I Should Have Known...I'd Get This Reaction

 When you post a picture on social media every day...for over a decade, you see certain trends. I've posted some of the best photographs I've ever taken as my daily picture. I've posted funny pictures (or ones I thought were funny...), ironic pictures, pictures of my kids, of cats, of dogs. You get a sense for what people think of the photos based on the reactions of those who see them.

Last week, in our local Tremonton paper, a front-page story highlighted news of a wonderful memorial for a wonderful man, a man who meant so much to this community. There are discussions to build a community theater in town and name it after this man.

And I think the idea is wonderful and I hope it happens.

I took a picture of the front-page story and posted my picture online.

I received more positive response from that picture than any other picture I've posted in over ten years.

I should have known.

That story taught me much of Dee Pace. Years ago Dee and I shared the stage. I loved hearing his stories about when he attended college in Cedar City. I loved getting know him. Two summers ago I shared the stage with Dee's daughter. She was the star of the show and Dee attended one of our performances. It was great to see him after and share that amazing smile.

Less than a year later I heard the devastating news that covid claimed another victim. Dee was the first person I knew personally that passed away from the disease. The news story reported he was the Box Elder County's first fatality.

I did't know that.

I also didn't know Dee taught theater at Box Elder High School for fifteen years. I can understand why he was so beloved in the community. And I understand why so many people responded to my post. We moved from a place where a dozen or more community theaters were within a half-hour drive of our house. Now, that number has been reduced to two. I would love to see a community theater built in this little town, but the fact that it would be named after such an incredible person as Dee Pace, would make it perfect. Oh...I pray it happens.

Anniversary Of A Literary Memory...

 A friend's novel drops today. She's worked years and years on it and it's finally something you can buy in a store and hold in your hand.

What a feeling!

As I meandered through social media this morning, I was tagged on a post, a memory from this date in 2013. It brought back so many memories for me. It was the first time I saw the cover of a book that contained a story I wrote. It was the first time something I wrote was published...in a real book you could hold and read and smell and enjoy and just look at and realize it is a physical manifestation of a dream brought to life.

What a feeling!

That spring and summer everything was new as far as my infant literary career was concerned. Signing my first contract, working with an editor to make my little story as good as it could possibly be, opening the box and grabbing the book and seeing my name on the front cover. It was wonderful. It was something an unpublished writer dreams of happening.

The book, Mechanized Masterpieces: A Steampunk Anthology, went on sale April 19, 2013, but the first time I saw the cover was on the 6th. I thought--and still think--the cover is beautiful and of all the anthologies I've been fortunate enough to be included, this is one of my absolute favorites. Yes, in part because it was my first anthology, but also because each story is a home run. The book is still for sale...if you're interested, you can order it by clicking: HERE.

The experiences from that book taught me a lot. It also opened so many doors, and those doors have opened other doors. In a way, it changed my life.

I had forgotten all about that memory until this morning when I saw the post. I'm glad my fellow author Megan Billings shared her memory that became my memory, too.

Visiting A One-Hundred And Six Year Old Library

 I spotted the building the first time I saw the church...they're across the street from each other. The first time I was able to go inside was last week. It is, in a word, important. 

The Garland Branch of the library is the second building in their system. The other is in Tremonton. We visited the Tremonton Branch first...it's the bigger of the two libraries. I think the Tremonton building is the younger of the two. 

What I love about about these two buildings is that they still exist. In a digital world many things that once were have disappeared...Sony Walkmans, wrist watches, Blockbuster Video stores, but libraries are still here. It's a testament to their importance. 

The top floor had books and media for adults and young adults. The basement was for kids and middle-grade. The basement also has an activity center, but I imagine since covid it, the building hasn't been utilized as much as it was before.

When I worked in a library for a few months years ago, I think they needed at least six employees at any give time, more during the busy shifts. This library had a staff of one...that's all that was needed.

I ended up buying a couple of books that were for sale, a Jim Butcher novel and a collection of the best 1980s short stories. I asked the librarian if the building had always been a library. It had, which I thought was the coolest part of the building. There's even a framed photo of when the building was dedicated on December 12th, 1914, ten years (almost to the day...) from when my father was born. She also said the library was built using a grant from the Carnegie Foundation.

A quick internet search for old libraries brings up many many incredible libraries all over the world where floor after floor of shelves hold thousands of books in buildings that better resemble palaces than a place where books are stored. Societies have built monuments to our collective knowledge. But a building does not need to be spectacular or opulent to be important. The Garland Library is the mind of the community and it has stood for one-hundred and six years.

Give Thanks...People Who Take Chances - "The Chosen"

 I'd heard of the series and I suppose I'd get around to watching it one of these day. Looks like Holy Week before Easter was the perfect "one of these days." Many things have been said and written about this series, but what impressed me the most about the show is how it came to be.

Someone took a chance.

The Chosen set a record for the most successful crowd funded entertainment project in history. And they're no where near being done. They have planned seven seasons. Season Two begins tonight. I found an interesting article about the show and how it began. You can access the article by clicking: HERE.

