A Year’s Worth of Life in August through October

1 December 2024

I spent most of the last post on work-related updates. This will likely have some of those as well. But the last 5 months have included a lot of personal things. This is a long post, so you’ll probably want to skip through, or not read it at all, but I want to take a moment on this long Thanksgiving weekend to reflect on a full fall.

For one, I finally returned to my motorbiking glory days and purchased a small displacement motorcycle. This is a 2017 Kawasaki Versys-X 300 with just over 10,000 miles purchased for the bargain of $3000. It’s perfect for my 4-mile commute and came with a top box, heated grips (for the few days per year I’ll need them), and sidebags. It was an adventure driving 500 miles up to the northernmost tip of Alabama with my dad and then riding the bike down for my first 1000-mile driving day and the longest single day of motorcycle riding. The words of my uncle (whom we call Motorcycle Hi) became my mantra: stay vigilant. I repeated that phrase thousands of times as the high-revving engine zinged down the highways.

Our sweet Alice started Montessori school with Aden, which fills my heart. She has been craving opportunities for learning and social interaction. This environment has been perfect for her, and she comes back each day full of precious stories to tell.

One of my closest friends and also a former housemate in Thailand, Davor, got married this fall. It wasn’t an easy trip to make, but after much consideration, I decided I’d probably regret not going more than wish I hadn’t made the journey. I took three flights to Comox, British Columbia, where I landed late at night and was greeted by perhaps the sweetest Canadian — the Aunt Kathy of another wedding attendee whom I had never met — who let me stay at her place and then helped me catch the 6:15 AM ferry to Powell River. The ferry ride blessed me with a sunrise and humpback whale breaching multiple times. How lucky am I to be alive… I stayed another night with Aunt Kathy on the way back. Traveling solo and being cared for by this stranger reminded me of how tiny the space is between any two people around the world.

It was a camping wedding on the family’s co-op property, which is so perfectly Pacific Northwest. The weekend involved plunging into the freezing water one morning, a series of competitive group games, and a beautiful outdoor ceremony and reception. I was asked to read Neil Gaiman’s poem “All I know about love” during the ceremony, which I appreciated contributing.

I rushed back via four flights to Baton Rouge (with Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible at my side) to start the semester at LSU — my first as an Associate Professor and the Associate Director/PhD Program Coordinator in the School of Leadership and Human Resource Development. This add-on position has been a great way to experiment with academic administration via a one-year contract without upending my research in any significant way.

In September, we spent a weekend in Memphis for my sister’s 40th birthday and Aden’s 5th. I love living so close to the Memphis crew and have never resented the 6-hour drive (even though I can’t say the same for Khai, who didn’t grow up with long drives).

It was a quick turnaround yet again to hop on a plane to Siena, Italy, for the International Transformative Learning Conference. It’s the first time I’ve ever presented at a university established in the 13th century. This was also a new academic community for me, and I loved the more philosophical and classically intellectual approach of the scholars there. In the HRD community, we can get so bogged down in the minutia of methodology for studies that offer some tiny superficial furthering of the field. But this community seemed interested in the big questions and willing to scrap long-held assumptions for the sake of robust scholarly discourse. Khai came with me and we had a blast staying at a romantic Tuscan villa and exploring Florence for the weekend after the conference. Thanks to Mimsy for allowing these parents a week away from the kids.

In Florence, one of the things we did was visit the statue of David. I’m not an art connoisseur, but standing in the presence of this sculpture had an emotional effect on me. I felt the meaning of standing in awe. Just as recordings cannot replace concerts, pictures or videos cannot replace the experience of standing before the visual arts. My picture below, taken from the back of the room, reminds me of that experience. Rather than a close-up that can’t quite capture the awesomeness (the true meaning of the word) of the piece — this is also where I first felt that feeling, which I want to remember.

