What's on your bucket list?

 

I used to have a poster on a wall of my college dorm of an elaborate sandcastle that had the caption, “Fashion a dream and make it come true.”

I was reminded of that years later when I saw the movie “The Bucket List.” That movie popularized the term “bucket list,” meaning the things you want to do before you kick the bucket.

Whenever someone mentions a place they’ve gone to or a thing they’ve done, it’s not uncommon to say, “That’s on my bucket list.” But really, do any of us have a list or are there just a bunch of random things we say we’d like to see and do?

As the saying goes, a goal without a plan is just a wish. Like most people, I have never written down a list of things for my bucket list and that’s probably why I haven’t accomplished many of them. But it’s not enough to just write them down, although that is a very good first step.

When it comes to creating your own bucket list, it’s best to divide it into two categories: Things you want to see or visit and things you want to do or experience. Looking back over my life, had I written down a bucket list, there is an incredible number of things that would already be crossed off it. I’ve been tandem skydiving, ridden in a hot air balloon, gone on cruises to Alaska, Hawaii, and the Caribbean, met numerous celebrities, photographed professional football and baseball games (including a World Series!), and most recently I’ve crossed visiting Mount Rushmore off my list.

Although I never considered this as a bucket list item, I think the greatest thing I’ve done is to marry Sandy and raise four exceptionally wonderful children.

Looking ahead, there are still a great many things on my bucket list(s).

On my list of places to go and see:

• Visit every continent
• Visit all 50 states (just four more to go)
• Visit too many cities and countries to list here
• Visit the Louvre and all the Smithsonian museums
• Visit all of the presidential libraries
• Visit Yellowstone and many other national parks

On my list of things to do and experience:

• Finish writing my reenactment photo book
• Write other books
• Photograph every NFL team (three more to go)
• Experience weightlessness
• Go scuba diving
• Go on an African safari
• Fly in a blimp
• Go on a deer hunt (and other big game)
• Appear in a movie
• Dive on the Titanic

These lists pretty much scratch the surface of my bucket list, but at least now I have them down in writing. It’s something you should do, too. Keep in mind that the list is fluid. You cross things off as you do them and you add to it as you discover more things you’d like to see and do.

The most important thing for me is to do as many of these things as I can with Sandy and to help her do as many of hers as I can.

Once you have your list in writing, it’s much easier to make a plan to do some or all of them. I know there are things on my list that I will probably never do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do them. The thing is, none of them happen without a plan – set a date and a budget to do it.

You don’t want to get to the end of your life and discover that your bucket is still full, and you’ve missed out on the opportunity to experience your life to the fullest. You need to fashion your dream and make it come true.

Ultimately, when my time has come and I finally kick the bucket, there is one thing left that I want to experience – the joy of coming before the glory of God and hearing, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” And I want that for you as well.

Still Trekkin' after 60 years

 

I have been and always shall be a Trekkie.

Space: My first frontier was following the voyages of the starship Enterprise on her original series mission to explore strange, new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no television show has gone before.

I was a year and a month old when “Star Trek” debuted on television. I don’t know if I watched it, but “Star Trek” populates some of my earliest memories. Clearly my mother must have watched it because I was well aware of it three years later when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon.

I was a toddler minding my own business when Mom called me over to watch the TV when Armstrong took that “giant leap for mankind.” I was reluctant to join her because I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about with men landing on the moon. After all, the USS Enterprise was well beyond the moon and Kirk, Spock and the others routinely visited other planets. Certainly, we have been to the moon before!

That’s when I received my lesson about science fact and science fiction. I watched the moon landing with her, but I was much more impressed by Captain Kirk. As I got a little older, “Star Trek” ended its run and went into syndication. It aired on weekdays after school and I watched it religiously.

I know my father wasn’t a fan. He doesn’t care about science fiction. That’s how I know my mother was the original Trekkie in the family. My interest in “Star Trek” was far and away greater than the rest of my family and lot of my friends. I had all the action figures, models, shirts, books, magazines, posters, and anything else I could collect.

My classmates thought I was weird with my Trek obsession. Ha! My fandom pales compared to people I’ve seen at comic cons and sci-fi conventions. Over the decades I’ve seen William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), James Doohan (Montgomery Scott), George Takei (Sulu), and Walter Koenig (Chekov) at different events. DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy) is the only original cast member I never got to see. I even had the privilege of interviewing Doohan and Koenig.

I was so caught up in “Star Trek” that I had little interest when this new science fiction movie came out called “Star Wars.” Seeing it for the first time in the theater changed my life, but it put my dad to sleep (shh, don’t tell him I told you that). The year after that “Battlestar Galactica” came out. That’s when I knew I was very much a sci-fi fan and not just a Trekkie.

During the 1980s I was fed a steady diet of “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” movies. Then “Star Trek: The Next Generation” came on TV and I moved to a whole new level of fandom. That was followed by “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.” About this time I was really getting into science fiction conventions and got to see and meet many of the actors.

Even now there are new Star Trek programs coming out, but it’s been difficult for me to keep up with them. It’s not that I’m not interested, it’s just that I don’t pay the streaming services they’re on. Someday I’ll hunt them down, but right now my life is too full to keep pursuing those next generations. Besides, there are other TV shows from 1966 that I love and want to make time for. It was a banner year for TV with shows like “Star Trek,” “Batman,” “The Monkees,” and “Batfink.”

