By Phillip Radcliffe

Hello to all my students and colleagues at SU. I am currently doing my sabbatical year at Illinois State University (ISU) in Normal, Illinois. This is where I was born and raised and this is the first time I have lived here since 1984, and probably the last time I will be here for this long. I could have taken my sabbatical anywhere, but I chose to do it here so that I could reconnect with old friends and family. Although my parent's generation has mostly passed away, I still have many relatives in this area. I have over 20 cousins, many second and third cousins and of course my two brothers, my sister and all of my nieces and nephews. I live at my sister's house and my brothers and my sister and I have a "family night" at least once a month where we eat out or eat at each other's house. Sometimes the kids come, too.

This spring and summer has seen lots of rain and flooding in the Midwest, but luckily not here. The Midwest is known for its corn and soybeans and the floods have ruined the crops on many farms throughout the region. This will cause some food prices to climb, not just here but worldwide. Food prices have already been increasing because of the rising price of oil and the growing demand for ethanol as a substitute for gasoline. It has also been a record year for tornados, but I have never seen one. The weather seems different now than when I was growing up here. It seems to change more often and it seems the changes are more severe. Perhaps this is a sign of global warming. I have to admit, though, that I love a good thunder and lightning storm. It's like watching fireworks, only better. On warm, clear nights I like to sit out on the front porch and watch the hundreds of lightning bugs (fireflies) that swarm around every night, talk to the neighbors and gaze at the stars in the big, open sky.

I have enjoyed seeing many rabbits, squirrels, opossum and raccoons right here around the house. And there are many birds like cardinals, which are red in color, blue jays, humming birds, barn owls and woodpeckers. In wooded areas it might even possible to catch a glimpse of a deer or a wild turkey if you are lucky. Sometimes when I am out in the woods I can even hear the howl of a coyote off in the distance. When I spent a week in early June taking a course for teachers in Brattleboro, Vermont I saw lots of chipmunks and even a skunk! It may be difficult for Japanese to imagine seeing such a wide variety of wildlife in and around cities.

Besides spending my free time with family and friends I also enrolled in two courses for adults at Heartland Community College in Normal. I'm studying Spanish and I'm taking claw-hammer banjo lessons once a week during the summer. One reason I decided to study Spanish, besides wanting to learn a new language, is that it is important for me as a teacher to remember what it is like to be a student. Hopefully this will help me to improve my own teaching techniques. On the other hand, learning to play claw-hammer banjo is purely for my own pleasure. It's called claw-hammer because you have to curl your fingers in (like a claw) and you hit the strings from the top when you strum down rather than up like you would pick a guitar. In other words, you hammer down on the strings. It is a rather difficult technique, but I've only started so it will take some time and practice before I can master it. I'm looking forward to seeing what courses are available for the fall semester at Heartland. I wanted to take horse-back riding this summer but the time conflicted with Spanish classes. Maybe that course will be available in the fall. I still want to continue Spanish, though. When I'm not doing all of those things I'm often at my friend's swimming pool, camping out with friends, playing tennis outdoors at one of the many free tennis courts around the city, or going to cook-outs on the weekends.

The Town of Normal is half of a twin city. It is actually called Bloomington/Normal. I was born in Normal but raised in Bloomington. I went to Bloomington public schools but I attended ISU for part of my university education. To me it is just one city. The population of Bloomington/Normal today is 150,000ﾑalmost twice as big as when I was last living here. It may seem small by Japanese standards, but it is fairly big by American standards. We would call it "a big small town." Bloomington/Normal is the sister-city of Asahikawa. In fact, I attended Asahikawa Kita High School during my senior year as a sister-city exchange student many years ago. Mitsubishi Motors also has a car production facility in Bloomington/Normal, so this community has many ties to Japan. That makes it easy to get Japanese rice and other Japanese food products here. I even bought a Japanese rice cooker and sometimes make some curry rice.

One interesting thing happening this year is the 2008 presidential election which is coming up soon. I am a political news junkie, but even I think that the process for choosing a president in this country is too long. Sometimes I just have to tune it all out. However, I will become more involved for the Obama campaign in the months ahead as a local volunteer. Obama began his political career here in Illinois and I have been watching him and supporting him for many years now. I hope that whatever change in leadership we have will restore America's image abroad and create a spirit of cooperation with other countries so that we can all begin to solve the many challenges of our modern world.

Well, that about sums up what I have been doing these last few months. Today is the 4th of July (Independence Day) and I'm off to see some fireworks. I hope that you all did well on your mid-term exams and I hope you have a great summer vacation!