Coming Back

It's been cooler - even cold! - these last few months ... and it's been grayer, too, from clouds that block the sun, yet deliver no rain ... and at times it's been way too windy for me. Eh, winter!

But today, Spring is coming back. Today, I went out to the side yard of this place where we were staying, and was greeted not just with the head of the house's septic tank system, and the assurance that all was well with said system ... but by a bluebonnet, as well ... my first bluebonnet of the new year!

Today, spring is coming back.

I've lived in West Texas long enough to appreciate that we seem to have only two seasons in our part of the Lone Star State ... SUMMER, and NOT-QUITE-SUMMER.

But not today ... for today, at least, SPRING is coming back ... and I'm thinking that maybe there are ways I should be coming back, too. More on that later ... but, for now, enjoy my bluebonnet.

THE Christmas tradition ... Luke wrote it, Linus shared it, I believe it

Clutter's "Agnes Dei," from the Bowden Collections' "Christ Is Born"

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2
King James Version (KJV)

However you mark this day, a very Merry Christmas! May this find you and yours happy and healthy, this holiday season and in the new year to come!

A Christmas tradition, of sorts ...

Even in the days of DVDs, when I could watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" easily and inexpensively, whenever I wanted, I would still wait for the Christmas season to come around, so I could watch the broadcast, just as I did the first time it aired ... and have done every Christmas season since then ... at least until the last couple of years, when broadcasters made additional cuts to the original program. Made me glad I bought the DVD a while back ... I still wait for the Christmas season to come around ... I just watch it via a new medium.

I like the humor of the story, with characters and dialogue that doesn't drive adults out of the room, screaming ... and I like the fact that we are allowed to laugh - or not - spontaneously, without the urging of a laugh track.

And I LOVE the music! The soundtrack was composed by the late, great Vincent Guaraldi, and was performed by Guraraldi and his trio. It's one of my favorite holiday music albums, AND one of my favorite jazz albums.

And I like the idea that a story about Christmas has something to say about Christ ... with a wonderful delivery by Linus of Scripture from the Gospel of Luke (King James version, no less), answering Charlie Brown's question of 'what Christmas is all about.'



There are some wonderful anecdotes out there about the making (and the near UN-making) of "Charlie Brown Christmas," and how viewers and critics had the nerve to rear-up and roar-out their opinions of the show ... opinions that differed dramatically from what network executives had predicted.

Makes me wonder if such a cartoon special could be produced and aired on a major television network today ... I don't know ... maybe not. I remain a big fan of cartoons ... but I just don't see as much respect for viewers young and old as I see demonstrated in something like "Charlie Brown Christmas." And with contemporary cartoon production being what it is, would we ever again see a gathering of talent such as Charles Shultz (words), Bill Melendez (images) and Vince Guaraldi (music), all of whom were not only creators, but determined advocates for their project? Again ... I don't know ... maybe not.

Now, if there was just some way to add those old sponsor plugs for Coca-Cola and Dolly Madison.

Kicking-off the 'giving season'

"We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. This year help create #GivingTuesday, the giving season’s opening day," writes givingtuesday.org. "On Tuesday November 27, 2012 charities, families, businesses and individuals are coming together to transform the way people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season."

"It’s a simple idea. Find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to join in acts of giving. Tell everyone you can about what you are doing and why it matters. Join a national celebration of our great tradition of generosity, and together we’ll create ways to give more, give better and give smarter."

Recalling old times through new connections ...

In the local media this past month, some attention devoted to the 25th anniversary of the rescue of Jessica McClure from a well in southwest Midland where she was trapped for three days. That attention also provided for me an opportunity to connect with a one-time co-worker of mine - someone I have not seen for many, many years - and gain a renewed appreciation for how much smaller our world has become through the world wide web.

It was for me, a singular and - I hope - a defining moment in Midland's history. I found it to be one that illustrated so well what a community - and the individuals who comprise that community - can accomplish.

We can better appreciate those individual and community efforts from that time because of people like Phil Huber. Phil was a photographer back then for KMID-TV, Big 2, which made him something of a point-man for what was West Texas' dominant #1 television news department of that decade. Me, I was a writer and assistant producer in Big 2's creative services department, as well as a public service director and umpteen other things. That's how we did it back then ... everybody did a thing or two, or three. But that flexibility and that willingness would serve us well in the days that followed a call that brought a a reporter from Big 2 News and his photog (Phil) to a home on Tanner Street.