I became a Monkeemaniac when MTV aired the reruns in 1986. And if you haven’t heard of “Batfink” I’m not surprised. It was a short-lived cartoon spoof of Batman, but I loved it!

Now all of these programs are marking their 60th anniversary and it’s making me feel old. Even so, I will continue to watch the shows when I can and visit with the actors at conventions. Like I said, I have been and always shall be a Trekkie!

Let's be Sept. 12 people again

 

Nearly everyone old enough to remember recalls where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

I was in the shower when the first tower was hit. When I got out, Sandy had the news on the TV in our bedroom. I was half watching while getting dressed for the day when the second tower was hit. That was no accident! I rushed to get ready and by the time I reached the office of the Longmont (Colorado) Daily Times-Call the Pentagon had been struck.

As the first reporter in the newsroom, I immediately started calling city officials. They were all huddled in an emergency meeting but returned calls right away. I spoke to a few of the community leaders and put together a story about their response, their concerns, and any action being planned.

Joyce Davis, our features editor, was the next reporter in the building and she took the lead on listing prayer vigils and services that were hastily being organized. Our stories were cobbled together with wire service coverage, and a very rare extra edition of the paper was produced within the span of just a couple hours.

It was one of the finest moments of my career, not that a tragedy is a fine moment. Our response to it was incredible and life-changing. What stood out to me about that day 25 years ago, however, is what happened the day after. We changed as a people and the spirit that emerged was beautiful. All of our petty squabbling and political differences were shoved aside as this country truly became the UNITED States of America.

Neighbor helped neighbor; strangers held hands and prayed. We discovered that we have more in common with each other than we do things that divide us. The sense of patriotism was overwhelming. American flags were hoisted that did not come down until they were faded and tattered.

Sandy and I were living in a mobile home at the time and the people next to us set out candles that were still burning on the morning of Sept. 12 when I left for work. A couple of hours later, Sandy called me in a panic. The wind kicked up and the neighbor’s house was on fire. She rushed in, woke the neighbors and got them out. She then turned on our garden hose and started spraying the flames until the fire department arrived.

Sandy suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to the hospital for treatment. She was later honored by the fire department with a plaque recognizing her as a selfless hero and a lifesaver. Her example is just one of many that illustrate the commitment and resolve that Americans everywhere felt and experienced in the days that followed 9/11.

We cared for each other. We took care of others. Churches were packed. We were frightened, not knowing if another attack was coming, but now we were ready.

I, like millions of others, lined up to donate blood. I donated as frequently as I could for years afterward. I still donate, but less frequently. This is a reminder that I need to step it up again. If you’re not a donor, you should consider doing it. The need is great all the time.

Out of the horrific tragedy of 9/11 came the beauty of Sept. 12. It’s sad to see how hateful and divided this country has become just 25 years after our darkest hour. It’s as though we never learned the lessons from Sept. 12.

We now have declining trust, political intimidation, dehumanizing rhetoric, and threats to our constitutional liberties. Political extremism has become polarizing. A deep political divide has formed and been reinforced in the echo chambers of social media.

This isn’t the kind of tragedy that I can rush into the newsroom to report on. It’s the kind of tragedy that requires every one of us, me included, to carefully examine our beliefs about our country and who we want to be. Is the reality we are living in today the reality we want to pass on to our children?

I think we can do better. We must do better. Let’s not wait for another 9/11 to turn us back into the people of Sept. 12. Let us rise above the rhetoric and be the compassionate, courageous and generous people who truly make this nation great.

For the love of football

 Each fall, the start of the football season brings a lot of hope, stress, and anxiety.

It has nothing to do with my favorite teams and their quest for a championship. It has more to do with my access to those teams and all the off-field shenanigans going on. For some time now I’ve been telling myself that I’m done with football. No more. But like a moth to a flame, I keep coming back.

At the end of the football season last year, I told my wife I was not going to cover any football games this fall so I could focus my time on finishing the book I’m writing. Well, the book isn’t done, but once again I will be trolling the sidelines of Kyle Field photographing the Aggies in action for a company called Image of Sport. And once again I’m on a game-by-game basis for credentials to photograph the Houston Texans. Considering that I have not been approved for Texans credentials in two years, I’m not holding my breath for it to happen this year, but you never know.

Sports photography, and football in particular, have been both vocation and avocation for me. I’ve never worked full-time as a photographer, but photojournalism is what got me into this profession and it’s something I’ve loved doing as part of my job and as a hobby.

The first professional football game I got to photograph was in 1985 at old Mile High Stadium when the Denver Gold took on the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League (USFL). Since then, I had intermittent access to the NFL until 2016 when I received season credentials to the Texans. I covered the Texans for more than seven seasons until our move to Aggieland brought it to an end.

Each season and each game I find myself getting caught up in the excitement of the up-close action. Likewise, I find myself becoming disillusioned by all the off-field crap going on at both the pro and college levels. I think the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deal and the transfer portal have wrecked college sports. Team loyalty is pretty much gone. For all the talk about Aggie loyalty, the transfer portal is proving that to be a weakened pillar of character.

College football, like the pros, has become mired in greed. The whole thing has become so convoluted that you now have players trying to leave the NFL to return to college. I’m sorry, but once you’ve gone pro, your amateur status has ended. The infusion of gambling into the sport just makes things worse.

