Combine the Minnesota State Fair with the Ohio River, the Air Force and about 800,000 Louisville residents and visitors. Throw in the "largest fireworks display in the nation," and you've got Thunder Over Louisville. It's the opening ceremony for the Kentucky Derby Festival which runs for the next two weeks - up to the Derby, on Cinco de Mayo! (Or, as they're calling it here, "Cinco de Derby.")

(If the phrase "Cinco de Derby" doesn't make sense to you, you're not alone.)

This city goes apeshit for the Derby. Understandably, especially when considering that the other two things this city is known for are its baseball bats and its bourbon. Tickets went on sale a couple weeks ago, starting at $250 for the corner seats. Rumor has it the Queen will be in attendance this year. Some of the VISTAs will be volunteering at a gift shop run by some of our co-workers who work on the backside of Churchill Downs at an ESL center for the Latino workers who do...EVERYTHING behind-the-scenes. We’ve been told that when the gift shop shuts down for the actual race (which lasts 1.5 minutes), we’ll be able to see it from the back side. Our other option would be to pay $50 for “infield” tickets, which would allow us to join the masses on the inside of the track as they spill mint juleps over each other. Though they can’t see the race from in there.

But back to Thunder. I wasn’t planning on going, as I feel that if the airshow that took place during the day happened elsewhere in the world people would have been running from the planes rather than pointing and snapping photos. There are undoubtedly better ways to spend military money and tax dollars than on hours-long flights of F-16s and choppers and stealth bombers over the riverfront, and, while we’re at it, hundreds of thousands of fireworks. But I was surprisingly entertained by it all. Just because I disapproved didn’t mean that I didn’t crane my neck to catch a glimpse of the aircrafts. (See photos.)

Another reason I was prompted to go was that I now have a definite ending point to my Kentucky residence. At the end of July, when my VISTA year finishes up, I’ll be packing up and heading out – to Boston. After deliberating for months, I’ve decided to take advantage of my acceptance to school out there. And it really does color the way I look at my days in Louisville. Now when I walk past my favorite microbrewery, I take care to appreciate the smooth brews and fantastic vegetarian food it offers. I’m more determined to get out on the weekends and explore rural Kentucky – if I don’t see a moonbow by the time August rolls around, I’m not leaving!! (http://parks.ky.gov/resortparks/cf/index.htm)

My decision (made last Friday) also makes me hedonistically proud of this year. This VISTA program has more or less forced me to get out in the community, to connect with people working at similar programs, to speak one-on-one with the “clientele” my agency serves (I hate using that word), and to discover corners of this city I never would have as a student. Granted, Louisville isn’t Madison, but I feel like I know the extent of its services and the history of the city’s development better from the nine months I’ve spent here than I did in Madison after my first four years. Also, for the first time, I’ve put my actions where my words are (that sentence didn’t work as well as “I put my money where my mouth is.”) After saying for so long, “I should really join band again. I miss playing the flute,” I found a community band that takes anyone and everyone, and today played in my second concert. (http://www.rivercitiesconcertband.org/) After thinking wistfully that I should intersperse running on concrete sidewalks with some form of non-impact exercise, I joined the Y and now have access to a pool. These are things I may not have time to continue once back in school, but at least now I know that I CAN go out and do these things when not under constant fire from schoolwork.

Speaking of school work, the school year is winding to an end, which means…it’s time to get ready for our summer program! *sigh* Our director is leaving, and our board has been pretty slow to begin the search for a new director. I may be left for a couple weeks this summer on my own, which fills me with a mixture of dread and more dread. We’ll have anywhere from four to seven weeks of daily programming – I’m sort of hoping for closer to four, simply so that I have a little breathing time before packing up to leave the near-south. I love our kids. Most of them (there are 60 who come on a regular basis) consider it a regular part of the school day, and don’t, as I would, dread a 9-hour school day. Last Thursday we had a Board meeting at the school during its operation, so they could see the classrooms and newly-opened computer lab in action. (Can you believe that most of our Board had never seen the program in action?? See the photos below – the computer instructor is a former student of the program, back before it even had a building to operate out of.) While the Board was visiting the 2^nd and 3^rd grade classroom, one kid (I swear I didn’t pay him), asked “Why do we have to leave here at six o’clock?”

Hope you're all doing well!