people registered with families and spouses. I will start sending updates next week as to who is registered and who needs to be convinced to come.) --

John and Nancy drove us to host drop off and we had to say our goodbyes quickly because I was on luggage crew.

My bus date was Jo, but we slept most of the way. We went to Pittsburg and had about an hour and a half to spend at the old train station which as been converted into a shopping mall.

We finally arrived in Roaring Spring at about 3:30 unloaded the luggage, had a meeting with all the introductions and was finished by 4:30 standing out in the cold waiting for our host families. While I was waiting, I introduced myself to the mayor and had a reporter snapping pictures of us. He took my name down but I never saw it in the paper. When we got home, we had dinner, watched a little TV, worked on a puzzle and went up to bed.

BONUS NOTE
From Staci Brockman

Dear Grant,
You are absolutely the greatest ! Thank you so much for your birthday greetings. Hearing from you has made my day, even more so than most of the other days when I receive your emails with memories of Cast A. I really look forward to reading them every day!

I must admit that I have been doing a bit of soul-searching about coming to the reunion. I have been feeling most unworthy of being there. I did, however, speak to Holly on the phone just before Christmas which was wonderful, and she did her very best to convince me that I must come, including offering to let me room with her and Brenda B. Seeing all of you again has been on my mind ever since I first spoke to you in November. And so, after hearing from you today, I have made up my mind to register for the reunion. I will get back to you as soon as I do. Time goes by way too quickly (40 years today!), and I'm sure that I will be kicking myself for the next 40 if I don't come...

Love to you and to Gretchen and your family, and it looks as if I will be seeing you soon! Thanks again for your nice message.

Staci

p.s. Would you mind passing the word along for anyone that has sent me a message and hasn't received a response, that as far as I know I have answered everyone, but sent most of them to my home email address which is displayed in my husband's name, and realized after sending alot of them out that my non-descript messages like "Hello!" were probably being thrown away by people not recognizing the name. Please let me know if you haven't heard from me, and I will re-send the messages! Love to everyone! I have missed you all and can't wait to see you again!

NOTE FROM RANDY ROACH
I was out sick in Orrville, OH. My host dad was a doctor. We got a Smuckers T-shirt in our allocation bag which I later gave away in the USSR. I missed the Int'l fair completely. That is all I recall of Orrville! Nice to read your more fulsome recollection of the day.

They dropped Rodney and I off at the school, we had morning meeting, and then started setting up. After set-up we had lunch in the cafeteria, but still had to finish some of the set up afterwards. During rehearsal we tried to do some involvement with the students watching rehearsal, but they weren’t very responsive.

We had about an hour-long talk with Terry about Washington D.C. and some of the plans for our flight to Norway, but his talk was mostly about next year. They are considering having a sixth cast for a while so that they can eventually have 2 casts in January and 3 in July. He was interested what we thought about it and what our solutions might be.

After our talk we had a potluck dinner in the cafeteria with the host families and after dinner we got ready for the show.

We had an outrageously long introduction while we just stood on the stage at our microphone and listened. I think this is the night that I decided I didn’t like being on a mic anymore because I am too limited and I am not having fun. When I am not on a mic, I just cut loose and have fun. Ideally I would like to do King Richard, Ringmaster and ‘50’s and just be on stage the rest of the time, but I doubt that will happen much.

We enjoyed strike or I enjoyed strike as much as possible because I put on GREASE and everyone started jammin’ out. It was fun, but a little slow.

This picture is Miss Pennsylvania whom we met in greenroom. I tell you she was pretty scary in person and had a comatose personality. Don’t let the picture be so deceiving. (EDITOR: The picture was in my journal. Sorry it is not included here.)

BONUS NOTE
From Stacie Welch-Swinney
Grant,

I will be having a booth which my mom will be handling for me when I am busy – I make purses (mostly knitted and then felted) – I don’t know if I have mentioned this but when I do sell some of them – a portion of the price goes to the UWPIAA and a portion goes to the Brenda June La Mica Endowment Fund. I will want to do a bit of advertising of this – maybe set up a poster of Brenda June and a bit of information regarding the Endowment Fund the cast has created in her name. Since I am paying a fee which goes to the UWPIAA – the other percentage will go to our own cast account. So hopefully I can sell (well my mom will) to make Cast A and our scholarship fund some money!

Staci

My bus date from Roaring Spring, PA to Washington, D.C. was Elin and we had a nice talk, but mostly slept. There is something brewing between us, but I can't quite tell what is going to happen.

We arrived in D.C. about 2:30, so we had an hour and a half before we had to meet as a cast. A bunch of us walked over to the National Archives building where the Constitution is kept. Not too exciting, but something worth seeing. On our way back to the Washington Monument, where we were supposed to meet, we walked down the middle of what is called The Mall. It is basically a park that stretches from the Capitol to the Washington Monument and is in between all the Smithsonian Institute and Museums. I always thought there was only one museum for the Smithsonian.