Another thing that sours me on football is the lack of patriotism and respect for our country. It’s at all levels. If you’ve ever watched players during the performance of the national anthem, you will notice that most of them assume a protest stance. They refuse to place their hand over their heart and stand at attention. Many of them will lower their heads or look elsewhere. They’ll keep their hands down or else grasp their shoulder pads at the neck opening. Some won’t even bother to stand.

That behavior bothers the heck out of me. It’s one thing to stand up for racial equality or whatever your cause may be, but it’s quite another to disrespect the flag and the country that affords you all the privileges and glory that you’re receiving. In other words, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

It’s all of this off-the-field, behind-the-scenes stuff that puts a damper on the thrill of the game. Still, I wade through the muck and disgust of the politics of it all and yearn for just one more season, one more game in the limelight. Is this the year the Aggies win a national championship? Is this season the Texans go to the Super Bowl? If it is, I want to be a part of it. I enjoy the hype, the hope, the excitement, and anxiety of a new season. Football is back, baby!

Gig ’em, Aggies!

Dolly Parton and other celebrity deaths

 

The passing of Dolly Parton on Tuesday was one of those celebrity deaths that hit particularly hard.

I grew up listening to her music and watching her on TV and in the movies. She had that mix of sass and class and a radiant charm that few people possess. She was so intertwined in pop culture that her loss feels like losing a family member. Rarely did a day go by that I didn’t hear a song or see her on TV or in a social media feed.

I think the thing that hurts the most, however, is I never got to see her in person. For decades she was on the top of my list of performers I wanted to see in concert and, if possible, meet in person. It never happened.

Her passing reminded me of all the celebrity deaths that affected me the most. Tops on that list are astronaut Neil Armstrong, country singer Loretta Lynn, actors Clayton Moore and Robin Williams, actress Carrie Fisher, Elvis, and President Ronald Reagan. Like Dolly, they were all celebrities that I admired and wanted to see or meet in person but never did.

There are numerous other celebrity passings that have also hit hard, including Peter Mayhew, Leonard Nimoy, Gil Gerard, Richard Hatch, Robert Urich, John Denver, and Mickey Gilley, to name a few. I can at least take comfort in knowing I have either seen them or met them in person.

We all feel the loss when a celebrity passes away. These are people who have come into our homes through radios or television sets or people we have paid to see in concert or on a movie screen. We have a personal attachment to them, even if we never personally knew them.

The same day Dolly Parton died, we lost actor Tim Curry, but the family withheld the news for a day, presumably out of respect for Dolly. Locally, we recently lost Chuck Norris. It seems celebrities have been dying at a rapid pace this year, but that’s not unexpected. We have more people than ever before who fit the definition of “celebrity.” The more we have, the more we’re going to lose.

Think about it. With the massive increase in mediums, the more celebrities we’re going to have. When I was a kid, celebrities were actors (film and stage), musicians, athletes, authors, and politicians. We only had enough TV stars to fill three or four networks. Musicians vied for airtime on radio, limiting their exposure. There were far fewer sports teams, thus fewer pro athletes.

Now we have more networks and streaming services than you can shake a stick at. There are many more sports teams (and leagues). We have so-called “influencers” on social media. Having more media outlets gives more people the exposure needed to become household names.

A lot of the stars who became famous in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s are getting up there in years. Sometimes when a celebrity dies, they have been retired so long we’ve forgotten they were still alive. Take actor Abe Vigoda, who was rumored to have died so many times that when he finally did pass away 10 years ago people were surprised because they thought he was already dead.

Then there are those who die young and unexpectedly, like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, Whitney Houston, Heath Ledger, and most recently Hayden Panettiere. Of course, there are those celebrities that we think will never die. As the meme says, we need to start thinking about what kind of world we’re going to leave Willie Nelson and Keith Richards.

The thing is, even when a celebrity dies, they continue to live on in their work. We listen to their music, watch their performances, and appreciate their continued contributions to our culture. Even though I never got to see Dolly Parton in person, she remains present through her songs, films, books, and philanthropy.

And yes, Dolly, even though I never knew you, I will always love you!

Family reunion and Mount Rushmore, too

 

The last time I saw my dad’s siblings and their children, there were a whole lot more of them than there are now.

My dad was the seventh born of 10 children to Roy and Wanda Southern. Two weeks ago Sandy and I were at a family reunion in Colorado where my dad and his sister Jacquita (nine of 10) were the only remaining siblings. I don’t know what my cousin count is down to, but it’s a lot less than it was the last time I attended a Southern family reunion in 1994.

Attending reunions has not been easy. My dad is from California and my mother was from Omaha. Our family lived in Colorado. Every summer we alternated which set of relatives we visited. We became very familiar with Interstate 80 between the late 1960s and early 1980s.

When I grew up and moved away, I lived in Minnesota and North Carolina before returning to Colorado. After nine years back in Colorado, we moved to Texas. With time, distance, and finances, it was extremely difficult to attend reunions in California. Each year I said the same thing: Next time.

The next time came and went and I made the same promise. Over the years aunts, uncles and cousins started passing away. Finally, last year my cousin Colleen announced she wanted to have a family reunion in Estes Park, Colorado, instead of California. That works! Without kids at home, Sandy and I could afford to go. We stayed with my parents, who live just 45 minutes from Estes Park. My Aunt Jacquita stayed there, too, so we got extra visiting time with her.

