The Wookiee and the Moonwalker

This column ran April 1, 2004:
It must have been April Fools Day, but it wasn’t.It was real, or should I say, surreal.On Tuesday, Day News Editor Travis Pryor and I made our annual trek to Colorado Springs to attend the National Space Symposium. The symposium — now in its 20th year — is going on this week and brings together the who’s who in the world of space. We rubbed elbows with engineers and astronauts, listened to policy makers and captains of industry and schmoozed with the people behind the technology that is orbiting the earth and roving on Mars.At one point, we came out of a speech by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin — the second man to walk on the moon — and I stopped Travis to borrow his cell phone. I was scheduled to do a phone interview with Peter Mayhew — the actor best known the world around as Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies.Mayhew will be appearing in Denver at Starfest on April 16-18.After talking to the 7-foot, 3-inch Wookiee — who, by the way, says (insert friendly grunting and growling sounds here) to all his fans in Colorado — we returned to the exhibit hall. There we met Winston Scott, who flew on two space shuttle missions. He is now the executive director of the Florida Space Authority. He was also a spacewalker who helped test equipment used to start construction of the International Space Station.Within the span of an hour, I had direct contact with a moonwalker, spacewalker and a Wookiee, oh my! That just doesn’t happen every day on this job, trust me.It was interesting to hear from the people involved with the president’s Moon, Mars and Beyond program. The stars may be aligned for these things to happen, but the experts sure are not. I don’t want to give away the story just yet. You’ll have to read the Frontiers page on Monday, April 12. Same goes for Chewbacca. That story will be in an upcoming issue of Day & Night Magazine.What really stands out to me whenever I attend the symposium is just how entrenched Colorado is in the space industry. Right here in our own backyard we have DigitalGlobe, Starsys, Ball Aerospace, Lockheed-Martin and the University of Colorado. NASA rarely does a thing in space without one or more of these groups being involved.I can’t even begin to mention all the connections the Air Force and Colorado Springs have with the space industry. Which leads me to this little tip for high school and college students: Engineering.One of the panels we sat in on discussed jobs in the industry. There is currently a shortage of engineers. With the national policy in place to return to the moon and go on to Mars, the demand for engineers will only grow. On top of that, the engineers who have held jobs at NASA and with its various contractors for the past 30 years are retiring.It is predicted that there will be a mass exodus from the engineering fields as these early space pioneers ride their last rockets to the old folks home. If you’re thinking about a rewarding, well-paying career, consider engineering. Within the next few years you will be able to write your own ticket in the space industry.Boeing, for example, already is recruiting at the high-school level. If there was ever a time for our schools to renew a focus on math and science, this is it.The doors to space are being flung wide open. The opportunities that await beyond this world for my generation and that of our children are endless. The things that are happening now and that are being planned are absolutely amazing. This is the time to be a part of what is to come. This is our time to touch the future for generations to come.And that’s no April Fools joke.

New material to come soon

For the short-term, I am going to continue to plug in old columns. This will give new readers a chance to become familiar with my work. I will periodically add new columns, probably in mid to late October.

