We generally root for our alma maters while they are winning, but when they get eliminated from the NCAA tournaments we root for another conference or state team that may still be in the show. Since Purdue lost to Duke, my loyalties could go to Michigan State since they are a Big Ten team, but who can resist Butler. They are just such a nice group of kids and they truly represent what is good about the college experience.
And Butler is a great school, too, from the academic standpoint. Our Indiana Daffodil Society was fortunate enough to have an associate professor from Butler as our speaker this past Saturday. Dr. Shelley Etnier, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, just so happened to do a grad student research project on the
biomechanics of the daffodil. (Read the story by Adam Summers citing Dr. Etnier and Dr. Steven Vogel's research, or if you want the actual article published in the American Journal of Botany go to this
link for the first page. You'll have to pay to get the whole article, though.)
Daffodils have been observed to turn away form the wind and bow down in a way that is unique to their genus. Drs. Etnier and Vogel found this characteristic interesting and developed a project to study just what happens to the structure of the stem when subjected to wind. Pretty heady stuff for a group of daffodil enthusiasts, but very fascinating.
If daffodils are your thing and you are in the Indianapolis area, be sure to visit Holliday Park on April 14 from 2-5 pm or April 15 from 9-noon to see the daffodil exhibition. These are not your grandmother's daffodils on display although the historics do make up a nice section of the exhibit. Most people are amazed by the variety of colors, shapes and sizes.
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