Colleen and her husband Neil and her brother Danny and his wife Linda brought their RVs and made camp in an RV park. Although we were just a fraction of the Southern clan, it was a joyous time to be together. My daughter Heather (who lives in Colorado) joined us for the second day, becoming the only representative of that generation of the family.

Being with family again lifted more than 30 years of guilt of missing reunions and being out of contact with my family. Having reconnected, I’m more determined to stay in touch.

After the reunion, Sandy and I took Heather and her roommate Maria for an overnight trip to see Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Of the four of us, only Heather had seen it before.

As we made the five-hour trip up, I braced myself for disappointment. Over the years I had a lot of friends say they were surprised at how small the carvings of the presidents’ heads appear and how there is nothing to do there once you’ve seen them. They were wrong!

After checking into our motel room, we drove toward the monument as the clouds thickened and rain started to fall. We unexpectedly drove by the Crazy Horse monument, which was a huge bonus! When we rounded the corner into the parking lot at Mount Rushmore, the sculpture seemed to burst through the clouds and loomed large overhead. It was much bigger and more majestic than I ever imagined.

After we parked the car and walked in, fog settled over the mountain and the faces disappeared. We got one brief break where we could see all four at once and then they were gone. We walked around the site, checking out the little museum and bookstore there. We watched a short film on the creation of the monument and then settled in for the ranger talk. At the end of the talk, they turned on the spotlights and lit up the fog where the faces should have been.

The next morning we got up and stopped at the Crazy Horse monument site, which was a great experience and well worth the time. We then drove back to Mount Rushmore and this time the weather was perfect. We hiked the Presidential Trail, toured the Sculptor’s Studio and took hundreds of photos. We stopped in the gift store on the way out and picked up a few souvenirs.

After discovering all of the things to see and do in the Black Hills area of South Dakota, we determined that we want to go back some day and tour some more. Come to think of it, it would be a great place to have a family reunion. I just don’t want to wait another 30 years for that to happen!

The book the government doesn't want you to read

 

“Spies in Saigon” is the book the CIA and the U.S. government tried to keep secret from the American people and the rest of the world.

Written by Houston author and historian James Bevill, the book recounts the story of his father-in-law, Paul Springer, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency as the first station chief in Vietnam, long before the United States became embroiled in the conflict there.

The book traces how American intelligence officers worked under diplomatic cover beginning in 1950. Bevill tells how those operatives gathered intelligence on the Viet Minh, Communist China, French colonial authorities, and competing Vietnamese political factions while helping establish the foundations of the CIA's espionage network across Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

I asked Bevill, who is a friend of mine, what was the most interesting thing he discovered while working on the book.

“Just how deeply the CIA and the U.S. government were involved during the French Indochina War, and the fact that it was it was Harry Truman that sent the first U.S. forces over there,” he said.

At nearly 500 pages, “Spies in Saigon: CIA Covert Operations in French Indochina and South Vietnam 1950-1963” was published in June by Schiffer Military. It is the result of nine years of extensive research by Bevill and includes first-hand accounts from Springer’s personal letters and unclassified CIA documents that Bevill had to sue to receive.

“The way the whole thing came about was when we moved my wife’s father from an independent apartment to a to an assisted living. We found a trunk full of letters, just file cabinet after file cabinet of original letters from the 1930s to the 1960s,” he said. “And it ended up being 595 separate documents that I scanned and put them in order because I wanted to read through them. The family just wanted to throw them away.”

Bevill said he was fascinated by the history that unfolded through the letters.

“But I read that – and this part of the story is when he’s writing home from Vietnam to his mother, ‘We had lunch with the King of Cambodia today.’ And ‘Oh, you should see the pictures of Angkor Wat that I took from the side of the airplane. And then we went to Laos and we met with those guys over there.” And so he’s writing home and telling about things that he’s doing on the diplomatic side as an embassy officer. He never wrote about CIA business in there,” he said.

In addition to the letters, Springer also had a large collection of photographs, several of which are in the book.

“One of the most valuable things we had were photographs in in picture albums. … We had a lot of other pictures of people that were CIA and non-CIA and Vietnamese that were in the photos. And thank goodness, my mother-in-law labeled them either on the back of the photo with a pen or a pencil, or she labeled some of them in the photo album,” he said.

Although Bevill and his wife Jodie had a pretty good idea of what Springer went through in Vietnam in the 1950s, the picture was incomplete.

“We made a Freedom of Information Act request, and after two and a half years, they had denied everything,” he said. “And then we got a hold of the right attorney, and he said we’ll sue the CIA and we’ll sue the State Department because we had an outstanding FOIA requests with them. The State Department records were actually more helpful than the CIA’s because a lot of that was redacted, but they did help us unlock and link together things that we thought were true and were in his writings and his assignments.”

Bevill said a lot of his information came from things he was told by his now late father-in-law on Christmas Eve in 2007.

“I was able to interview two of the other officers that he served with, one in Saipan and one in Vietnam. I had two rather lengthy telephone interviews with both of those guys, and then you’ve got to just string it all together. And the deeper that I dug, the more interesting I found the story to be, especially when I got to the part about the two Vietnamese counterspies that come in the story in the second half of the book. Actually, there were three of them,” he said.

Although there are many books and documentaries about American involvement in Vietnam, Bevill’s book is the first and most complete telling of the precursor events leading to the war.

