They did get what they needed, the guy who can play the end on the 3-4, and take on the tackle and help with the running game.
One thought I had last night. You know, if things had happened differently, that the top QB in this draft could have been somewhere else last night. Obviously, there's Leinart, who's probably spending the day with a model or one of the Song Girls, but the other guy, the one that was the number one QB prospect in 2001, was behind the plate for the Twins last night against the Tigers, Joe Mauer. Mauer actually committed to Florida State as a QB, and probably would have been starting at least the last two years as Chris Rix struggled and Adrian McPherson got thrown out of school.
The Jags are up now. This is probably a defensive pick, though I wouldn't be shocked to see a receiver here, or maybe even Heath Miller of UVa, the Tight End.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
St. Louis Rams- Alex Barron, LT, Free Shoes University
He's going to be playing on the right side, which means that he'll be playing the easier side, and he has the right guy on the other side to learn from, and probably eventually supplant.
The Cowboys are up again. Spears is probably the pick here, given that they need a great 3-4 end, and Spears has the size to do that. They might also decide to go for Rodgers here, or possibly Roddy White, the receiver from UAB.
The Cowboys are up again. Spears is probably the pick here, given that they need a great 3-4 end, and Spears has the size to do that. They might also decide to go for Rodgers here, or possibly Roddy White, the receiver from UAB.
Minnesota Vikings (again)- Erasmus James, DE, Wisconsin
They got the best pass rusher left in the draft here. The problem they'll have is that he's going to be playing on the turf, and I don't know that he'll stay healthy all the time. The Vikings have to be the prohibitive favorites in the division next year, given the huge improvement they've made on defense. The Lions have to be a factor because of the offense they are going to have, but the Packers have lost a lot, and I don't know if they'll be able to keep pace with the Vikings right now.
The Rams are up next. Torry Holt is talking up Brodney Pool, which makes sense, but Alex Barron has to be awfully tempting.
The Rams are up next. Torry Holt is talking up Brodney Pool, which makes sense, but Alex Barron has to be awfully tempting.
Cincinnati Bengals- David Pollack, DE, Georgia
This is the pick to help Justin Smith. They've got the right guy to coach him up at the pro level in Marvin Lewis, and he's the most intense guy ever, seriously, the fans of Cincinnati will love his effort, the problem is that he does lack some of the physical tools you might want. But he has produced.
Up now are the Vikings again. Now they'll probably go with defense. There are still some ends available, and it would seem that Marcus Spears would be a great fit at this spot and would certainly help improve the run defense as well as the pass rush.
Up now are the Vikings again. Now they'll probably go with defense. There are still some ends available, and it would seem that Marcus Spears would be a great fit at this spot and would certainly help improve the run defense as well as the pass rush.
Houston Texans- Travis Johnson, DL, Free Shoes University
Ok, I know what they're thinking with this pick, but I really don't agree with it. He really doesn't seem to fit well into the 3-4 system. He's not big enough to plug the two gaps as a nose, and he's not really an end, and guys like Spears might have fit better here. I still want to know exactly who's going to protect David Carr.
The Bengals have to be heartbroken that Johnson's gone. They needed someone to help stuff the run, and the most logical person to do that is gone. They might want to try and grab Shaun Cody here, or maybe move Marcus Spears inside here.
The Bengals have to be heartbroken that Johnson's gone. They needed someone to help stuff the run, and the most logical person to do that is gone. They might want to try and grab Shaun Cody here, or maybe move Marcus Spears inside here.
Kansas City Chiefs- Derrick Johnson, OLB, Texas
I am very surprised he's fallen this far, even though he's got all of the knocks against him as a tackler. He's going to make so many plays for them, its going to be sick. There is great value where they got him, and with the moves they have made on defense, adding Surtain, Kendrell Bell, Sammy Knight and others.
Houston's up again now, and again Barron is available to be their left tackle of the future. I don't think they got enough value with their trade down three spots, getting a third rounder next year. I'd have held out for something more, maybe a three this year or a fourth this year, in addition to the third next year. They could also go defense.
Houston's up again now, and again Barron is available to be their left tackle of the future. I don't think they got enough value with their trade down three spots, getting a third rounder next year. I'd have held out for something more, maybe a three this year or a fourth this year, in addition to the third next year. They could also go defense.
Carolina Panthers- Thomas Davis, LB/SS, Georgia
This is probably to replace Mark Fields, who may be leaving in Free Agency. He's going to run around a lot and hit the snot out people. This is probably a good pick. Though, I have to say, its unfair to compare Thomas Davis to Derrick Brooks, even at this point, no matter how great a tackler he is.
Aaron Rodgers seems to be getting plenty lonely back there. John, don't be surprised if you end up with the heir to Favre literally landing in your lap.
The Chiefs are up next. Because I am a football genius, I'm going to predict that the Chiefs will go defense here. The pick might be Derrick Johnson, or maybe someone like Travis Johnson of Florida State. Someone, anyone, is needed to make plays on defense or to stuff the run. They now have Patrick Surtain, so they have a couple of pieces. I also wouldn't be shocked if they went out and picked Rodgers here as the heir apparent to Trent Green.
Aaron Rodgers seems to be getting plenty lonely back there. John, don't be surprised if you end up with the heir to Favre literally landing in your lap.
The Chiefs are up next. Because I am a football genius, I'm going to predict that the Chiefs will go defense here. The pick might be Derrick Johnson, or maybe someone like Travis Johnson of Florida State. Someone, anyone, is needed to make plays on defense or to stuff the run. They now have Patrick Surtain, so they have a couple of pieces. I also wouldn't be shocked if they went out and picked Rodgers here as the heir apparent to Trent Green.
New Orleans Saints- Jammal Brown, RT, Oklahoma
The Saints dealt a third rounder next year and exchanged their picks in the first round. Brown is more of a mauler than Barron, but frankly, and I asked Jerry Hanlon, who used to coach the line at Michigan, and he agreed with me, technique and footwork is more important for an offensive lineman than being a mauler. I really believe that, because the really good tackles today are not maulers, guys like Pace, Jones and Ogden seem to dominate because they have solid technique.
The Panthers will probably go offensive line here, but its also quite possible they could surprise us with another pick, maybe Derrick Johnson, maybe a defensive back/linebacker like Thomas Davis.
The Panthers will probably go offensive line here, but its also quite possible they could surprise us with another pick, maybe Derrick Johnson, maybe a defensive back/linebacker like Thomas Davis.
San Diego Chargers- Shawne Merriman, OLB/DE, Fear the Turtle
The Chargers get their pass rusher to put opposite Steve Foley. They probably could get a receiver with their later pick, so this fits well.
The obvious pick for the Texans is Alex Barron, the Left Tackle they haven't been able to get in the history of their franchise. Still, with Derrick Johnson, a guy from the state, sitting at 13, you might want to think about grabbing him and finding another guy, like Adam Terry of Syracuse, later in the draft to play at tackle.
I'm kind of surprised that their hasn't been a deal at all yet, and no deal involving the Lions choice. I thought for a second that maybe they'd get a deal with Houston or with San Diego, who might have needs at receiver and could give the Lions more picks.
The obvious pick for the Texans is Alex Barron, the Left Tackle they haven't been able to get in the history of their franchise. Still, with Derrick Johnson, a guy from the state, sitting at 13, you might want to think about grabbing him and finding another guy, like Adam Terry of Syracuse, later in the draft to play at tackle.
I'm kind of surprised that their hasn't been a deal at all yet, and no deal involving the Lions choice. I thought for a second that maybe they'd get a deal with Houston or with San Diego, who might have needs at receiver and could give the Lions more picks.
Dallas Cowboys- Demarcus Ware, DE/OLB, Troy
Here's the combo guy that Parcells wanted. They'll probably be able to get an end at the bottom of the draft, or maybe a guy to replace Darren Woodson.
My jaw is still on the floor becasue of the Williams pick, as suddenly the Lions become the Vikings of a few years ago, going three-wide all day long and scoring tons and tons of points. Seriously, what was the point of signing Kevin Johnson this week, and can we cut Az-Hakim now or five minutes from now? They probably will be able to grab an end in the second round, but wowie wow wow.
The Chargers are probably wanting similar guys as the Cowboys, and Merriman or Spears would fit well for them, especially now that the receivers are gone.
My jaw is still on the floor becasue of the Williams pick, as suddenly the Lions become the Vikings of a few years ago, going three-wide all day long and scoring tons and tons of points. Seriously, what was the point of signing Kevin Johnson this week, and can we cut Az-Hakim now or five minutes from now? They probably will be able to grab an end in the second round, but wowie wow wow.
The Chargers are probably wanting similar guys as the Cowboys, and Merriman or Spears would fit well for them, especially now that the receivers are gone.
Detroit Lions- Mike Williams, WR, USC
Wow. Wow. The Lions passing game suddenly becomes the most dangerous one in the league. Suddenly, Joey Harrington gets to throw to everyone and everyone this year. There is one other possibility, that hey could deal this to someone like San Diego or Washington, or maybe someone else.
The Cowboys are probably going to take defense here, someone like Demarcus Ware or Shawne Merriman, maybe even Marcus Spears would fit well here, given that Parcells seems to be really wanting to switch to the 3-4, and he needs guys like those to play he rush linebacker, or in Spears' case, the end.
The Cowboys are probably going to take defense here, someone like Demarcus Ware or Shawne Merriman, maybe even Marcus Spears would fit well here, given that Parcells seems to be really wanting to switch to the 3-4, and he needs guys like those to play he rush linebacker, or in Spears' case, the end.
Washington Racist Stereotypes- Carlos Rogers, CB, Auburn
War Eagle, yet again. They needed to replace Fred Smoot. They have Shawn Springs on the other side, and they need to keep the defense great, but maybe I would have liked to have seen Williams here.
The Lions are up now. The popular pick here is Derrick Johnson, which would give them an incredibly athletic set of linebackers. A lot of people who are ignorant of the situation think he would be there to replace Boss Bailey, not so. What would actually happen is the Lions would move Teddy Lehman to the middle and replace Earl Holmes. The other option here is an end, because with the top three corners gone, there is no way they'll reach down and grab someone, unless of course they trade down, probably someone like Shawne Merriman.
The Lions are up now. The popular pick here is Derrick Johnson, which would give them an incredibly athletic set of linebackers. A lot of people who are ignorant of the situation think he would be there to replace Boss Bailey, not so. What would actually happen is the Lions would move Teddy Lehman to the middle and replace Earl Holmes. The other option here is an end, because with the top three corners gone, there is no way they'll reach down and grab someone, unless of course they trade down, probably someone like Shawne Merriman.
Arizona Cardinals- Antrel Rolle, CB, Miami, Fla.
The right pick, this really was. I love that new jersey by the way. They get the help on defense they needed. Rolle played really well against NFL receivers in college. He'll be more physical as a cornerback, which is good, it really is. They'll probably get more help on defense for him later in this draft.
The Redskins are up now. They've lost Fred Smoot, they've lost Antonio Pierce, they've set themselves back by dealing Laverneus Coles for Santana Moss. To me, either Carlos Rogers, Derrick Johnson, Shawne Merriman or even Mike Williams fits here. Joe Gibbs likes physical receivers, and Williams would be needed because Santana Moss is shorter than me, and they need someone to go get the ball. They also need someone to do that on the other side, and frankly, the combination of Johnson and Arrington scares the hell out of me.
The Redskins are up now. They've lost Fred Smoot, they've lost Antonio Pierce, they've set themselves back by dealing Laverneus Coles for Santana Moss. To me, either Carlos Rogers, Derrick Johnson, Shawne Merriman or even Mike Williams fits here. Joe Gibbs likes physical receivers, and Williams would be needed because Santana Moss is shorter than me, and they need someone to go get the ball. They also need someone to do that on the other side, and frankly, the combination of Johnson and Arrington scares the hell out of me.
Minnesota Vikings- Troy Williamson, WR, the Other USC
They took the faster guy, which I can understand, especially on the turf. Still, he's not huge like Williams is, and now, with Burleson and Marcus Robinson, they now have three of the same kind of receiver, and I don't know who, other than Jermaine Wiggins, who's going to catch the ball on third down and six or seven.
The Cardinals are up now. There's a lot of people who would want them to take Aaron Rodgers here, because with Kurt Warner on a one year deal, and Josh McCown not being completely trusted by Denny Green, the thought is that they can get the QB of the future right now. I disagree. I think the best choice here is Antrel Rolle, and then trying to get the Travis Henry deal done with Buffalo, or maybe trading for Michael Bennett or picking up Anthony Thomas. The Cardinals are getting better now, especially with the receivers they have, they need defense now. They traded Duane Starks in the off-season, so they need a cornerback now. Plus we now get a chance to see their cool new jerseys.
The Cardinals are up now. There's a lot of people who would want them to take Aaron Rodgers here, because with Kurt Warner on a one year deal, and Josh McCown not being completely trusted by Denny Green, the thought is that they can get the QB of the future right now. I disagree. I think the best choice here is Antrel Rolle, and then trying to get the Travis Henry deal done with Buffalo, or maybe trading for Michael Bennett or picking up Anthony Thomas. The Cardinals are getting better now, especially with the receivers they have, they need defense now. They traded Duane Starks in the off-season, so they need a cornerback now. Plus we now get a chance to see their cool new jerseys.
Tennessee Titans- Adam "Pac-Man" Jones, CB, West Virginia
Tennessee goes with the faster and shorter corner. I wonder in the Miami Hurricane pack mentality we're seeing lately, and the problems Antrel Rolle has had of the field, played a role in this. Pac-Man Jones probably will be a return man too.
The Vikings are up. The lay up here is Mike Williams, as the guy to replace Randy Moss, though Merrill Hoge just destroyed Mike Williams and Aaron Rodgers in the pre-draft show on Thursday, saying that Troy Williamson would be a better fit because of the speed. With no running back available, and the likely presence of defense with their later pick, a receiver is the obvious choice.
The Vikings are up. The lay up here is Mike Williams, as the guy to replace Randy Moss, though Merrill Hoge just destroyed Mike Williams and Aaron Rodgers in the pre-draft show on Thursday, saying that Troy Williamson would be a better fit because of the speed. With no running back available, and the likely presence of defense with their later pick, a receiver is the obvious choice.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Carnell Williams, RB, Auburn
Well, its War Eagle time in New York. The pictures said a thousand words as you actually got to see the family get the call there. Way cool.
This is the safe pick for the Buccaneers, though John now automatically hates him. Cadillac is a little small-ish, but I think he'll be fine and Gruden will put him in the right position.
The Titans are up now. and things could get interesting. They've lost their top two corners, but Steve McNair nearly retired this off-season, and there might only be so much left in his body. The hiring of Norm Chow also opens up Mike Williams as a possibility, as a number one receiver across from Drew Bennett. We'll see in a few
This is the safe pick for the Buccaneers, though John now automatically hates him. Cadillac is a little small-ish, but I think he'll be fine and Gruden will put him in the right position.
The Titans are up now. and things could get interesting. They've lost their top two corners, but Steve McNair nearly retired this off-season, and there might only be so much left in his body. The hiring of Norm Chow also opens up Mike Williams as a possibility, as a number one receiver across from Drew Bennett. We'll see in a few
Chicago Bears- Cedric Benson, RB, Texas
Here's my problem with this. He started four years at Texas, he carried the ball 1100 times. There has to be a ton of wear on the tread as they might say. Really great shot by the way, of the emotion on Benson's face and the emotions of his family. That really shows the emotional impact of today for the family's involved. The problem I have with Benson is that he really didn't impress me in the Rose Bowl, where he was really facing a faster defense for the first time since the Oklahoma game, and he never really produced against Oklahoma. I don't think Benson will be Curtis Enis, but he won't be Walter Payton either. I think he'll probably be a more bulky version of Neal Anderson, who was their first post-Payton back.
Wow, this interview with Benson is going to raise a lot of eyebrows. Saying things like the process was like a slap in the face and that he felt he was being talked down to. There will be a lot of people, writers and personnel guys who take that as disrespectful those who came before him.
Tampa Bay is up now. They Bucs need a lot on offense, but they seem to be set at wideout, so the likely candidates are Cadillac and Aaron Rodgers. As John Gruden really doesn't seem to be in love with Chris Simms or Brian Griese, the QB is the obvious move.
Wow, this interview with Benson is going to raise a lot of eyebrows. Saying things like the process was like a slap in the face and that he felt he was being talked down to. There will be a lot of people, writers and personnel guys who take that as disrespectful those who came before him.
Tampa Bay is up now. They Bucs need a lot on offense, but they seem to be set at wideout, so the likely candidates are Cadillac and Aaron Rodgers. As John Gruden really doesn't seem to be in love with Chris Simms or Brian Griese, the QB is the obvious move.
Cleveland Browns- Braylon Edwards, WR, Fine Institution
So Braylon goes to the Browns. Here's the people they'll have an offense next year, Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow II, Rueben Droughns, and Trent Dilfer. They'll be much better offensively next year. The problem will be on the defensive side. They've improved some, with Gary Baxter and Brian Russell, but the front seven is not good right now. They'll probably take a QB later, maybe Charlie Frye or Jason Campbell.
The Bears. A lot of people have them taking a running back here, but frankly I don't understand why. Thomas Jones is fine as long as he stays healthy, and you can pick up a backup in the second or third rounds who can make a really nice contribution. I'd go with Mike Williams, because they need more receivers who can make an impact, they already have Bernard Berrian to be the fast receiver, they need a guy in the red zone to make an impact, along with Mushin Muhammed. This could be another good place to deal down, and maybe pick up someone like Troy Williamson and maybe a corner down the line.
The Bears. A lot of people have them taking a running back here, but frankly I don't understand why. Thomas Jones is fine as long as he stays healthy, and you can pick up a backup in the second or third rounds who can make a really nice contribution. I'd go with Mike Williams, because they need more receivers who can make an impact, they already have Bernard Berrian to be the fast receiver, they need a guy in the red zone to make an impact, along with Mushin Muhammed. This could be another good place to deal down, and maybe pick up someone like Troy Williamson and maybe a corner down the line.
