Archive for December, 2005

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My predictions for 2006

Saturday, December 31st, 2005

• The issue of a nuclear Iran fully ignites as a major global crisis and precipitates some type of military action before the end of the year.
    — reference

• Despite the conventional wisdom that Academy members won’t choose two portrayals of dead musicians back to back, long-shot Joaquin Phoenix takes home an Oscar for his Johnny Cash performance when Hoffman, Strathairn, and Ledger split the “progressive” votes.
    — reference

• Voters, upset with a blatantly hypocritical broadening of investigations into the governor’s partisan supporters, cast ballots to further reduce the number of Democrats in the Kentucky House.
    — reference

• Aggragetors and reading lists for RSS feeds will hit a tipping point of mass appeal in the same way that Web logs did in 2005, making blogs an even more popular “spectator sport.”
    — reference

• Senator Clinton enters the autumn with such an insurmountable lead in funding over Kerry, Edwards, and her other opponents that the media acknowledges her inevitable nomination and shifts its attention to who might successfully challenge her on the Republican side, leaving the door open for Bayh to exploit her “frontrunner” status and surge in polls by the end of the year.
    — reference

• Critics shower Tom Cruise with praise for finally “getting it right” with his decision to put the fate of his M:I franchise in the hands of “Alias” creator J.J. Abrams, and the partners follow their summer box-office smash with an announcement that Abrams will scrap “Alias” to develop a new “Mission: Impossible” television series starring Ving Rhames as the team leader, with “the voice” of the mission controller to be Cruise himself.
    — reference

Posted in Current Events, Movies, Personalities, Political Affairs, Presidency, Technology, Television | Comments Closed

My 2005 Highlight Reel

Friday, December 30th, 2005

— Josh comes home to his Clan for a mid-deployment visit.

— Mack stops by the Town House and we talk about my old saxophone.

— Gov. Fletcher appoints me to the Kentucky Bicycle Commission.

— A major international Arts and Crafts exhibition unexpectedly comes to our attention.

— We hike back Horse Lick Hollow for Marty’s first visit to the Clan’s little “Pine Forest.”

— Seth and I complete the long-overdue “Pirate Revenge” video.

— I experience my first artistic fellowship with a group of Layerists.

— The exalted Plastic Mullet Series honors yours truly.

— I have the opportunity to design the poster for Sheldon Tapley’s painting.

— David treats me to another great hunting weekend in the Knobs.

— Jay and Glenda make their vows at a wedding ceremony in Liberty.

— Dana and I thoroughly enjoy listening to Gates of Fire on tape.

— After Aunt Alma’s funeral, Dana, Jerome and I pray at the Shrine of the Holy Relics.

— Caitlan takes us all to Oxford with her captivating England Blog.

— I discover the extraordinary young writer Paul Watkins and hook myself on his work.

— Marty and I conduct our first camp-out on “Widow’s Knob.”

— The Clan gathers for Mombo’s 80th-Birthday tribute at the Boone Tavern and Hotel.

— Dana and I celebrate our 23rd Anniversary in Augusta, Kentucky.

• • •  and the top highlight of 2005  • • •

— Bruce battles through kidney failure, septicemia, and the various complications of severe pancreatitis to defy—by the grace of Almighty God—the medical odds against his survival.

Posted in Bruce, Caitlan, Dana, Family, Jay, Jerome, Marty, Mombo, Time | Comments Closed

Only love is real

Thursday, December 29th, 2005

Days of mixed emotions as the year draws to a close…

I’m really excited about the wise, practical advice I’m getting from Twyla Tharp’s “The Creative Habit,” the best book on creativity I’ve ever discovered. Anyone who is remotely artistic or has even a modest hope of harnessing their creative abilities should read this book. I wish I’d read it 30 years ago—a silly thought, since she wrote it in 2003. That she’s been able to synthesize from her life experience such a down-to-earth approach is another form of genius beyond her greatness as a dancer/choreographer. Her counsel is so effective that I’m already getting noticeable results, and I’m only half way through the book.

In a previous entry I mentioned Paula, the state employee who was coordinating the KBBC when I joined the Commission at the end of the summer. I learned today that the cancer has advanced to the final stage and her family was gathering nearby to keep the vigil. My one long talk with Paula took place on what might have been the most exhilarating day of the year for me. She was very nice and very professional, believing she was making a routine follow-up call to introduce herself and offer her help within the Transportation Cabinet. I was totally lost, and it became clear soon enough that I wasn’t yet aware of the Governor’s appointment. We ended up having an amusing conversation after we put the awkward moment of embarrassment behind us. I looked forward to getting to know her and hardly imagined never speaking to her again. I don’t need to go into the memories from a year ago that this news brings to the surface. I just hate to be reminded that another family is facing a new year with the same tide of overwhelming sadness.