“If you’re going to start something like this, a book completely breaking ground, you have to have something that no one else has, and what that was all those letters that came from my father-in-law and my mother-in-law. And then we’re able to match them with declassified CIA records, and we used the information from the lawsuit to confirm that, and through friends of the family … we’re able to get in touch with two other retired CIA officers that were in that period, and then we used the memoirs and the oral histories of the other guys. So, you want to get as close to the original source as you can,” he said.

A tipping point with technology

 

Have we reached a tipping point with technology?

It feels like we’re on a precipice ready to make an unrecoverable leap into the embrace of artificial intelligence or falling back to rage against the machines. We are already seeing rebellion foment against AI and data centers. And experts have been warning us for years about the dangers of constant connectivity through cell phones and other electronic devices. It seems that the more technology advances the more we fear it and perhaps for good reason.

Hollywood has given us no shortage of post-apocalyptic movies about machines or AI taking over the world and humanity struggling to survive. We’re no where near the point where Skynet becomes self-aware and sends Terminator robots to wipe out all the humans or Cylons turning on their human creators in “Battlestar Galactica,” but there are signs we are heading that way.

Just recently in the news OpenAI reported that one of its models went rogue and autonomously hacked into a competitor’s system. And now Anthropic, the company behind Claude AI, reported that one of its models hacked three companies during controlled tests.

That’s a big deal! It shows that these companies are losing control of their creations. They’re doing the kinds of things that we’ve been warned about. It’s already happening while AI technology is still in its infancy stage. Yet even with all these concerns, most people, me included, regularly use AI tools. (I utilized Chat GPT to help do research for this column.) Some of it is used for work, some for fun, but use and demand are growing.

AI technology is created and housed in data centers across the country. The increasing demand for AI is fueling growth of data centers. Now, people are waking up to the myriad of problems caused by data centers. Across Texas and the nation, there is a massive groundswell of opposition to the construction of these facilities.

Hyperscale data centers consume a lot of electricity to operate and enormous amounts of water to cool them. They reportedly cause light pollution and noise pollution. Of course, not all data centers are the same. As near as I can tell, Brazos County is home to two data centers. Fibertown Data Center operates in downtown Bryan and Texas A&M has its West Campus Data Center on Agronomy Road.

I’ve not seen any concerns raised about those centers. College Station residents were successful recently in getting city council to stop a proposed data center behind Costco. Data centers have also become a political hot potato, causing Gov. Greg Abbott to change his position on them.

Years ago he advocated for them and offered up millions of dollars in tax abatements to lure them to Texas. Now he wants a ban on their construction in rural Texas neighborhoods and to have them supply their own power so they don’t put more strain on the electric grid.

Beyond AI and data centers, people are rebelling against other invasive technologies. Most notably, people are opposed to Flock cameras.

Brazos County reportedly has more than 30 Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras operated by the College Station and Bryan police departments and the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office. That does not include cameras owned and operated by private businesses such as HOAs and shopping centers.

Law enforcement officials tout their benefits in tracking criminals and fighting crime. Many residents decry them as an invasion of privacy that is easily hacked and abused. They say tracking people with the cameras is an illegal search without a warrant.

Other areas of opposition to technology include the recent fight by Grimes County residents against SpaceX’s proposed Terafab semiconductor chip manufacturing facility and ongoing complaints nationwide about solar farms eating up valuable farmland. You can also throw in Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites that are causing light pollution and ruining ground-based telescope observations of the cosmos.

As I briefly touched on earlier, there is mounting data that shows the negative mental, emotional, developmental and social consequences cell phones and other connective devices are having on people, especially children. I don’t have enough space here to get into all of that, but it is part of technology takeover that is causing people to pause and even pull back and resist.

Clearly, we have reached a tipping point with technology, and we need to learn how to harness it before it does more harm to us.

Whether it's AI, Flock cameras, data centers or even smartphones, technology is developing more rapidly than our ability to govern it. It has certainly outpaced the public’s trust in it. We’ve reached a technical tipping point where our desire for advancement in technology is colliding with our need for a healthy environment and better governance of its use.

Front porch rocker memories

 

I bought my wife a pair of wooden rocking chairs for our front porch last year. It was probably one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

It’s so peaceful to sit back and take in the nature around us as we look upon our rural property and enjoy the sights and sounds of our woodland and domestic critters. A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in my rocker on a Sunday evening talking on the phone with my parents when there was an explosion of bright red cardinals across the yard. There must have been a dozen or more flitting about and singing their song.

It reminded me of the day we first drove onto the property to move in. I pulled the moving truck up the driveway and cardinals flew everywhere, mixed with blue jays and a host of other birds. A few squirrels scampered about. It made me think of the Hundred Acre Wood in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. That’s how we came to call our little hobby farm the Southern Acre Wood.

Whenever Sandy and I settle into those porch rockers, we find peace and serenity. We can look out across our driveway to our pond and watch the ducks and geese as they swim and play. Our chickens will come up and beg for treats. Charlie, our golden retriever, will bring us a tennis ball to throw for him. Each spring and fall we have humming birds that zip around.

Frequently the deer will wander over to drink from our pond. I enjoyed watching them until they started decimating our garden and devouring our duck food. Still, there is something pleasant about watching them move about in a small herd, especially when they have babies.

In the evenings we listen to the owls hoot, the frogs croak, and the crickets and cicadas chirp. The sounds of nature are very soothing. It’s one of those things that many people are missing out on in modern life. Life is meant to be lived outdoors, not wasted away with digital entertainment. We need fresh air and plenty of sunlight.

