No More Waiting at the Gate

There was nothing more left to say.
The trail was going to end today.
Everything was brought to a close.
Nothing else but a parting pose.

But the journey to the new gate was over.
Behind lay a rustic field of clover.
Ahead a blank white slate.
A path to a new and risky fate.

Goodbye my friend who led me here,
Goodbye to all that I once did fear.
Hello to the promise of the new.
Hello to the wayward pew.

Time to cross.
Time to toss.
Time to bid adieu.
Time to make anew.

With a wave, I am gone.
With a step, it is dawn.
With a glance, the colors change.
With a dance, I see an open range.

Someone comes to greet me.
Someone whom I long to see.
Someone from so very long ago.
Someone whose dress does flow.

I take wing to you.
I no longer fear you.
I am no more afraid.
I find a new day made.

Ripping Good Yarns: Top 'o' the Comic Rack!

Here are some of the cartoon books I've been reading:


The Flash Chronicles

Great chronological presentation of the Barry Allen Flash Stories.  This current volume covers June 1960 to February 1961.  It includes all the great covers, like Flash No. 113 where the Trickster is walking on air.  I've finished the story King of the Beatniks and the next one I read i The Day Flash Weighed 1000 Pounds.  Great fun!

Rachel Rising

The new comic from the incredible Terry Moore (Strangers In Paradise), it is a zombie/undead story of a completely different stripe.  As usual with Terry Moore great characters and story pacing, and written in a very female friendly way,

Earth 2

Superheroes from an alternate Earth, using the Justice Society of America (first comic super-hero team from the 40s) as a model. Features Alan Scott as a gay billionaire who discovers the Green lantern power, and a teenage Jay Garrick becoming The Flash. Written by James Robinson, art by Nicola Scott.

All-Star Western

Features two great western stories every issue!  One is the incredible Jonah Hex, scarred bounty hunter working with Dr. Arkham in the 1870s.  The other features any of the other fine DC western heroes, including Nighthawk and Cinnamon, Dr, Thirteen and Bat Lash.  Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.

Fairest

Spinoff of the remarkable comic Fables, it centers on some of the female characters, including the White Witch and Briar Rose.  Written by Bill Willingham and illustrated by Phil Jimenez.

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer

I enjoy this comic, which is an extension of an imaginary season 9.  The humor and rhythm of the characters often come through, but I don't much care for the art.  Written by Andrew Chambliss and art by George Jeanty.  Creator Joss Whedon occasionally writes and is involved in the production of the comic.

Fantastic Four 

Great comic dating back to the early sixties.  Marvel has had a lot of trouble consistently numbering and putting out comic titles consistently, but this is one of their best centered on the first family of super-heroes - Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing.

Fables

Fairy story characters hiding in exile on Earth, this has been one of the best comics for the last decade!  Think Once Upon A time, but juiced up to the Nth degree and aimed at adults.  A favorite of both Alison and myself.  Written by Bill Willingham and art by Marc Buckingham.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Another classic going back to the 60s, it has done a fairly good job of sustaining it's number, and I look forward to the arrival soon of issue #700!  A number of creators are involved, and depending on who is handling it the quality varies greatly.  But they usually have a great supporting cast, one of the major reason this comic and the group of comics that follow next are consistently among my favorites.

Supergirl, Superman, Action Comics

I am first and foremost a Superman fan.  Truth, justice and the American Way, fighting the Neverending Battle!  Best supporting cast in comics - love Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen and Perry White and many, many more.  And no, I'm not happy about DC renumbering everything back to number 1 again - I still think my indicia idea is the perfect solution.  And no, I'm not looking forward to the Superman/Wonder Woman in love story-line.  It's Lois Lane or nobody in my opinion! (Aside to Smallville fans - damn, was Erica Durance a great Lois Lane!)


And there you have it!  A quick rundown of my current favorite comics!  Yes, these are real comics that I'm really reading!  Ripper comic fans - unite!  What have you been reading lately?

Until next time, Rippers!

T.M. Strait

Local Elections Are Not Over!

When I voted in the primary last month, I faced a fairly empty ballot.  Unlike my Republican friends, there was only one contested race, and many where there was no candidate at all.  Such is the nature of one party rule.

Many may feel that the election is basically over.  Go to the polls in November and vote that Romney fellow over that awful Obama.  Romney may not be perfect, but at least he'll help the congressional Republicans achieve their agenda of lowering the taxes yet again on the wealthy, increasing taxation on the slovenly bottom rung, cutting services to that some bottom rung, reversing and halting health care reform, gutting public education, turning Medicare into a voucher program, privatizing Social Security, ending the whole concept of women's reproductive rights, increasing the Defense Budget without regard to waste or ineffectiveness, and starting more active military conflict with Iran and whomever else comes into their radar. No need to worry about the other races.  Those were all chosen in the primaries.  They either have no political opponent, or if they do, they are so under-funded and unpublicized that they don't matter.

But times, they may be a-changin'.

I was at a meeting yesterday of The Ware County Democrats last night.  It was a small but determined group, with attendees from both Pierce and Ware County.  The candidate for State Senate, Gene Mitchell, was there, and he spoke with great eloquence and competence.  There were many ideas and efforts underway to make it known that there was intelligent and thoughtful competition still in many local races.  Not everything is over.  We don't quite live in the Soviet Union yet.

What I have noticed is that for every Democratic-leaning voter ready to come out of the shadows, there are dozen more who have not come out yet.  The volume of Republican noise around them is so loud that they fear what will happen if they make their feelings known.  This is particularly true in Pierce County, where the vote for Republicans approaches 90%.  Yet they exist.  And they are slowly growing in numbers.

There are also those who have voted Republican in the past who are beginning to doubt their own orthodoxy.  They see the effect of Republican policies, and are shaking their heads thinking, "That may be what I said, but that's not what I meant!"  They didn't mean for you to gut the public schools, reducing funding of local schools while diverting money to private groups.  They didn't know that it meant creating a second class health insurance system for public education employees who don't happen to be teachers.  They didn't realize that lower rates at the top meant more taxation at the bottom.  They didn't mean that the Hope scholarship should be eliminated for their own child.  They didn't know that the assault on reproductive rights would force rape victims to come to term, that vaginal probes would be on the table, that their own access to basic birth control would be questioned.  They're seeing all this and more and beginning to have second thoughts.


The Republicans in Georgia are on the verge of having super majorities in the Senate, the House, and they control the governorship.  I believe in checks and balances. I would be suspicious and worried if the Democrats had that kind of control.  The fact that the Republicans are likely to have it terrifies me.

