In Search of Mellencamp

"The north garden would be on that side," I mentioned pointing to the left of the building in front of us as we were facing east.  "I have a really good sense of direction,"  I bragged.  Our search for John Mellencamp was nearing a conclusion or so we thought. 

  
On a recent trip to Indiana, I joined my good friends Ross, host of the Album Cockpit Podcast, and Monica on a trip to Bloomington, Indiana in search of the John Mellencamp statue on the campus of Indiana University.  

Two years ago Ross, Monica, my youngest daughter, Kelsey and I made a trip to Seymour, Indiana to explore the hometown of John Mellencamp.  It was a marvelous and enlightening trip as we ate lunch at a downtown diner that John used to visit.  It didn't appear that one thing had changed in that diner since the early 1970s when John would have come there with his friends.  We strolled up and down the streets of Seymour and stopped in to a music shop where several gentlemen were standing around visiting.  The shop was rich in Mellencamp memorabilia that you wouldn't find anywhere else, but the real treasure were the stories the gentlemen told us of John and his family.  It was amazing.  You can hear our recap and breakdown of John Cougar Mellencamp's album on the Album Cockpit Podcast right here. 

So, Ross, Monica and I (no daughter this year) set off to Bloomington and the campus of IU.  It was a hot, sweltering 4th of July morning, and as we arrived it became quickly apparent that the town was packed full of people for a 4th of July parade.  It was a scene of  small town Americana that
definitely gave me the feel of many of John's songs.  We made our way through town, found an open donut shop and took some time for a bit of morning sweets and conversation.  Then it was off to campus in search of Mellencamp.  

It didn't take long to get there as it was only two blocks from the donut shop.  When we stepped onto campus, the entire scenery changed as we went from college town to grand stone buildings of learning placed among park-like trees and grassy spaces.  The campus also has settled onto a hilly landscape which added to the quaint feel.  After a few lefts and rights, up and down stairs through gardens, then the north garden, we came across the statue.  What a sight it was to see the representation of our favorite rock-n-roll star, ready to strike a chord right there in the garden.  We admired the work, took some pictures, Monica placed a floral decoration, we fist bumped to our discovery and moved on, mission accomplished

As we made our way back to town, pleased with our accomplishment, we made a wonderful discovery that continued the adventure!  A sandwich-board sign was placed out in front of a storefront that advertised the art of John Mellencamp!!  Did we stop?  You bet we did, and boy did we discover Mellencamp!  We opened the door of Clash Art Gallery to find an exhibit of Mellencamp's art.  Popping out from the back room of the gallery was talented artist, curator and owner of the gallery, Jennifer Mujezinovic to greet us on this 4th of July.  She shared stories about Mellencamp and how his art came to her gallery which boils down to this: he came in and asked.  Her stories drew a picture of Mellencamp as a person with hopes, worries, excitement just like the rest of us.  This visit was a treasure of art and story.  What a joy!  I was left buzzing all the way back to Indianapolis.  

Like our previous search for Mellencamp in Seymour, the adventure was filled with visual discovery, but the real treasure were the personal stories of our musical hero.  

Game Club Dungeons and Dragons: Scarlet Citadel Part 1

I started a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign in my high school Game Club recently, and I plan to recap the adventure here on Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy.  Why?  Because there is so much positive to playing an RPG game, and Dungeons and Dragons happens to be the game that brings me the most joy.  On top of that, I love teaching it to new players, and my entire group of students playing is brand new to the game.  

A little about our Game Club before I get to the first recap of our game session.  The club started in the spring of 2014 in the second semester of my first year at the school.  A group of about 5 students approached me and heard I had run a game club at another school, and they hoped I would be willing to start one at this school.  If these 5 students could see the club today, I am pretty sure they would be very happy with what it has become.  The club now has four different kinds of game meetings: Board and Card games, Miniatures games, Geopolitics (a game developed by our students), and RPG's (Dungeons and Dragons).  The club has over 70 students and staff who are active in the club.  Last year, the club had an attendance of 568 for the year.  This year at the time of this post we have had 306 attendance so far!  

We have eight games of Dungeons & Dragons going this year with anywhere from 3 students to 6 students per game.  Four of the games are run by staff members and four games are run by student Dungeon Masters.  

The game I am running has four freshman students who are completely new to the game.  Since it has been a few years since I have run a classic dungeon crawl, that is what I went with to teach these students how to play.  I am using the published adventure titled, The Scarlet Citadel: A Dungeon of Secrets written by Steve Winter and published by Kobald Press.  

Here is the narrative I wrote to introduce the adventure:  "You have been hired by Warren Hammerstone to protect his wagons of goods headed to RedTower.  He is pretty grumpy about having to hire someone to 'protect' his goods, but there has been just enough trouble along the road that shipments are required to have protection."  

The two characters who started this adventure are Posun a wood elf Monk and Faist Roffton a high elf Sorcerer.  They met when they answered the call from Warren Hammerstone.  Posun has turned to adventure to challenge himself and discover the world.  His village burned and his father died when he was 15 when the temple took him in.  His adoptive father gave him a rune of Tyr when he left the temple.  Faist Roffton was expelled from his school of magic when he accidentally set the library of spell books and scrolls on fire.  The fire burned the goods of the library but was not hot so Faist did not realize he was in the fire.  He is unaware, but he has a rune burned into the temple of his head.  

Posun and Faist left the village to protect two wagons of goods from Hammerstone's forge and metal works with two drivers and a salesman.  The trip was to take two full days of travel; they should arrive in RedTower by dinner of the second day.  In the afternoon of the first day they encountered two soldiers on horses looking for a merchant named Dugan Lovay whom they hadn't seen, so the soldiers continued on to the village which Posun and Faist had just come that morning.  In the evening the road moved into the White Forest and as the sun was lowering, they heard a voice say, "Looks like some nice things in those wagons" as a goblin stepped out in front of the mules of the front wagon.  Another voice in the trees said, "Gellert the Gruesome might reward us well if we brought some of that treasure back!"  An arrow sailed out from the trees, hit the driver of the front wagon, and he fell dead.  

Posun and Faist fought this group of six goblins to victory, however; the archer from the trees escaped.  The driver of the second wagon and the salesman were both kept safe during the battle.  As they collected themselves, Faist decided he would drive the front wagon.  As the wagons got back on the road, Posun walking alongside the wagons, noted some boots sticking out of the grass at the edge of the forest.  He allowed the caravan to move ahead and after they passed, he examined the boots to discover they were on the feet of a dead woman.  He pulled the body out of the grass and gave her final rights and placed a rune mark of Tyr on her hand. He thinks this could be Dugan Lovay, but he did not tell anyone else of his discovery even when they arrived at RedTower and were asked about her.  They delivered the goods to Agniezka the Smith in RedTower, and that concluded our first session. 

It was fun to work with these two enthusiastic students.  They had picked up their pre-made characters in advance, so they were familiar with certain aspects, but they didn't know anything about skill checks or combat.  They picked up on that all very quickly.  It was pretty cool to see their eyes as more table items came out like miniatures and maps.  They were sold on the game pretty quickly.  It was a great start.  

I will continue to write about their adventures through the school year, so be sure to check that out here, but I will also be recapping the adventures on the podcast Teachers in the Dungeon.  Join us there too!