I enjoyed the series more than I thought I would. Based on previous projects depicting Christ and the early days of the church, they've been a little dry and heavy-handed. The Chosen depicts the men and women that first followed Christ as real, and relatable, and flawed. There's also humor in the stories--there must be humor any time you try and present a retelling of historical events. Humans are funny, even when nothing else is. It's a coping mechanism. And it's important.

I can't imagine the obstacles the people who created the series had to overcome to bring their vision to fruition. But, they persevered, the endured, they did what they had to do and now it's a reality. I'm thankful for people who sacrifice for others...just like the people portrayed in The Chosen.

I Guess I'm One Of Those People Who Watch Movies...Again

 You can count on both hands how many times I have watched a first-run film in a theater over the past ten years. I might be off by a film or two, but I've probably seen less than ten films in the theater in the past decade.

It just wasn't something we did, for several reasons...price, time, kind of a pain to go to a theater, even though (before covid...), it was the best time to go see a show. You didn't have to wait in line...just order the tickets online. And modern theaters almost guarantee there's not a bad seat in the place.

Still...

It just wan't my thing. I would wait until it would come out on Redbox or cable, then watch it at home. Sure, I missed out on that "theater experience," but I was okay with that.

Enter covid.

That changed things.

There have been several films I have watched now that they're available both in the theater and at home. The latest being Godzilla vs Kong. I watched it last night. I agree with an associate, Kevin J. Anderson--the story was mheh, but the effects were outstanding. I didn't realize it until after I watched it that I was part of a group that I had not been a part of in a long, long time--the never saw films in the theater group. Getting a nice big TV after we moved has helped, too.

Years ago, before marriage and kids and other things, I went to movies all the time. My friends and I would pile in a car and see what latest movie was out that weekend. I didn't go every weekend, but enough that I considered myself a regular movie goer. This was, of course, before the internet and videos-on-demand. Then, the whole world was ordered inside and things changed even more.

I think I'll stay in this "watching movies before they hit cable" club as long as they allow me to do so. Many have wondered what the future of film entertainment will look like in the coming months and years. Who know...maybe all the theaters and more will re-open and people will flood back into the stadium reclining seats and they'll remove the "watch from home" option. If that happens, I guess I'll go back to just waiting around.

It's Crazy Now, But When It's Done...It's Going To Be A Nice Road

 

In the summer of 2019 my daughter and I were cast in a show in a theater in Ogden, Utah. The distance between where we lived and the theater in Ogden Utah was roughly twenty miles.

That's usually a twenty to twenty-five minute commute.

There's two efficient ways to get to Ogden form where we lived, take Interstate-15, or Route 89, a.k.a. the James V. Hansen Parkway. Without traffic both routes can deliver a commuter to the destination in the same amount of time. But, we knew taking I-15 at rush hour was an unwise decision. It becomes a parking lot. We decided to take the upper road.

Guess what...another parking lot. 

I was blown away the first time my daughter and I tried taking 89 to Ogden. When I got my graduate degree from Weber State, I took that road all the time, got to campus in a half hour. But that was back in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In a decade an entire fleet of vehicles moved in and decided taking the upper road was superior to taking the interstate.

Last week I had a meeting in Davis County and took 89 home. It was around 3pm so the parking lot had not yet materialized. But what has materialized is roadwork on the upper route. It's going to amazing when it's done. I don't know the completion date and we no longer live in the area where we'll use the road, but all those cars will, and so will their families when the drivers in those cars get home faster and hopefully safer.

I just hope that when it's done, the population hasn't grown so much, they'll need another road just to keep up...

A Field Of Future Memories...

 This is the view from my office window. It's actually a bedroom, but we use it as an office. It looks directly east, toward mountains that separate Box Elder County from Cache County. I can see Interstate-15, Garland, Deweyville, but what I see the most is an empty field.

A field of future memories.

It's Spring Break here. Kids have played outside when the weather's been good. We live in a new neighborhood...there's lot of kids. It's tough to see in the picture, but there's a little electronic truck parked in the dirt, left by its proud owner because something else caught the youngster's attention and he had to leave the truck to go eat or go to the bathroom. Whatever it was, the truck stayed for a little while. Eventually, it was moved back into the garage with his parents's cars.

I suppose if we lived in a world without video games or movies on demand or the internet, the field might get used more. Still, the kids seem to have fun running in the field, playing in the dirt...basically, being kids. It reminded me of the mountain that served as our backyard. We lived on that hill, both summer and winter...spring and fall. We had adventures, built forts, rode our bikes up and down and all around. Our world was endless and our lives were better because of it.

I think of the kids playing in the field today. Twenty years comes pretty fast. Those kids will grow, graduate from school...many will leave on church missions, some won't. They'll enroll in college, or the military or get a job and begin their careers. 

The master plan of the subdivision is to extend the road east and line it with homes, both on the north and south sides of the street. More parents, more kids will call this patch of the gently rising hill home. They will play in their yards and maybe play in a field farther away.

But those kids I see playing now. In twenty years they'll return from school, from missions (both religious and military...) and look at the street. Maybe the owner of the little truck will recall the beautiful spring days when he piloted his vehicle up and down the dirt road and around the field. Will he wonder how things changed so much so fast? My guess is he will...because that's what happens when fields become streets and homes and there's nothing left but the memories.