Relaxing in the rockers has brought back a flood of memories of my childhood in rural Niwot, Colorado. We didn’t have a front porch or big rocking chairs, but we had a big yard and a small neighborhood to play in. As long as we had our chores done, we were free to roam around our little community and play with our friends.

It was not uncommon for us to grab our tacklebox and fishing poles and head to the Frog Pond where we drowned a lot of worms and goofed off in the adjacent creek. We rode our bikes everywhere, that is, until we were old enough to drive a car. We played Little League baseball on fields that are now covered in houses. The cornfields where we used to shoot at ducks, geese and pheasants during hunting season are also paved over with high-end homes.

Our little neighborhood group used to play hide-and-seek type games until well past sundown. In fact, they were more fun in the dark because it was easier to sneak around. Living along the foothills of the Rockies meant a lot of camping and hiking in the mountains. Our Boy Scout troop went camping once a month, even in winter. It was especially enjoyable in the snow.

To be sure my brothers and I watched a lot more TV than we should have, but it was just a small fraction of time compared to what the average person watches (or games) today. We didn’t have cell phones, video players, computers and such. We didn’t spend hours scrolling through social media sites. We drew pictures, read comic books, built models, and jumped on the trampoline (without a safety net!). We used our imaginations to create endless fun, especially with our action figures.

I regret that my children didn’t grow up doing those things, but they had a good, albeit different life. Still, those are some of the things I mull about sometimes when sitting on the rocker and soaking in the joys of life. The best times we have with the rockers are when Sandy and I talk about our plans, hopes and dreams. It’s moments like these that make the investment in the rocking chairs one of the best I’ve ever made.

Defining leadership

 

Not all leaders are bosses, and not all bosses are leaders. Leadership is a skill, not a position.

Let that sink in for a minute.

If an alien landed on the planet and asked you to take him to your leader, who would you take him to? Would it be the President, the Governor, your boss, or perhaps your wife? Maybe you would be bold enough to say, “Here I am, how may I help you?”

This isn’t about little green men from Mars (and I’m using masculine references for simplicity’s sake), it’s about leadership. With the midterm elections coming up, the political squabbling is ramping up. We will have to wade through the mire of fearmongering and hate in order to determine who should be our next leaders.

The best elected officials are more than leaders, they are representatives. Their first responsibility is to represent the people who elected them. They represent our values and interests. They answer to their constituents, not the other way around. Unfortunately, we have too many politicians who have lost sight of that perspective.

What we need are people who are true servant leaders. We need politicians who will put people before party. I’m to the point where I care less about political affiliation and more about character and integrity. In order to determine which candidates are best fit to lead, it helps to understand what leadership is and is not.

After years of reading leadership experts and reflecting on my own experience I’ve come up with what I feel is a definition of leadership.

Leadership is the intentional process of influencing and serving people so they willingly work together to achieve a shared purpose and create positive change.

True leadership begins with character, not title or authority. The top character traits of a leader include integrity, humility, courage, compassion, and discipline. The purpose of a leader is to guide people toward a common or collaborative goal.

The best leaders create feelings of ownership in their followers so that people embrace the mission as if it were their own. Real leaders build others up, they don’t tear them down. They assume responsibility and rarely place blame.

What leadership is not is bossy, demanding, authoritarian, uncompromising, dishonest, self-serving, and inconsistent. Bad leaders lift themselves up by putting others down. They use people, power, and position to get what they want. That is the opposite of how most experts define leadership.

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want,” is one of Zig Ziglar’s most famous quotes. You will notice that it is outward thinking, placing the needs of others before yourself. Trust me, it sounds easy, but it is hard to do. Humans by nature are selfish beings. If you don’t believe me, try taking a toy away from a 2-year-old!

Overcoming our innate desire to put ourselves first is very difficult and requires discipline, focus, and constant practice. I fail at this every day, but I keep striving to achieve it.

Another thing I’ve learned about leadership over the years is that it is not a rank or position to aspire to but a skill you use to get where you want to be. It is collaborative and is at the heart of teamwork.

Many projects struggle or fail because there were too many bosses and not enough workers. Real leaders will roll up their sleeves and pitch in to help. They set an example. They put action over words. It’s one thing to tell someone what to do and quite another to show them how it’s done.

It’s also important to acknowledge that not everyone is a leader, but everyone should be able to recognize real leadership. That is important to know when we accept a new job, go into the voting booth, or when we’re approached by little green men from Mars.

Congratulations Luke and Sammy!

 

How could it be that this kid was getting married? Somehow it didn’t seem right that the little redheaded boy whose diapers I changed, nose I wiped and whose sippy cups I had to hunt for all over the house was taking his bride and starting his own life.

On July 7, Luke Southern married Samantha “Sammy” Owen in a small ceremony at a wedding venue west of Austin. The wedding was on a Tuesday; it was outdoors at 2:30 p.m. and it was 94 degrees out – no sweat! The date was chosen because it was his grandparents’ anniversary. Sandy’s mother gave Luke her old wedding rings when things got serious with Sammy and the date was already engraved, so they went with it.

Even though Luke had been on his own for three years, it still seemed strange to see him tying the knot. He is our third first-born child and is the goofball of the bunch. Sandy and I each had a first-born child from our previous marriages and Luke was our first-born together. His “little” brother Colton is the undisputed baby of the family.

