The wrestling program at Sigourney High School has been around for 53 years and in the last half of a century there have been many great wrestlers that have gone through the program. Some of them we know, because they were able to accomplish the credentials that place their name in the history books. Others, we don't know because of whatever the reason, they were unable to achieve those goals. I don't know who all of these wrestlers are. Matter of fact I don't know many of them at all, but I would like to know who they are.
Therefore I am putting together a list of the best wrestlers that wrestled for Sigourney High School that did not qualify for the state wrestling tournament.
Here is what I have thus far.....
DENNIS MCLAUGHLIN
I don't know a lot about McLaughlin's career, but I have heard from many that he was an extremely tough, hardnosed wrestler that ended up being a victim of circumstance at the District tournament his senior season. According to what I've been told he took 3rd place, including losing a heartbreaking hard fought true 2nd place match. His mother worked at the school, while I was attending high school and she caught me in the hall the Monday after the sectional tournament when I finished one match away from qualifying for Districts my senior year. She asked me if I'd find her at lunch and speak with her for a moment. I did and even though I tried to hide it as best as I could, she knew it was killing me inside that I hadn't won my semi-final match. She told me about her son Dennis and how she went into the bathroom after his true 2nd place match and bawled her eyes out because she had watched him get up every morning for four years straight to run, lift weights, work on technique because he wanted to qualify for state. She said that every morning when she'd come to the school and see me running the halls, or in the weight room or drilling moves, it reminded her of Dennis. I think Dennis was actually a much better wrestler than me though. I've heard from others that he was very good.
SHAWN MONROE
Monroe wrestled for Sigourney from 1996 to 1999. A career 103 lbs wrestler, Shawn had a numerous amount of victories over some very talented wrestlers. He wrestled four time State place winner, two time state champion, Dominic Moyer of Oskaloosa to a 6-4 decision that included a beautiful takedown in the second period to tie the match at 4-4. After riding Moyer tough for a while in the third period, he was reversed to go down 6-4. Moyer put in the legs and held on for the victory. A two time sectional champion, Monroe had the unfortunate luck of drawing the eventual state champion from Columbus Junction who hadn't won by anything less than a major decision all season. In the wrestleback Monroe kept eventual three time state place winner and state champion Brad Stockton of Williamsburg from qualifying by defeating him something like 6-3. (Stockton would also become a four time NAIA All American placing 4th-2nd-4th-1st). In the true 2nd place match, Monroe lost a 1 or 2 point match to a kid from Belle Plaine who ended up placing 4th at the state tournament. Without a doubt, Shawn Monroe is one of the best Sigourney Savage wrestlers who did not qualify for state.
JOHN GRAHAM
Not only my opinion, but also the opinion of "The Predicament" in 2000, when they named Graham one of the best wrestlers to not qualify for the state tournament. Graham, who wrestled for Sigourney from 1997 to 2000 had over 130 wins in his career. He also was a four time SICL place winner, and never placed lower than third in nearly every tournament he entered. I can't tell you all of his quality wins, but he has a lot. Victories over multiple state qualifiers, state place winners and I think maybe even a state champion or two.
TYLER RASH
Rash wrestled for Sigourney from 2001 to 2004. During that time he racked up 88 career wins and multiple victories over various state qualifiers. His sophomore year he split matches with North Mahaska's Matt White, who would beat him in the true 2nd place match at Districts to qualify for state that year. His senior year, history would repeat itself as he lost a tough semi-final match to Moravia's Brad Close (who he had beaten 3-1 sudden victory earlier that year) and then turned around and lost another heartbreaker to Columbus Junction's Billy Domingues in the true 2nd place match. That year Rash defeated WACO's Clay Wells, who was ranked #10 at the beginning of the year twice, including once by fall. A two time SICL champion, who had defeated eventual District Champion Wade Kimm twice during the season, including once two weeks before, Rash is one of the best to never qualify for the state tournament.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
If Things Had Happened Differently......