But people are waking up.  November may yet hold some surprises.  If they would just wake up a little faster.....

The Sun Sets On A Fabulous Annie

One of the many cast variations of this fine show.  This one featured Jason Chancey  as Oliver Warbucks and Chris Jeffords playing FDR.  The Annie in this cast was the young and talented Sammi Jo Kuhbander.

Playing the dog Sandy at virtually all performances was Chris Kuhbander, who for his age, has been building an incredible acting portfolio, including starring as Pinocchio.

I can't say enough good things about the extraordinary Emily Beck.  Incredibly expressive in whatever role she plays, she knocked it out of the park with her performance as Lilly St. Regis.

Another great cast!  Amara Grace Jeffords as Annie, Chris Jeffords  (our Executive  Director and inspiration), and Kimberly Elizabeth Beck as Grace.

Another great combination features again Kimberly Elizabeth Beck as Grace, but also Johnny Meachum as Daddy Warbucks and Lilly Varnes as Annie.  Both Johnny and Lilly were very expressive in their parts, and made for some great performances.

Kudos to everyone involved in making this such a great show.  I know how difficult it must have been with so many casts and variations.  It must have been maddening getting the right people together for all the rehearsals.  It must have at times to seem like an insane idea to cast so many in the same parts.  But everything threaded together extraordinarily well,  And the most important thing was that so many children got to shine!

Flying Dragon and Annie, I salute you!

Benjamin Baritone Blows and Other Monday Musings

The Baritone Horn has done arrived!

Benjamin went to Band Fast Start on Saturday, and he has returned with his Baritone Horn.  Not a tuba, but not a tiny instrument either, he now officially has a baritone horn to tote around.

He is making noise from it, most of which suggest flatulence more than music.  But he is trying and practicing, and we have high hopes for more distinctually musical noises in the future.

My routine has been nominally interrupted by working Fridays, but that should come to an end if not this Friday, then by next.  I got spoiled to the new schedule very quickly, and although I don't mind the work, I will be very happy to restore my new routine.

None of my entertainment plans come through as far as movies and/or television.  I saw no new movies, either at the theater or at home.  I have the True Blood finale recorded but have yet to watch it.  I did catch up on Hell On Wheels, the railroad western, which was entertaining but has failed to grip me yet as a favorite.  So far it has reminded me of a milder version of Deadwood.  But I'm interested enough in the stories and characters to let it play out.

My attempts to establish a Ripping Good Yarns group on Facebook is a-floundering.  I was hoping that it would generate it's own traffic, as people shared what they were watching or reading.  Instead, it is showing less and less activity.  I'm not much of a quitter, however, and I intend to do what I can to juice it back up.

The Strait Line, however, continues to accelerate nicely.  I am already at record levels in page views and ad revenues for the month, and there are still five days to go!

I attended a local Open Mike Night at the Okefenokee Heritage Center, where I got to read my story Old Pat T and the Great Bathroom Wars.  I got a great response, and was happy that it inspired others to get up there and tell childhood reminiscences.  Benjamin also got up there, impromptu and unplanned, and told an elaborate joke.  He got the biggest laugh of the evening, and he was boisterously applauded.

Flying Dragon ended its fabulous run of Annie.  The new facility allowed for a comfortable and intimate theatre experience.  There were many, many fine performances throughout the whole run.  The idea of changing out cast members as often as they did (four casts, and even variations within those casts from performance to performance), may on the surface seem ludicrous, complicated and unwieldy, but when I think of all the children who got opportunities to shine because of it, it makes it all worthwhile.  Flying Dragon, I salute you on a fine run, and for giving so many of our young people such a wonderful experience!

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Across a Universal Health Care Saturday Political Soap Box 35

The election season is upon us.  Negative ads fill the airwaves.  The press is going off on wild tangents.  Gaffes get more play than policy.  Americans cry out for staying focused on the issues, and the rare times politicians do, their eyes glaze over.

So what's a responsible Soapbox blogger to do?  There is so much silly stuff to write about.  Mitt Romney and his top of car riding dog, Paul Ryan and his love affair with Ayn Ran, Joe Biden with his foot in his mouth,  Barack Obama's seeming lack of leadership to focus us on the right things.    

Or I could desperately focus on the real issues at hand, the important decisions we have to make, and hopefully gain a constructive dialogue around it.  And realize by doing so, I may engender fewer page views.  

I have decided to go the issue route, using my I Believe Soapbox from last  as a template.  Which, by the way, did get significantly fewer page views than earlier Soapboxes with more controversial subjects and titles.  Oh, well.

The first topic is the one most central to my political being.  Universal health care.

I believe in universal health care.  This is my passion and one that over-rides virtually all other considerations.  When I look at candidates I first evaluate them on how fast they will bring us to a true universal system.  A single-payer system is the only thing that makes sense to me, from both a fiscal and moral point of view.


I am for universal health-care, meaning everyone is covered and the primary determinant of quality of care is not determined by dollars but by need. The primary vehicle to achieve this, as is done in virtually the entirety of the rest of the industrialized world, is with a single-payer plan. This has many forms, from England's complete nationalized care where doctors, etc. are government employees to Switzerland where private companies do exist but they are heavily, heavily regulated (far beyond anything seen or contemplated in this country). Given the already existing structure in this country, the smartest way to achieve this would by extending Medicare to include everybody. A public option, along with increased regulation, may also achieve most of this, and I am willing to accept it as a compromise.

What has been called Obamacare, is a vital step in this direction, but it is only a step.  It is offering important access that was denied before, controls insurance company's spending on health care instead of overhead and huge corporate salaries, overtime cuts the federal deficit, and gives states the ability to move more rapidly towards a public option if they so choose.  Seeing Obama care attacked as "going too far" makes me sick at heart.

As a CPA, the single payer is the solution that makes the most economic sense. Private health insurance add 30% or more overhead to the cost of health-care, Medicare overhead can be as low as 3%. Who pays for that difference? You do, through increased premiums and increased tax dollars. It's not just evil or greed that motivates private insurers. They are obligated to increase the profits to their shareholders - it is their mandate and reason for existence. They do this by trying to limit their risk, taking greater premiums while minimizing claims.

As a Christian, I feel it is my responsibility, a moral requirement of my faith, to do everything in my power to make sure everyone is covered. There are other faiths and philosophies that will lead to this same conclusion. It is immoral to watch while people die because they cannot afford adequate health-care. It is unconscionable to stand by while people go broke because they get sick. To me, a society is without morals who let people get denied care because of pre-existing conditions. "Let them go to the emergency room" Who are we? Marie Antoinette? Do we have individual responsibility to help? ABSOLUTELY! Do we have a societal responsibility to help as well? ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY YES. There is room for caring people to differ on how this should be accomplished. What we cannot disagree on is that it must be accomplished.