'Passion' stirring passionate debate

This column ran in March, 2004:
It's been 10 days since I saw "The Passion of the Christ" and eight days since it opened nationwide. I am still moved by the movie and intrigued by the way people have responded to it.
Last week I asked readers to send me their thoughts about the movie after they had seen it. Written response has been low, but the number of people who have talked to me about it in person has been enormous.
Among those who have written is Elizabeth Tesitor, who said she has seen the movie four times. "Some people look at me as if I am nuts. Others ask me how I can do it. It is my way of processing it all; I don't enjoy the violence and brutality.
"Each time I go, I am drawn to focus on a different aspect of the events ... I am touched in another area of my being and there is a different lesson in it for me. Each time I am totally immersed in each scene ... never anticipating the next one. It doesn't seem like two hours ... time stands still. It is an experience in which I am suspended. Each time I sit stunned at the end and say over and over to God, "I didn't know I was that loved."
"Today I realized that is why I go back - I am overwhelmed by the depth of His love, and I am drawn back to re-experience the love and the hope. Only God could offer my heart and mind such hope and love in a depiction of such sheer brutality. I don't know if I will see it again, but if I do, I am certain it will be another experience of love and hope."
Cindi Goertz wrote, "My husband and I saw the movie on Thursday. When we returned home at 9:30 p.m. I didn't want to do anything such as watch TV or read, etc. Our 3-year-old daughter was still awake and we all just ended up going to bed. I awoke several times that night, thinking about the movie.
"The movie was gripping, to say the least. And yes, brutal and graphic. I won't use the word violent, because it just somehow doesn't fit for me. My husband and I are both born-again Christians and aware of Christ's suffering for our sins; however, this movie made it much more real ... more personal to us.
"The crucifix we have in our bedroom shows the wounds at Jesus' hands, feet, head and side, but how many of us truly grasped the suffering and humiliation Jesus endured? Relentless suffering. There were times I wanted to stand up in the theatre and yell, "Enough already; stop torturing him!"
"How ironic that, at one moment in time, Jesus was welcomed into the city as a king - with palm branches laid before him. In another moment he was being scorned by people on all sides as he carried his cross. The flashbacks to when he was with Mary were extremely moving and I sobbed deeply when Mary told Jesus, 'I'm here.' What strength displayed by a mother who honored her son's destiny. I could feel her pain.
"Above everything else, what I took from this movie was, 'How unfathomable God's love must be for us to allow his only son to experience such agony.'"
Of course, not everyone who responded had favorable things to say. This response comes from someone whose name I am omitting. I have to assume that this person has not seen the movie.
"You Christian freaks never quit. But, yes, I can believe, that even in this age of enlightenment there still exists billions of people (supposedly rational beings) who fervently believe in mythological entities. Surely you are as well read as I; so you must know that some of the world's greatest scholars have denied the existence of Jesus and other 'deities' such as Thor, Zeus, Isis, Satan, Santa, and the Tooth Fairy.
"(Mel) Gibson's movie is total fiction - as is the Bible. Gibson has produced a movie as imaginative as "The Wizard of Oz;" but a movie of no redeeming social value - other than make Mel millions."
For weeks I have been receiving press releases and statements from different groups about the film. Many, such as Focus on the Family and Promise Keepers, have fully endorsed the movie. Bruce H. DeBoskey, the Anti-Defamation League's Mountain States Regional Director, faxed a statement after seeing the movie last week.
"Having now seen the movie, we are saddened to learn that our concerns have been confirmed. Mel Gibson's vision of the Passion squarely, repeatedly and unambiguously portrays the Jews as responsible for the death of Jesus," he wrote.
"For over 1900 years, four words fueled anti-Semitism: 'the Jews killed Christ.' In the past several decades, most Christian leaders have repudiated that statement, leading to a new era of understanding in relations between Christians and Jews. This movie threatens to turn back the clock to an earlier time of mistrust and suspicion.
"As this movie is shown around the world, we hope that it will be viewed not as a passion of hate, but rather as an opportunity for dialogue and learning between Christians and Jews. We trust that the recent history of respect between our communities will ensure that present-day Jews will not be blamed, and hope that the movie will not add fuel to the fires of anti-Semitism - mankind's longest hatred."
I must agree that I hope the movie doesn't stir anti-Semitism. Jews are God's chosen people and are deserving of our love and respect. But you cannot tell the story of Jesus' crucifixion without including the part of the Jewish Sanhedrin having him arrested and clamoring for his death.
That would be like making a movie about the plight of Jews during World War II and ignoring the Holocaust. My response, and the general response of Christians, is to view the movie as a message of love. In the opening scenes with Jesus in the garden of Gethesmane, it is clear from the onset that Jesus gave himself willingly. It is not a question of who killed Jesus, but how and why he died.
Jesus gave his life so that all people - Jew and Gentile - can have salvation from sin and death and spend eternity in Heaven with God. That, I feel, is the message of the movie and the greatest news given to man across the ages.

Those three little words

This column ran in April, 2004:
Three little words. You know them. You've heard them since childhood. They are the words that express how we feel to those who are closest to us. They are not words you say to just anybody. Those three little words convey a feeling you carry deep within yourself. They connote closeness. They say "you are welcome in my space, in my life as long as you can stand it."
I don't remember my own father saying those three little words to me, though I wouldn't be surprised if he did. My mother to this day has never said those three little words to me, though I know how she feels about me.
I have learned to be more open and expressive with my family. I only say those three little words in jest to my wife. But they're very meaningful to my children. When I say those three little words to my children, they know that I am expressing my joy and my pleasure with them. They feel accepted and welcome.
Contrary to popular belief, most women don't care to hear those three little words. They don't share in the exhilaration of the moment. It doesn't mean the same to them. But in a man's world - the world of a father - those are the words that bond and unite.
They're the words that men say to each other in manly moments. They are the three little words that we long to hear from our own fathers because we hear them so little.
Those three little words spread love and make the world go round. They're the three little words that no child should ever grow up without hearing.
Guys, please, if you haven't said them in a while, go home tonight, gather you children or your closest buddies around and share these three little words with them: Pull my finger!
Do it today and feel the love.
But seriously folks I've had to kind of pull my own finger to get that one out of my system. I've been trying for a long time to get that bit of humor formulated in my mind and out of my head. But it leads me to a much more important message.
When was the last time you said the real "three little words" to your family? What will be the last thing you say to your spouse and children when you leave the house today?
Every time I leave my family I make sure to kiss them and tell them I love them. I always want their last memory of me to be an expression of love. You never know when you will see your loved ones for the last time.
As I walk out the door - no matter how rushed or stressed I am - I always have that warm feeling of peace in my heart and the pleasant memory of my family in my mind as I head out to work or wherever.
I don't normally carry thoughts in my mind that I may never see my wife and children again. But I've been in this business long enough to have seen too many cases where people never had the chance to say I love you and goodbye. I don't want that to be said of me.
I've conditioned myself to share my love with my family every chance I get. Sometimes things happen and I get angry or frustrated and I blow my top. But I always come back with love, peace and forgiveness.
Some guys have a hard time saying the words. Some guys can say it, but don't show it. I do my best to say it and show it. It's not always easy to do with three rambunctious boys - one with ADHD and two in the throes of the terrible twos.
But they know you love them when, after having called them the third time without response, yelling at them, applying the appropriate attention-getting measures, that you can still tuck them into bed at night, snuggle them up, kiss them on the forehead and say to them, "pull my finger!"

