Hey Hey

Well, I don't really have anything to say, but I'm writing anyhow.  I am doing well.  Speech class (public communications) is my favorite (yeah, go figure!).  I gave a speech on Wednesday which went well.  It was only 2 minutes, so no big.  :)  I have met so many cool new people...wow.  I could write a list of names, but it would be longer than anyone wants to read.  I have met a bunch of upperclassmen, and have lunch with sophomores and juniors most days.  I love meeting new people.  If I had a dollar for every time I told someone my name, I would be rich.  The funny thing is that there are about 10 Allisons in the freshman class!  I counted 29 on the current student list.  Yeah, it's crazy.  There are also a bunch of Zachs, Emilys, Robs, Lindseys, and Bens.  And a few others.  So weird, but cool and funny too. 

So anyhow, I am doing well and enjoying myself.  My cold is pretty much done, which is nice.  Still a little sniffley, but okay.  My voice is just a bit freaked out, but it's getting better.  Play auditions are next week, and if I do that I have to sing, so I hope it's okay by then.  :) 

This weekend, I am going to...sleep!  Play Nerf wars on Friday, go to a cookout for the Theatre department, and paint canvases with my Life Group.  And probably other fun things, but nothing else planned at the moment. 

Alrighty, I'll post more later...need to get the camera out and get some pictures on here!

"A Healthy Body Is A Guest Chamber For The Soul: A Sick Body Is A Prison"

Thank you, Francis Bacon.  :) 

So, yes, I am sick.  runny nose/cold something.  It's okay, but I have had runny nose in class for two days and all through church.  Yuck.  I slept a lot today, but that's okay, because I feel a lot better!

We're watching Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie in the commons tonight.  Actually in a few minutes...so I have to go.

But, it's going great.  Having a fantabulous time.  Played Nerf Wars with a bunch of people in the music/comm arts building on Saturday, which was the most fun I have had in as long as I can remember.  They do it every Friday night, so I am pretty excited.  :) 

So, that's it for now.  I'll write some more soon.

Union :)

Well, I am at Union.  :)  Today I had breakfast in the cafeteria (which I won't do normally, but it's free during orientation).  It was good.  In our focus (orientation) groups we played a couple of games with another group, and we took some pictures of the freshman class in the gym.  After lunch we took a tour of Jackson to see all the interesting things around here.  We had dinner with our academic department, and I only sat with the business people after realizing that I don't know if there is a difference between "theatre" and "communication arts"...and there were quite a few comm. arts tables, and only three for business.  We had ice cream at the Bowld Commons (it was supposed to be at the President's house, but for some reason they changed it). 

THEN...

At 8:30 we could either play capture the flag or listen/perform at the coffee shop.  I chose to play capture the flag, because I haven't in a long time and running around in the dark and being sneaky sounded fun.  :)  So.  We played two games, the first of which I got behind a row of bushes and crawled through them down the whole side of the building (and pretty much missed the whole game...my side won anyhow).  We had the "from TN" group and the "not from TN" group, which ended up being about equal.  (probably 25-35 people on each team)

For the second game, we traded sides, and mine was at the fountain (our flag was "hidden" on top of the fountain).  I got put in jail, after faking that I was on the other team while hanging out at the neutral road.  I got into their side, but I was with two other people and someone from our team busted us (can't imagine why, but that's okay).  Someone got in without actually being tagged and sent the whole team on a jailbreak, which was fabulous.  I went back to the neutral place and headed around the back of a building (which was across a big field).  Once safely on the other side, I stood near the building and pretended to be watching for other people (from that TN team!).  There were a few, and I'd act like I was going to tag them and then tell them I was on their team...I don't think they believed me, but hey.  I guess I faked good enough for no one to tag me!  I stayed there for a good long while, and then they said they were going to "change tactics" (and by this time they all thought I was on their team...besides the people guarding the jail, whom I stayed away from!).  They traded who was guarding what and I went for a "guard the flag" position (I knew roughly where it was).  I found where the flag was, and hung out there at least 10 minutes, with a few other people guarding with me.  I had a nice chat with a girl on the other team (and later apologized for lying that I was on her team!)  There was a guy trying to get at the flag (thank you!!) and they kept trying to get him, leaving me guarding the flag.  :)  About the third time no one was watching, I grabbed the flag (a t-shirt) and stuffed it in my shirt.  I stood there a minute, and then edged back around the row of bushes to where I had been "watching around the building".  I pretended to see someone coming, went over...and ran around the building, crossed the field and headed past the neutral place over to the fountain...just as someone was stealing our flag.  People started chasing him, and I said "hey, the game's over...I have their flag!!"  :) :)  I accidentally dropped it in the fountain, and then took it back to the other team.  I walked up with their wet flag and said "game over, the Tennessee girl has your flag!"  It was awesome.  I'm now the "crazy double agent girl".  Haha.  "She's a spy!"

So, that's my big exciting thing that happened today.  It's going great!  I have most of my things where they will stay.  I've talked to everyone I knew before getting here, and lots of people I didn't know beforehand. 

Well, there's another full day ahead tomorrow...

To Union...and beyond!

Okey dokey...here's what I'm up to:

This summer after England I worked for the Tennessee Arts Academy at Belmont University for a week and a half.  That was fun...getting a taste of office work and running errands all over campus...and getting to see a few performances.  :)  It was great.  I also babysat quite a bit.  I've babysat pretty regularly for the same family for 3 years now, and they have just moved to Charleston, SC, this week.  My whole family came over one night and brought pizza and helped them pack boxes, which was interesting.  We haven't moved since before I was born, so none of us know how it works!  But I think we got a lot of good work done...there were lots of new packed boxes, anyhow.  :) 

I am going to Union University this fall and am majoring in business administration with a management emphasis, and minoring in theatre.  :)  I am moving in on Friday for orientation and classes start on Tuesday.  I have three roommates, who all sound like great people and really fun girls.  I am so excited!  I've been looking forward to college for as long as I can remember...we'll see if it stands up to the expectations!  :)  I know I have a bunch of new blue things for my (my own!!) room. 

I don't know when my next "identity" will come along.  (identity = new character to breathe life into on stage ;) )  I haven't been on stage since May, and I am so ready!  I can't wait until I'm good and "used to" college so I can be in a show!!  (that sounds stupid, but I really want to be in a show!)  I'll have to come back home and see all the shows I'm not in because I'm at college.  Arsenic and Old Lace, The Sound of Music, and White Christmas are on the list...  :)

Ooh, I got my braces off today!  Awesome possum!  I got them on on December 10, 2008, so it's been about a year and a half.  Now maybe people will stop telling me I look 15!!  (Well...I guess there aren't many 15 year olds at college...)

 So, for the next couple of days I'll be running my feet off trying to get everything ready to leave.  I know, I spend too much time planning and thinking and making lists, and now I have to actually do the "to do" list!!  It has to happen sometime...before Friday. 

Over and out...  ;)

Chicago

Alrighty...it's been way too long since this happened to be just now writing about it...but here goes:

This is what was supposed to happen:
leave Wells at 7, get to the London airport around 10.
leave London airport around 11:50
arrive Chicago airport at 3 (local time)
leave Chicago airport at 6:30
arrive Nashville airport at 8.
go home. go to sleep.  (body clock says 2 am)

This is what actually happened (as far as I can remember...it's close):
Left Wells around 7
lots of traffic later, arrived at London airport around 11:15.  Said goodbye to the wonderful Paynes.

Checked in, walked what seemed like 5 miles to the gate, got on plane

Thought I was going to be next to an Indian-looking man, but he ended up moving to be with his kids and I was next to a lovely older lady from England who spends quite a bit of time in America (they have a house in both places, I think).  She was very nice.

The flight was 9 hours, and I read, watched TV, listened to the radio, looked out the window and the amazing sky, and took pictures.  :)  Alice in Wonderland was on, and I watched it (or most of it) three times.  I had never seen it before, and the screen was a 5 inch square, and it was hard to hear, so I watched it every time it came on until I actually understood what was going on.  :)

So...arrived at Chicago around 3:15.  Re-checked in, gave luggage to the right people, headed for the gate so I would know where it was, and then I would go get some food. 

