Name:Jack Bagley Country:United States State:Georgia Metro:LaGrange Birthday:September 26, 1958 Gender:Male
Interests:History, Computers, Reading, Writing, Science Fiction, Good Television, Game Shows Expertise:Depends on what's being asked..... :-) Occupation:Education/training Industry:Education/Research
Well, the school year is underway. I see I've neglected to mention that, for the first time in almost 15 years, I am not teaching 7th grade Social Studies this year. I'm teaching 6th grade Social Studies ... and Science. Yes, I'm going to have to read the Science book a day ahead of the kids, as I am not certified to be a Science teacher. But the curriculum is Earth and space science, things I am interested in, and I am looking forward to the year.
Here's the last part of last Friday's newscast, with my partner Kathy and I telling a really "squirrelly" story. I hope you like it:
There's a lot more going on, but it will have to wait. I'm sleepy.
Currently The King and I By Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson, Terry Saunders see related
Et Cetera, Et Cetera, Et Cetera
MOOD: Takin' a bow
Have you ever been so busy all of a sudden that it makes up for weeks of inactivity? No? Well, sit right back, friends, and let your Colonel tell you about his week.
The first major event came Wednesday night, at Dance Class. One of our best dancers, and a very good friend, is leaving the class to move to Mississippi. He's going to be working on his Ph.D. in history and will be a teacher at the college he's going to as well. Jason Freeman is going to have a great future, I'm certain ... and Wednesday, we took the time to give him a proper sendoff.
Here, Jason (left) is receiving gifts from Bill and Christiane Price, other members of the class. We also gave him cards, best wishes, and the evening's dance selections were his favorites.
Another great treat that evening was when my dearest friend, dance partner, and the most wonderful person on the planet, Rachel, donned her mask and ears to portray her new character, "Alistair Rodentia." She's writing a series of childrens' stories based on the adventures of Rodentia, who was a butler to another mouse family and decided to retire and travel. Her stories will detail Rodentia's experiences as a world traveler, entertaining children while educating them.
Rachel has appeared as Rodentia for children in a library setting, and the kids were overwhelmed by the talent this remarkable woman shows. She's an artist, a poet, a re-enactor, and now a writer and performer. There is nothing she can't do.
Here she is reading Rodentia's first adventure, visiting another mouse who lives and works in the tower holding Big Ben. It's a great story, very entertaining and funny! And anyone who doesn't know about London or Big Ben will learn a lot from Rodentia's tale.
Next on the busy week came Saturday. I got up early -- early -- and went to be on duty with the CAP. Our squadron conducted a Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX) and had several other units participate as well. It was a big day for all ... and I got to fly! I'm working on getting back my active aeronautical rating, and Saturday was the day I began the journey. I flew one sortie as an observer, looking for a practice signal indicating a crashed airplane.
Two CAP aircraft parked on the tarmac at our squadron base, ready to fly!
Commander of the West Georgia Composite Squadron, Major Brion Gluck, gives the initial briefing. Major Gluck is the primary reason I rejoined Civil Air Patrol. He's an excellent officer, a great commander and leader, and very supportive of his people and mission. Every CAP unit should have a C.O. like the major. He brought me back in as Public Affairs Officer -- one of my first jobs in CAP back in '81 -- and also encouraged me to get back into the air. And I am so glad I did!
Here's the Operations Officer for the exercise, Captain A. J. Atcheson, giving his part of the briefing. He explained the mission -- a Lear jet approaching our airport had disappeared off radar, and there was a momentary target that popped up and disappeared at the same time as the Lear. We worked on the assumption that there'd been a mid-air collision. (Of course, all of this is simulated.) After Capt. Atcheson's talk, we got our safety briefing, heard from the Incident Commander, and got to work.
Here I am, fourth from left, walking onto the tarmac along with pilot Randy Stastny (blue shirt) and fellow observer trainee Steve Uroz (right). The orange vests at left are three cadets tasked for flight line duty, and the fellow in the yellow vest is the flight line officer. We're headed out to our aircraft for preflight and then ... we're off!