With the observance of her 15th birthday, my niece Hayley is on the brink of success as an athlete. She’s put in some hard work as a youngster, but is now poised to commence her career as an outstanding high school ballplayer. I watched her carry her team to a two-point tournament game victory yesterday as a freshman, and I can vividly see the potential, although I’m not knowledgeable enough to analyze her situation in detail. I’ll leave that to others. I just know how happy I am for her and how much I wish her well. A relaxed self-confidence is beginning to blossom, plus the capacity to turn on “the means,” when necessary. A good combination that will improve with more playing time, which she’s certain to get after a performance like her 14-point, 9-rebound effort last night. You got it, Belle— go tear ’em up tonight!

Bruce has improved enough for probable release by the weekend. He’s still experiencing enough dramatic flux in his body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse rate to keep everyone on edge about his prognosis for 2006. It took our friend Nathan two years to recover some level of normalcy in his bout with pancreatitis, presumably a worse case than Bruce’s, and that included multiple surgeries. This gives me reason to have the long-term outlook for a positive outcome, to resist the tendency to fret about the periodic fluctuations, and to recognize that the Father has a purpose for this man that none of us can begin to imagine. It will just take time. Lots of it.

So… I’m juggling joy, sadness, hope, and fear right now, but behind that veneer of emotional energy is a core of Divine Love. I’m grateful that I grew up swimming in a lake of pure love. Not indulgence or sympathy or favoritism or the milk of human kindness. Love. The real thing. And I realize now that it’s the Presence of God in my life, and I’ve since learned how many others have struggled to adulthood without it. That is surely my greatest gift. Not my talents, or my excellent health, or my “good joss,” but the certainty of always knowing I am deeply loved, and it enables me to touch the Heart of Christ—if I remember to pay attention. If I relax, avoid the panic, and float in that vast life-giving ocean—an inner and outer home that’s always been there and always will be.

Posted in Creativity, Family, Gratitude, Nonfiction, Personalities, Priorities, Public Service, Sport | Comments Closed

Fall back and regroup

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

After a feverish night, Bruce went to his scheduled doctor’s appointment. With a temperature around 105 degrees, the decision was made to admit him back into the hospital again. He’d been home since Christmas Eve, but apparently was unable to maintain the upper hand against a stubborn, virulent strain of microbes that continues to populate his abdominal cavity. Nevertheless, he’s in good spirits.

Posted in Family | Comments Closed

Love one another

Tuesday, December 27th, 2005

I generally don’t pay much attention to the calendar that honors the saints, but I always take special note of the “feast day” that falls on this date. This holy person, familiar to all Christians, is referred to as “John the Apostle” or “John the Evangelist,” but I know him as “John the Beloved.” The only one of the Twelve to endure his Master’s passion until the end, the well-being of the Blessed Mother was entrusted to his guardianship, and, perhaps less obvious, Jesus also committed his mother to caring for John as her son (John 19:27). How singular his role! The Father would preserve his life to an advanced age after all the other Apostles were long slain.

Why do I regard John so highly? Yes, my name is John and have held this attachment since childhood, plus I’ve always taken pleasure in the Easter moment when John wins the footrace to the tomb against Peter. I also like how he comes to our attention as a seeker, transferring his interest (with Andrew!) from the Baptist (another John) to Jesus—hey, gimme a break, I’m named after two guys who weren’t against going where the path took them. But I know myself well enough to see that it’s the sacred personality of John that holds deep spiritual appeal for me. His fundamental message of love is more powerful than intellectual arguments, and he influences my conviction that love in action may be the only true religion. He was also the strongest—before the Holy Spirt came into the picture.

There are times when I think that there are two kinds of Christians, those that say to themselves, “I’d have been scared, too, and stayed away,” and those who say to themselves, “I’d have stayed with Jesus and let the chips fall.” For those of us who believe we might have had the courage to stand there and watch, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” is our saint. But I’m a man, and must now remind myself that Mary Magdalene also kept the vigil with Mother Mary. And then there are times when I think that this notion is flawed, for, as Robert Benchley wrote, “There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.”