Well, I got to the gate and got a drink, then they said my flight was delayed.  Okay.  Apparently there was a storm starting up.  Then they started cancelling flights right and left, and I was paranoid that they would cancel mine or that I would miss something important if I left the gate for long.  Every time someone would speak over the loud speaker, I was so afraid that they would cancel my flight!  But they just delayed it over and over.  It was supposed to leave at 6:30, then it was delayed to 8, then 8:50, then 9:30, 10:45, 11:50, 12:05...

All this time I was so paranoid that I couldn't leave the gate long enough to really get some food, so I was mighty hungry.  And my body clock was at 2 am...so I was super sleepy.  I had to keep doing something...keep moving...so I wouldn't fall asleep!  Luckily, the big board with info on my flight was right next to the gate, so I just sat by it.  I had read all of my book on the plane (and purposefully stayed awake so I could get to sleep when I got home), so I didn't have anything to do!!  I read my program from Wicked, played solitaire, doodled in my notebook and drew random mindless pictures.  My laptop battery had died (don't know why, since it was fully charged that morning), and I didn't have a way to contact home other than a pay phone or borrowing someone else's.  And I didn't want to borrow a phone and call home every time they delayed because I still didn't really know anything new. 

They changed the gate twice, and said that as soon as the passengers got off we could board.  And it was taking forever...and then they said our flight was cancelled.  This was about midnight.  Everyone rushed to the customer service desk, which then decided to close ("we've been here a long time and we're going home...see ya tomorrow...").  There was only one open desk, so I stood in line for it for about two hours.  I was actually pacing next to the line...body clock was on 6 am, so I'd basically stayed up all night, and night was just starting.  Sick.  I was literally falling asleep standing up.  It was awful.  I finally got up to the desk, and they said there were no seats free for a flight to Nashville, and all they could do was put me on standby for one leaving at 7.  I said okay, knowing I probably wouldn't get on, since there were 30 people on standby ahead of me. 

The desk actually closed  right after I got through.  One person behind me was helped, but after that everyone working just left.  they said someone new would be there at 2:30 (in 30 minutes).  Everyone was totally exhausted and grumpy...there were way too many angry people there!!  It was really crowded anyhow, but the fact that everyone was tired and grouchy made it worse. 

So, after getting through the desk and being put on standby for a flight, I actually saw the lady I had been next to on the plane over.  She was going to Atlanta, but got stuck in the same mess as everyone else.  She took me to the Starbucks down the hall and bought me a coffee (at 2:30 in the morning!), and then we parted ways.  I tried a "pay computer" (like a pay phone) to email home.  It was $5 for 15 minutes of internet.  It took so long to send (for some unknown reason) that I ran out of time and had to buy another 15 minutes (when I only needed 5). 

Then I found a chair at the standby gate and dozed for about 2 hours.  I woke up to a lady asking if I was going to Nashville, and when I said yes she said my flight was cancelled.  So...I got back in line!  With everyone else.  It wasn't as long as before, but not many people were back (from where ever they were sleeping) because it was 4:30 in the morning.  Someone said the desk employees should be there at 5, but it was 5:50 before anyone came. 

I think it was about 6:30 when I got to the desk.  They put me on a flight to Charlotte, NC, with a connecting flight to Nashville.  I checked in at that gate and they told me the connecting flight was only five minutes after the arrival time of the first flight, so I'd miss the flight to Nashville. 
So...back to the line.  It wasn't too long (about 30 minutes) until I got back up to the counter.  They kept me on the same flight to Charlotte, but gave me a different connecting flight.  Okay.
That flight was delayed, so I had time to get breakfast (yea for McDonalds!).  I boarded around 9:45 and left Chicago!!  :) 

I got to Charlotte around 11:30 (I think), got some Starbucks (love the marble pound cake!), and went to the gate.  It was a nice airport, especially after Chicago.  :)  I waited there for half an hour or so until boarding time to Nashville.

I arrived in Nashville at 1:29pm.  It was insane.  I was so tired, and hungry, and my luggage was who knows where.  We waited around to see if my luggage had come on the next flight (from Chicago), but it hadn't, so we left our number at the luggage desk and left around 2:30.  :(  That was sad because I had a bunch of gifts and stuff I wanted to show everyone, but it was all gone.  I knew I would get it back, but I didn't know when.  It made it really anti-climactic. 

So, we went to Taco Bell and got some lunch.  Then we went home, and I didn't go to sleep right away, because I wanted to wait for a decent time.  I think I lasted until 6:30...maybe it was later...I don't know.  I was falling asleep on the couch, so I decided to go to bed.  :)

The next day we went to a farm in Kentucky to shuck corn and have some fun seeing friends.  We left around 9, and dad called at 9:30 and said the guy who runs lost luggage home had brought mine.  Yea!

So...that's about it for my Chicago experience.  Can't say I'm longing to go back, although I'm sure Chicago really isn't all that bad, and there are great things in that city (if not in the airport!).

New Design

Look what a great picture I found for a background!!!!  It was so great that I decided to change the look of my blog.  And no, unfortunately, I did not take this picture.  :( 

So, I promise I'll update soon...hopefully this week!  Life is crazytown.  :)

Almost the End

So, my trip to England is almost over.  Wow.  I don't even know what to say.  London was so wonderful.  Wells is so wonderful.  They are so different, but both so English!  I still have to go back and fill in some things, like Bath, but I thought I should write tonight...my last night in England.  It was wonderful...I went to town with Mrs. Marilyn and we went in some shops, then had tea.  Then she went to run some more errands and home to make phone calls and I wandered around the village a bit more.  It is really small...if I knew the way I could walk from one end of it to the other in a day...probably less.  The other day we went to Glastonbury and went up on the "tor", which is the "legendary burial place of King Arthur".  (that's the tower in the picture post)  From the top where the tower was you could see Wells...six miles away!

Anyhow, after wandering the shops a bit I went back to the house and left a couple things I had bought and headed out to the fields.  There's a great footpath right down the road (it leads right into the city) with a field beside it (the picture of close-up grass with field in the background).  I went through the field instead of the paved walkway, and then got an ice cream cone and started out on the little path which actually leads to the next village.  It's a big open field with a little paved path through it.  I went a ways down that (I could still see the gate back into Wells) and then sat under a big tree for a while and wrote in my journal.  Then I headed back to town and went in a bunch more shops.  I got a lovely black with white polkadots dress and some earrings before I decided I should go home before I buy anything else!! 

So, I came home, called some people, watered the grass (just got new sod), and had dinner (great rice with "spanish chicken" sauce and veggies), watered the garden, had dessert (biscuits with clotted cream and strawberries!) and just emailed and such until now. 

Tomorrow: leaving here at 7:30, arriving at the London airport around 10, plane leaves at 12:20, arrive Chicago around 3:30, leave Chicago around 6:15, arrive Nashville about 8.  Sleep.  :)

^^The Cemetery in Oxford where we ate lunch^^

Isn't it gorgeous??

Bath: The Prologue

We went to Bath today.  It was great.  So pretty.  I'll have to write a big long post on it, but right now i am sleepy and need to go to bed so I can go wander the countryside tomorrow.  Open fields, big trees, tall grass, my journal, and a good book...sounds like bliss.  If only I had a horse and buggy...  :)

Wells

Just some pictures from Wells.  I am in love.

In Love With This Day

 "I am in love with this day!" ~India Mayer (6-17-10)

Today was good and sad.  Lillie and Mrs. Shepherd left us at 8:00, and we had breakfast and headed to the market around 9:15.  We spent a while at the market (LOVE markets!) and then Mr. D and I went back to the hotel to get my luggage and go to Paddington station.  We got to Paddington and I bought some flowers for the Paynes (they look lovely on the table...sitting in a teapot with some other flowers from their garden!!) and hopped on the train at 12:20.  The train pulled out of the station at 12:35 (so close to 12:40!!).  It was sad to be leaving London, but I will be going back there to the airport, so it's not goodbye yet.  :)  And I was glad about the lovely ride through the beautiful countryside and staying with the Paynes.  The land is so gorgeous! I could be here a whole month every summer and never get tired of it!! 