Well, we're off after we do the preflight. Randy's taking care of that, while Steve and I discuss who's going to sit in the right-hand seat (the Observer position) and who's going to sit in the rear seat (the Scanner position). Steve let me have the front, since I've done the job before -- 12 or 13 years ago, but I've done it. I'm at the left under the wing, holding my headphones and other important mission paperwork to be completed in flight.
And not long after this picture was taken, we were indeed off the ground! Here I'm helping Randy with the preflight checklist (as much as I could do, anyway) while Steve was in the back getting hooked up. We flew a search pattern along the primary approach to the local airport, where the small plane was thought to have gone down. We didn't find the transponder that was out there, because it hadn't been switched on yet. (We knew that before we took off -- if we found the thing on the first sortie, it would've ruined the training day.) During the flight, I opened the sealed envelope that contained our in-flight problem, which turned out to be a failed alternator on the airplane. Randy knew what to do -- he contacted the mission base, told them we had a failed alternator, and were returning to base. (He also was slightly chagrined, as he forgot to use the word "simulated" and was chided for that failure by the base radio operator.)
A great day! I got some seriously needed training, and even though I had to leave after the sortie, I am already looking forward to the next SAREX -- at which I expect to earn basic Observer qualifications again. I wear senior observer wings, indicating 100+ hours in the air. It'll be a while before I get that far, but I want the wings I wear to mean something useful.
Saturday night, we opened in The King and I, and we had a GREAT show!
Here is your Colonel in the role of Captain Orton, who (if you're familiar with the story) brings English teacher Anna Leonowens to Siam to educate the children of King Mongkut IV. It's based on a true story, I learned.
For the scene of the party given by the King for the British visitors, Captain Orton was added as a guest, and that gave me the chance to put together a "dress" uniform for him. Here I am backstage, posing with the fancy duds on.
In these pictures I am seen with the King (Matthew Mansour) and Anna (Anne Duraski). These two extremely talented people were perfect choices for their roles, and after one rehearsal I found myself wondering who the heck Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr are.
Here's Captain Orton with Sir Edward Ramsay, the British ambassador. Sir Edward is played by Lawrence Blakely, who was in The Music Man with me and many others last summer. He based his costume on the one worn by the actor who played Sir Edward in the movie ... and darned if Lawrence doesn't look just like the guy himself!
I took the opportunity to have my picture made with a lot of the cast. In the front is James Turner, who plays Lun Tha, the Burmese dignitary who brings the slave Tuptim to the King. At left is Jeffrey Brumbeloe, who played the Interpreter (and whose makeup looks distinctly Klingon to me). Behind James is David Todd, who played Prince Chululongkorn. On either side of me are Chris Albritton as Phra Alack and Jonathan Hinnen as one of the Royal Guards. Behind David is T. J. Abner, who is excellent as the Kralahome. Next to David is Kristen Mansour, who was delightful in the role of Lady Thiang, principal wife to the King (who is standing behind her). To the right of Kristen is Jalen Smith, who was Louis, the teacher's son. Behind Jalen is Jake Duraski, one of the Royal Guards, and on either side of James in the front are Jameel Dixon and Mario Dixon, more Royal Guards. Coming into the room is Chelsea Pike, one of the Royal Wives. All of these people -- and the wonderful actors who weren't in the shot -- are a tremendous amount of fun to work with! I've made new friends, as I normally do in the theatre, and am looking forward BIG TIME to the next production.
We performed again on Sunday, a matinee, and had two great houses which gave us standing ovations. Two more performances this week, and then ... The King and I goes back to Siam, and I go back to work.
Speaking of work ... pre-planning for the 2009-2010 school year begins tomorrow, and I meet my new students this Friday. I've been shifted back to 6th grade for this year. At first I was asked to teach both Social Studies (which I am certified in) and Science (which I'm not), but that was changed to just Social Studies right before we left last school year. What will it be when I get there tomorrow? How the heck do I know? What am I -- a fortune teller?
This is a photo of me taken in early July, 2008, when I was in the role of Charlie Cowell in The Music Man. I weighed approximately 295 pounds at that point.
