Day 254: I (Heart) NY

When Biz and Jeff traveled to New York a couple of months ago, they brough me back this t-shirt:

Today seemed like a good day to break it in (finally - sorry, guys). I also did the "patriotic" thing, if it can be called that, by donating plasma again.

Happy Patriot Day, everybody.

Day 224: USA! USA!

Alas, the 30th Summer Olympic Games in London, England, are now a thing of the past. I've enjoyed watching several international sporting events over the past 16 days and have found a newfound surge in love for my country - dare I say patriotism? - as the U.S. athletes have performed very well, earning 46 golds and 104 total medals.


Mom reflected that sentiment in these cupcakes, which she brought for us to share at tonight's family dinner.

Day 187: Centerville Parade

Generally speaking, I don't care too much for parades - either watching or taking part in them. I could write up a list of about 1,000 other things that I'd rather be doing on a hot, 90-degree-plus summer day.

Nevertheless, the Improvables were asked to provide announcers for yesterday's Fourth of July parade, and sometimes you just gotta "take one for the team" and step up and volunteer to help. Ten members of the troupe were stationed at three announcing booths along the parade route, which began at Chase Lane and traveled south down Main Street to Pages Lane.

Steve, Summer, and I were positioned at the steps of Centerville's City Hall, where Summer kept track of the approaching floats while Steve and I took turns announcing and, on occasion, ad libbing when necessary.

You definitely have to stand up and applaud when the veterans pass by, as was the case with this group that carried our country's flag:

I also liked the superhero float, which featured several members of the Avengers, Batman, and Spider-Man, among others:

We took advantage of this opportunity to promote our troupe, and after the last float has passed by us, we handed out a stack of fliers to the parade goers.

It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

Ten Years Ago Today

We're all very familiar with all that went down on that infamous day, ten years ago today. I don't need to go over the details.

I was not in New York City; western Pennsylvania; or Washington, D.C., on that day, but like most Americans, I remember exactly where I was when I found out about it. I had a doctor's appointment that morning to have my wrist checked out, and while I sat in the waiting room, I watched speechlessly along with a handful of other patients as the events unfolded on the TV set in the corner.

Something that few people know about me is that while I was not a witness to the events on 9-11, I have been a witness - an earwitness, anyway - to a terrorist attack. On a warm December night in 1996, my companion and I were in the San Isidro borough of Lima, Peru, trying to hail a taxi on the side of the road, when we heard an extremely loud explosion. The taxi driver who pulled up shortly afterward said that it had come from less than a mile away. How grateful we were that we were not any closer.

Through the news and such, we learned that the explosion had taken place at the Japanese embassy and that it was caused by a terrorist group that went on to hold most of the people inside, who were attending a Christmas party that night, as hostages for the next several months.

Well, that's another story. But it will suffice me to say that I'm glad I live in a country where we don't have to worry about those kinds of things happening. I'm grateful for those who are abroad defending those freedoms and for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

I Know Famous People

Last night, I made another journey down to Provo to voice for both shows at ComedySportz.

Just in case you're keeping track at home, I still belong to two Improv troupes. Of course, if they were paying you the Big Bucks that they're paying me to do this, wouldn't you want to shout it from the rooftops, too?

Okay, so, the "Big Bucks" thing is a slight exaggeration. At any rate, while I was at the club last night, I finally got to meet and perform with local celebrity and original ComedySportz cast member Kirby Heyborne - star of The Singles Ward, The R.M., Saints and Soldiers, and several other movies - who was a special guest player for the evening’s second show. He is now a Los Angeles resident but is currently in town, I learned, filming yet another LDS-themed movie, due out in early 2011.

Also invited to perform on this night were two other original ComedySportz players, the very funny Maclain Nelson (star of the "Dew You?" Mountain Dew commercial that I posted here on the Epistle not too long ago) and Daryn Tufts (Kirby’s co-star in The Singles Ward and a few other local projects).


Given that it was also Patriot Day, September 11, we took some rare serious time out of both shows to honor the troops and the fallen by collectively singing our national anthem, which is something that is not done as regularly in Provo as it was done at the Sugar House club, back in the day.

Curt, Gavin, Joseph, Matt, Mike, and Will rounded out the rest of the night's cast and crew, and it was, additionally, my first time working alongside talented new accompanist Casey.


Is this post mainly to state that I know at least a few famous people?

Yes, essentially that.

Anger Management

People all over the place are really angry about a lot of things right now. I read about several of them tonight as I perused the pages of today's Deseret News. (There was an excellent article on the same topic in last week's paper by columnist Doug Robinson: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705262181,00.html)

You see these irate people everywhere. They are on TV or on YouTube. They are even picketing around Temple Square and the state capitol building. And they are definitely not afraid to hide that fact that they are hopping mad about, well, almost everything.

The anger thing isn't going to get any better this week. The annual BYU vs. Utah football game is coming up this Saturday, and we all know what that means: The Mr. Hyde in many Cougar and Ute fans will be coming out for a visit.

Bring up any number of topics, and - want it or not - you will get their opinion on any number of current events, often with clenched fists, beet-red faces, and little volcanoes emerging and erupting from the tops of their scalps. Some of these topics include, but are not limited, to: the release of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film being postponed until next summer (okay, not so much of a problem, really), George W. Bush being responsible for everything wrong with this country, having to endure living on the same planet and breathing the same air as Sarah Palin, gas prices, the economy, and - oh yeah - the LDS Church's involvement in California's Proposition 8, which passed in the election held two weeks ago.