Phil's job was just to shoot the video, then take it back to the station for editing, and presentation on the evening news. But this time around, there would be more to it than that. A couple of officers peering down the well hole, trying to see/hear something of the little girl who had fallen in. The solution was a shotgun mic mounted on the top of Phil's camera ... was it detachable? It was, and Phil had additional cable that allowed the microphone to be lowered to where the girl was trapped, and the earphones that would allow the officers to listen. That was the first contact between the girl and her rescuers, and Phil was part of it.

You have to remember the technology of the day. This was 1987, and we were a small television market to boot. Those of us who who have grown accustomed to instant, total coverage of breaking news from almost anywhere, might forget what technology was available for news coverage in those days, especially for those of us who were yet to equip with what was new and developing in our nation's larger television markets. When I think of what coverage of that rescue might have been like back then, with just the cell phone technology we have now? Wow.

It was a long three days and nights that followed. And most of the staff at our station spent much of that time awake. Even those in the front office (accounting, ad sales and so on) did their part by keeping our switchboard open around the clock, and providing updates to callers from around the world ... or shuttling back and forth between the rescue site with freshly-recharged batteries for the cameras, gasoline for the generator in our live unit, and food for the news crews on the scene. But those news crew were on point ... for us, and for the world ... and IMHO, they did a damn good job.

It all came to an end Friday night, when the little girl emerged from the well in the arms of a rescuer ... hurt, frightened, but alive.

The rescue effort was over, but the effects of those three days would be felt in the months and years to come. And that included the effect it had on the careers of local news personnel. Like I said before, ours is a small market ... many refer to it as a 'teaching' market where youngsters fresh out of school can get some experience, some seasoning, filling their resumѐ tapes and looking for opportunities to move up and out. Phil was one of many, many young men and women who moved on to pursue their careers in markets around the United States.

I have not kept in touch with them as I should have ... but I did reconnect with Phil by chance earlier this year ... through Facebook. Apparently one of my co-workers at the college was a classmate of Phil's ... Midland High School Class of '76 ... On, ye Bulldogs! Through her, I connected with Phil's Facebook page. And at the same time, I have also renewed acquaintances from other Big 2 News alumni. As for Phil, he's living in Alabama now ... but his health hasn't been good, and there are days when his communication is limited to reading 'liking' posts that friends have made on his Facebook page.

An amazing thing, really ... how we can connect (or re-connect) through the world wide web, and how we can communicate ... even in circumstances where, in the past, connecting and communicating would have been difficult at best.

An awfully long digression, really, to get to my initial point ... appreciation for a renewed connection, best wishes to former co-worker, and a prayer of wholeness and healing for him.

So long to a good ol' boy

Count me among those mourning the death of stage, screen and (most of all) television star Larry Hagman, who passed away Friday in a Dallas, Texas, hospital. Hagman was 81.


To many people around the world, Hagman - in his role as the charming and conniving oilman, J.R. Ewing - became the defitive Texan ... and that's alright by me. IMHO, he was a good ol' boy, and his role in the long-running (and recenty re-booted) television series, "Dallas," captured more than a little of the flavor, the spirit of the cowboy-hatted-and-booted, wheeling-dealing, go-for-broke characters that one still finds among independents in the Texas oil and gas industry.

Unlike myself, Hagman is a native son of Texas, and he brought some of his experience with the state and the oilfield to his role. A big fan of "Dallas" back in the 80s, I found myself back in front of the television for the series' reboot this past year, and felt amply rewarded by the experience ... especially seeing Hagman back at work. What I didn't know until earlier this year, was the back-story of Dallas and its inception, the evolution of the J.R. Ewing role, and the determined efforts by Hagman to elevate that role and its prominence in the series ... working in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes.

I STRONGLY recommend an article by by Harry Hurt III in the June 2012 issue of Texas Monthly, titled "Larry Hagman’s Curtain Call." It offers a wonderful glimpse of the life and times of Hagman, and the fascinating road he followed in the course of his personal and professional life. "There's nothing like watching the real J.R. Ewing in action," Hurt writes in the opening of that article ... I have to agree.

Some will remember him as 'Buck,' while many more will remember him as 'Maj. Anthony Nelson.' But I suspect most of us will remember him as 'J.R. Ewing' ... I know I will ... and I wonder how long the re-boot of "Dallas," may last very without him ... not long on my television set.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

“Oh God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry; when I have work, help me to remember the jobless; when I have a warm home, help me to remember the homeless; when I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer; and remembering, help me to destroy my complacency and bestir my compassion. Make me concerned enough to help, by word and deed those who cry out for what we take for granted ... Amen.”

– Samuel F. Pugh

So long, it's been good to know ya'

In recent years, it's been nice to start my day online with a colorful, yet calming image of a creation by artist Dale Chihuly ...

... that ends today.