Posted in Personalities, Saints, Scripture | Comments Closed

But you can still pray for me if you’d like to

Monday, December 26th, 2005

If my offhand remarks about the Catholic Church were imprudent or disrespectful, I apologize. It was not my desire to cause distress to anybody, especially at Christmas. No one who knows me should fret for one second about my spiritual well-being. My faith is deep and integral to every important thing in my life, but my prayerful relationship with the Creator has little to do with traditional religion, and I came to that realization nearly twenty-five years ago. Nothing essential in my daily activity is disconnected from the heart of Christ. I have no disunity with those who equate the presence of God in their lives with a loyalty to the church of their choice or upbringing, but it’s not my personal path. I struggle with my own imperfections and unmet potential, and have no meaningful place in my life for adding to those personal challenges the travails of a flawed church structure. I would no sooner seek to improve my soul’s condition by limiting my sacred practice to the beliefs of a single religious institution than I would try to become a better swimmer by wearing my street clothes and shoes into the pool every week.

Posted in Prayer | Comments Closed

Christmas musings

Sunday, December 25th, 2005

• Nobody can recite the Holy Bible like Charlton Heston, and I do mean nobody. Christmas morning isn’t set until I watch his performance of the Nativity verses, filmed at the ruins of a Roman amphitheater. Sometimes I just want to shut my eyes and listen to the masterful shift of his voice characterization from Angel to Blessed Virgin to Shepherd to Magi to the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple doing “my father’s business.” And I always enjoy how he portrays the angel telling Joseph that Herod “is dead,” almost as if the heavenly being takes grim satisfaction in the opportune demise.

• My TV-Show Fantasy Wish List for Santa: I want a sprawling hacienda like Big John Cannon’s, on a ranch like The Yellow Rose, with a horse just like Jason McCord’s, and a fully stocked pull-down gun panel like the one James West had. When I need to be in the city, I’d like a Robin Masters Ferrari so I can commute to my urban pad, just like the apartment Jim Phelps lived in, with a big John Gnagy studio attached, plus a closet with an Alexander Mundy wardrobe. I suppose that’ll do for this year, Santa, unless you want to toss in a hovercraft, custom-built by Benton Quest. I’ve been really, really nice.

• I don’t know how long ago the “Oyster-Stew Eve” tradition began, but now it wouldn’t be Christmas for me without it. We gathered once again last night at Mombo’s, and it was a full house with all the Hellyers in attendance. Bubb played the temperamental stew chef, but his main course was superb as usual. I could have done without the bizarre homily that gushed on about everyone’s favorite computer racketeer earning his media sainthood. Oh well, there’s got to be a reason church hierarchs would exile a pastor to the boondocks of rural Kentucky. After what I’ve learned about the downfall of the precious parish in Richmond, nothing is going to surprise me about the bewildering judgments of those running an institutional religion that long ago lost its way. Give me a simple family Christmas Eve, with loving hugs, wall-to-wall cousins, Yorkies under foot, Jaybon’s vino, mud room goodbyes, and the lasting brilliance of a Dadbo who combined the sleep-inducing benefits of warm milk for the kiddoes, with a dose of aphrodisiac for Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

Posted in Community, Dadbo, Family, Food, Holidays, Jay, Jerome, Mombo, Personalities, Scripture, Television, Wine | Comments Closed

It was some blonde… I don’t know who she is

Saturday, December 24th, 2005

I laugh to myself every time I think about it, and I’m not sure if I should, or whether a bit of angst is the more logical response—as if angst ever had a thing to do with logic. When I was finishing my last stint as a 2005 Red Kettle bell ringer, Jeanne saw me at the Wal-Mart grocery entrance. She told me she was thinking of Grandy-bo because I was wearing the Hudson Bay coat that originally belonged to William Breidenbach, and she remembered that Dadbo wore it for a few years after Dana gave it to him. She didn’t realize it was me at first. We were having a sweet brother-sister moment when my Rotarian replacement arrived, a lady who’s a top employee at one of our client businesses. Jeanne put her arms around me and gave me a kiss. I said, “See you tomorrow night.” It wasn’t until later that I recalled the odd look on the woman’s face when I handed her the bell and wished her a Merry Christmas…

Posted in Angst, Business, Community, Dadbo, Dana, Family, Jeanne | Comments Closed

So tender and mild

Friday, December 23rd, 2005

I sent out the rest of this year’s Christmas cards, which use a small block print that I call “Holy Infant.” Technically, I guess it would be considered a wood engraving, since it was cut on the endgrain, but it seems far too primitive for that description, since I used a tool more suited to a woodcut (sidegrain), the piece of wood itself left a lot to be desired (from a quality standpoint), and the actual printing process was a crude affair using old stamp-pad ink. Nevertheless, the rustic effect pleased me, and it was just a limited experiment anyway. It just heightens my desire to do some proper printmaking, using a true engraver’s tool, with one of the good maple blocks I bought over a year ago from Wesley Bates.