When we met back as a cast, they basically told us where we needed to meet the buses at and what time, and pointed out points of interest. We first walked to the Jefferson Monument (Elin and I hand-in-hand), then over to the Vietnam Wall where I found an Axton from California, then Elin and I walked over to the Lincoln Memorial which overlooks the mirror pool between there and the Washington Monument. The whole thing was breathtakingly awesome.

We loaded the buses at 6:00 to go to Gallaudet for city orientation and host pick up. They explained to us how to use the subway and sent us out to find our host.

Sedrick, Marty and I were with an alumni and four screaming kids. We didn't say much on the way home, but we did stop in the club for dinner where we talked. Joan spent most of the evening speaking with friends of hers. We stopped at Baskin Robbins (31 Flavors is what they called it) on the way home.

When we finally got here and got settled, we watched a little TV, I tried to call Penny but she was not there and then went to bed.

To show you how interested they were in us and us in them I don’t even know my host father’s name, but anyways (Larry, maybe,) took us to the shuttle bus location at Union Station. I was actually kind of depressed we didn’t get to ride the subway, but was assured that I would ride it sometime.

During morning meeting we had a translator, Tina McCarty, who signed everything that was said because we had about a dozen of the students sitting in on our meeting. After finishing all our business, Tina briefed us on the situation at Gallaudet and how we can best communicate with the students. When we got really heavy into what happened with hiring a hearing President the week before, we got the inside scoop. It was a peaceful demonstration not a riot like I had heard, and actually was a blessing in disguise. It really united the campus and they felt that they really accomplished a lot. They explained to us that it was almost a week to the hour from the time she was appointed to the time the hearing impaired president was inaugurated. One girls stood up and said “That if God can create the world in seven days that it surely can be changed in seven days.” I think that is a quote that will stick in my head a long time.

After our discussion, we broke into three groups set-up (with the help of some of the deaf students), non-set-up, and education group (who went to have lunch with some senators at the White House). I was in the non-setup crew and we split up where three of us went with each student. Most of them were from Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) and not Gallaudet, but it was all one campus with an elementary school as well. The girl who took us around was somewhat handicapped also and was hard to understand at first, but Whynot, Melinda and I got better as we went along. She (I can’t remember her name) basically just gave us a tour around the school. It was really strange. Most of the classrooms were open not enclosed, and you realize that they don’t have to worry about noise from other classrooms. The music section was actually part of the library, but just upstairs from most of the books. The music rooms would never be next to the library in a regular school. It was a whole different atmosphere. We went to lunch in the cafeteria and it was basically quiet except for the clanking of plates and silverware. If my cafeteria were that quiet at CSU, it would have meant someone had died.

After lunch I was on a panel of about 8 Up With People and four student council members and Kelly from cast E ’88-’89 interpreting. We talked about deaf civil rights, the recent problems at Gallaudet and misconceptions about deaf people. It was really informal, but informational. It was fantastic and I was really getting into it.

That lasted about an hour and then we went back for rehearsal, I wasn’t there very long before I was asked to do an interview with Ingi. I think this girl was one of the best perspective students I’ve have even interviewed hearing or deaf. She made me feel very warm because she came across so sincere. We definitely passed her on for a second with John Morgan.

By the time Ingi and I got back in rehearsal it was mostly over, but they had to run a couple things with the deaf students. They also decided to put King Richard back in the show for good/now. Al did it, and although I’m probably prejudice, I didn’t like the way he did it. He moved real well and I think I can learn from that, but his voice stayed on one irritating pitch. (EDITOR: Sorry Al. :) )

After dinner, I got ready to sell for the show. I would say it was about 50/50 hearing and hearing impaired. Selling didn’t go real well, but it was fun trying to communicate on another level. I ended up selling more than the other three sellers combined which I thought was pretty funny because I thought I was doing poorly.

The show went rather well and I think we got our message across. We had two interpreters and a lot of big wigs in the audience. One thing that was rather strange was that they don’t applaud, but instead shake their hands in the air. They did applaud for us some of the time which helped keep our intensity up. What Color is God’s Skin? was incredible and definitely gave me goosebumps (or chicken skin). I think it was the longest, most sincere standing ovation we have ever received.

We had another girl from Cast D joining us (Jacqui Keller) and I don’t think I liked her personality very much. Anyways, she performed with us, and after the show I was on interview crew. I interviewed a hearing impaired guy that didn’t impress me too much. Priscilla was there for a short time, but wrote out the card on him. We gave him an accept 3, and were finished about midnight. It took Joan about 40 minutes to finally get there. When we got in the car, we asked her how she enjoyed the show, and she said she didn’t go. I really couldn’t believe it. I don’t think of all the families I have had this year that I have felt so unattached before. Oh well.