The real story from Iraq

This column ran in May, 2004:
The inflammatory and degrading photos of mistreated Iraqi prisoners has the world in an uproar. What happened to those prisoners was wrong. It was a travesty. But it taints the bigger picture of the good being done in Iraq by Americans.
Below are excerpts from an e-mail sent to me by a Longmont man working as a contractor in Iraq. I played football with Mike Boden at Niwot High School. His son is in my Cub Scout pack. Mike and I go back a long way.
He is now in Nasiriyah, Iraq, as a project manager for Perini Management Services, Inc. This is his eyewitness account of what's really going on over there.
"I wanted to write concerning the issues raised of our current involvement in Iraq. I have read quite a bit and watched a fair bit of television coverage over here and, to tell you the truth, the American people are being deceived by the main stream media hysterics.
"With the latest discoveries of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib, the world seems to be in the process of demonizing the U.S. due to the pitiful and disgusting acts of a very minor few. The work that has been done over here during the war and the work that is currently going on is overshadowed by small incidents perpetrated by a few individuals that took justice upon themselves in an apparent twisted attempt to justify our existence in this country.
"There are thousands of coalition troops over here that wish nothing but the best for the people of Iraq. Hundreds of civilian contractors pour their hearts out on a daily basis to make sure that we leave this country a better place than we found it.
"I work with a company and a fine group of engineers and constructors who are doing just that - day in and day out making sure that the people of Iraq have plenty of electricity not only for the current demand, but for future generations of Iraqis.
"During the course of the past six months, we have built hundreds of miles of high voltage transmission lines, refurbished existing power plants, and built, and are currently in the process of building, new power plants to assist the people of Iraq get back on their feet. Other civilian contractors have helped reconstruct roads, sewer lines, schools and water treatment plants.
"When I came here back in November 2003, I was astonished at the complete devastation of the country. The devastation was not caused by the U.S. or the coalition during the war, but rather was a direct result of one demented individual who took it upon himself to completely enslave an entire population.
"With millions of dollars tucked away, Saddam (Hussein) and his select chosen few lived in complete luxury while his people suffered and the infrastructure crumbled. Simple amenities like water, power, sanitary sewer, storm drainage, roadways and rail roads - things that we in the U.S. take for granted each day - deteriorated into disrepair.
"Maintenance of this infrastructure was unheard of for 30 years as the Iraqi people struggled to patch together equipment, roads, pipelines and other major items with little more than scraps of metal, scraps of wood, and bits of wire that the Iraqi people were fortunate to find.
"Saddam had the money, but refused to give it back to the people in any discernable measure. I have witnessed Iraqis do more with one piece of scrap metal than most people in the U.S. could even fathom. To survive, the people of Iraq had to become very imaginative with what they were left with.
"So much has been done in this country in six months by the U.S. and the coalition, but I have yet to find a simple article that explains the good, which in my opinion completely outweighs the bad, that has been done for the people. I see a lot of editorials written by people who have not one clue about what is going on over here, or even have stepped one foot into this country, writing about issues that they simply do not know anything about.
"It appears that many of these stories and editorials have been backed up with information gleaned from stories on the TV or articles read in the news. The people of this country are thankful for the new projects being built and for the opportunity to help and be a part of the effort to rebuild their country.
"The actions of a few will tarnish the effort over here if we let it; but in the end, the only ones to blame for the bad image will be the people of the U.S. for allowing the minute percentage of bad to overshadow the enormous good that we have done.
"A great number of people died over here, including one of my best friends, to make sure that their children lived in a better and safer world.
"Why should we forget this and trample their graves with the minority of bad apples that did not realize the overall goal of the mission? I hope that we can come to our senses, put the issues in perspective and all join together for the common good."
Mike, I couldn't agree with you more. Keep up the good work!