Anyhow, when I got off the train at Castle Cary I turned around and Mr. Payne was standing right there!  How perfect!  So, we drove through Castle Cary (they actually live in Wells, which is a little way from the station).  We went by their son's house, which is enchanting.  It used to be an old mill, so it is just wonderful, plus there is a huge field right out the front door and a lovely garden where their son is getting married in a few weeks!  We had a cup of tea and looked around a bit before heading home.  We put together some lunch and took it to the cathedral green.  It was a lovely walk, and there is a castle-type building (that I just forgot the name of!) with a moat around it!!  It is just a *perfect* English countryside town. 

We ate on the green (big open field/courtyard) and then Mrs. Payne and I went to Evensong at the cathedral.  There was a boy's choir, which was wonderful.  After that we wandered around the town a little, looking at shops (which were all closed, but we looked in the windows) and almost going to a coffee shop, but it was closed.  The city is called Wells because there are little springs everywhere that used to be wells.  There is a kind of drainage path/moat thing in the sidewalk for the water that is constantly running through the city. 

So, we had dinner and watched a Hercule Poirot (written by Agatha Christie...I know, I sound like a broken record...) movie.  I had some strawberries with meringue and clotted cream...**love**.

Tomorrow we're going to church, then there is a lunch at the church, then I'm not sure what we'll do.  I think we may go to Bath, but there's several options of things to do around here and I'm not doing well at keeping them straight!  :)  Night!

The V&A, Burrough Market, Dickens House, and High Tea

Today we left the hotel at 9:30 and headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum (museum of art and design).  The kids were in charge today so we had to figure out all the tube stops and such, as the parents weren't talking!  (they did help some later in the day, because we changed our route a bit) 

The V&A was pretty amazing.  We looked around a tiny bit waiting to start an introductory tour.  The guide talked for fifteen minutes about one rug, and then took us to a painting and talked about herself and the museum and the painting for at least fifteen minutes, so we decided to abandon the tour and look around for ourselves.  We went in the fashion exhibit, which was wonderful.  So many beautiful clothes!!  After that we went upstairs to the jewelry, which was incredible.  They had a whole bunch of pocket watches that all had so much detail I just wanted to stare at them for...a long time.  Then me and Lillie went in the Japan exhibit, and then we went up to the theatre and performance exhibit.  **LOVE**  We didn't have much time, so it was pretty whistle-stop, but good.  The theatre part had a bunch of costumes set up from tons of different shows.  It made me show-sick (you know, like homesick, but for shows!).

When we left the museum we went to the Burrough market and got lunch.  The plan was to eat there and shop some, but the whole thing (as far as we could tell) was food.  So, we just got some lunch and then headed toward the Dickens house.  I got a sandwich with some kind of French sausage on it. 

The Dickens house was cool.  The first thing we did was watch a thirty-minute movie about Dickens, and I nodded off a bit.  I was sitting on the floor in the corner of the wall and a cabinet!!  Apparently Mr. D was nodding too, and India, Tim, Mary Beth, and Lillie were laughing at him.  Mary Beth's chair was right beside-in front of me, Tim was standing between Mary Beth's chair and the wall, and a guy was sitting in a chair smack in front, so I was a bit pinned in the corner.  Haha.

After the Dickens house we had high tea at a fancy hotel.  It. Was. Awesome.  Tea, scones with clotted cream and fruit preserves, tea cakes, carrot spice cake with lemon icing, and little sandwiches (ham and mustard, cucumber, egg salad, and smoked salmon).  It was...Heaven.  BTW, clotted cream is the best thing in the world!!  It's like whipped cream but the consistency of butter...wow-ness. 

We sat around and talked a while after tea and then headed back to the hotel.  We spent the evening repacking for tomorrow and just hanging out.  We went down to the lounge and had some pizza around 9:30 and talked about what our favorite part of the trip was. 

Tomorrow Lillie and Mrs. Shepherd are leaving around 8, and the rest of us are going to the Portabello Street market for a while.  I have to be at the train station around 12, so I guess we'll come back and get luggage before then.  I am taking a train out to Castle Cary to meet the Paynes, and the Durhams, India, and Mary Beth are taking a later train to Paris.  Should be fun!

Oxford

Today we went to Oxford.  We left the hotel at 9:00 and took the tube to Paddington (!).  From Paddington we took a train to Oxford, which took about an hour and fifteen minutes.  I was kind of sleepy (yeah, what else is new!), so I slept a bit and read my new Agatha Christie book.  Near the end we talked to a British lady sitting across from me. 

When we got to Oxford we started out for the Blackwell's bookshop, which is apparently pretty famous and Lewis and Tolkien would have bought books there.  It was enormous...it looked tiny from the outside, but when we went in the staircases went in every direction.  We went up to the fourth floor to the used book section, which was amazing.  I got another Agatha Christie (The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side), and some of the others got some old books.  They had hundred year old books for 2 pounds!!  But the fun really began on the trip down...

The lift (elevator) had an 8 person limit, and since we have 8 people in our group, we all got on.  And...it got stuck on the way down!  We had just started down from the fourth floor (which is like our fifth), and it jolted and stopped.  It was really hot in there, and we were really close together.  We started pushing the bell button and nobody answered, so we started banging on the door and yelling, and nobody answered for a few minutes.  Someone finally came and said they had to go get a key and turn something off and back on, and that it would be five to ten minutes!  We'd already been in there for at least five minutes!  It was really hot, and we just laughed a lot.  They finally got the door open and the ceiling of the third floor was about waist high and they had a little step ladder for us to get down.  The guy in charge offered us drinks for free in their coffee shop, but as we were heading out for lunch we didn't take him up on that.  It was quite the adventure. 

We got lunch at the tiniest little place I've ever been.  It was incredibly efficient.  I got a ham, mozzarella and tomato paninni.  We took our lunches and went to find a park-ish place to sit and eat.  There was none where we thought we were going, so we ended up eating in a graveyard.  Weird, I know.  Charles Williams (one of the Inklings and friend of Lewis) is buried there, and the guy who wrote The Wind in the Willows, whose name I can't remember at present.  It was a lovely place with shady trees, small clearings and tall grass.  I took a bunch of pictures.  It really was beautiful. 

We went punting on the river, which is the Thames but under a different name.  It was lovely.  We went round an island kind of thing where some school kids (high school equivalent) were playing "football".  We saw some who were either rehearsing for a play or auditioning, but I thought they were auditioning.  In their suits out under huge trees...what a fabulous idea!!  It was very beautiful.

We did a walking "tour" of Oxford, sort of.  We just got a pamphlet that told us about things and Mr. D led us around and talked about it.  It was great to see all those places.  We saw some of Oxford college, and two or three others that I can't remember the names of.  We saw places where Lewis taught and Tolkien taught and went to school.  It was wonderful. 

We had supper at the Eagle and Child, where the Inklings met to discuss their works.  It was fantabulous.  I got "Lincolnshire Whirl", which I had no idea what it was.  It only said what it was made with and what came with it, but not what it actually was!  It was a pile of mashed potatoes with little onion "rings" on top and a big (but thin) sausage wrapped up like a cinnamon bun!  It came with a bowl of gravy, and was amazing. 

After dinner we just hopped back on the train and headed home!  When we got back we had a pow-wow about tomorrow, as the kids are planning it.  We sat around in the lounge for a while and figured things out. 

Tomorrow: a walk through Hyde Park (again...unless we take the tube), the Victoria and Albert museum, The Burroghs Market, The Charles Dickens house, and High Tea at a fancy hotel.

pictures

just added pics to the "a day in pictures" post...hope that will satisfy until I can get more on here, hopefully tomorrow!!

Trafalgar, National Gallery, The Globe, St. Paul's, and Hyde Park...on Jetlag!

So I have never been so sleepy as I was today.  Never.  Ever.  When I stood up I thought I might fall over, and when I sat down I only lasted a few seconds without nodding off!  That is not the way to see the National Gallery, or hear Evensong at St. Paul's cathedral.  That said, here's what we did today:

9:00...leaving for the National Gallery.  Took the tube (underground) and got off near Trafalgar Square, where we took pictures with the lions.  :)  That was great.  It was an...interesting...climb to get up there, but we made it!  That was really hilarious...us trying to climb up.  Everyone around was laughing at us. 

The National Gallery (art museum) is right on the Square, so that's where we went next.  I was too sleepy to really enjoy it, but I did see the original painting of Van Gogh's sunflowers, and a few others I recognized.  The place is immense.  There were a bunch of school groups there, some as young as Lexie, I thought!  There was a guy leading one group who was really fun to listen to. He knew how to make it interesting!  And I have officially decided that little kids with British accents are about the cutest thing I ever heard!!