Another quick turnaround to Portland, Oregon, for my brother’s wedding. I was honored to be the officiant and had to become ordained to do so. I was flying home from Italy and remembered I had to get officially ordained for the ceremony, so I purchased the airplane wifi to start the process. I was freaking out that I’d have to watch these training videos and answer quizzes and that it’d probably take weeks to get official approval. On the somewhat sketchy website, I filled out my name and address, then hit “submit” and laughed out loud when I read, “Congratulations! You are now officially ordained as a minister in the Universal Life Church!” I am now Rev. Dr. Oliver S. Crocco. The second Rev. Dr. Crocco in the family!

I can honestly say (and there is a TON of competition) that it was the best wedding weekend I’ve ever been a part of. Martin and Kristen are a beautiful couple, full of generous love and warm laughter. I have always had a special place in my heart for my youngest sibling. Given our ten-year age difference, I had to live much of his childhood away, but it taught me early to value relationships and being with the people I love.

Another quick turnaround (am I repeating myself?), this time to my fourth new-to-me country of the year: South Korea! I attended the Asian AHRD Conference and was reminded of how much I love solo travel and discovery. Even though it is veritably unwise to do so much traveling away from young kids and a fast-paced job, I really wanted to attend this conference to connect with the large and influential Korean membership of the global HRD community.

I had a day in Seoul before the conference began, which allowed me to visit the Changdeokgung Palace and the Gyeongbokgung Palace. I stayed in a traditional Hanok home and slept on a fold-up pad on the floor. The conference was 40 minutes north in the city of Goyang. I couldn’t afford to stay in the conference hotel, but I found a perfect little hotel on the 10th floor of one of the shorter buildings in the area (which I walked up the first time with my luggage because I couldn’t find the elevator). I took scooters or e-bikes the half a mile to the conference activities each day. Proudly, my buttocks never touched the seat of a taxi the whole trip. My paper-and-ink companion was a bightly colored pink book on Korea by Victor Cha and Ramon Pacheco Pardo, published last year by Yale University Press. Modern Korean history is truly dramatic and incredible. The more I learned, the more I admired the journey of this incredible country and its people.

In the restored library of the monarch in the Gyeongbokgung Palace, I found a book of Korean poetry with this treasure by Ku Sang, translated by Chan E. Park, which resonated with my experience as a traveler that day.

This conference was so well-run. I signed up for every activity I could, which included a traditional Korean dinner of spicy fish, raw crab, fermented everything, and scrumptious veggie soup. Every meal I ate in Korea had kimchi as a side, which brought a bit of spicy crunch to my dining experiences. Several of my Thai colleagues from Chulalongkorn University and the National Institute of Development Administration attended as well, which felt like a meet-up of old friends. We laughed about one of my favorite Thai movies — Guan Muen Ho — about two Thai people who meet and fall in love in Seoul.

Optional activities included visiting one of Samsung’s corporate training centers in the famous Gangnam neighborhood and the infamous Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, which was shockingly just 30 minutes from the conference hotel.

Seeing the pitiful propaganda villages across the river in stark contrast to the abundance of the South was a poignant reminder of how values, governments, and leadership (or the lack thereof) shape our lives and communities. Despite our country’s endless flaws, I am so grateful to be an American.

Squeezed in between these various adventures were day trips with the kids to the Louisiana Book Festival, the Corn Maze, an LSU Soccer Game, the Knock Knock Children’s Museum, a handful of kid birthday parties, and a tenure and promotion celebration at the Capitol Park Museum with my love.

Khai continues to be a wonderful partner. I’ve felt the freedom and ability to do so much knowing that I have her support, and that our kids have a secure base at home. We’ve been fortunate to take two big trips without kids this year (Portugal and Italy) and I’m excited for our upcoming adventures. We’re both excited about potentially big year (August 2025-Spring 2026) for my sabbatical, where we will hopefully be in Thailand. I love how curated our sense of humor with each other has become. We can often make each other laugh without saying a word. Most importantly, she supports me in my insatiable passion for books (jk jk… but seriously).

Onward.