Dolphins- Ronnie Brown, RB, Auburn
Chalk Talks. Now the fun begins. Ronnie Brown's the most complete back. I realize that he didn't start, but he was incredibly productive, and because he doesn't have all the read on the tires as much as, say, Cedric Benson, he can be productive longer. Saban knows what he's getting, and so he'll know where to use him.
The Browns now have the pick. I don't think they really have a huge need at reciever, though some have said that Braylon Edwards may go here, and it seems they would like to go that way. Still, I'd almost rather seem them deal the pick here, get a couple more picks, because they don't have a lot to work with. That being said, Trent Dilfer will have a lot of weapons next year if they take Braylon Edwards.
The Browns now have the pick. I don't think they really have a huge need at reciever, though some have said that Braylon Edwards may go here, and it seems they would like to go that way. Still, I'd almost rather seem them deal the pick here, get a couple more picks, because they don't have a lot to work with. That being said, Trent Dilfer will have a lot of weapons next year if they take Braylon Edwards.
49ers- Alex Smith, QB Utah
This is the right move to rebuild the franchise. You need the QB to build the franchise around more than anything. The 49ers have been so bad lately, and Smith, because he's so intelligent and because he has the athletic ability and the frame. Now the question is whether he sticks here. I think he probably does. Good pick for the Niners.
Now the Dolphins are up, the chalk says they pick Ronnie Brown, because the need is obviously running back, but Saban really seems to want to deal down, though getting the second round pick for Patrick Surtain yesterday really gives them more flexibility, which is what they need. Personally, I don't seem them being that far away. They had a ton of injuries last year, and had to scramble for a running game. They really could get good quickly if they pick the right guys, particularly in the first few rounds. Mike Nolan just said they were going to keep Alex Smith, so congratulations to the both of them, because you're both tied to one another now.
Now the Dolphins are up, the chalk says they pick Ronnie Brown, because the need is obviously running back, but Saban really seems to want to deal down, though getting the second round pick for Patrick Surtain yesterday really gives them more flexibility, which is what they need. Personally, I don't seem them being that far away. They had a ton of injuries last year, and had to scramble for a running game. They really could get good quickly if they pick the right guys, particularly in the first few rounds. Mike Nolan just said they were going to keep Alex Smith, so congratulations to the both of them, because you're both tied to one another now.
The Preamble
Ok, so the draft is about to start, and we still don't know what's going to happen at one. It probably will be Alex Smith, but we don't know if they're going to trade the pick, trade the player, or go with someone else entirely. I don't know, no one knows. That's the beauty of this draft, really it is. Last year we had six or seven huge big time players and then everyone else, this year its basically a lot of everyone else. I love Braylon, I think he's the best player in the draft. Well, we're starting now, and for some reason Torry Holt is with ESPN today.
Speaking of ESPN, I want to say something about Monday Night/Sunday Night Football. I'm not going to talk about how weird it will be to not see football on Mondays on ABC. My question is, what does NBC do for its broadcasts, and do Madden and Michaels go to cable or maybe go to NBC. I think that its likely that Costas will not be in the booth, he'll be the studio guy, that's what he was the last time NBC had football. Now my personal favorite to be in the booth is Jim Lampley, who is probably best known for doing Boxing on HBO. But he's also an NBC employee. I think he'd be great doing football too. The other studio guys could be anyone, the last time NBC did football, they had two coaches, Mike Ditka and Joe Gibbs, and a player. The group I'd go with is this, Costas as the lead guy, Glenn Parker, who has done the Arena Football League coverage and is really good, Sterling Sharpe, who is just fabulous, without being schticky, and lastly, assuming he retires after this year, Dick Vermeil, who's great on television, or Matt Millen, if he leaves the Lions, as some think he will. I'd then have the other guy as one of the people in the booth, along with Cris Carter and Lampley. That's what this man would do. The 49ers are now on the clock.
Speaking of ESPN, I want to say something about Monday Night/Sunday Night Football. I'm not going to talk about how weird it will be to not see football on Mondays on ABC. My question is, what does NBC do for its broadcasts, and do Madden and Michaels go to cable or maybe go to NBC. I think that its likely that Costas will not be in the booth, he'll be the studio guy, that's what he was the last time NBC had football. Now my personal favorite to be in the booth is Jim Lampley, who is probably best known for doing Boxing on HBO. But he's also an NBC employee. I think he'd be great doing football too. The other studio guys could be anyone, the last time NBC did football, they had two coaches, Mike Ditka and Joe Gibbs, and a player. The group I'd go with is this, Costas as the lead guy, Glenn Parker, who has done the Arena Football League coverage and is really good, Sterling Sharpe, who is just fabulous, without being schticky, and lastly, assuming he retires after this year, Dick Vermeil, who's great on television, or Matt Millen, if he leaves the Lions, as some think he will. I'd then have the other guy as one of the people in the booth, along with Cris Carter and Lampley. That's what this man would do. The 49ers are now on the clock.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Catching up to now
This week has been a little more calm. I got my stories done in a far less stressful time frame, and ended up getting a lot more stories in. I got to meet the Atkins family, who have a plane and a runway in their backyard, as well as David Preston, who's run a paintball park for 10 years and is now 25. I got to talk to Ms. Susan Southard for a while last night, which is always fabulous. I was also glad to see that the Euphonics concert went so well and that Trojan Women was a success last week. That really is great to hear, and I echo John's feelings about feeling like a proud parent when it comes to Euphonics. Otherwise, my highlight of the week so far is getting my internet back, but that's only til tomorrow, when I'll be doing what I did with John last year, blogging the NFL Draft. I'm also going to be going to a party at my coworker Adam's new apartment tomorrow night, so we'll see how that goes.
I wanted to say something about the election of Benedict XVI. To me, its disappointing, because there was a real opportunity for the church to commit itself to social justice, especially in the developing world. Instead, we went with a doctrinal conservative who's going to be all the worst of John Paul II without any of the positives. In Africa, where there's a growing Catholic population, much of the faithful is HIV positive, and because of the position on contraception, the plague of AIDS continues to spread there. We bring in a European conservative as Europe itself seems to be breaking its neck to secularize. I' just kind of mystified, and bewildered, by all of this.
And Hey:
Here's some guy ruining a perfectly good sunset at the lake
Posted by Hello
I wanted to say something about the election of Benedict XVI. To me, its disappointing, because there was a real opportunity for the church to commit itself to social justice, especially in the developing world. Instead, we went with a doctrinal conservative who's going to be all the worst of John Paul II without any of the positives. In Africa, where there's a growing Catholic population, much of the faithful is HIV positive, and because of the position on contraception, the plague of AIDS continues to spread there. We bring in a European conservative as Europe itself seems to be breaking its neck to secularize. I' just kind of mystified, and bewildered, by all of this.
And Hey:
Here's some guy ruining a perfectly good sunset at the lake
Posted by Hello
Story Time
For the purposes of getting my work read by those I care about, here is the story on Florence Holway, followed by the five stories I wrote this week, I'll come up with an obvious way to differentiate them.
April 14
By James P. Shilander
Staff Writer
ALTON — Florence Holway has been an artist since she was a child. Now, with new notoriety following an HBO documentary, which chronicled her fight for tougher rape laws following her 1991 sexual assault, many people have been contacting Holway for her art and to thank her for the battle she has fought so far.
Holway, 89, of Alton, has received dozens of requests for her sketches and paintings in recent weeks, following the broadcast of "Rape in a Small Town: The Florence Holway Story" on HBO in January. This past weekend, the Smith family of Climax, Mich., which is a 16-hour drive from Alton, made the trek to see Holway and her art after viewing the film.
"He (Kyle Smith) called on the phone to see if he could buy sketches," Holway explained. Samantha Smith, Kyle’s young daughter had written to Holway to say how much she had been moved by Holway’s artwork. As promised in her letter, Samantha Smith and her family arrived at Holway’s home during their spring break, toured the gallery, and talked with Holway.
Holway’s fight began more than a decade ago, when Jason LaForest, who was 25 at the time, entered her Alton farmhouse late at night. Holway, 75 on that Easter Eve of 1991, remembers being awakened and "seeing two hands coming out of the dark." Though she passed out, Holway remembers waking to see LaForest undressing, at which point he raped and sodomized her. He also tied Holway, who has had several knee operations, to the bed and beat her.
After crawling to her son’s house next door and calling the police after LaForest fell asleep, Holway believed the worst to be over. But after local prosecutors plea-bargained with LaForest, who had been facing charges of rape, sodomy, breaking and entering, assault and false imprisonment, Holway "was very angry." "I learned that if you’re hurt, the government won’t help you," she says now after more than 14 years.
Holway fought for tougher sentences against rape, appearing in front of the New Hampshire State Senate, and her efforts helped to increase the prison time faced by rapists, as well as forcing plea bargains to be made with the victims’ consent. Still Holway doesn’t see anything heroic in what she did. "Strangers write the craziest things," she says, regarding some of the correspondence she has received, "so many talk about courage." She insists that she wasn’t courageous, only that "I raised hell."
The HBO documentary came about by chance. A friend of filmmakers Charlene Chapman and her husband Jeffrey had seen an article about Holway in a magazine. She encouraged them to make a documentary about Holway’s fight. The Chapmans, Holway says, came for one weekend a month for seven years to make the movie, which was eventually sold to HBO. The film primarily focuses on Holway’s efforts to fight LaForest’s parole over the last two years.
Still, Holway hopes that her art will again become the focus of her life. With her gallery being reopened to the public with a party held April 1, Holway is more than enthusiastic about showing off her pieces, created over a lifetime, which included raising five children. She has written a book about her experiences of the last 14 years, and is hoping for an editor and a publisher to see the project through. Still her art is what helps to bring her much joy as she approaches 90, and with new audiences ready to appreciate it, Holway likes to say that she’s "not anywhere near finished."
April 21
The Atkins family has wings
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — A lot of families in the area might have big lawns in their backyard. Most families might use this as an occasional baseball diamond, soccer pitch or tanning bed. The Atkins family uses their backyard as their personal airstrip. Ron Atkins, the patriarch of the Atkins family, has taken each of his three children out in the air since they were small, but now the shoe might well be on the other foot.
Ron Atkins flies commercial cargo aircraft for UPS. His Barnstead office features stencils of each of the type of aircraft he has flown, and features pictures of his aircraft in action. His schedule is such that he’s flying for nearly 13 days straight, making a four-city run with stops in Philadelphia; Cologne, Germany; Hong Kong; and Anchorage. Then he’s home for nearly two weeks, "It kind of makes it difficult to get involved much socially in town, but its really good to be home so much," he explains. His father worked for Eastern Airlines while Atkins was growing up, and this, he says, is where he caught the flying "bug."
Aaron Atkins is Ron’s 17-year-old son. He’s a junior at Prospect Mountain High School, and a member of the baseball team. Aaron has also "caught the bug." While he had been flying in the family’s plane, a 1952 Piper Tri-Pacer that is three years older than Ron, Aaron has in recent years taken his own flying a bit more seriously. Two years ago, when his family’s plane needed refurbishing, Aaron assisted his father and his brother Austin in putting the fabric airplane back together. For the last three years, Aaron has been working at home to study for the written pilot’s test. Ron Atkins says that that isn’t all that easy, "You see a lot of people fail when it comes to the written part." Ron has been instructing his son while he was home. Aaron scored a 92 percent on his written exam, which, his father explained, about half of test-takers fail on their first attempt. What makes this doubly impressive is that failure is 80 percent meaning that Aaron easily passed an extraordinarily difficult-to-pass examination.
This past February, Aaron received his Private Pilot’s license just after his 17th birthday, almost exactly 32 years after Ron got his license. Aaron describes the whole experience as "pretty cool." He has already taken friends from school as well as some cousins up in the air (the Private Pilot license allows him to take up passengers, though not for a fee). His mother, Patti Atkins, a stay-at-home mom, does admit that she still worries about her son, at least a little bit, when he goes up.
Aaron is hoping to become a pilot, similar to his father. He would like to get an Aircraft Mechanics license at Nashua Tech, and then attend college for a business degree to, he explains, and "have something to fall back on." He would also like to enter the military and fly there, but eventually end up flying cargo like his father does. He does plan to continue his efforts, "I’m going to keep going with it (flying) – I want to get the rest of my license over the next few years." He would also like to work part-time as a flight instructor once he gets to college.
Still, the flying Atkins’ have their own private airport in their backyard. With daughter Arielle and son Austin still flying, presumably the family runway will remain busy for years.
Population could increase by 60 percent
How to protect natural resources?
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — A coalition of various area conservation groups, the Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) hosted a workshop in the New Durham School gym Tuesday Night. Representatives of various UNH programs, as well as a member of the Strafford Planning Commission, presented ideas on how to best grow New Durham, with respect to the desire to preserve as many of the natural resources as possible.
Selectman Ron Gehl, who had previously served three years as planning board commissioner, said that the town has been looking to get NROC involved for a while. "We originally contacted them near the end of 2003," Gehl said. While the group was unable to respond to New Durham’s application in 2004, Gehl said that NROC was impressed enough by the application of the town that they were willing to get involved with the community’s development planning this year.
Using a PowerPoint slide show, various speakers tried to convey to the audience of about 35 assembled townspeople the issues of conservation that will be confronting New Durham in the coming years. A graphic that showed a potential 60 percent increase in the town’s population, an increase of some 1,330 people, by 2020 drew audible gasps from the crowd, as did some of the next few slides which pertained to how much land this population might end up using.
Much of the presentation focused on educating the crowd on the natural resources of the area, as well as the potential costs of poor planning. NROC representative Julia Peterson spoke about the changes that developed land could have on the town’s supply of groundwater, particularly relevant to a town with as many wells as New Durham.
As the presentation moved to planning for the development of the town, NROC presenter Gerry Mylroie spoke on the subject of effective use of land in new subdivisions, as well as how best to possibly move toward creating more neighborhoods around a town center. Other portions of the presentation focused on preserving town aquifers, stopping habitat fragmentation and ways for the town and for individuals to manage the city’s conservation efforts.
While many seemed pleased following the presentation, Gehl had been hoping for a bit more of a turnout, but he did add that "this is a start of an ongoing process of getting people involved and getting input." He also said that the beautiful weather might have played a part in keeping some from attending the presentation.
It was also announced a follow-up meeting, during which New Durham residents could lay out their own concerns and ideas on the issues brought up in the presentation would be held on Saturday, May 7, at the Elementary school. Anyone in town is invited to attend, including those who were unable to attend the first meeting.
Preston makes extreme sport work
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — Spring is considered the muddy time in the Lakes region. Snow has melted and the earth is still recovering from winter. But getting dirty and muddy is all a part of the fun of paintball, which David Preston, who owns OSG Paintball in Barnstead, knows very well. Having just opened for the season, the business, one of the leading paintball parks in New England, is about to get really busy, really fast.
Preston, who took over the business at the age of 15 after the two Florida businessmen who ran it left, has now run his paintball center for ten years. He employs more than a dozen Barnstead residents as referees and in other capacities. "We are one of the largest employers in Barnstead," Preston explains, "we have about 12 to 18 people on staff." The staff serves crowds, which can sometimes number 150 on the weekends, the busiest time at OSG. "There are games during the week, but they are mostly private parties," says Preston.
Paintball is a billion dollar a year industry, it ranks behind only rollerblading and skateboarding in terms of annual spending for extreme sports. For those unfamiliar with the sport, Preston describes it as "a very physical game of tag" or "cops and robbers for adults." Still, safety, Preston says, is the number one concern of his company. "We require masks at all times once you step onto the field, and barrel plugs (small bags which catch fired balls) when you step off." Referees are on alert to look for injured players, and do not hesitate, Preston says, to get hobbled combatants out of the game. The paintballs used are also environmentally safe, he says, because the "paint" is made mostly of gelatin and food coloring. Violators of safety policies are kicked out, according to Preston.
The courses, which are built and maintained by Preston and his employees can be very elaborate and detailed. Since the course was put up, constant improvements have been made. A "castle" area as well as woods courses dot the 25 acres of the business. Most intricate of all are newer areas that Preston has dreamed up. Two town courses, one with an Old West theme and another, more "urban" setting, which both Preston says "can be very intense." Preston is currently building a new course for the summer, which will be based on the video game Halo, with intricate structures and ramps.
Most of the money generated by the course has been reinvested, according to Preston. The newer courses require more maintenance and upkeep, as well as repairs for winter damages. During the winters, Preston manages a snowboarding store.
With spring now upon him though, Preston seems excited about new challenges. He and other employees will be working on efforts to cleanup roads into town, as well as adding additions to some of the courses. A "scenario" game will be held which pits New Hampshire players against those from Massachusetts. For Preston, who got into the game when he was 10 years old, there is excitement, "It’s not a bad business," he explains, while picking up used paintballs on his course, "it will eventually grow into a nice large business, We’re constantly expanding, constantly growing."
Welcome Wagons give way to Web
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — The Monday meeting of the New Durham Planning Board was highlighted by a close look at some of the provisions of the town’s proposed new Master Plan. In taking to account the last civic profile conducted for the town, in 1996, which helped to inspire many of the basic tenets of the new plan, the board took a hard look at some of the proposed elements and hoped for improvement in the future.
Several sections of the Master Plan referred to the now defunct Town newsletter as the only means of communication. Board members noted continuously that new guidelines should take into account the town’s new website (http://www.newdurhamnh.us/) as well as access to Community TV as a more effective way of communicating. Other efforts, such as "Welcome Wagons" for new residents, seemed to whither on the vine since the last time they were instituted, and members of the board urged greater efforts and more realistic views of such programs in the future.
Other issues were also discussed. Board members were adamant that the town needed a new sign or board that would allow citizens to be aware of coming meetings and events, in addition to signs already in front of the library and school. While money for such efforts has been appropriated in the past, such a board has yet to be constructed. Other possibilities, such as greater visibility for board meetings on the town website, were also discussed as possible solutions.
Also, issues of communication between the town of New Durham and other area organizations were discussed, especially regional planning and conservation boards, as well as local ties like the Merrymeeting Lake Association and the Cropple Crown Village District.
The board then appointed Cropple Crown resident Chris LaPierre as an alternate member of the board. The voting rights of those members was also under discussion as the board made several suggestions that new chairman Robert Craycraft said he would take into account in his further time on the board.