We left the Gallery and got some lunch at a pub just off Covent Gardens.  It was really nice.  I had broccoli and cheddar soup with garlic bread. 

After lunch we actually split up!  Mrs. Becky and I went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and the others went to the Westley House.  I haven't heard all about the House, but I think it was great.  The Globe was nice.  We couldn't actually go inside the theatre because a showing of Macbeth was going on.  They have shows in the afternoons because it is open-air and using the sunlight is just what they did at the original Globe.  However, they also do evening shows because we have electricity.  :)  We did a walking tour and went to the site of the original Globe and saw the remains of the Rose Theatre, the Globe's right-next-door rival.  (the "a rose by any other name" bit was a jab at the Rose Theatre's sewage which apparently stunk to high Heaven!).  The Rose remains are under a great big modern building.  The remains were found during construction, and there was such a big fuss about not ruining them that the only way the new building could be built was on the condition that the remains remained intact ("remains remained"...I don't know...).  It's actually under a bit of water, and the remains are marked with rope lights.  The guide told us a bunch about the theatre of the time and why it was built the was it was.  It was quite informative.  :)  So, I have walked where William Shakespeare walked and seen where he performed (he performed at the Rose).  Epic.  :)

After the Globe we walked across a bridge over the Thames and met the others at St. Paul's for the Evensong service.  It is HUGE!!  And so ornate and gorgeous!!  The choir was a men's choir, and when they started singing the halls echoed beautifully.  It was so awesome, and I was nodding off every time we sat down!  Grr...  It was a 45-minute service, and it was really beautiful.  I hated to be falling asleep...but when you're sitting down after just being so sleepy you "can't stand it!" all day and this wonderful men's choir is singing the same repetitious tune for 10 minutes straight while the halls echo with the music...no matter how great it is or how much you like it you just can't stay awake. 

So, we left the cathedral and headed for a much-needed tea.  I got coffee, actually, and a big blueberry muffin (...I wanted the chocolate muffin, but Mary Beth and India got the last two! haha.).  That was nice.  We talked for a while about what we want to do on Friday.  The kids are planning Friday, so we can make sure we know how the tube and everything works and so we can see whatever we really don't want to miss and haven't already covered. 

After that we went to get some dinner to take to a park (we talked for a long time, so it wasn't really eating right after eating, and "eating" with tea is just a muffin or such).  I got...don't kill me!...McDonald's!!  I really wanted to see if it was different, and it was right down the street from Pret A Manger (that's French) where everyone else was getting something (we've been there twice before today, so I knew I wasn't missing anything I just had to have...and we'll probably go there again anyhow).  So McD's was really different.  I don't really know what it was, but the meat and cheese tasted much different.  The meat was definitely higher-quality tasting, I think.  Very interesting...

Tim and Mary Beth (and India) played some "football" with three little boys at a park where we ate.  Then we walked through Hyde Park to get home.  We took some pictures at a courtyard with fountains.  The park is so lovely!!  It's huge, and it's mostly walking paths in the middle of big fields of grass and trees.  It really is so beautiful.  Haha!!  I just remembered that I have flowers from the park in my hair!  Pretty blue flowers...

So, we got back to the hotel and I've been trying to get myself up to date with journaling and pictures and all. 

Tomorrow: Taking a train from Paddington Station (!) to Oxford (!!), probably taking a C.S. Lewis tour (!!!) and eating at the Eagle and Child (aka "bird and baby", where the Inklings met) (!!!!).  So excited.  I don't know when we're getting back or if we're doing anything else, but I am super excited!!!!!  (...as I"m sure you gather from all my !!!!!!'s)  :)

~Westminster and Wicked~

Alright, I got the pictures sorted out, and I'll try to get them on here tomorrow.  I am plum tuckered out tonight!!  I'm sleepy and the battery is running down, so this will be short and sweet. 

This morning we went to Westminster Abbey.  They don't allow pictures in there, regrettably, so I can't show you the inside.  :(  I have some pics of the outside though.  :)  It was A-Mazing.  There are so many tombs and monuments in there! You can't walk through the building without walking over people's graves.  I stood on the graves of William Wilberforce, William Pitt, Charles Darwin, Lewis Carroll, and Gorge Frederick Handel.  And lots of others, but I can't remember all of them.  Some were worn away so much from people walking on them that they couldn't be read.  There were monuments to Jane Austin, William Shakespeare, and Isaac Newton (and many more!).  We spent almost 3 hours in there...there's really that much to see!  I walked across the path to where sovereigns have been crowned for hundreds of years (Elizabeth II was crowned there).  Wow-ness.  There is so much history in there it is unbelievable.  When you walk in you just think of all the thousands of people who have been there and their huge impact on the world.  Mary and Elizabeth Tudor (and I think their brothers, Henry and Edward) are buried there.  It's insane. 

Anyhow, after Westminster we grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel.  We ate in the hotel lounge, and then we had about 4 hours to rest and get ready to see Wicked. 

We had dinner at a lovely French place right near the theatre.  I got "lemon and herb chicken" with salad and french fries (under an alias!), and creme brulee for dessert.  Wow...goodness. 

Wicked was wonderful.  I was so happy...I cried a little.  :)  It wasn't from just pure happiness, but still.  Rachel Tucker was Elphaba and Louise Dearmann was Glinda, if you want to Youtube them.  :)  The costumes are **amazing** and the choreography is spectacular, not to mention the acting and singing...

Alrighty...that's about it.  Tomorrow: A museum, I think, and one or two other things.  We didn't really decide what we are doing and the adults talked about it after we came upstairs, and I don't remember what the options were!!  I just need to sleep...LOVE!

An Interesting Day

Today: London Eye, River Cruise down the Thames, Tower of London, (Starbucks!), Herrod's, and The Prince of Wales (Pub). 

This morning we set out for the London Eye while the weather was clear and beautiful.  We got there and climbed aboard the ever-moving, Ferris wheel-like observation wheel.  It was...wow.  We could see FOREVER!!  The sky was wonderfully clear and I took so many pictures (you'll see some soon, I hope!).  It took about 30 minutes to make the full loop. 

After that we went to ride the river "cruise" that came free with the bus tour tickets.  On the way across the bridge we met a guy playing bagpipes and I took a picture with him.  He asked where we were from and when I told him he started playing Auld Lang Syne!! 

The cruise was a open boat ride down the Thames with a guide who told us what we were looking at.  It had gotten really cold and somewhat windy and sprinkly, so it was a little rough.  We saw lots of places on the hour long trip!!  We went from the Eye to the Tower Bridge.

We left the boat and got some lunch right near the Tower of London.  It was fish and chips, but they were "a little less authentic then we could get", according to Mrs. Becky.  I spent way too long trying to find change so I could use the loo :) and everyone was half done when I got to order mine.  Then they guy was just making a new batch so I had to wait for it.  Then it was super-duper hot so I couldn't eat fast now that everyone else was done!!  Then we noticed what time it was and that we had five minutes to get to the Tower for a tour...so I just took it with me and ate (most of) it on the way. 

The Tower was spectacular.  The tour was an hour long, and the guide was hilarious.  We saw the place where the prisoners were executed, the chapel, the white tower (the original tower), and the crown jewels!  The jewels were insanely beautiful and mostly quite impractical.  :)  We went in the white tower, where prisoners were held in the upper part and "officially tortured" in the lower part.  There was, apparently, "official" torture and "unofficial" torture!  Crazy.  The tower is like a museum, with tons of armour and weapons.  The lower level is a gift shop!  The guide said "the only thing burning down there now will be your wallet!"  

After the tower we went across the street to Starbucks and hung out a bit while deciding what to do next.  We were thinking about going to evensong, but they weren't having it.  We ended up going to Herrod's, which is, it seems, THE store to visit in London.  "If you only visit one store in London, you have to make it Herrod's, even if it is just to look."  It was pretty massive.  Five floors of anything you could want at way too high a price!!  But I did find a book...Murder on the Orient Express...and yes, that IS Agatha Christie, so I had to get it.  It wasn't too pricey.  :) :)

After that we went to the Prince of Wales Pub.  Wow.  I always knew I loved English pubs!  It was so lovely.  Funny, though, for some reason they didn't bring my food (fish and chips again...I was hoping for the real deal...and got it!) until everyone was almost finished!  Then it was piping hot, so I couldn't eat it fast.   (sound familiar??)Then everyone was done and just sitting around talking, which was fine, but eventually everyone but Mr. D went back to the hotel.  He stayed until I finished and then we walked back to the hotel.