Greetings from Wal-Mart, Neb.

This column ran in May, 2004:
In the movie Where the Heart is, Natalie Portman's pregnant character is abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart, where she lives in secret until her baby is born.
I don't see how she did it. On Tuesday my family spent a combined six hours at two different Wal-Mart Supercenters in Nebraska and we were about to lose our minds. We hadn't planned to spend the day at Wal-Mart. It was our van's idea. It broke down on Interstate 80 just east of Lincoln. We were returning home from vacation and had just left Omaha when our rickety, fire engine red, 1992 Plymouth Voyager decided it's voyage was over.
Its fuel pump went kaplooie - as fuel pumps do - and the van sputtered to a halt at the start of a cone zone. That was not so unusual as there are always plenty of cone zones on I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln.
What was quite fortunate was we came to a halt right behind a roadside assistance volunteer. He was able to call a tow truck and help us get the van to a nearby mechanic.
Randy Bloom, owner of Superior Automotive and Towing, said he was busy but that he would try to squeeze us in. He might get to us that afternoon or perhaps early the next day. Maybe it was the crestfallen looks on our faces or perhaps the crying of two fussy toddlers or an act of sympathy from a fellow Christian, but he took the van right in and made an immediate diagnosis.
He offered to take us to Wal-Mart to wait out the repairs. At least there we could do something to pass the time and we could eat at the McDonalds inside.
We took him up on his offer because the alternative was for the five of us to sit cramped in his tiny office and eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches. That was too much like sitting in the van, only the scenery wouldn't change.
When Randy left us off at Wal-Mart, we did not know when we would hear from him again. We had our company cell phone with us, but we were in roaming and the battery was getting low, so we tried not to use it. When we walked inside the mammoth store we found it was much like the Wal-Mart here in Longmont, only bigger and with a section for groceries.
Luke, who is almost 3, was thrilled to be free from the confinement of the car seat. Upon seeing spacious, wide-open isles and thousands of things within his grasp, was gone. He took off running with his exasperated 9-year-old brother, Wesley, chasing after him. Sandy and I struggled to get Colton, 1, and our few necessities into a cart.
Once Luke was corralled, we set out to explore the cavernous shopping Mecca. Our first stop was the toy area, which was a shrine to Spider-Man and Shrek. As we walked through the isles, we took our time to play. Every package that invited us to push a button, pull a lever or squeeze a tummy got tested. Believe it or not, there is a Shrek toy that beckons you to pull its finger!
After a while we headed to the restrooms to make sure everyone got ready for lunch. We then trekked into McDonalds where we got the usual. We were on a shoestring budget and, after shelling out cash for the tow, splurging at McDonalds meant risking not having enough money for gas to get home.
As we ate our burgers, McNuggets and fries, Luke grew tired to sitting, so he bolted. We all took turns retrieving him. Finally we gave up and went back out into the store.
Luke and Colton were both overdue for naps and were in full-blown meltdowns. We found a display of rocking chairs, sat down and each snuggled the little ones to sleep while Wesley watched movies in the electronics department on widescreen HDTVs.
As we rocked the boys to sleep, we had numerous people, especially Wal-Mart associates, come by and make cute remarks. We were able to put Luke to bed in a cart. Colton is a much lighter sleeper and woke up as soon as Sandy stood up with him. We carried him and pushed Luke in the cart to get Wesley. We went back to McDonalds and settled down to help Wesley with his homework.
After five hours at Wal-Mart, the cell phone rang. The van was ready and we were soon headed down the road. I don't think we were even out of Lincoln when the front of the van began to vibrate. The front left tire lost a weight and was out of balance.
We pushed on to Kearney where we found, gasp, another Wal-Mart Supercenter. They could balance the wheel, but it would take about an hour to get to us.
Yippie! Once it was fixed, we hit the road. We arrived in Longmont at midnight. Here it is, barely 12 hours later as I write this, and I have to look back on this misadventure and wonder: Would Natalie Portman have done it that way? I guess I'll have to rent the movie again and find out.

Faith, Family & Fun revisited

Greetings,
In 2004, I left the Longmont Daily Times-Call, thus ending my popular personal column called Faith, Family & Fun. I returned to the Times-Call in the spring of 2005 as a page designer. I offered to write my column again, but it was made clear to me that the newspaper was not interested in publishing it. I still get numerous people who stop me in the street to ask about my column and to say how much they enjoyed it. Well, it's back, but only here online in the form of this blog. I'm going to give it a try to see what kind of response it gets. Please do not hesitate to let me know what you think.