A Penny (Sale) is a penny earned for vets
ALTON — Dennis Kaszynski of Alton found the military to be one of the most important parts of his life. "The military changed my life in a big way," he says, "It taught a lot, about leadership, how to work with people, followership." He flew B-52’s in the Air Force He is sending one son to the Air Force Academy, and another is trying to decide on which branch of service he wants to go into. Still, Kaszynski realizes that many veterans have a hard time when they come back from service.
"When a lot of guys come out, they’re still hardwired for the military, to work with his buddies and to protect our country, but when he comes back, he isn’t necessarily hardwired to capitalism, to marketing himself. So sometimes when the men get out they need help for a little while." After meeting with Doreen Galipeau, who had been working with the Veteran’s First Family Shelter, which is being built in Nashua. The Shelter, according to Kaszynski, 45, will house some of those families that need help. "This is the only shelter being created in the state of New Hampshire dedicated to housing veterans and their families." He went on to explain that the project, which is being built by Harbor Homes, Inc., was primarily to give veterans a break and get them back on their feet as they and their families became acclimated to the civilian world.
To raise funds, Kaszynski has put together The Alton Family Penny Sale, which will be held at Prospect Mountain High School on April 30, at 4 p.m. The effort he says has been community wide, "Not one business has said no to me, everyone in the town of Alton has come through for this…It does my heart good just to be a part of this kind of community." Donations from across the area, from a $1700 leather couch donated by Grevier Furniture, to die cast model cars and numerous gift certificates will be available at the event. One local businessman, Ruben Wentworth of Alton Home and Lumber Center, has been particularly generous, Kaszynski noted. "Ruben was incredibly excited to donate to this, he’s given us boxes of items’, 10 gift certificates for propane refills and more." Wentworth also donated the door prize for the event, an etched glass door window.
Kaszynski said that he hopes to raise at least $10,000 for the Shelter through the event.
Well that's it for this week. Anyone with comments should feel free to post anything you want, no matter how damning.
April 14
By James P. Shilander
Staff Writer
ALTON — Florence Holway has been an artist since she was a child. Now, with new notoriety following an HBO documentary, which chronicled her fight for tougher rape laws following her 1991 sexual assault, many people have been contacting Holway for her art and to thank her for the battle she has fought so far.
Holway, 89, of Alton, has received dozens of requests for her sketches and paintings in recent weeks, following the broadcast of "Rape in a Small Town: The Florence Holway Story" on HBO in January. This past weekend, the Smith family of Climax, Mich., which is a 16-hour drive from Alton, made the trek to see Holway and her art after viewing the film.
"He (Kyle Smith) called on the phone to see if he could buy sketches," Holway explained. Samantha Smith, Kyle’s young daughter had written to Holway to say how much she had been moved by Holway’s artwork. As promised in her letter, Samantha Smith and her family arrived at Holway’s home during their spring break, toured the gallery, and talked with Holway.
Holway’s fight began more than a decade ago, when Jason LaForest, who was 25 at the time, entered her Alton farmhouse late at night. Holway, 75 on that Easter Eve of 1991, remembers being awakened and "seeing two hands coming out of the dark." Though she passed out, Holway remembers waking to see LaForest undressing, at which point he raped and sodomized her. He also tied Holway, who has had several knee operations, to the bed and beat her.
After crawling to her son’s house next door and calling the police after LaForest fell asleep, Holway believed the worst to be over. But after local prosecutors plea-bargained with LaForest, who had been facing charges of rape, sodomy, breaking and entering, assault and false imprisonment, Holway "was very angry." "I learned that if you’re hurt, the government won’t help you," she says now after more than 14 years.
Holway fought for tougher sentences against rape, appearing in front of the New Hampshire State Senate, and her efforts helped to increase the prison time faced by rapists, as well as forcing plea bargains to be made with the victims’ consent. Still Holway doesn’t see anything heroic in what she did. "Strangers write the craziest things," she says, regarding some of the correspondence she has received, "so many talk about courage." She insists that she wasn’t courageous, only that "I raised hell."
The HBO documentary came about by chance. A friend of filmmakers Charlene Chapman and her husband Jeffrey had seen an article about Holway in a magazine. She encouraged them to make a documentary about Holway’s fight. The Chapmans, Holway says, came for one weekend a month for seven years to make the movie, which was eventually sold to HBO. The film primarily focuses on Holway’s efforts to fight LaForest’s parole over the last two years.
Still, Holway hopes that her art will again become the focus of her life. With her gallery being reopened to the public with a party held April 1, Holway is more than enthusiastic about showing off her pieces, created over a lifetime, which included raising five children. She has written a book about her experiences of the last 14 years, and is hoping for an editor and a publisher to see the project through. Still her art is what helps to bring her much joy as she approaches 90, and with new audiences ready to appreciate it, Holway likes to say that she’s "not anywhere near finished."
April 21
The Atkins family has wings
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — A lot of families in the area might have big lawns in their backyard. Most families might use this as an occasional baseball diamond, soccer pitch or tanning bed. The Atkins family uses their backyard as their personal airstrip. Ron Atkins, the patriarch of the Atkins family, has taken each of his three children out in the air since they were small, but now the shoe might well be on the other foot.
Ron Atkins flies commercial cargo aircraft for UPS. His Barnstead office features stencils of each of the type of aircraft he has flown, and features pictures of his aircraft in action. His schedule is such that he’s flying for nearly 13 days straight, making a four-city run with stops in Philadelphia; Cologne, Germany; Hong Kong; and Anchorage. Then he’s home for nearly two weeks, "It kind of makes it difficult to get involved much socially in town, but its really good to be home so much," he explains. His father worked for Eastern Airlines while Atkins was growing up, and this, he says, is where he caught the flying "bug."
Aaron Atkins is Ron’s 17-year-old son. He’s a junior at Prospect Mountain High School, and a member of the baseball team. Aaron has also "caught the bug." While he had been flying in the family’s plane, a 1952 Piper Tri-Pacer that is three years older than Ron, Aaron has in recent years taken his own flying a bit more seriously. Two years ago, when his family’s plane needed refurbishing, Aaron assisted his father and his brother Austin in putting the fabric airplane back together. For the last three years, Aaron has been working at home to study for the written pilot’s test. Ron Atkins says that that isn’t all that easy, "You see a lot of people fail when it comes to the written part." Ron has been instructing his son while he was home. Aaron scored a 92 percent on his written exam, which, his father explained, about half of test-takers fail on their first attempt. What makes this doubly impressive is that failure is 80 percent meaning that Aaron easily passed an extraordinarily difficult-to-pass examination.
This past February, Aaron received his Private Pilot’s license just after his 17th birthday, almost exactly 32 years after Ron got his license. Aaron describes the whole experience as "pretty cool." He has already taken friends from school as well as some cousins up in the air (the Private Pilot license allows him to take up passengers, though not for a fee). His mother, Patti Atkins, a stay-at-home mom, does admit that she still worries about her son, at least a little bit, when he goes up.
Aaron is hoping to become a pilot, similar to his father. He would like to get an Aircraft Mechanics license at Nashua Tech, and then attend college for a business degree to, he explains, and "have something to fall back on." He would also like to enter the military and fly there, but eventually end up flying cargo like his father does. He does plan to continue his efforts, "I’m going to keep going with it (flying) – I want to get the rest of my license over the next few years." He would also like to work part-time as a flight instructor once he gets to college.
Still, the flying Atkins’ have their own private airport in their backyard. With daughter Arielle and son Austin still flying, presumably the family runway will remain busy for years.
Population could increase by 60 percent
How to protect natural resources?
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — A coalition of various area conservation groups, the Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) hosted a workshop in the New Durham School gym Tuesday Night. Representatives of various UNH programs, as well as a member of the Strafford Planning Commission, presented ideas on how to best grow New Durham, with respect to the desire to preserve as many of the natural resources as possible.
Selectman Ron Gehl, who had previously served three years as planning board commissioner, said that the town has been looking to get NROC involved for a while. "We originally contacted them near the end of 2003," Gehl said. While the group was unable to respond to New Durham’s application in 2004, Gehl said that NROC was impressed enough by the application of the town that they were willing to get involved with the community’s development planning this year.
Using a PowerPoint slide show, various speakers tried to convey to the audience of about 35 assembled townspeople the issues of conservation that will be confronting New Durham in the coming years. A graphic that showed a potential 60 percent increase in the town’s population, an increase of some 1,330 people, by 2020 drew audible gasps from the crowd, as did some of the next few slides which pertained to how much land this population might end up using.
Much of the presentation focused on educating the crowd on the natural resources of the area, as well as the potential costs of poor planning. NROC representative Julia Peterson spoke about the changes that developed land could have on the town’s supply of groundwater, particularly relevant to a town with as many wells as New Durham.
As the presentation moved to planning for the development of the town, NROC presenter Gerry Mylroie spoke on the subject of effective use of land in new subdivisions, as well as how best to possibly move toward creating more neighborhoods around a town center. Other portions of the presentation focused on preserving town aquifers, stopping habitat fragmentation and ways for the town and for individuals to manage the city’s conservation efforts.
While many seemed pleased following the presentation, Gehl had been hoping for a bit more of a turnout, but he did add that "this is a start of an ongoing process of getting people involved and getting input." He also said that the beautiful weather might have played a part in keeping some from attending the presentation.
It was also announced a follow-up meeting, during which New Durham residents could lay out their own concerns and ideas on the issues brought up in the presentation would be held on Saturday, May 7, at the Elementary school. Anyone in town is invited to attend, including those who were unable to attend the first meeting.
Preston makes extreme sport work
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — Spring is considered the muddy time in the Lakes region. Snow has melted and the earth is still recovering from winter. But getting dirty and muddy is all a part of the fun of paintball, which David Preston, who owns OSG Paintball in Barnstead, knows very well. Having just opened for the season, the business, one of the leading paintball parks in New England, is about to get really busy, really fast.
Preston, who took over the business at the age of 15 after the two Florida businessmen who ran it left, has now run his paintball center for ten years. He employs more than a dozen Barnstead residents as referees and in other capacities. "We are one of the largest employers in Barnstead," Preston explains, "we have about 12 to 18 people on staff." The staff serves crowds, which can sometimes number 150 on the weekends, the busiest time at OSG. "There are games during the week, but they are mostly private parties," says Preston.
Paintball is a billion dollar a year industry, it ranks behind only rollerblading and skateboarding in terms of annual spending for extreme sports. For those unfamiliar with the sport, Preston describes it as "a very physical game of tag" or "cops and robbers for adults." Still, safety, Preston says, is the number one concern of his company. "We require masks at all times once you step onto the field, and barrel plugs (small bags which catch fired balls) when you step off." Referees are on alert to look for injured players, and do not hesitate, Preston says, to get hobbled combatants out of the game. The paintballs used are also environmentally safe, he says, because the "paint" is made mostly of gelatin and food coloring. Violators of safety policies are kicked out, according to Preston.
The courses, which are built and maintained by Preston and his employees can be very elaborate and detailed. Since the course was put up, constant improvements have been made. A "castle" area as well as woods courses dot the 25 acres of the business. Most intricate of all are newer areas that Preston has dreamed up. Two town courses, one with an Old West theme and another, more "urban" setting, which both Preston says "can be very intense." Preston is currently building a new course for the summer, which will be based on the video game Halo, with intricate structures and ramps.
Most of the money generated by the course has been reinvested, according to Preston. The newer courses require more maintenance and upkeep, as well as repairs for winter damages. During the winters, Preston manages a snowboarding store.
With spring now upon him though, Preston seems excited about new challenges. He and other employees will be working on efforts to cleanup roads into town, as well as adding additions to some of the courses. A "scenario" game will be held which pits New Hampshire players against those from Massachusetts. For Preston, who got into the game when he was 10 years old, there is excitement, "It’s not a bad business," he explains, while picking up used paintballs on his course, "it will eventually grow into a nice large business, We’re constantly expanding, constantly growing."
Welcome Wagons give way to Web
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — The Monday meeting of the New Durham Planning Board was highlighted by a close look at some of the provisions of the town’s proposed new Master Plan. In taking to account the last civic profile conducted for the town, in 1996, which helped to inspire many of the basic tenets of the new plan, the board took a hard look at some of the proposed elements and hoped for improvement in the future.
Several sections of the Master Plan referred to the now defunct Town newsletter as the only means of communication. Board members noted continuously that new guidelines should take into account the town’s new website (http://www.newdurhamnh.us/) as well as access to Community TV as a more effective way of communicating. Other efforts, such as "Welcome Wagons" for new residents, seemed to whither on the vine since the last time they were instituted, and members of the board urged greater efforts and more realistic views of such programs in the future.
Other issues were also discussed. Board members were adamant that the town needed a new sign or board that would allow citizens to be aware of coming meetings and events, in addition to signs already in front of the library and school. While money for such efforts has been appropriated in the past, such a board has yet to be constructed. Other possibilities, such as greater visibility for board meetings on the town website, were also discussed as possible solutions.
Also, issues of communication between the town of New Durham and other area organizations were discussed, especially regional planning and conservation boards, as well as local ties like the Merrymeeting Lake Association and the Cropple Crown Village District.
The board then appointed Cropple Crown resident Chris LaPierre as an alternate member of the board. The voting rights of those members was also under discussion as the board made several suggestions that new chairman Robert Craycraft said he would take into account in his further time on the board.
A Penny (Sale) is a penny earned for vets
ALTON — Dennis Kaszynski of Alton found the military to be one of the most important parts of his life. "The military changed my life in a big way," he says, "It taught a lot, about leadership, how to work with people, followership." He flew B-52’s in the Air Force He is sending one son to the Air Force Academy, and another is trying to decide on which branch of service he wants to go into. Still, Kaszynski realizes that many veterans have a hard time when they come back from service.
"When a lot of guys come out, they’re still hardwired for the military, to work with his buddies and to protect our country, but when he comes back, he isn’t necessarily hardwired to capitalism, to marketing himself. So sometimes when the men get out they need help for a little while." After meeting with Doreen Galipeau, who had been working with the Veteran’s First Family Shelter, which is being built in Nashua. The Shelter, according to Kaszynski, 45, will house some of those families that need help. "This is the only shelter being created in the state of New Hampshire dedicated to housing veterans and their families." He went on to explain that the project, which is being built by Harbor Homes, Inc., was primarily to give veterans a break and get them back on their feet as they and their families became acclimated to the civilian world.
To raise funds, Kaszynski has put together The Alton Family Penny Sale, which will be held at Prospect Mountain High School on April 30, at 4 p.m. The effort he says has been community wide, "Not one business has said no to me, everyone in the town of Alton has come through for this…It does my heart good just to be a part of this kind of community." Donations from across the area, from a $1700 leather couch donated by Grevier Furniture, to die cast model cars and numerous gift certificates will be available at the event. One local businessman, Ruben Wentworth of Alton Home and Lumber Center, has been particularly generous, Kaszynski noted. "Ruben was incredibly excited to donate to this, he’s given us boxes of items’, 10 gift certificates for propane refills and more." Wentworth also donated the door prize for the event, an etched glass door window.
Kaszynski said that he hopes to raise at least $10,000 for the Shelter through the event.
Well that's it for this week. Anyone with comments should feel free to post anything you want, no matter how damning.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Times, Well, They are a Changin'
Well, I'm up in Wolfeboro now, and I have been for about two weeks. It’s been a pretty crazy last couple of weeks, I've had to find an apartment, furnish it, and begin to get settled at work and in town. When my mother and myself awoke on Friday, we had to find an apartment. We had a place, then we couldn't get the relatively enormous funds required for it together, and we ended up with what is probably a much better place for me. It's a very nice 1 bedroom, and I was able to move in right away.
After a weekend where we looked around town for furniture and to try to familiarize me with the city, I started work on Monday. I really got thrown into the fire, because most of the stories have to be in on Tuesday Night to allow for the paper to go out on Thursday morning. I ended up covering two stories my first day, which included a drive, first to Alton, the main town where the paper I am working on is based, and then close to New Durham, another town in the area. Just so you understand my situation, I work at the Granite State News office here in Wolfeboro, but the newspaper I work for covers Alton, New Durham and Barnstead. That's the situation, its really not that odd, when you consider that these are all small towns, but that there's a lot of interesting news here. One such story is that of Florence Holway, whom I had my first really large (in terms of time) interview with. I sent out a lot of newspapers to people last week, so some of you might have read the story by now, but for those of you who haven't, Florence was raped on Easter Eve 1991, when she was 75 years old. A man, drunk and high, broke into her home, beat her, and then proceeded to rape and sodomizes her. That night, she escaped to her son and daughter in law's house and called the police. But because the man who attacked her had worn a condom, there was no rape kit evidence, the local prosecutors made a plea deal with her rapist, who the police had found naked in Florence's bed. Florence could have been embarrassed, but instead she raised hell. She lobbied for tougher rape sentences and for victim's rights. And she won. Now she just reopened her art gallery that sits in her home. She's been painting since she was a child and now she's reopened her home and her art to the world. She was really amazing to talk to, as you can imagine.
On Tuesday I had my first drive out to Barnstead to cover a school board meeting. What worried me most was that it was snowing on my way out. But I ended up getting a couple of nice pictures and covering the meeting, which ended up running long, long enough that I ended up writing the story at around 10:30 that night for my editor to look at the next morning before she sent it to the printer.
The next few days I really didn't need to stay that late, because most of the work on the paper gets done on those first two days of the week, so when my parents came on Thursday, with furniture, it was great. I also got cable and Internet on Friday, but then something odd happened. While I was taking Netscape off of my computer, I accidentally took a necessary file out, thus making the Internet inaccessible. I am only getting it back tonight, so yeah, weird wild stuff there.
I asked my editor if she would allow me to post my stories online, and she said it would be ok, so tomorrow, for all of you interested parties, I'll post my stories for this week. I'll let you know more about this weeks happenings, as well as the election of Benedict XVI tomorrow.