Now, please look at this:
This photograph was taken in late July, 2009, during dress rehearsals for The King and I, in which I play Captain Orton. At this point, I weighed 171 pounds.
Now, please look at the two photos side by side:
And all I can say is ... what a difference a year makes. There are many people out there who think it's not even the same person in both photos, but it is.
It's me. Your Colonel.
And I have never been happier about myself than I am right now. I just came back from the doctor's office and have been told that, if my blood pressure is still nice 'n low while on a new one-month regimen of medication, I may be coming off blood pressure medicine entirely by September -- the one-year anniversary of the diet.
The Incredible Shrinking Me continues ... I've been fluctuating around my goal of 170, hitting it one day, going below it the next, above it two days later. I need to steady that, and things will be so great ...
I very much appreciate all the good wishes and great thoughts I've gotten from all of you. It means the world to me. Keep me in your prayers, please ... the hardest part of this "weighty" issue is yet to come. I've gotten the extra tonnage off ... now I have to keep it off.
If you're my age or older, you remember what this day means. And if you're younger, you don't necessarily remember it, but you know about it.
It was on this day, 40 years ago, that Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin stepped out onto the surface of the moon, during the Apollo 11 space mission. Mankind's first living contact with another celestial body was made, as the third member of the crew, Michael Collins, remained in orbit above them.
Recently I learned that a $10 check signed by Mr. Armstrong -- written 16 July 1969, the day Apollo 11 lifted off -- is being offered for sale through an Internet auction site. I wonder if Mr. Armstrong knows about this, and if he does, if it makes him angry. Neil Armstrong was, in your Colonel's opinion, the perfect choice to be the first man on the moon, because he has not attempted to cash in or otherwise profit from his place in history. Not even once. And he has never allowed anyone to do so on his behalf, either. Mr. Armstrong is a totally class act, and the very idea that a check bearing his signature is offered for sale reinforces his long-standing rule about not giving out autographs. In fact, when the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program wanted to name its newest achievement after him, he graciously gave the organization his permission -- but did not sign the letter doing so. A typewritten attachment to the letter explained that Mr. Armstrong prefers not to sign documents if he can possibly avoid it, because of the fear that they will be sold later.
A justified fear, if you ask me, now that I know about the check. (The check has an interesting story, too ... seems Mr. Armstrong owed someone $10, and wrote the check before getting into the Apollo 11 capsule. But he also told the person to whom he gave it not to cash it, because he would be coming back from the moon. That's why the check is pristine and unprocessed.)
So if this item -- all nicely matted, framed, with a photograph of the historic astronaut and an explanation of why the check was written -- is being sold without Mr. Armstrong's approval, then it's wrong. If it has his approval, I can only speculate that he's arranged with the person holding the check that the money go to a specific charity Mr. Armstrong supports, and that none of the money is kept by the owner of the check. Anything else is totally uncharacteristic of what we've learned about this taciturn, reticent, publicity-shunning, very very private man over the last 40 years.
By comparison, Col. Collins wrote a great book about the mission and later served as head of the Smithsonian Institution ... and Col. Aldrin -- well, just Google "Buzz Aldrin" and you'll see he's never strayed too far from the limelight, even appearing as a celebrity panelist on several 1970s-era game shows.
Mentioning Col. Aldrin makes me think of those foolish people out there who insist the moon landing never happened, and all of those missions took place on a Hollywood sound stage or something. (You know, like that God-awful movie, Capricorn One.) One of the people who is most vocal about this bizarro theory approached Col. Aldrin one day, while an accomplice video-taped the encounter. All he wanted Col. Aldrin to do, he said, was swear on the Bible that the moon landing actually took place.
Colonel Aldrin -- who had been incessantly bothered by this jerk and others like him, promoting their weird idea -- swore, all right. Right in the man's face ... then he hauled off and decked him. And walked away. Good on you, Colonel! (Of course, the weirdo sued, but I don't think he got anything out of it -- even public figures have the right not to be bothered by lunatics.)