So...that's about it!  It was fabulous, and I really have to get to sleep now...

Tomorrow: Westminster Abbey, A Museum (British Museum, National Gallery, or both, and maybe something else), rest at the hotel and then...Wicked!!  :)

A Day In Pictures

Alright, the pictures are being stupid again, so I'll just write this for now and put them on here when I get a minute. 

~~6-13-10~~

In the morning: the market. It's mostly just on Saturday, but some vendors were out on Sunday. They said it was only a tiny bit of the Saturday market. :( But it was really cool. There were all sorts of things for sale. One guy tried to sell me some Agatha Christie books (which I had been looking for anyhow), but they cost 40 pounds!! that's around 60 dollars. They were rare old copies, but I told him that I would have to get a copy I could read instead of one that had to sit on the shelf. :)

Went to Paddington Station to get tickets for the bus tour. Really cool place, that. There IS a 12:40 from Paddington, just like in And Then There Were None!! That made my day...so far. We walked to Trafalgar Square and had lunch in a place across the street. A-mazing.

On the bus tour we saw:

Big Ben/Houses of Parliament

The London Eye

St. Paul's Cathedral

The Tower Bridge

The Tower of London

Buckingham Palace

Hyde Park

Westminster Abbey

Trafalgar Square

And lots of other really cool things. All from the open top deck of a double decker bus!! It was incredible.

 

In the middle of the bus tour (you could get on and off at frequent stops) we went to Buckingham Palace, had tea, met an Austrian Nun (Sister Alberta) who had just spoken at Speakers Corner, went to Speakers Corner, and walked through Hyde Park a bit. Then we went to Church at Holy Trinity. That was quite interesting.

{speakers corner}

{Holy Trinity}

Then we had dinner at an Italian place (I know, Italian again! But it was fantabulous), and then went back to the hotel and crashed!

Tomorrow: London Eye, River "Cruise", the Tower of London.

A little note:

After rummaging through several hundred pictures, I am falling asleep in the middle of it and will do my "A Day In Pictures" post about today tomorrow...hopefully in the morning before I go get another xxxx amount of pictures!! And I'll add pics to the first posts that have been going without.

Great day today, and the jet lag is pretty non-existant for me right now. I woke up this morning and just started running. It's really good that I'm tired because it is bed time!! See y'all tomorrow...

In London

Alright...

Left the hotel at 6. Shuttled to airport, through security (Tim got his bag searched through by an intensely strict lady because of toothpaste!), got some breakfast, boarded plane at 7:40.

The plane was HUGE. I was by Tim, who was by India, and Mary Beth was across the aisle on the same row. Mr. D was 5 rows ahead of me. All the flight attendants had British accents!! They were really cheerful and helpful and efficient. We had "Brunch" which consisted of Lasanga (either that or sesame seed chicken), orange juice, mango and passionfruit cheesecake (with chocolate chips on top), watermelon and grapes, a roll with butter, and a chocolate square. And hot tea (or coffee). I did not have the orange juice, or the cheesecake (which was in a little cup like jello). Orange juice and lasagna?? Uhhh...no.

Anyhow, the flight was about 6 hours, I think. I watched movies some, listened to opera (in French I think), slept...probably too much, watched people, and beat Tim at cards. :) We also had a snack (first introduced as "afternoon tea"). It was some interesting looking pasta, apple juice, a ham and cheese wrap, a kit-kat, and our choice of cold and/or hot drink. I only ate some of the wrap and the chocolate, and had ginger ale and hot tea (not at the same time!).

There were a few times when we had a fair amount of turbulence, but it wasn't scary. The flight was great. I wasn't going to sleep, but the chairs were so comfortable (and I was listening to opera!) that is just kind of happened.

So. Arrived at the airport and went to customs. We went through as a group (all except India, who went to a different desk before the lady told us to go together), and the man at the desk said that since we were under 21 Mr. D should have had a signed letter from our parents, but he gave us our stamps and let us go through anyhow.

We got our luggage (which arrived when we did) and headed for the tube station. We rode two tubes (picture the kids in the beginning of Prince Caspian!!) and then walked a block to the hotel. Dropped stuff in our rooms and went to eat.

Ate at a lovely Italian place. We all got pizza, which was A-mazing. We sat by a window that looks out on the back side of the hotel. Mr. D talked to the staff in Italian, and the people at the table next to us were obviously listening to us talk (turns out they are from Paris, I think!). So, we were there for a while, then we came back and I finally finished finding my way around the room and getting all my crazy things in the right place. My roomie is all tuckered out from staying up all night (she had a different flight, and she got here at lunch time), so I hope I didn't wake her up too much bumping around!! I have to get to sleep soon so I can get up tomorrow...waiting for the ipod to charge enough to trust it as the alarm for the morning. There are a bunch of people in the street right outside the window (we're on the second floor) who are probably drunk and definitely being way too loud.

I think I heard every other language besides ENGLISH on the way here!! Since getting off the plane it's been crazy...I think I hear French most, but since I don't understand any of it I could be wrong. I did hear a few English accents. :) :)

I haven't really seen much of the land yet. We went past some on the tube, and it's just like Mary Poppins!! All the houses joined together...I can imagine Polly and Digory romping through the attic tunnels!! So awesome. I can come up with more and better descriptions, but I'm trying to hurry and get to sleep...

Tomorrow: hotel breakfast at 8, church at 9:30, probably market after that and then a bus tour. We have 24 hours to do the bus tour after we get tickets, so we can stop places and get out and look. We may not start that until Monday, or we may to it over two days.

Okay, so I have to try and go to sleep now...I don't think I'll like getting up in the morning, but hey, it has to happen some time, right?? :)

In Boston:

Okay, this will be fast and furious...and slightly vague. Comment if you're confused (or curious) and I'll clear you up. :)

Arrived at airport at 4:00. Flight to Chicago cancelled because of Chicago weather. We are re-routed to DC to Boston, and then London.

Flew to DC. Sat by Tim. He drew in a coloring book and I read some. Talked about Fiddler (I had pictures) and where we've travelled and the civil war a bit. Arrived in DC and left a half hour later for Boston.

Flew to Boston. Sat with Farah from Bangladesh on plane. Really nice hour and a half chat. :) She's 17 and just graduated high school, spending time with family in Los Angeles (had lunch in Anaheim yesterday!) and Boston.

Arrived in Boston. Took shuttle..the all-to-familiar 15 passenger van. :) And the driver was crazy! Sat by India, talked about tour last year.

At hotel (like, 9.5 of 10 on the niceness scale!). India, Mary Beth and I are in a room together...I got the couch (very intentially!).

Luggage is apparently going to London before we are, so I have backpack with laptop and other non-useful-in-odd-circumstances things.

Going to bed so I can leave at 5:45 to get to the airport for 7:30 (local time!)boarding to London. We should get to London at about 7:00pm (or 18:00).

Tomorrow: London or bust!!