My favorite movie of all time is, Back to the Future. Watching it for the 100,000th time the other night, I began to think of incidents that happened in life, my life and others that have vastly effected the course of my life. How my life turned out and who I became. I don't know if anyone besides me will find any of this fascinating or not, but I know I do.
My Great Grandpa Leomer "Pug" Danels almost played football for the Green Bay Packers
I don't know much about my Grandpa's football career. I didn't even know about it until long after his death. I know that he played for the Packer's farm team for a couple of years back in the mid 1920's. I've been told that he was pretty good and had a promising football career ahead of him if he had chosen to take it. However, his father died unexpectedly and if he didn't return home to Delta, Iowa his mother was going to lose the farm. He decided to give up his football career and head back to Delta to save his mother from losing the farm. He soon met my Grandma Marie Kerber and the rest is history. Had his father not died and he not had to return to Delta, he may have ended up getting bumped up to playing for the Green Bay Packers. Then again if that had happened, he would have remained in Wisconsin, never returned to Iowa and I wouldn't be here.
My Dad Almost Died When He Was a Baby
When my Dad was an infant he contracted a severe case of Pneumonia that nearly took his life. He was very sick and in the hospital for a long period of time. One doctor even prepared my Grandma Norma and Grandpa Harry for the possibility of him not pulling through. My Dad says that he credits his mom and Grandma Danels for why he made it through and defeated Pneumonia. He says that they would take turns with him rocking him all night long and he believes that is what kept him alive.
My Uncle Tom Died and Came Back to Life
I suppose this doesn't effect my life or if it does, I'm not exactly sure how it does. However, it is a really neat story. I'm not sure of the exact year. I believe it was 1976. My Uncle Tom had recently graduated high school and went over to a party in Sigourney. While at the party, he experimented with some LSD and then began the journey back home. Only instead of heading home towards North English, he wound up going the other direction and ended up in Oskaloosa. In Oskaloosa he wrapped his car (a station wagon) around a tree. When he hit the tree, he was thrown into the very back of the station wagon. When paramedics arrived, they took him to the hospital and he died on the operating table. My Grandma Richard and Grandma Kathleen were called to the hospital and when they arrived, they were notified that Tom had died in a car accident. With my Grandma going hysterical in the other room, my Grandpa was brought in to identify the body. When the nurse lifted the sheet, Tom turned his head opened his eyes and said, "Dad?" According to my Grandpa, the nurse turned white and fainted. Death came for my Uncle Tom that day, and Life told death, "Not your time, pal. He's still mine."
You know what makes this story even more bizarre? Had my Uncle Tom been wearing his seatbelt, he would have been trapped in the front seat, instead of being thrown in the back. He would have been crushed to death and not survived. After discovering this, he hasn't put on a seatbelt again. It sort of reminds me of Robert Shaw in JAWS when he says, "I'll never put on a life jacket again." Uncle Tom hasn't worn a seatbelt in nearly 40 years.
I Could Have Ended Up the Stepbrother of Kyle Hanson
Kyle Hanson was a two time state champion for Wilton High School and a two time All American for Northern Iowa. I was in 6th grade when my Dad dated Kyle's mother for about 1/2 a year. I never spent much time around Kyle, but the little time we did spend with each other I got along with him. We played Mortal Kombat together one time and he gave me a ride on his motorcycle a couple of times. I wonder if the relationship with my Dad and Kyle's mom had worked out if that would have had any effect on my wrestling career. He might not have had anything to do with me at all for all I know, but then again maybe he would have. Having a two time Division I All American beat up on me, teach me how to lift weights and give me other advice might have made me into the great wrestler that I always wanted to be. Then again, maybe it wouldn't have.