But back to the topic. Today marks the fortieth anniversary of mankind's greatest achievement, the landing of men on the moon -- and their safe return to Earth. The fact that we did it five more times, each time lasting longer than the first, does not diminish what those three brave men did back in '69. And the fact that NASA today is making plans to return to the moon within 10 years and begin establishing a permanent human presence there is a testament to the work done by Mr. Armstrong, Col. Aldrin, Col. Collins, and all the other men and women who made the Apollo program so important. And after the moon ... Mars, and other planets, other stars, other vistas.
More to come on this topic ... but for now, I have to get back to work.
There are some people out there ... some icons out there ... that you just think are never going to die. It seems that they've always been among us, and they'll always be among us.
When they do pass on, it's like a hit from a taser -- stunning, shocking, and you're left feeling pretty bad.
Such is the case today, as I contemplate a world without Walter Cronkite in it.
Mr. Cronkite -- without question the dean of all television newscasters -- died Friday at the age of 92. To the American public of the 1960s and 1970s, he was "Uncle Walter," telling us what happened in the world in his own inimitable style, and finishing up every broadcast with, "And that's the way it is, (insert the date here), this is Walter Cronkite, CBS News ... good night."
I recall hearing him say in an interview that he almost got in serious trouble with his boss at CBS for using that line, "And that's the way it is." Seems that William Paley, the head honcho at CBS, was concerned that -- if his network's anchorman was using that line -- it would mean CBS couldn't make any mistakes, becuase then, it wouldn't be the "way it is." But by the time Mr. Paley and Mr. Cronkite hashed the issue out, the line had become a catchphrase, and it stayed in. I'm glad it did, too ... on the rare occasions when I use my passably-bad imitation of Mr. Cronkite, I start with those words. (I don't do it at school too much, though ... the kids have no idea who Walter Cronkite was.)
Yeah, but I know who he was ... and most of you do as well. He was the news, from 1962 until 1981, every weeknight on CBS. He replaced Douglas Edwards when the CBS Evening News was only 15 minutes long. Mr. Cronkite passed the baton on to Dan Rather on March 6, 1981, saying he'd be moving into feature reporting. It didn't seem that CBS wanted him to do too much reporting, because they sure didn't feature him in much after he stepped down. And what happened to that "mandatory" retirement at 65, anyway? Mr. Rather stayed in the same chair way past his 65th birthday ... too long, some might say.
For many people, though, the day Mr. Cronkite became America's newsman was November 22, 1963.
He interrupted the CBS soap opera, As The World Turns, to bring the first shocking news out of Dallas, Texas, that shots had been fired at President John F. Kennedy's motorcade. Within the first few minutes after the bulletin, a camera was hauled upstairs to the CBS newsroom (the studio was one floor below) and hooked up, and Mr. Cronkite began his on-air coverage.
Thanks to YouTube, here's the coverage of that dark day in history.
Another major feature of Mr. Cronkite's tenure in the anchor chair was his direct influence on Lyndon Johnson's decision not to run for re-election in 1968. It seems that Mr. Cronkite's remarks on Vietnam caused the President to realize that, as he reportedly said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."
It was fun watching Mr. Cronkite cover the moon landing in 1969. He was having just as much fun -- and being just as amazed -- with the event as the rest of us were. Having him there with Wally Schirra made it seem like ... well ... the way it was.
And the man had class, too. When Chet Huntley retired from NBC and ended the Huntley-Brinkley Report in 1970, Mr. Cronkite had this to say about his competitor:
Class. Pure class.
It's sad to have to contemplate a world without Walter Cronkite in it. But what would be even sadder, if you ask me, would be a world that never had him. I work part-time in television news, and Mr. Cronkite is still the gold standard by which all anchormen -- myself included -- are measured. On my best day, I am not 1/250,000th as good as he was on his worst day. I can only try to get better. But like all the others, I know I will never measure up.
He was, quite simply, the Most Trusted Man In America. And he earned that title every day.
Thank you for your work, Mr. Cronkite, and for your sense of journalistic ethics -- something which is sorely lacking in some quarters today. You will, indeed, be missed.
Space-y
