Below are some of my top picks in several categories, listed in no particular order.
Favorite Reads
• Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
• The Idea of a University, John Henry Cardinal Newman
• Beyond Freedom & Dignity, B.F. Skinner
• The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal
• In The Clearing, Robert Frost
• The Republic, Plato
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
• Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon, Edward Dolnick
• The Indian Lawyer, James Welch
• Francis of Assisi: A Revolutionary Life, Adrian House
• Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone, Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson
• Black Hawk and the Battle for the Heart of America, Kerry Trask
Favorite Expeditions
• Rafting the Yukon’s Firth River to the Arctic Ocean
• Camping, hiking and burro packing on the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington
• Rafting the Tatshenshini and Alsek Rivers to the Pacific Ocean in the Yukon, British Columbia and Alaska
• Hiking the Great Wall of China with members of the Augustana Choir
• Rafting the Chilko, Chilcotin, and Fraser Rivers in British Columbia
• Backpacking at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico
• Rafting the Middle Fork of Salmon River in Idaho
Favorite Music
• For live music, my top picks are the annual Messiah production by Augustana’s Handel Oratorio Society and everything in the Masterworks series of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra
• What’s on my playlist? On any given day, you can find me listening to B.B. King, Walkin’ Jim Stoltz (a Montana folk singer), Jack Gladstone (a Blackfeet Indian singer), the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Neil Young
Favorite Things-to-do in the Quad Cities
• Walking Augustana’s campus as the sun rises
• Visiting the Putnam Museum and IMAX
• Lunch at the Blue Cat in downtown Rock Island
• Saturday morning coffee at Cool Beanz in Rock Island’s College Hill District
• Sunday dinner at Exotic Thai in Moline
• Any music, theater or sports event at Augustana
• Attending the Quad City Symphony Orchestra
• Watching the pelicans (summer) and bald eagles (winter) from the riverfront paths on both sides of the Mississippi
Favorite Movies…the Classics
• Anything with Humphrey Bogart
• Gone with the Wind
• Dr. Zhivago
• The Blue Brothers
• Godfather I and II
• National Lampoon’s Vacation movies (my kids seem to think I bear some resemblance to Clark Griswold)
• Any Star Trek movie
• The Lion King
Favorite Movies…More Recent Releases
• Inception
• Avatar
• Most all IMAX nature movies
• Powwow Highway (shown at an Augustana film festival)
• Being Caribou (you can watch it free online).
Theatre
• Jane and I try not to miss the Broadway series at Davenport’s Adler Theatre, where some of our favorite productions have been Les Miz, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, Billy Elliot, Chicago, Rent and Legally Blonde
• Augustana College Theatre – some of our favorite productions include Wrestling With Angels and Demons, The Laramie Project and Nickel & Dimed
• Any Shakespeare or classic Greek play by Genesius Guild in Rock Island
• Wit (Curtain Box Theater, Davenport)
• Mary’s Wedding (Riverside Theater, Iowa City)
• Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe, London)
• You Can’t Get There from Here (Rivermont High School production with daughter, Angela)
• Blackbird (American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco)
• Something You Did (Theater J, Washington, D.C.)
• The Rivalry (Ford’s Theater, Washington, D.C.)
• Carousel (The Green Room, Rock Island)
• Altar Call (written by Augustana Faculty member Melissa McBain and produced by Playcrafters in Moline)