Unlike some, I did not come to this conclusion by some horrific personal stories. I got bothered when my first job in accounting did not offer health insurance, and could not get my first wife covered by any one at any cost because of a pre-existing conditioning. I tried to engage the help of our conservative Christian congressman, who basically told me it was not his problem (this moralistic angel later wound up in prison for financing the building of his house with laundered drug money). This was over twenty-five years ago, and the so-called pre-existing condition has not cost anyone one dime to this day.

I have watched people tied to jobs they did not like in order to maintain coverage. I have seen people presumably well covered by health insurance struggle for months and years to get covered bills paid. In one place Alison and I came to work, we made acquiring health care insurance an essential condition of our employment. This also helped cover a woman who had worked for the employer for many years. He was notorious in not timely paying his bills. He fell behind in paying the insurance at the same time that the woman who had given so much of her life to him had been diagnosed with breast cancer. We had to force him to pay those premiums at practically the point of a gun.

I see canisters in convenience stores where families are desperate to get a child or loved one the needed care or operation just to survive. I know of countless barbecues and fundraisers that just break my heart that this, this is where we concentrate our efforts.

Please don't talk to me about socialized medicine. I care not a whit. We already have socialized medicine. No one gets completely turned away (I hope). We just do it in an inefficient, costly, and morally irresponsible manner.

How much will it cost you? How much money will it cost you if we don't? We already spend some $6,000 more per person than any other country, and with less effective results. Overall, the system with single payer or public option would cost less. Would you personally break even? It's hard to make changes and guarantee that everyone will be in the same position. But the odds are very, very good and I think it's more than worth the risk.

How much will it cost? How much will it cost our soul, individually and as a nation if we do nothing? I'm afraid it would cost more than we can measure.

Every single one of my friends is a good, caring person. But we have lived in a world inundated in the Reagan philosophy of hating government so long, it is almost impossible for some of us to get out of the box to think any differently. I see the government as just one tool in a box of tools to fix something. It just makes no sense to me, to take one of those tools and say oh no,no,no,you can't ever use that one. And I've stated elsewhere, I'm a big checks 'n' balance guy. I don't care what the solution is, it's not going to work without them.

If you have other ideas about how to achieve true universal health-care, please let me know. Just be aware I'm not interested in hearing anything hat falls short of covering everyone.  I may strongly disagree with you, but then again, at least on some elements of it, I may surprise you.

Thanks,

Tom Strait

Ripping Good Yarns: Book Lover's Lament

I love to read.

Not everyone in our culture does.  And the numbers that don't may be increasing.  I don't understand the mind set of someone who doesn't read for pleasure, but there are a lot of them.  Some of them very educated, intelligent people.

Since I tilted this book lovers, my best guess would be that this would get substantially less page views than other Ripping Good Yarn posts that I have published.  But you never know.  These things fool me sometimes.

It's not always easy to find time to read, what with work and taking care of home and/or children, with the many distractions that our society offers.  But I do my best to fight all that, and try to carve out at least some reading time each and every day.  I would love to start in the morning and read some big ol' book from cover to cover, even if it took all day and all night.  But those opportunities are becoming rarer and rarer.

I love being around books.  I love being in libraries and bookstores.  I love picking out things to read.  I have tons of books at home, but over the course of the years I have given away or traded many, many more.

I obtain books well in advance of actually reading them.  When I acquire a book, I put it on a list of books to read.  I have well over a hundred books on that list.  They include old science fiction magazines, graphic novels, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, general fiction, history, politics, religious works and much more.  I pick out ten books to schedule to read.  I use a deck of cards and randomly run down the list based on the cards I draw out.  This creates an element of surprise as to what might be next, and keeps my reading incredibly varied.

I just finished The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, a great mystery with scientific/supernatural elements to it.  They use recurring characters that are well-detailed and interesting.  At their best, like this book and the classic Relic, they can be very compelling and involving reads, like a roller coaster ride.  At their worst, as in Cemetery Dance, they can be mildly politically preachy (center-right) and come across like a Scooby mystery.  The next book I read to replace that will be The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, which I have not read since childhood.

I am also reading A House of Hope by John Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker, discussing the development and future of progressive religion in the United States.  I am also reading Flash Chronicles Vol. 3 which has the adventures of the Barry Allen Flash in chronological order.  The current volume covers stories first published in 1961.  I also just finished The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, a novel set in Northern Africa in the twenties,  and is one I drew from a list of 100 great American novels.

So the best you might gather from this eclectic assortment is that I do indeed love to read, and for those who like such things, I want to make reading a central component of ripping good Yarns.

I also want to note that there is a quality bookstore here in Waycross! Read Me Again Books at 506 Elizabeth near KD's is a great place to find the perfect book at a great price.  The owner, Judy Kurrasch, is friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful. It is also a place you can trade in your other books and receive store credit.  I have had so many books ahead of me to read that I haven't been there in awhile, but I intend to correct that.  Please check it out if you live in the area.

So here's to good reading!


Sad but True UPDATE:  Read Me Again Bookstore closed at the end of December.  It is unlikely that this area will ever get another bookstore again.  That may not bother some people.  It bothers me a great deal.

I am reading different books now, and have read many since this was originally posted.  They currently include Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, about an evangelist/con man....At the North Pole by Jules Verne, in an 1874 edition.....Wonder Woman New 52 Vol. 1.....The Parasite by Ramsey Campbell...and The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

Keep on reading!

Doorways Through The Host

Every time I open a door
It leads to some place else
To a far distant shore
Or the inside of a paraselz

The door is opened with a creak
All I know is vanished
Nothing is there left to seek
But the eyeless manchiced

Standing in the next room
Are people I don't know
They look as if the shroom
Was good, are happy with the flow

Another door transports again
This time near a preparerant
It sends me to a light fain
And exudes a limited stant

Another door is express to next
It must be in the indian van
Surrounded where there is no text.
Only the hourglass of san,,,,,,

Another door brings me closer to you
This is the one where I might stay
The place we find is out view
The today has arrived and  a-flay!

Another door and there's nothing left
Nothing of anyone at  the empty booth
Where the sleep of the scramble
I Takes place, by selfish roothe.

At Last I Gain a Daughter (In-Law)!!!

On November 3rd, my son, Douglas, officially becomes the luckiest man on Earth and marries the beautiful Ramya Srinivasan.