Growing up, Luke was the happy-go-lucky kid who liked to crack jokes and pull pranks. He also tended to be accident-prone and how he made it to adulthood without any disfigurement or dismemberment is still a bit surprising.

None of Luke’s siblings were eager to learn to drive and each waited past 16 to get their license. Not Luke. He wanted his permit and his license just as soon as he could get them, which made us nervous. I couldn’t argue, because I was the same way.

I had many of the same feelings watching him drive away by himself the first time as I did watching him walk down the aisle. Is he ready? Can he handle this? God, please watch over him!

To Luke’s credit, he married a woman who is much smarter and more levelheaded than he is. I think that will be his saving grace and the answer to our prayers. She has one more year to go to get her bachelor’s degree at Texas State University. After a year-long engagement, they decided they did not want to wait another year for her to finish school. They have it all planned out for her to finish her degree on time while Luke continues to work as an auto mechanic.

One of the things that both Sammy’s father and I brought up in our toasts to the happy couple was how it appeared when Luke met her family for the first time. He is four years older. He had wild, shoulder-length hair. He rode in on his motorcycle clad in black leather. He was a mechanic and he lived by himself in an RV. That’s just what every parent wants for their little girl, right?

It turns out that Luke and her father, Jason Owen, bonded over their love of motorcycles and cars. Luke is also a devoted Christian and got to know Sammy as part of a small group for young adults hosted by our mutual friends, Rob and Melinda Ledman. Their leadership and influence are largely responsible for bringing them together. Their three daughters and another friend were Sammy’s bridesmaids.

Luke’s two brothers and two friends from the same small group were the groomsmen. Luke’s uncle, Army chaplain Col. Brandon Moore, officiated.

Getting all of the family together for the wedding was a challenge. The Moore family and one of Sammy’s brothers came from New York. Our oldest son Wesley came from Florida. My parents, brother, and daughter came from Colorado. Colton, who was acting as a camp counselor for the week near Rocksprings, had to race in that morning. It was such a wonderful feeling to have all the family together.

It is comforting to know that Luke has been accepted as a son in the Owen family and we are honored and privileged to have Sammy as a daughter in our family. We look forward to watching them as they grow and mature in their new life together.

And hopefully, someday, they will bless us with grandchildren (hint, hint). Until then, I will still try to wrap my head around the fact that our little baby boy is all grown up and married. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Southern! We love you very much!

Celebrating America 250

 

When was the last time you sang “Yankee Doodle”?

In all the build-up to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I don’t think I’ve heard the song once. Fifty years ago, I heard it a lot in preparation for America’s bicentennial celebration, but then I was also in elementary school where we did a lot of patriotic stuff.

“Yankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.
(Chorus) Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy.
Mind the music and the step,
and with the girls be handy.”

There are more verses, but this is the part I remember best. Although the exact origins of the song are a bit muddled, it was basically a tune sung by British troops to mock Americans prior to the Revolutionary War.

The earliest version of the song is often attributed to a British surgeon named Richard Schuckburg who reportedly wrote it between 1755 and 1758 to mock the ragtag colonial soldiers he encountered while stationed with the British army in New York during the French and Indian War.

The little ditty was adopted as a badge of honor by the colonials and rewritten to poke fun at the Brits. It became something of a rallying cry during the Revolutionary War.

I wonder if it’s taught in schools anymore. I don’t recall my children singing it, but they tell me they did. I went to elementary school in the 1970s. We began each day with the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. Patriotism wasn’t just something we were taught, it was a way of life. It was a given that you would stand and salute with your right hand over your heart whenever the flag was presented or the “Star-Spangled Banner” was performed.

In the Boy Scouts we were drilled in flag etiquette. We were taught how to raise and lower the flag, how to properly fold it, and how to salute it. We were taught its history, and we learned to respect it. It’s my understanding that members of the military receive similar instruction.

I remember well the feeling of American pride at seeing the flag flown everywhere in the weeks and months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Sadly, honor and respect for our tri-colored standard has wavered since then.

As we celebrate our nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary, it is my hope that we can rekindle the spirit of patriotism and unity that made this country great. There are a lot of events and activities going on to mark this milestone.

Locally, I think a lot of people would enjoy seeing the E Pluribus Unum exhibit at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It has several uniquely American artifacts that are sure to instill a sense of pride and nostalgia in each viewer. As curator Jay Patton told me, the exhibit is designed so that we can see ourselves in our national tapestry. It’s a unifying display that was two years in the making.

The Bush Library and Museum will also hold several family friendly activities Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bryan, College Station and Kurten each have fireworks shows planned. At 1 p.m. bells will toll in unison as part of a nationwide effort.

I also highly recommend coming out to Veterans Memorial Park to see the new monuments put in place in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 memorials. They will be dedicated at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Of course, there are lots of other things going on to celebrate America 250. Hopefully everyone will get out and enjoy the festivities. And maybe, just maybe, someone somewhere will sing “Yankee Doodle.” Wouldn’t that be dandy!

Having fun with English

 

Have you ever stopped to think … and then forget to start again?

I hate it when that happens. Sometimes, however, you just need to pause and contemplate the mysteries of life.

How come we park on the driveway but drive on the parkway?

Why is childbirth called “delivery” and not “take-out”?

Why do round pizzas come in square boxes and get served in triangles?

What are male ladybugs called?

Do fish drink water?

If tomatoes are a fruit, does that make ketchup a smoothie?

If you clean a vacuum cleaner does that make you a vacuum cleaner?