Til then, I leave you with this look at Lake Winnipesaukee
The Lake, still with a bit of Ice still out. Ice Out was just declared this week
Posted by Hello
After a weekend where we looked around town for furniture and to try to familiarize me with the city, I started work on Monday. I really got thrown into the fire, because most of the stories have to be in on Tuesday Night to allow for the paper to go out on Thursday morning. I ended up covering two stories my first day, which included a drive, first to Alton, the main town where the paper I am working on is based, and then close to New Durham, another town in the area. Just so you understand my situation, I work at the Granite State News office here in Wolfeboro, but the newspaper I work for covers Alton, New Durham and Barnstead. That's the situation, its really not that odd, when you consider that these are all small towns, but that there's a lot of interesting news here. One such story is that of Florence Holway, whom I had my first really large (in terms of time) interview with. I sent out a lot of newspapers to people last week, so some of you might have read the story by now, but for those of you who haven't, Florence was raped on Easter Eve 1991, when she was 75 years old. A man, drunk and high, broke into her home, beat her, and then proceeded to rape and sodomizes her. That night, she escaped to her son and daughter in law's house and called the police. But because the man who attacked her had worn a condom, there was no rape kit evidence, the local prosecutors made a plea deal with her rapist, who the police had found naked in Florence's bed. Florence could have been embarrassed, but instead she raised hell. She lobbied for tougher rape sentences and for victim's rights. And she won. Now she just reopened her art gallery that sits in her home. She's been painting since she was a child and now she's reopened her home and her art to the world. She was really amazing to talk to, as you can imagine.
On Tuesday I had my first drive out to Barnstead to cover a school board meeting. What worried me most was that it was snowing on my way out. But I ended up getting a couple of nice pictures and covering the meeting, which ended up running long, long enough that I ended up writing the story at around 10:30 that night for my editor to look at the next morning before she sent it to the printer.
The next few days I really didn't need to stay that late, because most of the work on the paper gets done on those first two days of the week, so when my parents came on Thursday, with furniture, it was great. I also got cable and Internet on Friday, but then something odd happened. While I was taking Netscape off of my computer, I accidentally took a necessary file out, thus making the Internet inaccessible. I am only getting it back tonight, so yeah, weird wild stuff there.
I asked my editor if she would allow me to post my stories online, and she said it would be ok, so tomorrow, for all of you interested parties, I'll post my stories for this week. I'll let you know more about this weeks happenings, as well as the election of Benedict XVI tomorrow.
Til then, I leave you with this look at Lake Winnipesaukee
The Lake, still with a bit of Ice still out. Ice Out was just declared this week
Posted by Hello
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Sic Transit Gloria
Obviously, I do feel some need to talk about the passing of John Paul II (the Great). More than any Pope in the last century, with the possible exception of John XXIII, meant as much to the Catholic Church, and none, with the exception of Pius XII, was more controversial. John Paul II, and his tenure as pontiff, will go down as one of the most dramatic papacies ever. Here is a man who traveled more than any pope ever, and probably more than all of his predecessors combined. Here is the Pope that helped to overthrow communism in Eastern Europe, starting with his native country. He was a man who forgave his attempted assassin, and who opened all forms of ecumenical dialogue, and not just with in the Christian community. As Pope, he recognized Israel and visited a mosque. He's received Lucille from B.B. King, and had breakdancers perform in an audience with him. He saw his church grow dramatically in the developing world, while the church in Europe floundered in the face of secularism and the Church in America became mired in the sinkhole of its own vices. He has stubbornly kept out of step with mainline Protestantism on issues like contraception and the ordination of women, while becoming a hero to liberals for his objections to the Iraq war and his steadfast opposition to capital punishment. This pope was a man of contrasts, but what's most important is that he did things, not just sit in his palaces, and detach himself from the world. The world will be a much different place without him in it.
I must say it has been an eventful few days. I saw John in Chicago on Friday, which was really nice, because I felt like we needed to talk about some things as well as just hang out for a while. I also saw the Steeno's for the first time since the breakup. I must admit, I had been a little worried about how they would react to me, even after so long. I was always comfortable around them, but you never know how something like what happened can change someone's reaction to you. Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Steeno couldn't have been happier for me when they found out about my job, and they seemed really happy to see me. I enjoyed the writing 5 show John did, and was able to stay the night, which I want to thank John publicly for here. Saturday morning I headed to Valpo to pick up my mom's keys and to have lunch with Robert and Jen. Everything went well, though I got out later than I wanted to, and so I wasn't able to go home before I picked up...Amy Lewis!!!
Amy is at the Purple Rose and doing smashingly. Things really seem to be going well for her and it was amazingly good to talk about things with her again. I also want to congratulate the people who did the workshops. I had some tie to all of them, some more than others. I want to congratulate N. Matthew Mourning for his amazing piece, because it challenged everyone in the audience, it didn't spoonfeed anyone, which I greatly appreciated. I also got to see Mike Bohne's last performance in Chelsea Sadler's play. I also want to congratulate Brinn Cronin, who's play was directed by Alex Rivera. While not perfect, she's come a really long way with her writing and hopefully will continue. I've always loved the workshops, because its such an amazing thing to watch the work of students as writers and directors, and also to see new faces along with the old ones on the stage. Workshops are really a great opportunity for younger actors to get experience and for the "veterans" to try new things, or, just to help their friends in their shows. After the shows, and a couple hours at the Phoenix with John, Amy, Mike, Nick, Maggie Holdershaw and several drunken Alpha Chi's, we went back to the Mae. I enjoyed the conversation there as well, especially with Chelsea Sadler.
The next morning came a trip to Denny's with more old friends, like Karen and Andy, and the ride home, the long goodbye as we left Albion and the chat with Amy Lewis on the way back to Chelsea was a great way to end the weekend. Its been kind of crazy here. We're doing our best to find some leads on Apartments before me and my mom head out on Thursday. We're trying to get all of these things together and I also am trying to say some goodbyes. I had lunch with my grandmother today, and it really hit me how far away I was going to be from everyone, and how much I'll miss them, and be missed. Still, I'm hoping to be able to come home pretty regularly to visit, as well as to see Albion and the people I still have there. Plus, hopefully, I'll be getting some visitors over the summer. After all, Wolfeboro is a resort.
Tonight I went to see Woody Allen's newest, Melinda and Melinda. The movie is essentially two different writers' views of the same story, and one man creates a tragic one around his version of Melinda, while another, played by Wallace Shawn (a movie with Wallace Shawn having dinner is always interesting), takes a more comedic approach. I really enjoyed it, I found both stories compelling in their own way and I really enjoyed the performances. Still, I heard a couple talking as I left the theater about how Woody's newer movies never seem to be favorably viewed in comparison to his 70's work. I find this unfair. Woody can't make Annie Hall for 30 years, he has to try new things. I have found most of his new work to be pretty good, actually. The problem is that he is judged against himself, and his movies are not judged against heir peers today. I think a movie like this, which speaks to real themes about the duality of life, in that it can be viewed as both tragic and comic, makes lots of interesting points and arguments, and I enjoyed it for what it was. Happy Hunting everyone, and good luck to Miss Kraly over these next couple of trying weeks.
I must say it has been an eventful few days. I saw John in Chicago on Friday, which was really nice, because I felt like we needed to talk about some things as well as just hang out for a while. I also saw the Steeno's for the first time since the breakup. I must admit, I had been a little worried about how they would react to me, even after so long. I was always comfortable around them, but you never know how something like what happened can change someone's reaction to you. Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Steeno couldn't have been happier for me when they found out about my job, and they seemed really happy to see me. I enjoyed the writing 5 show John did, and was able to stay the night, which I want to thank John publicly for here. Saturday morning I headed to Valpo to pick up my mom's keys and to have lunch with Robert and Jen. Everything went well, though I got out later than I wanted to, and so I wasn't able to go home before I picked up...Amy Lewis!!!
Amy is at the Purple Rose and doing smashingly. Things really seem to be going well for her and it was amazingly good to talk about things with her again. I also want to congratulate the people who did the workshops. I had some tie to all of them, some more than others. I want to congratulate N. Matthew Mourning for his amazing piece, because it challenged everyone in the audience, it didn't spoonfeed anyone, which I greatly appreciated. I also got to see Mike Bohne's last performance in Chelsea Sadler's play. I also want to congratulate Brinn Cronin, who's play was directed by Alex Rivera. While not perfect, she's come a really long way with her writing and hopefully will continue. I've always loved the workshops, because its such an amazing thing to watch the work of students as writers and directors, and also to see new faces along with the old ones on the stage. Workshops are really a great opportunity for younger actors to get experience and for the "veterans" to try new things, or, just to help their friends in their shows. After the shows, and a couple hours at the Phoenix with John, Amy, Mike, Nick, Maggie Holdershaw and several drunken Alpha Chi's, we went back to the Mae. I enjoyed the conversation there as well, especially with Chelsea Sadler.
The next morning came a trip to Denny's with more old friends, like Karen and Andy, and the ride home, the long goodbye as we left Albion and the chat with Amy Lewis on the way back to Chelsea was a great way to end the weekend. Its been kind of crazy here. We're doing our best to find some leads on Apartments before me and my mom head out on Thursday. We're trying to get all of these things together and I also am trying to say some goodbyes. I had lunch with my grandmother today, and it really hit me how far away I was going to be from everyone, and how much I'll miss them, and be missed. Still, I'm hoping to be able to come home pretty regularly to visit, as well as to see Albion and the people I still have there. Plus, hopefully, I'll be getting some visitors over the summer. After all, Wolfeboro is a resort.
Tonight I went to see Woody Allen's newest, Melinda and Melinda. The movie is essentially two different writers' views of the same story, and one man creates a tragic one around his version of Melinda, while another, played by Wallace Shawn (a movie with Wallace Shawn having dinner is always interesting), takes a more comedic approach. I really enjoyed it, I found both stories compelling in their own way and I really enjoyed the performances. Still, I heard a couple talking as I left the theater about how Woody's newer movies never seem to be favorably viewed in comparison to his 70's work. I find this unfair. Woody can't make Annie Hall for 30 years, he has to try new things. I have found most of his new work to be pretty good, actually. The problem is that he is judged against himself, and his movies are not judged against heir peers today. I think a movie like this, which speaks to real themes about the duality of life, in that it can be viewed as both tragic and comic, makes lots of interesting points and arguments, and I enjoyed it for what it was. Happy Hunting everyone, and good luck to Miss Kraly over these next couple of trying weeks.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Fini
Today is my last full day in Washington, as far as this time around in concerned. I really do think I've accomplished what I've wanted to here, that being a recharge of the batteries after the time I had in Chicago. While I didn't end up finding permanent work here, I have a lot of fun experiences and good contacts to take with me. Obviously, people like the Bayne's, and Ingrid and Michele, who let me stay with them and offered their advice, I am extraordinarily grateful to. Same thing with Andy Carroll, and everyone at the Association of Small Foundations, for giving me work, as it gave me focus as well as allowed me to get my head above water financially. Obviously, Courtney, who's let me stay with her in the rent deal of the century, and given me a lot to think about as well, I thank you.
I also want to thank Barb Palmer, who helped to steer me on the right path here. Same thing with Richard Just, my friend at TNR. It was also great to reconnect with Cameo, who I hadn't really talked to since we left DC as juniors, which I regretted a lot. Now perhaps we'll stay in touch this time.
Plus it was great to be in this city, because of the energy it produces, and for its many amazing sights. I heard it said once that if Pittsburgh produces steel and Detroit produces cars, then Washington produces power. Its incredible to be in a place like this, where so much power is centered, and where there are so many brilliant people, all of whom, on both sides of the aisle, are all people who want to see the country improve and who love everything about it. While we disagree how best to get there, everyone here shares a common desire to do what they see as good.
Memories to take with me:
That first Monday, getting up at 6:45 to catch the VRE, then spending about 8 hours walking around DC, most of which was just me circling the Capitol building. Then how tired I felt afterwards.
Seeing Barb again, and catching up with how things have been with her at AU.
The incredible rush you get when you stand on the steps of the Court and look at the Capitol, the incredible feeling of knowing you are literally standing where history is being and has been made.
Running into Kim Shannon on the street.
Hearing Tony Kornheiser on the radio again.
Losing my cell phone battery in the snow at the Bayne's house, then buying a new one, then finding the old one when I got back.
Taking the Metro around to all those different spots looking for apartments.
My week housesitting at Michele and Ingrid's.
Being in the NPR studios while they conducted an interview for Morning edition.
2 Hot Dogs, a can of Coke, and a bag of chips- $3.00
The House and Senate office buildings
In the Congressman's office "Dale Kildee", he says as he extends hand, "Jim Shilander" as I grasp it.
Being interviewed by Vietnamese State Television.
Happy Hour with ASF.
The NC State ladies (sigh)
IMing Cameo
Sending out resumes all over, from my little computer on the kitchen table and then on the living room floor.
Walking through the city, especially the one day when I walked from the Capitol to 20th and P.
Being here, and how much its helped me through everything, through the people I've met and gotten to know and all the experiences I've had
I also want to thank Barb Palmer, who helped to steer me on the right path here. Same thing with Richard Just, my friend at TNR. It was also great to reconnect with Cameo, who I hadn't really talked to since we left DC as juniors, which I regretted a lot. Now perhaps we'll stay in touch this time.
Plus it was great to be in this city, because of the energy it produces, and for its many amazing sights. I heard it said once that if Pittsburgh produces steel and Detroit produces cars, then Washington produces power. Its incredible to be in a place like this, where so much power is centered, and where there are so many brilliant people, all of whom, on both sides of the aisle, are all people who want to see the country improve and who love everything about it. While we disagree how best to get there, everyone here shares a common desire to do what they see as good.
Memories to take with me:
That first Monday, getting up at 6:45 to catch the VRE, then spending about 8 hours walking around DC, most of which was just me circling the Capitol building. Then how tired I felt afterwards.
Seeing Barb again, and catching up with how things have been with her at AU.
The incredible rush you get when you stand on the steps of the Court and look at the Capitol, the incredible feeling of knowing you are literally standing where history is being and has been made.
Running into Kim Shannon on the street.
Hearing Tony Kornheiser on the radio again.
Losing my cell phone battery in the snow at the Bayne's house, then buying a new one, then finding the old one when I got back.
Taking the Metro around to all those different spots looking for apartments.
My week housesitting at Michele and Ingrid's.
Being in the NPR studios while they conducted an interview for Morning edition.
2 Hot Dogs, a can of Coke, and a bag of chips- $3.00
The House and Senate office buildings
In the Congressman's office "Dale Kildee", he says as he extends hand, "Jim Shilander" as I grasp it.
Being interviewed by Vietnamese State Television.
Happy Hour with ASF.
The NC State ladies (sigh)
IMing Cameo
Sending out resumes all over, from my little computer on the kitchen table and then on the living room floor.
Walking through the city, especially the one day when I walked from the Capitol to 20th and P.
Being here, and how much its helped me through everything, through the people I've met and gotten to know and all the experiences I've had
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Tabula Rasa
Johnnie Cochran died today. Now people like to point at the O.J. Trial as a sort of low for the law, because for most people, it was kind of of this fake show, this Billy Flynn type of side show to distract from the truth. The point is though, Cochran did the job he was hired to do by his client, and he did so brilliantly. Did Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden try a bad case? Yes, but still, the way that he, and his Dream Team colleague, Barry Scheck, poked just enough holes in what was truly a mountain of evidence against Simpson to create reasonable doubt, which was of course his job. Was he a publicity hound? Of course. But that's fine, especially when you have the skill in the courtroom to back it up. I remember one of my first classes with the Ford Institute, we were sitting in our classroom, which I think was Norris 105, and Joe Stroud asked everyone, as part of an icebreaker exercise, what we eventually wanted to do, it seemed, I swear, that half the people said they wanted to be prosecutors. While I understand the allure of putting people behind bars, somebody still has to protect the rights of those who are being prosecuted. Really, I know that very often defense is considered to be kind of slimy work, but true due process, the true beauty of the justice system, is that ideally, everyone is supposed to have an equal opportunity for justice to be served.
Congratulations to my friend Cameo, who just got offered two jobs in DC, with the Center for Responsive Politics and 21st Century Democrats.
I took the job in New Hampshire by the way, I'm going to be calling back later this week to get some benefits and apartment information, meaning some more information on realtors and where the apartments are. One fear I have, and its not all that important, but it is a fear, is that the only places available will be one bedrooms, which are great, but that I frankly, don't have enough furniture. My apartment, if it is a one bedroom, is going to look awfully bare.
I was looking around online at work yesterday, and because I'm also looking to find potential topics for a play to write, once I get back into the flow, I probably want to write a one act, or a full length, almost for practice and then perhaps try something a little more serious, which is something I really have never tried. I was thinking that something about, or resembling the career of Vaughn Meader would be good, if, of course, something like it hadn't already been done. For those of you who are under 35, and therefore don't know who Vaughn Meader is, he was a comedian from Maine who had great, and by great I mean nearly unprecedented, success in the early days of Camelot with his impression of JFK. His "First Family" album, which was recorded in a single day, and released just after the Cuban Missile Crisis, became the fastest selling album in history. It sold 4 million records, which is still an impressive number today, in a manner of months, shattering the previous record of fastest selling album. He was huge, and the album was basically considered one of the great political satires ever. Then came November 22, 1963. Meader described how he literally heard the news in a cab, and how he knew his career would never be the same. In his performance after the assassination, Lenny Bruce's first words were: "Poor Vaughn Meader". Meader vowed to never do the impression again, and he never really recovered, at least to the point where he had been before. He basically became, as he said himself "a living reminder of tragedy", and his life ended up spiraling out of control. To me, its great fodder for drama, because you have someone who's whole life is ahead of him and then is basically destroyed because of something someone else did.
Johnnie Cochran died today. Now people like to point at the O.J. Trial as a sort of low for the law, because for most people, it was kind of of this fake show, this Billy Flynn type of side show to distract from the truth. The point is though, Cochran did the job he was hired to do by his client, and he did so brilliantly. Did Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden try a bad case? Yes, but still, the way that he, and his Dream Team colleague, Barry Scheck, poked just enough holes in what was truly a mountain of evidence against Simpson to create reasonable doubt, which was of course his job. Was he a publicity hound? Of course. But that's fine, especially when you have the skill in the courtroom to back it up. I remember one of my first classes with the Ford Institute, we were sitting in our classroom, which I think was Norris 105, and Joe Stroud asked everyone, as part of an icebreaker exercise, what we eventually wanted to do, it seemed, I swear, that half the people said they wanted to be prosecutors. While I understand the allure of putting people behind bars, somebody still has to protect the rights of those who are being prosecuted. Really, I know that very often defense is considered to be kind of slimy work, but true due process, the true beauty of the justice system, is that ideally, everyone is supposed to have an equal opportunity for justice to be served.