I had always wanted a daughter.  Instead I had three sons.  They boys have been absolutely wonderful, each one of them strong and caring individuals.  I love them all very much.  But I couldn't help but wanting to have raised a daughter as well.

And now finally, after all these years, that dream is coming true.  My son Douglas will be marrying the kind of girl that I dreamed of raising.  Beautiful, intelligent, graceful, charming, a great sense of humor, kind and caring - she is everything I would have wanted a daughter to be.

Ramya is a citizen of India, but has lived many places. including the Netherlands.  She met Doug when he was living near Georgia Tech.  She has earned her PhD in Computer Science, and has a job in that field in California.  Doug will soon have his Masters in Environmental Science from Georgia Tech.

When we first met Ramya, we did not know that she was dating Doug.  We just saw her as someone who was living in the same multi-resident house as he was.  She said hello to us and asked how we were doing.  Alison and I both thought - this would be a great girl for Doug to get to know.  It was a few weeks later that Doug told us that he was already dating her.

So it appears that soon both my sons may be living in California (Greg is a film editor in Los Angeles).  I may be able to resist the clarion call to move to California, at least until grandchildren start to appear.  Then my only hope is that my blog has grown so big that I can live wherever I want to.  Ha!  Not holding my breath!

Convention Time Without Pickles

The Flying Dragon is bringing back some great concessions.  They have a clever song that's played at intermission about "concession time"  and how they all sorts of stuff but no pickles.  Ah, but they do!  They have a big jar of pickles at the concession stand, and they are surprisingly popular.  I wouldn't want one, at least as a theater treat.  But some people do.  some people really like them.

I love political conventions.  I have since 1968, when I was 13 and would listen with paper and pencil in hand, a list of handwritten states before, and excitedly record each state vote that occurred.  I loved tracking the votes, the percentages, anticipating any twists and turns.  The speeches were dramatic and colorful, with some people cheering and some people booing.  There were even floor fights over the platform or the rules of the convention itself.  These votes?  They were my pickle.  It is what I looked forward to.

By 1972, the Republicans had learned the lesson about conventions.  They had it organized and controlled and all the very life drained out of it.  On the roll call vote for President, all the votes were for Richard Nixon, except for one lone vote from one delegate in New Hampshire.  Another candidate had secured one vote in the New Hampshire primary, and by state law he could not be released.  When it came the time in the roll call for New Hampshire to vote, the representative from that state spent a good ten minutes abjectly apologizing for that one vote.  It sickened me.  What an anti-democratic display.

For the 1972 Democratic convention, the Democrats behaved like Democrats, thank God!  They squabbled and fought over everything.  George McGovern did not give his acceptance speech until 3 in the morning.

As time passed, political conventions grew more and more lifeless.  Any sign of conflict was viewed negatively and snuffed out as quickly as possible.  They became extended campaign commercials.  The parties would do anything, ANYTHING, to avoid a brokered convention.  Even accept weak candidates like Mitt Romney just to avoid the appearance of conflict.

But like Charlie Brown anticipating kicking the football that Lucy held, that this time it would be different, that this time she would not snatch it away, I kept hoping that by some fluke one of the conventions would be exciting and meaningful.  I still feel like a brokered convention would actually be a good thing, a good process for the parties and the people to go through.  I think 2008's close race between Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton actually helped galvanize the party and inspire interest.

But now, I realize that the age of pickles at the conventions are gone.  And for the first time in my life, I feel no joy or interest in either of the political conventions that are headed our way.  I got better things to do than watch a week long infomercial.  Even for the best President of the modern era, Barack Obama.

I miss the pickles.

Last Chance for a Special Annie Weekend!!!

Lilly Varnes as Annie.  You must not miss this powerhouse young actress.  Whether you have not seen Annie or have already seen the other casts, YOU MUST NOT MISS THIS ONE!!!

Emily Beck, pictured here playing the orphan Duffy, will be playing the  plum role of Lily St. Regis.  I have watched her grow in theater the last couple of years, and she is emerging into a solid star.   ANOTHER PERFORMANCE NOT TO BE MISSED!!!!!


The two above young stars will be featured in the Lincoln Center Cast showing Friday and Saturday night at 6 and then Sunday afternoon at 3.  Saturday afternoon at 3 will be the final performance of the Carnegie Hall cast featuring Amara Grace Jeffords as Annie.

DAC presents our largest show to date! "Annie" will be performed 12 times , by four separate casts of local children and adults. Bring your friends and family to come experience this classic show, right here in the heart of downtown Waycross, Georgia.

SHOW TIMES

Friday, August 24th - 7:00 PM

Saturday, August 25th - 3:00 PM
Saturday, August 25th - 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 26th - 3:00 PM

TICKET PRICES

Tickets Available From August 1st Through Show Times
Ages 13 & Up - $10.00
Ages 6-12 - $7.00
Ages 5 & Under - Free

Purchased Tickets Will Be Reserved For Specific Shows, To Ensure That Every One Is Able To Have a Guaranteed Seat To Enjoy The Performance Of Their Choice - Each Seat Will Be Guaranteed Until 10 Minutes Before Show Time, At Which Time Any Empty Seats Will Be Available For Last Minute Customers To Claim

Season Tickets Are Available - If You Are A Season Ticket Holder, Please Contact Us To Reserve Your Seat At One Of These Four Performances

The Purpose of Hinesville and other Monday Musings

Saturday we took a trip to Savannah and our path took through the city of Hinesville.an area most closely associated with the military base Fort Stewart.  But Benjamin did not know that.  Looking up briefly from his video game, hearing us talk about Hinesville, he asked  "Is this where they make the ketchup?"

Other than our surprise visit to Heinz-ville, our trip to Savannah was fairly uneventful.  Alison clothes shopped but came away with nothing.  I think some of my female readers can identify that sometimes it's just very hard to pull the trigger and buy something.  Whether it's price or fit or style. making a commitment can be hard.  We did get to eat at Carrabba's, an excellent Italian restaurant of which we had a gift card and a coupon of $10 off for.  Benjamin ordered a full adult meal and ate every bit of it.  It was Manicotti, and we thought, he is a MAN now, eating off the adult menu.  An appropriately named meal.

Benjamin will be playing the Baritone Horn in the band.  He does not have it yet, but it will be here Saturday.  Then we will see how we, including the dogs, react.

My middle son's Doug's wedding plans continue apace.  It is down to a decision between The King and Prince on St. Simons, or the Jekyll Island Convention Center.  Any opinions would be appreciated.  But please hurry, as the wedding will either be in late October or early November.  Yikes!