If you didn’t know me, would you think I’m a stranger?

How come chicken farmers aren’t called chicken tenders?

Why do they call a statue a bust when it stops at the part it’s named after?

What makes Teflon stick to the pan?

If sour cream goes bad, how can you tell?

What did René Descartes think about before he knew who he was?

Of course, not everything I contemplate is a mystery. Every day I like to put a little time aside and then forget about it. At the end of the year, I have a few days to myself.

Did you know that an anagram for Clint Eastwood is Old West Action? Likewise, anagrams for Neil Armstrong include “Strong Mr. Alien” and “Gremlin on star.”

Some other entertaining anagrams include:

Public relations: Crap built on lies;

Debit Card: Bad credit;

Mother-in-Law: Woman Hitler;

Dormitory: Dirty room;

Eleven plus two: Twelve plus one;

Astronomer: Moon starer; and

Listen: Silent.

Sometimes I like to contemplate palindromes, which are words or phrases that are spelled the same forward and backward. Some examples include words like racecar, civic, deed, kayak, madam, radar, and rotator. A favorite of mine is A Toyota.

Some popular palindromes include:

A man, a plan, a canal – Panama;

Sir, I demand, I am a maid named Iris;

Was it a car or a cat I saw; and

Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog.

Some other entertaining palindromes include:

Step on no pets;

Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo;

Rats live on no evil star;

Do geese see God;

Mr. Owl ate my metal worm;

Yo, banana boy; and

Murder for a jar of red rum.

Other words I like to have fun with are oxymorons, such as jumbo shrimp, small crowd, virtual reality, deafening silence, civil war, definite maybe, devout atheist, and bittersweet. You could probably add army intelligence to that list.

As long as we’re having fun with the English language, we can’t leave out homonyms, homographs, or homophones – words with more than one meaning or different words that sound alike. For example: I live for live music. I saw a fly fly by. He didn’t bat an eye when he saw a bat land on his bat. The bare bear blew blue smoke at the foul fowl. I rode down the road to see the sea. He stares at the stairs. The thief likes to steal steel but instead he stole a stole.

At this point I’m starting to give myself a headache. It’s time to stop thinking and start working again.

Fathers needed to step up and lead

“We are calling on men, all men — the successful and the unsuccessful, the affluent and the poor, the married and the unmarried — to come and claim their children. You can run the biggest drug cartel in America or win the Super Bowl, but if you haven’t claimed your children, you are not a man. No matter how useless or hopeless a father may think he is, his role is simply to be there. If he makes that commitment, he is a much better man than he thought he was.” – Bill Cosby (before he was disgraced)

 

Father’s Day is of my favorite holidays. I like it not because I’m a father and it makes me feel good about being a dad. I don’t need a holiday for that. I like it because it puts fatherhood in a positive light.

Fatherhood has taken a beating in the culture wars in the past 30-40 years. It’s a shame, because we need fathers more than ever. I don’t mean men who get women pregnant, but men who step up and are actively involved in raising their children. We need men who love their wives, care for their children and rise up to protect their family.

Being a father is one of the absolute joys of my life. What matters most in life to me is this: My faith in God, being a husband to Sandy, and being a father to Heather, Wesley, Luke, and Colton. I hope someday to add grandchildren to that list.

I remember well the feelings of excitement, joy, and pride while watching the birth of three of my children (Wesley was 4 years old when I married his mother). I was equally excited when I adopted Wesley as my own son.

There is nothing like the feeling of snuggling with your newborn baby. Those feelings are only magnified the first time he or she says, “I love you, Daddy!” I remember the feelings of peace when one of my children fell asleep in my arms or next to me on the couch. I love story time, gathering for family prayers, playing games, going camping, celebrating birthdays and other holidays, and just doing life together.

Being a father isn’t always easy. At times it can be very difficult and sometimes painful. It’s no fun when you have to enforce discipline, deal with injuries, break up fights, or cope with being lied to by your precious little ones. I think the things that hurt the most are not the times when your children fail, but when you fail as a parent. We all make mistakes, but life goes on.

Some of life’s greatest moments come when your children succeed at something. From winning scores, getting A’s on tests, learning new skills, and graduating from school, there are endless moments big and small that a father treasures forever.

Inevitably, there comes that time when your children grow up and leave home. It’s a bittersweet moment when you know it’s their time to fly but they won’t be there every day to kiss goodnight or hug first thing in the morning. Even when your children leave home, your job as a father never ends, it just transitions.

Wesley is married and lives in Florida. Heather is an avowed bachelorette living in Colorado. Colton, our youngest, left the nest a year ago and is working for Arms of Hope in Medina. Luke, our middle son, lives in San Marcos and on July 7 will marry Samantha “Sammy” Owen.

I’m thrilled to be adding in-law children to the family, but I’d be even more excited to welcome grandchildren (hint, hint!).

As I reflect on the joys of fatherhood, I have to wonder why so many men shun the responsibility. Our jails are populated with people whose fathers were absent, alcoholic, or abusive. Imagine the difference it would make if more men stepped up to embrace fatherhood. Think of the generational cycles of poverty and crime that would end with each father who manned up and cared for their children.

I’d like to see a world where men, and fathers in particular, are given their due respect and likewise earn it. Being a father is an incredible joy and an awesome responsibility. I’ll conclude with one of my favorite quotes: Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.

Happy Father’s Day, y’all!