Congratulations to my friend Cameo, who just got offered two jobs in DC, with the Center for Responsive Politics and 21st Century Democrats.
I took the job in New Hampshire by the way, I'm going to be calling back later this week to get some benefits and apartment information, meaning some more information on realtors and where the apartments are. One fear I have, and its not all that important, but it is a fear, is that the only places available will be one bedrooms, which are great, but that I frankly, don't have enough furniture. My apartment, if it is a one bedroom, is going to look awfully bare.
I was looking around online at work yesterday, and because I'm also looking to find potential topics for a play to write, once I get back into the flow, I probably want to write a one act, or a full length, almost for practice and then perhaps try something a little more serious, which is something I really have never tried. I was thinking that something about, or resembling the career of Vaughn Meader would be good, if, of course, something like it hadn't already been done. For those of you who are under 35, and therefore don't know who Vaughn Meader is, he was a comedian from Maine who had great, and by great I mean nearly unprecedented, success in the early days of Camelot with his impression of JFK. His "First Family" album, which was recorded in a single day, and released just after the Cuban Missile Crisis, became the fastest selling album in history. It sold 4 million records, which is still an impressive number today, in a manner of months, shattering the previous record of fastest selling album. He was huge, and the album was basically considered one of the great political satires ever. Then came November 22, 1963. Meader described how he literally heard the news in a cab, and how he knew his career would never be the same. In his performance after the assassination, Lenny Bruce's first words were: "Poor Vaughn Meader". Meader vowed to never do the impression again, and he never really recovered, at least to the point where he had been before. He basically became, as he said himself "a living reminder of tragedy", and his life ended up spiraling out of control. To me, its great fodder for drama, because you have someone who's whole life is ahead of him and then is basically destroyed because of something someone else did.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Live Free or Die
This, if you're not up on your state mottoes, is the motto of New Hampshire, and well, I'm soon to be living there. The interview went very well on Friday, or I should say, the first interview, because I had a second with another newspaper within the same company, Salmon Press, which owns community newspapers throughout New Hampshire. Well, what ended up happening is Mary at the Granite State News, which is in Wolfeboro, called me as I was headed to New York and told me the job is mine if I want it. I'll be calling her tomorrow to accept officially, barring a miracle here tonight or early morning, and in the next couple of weeks I'll be heading up to start at the Baysider, which is the new paper focusing on the town of Alton. I will be working in the Wolfeboro office, but I'll be looking for an apartment in both cities (taking only one obviously). I'll probably be up there for a year or eighteen months, maybe more, before I look to move up to another paper, like a daily or something, but this is a very good start for me.
The last few days certainly have been fun. The drive up to Wolfeboro on Thursday was fine, though a little bit tiring. Interesting things I saw or found out on the way up: I saw M & T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens play, on the way up. Not surprising, I guess, that the seats are purple. Second, Delaware is not very big, or at the very least, the area you drive through is not. Third, the food on the Jersey turnpike is amazingly expensive, especially when you consider how much things cost everywhere else on earth.
More things that were interesting: the toll for the George Washington Bridge is $6.00, and the state of New York really seems to enjoy the toll booth as a means of getting money. The headquarters of the WWE is all Black mirrored glass and has a huge, black WWE flag on top, creating a really weird image. Not much interesting happened until I got to New Hampshire, mainly because the roads in Connecticut and Massachusetts were clear, with the exception of Lawrence, Mass. (the hometown of both Robert Frost and Leonard Bernstein). I also drove past Walden, which was just fun to be near. New Hampshire is exceptionally pretty, the area where you come in the state is near the Atlantic, and the area I'll be in, the area around Lake Winnipesauke, is gorgeous. While I drove around in the morning, I saw several ice-fishing shanties’ still up, and some hearty soul had brought his pickup out onto the ice. On March 25. Plus there were some pretty views where the Lake, which is still iced over, was in the foreground, while the White Mountains stood pretty majestically in the background, with snow near the caps.
I left the second interview at about 12:30 and headed out. I called to wish my dad a happy birthday, then got going on the highway after about a half hour on two lane roads. Mary, from the Granite State News, called at around 2:30, while I was on the Mass. Pike. After about 4 hours of driving, which included celebratory phone calls to my family, Laura, Bohne, and many others, I came up to New York, where I was going to stay the night, and eventually two nights, at John Sellers' apartment. My dad navigated me through to John's place in Brooklyn, and I was able to find a parking place quickly. I spent a few minutes talking with John, while I also checked my email and everything else that I had neglected for a couple of days.
I also called Beth Snyder, who also lives in Brooklyn, and her, John, and myself spent sometime over dinner catching up. Beth has been doing a lot of auditioning, as well as waitressing at a bar across from Madison Square Garden, and doing some cabaret singing at various locations throughout the city, with Audra White, who accompanied Company, as her piano player. She really seems to be doing pretty well, she has a Summerstock audition on Friday, and she says she's likely to be moving into the city soon. She also told us about a rather harrowing experience she had while she was teaching, where she was staying in the House on Haunted Hill outside of Jackson, something involving ghosts, a wood stove, and million of cockroaches coming out of everywhere. We went back to John's apartment and continued to talk and watch TV, and as John's roommates, Rick and Courtney, arrived they joined us, until Beth went home around 1 a.m., and then the rest of us pretty much went to sleep.
Wanting to spend a celebratory day in the city, I spent Saturday pretty much being a part of the energy of Manhattan. More than any other place, you can be alone in New York and be perfectly content, because the city is just so thriving. I spent much of my time just walking around the city, and of course standing in the line at TKTS. I walked around Central Park, and saw the many children playing, or parents walking their kids around, or dog walkers, and anything else you can imagine, all of which of course is part of what makes it the greatest city in the world. After a couple failed attempts at buying tickets at TKTS, and seeing that none of the musicals I really wanted to see had tickets available, I ended up buying tickets for Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which starred Kathleen Turner as Martha and Bill Irwin, who actually appeared in Albee's last new play, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? when it hit Broadway a couple years ago. I had started to read the play once, but seeing it on stage, being performed by the people Albee thought would be best for it, really made the play hit home with me. Seeing this marriage, seeing these two people who obviously both love and hate each other, as well as seeing the way that Nick and Honey get caught up in, and are likely destroyed by viewing the marriage of George and Martha was an incredible experience. It also made me think about myself a bit, because there seemed to be a lot of similarities between myself and George, in the way he plays games with people and uses what they say, and their own insecurities, against them, especially when he has something to drink, and the force of nature that is his wife is getting going and sharpening her own knives to dig into George's back, and his heart. But to watch how he literally destroys the marriage of Nick and Honey in a manner of minutes, while doing incredible combat with his wife was something to behold. I can see myself as a kind of cruel and mean drunk, because drinking lowers inhibitions, and the inhibitions against doing cruel things might be the first to go.
Today I went to Mass and the came back to DC. It was really great of John and his roommates to host me, and I want to thank them again for that, as well as being good to see Beth. I was also able to talk to Susan and Amy Lewis yesterday, and it was great to hear from them. When I come for workshops next week, I'm hoping I'll be able to catch up with Ms. Lewis.
I wanted to say something regarding Alex. I don't ever recall thinking that Alex was being anything but humble about his movie experience, and I certainly don't recall saying that he was being a jerk about it to anyone. That really would have been awful thing for me to do, particularly because it isn't true. I've only spoken to Alex a couple of times on IM, and then only for a couple of minutes, as he usually was busy. That's it. I haven't spoken to him on the phone or in person since the movie came out, so I wouldn't be able to make any kind of judgment. In the article about Alex on the Albion website, as well as several of the interviews I've read in other newspapers, he's been very humble and self-effacing, nothing else. I wouldn't expect him to be any different. Maybe there's been some kind of misunderstanding, but I just want to put out my side of this, and make sure that I put it out there that I haven't done anything to disparage Alexander Theodore Carroll
This, if you're not up on your state mottoes, is the motto of New Hampshire, and well, I'm soon to be living there. The interview went very well on Friday, or I should say, the first interview, because I had a second with another newspaper within the same company, Salmon Press, which owns community newspapers throughout New Hampshire. Well, what ended up happening is Mary at the Granite State News, which is in Wolfeboro, called me as I was headed to New York and told me the job is mine if I want it. I'll be calling her tomorrow to accept officially, barring a miracle here tonight or early morning, and in the next couple of weeks I'll be heading up to start at the Baysider, which is the new paper focusing on the town of Alton. I will be working in the Wolfeboro office, but I'll be looking for an apartment in both cities (taking only one obviously). I'll probably be up there for a year or eighteen months, maybe more, before I look to move up to another paper, like a daily or something, but this is a very good start for me.
The last few days certainly have been fun. The drive up to Wolfeboro on Thursday was fine, though a little bit tiring. Interesting things I saw or found out on the way up: I saw M & T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens play, on the way up. Not surprising, I guess, that the seats are purple. Second, Delaware is not very big, or at the very least, the area you drive through is not. Third, the food on the Jersey turnpike is amazingly expensive, especially when you consider how much things cost everywhere else on earth.
More things that were interesting: the toll for the George Washington Bridge is $6.00, and the state of New York really seems to enjoy the toll booth as a means of getting money. The headquarters of the WWE is all Black mirrored glass and has a huge, black WWE flag on top, creating a really weird image. Not much interesting happened until I got to New Hampshire, mainly because the roads in Connecticut and Massachusetts were clear, with the exception of Lawrence, Mass. (the hometown of both Robert Frost and Leonard Bernstein). I also drove past Walden, which was just fun to be near. New Hampshire is exceptionally pretty, the area where you come in the state is near the Atlantic, and the area I'll be in, the area around Lake Winnipesauke, is gorgeous. While I drove around in the morning, I saw several ice-fishing shanties’ still up, and some hearty soul had brought his pickup out onto the ice. On March 25. Plus there were some pretty views where the Lake, which is still iced over, was in the foreground, while the White Mountains stood pretty majestically in the background, with snow near the caps.
I left the second interview at about 12:30 and headed out. I called to wish my dad a happy birthday, then got going on the highway after about a half hour on two lane roads. Mary, from the Granite State News, called at around 2:30, while I was on the Mass. Pike. After about 4 hours of driving, which included celebratory phone calls to my family, Laura, Bohne, and many others, I came up to New York, where I was going to stay the night, and eventually two nights, at John Sellers' apartment. My dad navigated me through to John's place in Brooklyn, and I was able to find a parking place quickly. I spent a few minutes talking with John, while I also checked my email and everything else that I had neglected for a couple of days.
I also called Beth Snyder, who also lives in Brooklyn, and her, John, and myself spent sometime over dinner catching up. Beth has been doing a lot of auditioning, as well as waitressing at a bar across from Madison Square Garden, and doing some cabaret singing at various locations throughout the city, with Audra White, who accompanied Company, as her piano player. She really seems to be doing pretty well, she has a Summerstock audition on Friday, and she says she's likely to be moving into the city soon. She also told us about a rather harrowing experience she had while she was teaching, where she was staying in the House on Haunted Hill outside of Jackson, something involving ghosts, a wood stove, and million of cockroaches coming out of everywhere. We went back to John's apartment and continued to talk and watch TV, and as John's roommates, Rick and Courtney, arrived they joined us, until Beth went home around 1 a.m., and then the rest of us pretty much went to sleep.
Wanting to spend a celebratory day in the city, I spent Saturday pretty much being a part of the energy of Manhattan. More than any other place, you can be alone in New York and be perfectly content, because the city is just so thriving. I spent much of my time just walking around the city, and of course standing in the line at TKTS. I walked around Central Park, and saw the many children playing, or parents walking their kids around, or dog walkers, and anything else you can imagine, all of which of course is part of what makes it the greatest city in the world. After a couple failed attempts at buying tickets at TKTS, and seeing that none of the musicals I really wanted to see had tickets available, I ended up buying tickets for Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which starred Kathleen Turner as Martha and Bill Irwin, who actually appeared in Albee's last new play, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? when it hit Broadway a couple years ago. I had started to read the play once, but seeing it on stage, being performed by the people Albee thought would be best for it, really made the play hit home with me. Seeing this marriage, seeing these two people who obviously both love and hate each other, as well as seeing the way that Nick and Honey get caught up in, and are likely destroyed by viewing the marriage of George and Martha was an incredible experience. It also made me think about myself a bit, because there seemed to be a lot of similarities between myself and George, in the way he plays games with people and uses what they say, and their own insecurities, against them, especially when he has something to drink, and the force of nature that is his wife is getting going and sharpening her own knives to dig into George's back, and his heart. But to watch how he literally destroys the marriage of Nick and Honey in a manner of minutes, while doing incredible combat with his wife was something to behold. I can see myself as a kind of cruel and mean drunk, because drinking lowers inhibitions, and the inhibitions against doing cruel things might be the first to go.
Today I went to Mass and the came back to DC. It was really great of John and his roommates to host me, and I want to thank them again for that, as well as being good to see Beth. I was also able to talk to Susan and Amy Lewis yesterday, and it was great to hear from them. When I come for workshops next week, I'm hoping I'll be able to catch up with Ms. Lewis.
I wanted to say something regarding Alex. I don't ever recall thinking that Alex was being anything but humble about his movie experience, and I certainly don't recall saying that he was being a jerk about it to anyone. That really would have been awful thing for me to do, particularly because it isn't true. I've only spoken to Alex a couple of times on IM, and then only for a couple of minutes, as he usually was busy. That's it. I haven't spoken to him on the phone or in person since the movie came out, so I wouldn't be able to make any kind of judgment. In the article about Alex on the Albion website, as well as several of the interviews I've read in other newspapers, he's been very humble and self-effacing, nothing else. I wouldn't expect him to be any different. Maybe there's been some kind of misunderstanding, but I just want to put out my side of this, and make sure that I put it out there that I haven't done anything to disparage Alexander Theodore Carroll
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Everybody's Got the Right To Their Dreams
There's something I've wanted to blog about for a week now, but I keep forgetting and now seems a good time. The Archdiocese of Detroit has decided to shut several schools down, including my mother's alma mater (Bishop Borgess), the school that gave her her first teaching job (Our Lady Queen of Angels). The reason I mention this is that the list includes several of the teams we played against in high school, including the some schools that were involved in some of the few Shilander athletic triumphs (meaning I was on a team, not that I was actually on the field playing). These include Holy Redeemer, who we beat in one of Richard's few playoff wins my sophomore year, as well as the loser of my last game in high school. Also closed was Trinity High, which was formed only a few years ago from the ashes of St. Florian in Hamtramck (seriously, is there a worse name in terms of not perpetuating a stereotype? There's no I there, come on.) and Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher, who we played my senior year and lost to badly. I could say after that game that I was an opponent of both Braylon Edwards and Markus Curry which is kind of cool, and will be cooler at the end of April. Also closing is Centerline St. Clement, which was one of Richard's big rivals for a while, and beating them senior year, for the first time in about six years was a really cool way to go out.
(I realize of course, that yesterday I talked about how much high school sucked. I stand by that, because frankly, talking about a few moments of my very limited athletic glory really doesn't change the grand scheme of things, or how I feel now about day to day life at the school.)
The demographics of the city have largely changed, which account for why these schools are closing. Let's face it, large segments of the natural populations for these schools are now in the suburbs, sending their kids to Notre Dame Prep (alumni- Mike Bohne, Dan Staniszewski), CC (my cousin Brian is there now), Bishop Foley (Ventures, the dumbest nickname ever) (alumna-Karen Green) or places like that. Combine this with the fact that the school's cost a lot for people with not a lot of money, and you get dwindling enrollment. My mom told that after she graduated (she was in the first class ever at Borgess) they had the largest enrollment in the state for a Catholic school. Having looked at old yearbooks, there couldn't have been ore than two or three African-Americans in the school. When they announced the closing last week, there were only about 120 kids at the school, and almost all of them were African-American. Its amazing, really, how quickly people seem to be leaving the suburbs and going even further out, perpetuating a self-fulfilling prophecy as they do.
It should be said that last election, Adam Cardinal Maida spent $500,000 of Archdiocese funds on the campaign, money that didn't go to these schools.
It'll be weird, I must say, not seeing DePorres at the top of State rankings anymore. I'll never forget the sight of East Catholic's coach, who's won multiple basketball state-titles since he arrived there in the 60's, and his huge necklace of keys, and the game where they held the ball for five minutes at the start of the fourth quarter against Richard at our place. But time marches on I guess.
I have a bit of a quiz for people if you want to get in on, if you can tell me what the title of this post has to do with Three American cities: Dallas, Buffalo and Washington, and what those three cities have in common, you'll get something, probably some prominent mention in this blog as a superior mind or something.
What a fabulous prize, you'll be able to Google yourself and the phrase "superior mind" and it'll come right up.
Yes
There's something I've wanted to blog about for a week now, but I keep forgetting and now seems a good time. The Archdiocese of Detroit has decided to shut several schools down, including my mother's alma mater (Bishop Borgess), the school that gave her her first teaching job (Our Lady Queen of Angels). The reason I mention this is that the list includes several of the teams we played against in high school, including the some schools that were involved in some of the few Shilander athletic triumphs (meaning I was on a team, not that I was actually on the field playing). These include Holy Redeemer, who we beat in one of Richard's few playoff wins my sophomore year, as well as the loser of my last game in high school. Also closed was Trinity High, which was formed only a few years ago from the ashes of St. Florian in Hamtramck (seriously, is there a worse name in terms of not perpetuating a stereotype? There's no I there, come on.) and Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher, who we played my senior year and lost to badly. I could say after that game that I was an opponent of both Braylon Edwards and Markus Curry which is kind of cool, and will be cooler at the end of April. Also closing is Centerline St. Clement, which was one of Richard's big rivals for a while, and beating them senior year, for the first time in about six years was a really cool way to go out.
(I realize of course, that yesterday I talked about how much high school sucked. I stand by that, because frankly, talking about a few moments of my very limited athletic glory really doesn't change the grand scheme of things, or how I feel now about day to day life at the school.)