I have worked the last two Fridays.  It is unclear to me whether I will need to work the next two or three, but we will see.  It hurts my fiction writing the most, as I generally need more time for that.

I enjoyed seeing Annie a second time this last last Friday, with a new cast.  I amazed at how well our children's theatre, Flying Dragon, can pull off the many cast changes that they do.  I know it makes rehearsals a challenge, but it is a joy to see so many kids get to have a shining moment   Musical theater is at it's best when the singer fully engages the audience with their physical movements and facial expressions.  A stand out in that regards was young Lilly Varnes, who sang a song as the young actress come to New York city to make a name for herself.  She was animated and alive, and as she is this coming weekend's Annie, I am very much looking forward to seeing the show again.

As best I can see, the introduction of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate has been a complete bust.  Yes, some of the extreme right base is excited about him, but weren't they going to be voting for Romney anyways?  All but the most deluded are seeing through the smoke and mirrors the Republican ticket is trying to put up around Medicare.  If Orwell was listening, he would be a-flippin'!

Entertainment wise, the weekend was pretty much a bust.  No movies and very little TV, not even much reading.  I would love to take a day and just read a book from cover to cover.  Throw in some Bonbons and I would be set.

Until next time,

T.M. Strait

I Believe Saturday Political Soapbox 34

As we head into another election season, I thought it might be a good time to delineate some of my basic beliefs. to help set the table for future discussions, and give you all a better idea of where I'm coming from.  Although most of my beliefs are to the liberal/progressive side of the spectrum, I think you will see that, like most people, I am not a monolith. Please also note that I am just laying out my beliefs, not going into a full-throated defense of each one.  That will be for later posts.

I believe in universal health care.  This is my passion and one that over-rides virtually all other considerations.  When I look at candidates I first evaluate them on how fast they will bring us to a true universal system.  A single-payer system is the only thing that makes sense to me, from both a fiscal and moral point of view.

I believe that global warming is not as bad as the mass media is making it out to be.  I believe it is much, much worse.  The scientific evidence lies all about us.  The climate change occurring is no longer theoretical, and increasing at an exponential rate that is astonishing many scientists.  I believe we have may have already passed the tipping point to be able to completely stop it, but that we shouldn't give up.

I believe in Keynesian economics, of at least some modified version.  You only get out of recessions/depressions by accelerating demand.  This means government action and projects.  This means getting money into the hands of people that will spend it.  I prefer government works projects, research and development, infrastructure improvements, shoring up states and increased support off education.  But the cold hard facts are that the most effective stimulus is unemployment insurance and food stamps, at least for the immediate bang for the buck.  Austerity programs in the face of recession do nothing but fuel the recession.

I believe that the growing divide between rich and poor is very dangerous, and threatens the democratic foundations of this country.  The social and economic mobility has become the worst of any industrialized nation.  More and more money is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.  We are rapidly marching towards a kind of feudalistic society.

I believe that we need a multi-party system in this country, and a whole host of electoral reforms, including how campaigns are financed, and the opportunity to have more choice.  Details for another post.

I believe in checks and balances.  That right now wealthy individuals and big corporations dominate, are out of control and need to be reigned in.  Unions need to increase in strength as a countervailing force.  I don't think we'll get out of our economic doldrums until we afford service workers the pay and respect they deserve.

I believe that abortion is wrong and immoral, under most circumstances.  But I see no value in criminalizing the relationship between a woman and her doctor.  We need to increase our support and understanding of mothers and their children in this country, and we need to increase the availability of birth control.

I believe the tax system needs to be completely abolished and redone.  We need to enhance and preserve it's progressivism and move it into the 21st century.  Individual income tax should be eliminated.  I propose a four tier system that I cannot do justice in this brief paragraph.  Just to sketch though, it involves 1) payroll taxes covering social security and medicare for all, 2) a financial transaction fee when investments are sold, purchased or exchanged, 3) a progressive sales tax that raises with the expense and/or luxury level of each item, and 4) a corporate/business fee based upon gross income, with the only deduction being from how much domestic payroll over a living wage the business pays.

I believe in common sense gun control.  I believe in the separation of church and state.  I believe we should attack bloat in defense spending just like we do every place else.  I support gay marriage.  I would not legalize drugs, but would strive to make the punishments more even and better fit the level of crime.

I believe that the path to making America truly great again lies in the stars.  We need to revitalize the space program.  We need to get to frakking Mars.

I have other beliefs and ideas, but I will leave those for another post at another time.  This should serve as an introduction to some of the most vital to me.

Fridays Off Are Off

Only temporarily.

In changing my schedule I knew there would be two periods when I would need to revert back.  The biggie would be tax season, running from January to mid-April,  The other was the month of August, when we have an outside audit that we work on.  So instead of being 10% retired, it's actually more like 6.3%.  But that's still something.

Our society is very uneven about retirement now.  Some people are retiring very early. My brother-in-law retired at 57, and my sister contemplates the same soon, certainly by 60.  I know others who are retiring at 62, in both the private and public sector.  That does not mean theses retirees do nothing.  But they are done with their primary job, and do not have a full-time employer to structure their lives.

I also know people in their late sixties and seventies who show no signs of slowing down or leaving their profession.  These are often entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals who have a passion for what they do.  Doctors, farmers, lawyers and CPAs  sometimes go on until their last breath.  Easier to do if you're your own boss, I guess.

Then there are others whose economic circumstances will not allow them to slow down.  Monetarily they cannot ease off.  They have to make it until full social security age and Medicare.  And in this day when fewer and fewer companies offer decent pension plans, sometimes even Social Security and Medicare is not enough and they have to keep going.  This is the saddest category, and unfortunately a growing one.  People who have to continue at jobs they don't like so they can keep their income and healthcare.

I am skirting the whole issue of when people should retire, or it's financial effects on society as a whole.  That is another topic for another day.  I'm just talking about an individual, human reality.

Which category am I in?  Obviously, I would love to be in the first category.  I would love to be wrapping up my accounting career right now, and moving on to other things that I would love to do - some that make money and some that don't.  I am definitely not in the second category - I don't want to be at ninety-plus and still firing off tax returns.  On the other hand, I would love to blog and act and write and work for charities for the rest of my life.

I guess I'm mostly in the third category.  This is due primarily to decisions I made that effect my timing in getting out.  I had a son later in life who will not be starting college until I am in my mid-sixties.  Due to other events, I have no retirement built up from before I was 40.  I'm too selfish to want our lifestyle to contract.  So I'm in it at least until 62 and possibly until I'm 66 plus.