If you dare disagree with these Proposition 8 people, in their book, you are therefore labeled (by people who largely don't want to be labeled) "homophobic," "intolerant," "bigoted," "hate filled," "ignorant," and a "hypocrite," plus you will be told that you need to come out of the cave and into the 21st century and/or you must die a horrible, painful death - possibly by being smothered in peanut butter and being dropped onto a pile of killer ants, like those in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - at the earliest possible moment.

They use big words like these, while at the same time their actions show that they are clearly the ones who are full of hate and intolerant.

In Peru, they have a saying: El ruido de tus acciones no me permite oir tus palabras. Loosely translated, it means: "The noise from your actions blocks out the sound of your words." I think it applies here.

The Proposition 8 protests have saddened me a lot. The election is over, but they refuse to accept the results. (Just imagine what would happen if John McCain acted in a similar manner and encouraged his supporters to send hate mail to the president-elect.) Their demonstrations are also being directed at my church, even though the LDS Church was just one of several in a coalition to support Proposition 8.

My Improv colleague Tonia wrote a letter to the editor in defense of Proposition 8 that appeared in Thursday's Deseret News. Saturday night, I performed in a show with Tonia's husband, Curt, and mentioned to him that I had read the letter.

"We've already received hate mail," he replied.

Over the past two weeks, LDS meetinghouses in Utah have been vandalized. At one building, a copy of the Book of Mormon was set on fire. Last week, an envelope containing white powder - at first feared to be anthrax - caused an evacuation of Temple Square.

Yes, whoever is doing it is using terrorism.

So, what can we do about it? What do we have left to "turn" when we have used up your "cheeks"?


I recently read an excellent article by Paul Bishop that sheds important light on the subject. Bro. Bishop writes from personal experience about the protests that have been held outside of the grounds of the Los Angeles temple. If you haven't already done so, I hope you take a look at it:

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/081110hate.html

Reading this article created all kinds of emotions inside of me. I felt sad, then annoyed, then angry, and then the cycle started all over again. Ultimately, though, Bro. Bishop concludes his article in just the right spirit. He quotes Elder Robert D. Hales on the true spirit of tolerance. He also adds the thought that Pres. Monson, in the face of this kind of persecution, knows what's going on and is leading us in the right direction.


I'm very grateful to have both a prophet and an exemplary man to whom I can look for guidance and counsel.

Fighting anger with anger and hate with hate has never solved anything - at least, not since Old Testament times. As the scripture says:

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22–23).

I am also reminded of this excerpt from the life of Elijah:

"The Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

"And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-12).

I know from experience that you can win converts to your cause - so to speak - only by kindness, civility, and rational thinking.

And that speaks louder than words.

The Glass Is Half Full

On Tuesday, American voters had their say. Whatever the outcome, it was going to be a historic election: We would either have our first black president or our first female vice president. The result: Barack Obama - like it or not - will be the 44th president of the United States.


To a lot of people I know, Obama's election was absolutely devastating news. After the verdict had become official Tuesday night, I spent a few minutes on Facebook, where I read all kinds of status updates from friends that said things like "The end is near" and "Our country has been flushed down the toilet."

I think most of them were kidding - maybe. (I have some weird friends, which is a compliment, in my book. "Normal" people are boring.)

To be honest, I felt somewhat disheartened, too, as I watched Obama's victory speech, delivered in front of a rabid crowd of supporters in Chicago.

Since then, I've done a lot of thinking about current events. And I began to realize that I was looking at a glass that was half empty, not half full. I began to think about all of the things that were and are still good about the United States of America. There are quite a few of them.


This is still the greatest country on Earth. This is a free land, where the restored gospel could come forth (and where its headquarters remain). I go back in my mind to the years I spent in Peru, in the third world, and I cannot now take for granted how good we have it here - because we really do have it a lot better than we think.

I think about the recent general conference of the Church that we had in October, both the people who delivered the messages and the messages themselves. And I don't recall hearing anything of panic or despair in their voices. Rather, I heard a lot of sound, wise counsel and a lot of hope, from people who are in control in the face of the storms of life and are looking optimistically to the present and to the future.

I also think about all of the people who rallied to help get Proposition 8 passed in California - something good that happened Tuesday - and I think, There are still good people in this country. There are still people who care about what I care about and are willing to take a stand on it.

I still don't like Barack Obama. I have questions about his ability to lead. I don't know where he's going to take this country in the next four years. It's also going to take a while for me to get used to saying "President Obama." (It just doesn't roll off the tongue like "President Lincoln" or "President Roosevelt.")

But, come January 20, I'm still going to give him a chance. I can disagree with him on issues and still support him as president. If Obama fails as president, then we, as Americans, will all fail. I'll take being led by Barack Obama any day over being led by Fidel Castro, what's-his-bucket in North Korea, or any other regime across the globe - even Canada (which, by the way, still waits for Alec Baldwin). And I don't wanna be a Canadian idiot. (Clayton knows what I mean.)

I just hope that, come January 20, Obama will be the kind of person his supporters believe they elected November 4.