The demographics of the city have largely changed, which account for why these schools are closing. Let's face it, large segments of the natural populations for these schools are now in the suburbs, sending their kids to Notre Dame Prep (alumni- Mike Bohne, Dan Staniszewski), CC (my cousin Brian is there now), Bishop Foley (Ventures, the dumbest nickname ever) (alumna-Karen Green) or places like that. Combine this with the fact that the school's cost a lot for people with not a lot of money, and you get dwindling enrollment. My mom told that after she graduated (she was in the first class ever at Borgess) they had the largest enrollment in the state for a Catholic school. Having looked at old yearbooks, there couldn't have been ore than two or three African-Americans in the school. When they announced the closing last week, there were only about 120 kids at the school, and almost all of them were African-American. Its amazing, really, how quickly people seem to be leaving the suburbs and going even further out, perpetuating a self-fulfilling prophecy as they do.
It should be said that last election, Adam Cardinal Maida spent $500,000 of Archdiocese funds on the campaign, money that didn't go to these schools.
It'll be weird, I must say, not seeing DePorres at the top of State rankings anymore. I'll never forget the sight of East Catholic's coach, who's won multiple basketball state-titles since he arrived there in the 60's, and his huge necklace of keys, and the game where they held the ball for five minutes at the start of the fourth quarter against Richard at our place. But time marches on I guess.
I have a bit of a quiz for people if you want to get in on, if you can tell me what the title of this post has to do with Three American cities: Dallas, Buffalo and Washington, and what those three cities have in common, you'll get something, probably some prominent mention in this blog as a superior mind or something.
What a fabulous prize, you'll be able to Google yourself and the phrase "superior mind" and it'll come right up.
Yes
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Musings on Well...Things in Life
The Schiavo case continues to drive the headlines. Enough that it has completely overshadowed the deaths of ten people at the hands of a crazed teenager on the Red Lake reservation. Do I think that the reason this story isn’t getting the play that Schiavo and Columbine cases is racial, as well as the practical reason that Red Lake is 250 miles from the nearest large city, and is on sovereign Chippewa land, and thus difficult to work in. Still the question of how a Native American teen could latch onto these kind of radically awful beliefs is a story that needs to be covered. While I appreciate the moral positions of both Michael Schiavo as well as Terri’s parents, the question of how to protect ourselves and the most vulnerable youth from the most vile forms of hate mongering need to be discussed too.
By the way, I just saw Billy Graham’s daughter Anne on TV. Wow, it looks as if her face had been basted in its own juices for several hours at about 20 minutes a pound. Seriously, I’ve never seen any kind of color like that on a human being, only on a Thanksgiving dinner table. Not that she’s a bad person, I’m not saying she is, I’m just saying that she has an inhuman pigmentation to her skin. If that was makeup, then somebody really needs to be fired at MSNBC, because I learned that I could look orange under lights in high school.
I was thinking about the conversation that John, Bohne, Kopec, Chelsea Sadler and myself had after Cabaret. We were talking a bit about high school, and how it was difficult to have patience with some people just coming out of high school, because they can sometimes still carry the personality front they had to put up in high school. In thinking about it further, I really have to disagree with some of the stuff that was said last night. I appreciate the fact that for seniors, it can sometimes be frustrating to deal with people who are still putting up the front. But its also true that for some of us, many more than would like to admit it, early in our Freshman year of college, found high school to be the most horrific of experiences because, frankly, as Eddie Izzard puts it so well, this is the ugliest time we’ll ever be in our lives. And yet at no point in our lives are we more concerned with our appearance and in being accepted by the kind of people we might not otherwise want to be with at any point of our lives. For those, like me, who spent high school kind of floating between groups, and not really fitting in with anyone, trying to fit in with that top tier of the beautiful and popular people is what you want. I was tolerated by those people, and frankly, part of me wishes I hadn’t gotten to know some of them as well as I did. And obviously, I know I shouldn’t have spent that much time trying to be like them.
On the other side though, for those people who did everything to not fit in, and to try and shut out all of the pain by being disgusted by it, whether that’s how they really feel or not, its hard to shut that off.
I had it easy when I got to Albion, or at least I thought I did. I was so close to home. I would occasionally talk to my old classmates at their new schools, and I could go home and watch the football games, and then return to Albion. When Homecoming came around and I saw a lot of them again, I kind of began to realize how small they made me feel, not out of trying (though a new book says that one in twenty people is really a sociopath, so maybe some of them really did mean to make me feel like crap). Then I got back to school and realized I was the only one making an effort. And then it hit that I really didn't like high school, in fact, the only thing that kept me from being an emotional wreck was trying to just get through the week, week after week, and so I wasn’t looking at what I was actually feeling more than on a day to day basis. It was then I realized that I really was in a place where I had to change and reveal my true self. Luckily for me, I first had supportive hallmates who were able to transition me into college life, rather than the proto-High School life I had been living at Albion. Then I found theater again and made the greatest friends I will ever make in my life.
Not everyone is as lucky as I was, some people need to keep up their fronts longer, the pain might be too deep, or the cynicism too set in to make the transition a smooth one, and so people sometimes keep up the front. But the greatest part of college is that it almost always forces you to be yourself at some point, and so the shell does get cracked. Maybe we needed to think of that a little more sometimes.
The Schiavo case continues to drive the headlines. Enough that it has completely overshadowed the deaths of ten people at the hands of a crazed teenager on the Red Lake reservation. Do I think that the reason this story isn’t getting the play that Schiavo and Columbine cases is racial, as well as the practical reason that Red Lake is 250 miles from the nearest large city, and is on sovereign Chippewa land, and thus difficult to work in. Still the question of how a Native American teen could latch onto these kind of radically awful beliefs is a story that needs to be covered. While I appreciate the moral positions of both Michael Schiavo as well as Terri’s parents, the question of how to protect ourselves and the most vulnerable youth from the most vile forms of hate mongering need to be discussed too.
By the way, I just saw Billy Graham’s daughter Anne on TV. Wow, it looks as if her face had been basted in its own juices for several hours at about 20 minutes a pound. Seriously, I’ve never seen any kind of color like that on a human being, only on a Thanksgiving dinner table. Not that she’s a bad person, I’m not saying she is, I’m just saying that she has an inhuman pigmentation to her skin. If that was makeup, then somebody really needs to be fired at MSNBC, because I learned that I could look orange under lights in high school.
I was thinking about the conversation that John, Bohne, Kopec, Chelsea Sadler and myself had after Cabaret. We were talking a bit about high school, and how it was difficult to have patience with some people just coming out of high school, because they can sometimes still carry the personality front they had to put up in high school. In thinking about it further, I really have to disagree with some of the stuff that was said last night. I appreciate the fact that for seniors, it can sometimes be frustrating to deal with people who are still putting up the front. But its also true that for some of us, many more than would like to admit it, early in our Freshman year of college, found high school to be the most horrific of experiences because, frankly, as Eddie Izzard puts it so well, this is the ugliest time we’ll ever be in our lives. And yet at no point in our lives are we more concerned with our appearance and in being accepted by the kind of people we might not otherwise want to be with at any point of our lives. For those, like me, who spent high school kind of floating between groups, and not really fitting in with anyone, trying to fit in with that top tier of the beautiful and popular people is what you want. I was tolerated by those people, and frankly, part of me wishes I hadn’t gotten to know some of them as well as I did. And obviously, I know I shouldn’t have spent that much time trying to be like them.
On the other side though, for those people who did everything to not fit in, and to try and shut out all of the pain by being disgusted by it, whether that’s how they really feel or not, its hard to shut that off.
I had it easy when I got to Albion, or at least I thought I did. I was so close to home. I would occasionally talk to my old classmates at their new schools, and I could go home and watch the football games, and then return to Albion. When Homecoming came around and I saw a lot of them again, I kind of began to realize how small they made me feel, not out of trying (though a new book says that one in twenty people is really a sociopath, so maybe some of them really did mean to make me feel like crap). Then I got back to school and realized I was the only one making an effort. And then it hit that I really didn't like high school, in fact, the only thing that kept me from being an emotional wreck was trying to just get through the week, week after week, and so I wasn’t looking at what I was actually feeling more than on a day to day basis. It was then I realized that I really was in a place where I had to change and reveal my true self. Luckily for me, I first had supportive hallmates who were able to transition me into college life, rather than the proto-High School life I had been living at Albion. Then I found theater again and made the greatest friends I will ever make in my life.
Not everyone is as lucky as I was, some people need to keep up their fronts longer, the pain might be too deep, or the cynicism too set in to make the transition a smooth one, and so people sometimes keep up the front. But the greatest part of college is that it almost always forces you to be yourself at some point, and so the shell does get cracked. Maybe we needed to think of that a little more sometimes.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Out into the Cool of the Evening- Strolls the Pretender
So, a lot of pretty interesting things going on this weekend. Certainly its been fun to watch the party of state's rights manage to federalize a single dispute between the husband and family of a woman who has been in a vegetative state for several years. To watch the leadership use this woman as a political tool, whether or not they believe in the sanctity of life in this case or not.
I went downtown on Friday looking for work, and I also went to get lunch at the ESPN Zone to watch the tournament. I got there in the second half of the first set of games, and there were lots of people at the bar supporting they're schools, and a lot of people with their brackets out, brackets that were probably fine for a while, until they hit the end of the first set of games Friday night. I must say that there were a few women my age, or slightly older, from NC State who were, as Mr. Tony likes to say, "getting it done". Speaking of that, I saw the SportsCentury on Peggy Fleming last week- Peggy Fleming is definitely still getting it done. I'm sorry, that was my id raising its ugly head for a minute. It’s not more than an occasional visitor, so I have to express it when he comes out.
The games this weekend were pretty fabulous. Courtney, the woman whose house I'm staying in, went to Kansas, and so was a bit disappointed by the result of the Bucknell game. I really enjoyed the Vermont game, because I love those kind of great stories. Luckily, I wasn't able to see much of the game on Sunday, because they were showing other games here, because I probably would have been conflicted. I want to see the conference to do well, but I have no particular interest in seeing State win beyond that, and sense I am a rank sentimentalist, I wanted to see the Catamounts advance. The NC State Wolfpack, and their very attractive alumna, were fabulous in both games, coming back from a big deficit against Charlotte and then upsetting UConn. I really was impressed by them, and of course North Carolina, because they were incredibly dominant in both games.
Right now my plans for the interview are this: drive up to New Hampshire Thursday and spend the night in a hotel, either in town or just outside it, and then to stay with John Sellers on Friday night, at which point I'll probably come home Saturday.
By the way, my XM Channel, On Broadway, carried Wall to Wall Sondheim at Symphony Center on Saturday. It was amazing to listen to, even the roundtable which featured Sondheim, Frank Rich, Joss Whedon and others on Sondheim's effect on popular culture, which of course led to a discussion of "Once More With Feeling..." the greatest Buffy episode I've never seen. By the way, I heard a lot of the songs from Company I wanted to hear, and I got to hear Angela Lansbury doing "A Little Priest", but I didn't hear "Pretty Women", the one song from Sweeney Todd I wanted to hear, but that's okay.
If I may make a suggestion to the play selection committee for next year, and by next year, I mean 2006-2007, the year after some of my favorite men and women graduate, the one that decides the next musical. Keeping in mind that the last two musicals have been a bit heavy, I might suggest something a bit light like, for example, A Year With Frog and Toad, which is about as far from heavy as you can get.
Good luck to everyone on their thesis, as well as the continuing work on Workshops and Trojan Women.
So, a lot of pretty interesting things going on this weekend. Certainly its been fun to watch the party of state's rights manage to federalize a single dispute between the husband and family of a woman who has been in a vegetative state for several years. To watch the leadership use this woman as a political tool, whether or not they believe in the sanctity of life in this case or not.
I went downtown on Friday looking for work, and I also went to get lunch at the ESPN Zone to watch the tournament. I got there in the second half of the first set of games, and there were lots of people at the bar supporting they're schools, and a lot of people with their brackets out, brackets that were probably fine for a while, until they hit the end of the first set of games Friday night. I must say that there were a few women my age, or slightly older, from NC State who were, as Mr. Tony likes to say, "getting it done". Speaking of that, I saw the SportsCentury on Peggy Fleming last week- Peggy Fleming is definitely still getting it done. I'm sorry, that was my id raising its ugly head for a minute. It’s not more than an occasional visitor, so I have to express it when he comes out.
The games this weekend were pretty fabulous. Courtney, the woman whose house I'm staying in, went to Kansas, and so was a bit disappointed by the result of the Bucknell game. I really enjoyed the Vermont game, because I love those kind of great stories. Luckily, I wasn't able to see much of the game on Sunday, because they were showing other games here, because I probably would have been conflicted. I want to see the conference to do well, but I have no particular interest in seeing State win beyond that, and sense I am a rank sentimentalist, I wanted to see the Catamounts advance. The NC State Wolfpack, and their very attractive alumna, were fabulous in both games, coming back from a big deficit against Charlotte and then upsetting UConn. I really was impressed by them, and of course North Carolina, because they were incredibly dominant in both games.
Right now my plans for the interview are this: drive up to New Hampshire Thursday and spend the night in a hotel, either in town or just outside it, and then to stay with John Sellers on Friday night, at which point I'll probably come home Saturday.
By the way, my XM Channel, On Broadway, carried Wall to Wall Sondheim at Symphony Center on Saturday. It was amazing to listen to, even the roundtable which featured Sondheim, Frank Rich, Joss Whedon and others on Sondheim's effect on popular culture, which of course led to a discussion of "Once More With Feeling..." the greatest Buffy episode I've never seen. By the way, I heard a lot of the songs from Company I wanted to hear, and I got to hear Angela Lansbury doing "A Little Priest", but I didn't hear "Pretty Women", the one song from Sweeney Todd I wanted to hear, but that's okay.
If I may make a suggestion to the play selection committee for next year, and by next year, I mean 2006-2007, the year after some of my favorite men and women graduate, the one that decides the next musical. Keeping in mind that the last two musicals have been a bit heavy, I might suggest something a bit light like, for example, A Year With Frog and Toad, which is about as far from heavy as you can get.
Good luck to everyone on their thesis, as well as the continuing work on Workshops and Trojan Women.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
The Best Day Ever
Today is one of the two best days of the year, by many people's reckoning. It's the first day of the tournament. Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to follow it, because I've been downtown and at work, but it’s still so much fun to know I can go home tonight and have four games on at around 7:30, even though I'll only have the normal feed.
By the way, Happy Birthday to Ms. Susan Southard, I hope the last year has treated you well and that the new one will bring all sorts of new opportunities as you move closer to finishing at Northridge. Also speaking of Ms. Southard, I want to wish Miss Kraly a good and safe flight, and obviously a fabulously fun spring break in LA. Let Dre and Em run free.
Of course the steroid hearings are going on in Washington today. I really don't see how they accomplish anything, though there is a legitimate public interest in keeping steroids away from young people. Still, to trot out ballplayers, essentially only to bring the attention they'll receive, and then to schedule it on a day most people won't be paying attention anyway is just confusing. None of the players said anything different than you'd expect them to, though apparently Schilling went after Canseco pretty hard, which is great.
I have to say, today is really the weirdest days to be a non-drinker. It is kind of expected on a day like this, especially given the unfortunate stereotype of the people whose patron saint we honor today. But still, tonight usually isn’t the best night to go out to a bar and not expect weird looks when you order coke or water.
I bumped into Kim Shannon yesterday on the way home from work. She's doing well, and I'll see if I can stop by this weekend to catch up with her and a certain Brandon Bartlett Blackburn Dwyer.
There should be more interesting things going on tomorrow, especially as the tournament moves forward, stay safe tonight everyone.
Today is one of the two best days of the year, by many people's reckoning. It's the first day of the tournament. Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to follow it, because I've been downtown and at work, but it’s still so much fun to know I can go home tonight and have four games on at around 7:30, even though I'll only have the normal feed.
By the way, Happy Birthday to Ms. Susan Southard, I hope the last year has treated you well and that the new one will bring all sorts of new opportunities as you move closer to finishing at Northridge. Also speaking of Ms. Southard, I want to wish Miss Kraly a good and safe flight, and obviously a fabulously fun spring break in LA. Let Dre and Em run free.
Of course the steroid hearings are going on in Washington today. I really don't see how they accomplish anything, though there is a legitimate public interest in keeping steroids away from young people. Still, to trot out ballplayers, essentially only to bring the attention they'll receive, and then to schedule it on a day most people won't be paying attention anyway is just confusing. None of the players said anything different than you'd expect them to, though apparently Schilling went after Canseco pretty hard, which is great.
I have to say, today is really the weirdest days to be a non-drinker. It is kind of expected on a day like this, especially given the unfortunate stereotype of the people whose patron saint we honor today. But still, tonight usually isn’t the best night to go out to a bar and not expect weird looks when you order coke or water.
I bumped into Kim Shannon yesterday on the way home from work. She's doing well, and I'll see if I can stop by this weekend to catch up with her and a certain Brandon Bartlett Blackburn Dwyer.
There should be more interesting things going on tomorrow, especially as the tournament moves forward, stay safe tonight everyone.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
The Ides of March are come
I want to talk about Julius Caesar for a minute, because I don't feel there's enough amateur dramaturgy on the web.
Caesar is Ms. K-M's favorite Shakespeare play. I saw it for the first time at Stratford with the FGRHS Drama Club, and really enjoyed it. I find that it's remarkably simple to understand, and because politics is so fluid, its easy to make the transition out of Roman or period dress and into modern adaptations. Put Antony in a black shirt, and you've got a ready made fascist.
First off, when discussing the play, you have to recognize that it literally ruins Shakespeare for life for many kids, because they are often given the play to read at an age where they don't understand what's going on. I once read a book about Shakespeare that said that this happens because Caesar is the last hold-out of Latin being taught in schools, that kids would read Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, and then read Shakespeare. But they don't teach Latin anymore, yet Caesar remains. Kids aren't able to understand what motivates Brutus, why Cassius is so devious, and how insidious Antony's most famous speech really is. They just watch Marlon Brando on a set and think they understand. (The best plays for young people are either Macbeth, because its rather simple to follow and features witches and curses, and Henry IV, part I, because there's lots of dirty jokes and rebelling against authority.)