Posted in Art, Craftsmanship | Comments Closed

Check out Chicago’s proposed Fordham Spire

Thursday, December 22nd, 2005

I rang the bell tonight during the last kettle hour at Wal-Mart, and I think it was the heaviest kettle I’ve ever held. I hope we make our $60,000 goal by Saturday. Marty showed up and came with me to our house for the night. After supper, he turned me on to a cool Website, if you like skyscrapers (and who doesn’t?).

Posted in Community, Marty, Technology | Comments Closed

Don’t ask me, wait and see

Wednesday, December 21st, 2005

After spending a night in critical care, Bruce is being released to a regular room. They replaced tube lines that were the likely source of infection. Aside from the pain associated with that procedure, he seems to be doing well, and all his test results look good.

Posted in Family | Comments Closed

Dr. Tam — Paging Dr. Simon Tam

Tuesday, December 20th, 2005

With less than a week ’til Christmas, it’s not happy news to find out that Bruce is being admitted back into Methodist Hospital tonight. He started to run a fever after Dana left this weekend, and his temperature climbed above 103 degrees by the end of his dialysis treatment today. Something undesirable is clearly working again on the inside, so it’s best they get to the bottom of it promptly.

Posted in Dana, Family | Comments Closed

Tales of the Graybeard Prospector V

Monday, December 19th, 2005

•   Sometimes it takes awhile for a prospecting effort to result in a strike. I can’t remember exactly when the Dixon Family Reunion was held at the Blue Bank Farm (May 2004?), but by the time it was over, my cousin Joe and I had made the first step toward exploring a working relationship. He runs a company in Virginia and was looking to support his sales and corporate identity objectives with a higher level of visual design. We continued to talk, and when Bruce was in the hospital last spring, Joe even stopped there once to make a connection. Yesterday we talked again and I knew it was the moment to close the sale. I think he knew it, too. I’m excited about what 2006 holds in store, and this is one more good reason.

Thar’s gold in them thar hills!

… graybeard prospector …

Posted in Business, Family, Studio | Comments Closed

Tales of the Graybeard Prospector IV

Sunday, December 18th, 2005

•   One of best things to come from my going to the local GOP holiday reception was the opportunity to talk my friend Ken B, who got a fairly high political appointment with the Kentucky State Resort Parks at the beginning of Governor Fletcher’s term. The timing seemed right to raise the issue of how we might present our studio qualifications to the Department of Parks, since we’d just won our third “Traverse Award” from the Kentucky Tourism Council.

Ken offered to hand deliver some examples of our work to the proper person and open the door so we could make the case for using Dixon Design. It will be up to us to go through the standard review process for becoming a resource to state government, and that’s the way it should be. We may not have worked for the Commonwealth before, but we’ve been honored at the state level more that once for our brochure design, so I’m ready to throw my hat into the ring.

… graybeard prospector …

Posted in Business, Friends, Studio | Comments Closed

Clean and shiny

Saturday, December 17th, 2005

Day started out great when I got tricked into an eight-miler, even though my head meter was stuck on six. By the time I got home, I was psyched to make some art, and then I found out the good news—Dana had just blown town and would be back to Danville by evening, which means Bruce has improved enough to say “Go home, Mom.” Better tidy up the kitchen!

Posted in Dana, Exercise, Family, Home | Comments Closed

I don’t care, I’m still free

Friday, December 16th, 2005

In the past 40 years, the very best broadcast television series—with the notable exceptions of Mission: Impossible and Seinfeld—have all been Western hybrids:

The Wild Wild West (western/espionage)
Kung Fu (western/martial arts)
The Yellow Rose (western/soap)
Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times (western/literary)
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (western/fantasy)

And now, wholeheartedly, I can add another to my list—
Firefly (western/science fiction)

Well, to be accurate, perhaps not the very best from an objective standpoint, but my top favorites. You have to keep in mind that I have unusual tube tastes, and I’ve also never had premium cable channels like HBO, so I’ve yet to see an episode of The Sopranos, wasn’t able to follow the anthology series Dead Man’s Gun, or have had an opportunity to watch the currently running, critically acclaimed Deadwood.

