Wake up call

Good morning class! We are just rolling out of Chicago and are on our way to Davenport, Iowa. We hope to catch an Obama event there at 9 – we’ll probably miss the beginning of it if it starts on time. We were hosted last night in Evanston by a friend of Marc’s. Dave’s a businessman now, but he graduated from the Air Force Academy, served seven years active as a transport pilot, then was called up from the reserves for the Iraq War. To hear him tell stories of flying in and out of Baghdad under rocket fire is unnerving. They used various types of flares to direct the missiles away from the plane – and fortunately he was never hit. I can’t imagine the courage required for this. He’s a big Obama supporter.

You learn something new every day – actually a lot of things yesterday. Southwest has a new, less chaotic boarding scheme. Beau Brummell was a 19th Century Brit who changed the way men dress for fashion – from wigs, makeup and heels, to suits, ties and boots. Jane Addams was the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 (I should have known this). And Washington and Lee University has held a mock Party convention since 1896 that has predicted the oppositions party’s nominee correctly 75% of the time and every year since 1976 – they hold it later this month.

I can’t wait to get to Iowa!