Note from the Heartland

I planned on giving up OM after twenty years, but now that world finals are over, I’m not so sure I can. I put my arm around my husband tonight as closing ceremony fireworks lit up the Iowa landscape and thought back over the last three days. Elizabeth, a 12 year old from PA took apart her parent’s dishwasher to make a penguin and took her team to first place. The Canadian group, in total innocence, had a membership sign that featured Beaver flavored gumballs. Aye? Another cute bunch of middle school kids came up with a team name of “The Chubbys”. I watched animated meerkats be taught to serve spaghetti by waiters with fake French accents, sighed quietly through 20 or more fart and poop jokes, and saw at least 10 children from do the impossible because no one ever told them they couldn’t. Now honestly, how can I walk away from this crazy creative worldview?

Fireworks over the University of Iowa
Pretend donuts the size of your head...
An ostrich, stripped of it's feathers to show how it was made to walk using the circuitry from the guitar on the floor. 
Pin trading in from of the Student Union
Chicken, sliced in half to show the delightful electronic contents that make it eat, wink, and talk
Beautiful art work from Singapore
Flamingo, quivering with excitement as the show begins. It danced, bowed, flapped it's wings and blew steam from it's eyeballs.