"Background images are going away on November 16, 2012," Google tells me. "Thank you for using background images. As we build a more streamlined Google Search page for everyone, we’ll no longer be able to support customization with background images. So you will no longer be able to see your background pictures starting November 16, 2012."

I'm sure Google has all sorts of wonderful (though less-customized) new opportunities for me ... we'll see.

So long, it's been good to know ya'

Now THIS is 'must see' TV ...

All this time, I've been away from this forum ... and when I return, it sort of picks up where I left off with something in our part of the country, where humans are once again venturing into ... well ... not space, I guess, in this case ... but the edges of space, at least.

Viel Glück, Felix Baumgartner!



Also, at http://www.redbullstratos.com/live/

Is THIS the time for aerospace in West Texas?

A lot of space and time in the local news - and in discussion of said news - being devoted to a recently-concluded deal between a private aerospace firm, the Midland City Council and the Midland Development Corporation, to bring that firm's headquarters and research-and-development operations to the Tall City.

"Never before have humans flown into space from Texas and that's going to happen," Col. Richard Seafross, USAF (retired), chief test pilot for XCOR Aerospace said in a related article. "You're helping XCOR continue with our dream."

This isn't the first time that West Texas has been proposed as a location for aerospace research and operations, that a West Texas community has pursued that dream ... but according to promoters of this current deal, it could be the most successful. Detractors, of course, have another opinion. Me? I'd like to see it work out ... just as I did in Fort Stockton, back in the 90s, during one of the first efforts to attract an aerospace venture to West Texas. And if this latest effort does indeed 'take-off,' we just might owe a tip-of-the-hat ... not to Rick Perry and his bunch ... but to Gregg McKenzie and HIS bunch.

It was about 15 years ago, and I was managing editor of the Fort Stockton Pioneer, a Thursday morning weekly. In that capacity, I was covering a meeting of the Pecos County Commissioners Court when Pct. 1 Commissioner Gregg McKenzie first raised in public discussion, the topic of a spaceport in West Texas, particularly in our very own Pecos County. Initial discussions, back then in Fort Stockton, covered some of the same ground as the recent discussions being reported now in Midland ... economic impact, educational opportunities and so on.

But why West Texas? Well, apparently many of the conditions that made this region such an ideal location for flight training bases back in the 40s, preparing American air crews for World War II, made it an ideal location for aerospace ventures in the modern day. For one thing, we had a lot of open ground. And back in the 90s, that ground was pretty cheap. And we had a lot of open airspace. And that is still true today, even with increased private and commercial air traffic. And while there are other barren areas in the southwest, they might be encumbered in one way or another. At that time, there was competition from a site in Nevada to provide a location for a spaceport ... but it was surrounded by so many secure or off-limits areas run by various branches of the U.S. military and the U.S. government, that any effort to locate a private enterprise in the middle of it posed serious bureaucratic challenge. Proponents of a spaceport here also noted a pro-business attitude among people and governments in Texas, that was harder to find in a state such as California.

Needless to say there were some smiles in the room over McKenzie's suggestion ... but there was enough consideration to provide for a second hearing, and a third. It also was well-covered in the local newspaper. Gregg was a pro at working the media, and in me he found a sympathetic audience ... even if we were separated by a generation or two. He was a member of a pioneer ranching family and a life-long West Texan, while I was a newbie ... and a dang Yankee from back east, to boot. But we still connected over childhood memories of adventures in the stars ... Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon for Gregg, Dr. Who and James Kirk for me.

And we were both mindful that some of America's pioneering rocket research was done just up the road a ways ... 60+ years earlier in southeast New Mexico, where Dr. Robert Goddard once set-up shop and dremed of reaching then unheard-of heights.

For a while, there was even some excitement over the idea, especially following a visit by representatives of the Washington (state)-based Kistler Aerospace. They were strong on conception ... but execution fell short. Kistler was later acquired by another company, underwent some re-branding, then closed it's doors in 2007.

Still, though, there was some buzz generated among companies 'out west' ... not just by the Kistler Aerospace venture in Pecos County, but also by efforts of Blue Origin (another Washington state-based company) in nearby Culberson County. Add to that another, later venture back in Pecos County by the California-based JP Aerospace.

And now comes another California-based company, XCOR Aerospace, and what may be one of the more serious proposals yet ... I wish I could say THE most serious, but there's just not as much information about Blue Origin's venture ... THEY may be the ones with the edge, to be the first to 'have humans flown into space from Texas.'

But, hey, whatever ... good luck to XCOR ... or whoever makes it work. I think Gregg had an inspred - and inspiring! - dream, and a good idea ... and I would love to see that dream be realized, that idea take flight at long last.