So, at this point, I am grateful to be 6.3% retired.  And if I can have success at my activities outside of accounting, that percentage may slowly grow.  It's a small percentage, but it's something and it gives me hope.  I can look one way and see people who are getting fully out and I am envious of them.  On the other side, I see people who have no chance of putting their foot off the accelerator at all, and I feel lucky in comparison.

I really look forward to getting my Fridays back!

The Librarian of Tyvale

At the nexus of all worlds
At the conjunction of crosstime dreams
Was the world where it all collides -
Pazoria.

July 2 1503 AD
The ship El Profeta II
Went searching for Peter Rose's brother
Across the great unknown Atlantic
And wound up lost in -
The Saragossa Sea.

A mist came up
A whirlpool swirled
The ship crossed dimensions
Swept away, blown into -
Pazora Bay.

Overtime the ship and crew
Joined with the Pazoran tribe
And conquered an entire continent
From the northern Bay of Ice
All the way to the southern tip -
Forbidden Cape.

Peter Rose was not satisfied with being a conqueror
He wanted to find his brother
He looked for clues at the Rider's Plain
He traveled across the continent of Anima
All the way to -
Western Sonzobar.

In the land of Mylecia
Deep within Western Sonzobar
He found something more than his brother
He found the woman of his dreams
Princess Maris of the Mylecian city state -
Golthenia.

There she gave him a child
A strong, stocky, intelligent child
A child she called Marcus Rose
And he inherited his father's desire to quest and learn
That drove him to join a quest to -
Zyria.

And there he would learn the secrets
The secrets of where the "Europeans" like his father
Where they came from and how they got here
And how one might be able to go back
Open up the multiverse to exploration -
All the universes!

But then they met Marlyn Crodan
And he challenged the questors
Making easy work of them
Except for the challenge Marcus raised.
But even Marcus lost his struggle
And was banished to a distant land -
Tyvale.

And there he was trapped to a huge library and it's grounds
Unable to leave any farther
The only hope he saw, the only one who might break him free
He could only glimpse as she edged near
And pray that she would enter
And change his life forever as he lay trapped just beyond the -
Glen.

Republican Bashing and My Semi-Admission of Guilt

Do I engage in Republican bashing?

Well, to be honest, I guess that I do.  It's a tough election year, and I hear much stuff and nonsense coming from that side of the aisle, and I find it hard to be quiet, or to give up the fight without even a struggle.  So some of the things I say are meant to be challenging and uncomfortable.

Living here in one of the most conservative counties in the country, I naturally have many more conservative and/or Republican friends than I do liberal and/or Democratic friends. On an individual level  I love, respect and admire virtually all of them.  Many of them are extremely friendly, open hearted and personally generous.

And there are many shades of opinion coming from people who vote completely or almost completely for Republicans.  Some are  instinctually Republican, but have trouble with individual issues that the current interpretation of Republican philosophy may express, a recognition that in some ways the Republicans might be going too far.  Others have no trouble with the current state of the Republican party.  Others feel that the Republican party has not gone far enough.

Most people are not a monolith of one thing or another.  It may not seem like it, but I'm hardly a monolith of Democratic support.  I have positions where some are to the left of current democratic Party thinking, and some even to the right.

Given this variation of the individual, it should be noted that my wrath is reserved for the Republican philosophy as currently expressed.  Wealthy billionaires, big corporations, Christian Right extremists and even Ayn Rand devotees are pushing the party further and further to an unworkable and uncompromising extremism.

Republican philosophy has led directly to a ruined, defective economy,  It has contributed to the current denial and inaction on the gravest threat facing the world, global warming.  It is busily engaged in voter suppression  turning backwards on women's rights, demonizing the poor and disadvantaged, demoralizing public workers, dismantling and weakening public education, rattling swords against the Middle East, and striving to deport massive numbers of migrant laborers without any thought to the weaknesses in the system that cause them to be here in the first place.  It has made the decision that it is strategically better to politically destroy the President than it is to try to work with him to make things better.

So with this level of destruction, with many of the things I care most deeply about under constant threat, it is hard for me to stay neutral.  Nevertheless, I will do this much.  In blog posts about politics, I will refrain from calling Romney Mittbot 2012 and other demeaning names.  I will accord him and Paul Ryan the same respect I give President Barack Obama when addressing them.  This offer not valid in sharing humorous items on Facebook, or in blog entries specifically designed to be political humor.

And, of course, I will not attack individual voting citizens.  This is easy enough to do in a blog entry, harder to do when people comment.  It is very difficult not to return fire with fire, especially when people get nasty and personal, such as in calling me a bigot.  But I will do my shiny best!

Ripping Good Yarns: Fall Movie Preview

Here are some of the movies I'm most looking forward too this fall:


Looper

Premiers Sep. 28.  Features Joseph Gordon-Levitt with prosthetics designed to make him look like a young Bruce Willis.  It is about assassins who loop through time to kill targets.  Time travel fun done by a good up and coming director.

Hotel Transylvania

Premieres Sep 28. Fun animated movie featuring the voice talents of Adam Sandler and his buddies.  An all supernatural hotel accidentally gets a human guest, and Dracula's daughter starts to fall for him.  Just be careful going necking there, pal!

Cloud Atlas

Premiers Oct 26.  This is a new movie form the Wachowski's who did the Matrix Trilogy.  This is a wide ranging tale that crosses time, the world and fictional genres, and stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Hugh Grant.

Frankenweenie

Premieres Oct 5.  Tim Burton's animated goof on the Frankenstein story, centering on a boy bringing back his dog Sparky.  Clever and creatively animated in stop-motion style and in black and white.

Django Unchained

Premieres Dec 25.  Great alternative history western with anti-slavery themes, done by the incredible director/writer Quentin Tarantino.  Stars Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey

Premieres Dec 14.  Peter Jackson directs.  From J.R.R. Tolkien classic.  Tom Strait watches.  Nuff' said!

Les Miserables

Premieres Dec 14.  I've never seen this in any version, nor have I read it.  But with Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, I might give this one a shot!

Lincoln

Premieres Nov 9.  Stars Daniel Day-Lewis and one of my favorites, Sally Field.  It is directed by the great Steven Spielberg, and centers on Lincoln's last days.

Anna Karenina

Premieres Nov 16.  From great Leo Tolstoy novel, starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, this Russian classic gets the British Masterpiece treatment.

Skyfall

Premieres Nov. 9.  James Bond's 23rd outing.  And like The Hobbit, Tom Strait will be there!


And there you have it!  A quick rundown of the ten films I am most interested in.  And if history is any guide, I should make it to at most two or three of them.  If any of them catch your fancy, find out more and give 'em a try!

