Light The Cauldron

Everybody grows. We are born and rely on our parents because we can't do it ourselves. As kids, the actions and words of the people around us shape our beliefs. As adults, we still grow and change. No matter what job a person has, what hobbies a person enjoys, or what fandoms in which a person takes part, their opinions and beliefs of those things change as they grow in them.  Now that my Olympic fandom is more than just a biennial celebration, I'm starting to see my opinions and beliefs change, too. From those changes, I've put together some stages I took as I grew up. Here's where I've been: Stage 1: Two Weeks Every Two Years I was showing my students examples of what I would put on my personal Art board, and one of them was the Olympic rings. A student copied the Olympic Rings on her board, but confessed, "I just like watching them."  She is in Stage 1. Any other time of the year she wouldn't pay any attention to Olympic events, bu

I was on vacation seeing my family last week, but Olympic news never sleeps! (No matter what mainstream media might tell you.) Blurb On! This week's Blurb Watch: gymnastics swimming track and field baseball There wasn't a whole lot of women's pole vault yesterday at the Diamond League out of Birmingham, England, but it was a day when weather really  played a factor. Three of the top pole vaulters in the world didn't even make a mark, while Katerina Stefanidi only made one mark in getting second place. It wasn't rain or storms; it was wind! Take a long pole and try to stand up at the top as a strong wind is blowing - I'm guessing you're not going to blow in the right direction! Think that swimming is the only sport with races that finish by thousandths of a second? The Diamond League 100m race had Team USA's Christian Coleman beating Great Britain's Reece Prescod by that amount. Honestly, you could barely tell who won, and Prescod was

It's not often that you get to walk to the starting line of a race, but I was able to do so yesterday when I went to my hometown for their Summerfest 5K. As usual, I will recap the race while inserting the titles of music I listened to during the race. The Proclaimers, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" My parents' driveway and the finish line! My parents' home is smack in the middle of our small city, across the street from City Hall. As a result, I didn't have to worry about parking, didn't have to worry about waking up early, and didn't have to worry about where to put my car keys or wallet or stuff like that. I just woke up about 30 minutes before the race, threw on my normal running garb, and walked out to the starting line about half a block away. Yuki Hayashi, "You Say Run" I have been to large and small races, and this one was on the smaller side (though not the smallest I've ever ran). I'd say about 150-200 racers

Before 2008, I was simply a casual Olympic fan. I took notice that they were happening, watched a little bit of the Opening Ceremonies, and watched a couple of things here and there. But in August of 2008 - ten years ago this month - several things came together that transformed me from a casual fan to a rabid fan. The first was the fact that I myself was going to be traveling to China later that month to be a teacher in the middle of the country. Before heading there, I would have one day in Beijing itself. I knew that NBC enjoyed telling stories about the host country's life and culture, and would be very interested to hear more about China. The second happened right here: Like I mentioned before - I have seen Opening Ceremonies in the past, so I knew there was a cultural aspect, and then the parade of nations, and then the lighting of the cauldron. But as soon as those 2,008 drummers started yelling, I knew that this Opening Ceremony was going to be something to r