To Bring You Up To Date:

So. School ended May 3, and I dove into the reprise production of And Then There Were None with Consider This Productions (CTP). Consider This was founded by Barry Hardy, who taught drama at school last year and directed the play last fall. Anyhow, Jonathan and I were in it in the same roles as in the fall and I was also the assistant director of both casts and did makeup for CTP. Fun times. We did three shows of our reprised cast and then had more rehearsals for the CTP cast. We did six shows of the CTP cast (two weekends), but with a bit of a twist. The morning of the second to last show, Mr. Barry called me and said that the lady who played Emily Brent (the Bible-thumping, holier-than-thou, young-people-are-disgusting lady) had had a death in the family and would not be able to do the last two shows. He said he was trying to think of who could do it or even how to cut it from the script. I said there's no way you can cut it...I'll do it. :) Now, you have to understand that I am the one who always knows everything that happens during any show. Especially with this show, which we'd already done last fall and then had a two weekend run. If you just stopped the show anywhere I could tell you either what the next line was or who said it, but usually both. Everyone always makes fun of me for knowing everyone else's part, but hey, it sure came in handy! :) So, I played Emily Brent for two shows. It was...interesting...but really cool. I happened to be babysitting that day, so I had to learn the part and watch kids...craziness. I let them watch TV and play in the tent in the backyard all day, but their mom knew and was okay with it. :) So, after that ended (which was May 29) attention went to my graduation on June 5. It was crazy, but in the end it was a great day. I have a picture I'll put on here (yeah right...famous last words!). But anyhow, the big reason for updating (besides not doing it in FOREVER and just wanting to) is that I am going to LONDON!! Leaving Friday, arriving Saturday (June 12) and coming back June 23. It's a group of 8, all homeschool kids and parents. The guy in charge played Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof in January. It's him and his (real) wife :) and son and another girl who was in Fiddler and another girl and her mom and one more girl! That sounds awful. I could have written that better...but I'll get pics of everyone and say "this is so-and-so"...you know. So, three parents, five kids...one boy and four girls. That can suffice for now. :) After everyone else leaves London for either home or Paris, I am going to stay with Mr. and Mrs. Payne at their house in Wells, which is about two hours from London. And yes, that't the David Payne Drama Paynes. :) Should be great. So, I'll update while in London...that is if I can get online, so hopefully the not-being-able-to-get-online plague will not follow me there. :) Check back!!

David Payne Drama Rides Again!

Well, we got here last night (Saturday) and I could NOT get the computer to get online!! RAWR!! That happened to me all last summer, and I was hoping the plague wouldn't follow me here, but it did. Fortunately, I decided to try it in the lobby, and it worked! So now I'm in the breakfast room watching the steady stream of people check in at the counter on the other side of the glass doors. Anyhow, here's the story of the weekend: I went for rehearsal with Mr. Payne in the morning before we left at 1:00. It was a lovely 4-hour drive, and we had lunch at...drumroll for LWW tour friends...SUBWAY in a Pilot!! The girl working there said it was her second day, so she was understandably slow, but it was the most wonderfully strategic sandwich I've ever had! :) Really, it was very good, and the girl was doing very well for her second day. We arrived at the hotel at about 4:30 (TN time), checked in, and went to dinner. This is a lovely hotel, nice, it's big and clean...and they have a great breakfast! We ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday, which was amazing. I got a chicken parmisan pasta dish, and it was sooooo good! It was a thouroughly enjoyable evening. ;) We left the house at 7:00 (GA time) this morning to get to the church. We had a sound check set at 8, which ended up being about 8:15. They have two services, a contemporary and a traditional (Presbyterian). The first service was at 9, the second was at 11:15, and we did just a short part of the show as a preview. Those went well. After church we set up. Mr. P had gotten a new backdrop painted, and today was the first time we'd set them up. It took a bit of working out, but it looked great in the end. It's just a sheet of canvas curtain, but it looks like other rooms!! It's really great art. We used some of the church's chairs, plants, and little tables. Here's the church with and without our set: After lunch (Ruby Tuesday, again!) we came back to the hotel for a little rest (or hair re-do, for me...it was awful this morning). The show went well. I remembered all the changes we had made and Mr. Payne was great (as always). I have a video of the first 17 minutes of the show, which I may try to get on here, but I don't know if it will work. I left the video camera at home (don't even ask...), so we had to go with all we could get on the still camera. The memory card filled up after 15-20 minutes, so that's all we got! Anyhow, it was fun, and they had a reception with cake and punch afterwards! It was really nice. The coordinator/promoter for the event brought me the biggest bunch of red roses I've ever had in my life!! They are so beautiful!! The most bizzare thing ever happened today. We needed a mic clip, and were asking around about how to get one, and one lady who was helping us asked mom where we were from. She told her we were from Nashville, and she said that she had just been to Nashville in January when she went to see her grandkids in Fiddler on the Roof. No Way. We were at the Hares' grandmother's church!! Taylor, Chris, and Eliza were in Fiddler. Yeah, it was super weird. Mrs. Hare was really helpful and nice to us. :) So, we have to leave at 7:00 again tomorrow, so I had better go...

The PLAGUE

So the not-being-able-to-get-online plague has followed me here!! But I have just found that it will work in the lobby! I'll update tonight, as we are heading out the door now...We've got a show to do!

Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth

So, I have a fascination with these two men. I've just finished my research paper, which was on the Lincoln assassination,and I think I did pretty well, even though I haven't gotten my grade yet. But really, I didn't write it as much for school as I did out of personal interest. Anyhow, I decided to post my paper. Drop me a comment...
  John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Assassination

     President Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, in a bloody and cowardly act of Confederate sympathizer and madman actor John Wilkes Booth. Or so the story goes. However, is this the real story of John Wilkes Booth? Was he really an insane actor who murdered the good president out of anger at losing the Civil War? Was it really a rash, hurried attack carried out by just one man? Many questions arise out of the Lincoln assassination, some of which are: who was John Wilkes Booth, what were his motives in assassinating Lincoln, who were his fellow conspirators, and what really happened in April 1865?
     John Wilkes Booth was born in Harford County, Maryland, on May 10, 1838, to Junius Brutus Booth and Mary Anne Holmes. He was the ninth of ten children, only six of whom lived to adulthood. Junius Booth was a famous, though eccentric actor, who died when John Wilkes was just fourteen (Kauffman 83). Junius came to America with Mary Anne in 1821, “leaving behind…the wife and young son…deserted there” (Booth 4 of introduction). The two were not actually married until Junius divorced his first wife thirty years later. They lived and raised a family together in Maryland, and were married on John Wilkes’ thirteenth birthday. John Wilkes was far from the “mad actor” many history books portray. He was his mother’s favorite child, a good student, and quite a popular man, both as an actor and with the ladies (Kaufmann 87, 91, 101). Booth was loved by many people. He was kind and affectionate toward his mother and sisters, and his next to final words were to “Tell my mother--tell my mother that I did it for my country--that I die for my country” (Kaufmann 320). He worked hard at his school tasks, mastering them completely. He went to a prestigious military institute, where the concept of class was firmly impressed upon him. This may have been the beginning of his hatred of the slaves. His father and grandfather would sit and share a meal with an African person and think nothing of it, but John Wilkes could not stay in the same room with a slave (Kaufmann 93). He played with his brothers and childhood friends, Mike O’Laughlen, a future conspirator, John Sleeper Clarke, who would marry Booth’s sister Asia, and others, putting on magic shows and theatre productions in their backyards with whatever props and set pieces they could find. His first real stage appearance was in Shakespeare’s Richard III, playing the role of “a hero who destroys a murderous tyrant” (Booth 5 of introduction). Interestingly, his stage career was mostly focused on plays that justly killed or overthrew rulers. His social status, along with his great physical attractiveness and charming character, made sure that he was almost never in need of female companionship. He was adored by the ladies of Washington, and often received letters from adoring women, many of which he returned. At his death, five photographs of lady friends were found in his pockets, four were actresses, one a favorite acquaintance named Lucy Hale (Kaufmann 101, 322).
     So, what caused Booth to assassinate President Lincoln? What drove him to commit the act that launched his name into history as a murderer, coward, and madman? Booth lived on the edge of two conflicting societies: the North and the South. Northern America was full of factories, theatre, and wealth. The South was poorer, but had good farming land; there were many plantations, with fields of crops planted, tended, and harvested by black slaves. Booth did not hate the North, he was born and raised there, but he saw the South as being oppressed by the government of the North, headed by Abraham Lincoln. Booth drafted a twenty-page speech on the secession in December 1860, which was only found long after his death. In it he says, “I am a northern man…I will not fight for disunion. But I will fight with all my heart and soul…for equal rights and justice to the South. As I would do for the North in the like position” (Booth 55). This speech is a fiery accusation of those people who would abolish the state-centered life in the both the North and the South and slave-dependent economy and society of the South. As Booth said,

  …what should be done with such men…who not only would cry for a King, but endeavor to lead others in their views and spread their d--d opinions throughout the land. Now I call it treason to our common country, and it should not be alowed [sic]. I tell you that liberty of speech can be abused and should not be tolerated to the abuse thereof. Men have no right to entertain opinions which endanger the safety of the country. Such men who ^I^ call traitors and treason should be crushed ^stamped to death^ and not alowed [sic] to stalk abroad in any land. So deep is my hatred for such men that I could wish I had them in my grasp And I the power to crush. I’d grind them into dust! 