Lonesome Dove might be the best evidence that the viewing public will always respond to a well-made, well-marketed Western (but that was just a mini-series, and made over 15 years ago, now that I think about it). It’s possible that the 20-year drumbeat of Gunsmoke scripts (better add Bonanza to that) sucked the life out of the genre for the mass audience, forcing it to mutate to survive. In that sense, the Western has never gone away, but diversified for niche audiences. The problem is that television, even in the age of cable/satellite channels and the explosion of niche marketing in just about every other realm of business, still hasn’t learned how to reap success with smaller segments of loyal consumers of entertainment. Notice how many of my favorite shows were cancelled prematurely, if not in a preposterously capricious manner.

This should finally change forever with the maturity of the Internet.

I hope I live long enough to watch Con-Geeki, that really good Frontier Polynesian Interstellar Grifter Comedy I’ve always longed for.

Posted in Business, Television | Comments Closed

Multi-Mate Marriage

Thursday, December 15th, 2005

It looks like this is polygamy week at Gruntled Center.

Not interested?

Trust me—when Beau Weston zeroes in on something, it’s nothing else but damn interesting.

Posted in Blogging, Social Science | Comments Closed

Magic Island

Wednesday, December 14th, 2005

I saw Joan’s mention of Aunt Carol’s game.

Beverages included? What about spices?

Ok, ok…

If I spend any more time, I’ll just keep fiddling around with them, so here are my picks—

Corn, tomatoes, spinach, almonds, eggs, cheese, avocados, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and raspberries.

And we get to share, right?

How about if we add to the game?

I wasn’t there at the genesis, but what if we discovered a chest on Magic Island containing three books—a Holy Bible, the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, and Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (unabridged)—and each of us could pick three additional books, which the chest would produce for our group library. There would be no other books on Magic Island—for the rest of our lives.

What three volumes would you choose?

Here are my selections—

The I Ching (or Book of Changes), The Odyssey of Homer, and James Clavell’s SHÕGUN.

When faced with picking books with pictures or books with words, I chose words. When faced with making more universal choices or being selfish, I decided to be selfish.

What about you?

Would you pick a how-to book, a cookbook (not a bad idea), or a collection of reproductions? Literature? What about a book with blank pages—no other books on Magic Island means just that—or a work you’d want the other inhabitants to read?

Nobody knows how long the chest’s magic will last.

Hurry, but choose wisely…

Posted in Art, Family, Fiction, Food, Nonfiction, Playtime, Priorities, Verse | Comments Closed

In the Blue Light of African Dreams

Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

This Paul Watkins novel simmered until page 256 and then boiled over inside me without warning.

How did he do that? It makes me want to wolf down the remaining 54 pages in one sitting, but I’m not sure I’m ready to release these characters just yet.

This is the third novel he wrote—at age 26. Third person rather than first, it has a slightly more unsettling tone than “The Forger,” but no less cinematic (even more so I’d say), and yet it’s clear the same creative force is present in this earlier work. Although perhaps a bit more eager to entertain at this stage, he applies a youthful energy to his story in a remarkably economical manner.

Posted in Fiction, Personalities | Comments Closed

And the nominees are

Monday, December 12th, 2005

Dana made the trip back to Indiana today so she could help Bruce get acclimated at home again, hoping there’s truth in the old saying, “third time’s a charm.” Uncertainties about the security of his pain medications required her to personally sign and take responsibility for the powerful drugs, but I won’t be going into all that here. Suffice it to say—the long saga continues in Hoosierland, and this woman deserves to receive the 2005 “Mother of the Year” award.

Posted in Angst, Dana, Family | Comments Closed

Bust out

Sunday, December 11th, 2005

After yesterday’s cancelled release, I wasn’t sure how long it would be, but Bruce learned from his doctors today that he gets to go home tomorrow. They’ve stopped all antibiotics, so this will be an important opportunity for his own bodily defenses to kick back in. He’ll undoubtedly have a few ups and downs—par for the course with dialysis. Nevertheless, I think his home care is really going to stick this time around.

Posted in Family | Comments Closed

:::: “Thank you. Merry Christmas. God bless you.” :::

Saturday, December 10th, 2005

I’m tired. It was a long day that started out with Dana preparing to drive to Indianapolis, but I found out after I’d been in Liberty for a while that it was a false alarm, and Bruce wasn’t really going to be released, because his blood pressure had dropped too low during dialysis. I spent a lot of time on my feet in the cold ringing the bell for the “no shows,” but it was nice to see members of the Clan, and the red kettles felt heavy at the end of the day (especially the Pamida one), and I also had a good conversation with Kyle Durham, Seth’s mentor, after we’d shut down our Saturday operation for another week.

Posted in Community, Dana, Family | Comments Closed

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