It's a small, small world

I HAD MORE fun than should be allowed hanging out with Professor Emily Hart Tuesday at Western Illinois University. I did a very poor Elvis imitation but the discussion about Elvis and his impact on music and culture in general went over well with the students, I think.

The Rev. Wally Carlson made the trip over from Canton, Ill., to watch. Emily ended up getting him talk to the kids for a few minutes - he actually met Elvis once in Nashville and he remembers seeing Elvis on television, and how his parents and older people in general feared and loathed Elvis.

Wally was a pastor of a Quincy church for many years and we had some musical and worship adventures, specifically with our U2charist services with Rev. Bob Morwell and the young people of his church. Gosh, those were fun and powerful experiences.

Wally's son, Nick, just got a job in Michigan working at a theater. Emily asked Wally the name of the town. "Ah, you probably never heard of it. It's called Alpena," Wally said.

Well, we have heard of Alpena. In fact, Emily was born there. In fact, I spent seven years as sports editor of The Alpena News newspaper, and they were great years. Oh, to be that young and dumb again! I'm sure Nick is much smarter than I was at that age - Alpena is a beautiful place to live, as long as you can shrug off the long winters, and the people up there were good to me. I still have friends up there and somebody I'll get back for a visit, I hope. Nick picked a great place to start the ride, that's for sure.

Small world, right?