     (Booth 56) Before the war, the North and South were almost two different countries. Fearing putting too much power in the federal government, the writers of the Constitution had distinguished between the rights and responsibilities of the federal government versus the individual state governments (Smith 24). The North supported a central government, while the South favored the states’ ability to nullify federal laws considered unconstitutional. The South objected more and more to the federal government’s “meddling” in state affairs, fearing that Washington was making laws favoring the North over the South (Smith 24). Great changes took place in the economies of both the North and South during the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries. The North changed from a land of farming and fishing to one of industry; immigrants flocked to the northern United States to find jobs in the plentiful factories (Smith 28). The South went from depending on exports of various crops for cash to producing cotton as more than half of all American exports. This dependence on cotton kept the South from becoming involved in the industry of the North (Smith 32). The main difference between workforce in the North and South were that the Northern workers were free, even to move west if they wished, but the Southern slaves were bound to their land (Smith 28). Most Southern slaveholders were afraid to let their slaves go free; some revolts caused fear of the slaves taking revenge on their former masters (Smith 50). The societies also changed a great deal. For instance, people from Virginia thought of themselves as Virginians, and those from Georgia thought of themselves as Georgians. It was not until after the Civil War that people from all states thought of themselves as Americans. Booth was against those who were “…continually preaching and crying. O we cannot govern for ourselves we aught to have a great centeral [sic] government” (Booth 56).
     Who were the conspirators? Booth drew many people in his plans, and he even used people to do things, like deliver letters, that would involve them without their knowledge. He wove a thick web through Washington, Baltimore, New York, and Canada that secured him from betrayal by being able to blackmail anyone and everyone; no one could report him without fear of being arrested themselves (Kaufmann 176, 182-183).
     David Herold was one of the younger conspirators, and Booth’s loyal companion in his post-assassination flight. He was only twenty-two at the time of the assassination and has been described as Booth’s “dog-like follower” (Leonard 37). Herold was born the sixth of ten children and grew up near the gates of Washington Navy Yard. He had a good education and studied pharmacy at Georgetown College and Rittenhouse Academy, an elite Washington school. He worked for a while, but became unemployed in the fall of 1864. “Considered to be immature for his age and even fundamentally unreliable…, Herold was nevertheless a sociable fellow with many friends. He was also an avid hunter who had spent a great deal of time as a youngster in the Maryland woods” (Leonard 37). He knew southern Maryland and its people very well, qualities that would later help him and Booth in their twelve-day post assassination flight. His job in the assassination was to be a guide to Lewis Powell, who was not familiar with the Washington area, but when he heard the screams coming from the Seward house he knew something was going wrong and rode away to tell Booth that the assassinations could not happen that night, simultaneously, as planned.
     George Atzerodt was a German immigrant, known as “Port Tobacco” because of his work at the port ferrying spies and operatives across the Potomac. Before the war he worked with his brother making carriages; during the war he continued making carriages on his own (his brother had left the business), and he picked up the ferry job. One of the people who often used the ferry was John Surratt, Jr., who most likely introduced Atzerodt and Herold to Booth. He was assigned to the assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson, but he did not go through with it. He went to Johnson’s hotel, armed, but decided to spend the evening drinking. He left the hotel and went to another Washington hotel, drank some more, then wandered about the city until 2:00, asked an acquaintance to let him stay at his house, and when the friend refused went back and checked in to the latter hotel.
     Lewis Powell was much more than the attempted assassin of Secretary of State, William Seward. He has become the “mystery man” of the Lincoln assassination, especially since he was charged, tried, convicted, and hung as Lewis Payne. Lewis Payne went down in history, and Lewis Powell faded almost into extinction. He was the son of a Baptist preacher, the youngest son and sixth child in his family of ten children. He grew up in the deep south of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Three of the four Powell boys served in the war (the eldest died before the war), Lewis being the first to enlist. He joined the Confederacy in May 1861, with his two brothers not joining until September 1861 and May 1862. By the time he turned seventeen, Lewis had joined the Jasper (Hamilton) Blues, which later became Company I of the Second Florida Infantry, by persuading the authorities that he was nineteen years old (Owensby 11-12). He served until he was hospitalized for illness, but rejoined in June 1862 for the remainder of the war. He was injured, taken to an army hospital and kept as a prisoner of war and made a male nurse in the hospital, where he met Miss Margaret Branson, a young lady nurse and “avid secessionist” (Owensby 15-16) who helped him escape from the hospital. He joined the infamous group of Mosby’s Partisan Rangers, and while he was serving with Mosby he stayed with the Payne family, whose name he would later use as an alibi. He later stayed with the Branson family, who brought him deep into the Confederate underground, through which he met John Surratt, a contact that led him to the Surratt boarding house in Washington and ultimately John Wilkes Booth. After participating in Booth’s failed capture attempt, Powell went for a while to New York before returning to Washington. His part of the assassination plan was to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward. Powell went to Seward’s house on the night of April 14, 1865, armed with a knife and a pistol, ready to assassinate the Secretary, who lay recovering from a carriage accident. He carried with him a box of medicine and was posing as a messenger from Seward’s doctor with medication for the Secretary. When the Secretary’s son, Frederick, would not let Powell into his father’s bedroom, Powell clubbed the son with his pistol, which had misfired when he tried to shoot him. Powell left a bloody mess at the Secretary’s house, with several men wounded by his knife, though they would all live.
     There is a great controversy about Mary Surratt. Was she a malicious, conniving Confederate die-hard who willingly helped the assassins by allowing them to meet at her boarding house, or an innocent lady who was pulled into the plot by her son’s illegal actions, of which she was unaware? Mary Surratt was the widowed mother of John H. Surratt, Jr., who was a Confederate spy and Booth’s right-hand man. She owned a tavern, kept by John Lloyd, in Surrattsville, Maryland, and ran a boarding house in Washington, D.C., which was a meeting place and safehouse for Confederate operatives. She was a staunch Southern woman wholly devoted to “the Cause”. In her book, The Assassin’s Accomplice, Kate Larson states that Mary was not only guilty, but that she had a “deep complicity in the murder plot” and that “…Mary’s actions defied nineteenth-century norms of femininity, piety, and motherhood, leaving her vulnerable to deadly punishment historically reserved for men” (jacket front). Mary certainly had knowledge that illegal things were going on in her house, and she obviously did nothing to hinder them or report them to the authorities. In response to her daughter’s stating, after the assassination, that she was afraid that John Wilkes Booth’s association with her family would bring them under suspicion, Mary replied, “Anna, come what will, I am resigned. I think J. Wilkes Booth was only an instrument in the hands of the Almighty to punish this proud and licentious people” (Larson 93). Mrs. Surratt’s guilt has been debated over and over again, and most Lincoln assassination scholars now believe that she was indeed guilty, though to varying degrees.
     Dr. Samuel Mudd was a die-hard Confederate Secret Service operative and firm believer in slavery. He lived in Charles County, Maryland, and was a practicing physician. He shared Booth’s political views, and described the ex-slaves as “…ignorant, prejudiced and irresponsible beings of the unbleached humanity…” (His Name is Still Mudd. Steers 64). There has been much speculation about his role in the conspiracy. Many have tried to argue Mudd’s innocence, claiming that he was a good country doctor who did not know Booth. In his book, His Name is Still Mudd, Edward Steers, a respected Lincoln scholar, presents a strong case against Dr. Mudd, showing evidence that Mudd met with Booth three times before the assassination, one of those times introducing him to John Surratt, that Booth sent supplies for his escape to Mudd’s house, and that Mudd knew, contrary to his court statements, that it was John Wilkes Booth who came to his house in the early hours of April 15, 1865 (60-70).
     John Surratt was deeply involved with the Confederate Secret Service as a spy and illegal rebel courier. He had many important contacts that could be very useful to Booth. Surratt traveled back and fourth between the United States and Canada, and was responsible for recruiting several men to assist Booth. Surratt organized and conducted meetings with co-conspirators at his mother’s boarding house, with her full knowledge (Larson 47, 52). He was, fortunately for him, not in Washington the night of the assassination. He fled to Canada shortly afterward, and was hidden by Confederate agents until he fled further, eventually being arrested in Egypt in the summer of 1867 (Swanson 375-377).
