hanover, indy

the 21st: Hanover College.

we arrived in hanover, indiana after a long morning of driving around 2pm. upon driving into this town, our tourco hit panic mode, noting that all the scenery around us was quite conservative and modest. we passed what looked like relatively severe churches and rode a good long stretch on a two lane road, twisting past farm houses, cornfields, and not much else.

we were sure we were about to get run out of this town.

however, upon our call of 4pmish, we got in the van and drove five minutes to Hanover College campus, a mecca that popped out of a twisty, wooded area. hanover reminded me immediately of my own alma mater, Ohio University - an Ohio Valley school with red brick buildings, trees dressing the landscape, and an overlook of a river, the mighty Ohio.

we got through tech with little problems - the stage was a pipe and drape, a term used by groups like ours/musicians to mean that the set up is an elevated staging area with literal pipe and drape curtains to form a performance area. think of it like a carnival coming to town; you've still got a pretty awesome ride, but it might topple down at any moment. anyway, this pipe and drape was a great set up - set in a huge auditorium holding 2,000 or so, all the mechanics secure and well secured. great.

we were there on behalf of a new president, a huge event that rivaled a homecoming of sorts. the president, named Dewine, was a woman who was super outgoing, charismatic, and excited about the transfer. aimee and i in an improv portion of the show in the first act went after Dewine, much to the audience's delight. at intermission, a man came back to tell us a little more about the president, that her name was Sue. and that she taught at an Ohio school prior to the transfer. and that she led communications. and soon, thereafter, i realized I HAD HAD HER. she was one of the outstanding teachers of my second major InCo, a sort of business comm major that teaches you marketing/stats skills and how to be charming. she taught a huge, 400 person lecture class i had as a sophomore.

the show went off without a hitch (even though this was one of those "no f" shows, something we had to remind ourselves of), and after, we had a big meet and greet with the audience. sue dewine found me and had heard word that i was an alum; we celebrated and she invited me and our tourco to the president's home in the morning to tour campus and get free tshirts. we snapped about a zillion pictures for the Ohio University alumni magazine, laughed a bunch, and caught up a bit. not so bad, hanover. you were full of surprises.