Larry (?) dropped us off at the park across from the Congressional Rayburn building where we were meeting to start the day and walk over as a group to the meeting. We had to go through a security check and metal detector.

Our speaker was Steven Rhinesmith who was one of our speakers back in Tucson. He is in charge of the President's U.S./Soviet exchange, and was kind of boring. Some of us left early to go on a career day at an advertising agency. There was me, Kelly B., Elin, Susie, Tim and Ingi who took a taxi and subway there. (My first subway ride, and it was a clean, safe atmosphere.)

This guy who let us come, Allen, is an alumni, and he introduced us to another lady who showed us some slides and answered questions for us. They talked mostly from the side of what they do as a company and who they serve, rather than what does it take to be in the advertising business.

We called a taxi and by the time they picked us up we were really pushing time so we went straight to the White House to meet the cast. We arrived at the same time they did and waited in line for about a half an hour. They shut the public line down, and then let us go through on a VIP tour, so Up With People were the only ones in the White House. Ron and Nancy were upstairs, but could not come down to speak to us. Can you believe it?

We went to the State Department and had several boring speakers, one of which was Susan Eisenhower who is Ike's granddaughter. Many people had a hard time staying awake, and so afterwards Carlos chewed us out pretty good. He was very disappointed in us, and we needed to make the best of our opportunities.

After getting chewed out we were taken to Georgetown to spend the evening, and that is where I met up with Penny (my sister). It was amazing we found each other, but they pulled up right behind the buses. I hopped in the car and we went straight to the hotel to get Debbie, Rene, and Penny checked in. We changed and, and went a restaurant called Fillamena with incredible Italian food. It almost felt like it was a mafia run restaurant, but it was a real nice place with great food. It turned out I shouldn't have taken my tie off. Anyways we had a nice conversation, and after dinner, we walked straight to the car without stopping. I thought we were going out to party, but I guess not. We went back to the hotel and I opened some gifts from Mom: one for Easter, those marshmallow chickens (EDITOR: If you know what Peeps are I used to LOVE these and my mother still sends me a packet every Easter. I can't stomach them any more, but don't have the heart to tell my mother.), and one for my birthday a new yellow shirt and tie. Perfect. Plus her and Penny each gave me a card with $10 in it.

It was real nice, but when I was done, they whisked me away to the car and took me home. When we got home, it was only 10:00 and Sedrick and Marty were not home yet, so we tried every door because I couldn't get in without them. We struggled and brainstormed for about 20 minutes and they were just getting ready to leave when Marty and Sedrick walked up. So I hurriedly put things in a bag for Penny to take home, because Debbie and Rene were already upset about waiting so long.

It was a nice evening, but I felt like I was mostly a burden rather than being there for them to enjoy my company. Oh, well.

We stayed up for a while to talk, but went to bed relatively early.

Penny (my sister) had suggested that I spend the night with her and her friends, then I could join the cast in the morning. I asked Terry and he strangely suggested I be at the morning speaker and when Terry strangely suggests anything, you should always do it. I have to admit I'm glad I went. All this took place at Fort Myer Army Base right next to the Arlington Cemetery.

The speaker talked about the To Do Society (Americans) and To Be Society (Japanese) and how to try and adjust to each. We did an exercise in 6 small groups where 2 people left and when they came back it was their responsibility to find out about the culture they were in. The rules for the culture was only females could speak with females, and males with males; if they smiled while asking a question, the answer was always yes, and if they frowned while asking a question, the answer was always no in all occasions.

It was a really good seminar. They even did a role play with a real foreigner named Mr. Kahn and Dean and Kelly each had to try and get a point across with this guy. It was quite a challenge for them and very interesting for us.

After lunch, Kurt and I walked back and changed to get read to go to the circus in Baltimore. We left about 12:30 and drove about an hour and a half and got there around 2:00. That gave us about an hour and a half to meet some of the clowns which was really fun to know someone, so we could watch for them during the show. I had forgotten how much fun circuses can be, but I also figured out why I didn't like them much as a child. As an adult, I had a hard time concentrating on one thing, so I can imagine how a child must feel. At intermission we went back and talked to the clowns some more and met the ringmaster. He was a nice guy, but I wasn't too impressed with his character in the show. He didn't sound as exciting as he looked.

We left the show a little early so that we could get back in time for the show. We made it and John host brother Ed went and got us Wendy's to eat, and brought it back for us to eat.

The stage was extremely small, and was only a mediocre show. Everyone worked on striking Œtil 11:00 then a lot of us left to go home. The bus took us to the subway and we headed home, and while on the subway we were singing songs. It was kind of fun. When we got to our station, we called our host dad to pick us up and we went home and went bed.