When you read Dante, you see that Brutus, for many in medieval Europe held a special place of contempt. He betrayed his friend and ruler. But Shakespeare chose to explore the nobility in Brutus, and gives us two great counterbalances to him. Cassius is motivated not by some great belief in the virtue of the republic, but jealousy and contempt for Caesar himself. Antony, whose speech to the mourning crowds is obviously he best known part of the play, is a conniving political opportunist. (The most interesting part of the scene is this, Brutus has just made a passionate, but reasoned speech to the people defending the Senate's actions, and the crowd reacts in a most irrational way, they want to make Brutus king. Yet Antony does the opposite, and appeals to the very worst in the crowd, and is rewarded with a reasoned response that becomes a vengeful and murderous mob (just ask Cinna the poet). I feel that this is Shakespeare's critique, which Aristotle made as well, of Democracy, because it is always teetering on the edge of mob rule.)
Caesar himself doesn't dominate the play, but the persona does. We know that Caesar is a man because we hear Cassius talk about his near drowning, and we see him worry and do what Calphurnia wants him to do. Only when he's called upon to be "Caesar, destroyer of Pompey, the man who crossed the Rubicon" is he larger than life, or even confident.
Ok, that's it for that.
I have some good news. I have my interview scheduled for Good Friday at 2 pm, in Wolfeboro, NH, for the Granite State News. I will be leaving on Thursday, and I have tentative plans to stay the night at John Sellers' apartment and then proceed the rest of the way, through Connecticut and Massachusetts, the next day. We'll see about getting back.
Interesting fact, of the 1200 people or so who have attempted suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge, 2% have survived. Why this is interesting to me, I don't know, maybe it comes from being afraid of heights.
Yup
I want to talk about Julius Caesar for a minute, because I don't feel there's enough amateur dramaturgy on the web.
Caesar is Ms. K-M's favorite Shakespeare play. I saw it for the first time at Stratford with the FGRHS Drama Club, and really enjoyed it. I find that it's remarkably simple to understand, and because politics is so fluid, its easy to make the transition out of Roman or period dress and into modern adaptations. Put Antony in a black shirt, and you've got a ready made fascist.
First off, when discussing the play, you have to recognize that it literally ruins Shakespeare for life for many kids, because they are often given the play to read at an age where they don't understand what's going on. I once read a book about Shakespeare that said that this happens because Caesar is the last hold-out of Latin being taught in schools, that kids would read Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, and then read Shakespeare. But they don't teach Latin anymore, yet Caesar remains. Kids aren't able to understand what motivates Brutus, why Cassius is so devious, and how insidious Antony's most famous speech really is. They just watch Marlon Brando on a set and think they understand. (The best plays for young people are either Macbeth, because its rather simple to follow and features witches and curses, and Henry IV, part I, because there's lots of dirty jokes and rebelling against authority.)
When you read Dante, you see that Brutus, for many in medieval Europe held a special place of contempt. He betrayed his friend and ruler. But Shakespeare chose to explore the nobility in Brutus, and gives us two great counterbalances to him. Cassius is motivated not by some great belief in the virtue of the republic, but jealousy and contempt for Caesar himself. Antony, whose speech to the mourning crowds is obviously he best known part of the play, is a conniving political opportunist. (The most interesting part of the scene is this, Brutus has just made a passionate, but reasoned speech to the people defending the Senate's actions, and the crowd reacts in a most irrational way, they want to make Brutus king. Yet Antony does the opposite, and appeals to the very worst in the crowd, and is rewarded with a reasoned response that becomes a vengeful and murderous mob (just ask Cinna the poet). I feel that this is Shakespeare's critique, which Aristotle made as well, of Democracy, because it is always teetering on the edge of mob rule.)
Caesar himself doesn't dominate the play, but the persona does. We know that Caesar is a man because we hear Cassius talk about his near drowning, and we see him worry and do what Calphurnia wants him to do. Only when he's called upon to be "Caesar, destroyer of Pompey, the man who crossed the Rubicon" is he larger than life, or even confident.
Ok, that's it for that.
I have some good news. I have my interview scheduled for Good Friday at 2 pm, in Wolfeboro, NH, for the Granite State News. I will be leaving on Thursday, and I have tentative plans to stay the night at John Sellers' apartment and then proceed the rest of the way, through Connecticut and Massachusetts, the next day. We'll see about getting back.
Interesting fact, of the 1200 people or so who have attempted suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge, 2% have survived. Why this is interesting to me, I don't know, maybe it comes from being afraid of heights.
Yup
Jean and John's Thingie
A - AGE: 23
B - BAND LISTENED TO MOST RECENTLY: Foreigner played the last song I heard on XM this morning, so Foreigner
C- CRUSH: Whoever will give me a job. Ruth Riley
D - DOG's NAME: I would name my dog Diogenes if it was a male and Medea if it was female
E - EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: Probaly Laura Jeanine
F - FAVORITE BAND: The Beatles or The Temptations, also Euphonics
G - GUMMY: Worms
H - HOMETOWN: Ann Arbor, A2.
I - INSTRUMENT: I guess my voice, I don't play instruments well.
J - JUICE: Apple, Orange or Pomegranate
K - KIDS: I would hope for two of the same gender. That way, I could name one for my family (for a girl Ruth Janet, for a boy James Willard) and the second could be the fun name (Clytemenestra for the girl and Prometheus for the boy, maybe)
L - LONGEST CAR RIDE: Devil's Tower, Cape Breton.
M - MOM'S NAME: Paula Susan Graham
N - NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: One
O - ONE WISH: A job would be fabulous
P - PHOBIA(S): Being buried alive, heights
Q - QUOTE: by me: "This is a fine shower curtain" by another: "If you're out on your bike tonight,as always, do wear white" Tony Kornheiser
R - REASON TO SMILE: I have an interview next week, and 3 days.
S - SEXIEST FEATURE: Chest Hair (hopefully)
T - TIME YOU WAKE UP: Usually just before 8
U - UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I once got into an argument with my great-grandmother about a Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet that had been left at our house on my 6th birthday
V - VEGETABLE YOU HATE: Onions, the greatest plague to ever hit mankind
W - WORST HABIT(S): Taking criticism much too personally
X - X-RAYS YOU'VE HAD: Teeth, head and neck, shoulder, arm
Y - YUCKY FOOD: French Onion soup, see "V"
Z - ZODIAC SIGN: Cancer
A - AGE: 23
B - BAND LISTENED TO MOST RECENTLY: Foreigner played the last song I heard on XM this morning, so Foreigner
C- CRUSH: Whoever will give me a job. Ruth Riley
D - DOG's NAME: I would name my dog Diogenes if it was a male and Medea if it was female
E - EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: Probaly Laura Jeanine
F - FAVORITE BAND: The Beatles or The Temptations, also Euphonics
G - GUMMY: Worms
H - HOMETOWN: Ann Arbor, A2.
I - INSTRUMENT: I guess my voice, I don't play instruments well.
J - JUICE: Apple, Orange or Pomegranate
K - KIDS: I would hope for two of the same gender. That way, I could name one for my family (for a girl Ruth Janet, for a boy James Willard) and the second could be the fun name (Clytemenestra for the girl and Prometheus for the boy, maybe)
L - LONGEST CAR RIDE: Devil's Tower, Cape Breton.
M - MOM'S NAME: Paula Susan Graham
N - NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: One
O - ONE WISH: A job would be fabulous
P - PHOBIA(S): Being buried alive, heights
Q - QUOTE: by me: "This is a fine shower curtain" by another: "If you're out on your bike tonight,as always, do wear white" Tony Kornheiser
R - REASON TO SMILE: I have an interview next week, and 3 days.
S - SEXIEST FEATURE: Chest Hair (hopefully)
T - TIME YOU WAKE UP: Usually just before 8
U - UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I once got into an argument with my great-grandmother about a Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet that had been left at our house on my 6th birthday
V - VEGETABLE YOU HATE: Onions, the greatest plague to ever hit mankind
W - WORST HABIT(S): Taking criticism much too personally
X - X-RAYS YOU'VE HAD: Teeth, head and neck, shoulder, arm
Y - YUCKY FOOD: French Onion soup, see "V"
Z - ZODIAC SIGN: Cancer
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Tu n'es rien d'autre que ta vie
Fun stuff has been going on. I found a place to stay, at least for the month, last weekend. I am staying with an older woman and another boarder in her home, which is near Chevy Chase and Rock Creek Park. The best part is, I am only paying utilities at the end of the month, that's it. This is something I like a lot, believe me.
I wanted to talk about something political as well. The privatization of social security appears to be a dead issue now, one of the few times the Bush has made a significant push for something and not had either the republicans crush all opposition to it, like the war in Iraq, or where the Democratic leadership didn't just go along for the ride, like the tax cuts and No Child Left Behind. For the first time in a while, the Democrats in the Senate and House refused to be bullied, and I have to say I'm very impressed with Harry Reid because of that fact. I watched the State of the Union at the Bayne's, while I was still in Fairfax. Bush spent nearly 20% of his speech on his plan, and yet Americans really seem to hate it, if you believe the polls. I, along, I'd wager, with most of the readership of this blog, are among those for whom this bill is supposed to be popular, the young. But I really hate this idea. I really do. I recognize the logic behind it, but still, the numbers do not add up. Bush has promised no benefit cuts, no tax increases for Social Security, and the creation of accounts. But by decreasing the amount of money going into the system, while increasing (and since people are living longer and Boomers are coming to retirement age we pay more benefits) payouts, only means massive borrowing, which will have to be saddled by my generation anyway. In the country's that have tried it, Chile and Britain, it has failed miserably to protect people's retirement, basically, it seems like a back door way to destroy the most stable leg of the retirement stool (the others being personal savings and investments/pension).
A couple of quick sports notes: With the signings of Pollard and Kennedy, the Lions greatly improved their secondary and tight end position, but now, the draft possibilities seem a lot more interesting. A lot of drafts had the team taking either a safety (Thomas Davis of Georgia or Brodney Pool of Oklahoma) or a tight end (Heath Miller of UVa) with the ten. Now, the Lions will probably take the best player who drops to them. Of those possibilities, I really like the idea of them taking Derrick Johnson of Texas, the linebacker (which would move Teddy Lehman inside) or Alex Barron, the tackle out of Florida State (to replace Stockar McDougal and maybe Jeff Backus' LT spot in a few years). None of the defensive ends (Marcus Spears, David Pollack, or Erasmus James) seem to be sure fire talents, Johnson and Barron do. One other football note, the Cardinals (now probably my second favorite team in the NFC) seem to be destined to take Cedric Benson with the seventh pick, thus taking the running back most likely to be a bust. Often, players who get a lot of carries in college don't have much tire tread left on their knees, and seem to flame out.
Rick Ankiel announced today that he will switch permanently to the outfield. This is interesting to me because I was in the KC, watching Game 1 between the Cardinals and Braves in the 2000 NLDS when Ankiel melted down before our very eyes. He threw five wild pitches in an inning, it was seriously one of the damnedest things I had ever seen. I was getting lunch, because that semester I didn't have ant Tuesday or Thursday classes other than choir, which may have been only 3 days a week then, so I may have had nothing. I watched this can't miss prospect hit the backstop again and again, another victim of what ballplayers call "The Thing", which gripped Chuck Knoblauch and Steve Sax, leaves catchers unable to throw the ball back to the pitcher, and pitchers tossing heaters around incredibly wildly. Still, this was the first time Ankiel had experienced it, and seemingly, despite annual stories the last few years about Ankiel working his way back, Ankiel has decided the "Thing" just might be too powerful a force to combat.
I have decided, firmly, that I will start a new play soon. I had been wanting to get a job and be settled first, and hopefully that will coincide with me starting it. I know I need to get a bit further into the realm of a plot and away from autobiography, though I certainly want to use elements of my life in it. I've had to experience a lot since I last wrote a play, and the life experience has given me plenty of ideas, the key is now to try and put them together.
Still working on finding a job, I was able to send out a lot of resumes yesterday, and plan on going into downtown tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Fun stuff has been going on. I found a place to stay, at least for the month, last weekend. I am staying with an older woman and another boarder in her home, which is near Chevy Chase and Rock Creek Park. The best part is, I am only paying utilities at the end of the month, that's it. This is something I like a lot, believe me.
I wanted to talk about something political as well. The privatization of social security appears to be a dead issue now, one of the few times the Bush has made a significant push for something and not had either the republicans crush all opposition to it, like the war in Iraq, or where the Democratic leadership didn't just go along for the ride, like the tax cuts and No Child Left Behind. For the first time in a while, the Democrats in the Senate and House refused to be bullied, and I have to say I'm very impressed with Harry Reid because of that fact. I watched the State of the Union at the Bayne's, while I was still in Fairfax. Bush spent nearly 20% of his speech on his plan, and yet Americans really seem to hate it, if you believe the polls. I, along, I'd wager, with most of the readership of this blog, are among those for whom this bill is supposed to be popular, the young. But I really hate this idea. I really do. I recognize the logic behind it, but still, the numbers do not add up. Bush has promised no benefit cuts, no tax increases for Social Security, and the creation of accounts. But by decreasing the amount of money going into the system, while increasing (and since people are living longer and Boomers are coming to retirement age we pay more benefits) payouts, only means massive borrowing, which will have to be saddled by my generation anyway. In the country's that have tried it, Chile and Britain, it has failed miserably to protect people's retirement, basically, it seems like a back door way to destroy the most stable leg of the retirement stool (the others being personal savings and investments/pension).
A couple of quick sports notes: With the signings of Pollard and Kennedy, the Lions greatly improved their secondary and tight end position, but now, the draft possibilities seem a lot more interesting. A lot of drafts had the team taking either a safety (Thomas Davis of Georgia or Brodney Pool of Oklahoma) or a tight end (Heath Miller of UVa) with the ten. Now, the Lions will probably take the best player who drops to them. Of those possibilities, I really like the idea of them taking Derrick Johnson of Texas, the linebacker (which would move Teddy Lehman inside) or Alex Barron, the tackle out of Florida State (to replace Stockar McDougal and maybe Jeff Backus' LT spot in a few years). None of the defensive ends (Marcus Spears, David Pollack, or Erasmus James) seem to be sure fire talents, Johnson and Barron do. One other football note, the Cardinals (now probably my second favorite team in the NFC) seem to be destined to take Cedric Benson with the seventh pick, thus taking the running back most likely to be a bust. Often, players who get a lot of carries in college don't have much tire tread left on their knees, and seem to flame out.
Rick Ankiel announced today that he will switch permanently to the outfield. This is interesting to me because I was in the KC, watching Game 1 between the Cardinals and Braves in the 2000 NLDS when Ankiel melted down before our very eyes. He threw five wild pitches in an inning, it was seriously one of the damnedest things I had ever seen. I was getting lunch, because that semester I didn't have ant Tuesday or Thursday classes other than choir, which may have been only 3 days a week then, so I may have had nothing. I watched this can't miss prospect hit the backstop again and again, another victim of what ballplayers call "The Thing", which gripped Chuck Knoblauch and Steve Sax, leaves catchers unable to throw the ball back to the pitcher, and pitchers tossing heaters around incredibly wildly. Still, this was the first time Ankiel had experienced it, and seemingly, despite annual stories the last few years about Ankiel working his way back, Ankiel has decided the "Thing" just might be too powerful a force to combat.
I have decided, firmly, that I will start a new play soon. I had been wanting to get a job and be settled first, and hopefully that will coincide with me starting it. I know I need to get a bit further into the realm of a plot and away from autobiography, though I certainly want to use elements of my life in it. I've had to experience a lot since I last wrote a play, and the life experience has given me plenty of ideas, the key is now to try and put them together.
Still working on finding a job, I was able to send out a lot of resumes yesterday, and plan on going into downtown tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Four Days
The kids in DC have had four straight snow days. It's really sad, because there's basically no snow on the ground, or hasn't been for two or three days. So sad that no one can drive in the snow here.
I just wanted to say one more thing about the Cabaret cast. I really admire the way all of you stayed true to doing the musical the way you wanted to do it, and not conforming to the movie or to the way its done before. That's what real art is, doing it the way you want to do it.
Those of you me know that I don't have a great deal of live for the world of high fashion. I tend to view fashion as something that's silly, as I would rather have clothes be comfortable, I prefer function to form. But I thought Project Runway was incredibly fun to watch. If you didn't see any of it, it was a reality show featuring 12 fashion designers that were competing for 3 spots at a show at Olympus Fashion Week. Each week featured a different challenge, from designing a dress from items at the grocery store to designing new postal service uniforms. All the designers were of course outsized characters, as most fashion designers are, and it made for a lot of good viewing in. I had my favorites, especially Austin Scarlett, who had to be one of the most flamboyant characters ever on TV (His picture on the Project Runway website features him in pearls and women's gloves). But he had a really great story. He was never the biggest man in the world, and knowing he was gay early on, he got teased a lot in high school. After he was eliminated, he talked about how hopeful he was that he might have served as a role model for kids who didn't fit in, the way he didn't. Supposedly, the kids at his high school, as a joke, made him prom king. When he showed up, his date, a woman, was wearing a dress that he had made. That's a fabulous story. Austin also served as a model in a pinch, so you can imagine how small he is because the models were all women with tiny tiny waists.
The clothes were almost universally beautiful, but the fun part was watching them being put together, seeing the work that all the designers had to do themselves. It really showed how much of an art clothing design is and I guess you might say that it changed my mind a bit.
The kids in DC have had four straight snow days. It's really sad, because there's basically no snow on the ground, or hasn't been for two or three days. So sad that no one can drive in the snow here.
I just wanted to say one more thing about the Cabaret cast. I really admire the way all of you stayed true to doing the musical the way you wanted to do it, and not conforming to the movie or to the way its done before. That's what real art is, doing it the way you want to do it.
