03.29.21 Let's Dance

When I was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia in the 1980's - during the Ralph Sampson era - I was a four year season ticket holder for basketball.  Those were great teams, and they won a lot of games...but never a national championship.

In 2018, UVa went into the NCAA Tournament as the overall #1 seed...only to be knocked out in the first round by UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County). They made history...but not in a good way.  That team was the only #1 ever taken out in the first round by a #16 seed.  It was awful.

In 2019, the Hoos came roaring back - vowing redemption - and earning it by winning it all against Texas Tech in overtime!

Last year, like everything else, the NCAA Tournament was cancelled, but this year it's back...and my beloved Hoos were the #4 seed in West Region (even though the entire tournament is being played in Indianapolis).  

After winning the conference championship for the regular season, and a buzzer beater in the first round of the ACC tournament...it looked like they might be cancelled by Covid this year, too...but they made it to the big dance.

However, there's a reason fans refer to them as the heart attack Hoos - Coach Bennett and his players love to keep it interesting until the last seconds tick off the clock - and this year, that meant not making it beyond the first round.  Neither did the University of Texas (where I earned my graduate degree) or many of the other top seeds.  

The first weekend of play was upset central...and by the time the slots were filled for the Sweet Sixteen, there was not a single perfect interactive bracket left!

Even with my alma maters out of the running, I still had a couple teams to pull for...

The University of Houston, which has had great teams since the 60s! My Dad taught physics there in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was in the arena when Elvin Hayes (the Big E) and the Cougars matched up against Lew Alcindor (most of you know him as Kareem Abdul Jabbar) and UCLA in first ever March Madness game, also called "the game of the century".  Living in Texas for most of my life, including in Houston when my Dad taught there, the Cougs are a sentimental favorite.

The University of Maryland, which was part of the (original) ACC and a huge UVa rival in the 1980s when I was in school.  Like Guy Lewis of Houston, the Terps also had a rough around the edges coach named Lefty Driesell.  They also had an incredible player named Len Bias, who had he not overdosed in the summer of 1985, would have gone on to greatness at the level of his ACC opponent, Michael Jordan.  In addition to seeing Maryland play a lot of basketball during my high school and college years, three of my children have degrees from UMD.

Villanova, because their chaplain is the brother of a dear friend.  Whenever we get together we always talk about family, education policy and NCAA basketball. 

Photo: NCAA Sports, 2019 Champs

Neither Maryland or Villanova - along with several other higher seeded teams - made it through the weekend, but Houston did! 

I'm going to keep watching it all...until the streamers and confetti drop and CBS plays the last note of One Shining Moment...

...grateful for the little bit of normal that comes from watching three weekends of great, if heartbreaking, college basketball.

Until next time.

10.14.19 I Feel Lucky

During basketball season I wore my UVa pendant and earrings a lot, and posted pictures to a Facebook fan group in a discussion of lucky charms...as a result, several folks asked if they could buy earrings or a version of the pendant - so I said yes to both.


I found a source for blue, white and orange glass cabochons, and set about making a couple of custom pendants.



About a month ago, I got a call from my college roommate; she asked if I wanted to meet her in Chicago, and get on an alumni bus to go to South Bend, Indiana to see our alma mater, UVa, take on Notre Dame in football.  Her husband had received a pair of tickets to the game, but couldn't go, so I said SURE! and proceeded to make hotel and airline reservations.

I also decided to make an extra pendant as a birthday gift for her, and took it with me.

Notre Dame had the luck of the Irish on their side for the game, but every other aspect of the weekend was a reflection of my good fortune.

For starters, there was the weather - I didn't have any trouble flying from Austin, but shortly after I landed, it turned dark and stormy, and lots of folks coming in for the weekend were delayed.  Since we both arrived on time, we were able to have dinner with another longtime friend who lives in Chicago, at a fabulous place in Little Italy.




By Saturday morning the storms had cleared, and we got on a charter bus with lots of other alumni and headed to South Bend.  When we arrived, we were greeted by lots of blue and orange at a fabulous tailgate.  We then proceeded to visit old friends and make new ones over beers and burgers before heading to the stadium.



We had great seats (even if we were surrounded by folks cheering for Notre Dame) - and although they didn't win, our Hoos held their own against the Irish and their VERY LOUD fans.

It was a fabulous weekend, filled with fun, good food, and a chance to spend time with people who mean a lot to me. It also gave me to time to pause, and more than anything else, I was reminded of how fortunate I am...


to have had the opportunity to attend college - especially a great state school like the University of Virginia - where I made friendships that I now measure in decades;

to be able to drop everything and dash off to spend a weekend with those fabulous people;


and to have the opportunity to continue learning at Creative Side as a metalsmith.

Sometimes, with all the difficult things going on in the world, it is wonderful to be reminded of how much there is to be celebrated.

