When we bumped into Belle, the story is very romantic. She was very involved in society. Belle — the name was right. It was just one of those lightning bolt deals.

Nampa already has it. They just need to uncover it and let everybody know they have it.

That alone is a pretty good indicator of how important she was to the community.

This is a major undertaking. The society is a group of volunteers, all very committed, but still volunteers with limited time and limited experience in fundraising. We realize we need some expertise to guide us.

(The course) is about race and American society, ... What I want to do is bring all these issues that this Hurricane Katrina debate has brought forward - I want to bring them out. I want to talk about affirmative action, crime and punishment, schools and the test score cap, urban politics and the history of the civil rights movement, and try to bring all these different elements together in a contemporary course.

Remember, beneath every cynic there lies a romantic, and probably an injured one.