Until next time, Rippers!

T.M. Strait

Benjamin Joins the Band!

Benjamin's weapon of choice, the Baritone Horn.

  

Last night was band instrument selection night at Pierce County Middle School. It was like the great sorting from Harry Potter.  The Band Director would, acting as the Sorting Hat, gently steer kids to the choices that would be best for them.

Benjamin for a good long while had been talking about the trumpet.  But after testing it out last week, he found it hurt his braces (at least for him).  Then over the weekend he became interested in the saxophone.  Alison got out her clarinet, and although she could still produce sounds out of it, he could not.  It might happen down the road, but we did not have the training to teach him.

But when we got there, the Band Director and his assistant showed Benjamin another possibility.  The assistant took him to a side room and introduced him to the Baritone Horn.  We heard some beautiful sounds coming from and immediately knew that was the assistant.  Then we heard these tentative, bleating sounds coming form it, and we knew that was Benjamin.  But, hey!  At least it was sound!

So the Baritone Horn was selected, a rent-to-own plan was established (up to five years to pay for this bad boy!).  And the great experiment has begun.  Will he be able to do it, as his big Brother Doug did?  Or his Grandfather Strait?  Or his mother Alison?  Or will he take after his father and be unable to play an instrument to save his life? There is no pre-testing at his school so we just don't know.

But I pray that he does.  Band was a very positive influence on the development of Doug.  It provided a sense of belonging, discipline and exercise.  Alison also remembers it very, very fondly.  The band when I was in school was very popular and successful.  Even though I wasn't in it, it was a huge source of pride at our school.  

So we shall soon see what kind of adventure we are in for.  Hopefully one that will enrich Benjamin in manifold ways.  At this point, the only ones who seem skeptical of the whole enterprise are the dogs.  They have to steel themselves for the house to be filled with some new sounds.

Annie Week Two Starts This Friday!

Some of the great casts members you will see this weekend.

Saturday Afternoon cast in action!

DAC presents our largest show to date! "Annie" will be performed 12 times , by four separate casts of local children and adults. Bring your friends and family to come experience this classic show, right here in the heart of downtown Waycross, Georgia.

SHOW TIMES

Friday, August 17th - 7:00 PM

Saturday, August 18th - 3:00 PM
Saturday, August 18th - 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 19th - 3:00 PM
Friday, August 24th - 7:00 PM
Saturday, August 25th - 3:00 PM
Saturday, August 25th - 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 26th - 3:00 PM

TICKET PRICES
Advance Tickets - Available Through July 31st
Ages 13 & Up - $8.00
Ages 6-12 - $5.00
Ages 5 & Under - Free

Tickets Available From August 1st Through Show Times
Ages 13 & Up - $10.00
Ages 6-12 - $7.00
Ages 5 & Under - Free

Purchased Tickets Will Be Reserved For Specific Shows, To Ensure That Every One Is Able To Have a Guaranteed Seat To Enjoy The Performance Of Their Choice - Each Seat Will Be Guaranteed Until 10 Minutes Before Show Time, At Which Time Any Empty Seats Will Be Available For Last Minute Customers To Claim

Season Tickets Are Available - If You Are A Season Ticket Holder, Please Contact Us To Reserve Your Seat At One Of These Twelve Performances

This is going to be the largest and greatest show ever performed by the children & adults of Flying Dragon Arts Center!

Lewis Grizzard and Me

Hey!  I knew Lewis Grizzard!  Okay, well, not really KNOW him, but there was at least something.  Hopefully enough that this title will catch attention and spin off into the Google engines as a rapidly and highly ranked search choice. Not that I'm trying to manipulate the system or anything.

In the late eighties and nineties, I worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  I was a prominent writer and editorialist - SCRATCH THAT.  Actually I was an accountant, a bean counter, a numbers cruncher.  A very lowly figure well beneath the notice of the great and famous Lewis Grizzard.

I became the General Ledger Supervisor working with a staff of three.  One of our areas of responsibility was the write and initial approval of expense reports.  We had to make sure they added up and all receipts were accounted for, and that all expenses met the general standard of acceptance of the Atlanta Journal-constitution.

Without going into specifics, Mr. Grizzard's expense accounts were very interesting and very....different.  We would often have to question his reports.  When we did, we did not get to talk to Lewis Grizzard directly.  He had his own "corporation"  and it was one of his "corporate" people that we talked to.  After losing objection after objection, we gradually had to accept that the same rules that applied to everybody else simply didn't apply to him.  Not that we didn't stop trying.

The most entertaining one is one where we got this humongously large bill from Houston's Restaurant in Buckhead.  Apparently, one of his buddies, a sportswriter, had just been fired by the paper, and he just came into this restaurant/bar and said, "Hey, ever'body!  Drinks are on the The Atlanta Constitution!"  Yes, the expense report was approved.

I saw him once, at a party for the 1988 Democratic Convention held in Atlanta.  He had a female on each arm, and he may have glanced at me, but in a way where they're really just looking right through you.

Even though many people I know and respect read and love Lewis Grizzard, I have to admit my connection to him as a man above the rules kind of diminished my enthusiasm for him.  What little I've read of him seems okay, but I just can't get him to him at the same level as others do.

Alison's mother, Rose Aldridge, wrote for The Blackshear Times, including a column that was very interesting slice of life stuff.  She won a number of awards for her writing.  I've always felt she should have collected her columns and have them published.  Maybe she wouldn't become as famous as Lewis Grizzard, but maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to cut her a little slack on her expense report.

The Good, the Bad and the Truly Terrifying: Saturday Political Soapbox 33

State Senate Candidate Gene Mitchell astonishes myself and  Lamar Deal with his command of his facts and his common sense solutions.

The most terrifying choice ever made to run for Vice-President.  Seriously.  And after Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin, that is saying a lot!  This devoted follower of Ayn Rand is the most extreme candidate ever presented by either major party in decades.  And within the context of his times, he IS the most extreme ever.

Today's soapbox is a drawing of contrasts.  This is not what I originally planned to write, but sometimes events overtake us.

I had the distinct honor and privilege of attending a campaign rally for State Senate candidate Gene Mitchell, who is running for the open seat in our Georgia senate district.  He is a very competent and accomplished young man,  He served four years in the United States Marine Corp and graduated from Mercer University.  He is a South Georgian who has stayed here to help revitalize this area.