Until next time.

04.08.19 Wahoowa!

I was a student at the University of Virginia in the early 1980s, when basketball was THE sport, and Ralph Sampson was (literally) the big man on campus.  I was a four year student season ticket holder, and I never missed a home game.

Those were great years for UVa hoops, and I remember March Madness in the spring of 1984, when our beloved Hoos made it to the Final Four, only to have Guy Lewis and Phi Slamma Jamma - from the University of Houston - advance while our team went home.

In the intervening 35 years, I have watched a lot of UVa basketball.

Last year, 2018, Virginia went into the tournament as the overall Number 1 seed.  I was thrilled...and in anticipation of lots of tournament watch parties, I went into the studio and made myself a blue, orange and white pendant and put a Virginia "V" on the back of it.

Then came the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. For the first time ever, a Number 16 seed knocked off not just a Number 1 regional seed, but THE Number 1 seed.  A few days later, as if to add insult to injury, it was announced the commencement speaker at my daughter's college graduation would be none other than the president of UMBC - Freeman A. Hrabowski III.

Honestly, by May I had moved on to baseball. Dr. Hrabowski turned out to be a fabulous, inspirational speaker and graduation weekend was wonderful.

The boys of summer came and went, and so did football season.  Finally, college basketball season rolled around again - and as I do every year - I started following my Hoos.  We won the ACC championship, and punched our ticket for the the big dance. We played hard and didn't go home; not in the first round, not after making it to the Sweet Sixteen and then the Elite Eight.  No - we made it back to the Final Four, and another shot at a national title.


Now, we don't call them the "Heartattack Hoos" for nothing.  In every round, at every game, we held our breaths until the final buzzer.  We beat Oregon, and then Purdue (in overtime) by 5 points - and we thought those were close games - but then came Auburn.

I put on my fused glass earrings, my pendant and my class ring and headed out to cheer on my Hoos. As it happened, a group of my classmates - some of whom I hadn't seen in 35 years - were in town for the weekend, so we gathered with the local alumni club where we watched the game and clutched our chests.

With a buzzer beating foul and three amazing buckets from Kyle Guy at the stripe - they did it! All season this team had fought hard, and now they earned the right to play for the national championship.

As difficult as this might be to believe, I won't be watching tonight's game...we have tickets to see Lucinda Williams at Austin City Limits - on her 20th anniversary tour for Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. But - fear not - I am still wearing my orange and blue and will be checking my phone - discreetly, of course - from time to time.

I won't say that it doesn't matter whether we win or lose this evening - because IT DOES MATTER - but, not as much as you might think.

It's been a really rough couple of years for the town - and institution - I love so much, and this season has been more than about just winning games.  It has been about community, about overcoming anxiety and adversity, and remembering that you should never, ever give up.

Until next time.

03.28.16 March Madness

My beloved Hoos made it all the way to the Elite 8, but sadly this was not their year to finish the dance, and they've headed back to Charlottesville.

Nonetheless, I've been watching a lot of college basketball the past couple of weeks – and in that spirit I am writing about hoops. They are one of my favorite earring styles, and as often as not, if you look at #todaysearrings on my instagram feed, it will be a pair of hoops. I have entirely too many to write about all of them in a single post, so I’m just going to share a few of my favorites.


More than any other pair, when I just don’t want to think about earrings, I reach for my Coach huggie hoops.  Chances are if you know me, you’ve seen me wear them. A gift from my mother in law many years ago, I love their shape and size; they are incredibly comfortable.

Lately this embossed wire pair from Quiet Time Jewelry has been in heavy rotation because they go so well with the chain I bought for the pendants I've been making in my metalsmithing classes.  I certainly didn't need another pair - but when I saw them, I liked them so much that I chose not to resist.


I don’t wear gold jewelry very often – but when I do, I usually reach for this pair of gold crescent hoops that belonged to my mom.  Much like my small silver ones – they were her go-to earrings, and I always get a smile on my face when I wear them.

Although most of my hoops are moderately sized – generally no bigger than an inch – when I’m in a “go big or go home” mood, I love these embellished silver hoops.  They are hollow – so they aren’t heavy – and fun to wear.  I bought them when I was still a student at the University of Virginia, from the J.  Peterman catalog – when you still had to fill out a paper order form and mail it in to them – with a check.

Photo credit: Brooklyn Museum

Hoop earrings date back to antiquity –  two gold Sumerian pairs, from the Brooklyn Museum are from 2600 BCE;  and a pair from the Metropolitan Museum are from the 1st Century AD.  Both look remarkably similar to my contemporary versions.

Photo credit: Met Museum

For now, I will put my blue and orange bow earrings (that I've been wearing to game watching parties) away, and go back to my hoops...

Until next time.