Those of you me know that I don't have a great deal of live for the world of high fashion. I tend to view fashion as something that's silly, as I would rather have clothes be comfortable, I prefer function to form. But I thought Project Runway was incredibly fun to watch. If you didn't see any of it, it was a reality show featuring 12 fashion designers that were competing for 3 spots at a show at Olympus Fashion Week. Each week featured a different challenge, from designing a dress from items at the grocery store to designing new postal service uniforms. All the designers were of course outsized characters, as most fashion designers are, and it made for a lot of good viewing in. I had my favorites, especially Austin Scarlett, who had to be one of the most flamboyant characters ever on TV (His picture on the Project Runway website features him in pearls and women's gloves). But he had a really great story. He was never the biggest man in the world, and knowing he was gay early on, he got teased a lot in high school. After he was eliminated, he talked about how hopeful he was that he might have served as a role model for kids who didn't fit in, the way he didn't. Supposedly, the kids at his high school, as a joke, made him prom king. When he showed up, his date, a woman, was wearing a dress that he had made. That's a fabulous story. Austin also served as a model in a pinch, so you can imagine how small he is because the models were all women with tiny tiny waists.
The clothes were almost universally beautiful, but the fun part was watching them being put together, seeing the work that all the designers had to do themselves. It really showed how much of an art clothing design is and I guess you might say that it changed my mind a bit.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Kit Kat
I first want to congratulate the entire cast of Cabaret. It was an incredible show, perhaps the best at Albion in a long while, which I'm sure you all know. I was amazed by all of the talent, especially those of you who I've seen grow up on stage. Really fabulous work to all of you. I've sent notes to a few cast members, and I also sent a note to Starko this morning, both to congratulate him and to send along a note to the entire cast.
Things have been a bit hectic lately. Last week I found out the water damage in the basement of Ingrid and Michele's is rather extensive, and I may not be able to stay there. I've been sleeping downstairs, but also looking for another, cheaper place. One problem I keep running into is that some of the places I see are not in good areas and so I'd rather wait it out a bit longer. Andy Carroll, no relation to the fabulous Alexander Theodore, has been really helpful in letting me know the areas to avoid as well as making suggestions. I did not get as much done on the job search front as I wanted to last week, as I flew home Thursday and worked the other days. The flight is a story itself. I hadn't flown on a plane since I was five, and we visited my aunt Julie (now Jua) in Vancouver, and also went to the World's Fair. That was in 86. Robert still had blonde, curly hair and I was wearing pictures of animals on my sweatshirts. I didn't remember it particularly well, I just remembered looking out the window and seeing how people looked so small. I left downtown at around 12 and took a ride on the Metro to West Falls Church, where I needed to catch a connecting bus to another station, to finally get to the bus to Dulles. Dulles is in Virginia, and for some reason, its almost like the Metro was built away from Dulles. There are three airports in the area, and only one has a Metro stop, National (I refuse to call it by its other name). The other is BWI. I arrived at the connecting station about 15 seconds too late to pick up the connecting bus, and had to wait an hour for the next one, which wasn't as bad as it could have been. When the bus arrived and dropped us off, I had to call my dad to coach me through the process of getting my boarding pass and checking my luggage. Everything went fine, and the flight was good, despite some nervousness on my part upon take-off.
I can't describe how good it was to see the show and to be in Albion to watch it. To see Andy and Mike finishing their careers, which started with Lear, end so beautifully, to see Karen Green take the role of Sally Bowles as her own, and to see those who I hadn't seen in anything since Company perform so well made me so incredibly proud, not just to have seen these actors and actresses grow-up, but to literally see lines of people going outside the Dow to see the show was incredibly gratifying as a former participant. I also was impressed by a lot of other things too, such as Gretel's incredibly frustrating form of doing responses and her inability to think before she says things.
I also got to see John, which was great because I hadn't seen him since I went to Basically Awesome, and I hadn't talked to him since just after I got here. He seems focused now on finding a job, as well as perfecting his craft, which is good, because you need to pay the bills as well as make art. We, and by we I mean John, Bohne, Chelsea Sadler, and Kopec talked for a really long time after the show, just about the department and a lot of other things. I really missed those kind of talks. I used to have them all the time with Laura and Susan at Porter, or with the two of them, Nick, Andy, Amy, Audrey and Alison over in Burns. Those were really the happiest times I'd had here, and talking like that again was great, though a little bittersweet. With Andy, Bohne and Nick graduating, along with guys like ROb Murdock and Steve Fish, suddenly all that's left of that great young Lear cast will be graduated, and they seemed young when I was in it. Once Karen, Audrey, Stephanie, Stefani, Rachel, Amy Feder and Chelsea Sadler, and all the other juniors graduate next year, my links to the school won't be there physically, which kind of saddens me, as well as giving me a great since of pride to see the men and women they are becoming and have already become.
I also got to see my grandmother Saturday which was great because I hadn't seen her since before I left. She had been in Florida with her sister Norma, and it was good to see her home safe. I got out Sunday morning. My parents woke me up at 4 for my 6 o'clock flight, and I spent most of the rest of the day tired, but it was certainly worth it.
I will blog more about the show(s) tomorrow, both my impressions of Cabaret, and my love for the one show no one probably would ever think I'd like, Project Runway
I first want to congratulate the entire cast of Cabaret. It was an incredible show, perhaps the best at Albion in a long while, which I'm sure you all know. I was amazed by all of the talent, especially those of you who I've seen grow up on stage. Really fabulous work to all of you. I've sent notes to a few cast members, and I also sent a note to Starko this morning, both to congratulate him and to send along a note to the entire cast.
Things have been a bit hectic lately. Last week I found out the water damage in the basement of Ingrid and Michele's is rather extensive, and I may not be able to stay there. I've been sleeping downstairs, but also looking for another, cheaper place. One problem I keep running into is that some of the places I see are not in good areas and so I'd rather wait it out a bit longer. Andy Carroll, no relation to the fabulous Alexander Theodore, has been really helpful in letting me know the areas to avoid as well as making suggestions. I did not get as much done on the job search front as I wanted to last week, as I flew home Thursday and worked the other days. The flight is a story itself. I hadn't flown on a plane since I was five, and we visited my aunt Julie (now Jua) in Vancouver, and also went to the World's Fair. That was in 86. Robert still had blonde, curly hair and I was wearing pictures of animals on my sweatshirts. I didn't remember it particularly well, I just remembered looking out the window and seeing how people looked so small. I left downtown at around 12 and took a ride on the Metro to West Falls Church, where I needed to catch a connecting bus to another station, to finally get to the bus to Dulles. Dulles is in Virginia, and for some reason, its almost like the Metro was built away from Dulles. There are three airports in the area, and only one has a Metro stop, National (I refuse to call it by its other name). The other is BWI. I arrived at the connecting station about 15 seconds too late to pick up the connecting bus, and had to wait an hour for the next one, which wasn't as bad as it could have been. When the bus arrived and dropped us off, I had to call my dad to coach me through the process of getting my boarding pass and checking my luggage. Everything went fine, and the flight was good, despite some nervousness on my part upon take-off.
I can't describe how good it was to see the show and to be in Albion to watch it. To see Andy and Mike finishing their careers, which started with Lear, end so beautifully, to see Karen Green take the role of Sally Bowles as her own, and to see those who I hadn't seen in anything since Company perform so well made me so incredibly proud, not just to have seen these actors and actresses grow-up, but to literally see lines of people going outside the Dow to see the show was incredibly gratifying as a former participant. I also was impressed by a lot of other things too, such as Gretel's incredibly frustrating form of doing responses and her inability to think before she says things.
I also got to see John, which was great because I hadn't seen him since I went to Basically Awesome, and I hadn't talked to him since just after I got here. He seems focused now on finding a job, as well as perfecting his craft, which is good, because you need to pay the bills as well as make art. We, and by we I mean John, Bohne, Chelsea Sadler, and Kopec talked for a really long time after the show, just about the department and a lot of other things. I really missed those kind of talks. I used to have them all the time with Laura and Susan at Porter, or with the two of them, Nick, Andy, Amy, Audrey and Alison over in Burns. Those were really the happiest times I'd had here, and talking like that again was great, though a little bittersweet. With Andy, Bohne and Nick graduating, along with guys like ROb Murdock and Steve Fish, suddenly all that's left of that great young Lear cast will be graduated, and they seemed young when I was in it. Once Karen, Audrey, Stephanie, Stefani, Rachel, Amy Feder and Chelsea Sadler, and all the other juniors graduate next year, my links to the school won't be there physically, which kind of saddens me, as well as giving me a great since of pride to see the men and women they are becoming and have already become.
I also got to see my grandmother Saturday which was great because I hadn't seen her since before I left. She had been in Florida with her sister Norma, and it was good to see her home safe. I got out Sunday morning. My parents woke me up at 4 for my 6 o'clock flight, and I spent most of the rest of the day tired, but it was certainly worth it.
I will blog more about the show(s) tomorrow, both my impressions of Cabaret, and my love for the one show no one probably would ever think I'd like, Project Runway
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Hey There, from Chocolate City
Hello everyone. I've now been in Washington for over two weeks, and on the whole its been a lot of fun. Mary's in-laws, the Bayne's have let me stay at their house for the past two weeks, and they really helped me through a lot of the getting here jitters and issues. They really are great people. Right now, I'm at Michele's, who is Mrs. Bayne's sister. I am housesitting until next week, and then I will be staying here with her and her partner, Ingrid.
The last two weeks, looking for a job, have been quite interesting. A couple of days this week I got a bit down, I had what you might call a "crisis of confidence". But Cameo reminded me that it took her a while to find her job, and she had a great many more contacts than I. I have lots of resumes out, both at the Hill, the newspaper, and The Hill, the place. I also have sent out resumes to some think tanks and policy centers. I have also continued sending out resumes to newspapers as well.
Arthur Miller died yesterday. I guess the only thing I can say now is that the last of the three great titans of 20th century American drama is dead. Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill made it all the more difficult for schlubs like me to do anything in their wake, though maybe, just maybe, I'll soon get some inspiration.
I do think I will have something soon, but please keep all of your fingers crossed for me. I'll blog more tomorrow
Hello everyone. I've now been in Washington for over two weeks, and on the whole its been a lot of fun. Mary's in-laws, the Bayne's have let me stay at their house for the past two weeks, and they really helped me through a lot of the getting here jitters and issues. They really are great people. Right now, I'm at Michele's, who is Mrs. Bayne's sister. I am housesitting until next week, and then I will be staying here with her and her partner, Ingrid.
The last two weeks, looking for a job, have been quite interesting. A couple of days this week I got a bit down, I had what you might call a "crisis of confidence". But Cameo reminded me that it took her a while to find her job, and she had a great many more contacts than I. I have lots of resumes out, both at the Hill, the newspaper, and The Hill, the place. I also have sent out resumes to some think tanks and policy centers. I have also continued sending out resumes to newspapers as well.
Arthur Miller died yesterday. I guess the only thing I can say now is that the last of the three great titans of 20th century American drama is dead. Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill made it all the more difficult for schlubs like me to do anything in their wake, though maybe, just maybe, I'll soon get some inspiration.
I do think I will have something soon, but please keep all of your fingers crossed for me. I'll blog more tomorrow
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Hold Up
Ok, so my leaving for Washington is delayed slightly, the place I am staying at isn't ready yet, so I'll be spending at least one more week here, which I will use to put out more resumes. I also IM'ed an old friend, Cameo, one of "my girls" from my class in DC. She's in Washington now, and she's been able to find work there, so I know it can be done.
I have some good news. I finally had a real response to one of my resumes. The Richfield Springs Mercury News, which is a weekly in upstate New York, about 15 minutes from Cooperstown, interviewed me over the phone this morning. The editor seemed impressed, so maybe all those resumes going out will start paying off soon. JournalismJobs.com, which is the web-site I'm using, has an opening in the US Virgin Islands, though maybe that might be too much sun and sand for me.
Other than that, not much to report from here. We had been preparing to leave tomorrow, but that's off now, so I'll just keep working on stuff this week. Good luck to everyone at ACTF and I hope you all got the part in Cabaret you wanted.
Ok, so my leaving for Washington is delayed slightly, the place I am staying at isn't ready yet, so I'll be spending at least one more week here, which I will use to put out more resumes. I also IM'ed an old friend, Cameo, one of "my girls" from my class in DC. She's in Washington now, and she's been able to find work there, so I know it can be done.
I have some good news. I finally had a real response to one of my resumes. The Richfield Springs Mercury News, which is a weekly in upstate New York, about 15 minutes from Cooperstown, interviewed me over the phone this morning. The editor seemed impressed, so maybe all those resumes going out will start paying off soon. JournalismJobs.com, which is the web-site I'm using, has an opening in the US Virgin Islands, though maybe that might be too much sun and sand for me.
Other than that, not much to report from here. We had been preparing to leave tomorrow, but that's off now, so I'll just keep working on stuff this week. Good luck to everyone at ACTF and I hope you all got the part in Cabaret you wanted.
Friday, January 07, 2005
I am still Alive (Hooray)
Well, it’s the New Year (thank god). I left Chicago on December 24th, after a very stressful last week at the magazine. We were working on a very big story on "The Great Chicago Families", which made me very appreciative of the fact that America has no landed Aristocracy. Many of the families had confusing lineages, and some of the writers were older and thus less familiar with some of the things the fact checkers need to do their job. For example, web facts simply came from "the Internet" as opposed to specific sites. This was very stressful to deal with, coupled with having to finish up my project and get my things to move out.
That week, I left the Magazine on the 23rd, saying goodbye to as many people as I could. We had had the Christmas party at the Billy Goat the week before, so I got to know people a little better. I did enjoy my time there, though some of it was stressing. The more important thing was that it gave me a lot of experience in a really good setting.
I left Christmas Eve morning, around 10 o'clock. I had stored much of my stuff in the car the night before, and got the last of it in the morning. I said goodbye to my apartment, as both Anthony and Patrick, my roommates, were gone. I headed out on Lake Shore Drive, though before I got on a car got rear ended right next to me, though it was worse for the rear-ender, and as I looked out I said goodbye to the City and to all of the things that had brought me through my 15 months there, my two old buildings, the zoo, the UPS store, The Cheesecake Factory, John's apartment, Tribune Tower, and the UBS building, where OCC is. Still, as the Sears Tower, the Hancock Building and Comiskey Park left my rearview mirror, a significant part was very relieved, because I simply didn't know if I would miss the place at all, or whether I would see it as a very depressing reminder of a time of my life I'd really like have back. Coming up on Indiana and then home made me feel much better, especially with the holidays coming up.
The holidays were enjoyable. I enjoyed our traditional Christmas dinner: filet mignon and crab legs. I also got to see Susan and Adam, along with Laura, for lunch the week after Christmas. I hadn't seen Susan and Adam in forever, and it was incredibly good to see the both of them doing so well and in such good spirits.
I am still doing my time at the studio. The Rose Bowl was great, though I was obviously disappointed. A lot of our callers have been calling for Jim Herrman's (the Defensive Coordinator) head. The defense didn't play well at all, but the offense was great. A lot of Michigan fans, typically, are basically making this out to be the worst loss in Michigan history, which it certainly isn't. It was a great game that Michigan lost by one point, not some huge blowout, like say, the Orange Bowl.
I wanted to let you know that things are going to change for me soon. My Aunt Mary has friends and relatives in DC, and I am headed there for about six weeks to look for work. Obviously, I've always loved DC, and even if I don't get a job in DC, which would be great, it will do something to recharge my batteries after my time in Chicago, which really drained me. I will be updating more often, not that that's difficult. I'll probably be doing some more looking for jobs outside of DC while I'm there, and I've really been tossing around the idea that, once I get set with a job, I would write a play again, just something that I could work on, and see how it goes.
Thanks for being patient everyone, and I hope you all had great holidays.
Well, it’s the New Year (thank god). I left Chicago on December 24th, after a very stressful last week at the magazine. We were working on a very big story on "The Great Chicago Families", which made me very appreciative of the fact that America has no landed Aristocracy. Many of the families had confusing lineages, and some of the writers were older and thus less familiar with some of the things the fact checkers need to do their job. For example, web facts simply came from "the Internet" as opposed to specific sites. This was very stressful to deal with, coupled with having to finish up my project and get my things to move out.
That week, I left the Magazine on the 23rd, saying goodbye to as many people as I could. We had had the Christmas party at the Billy Goat the week before, so I got to know people a little better. I did enjoy my time there, though some of it was stressing. The more important thing was that it gave me a lot of experience in a really good setting.
I left Christmas Eve morning, around 10 o'clock. I had stored much of my stuff in the car the night before, and got the last of it in the morning. I said goodbye to my apartment, as both Anthony and Patrick, my roommates, were gone. I headed out on Lake Shore Drive, though before I got on a car got rear ended right next to me, though it was worse for the rear-ender, and as I looked out I said goodbye to the City and to all of the things that had brought me through my 15 months there, my two old buildings, the zoo, the UPS store, The Cheesecake Factory, John's apartment, Tribune Tower, and the UBS building, where OCC is. Still, as the Sears Tower, the Hancock Building and Comiskey Park left my rearview mirror, a significant part was very relieved, because I simply didn't know if I would miss the place at all, or whether I would see it as a very depressing reminder of a time of my life I'd really like have back. Coming up on Indiana and then home made me feel much better, especially with the holidays coming up.
The holidays were enjoyable. I enjoyed our traditional Christmas dinner: filet mignon and crab legs. I also got to see Susan and Adam, along with Laura, for lunch the week after Christmas. I hadn't seen Susan and Adam in forever, and it was incredibly good to see the both of them doing so well and in such good spirits.
I am still doing my time at the studio. The Rose Bowl was great, though I was obviously disappointed. A lot of our callers have been calling for Jim Herrman's (the Defensive Coordinator) head. The defense didn't play well at all, but the offense was great. A lot of Michigan fans, typically, are basically making this out to be the worst loss in Michigan history, which it certainly isn't. It was a great game that Michigan lost by one point, not some huge blowout, like say, the Orange Bowl.
I wanted to let you know that things are going to change for me soon. My Aunt Mary has friends and relatives in DC, and I am headed there for about six weeks to look for work. Obviously, I've always loved DC, and even if I don't get a job in DC, which would be great, it will do something to recharge my batteries after my time in Chicago, which really drained me. I will be updating more often, not that that's difficult. I'll probably be doing some more looking for jobs outside of DC while I'm there, and I've really been tossing around the idea that, once I get set with a job, I would write a play again, just something that I could work on, and see how it goes.
Thanks for being patient everyone, and I hope you all had great holidays.
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