I was very impressed with his ability to speak on the issues.  His opinions, marshaling of the facts, and nuanced solutions were intelligent and well-spoken.  They are common sense and should appeal to both Republicans and Democrats alike.  In my opinion, he believes that government and private business are tools to be used to improve South Georgia as a whole.  He believes in both and wants to see them work together to benefit all of us.  His ideas, I believe, will improve the stability and growth of public education, preserve and target the Hope Scholarship, and accelerate infrastructure and development in this section of the state.

Whether you vote for Gene Mitchell or not, whether you live in his district or not, you need to check out his facebook pages and learn more about him.  I believe this young man represents the very best of the future of American politics.

In sharp contrast, we have another relatively young person (at least in terms of Presidential politics) whom is being announced as Mittbot's selection for Vice President.  Paul Ryan is a worshipper of the atheist writer Ayn Rand, and believes that government's only purpose is to serve the interests of the wealthy and the powerful.  The budget plans that he has proposed in the past, have dramatically increased tax cuts for the wealthy while increasing taxes on those least able to afford it.  His budgets increase spending on programs that benefit the wealthy while slashing or eliminating programs that benefit the middle class and working poor.  And the worst thing, even in his proposed budgets that call for so much slash and burn, so much sacrifice by those least able to afford it, even in his budgets, they don't come into balance for DECADES.  

For a long time now, it has become a Democratic Party tactic to claim the other side wanted to get rid of Social Security and Medicare.  But now, the cover is off the ball.  Now the claim is absolutely, undeniably, reliably TRUE!  

For my Republican friends who think this is a great choice, be careful what you wish for you.  If this happens, it's going to effect you and those you love in ways that you have not yet comprehended.  For my Democratic friends who think this makes this election a slam dunk, be careful of complacency.  The American voting population can be fickle and unpredictable, and voter suppression and negative ads will be widespread this election.  It doesn't matter what the polls say.  You have to keep fighting as if you were ten points behind.

So in Gene Mitchell we have a candidate who wants to see us as citizens work together with all elements of society, with all the tools at our disposal, to make a better place to live and work and enjoy the freedoms of a democratic society.  And in Paul Ryan we have someone who would pit us against each other, would help the strong devour the weak, would take government and unions and small business out of the toolbox, and let the wealthy and large corporations run roughshod over us all.

So do we move ahead to a better future, or do we charge backwards in time - not to the Reagan era, not even to Coolidge and Hoover, but into a Dickensian nightmare?

Your call, America!

Tomorrow is Today: Annie's Here!

Amara Greace Jeffords as Annie surrounded by her orphan pals.  Catch her this Saturday afternoon.

Michelle Chancey as Grace and Sami Jo Kuhbander as Annie.  Catch them tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon!

DAC presents our largest show to date! "Annie" will be performed 12 times , by four separate casts of local children and adults. Bring your friends and family to come experience this classic show, right here in the heart of downtown Waycross, Georgia.

SHOW TIMES
Friday, August 10th - 7:00 PM
Saturday, August 11th - 3:00 PM
Saturday, August 11th - 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 12th - 3:00 PM
Friday, August 17th - 7:00 PM
Saturday, August 18th - 3:00 PM
Saturday, August 18th - 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 19th - 3:00 PM
Friday, August 24th - 7:00 PM
Saturday, August 25th - 3:00 PM
Saturday, August 25th - 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 26th - 3:00 PM

TICKET PRICES
Advance Tickets - Available Through July 31st
Ages 13 & Up - $8.00
Ages 6-12 - $5.00
Ages 5 & Under - Free

Tickets Available From August 1st Through Show Times
Ages 13 & Up - $10.00
Ages 6-12 - $7.00
Ages 5 & Under - Free

Purchased Tickets Will Be Reserved For Specific Shows, To Ensure That Every One Is Able To Have a Guaranteed Seat To Enjoy The Performance Of Their Choice - Each Seat Will Be Guaranteed Until 10 Minutes Before Show Time, At Which Time Any Empty Seats Will Be Available For Last Minute Customers To Claim

Season Tickets Are Available - If You Are A Season Ticket Holder, Please Contact Us To Reserve Your Seat At One Of These Twelve Performances

This is going to be the largest and greatest show ever performed by the children & adults of Flying Dragon Arts Center!

Escaping Through the Glen

A wintry cloak of fresh white snow
Covered the forest floor
A crisp clean lovely blanket of snow
Untouched by the  boggy moor

Through the forest lay the glen
In summer a wavy range of grass
In spring a buzzing nature's zen
In fall a hint of a decaying pass

But in winter it was just a solid white
A sheaf of purity ringing empty
Only the rabbit trails to sight
Leading to something beyond she could hardly see

She followed a fat gray rabbit to the other side of the glen
Her green cloak and garment covered to her knees
As she plunged down into the snow with each step
Then the rabbit disappeared into a small grove of trees

On she went, out the glen and through the grove
And there it was, an entry way carved into the side of a hill
A huge stone doorway that seemed closed to her forever
Until she reached out and touched the face of a carving on it

A carving of a bearded old man
With a long hooked nose
Protruding like a giant spoke of a fan
And this she caressed; why?  Who knows?

It slid open and she saw inside
A huge library she could see
All the books; nothing left to hide
She stepped through; there was no fee

The door closed behind her
She could hear the click of it's handle
A man decked in golden fur
Stood smiling by a warming candle

Ripping Good Yarns: Hall of Fame Winner!

The votes are finally in! We have our first entrant into the shiny new Ripping Good Yarns TV Hall of Fame.

Receiving 0% of the votes were the following -

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman 
Cagney & Lacy
Medium


Receiving 5% each of the vote were the following -

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Star Trek
Seinfeld

Receiving 17% each of the vote were the following -

Lost
All In The Family
The Twilight Zone

And the winner, our first Hall of Famer, with 34% of the vote is -


M*A*S*H


A great program of the late seventies and early eighties, it depicted war and it's horrible effcts in a manner both darkly humourous and emotionally impactful.  The characters were funny, sarcastic and prankish, but they were also very human, and the whole watching public cared about them.  Even they more cartoonish characters like Hot Lips Hoolihan and Frank developed an emotional complexity that you rarely saw on television.

It was really the first program to be identified as a dramedy, a combination of drama and comedy that could have you rolling on the floor laughing one minute, and teary-eyed the next.  It was the one show while I was in college that students topped their schedule, went into the dorm commons room and watched together.

It's ending has been criticized as being over bloated (it was two and half hours long, an unprecedented send off for what had been a half hour comedy).  I actually missed the ending because I had a class that night, but caught it much later.  I remember everyone who attended that class was deeply resentful that the Professor had not cancelled the class.

So congratulations, M*A*S*H!  You now occupy the premier spot on our imaginary Hall of Fame mantle piece.  Huzzah!