     Edman “Ned” Spangler was a stagehand at Ford’s Theatre and friend of Booth. Many thought he was innocent, but there is evidence of his aiding Booth’s escape from Ford’s. He traded jobs with “Peanuts” Burroughs, a young boy who worked at the theatre, making him hold Booth’s horse while Spangler guarded a door the boy usually watched. He most likely stayed by the door to delay anyone chasing Booth.
     The national reaction to the assassination could not have been further from what Booth had expected. He thought he would be hailed as a hero for slaying an oppressive tyrant (Kaufmann 398). He wrote in his diary, “ …I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for, what made Tell a Hero. And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat” (Kaufmann 400). Of course, most of the country did not know what had happened until at least April 15, if not later. The country was in an uproar. First, there was panic in Washington. After the news of the president being shot came the report of the assault at Secretary Seward’s, then rumors of attacks on the vice president. “The terror that gripped that city that night must have been absolutely incredible,” says a respected Lincoln scholar and author of American Brutus, Michael Kauffman. “The news of the president’s shooting was bad enough, but when you put that together with the attack on Secretary Seward, there’s no question that this is a conspiracy and this was absolutely explosive. How large was this conspiracy? Who else was going to be attacked? Were rebels going to come out of the woods in all directions attacking the whole city of Washington?” (History Channel film 23:25) The government, headed by Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, mobilized quickly to find the assassins. It was convenient that there were still soldiers everywhere ready to be given orders, but things did get a bit out of hand. The government started offering reward money to anyone with information that led to the capture of the conspirators, which actually did more harm than good. It brought treasure seekers who wanted the money and lied or confused the facts, or just made things up.
     After leaving Washington by the Navy Yard Bridge, Booth and Herold made their way to Dr. Mudd’s house to get Booth’s broken leg set, a detour that may have ruined Booth’s escape. Scholars disagree about when and how Booth broke his leg. Many say it happened when he jumped to the stage of Ford’s Theatre, catching his spur on the decorative drapes and landing awkwardly, but Kauffman challenges this theory by presenting evidence that Booth’s horse fell during his escape sometime between Washington and Dr. Mudd’s house (Kauffman 272-274). After the stop, they moved on through Zekiah Swamp, across the Potomac River and through part of Virginia to the Garretts’ farm where Booth met his end and Herold was taken prisoner.
     George Atzerodt, after wandering around the city half the night, went to Georgetown, was fed breakfast, talked with the pickets (soldiers on guard), who were searching everyone leaving the city, and headed to Germantown. He stayed overnight with a friend, then set off for his cousin’s farm where he was arrested on April 20. (Blood on the Moon. Steers 166-169)
     Lewis Payne rode calmly away from Secretary Seward’s house, but did not know where to go. Herold, his “guide”, had left him, so he just stayed out of sight for a few days before returning to the only place he knew: the Surratt boarding house. He came to the house just as officials were questioning Mrs. Surratt, and both conspirators were arrested.
    Dr. Mudd did not inform any authorities that the most wanted men in the country had been at his home until Sunday morning, April 16, when he asked his cousin to tell the soldiers who were in Bryantown, which was near his home. His cousin did not do anything about it until the next day, further delaying the manhunt. A sworn affidavit “stated that Dr. Mudd, ‘…confessed that he knew Booth when he (Booth) came to his house with Herold on the morning after the assassination of the President; that he had known Booth for some time, but was afraid to tell of Booth’s having been at his house on April 15, fearing that his own and the lives of his family would be endangered thereby.’” (His Name is Still Mudd. Steers 55)
     John Wilkes Booth met his fate at the Garrett farm on April 26, 1865, when he was sleeping in the tobacco barn and the manhunters caught up with him. He refused to come out of the barn he and Herold had slept in, though Herold decided to surrender after the soldiers had set it on fire. Booth still had a Spencer carbine picked up from the Surratt Tavern during his flight, and raised it as if he were going to fight his way out of the barn when Boston Corbett, one of the soldiers, shot him through the neck. The soldiers dragged him out of the burning barn and laid him on the porch of the Garretts’ farmhouse, where he died a few long hours later.
     The conspirators were tried by a military tribunal; it was a military offence, but many people thought that the tribunal had no authority over citizens. Booth had originally wanted to capture Lincoln to use as a bargaining chip to free thirty to thirty-five thousand Confederate soldiers to revive the South and win the war. He planned the capture and had the support of his conspirators, but it fell through when Lincoln did not attend a performance to which he was expected to go (Kaufmann, 184-185). Two conspirators, Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen, were heavily involved in the capture plot but backed out before the assassination. They were dissatisfied with the slow progress and unrealistic expectations, and when the capture plot failed, they left Washington. The government, namely the tribunal, did not distinguish between the capture and assassination plots, thus the capture’ conspirators were tried as part of the assassination (Kaufmann, 135). Herold, Powell, Atzerodt, and Mrs. Surratt were sentenced to hang on July 7, 1865. Mrs. Surratt was the first woman ever to be hanged by the federal government, an act that inspired much controversy. Many thought that because she was a woman she should be spared. Lewis Powell “Never ceased to upbraid himself for seeking the shelter of her home, as in that lay the misfortune of her doom. He hoped, fervently, that she might be spared.” He said, “‘She at least…does not deserve to die with us. If I had no other reason…she is a woman, and men do not make war on women’” (Owensby 203-204). Dr. Mudd, O’Laughlen, and Arnold were sentenced to life in prison, and Spangler got a six-year sentence. Two years later, an epidemic of yellow fever broke out, killing many of the jail residents, including Michael O’Laughlen and the prison’s head doctor. Dr. Mudd stepped in and worked to stop the epidemic, an act for which he received a full, unconditional pardon from President Johnson in 1869. Arnold and Spangler were also pardoned. John Surratt was found in Egypt in 1867 and tried, but as he could not be proved guilty he was released, and he toured, telling the story of the Lincoln assassination.
     President Abraham Lincoln was not loved during his presidency. He was hated not only by Booth, but by many people. The Indianapolis Daily Sentinel wrote: “Mr. Lincoln and his party have been dominant as no set of men ever were before in a land peopled by the English race. They have governed twenty millions of their countrymen with a revolutionary freedom from the trammels of law” (Kaufmann 121). The Richmond Dispatch wrote: “Assassination in the abstract is a horrid crime…but to slay a tyrant is no more assassination than war is murder. Who speaks of Brutus as an assassin? What Yankee ever condemned the Roundhead crew who brought Charles I to the block, although it would be a cruel libel to compare him…to the tyrants who are now lording it over the South” (Kaufmann 121). This kind of remark was common, even among the North, and they were part of Booth’s world, influencing his view of the president. But, Booth’s action “for my country” actually hurt the South; elevating Lincoln to martyrdom and catapulting Booth into history as a cowardly, insane murderer. The nation’s reaction to the assassination was to worship Lincoln as a martyr and condemn Booth as a cutthroat. Lincoln said “…do you know I believe there are men who want to take my life?…I know no one could do it and escape alive. But if it is to be done, it is impossible to prevent” (Blood on the Moon. Steers 103).
     John Wilkes Booth was not insane. He was a brilliant, though perhaps misguided man who, together with his band of like-minded conspirators, did what he thought right to save his beloved South from the tyrannical rule of Abraham Lincoln.

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Works Cited 

Booth, John Wilkes, John Rhodehamel and Louise Taper, Eds. “Right or Wrong, God Judge Me” The Writings of John Wilkes Booth. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997. Print.
The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth. Dir. Tom Jennings. New Video, 2007. Film
Kauffman, Michael W. American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies. New York: Random House, 2004. Print.
Larson, Kate Clifford. The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln. New York: Basic Books, 2008. Print.
Leonard, Elizabeth D. Lincoln’s Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004. Print.
Owensby, Betty J. Alias Payne: Lewis Thornton Powell, The Mystery Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1993. Print.
Smith, C. Carter. Prelude to War. Brookfield: Millbrook Press, 1993. Print.
Steers, Edward. Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001. Print. --- His Name is Still Mudd: The Case Against Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd. Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1997. Print.
Swanson, James L. Manhunt: The Twelve-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. Print.