I Almost Became Related to The Greatest Wrestler That Ever Came Out of Sigourney
Seeing that I wasn't a great wrestler myself, not anywhere close, I am often asked if I had a family member who was. The answer is that no I didn't. Both my Uncle Larry and my Uncle Greg wrestled in high school, but it's not like it is a family tradition. The truth is, I am a very sensitive person. I cry easily. I see a dead dog or cat on the side of the road, I usually have to wipe my eyes. I was picked on and bullied a lot when I was little. Getting me involved in wrestling, put an end to that, it gave me a way to defend myself. To this day, I'm still emotionally an easy target to be bullied, but bullies leave me be because of my physical presence. Sure, I'm the guy that cried about the dead kitten on the road, but I'm also the guy you just saw military press 200 lbs 8 times. I have wrestling to thank for that, and so many other great things in my life. I suppose that's why a guy who never even qualified for districts, has such a love and a passion for the sport.
My Grandpa did date Bonnie Yoder for a long period of time though. There was even talk of them getting married once. Bonnie is the mother of Clark Yoder, three time state champion, Sigourney's greatest wrestler of all time. His brother Ross was also a state champion. My Grandpa and Bonnie dated I believe up until my freshman year of high school. I always got along great with all of the Yoders, especially Ross. Hell, I still get along very well with all of the Yoders. Ross's son, Wes, is currently a wrestler for William Penn University. While we're not related, I still sometimes think of him as my cousin. He'll be entering his sophomore season this year and is looking for his first collegiate victory. Can't wait for that to happen. So, no I'm not related to any great wrestlers, but I did refer to two of Sigourney's all time greatest as "Uncle" for a period of time in my life.
I Gave Up An Opportunity to Cover UFC/MMA Events
In 2010, I get a random message out of nowhere from a guy named Kevin Schlosser who ask me for my phone number because he wants to call me. I give him my phone number and Kevin calls me back saying he owns buckeyewrestle.com, which he's going to make into takedownohio.com and he wants me to be their blogger and writer. I ask him what's in it for me and he tells me that he'll get me into the NCAA tournament for free. I'm sold. I go to work for Kevin and have a lot of fun working with him and his other two associates whose names escape me.
One night, Kevin calls me up at about 2:00 a.m (Not a big deal at the time because I was a cab driver) because he has this great opportunity he wants to talk to me about. I ask him, "what is it?" He says to me, "I won't be able to pay you a lot of money upfront, but how would you like to travel around the country with me covering MMA and UFC?" I think Kevin was expecting me to jump at the idea and be all excited about it. Instead I sat silent for a moment.
"I'll cover all of your meals, hotel cost and pay you at least $200 a week."
My response was that I didn't really care for MMA/UFC and that I wasn't all that interested. In some ways I think I made the right decisions. Matter of fact in a lot of ways I know I did. I was averaging around $300 a week as a cab driver. Granted, traveling around with Kevin, I suppose I didn't technically need to be paying rent for an apartment, but I still had plenty of other bills to worry about.
I have no idea how that would have turned out, had I taken Kevin up on the offer. I think he did it for a period of three or four years before he got out of it himself and I have no idea how successful or unsuccessful he was. I sometimes wonder if I didn't shoot myself in the foot, and if it might have lead to more opportunities as a writer/journalist. I have no idea.
I don' t think Kevin has ever forgiven me for turning him down on the offer. He called me back a few weeks after the initial offer to try and talk me into it again and I turned him down for good. Since that time, we've only talked about three times. All three times have been for 5 minutes or less, and this used to be a guy I'd talk to for 3 hours at a time. I suppose I did run into him at the Olympic trails back in 2012 when they were in Iowa City. It was good to see him, but I could sense a bit of apprehension from him because I think he's still hurt by the fact that I didn't want to help him cover MMA/UFC.
I Should've Been in the Movie, Seven Minutes
Ever heard of Seven Minutes? No, well neither has anyone else. As much as I wish it would have been a success for all of those involved including Matt Murray and Jeff Harrison, it wasn't. I finally got my hands on it a few years ago, and I couldn't even finish it. It's better than The Room, but not by much. J.D. Olivia, who wrote and directed the film, filmed it in DeKalb, Illinois. He knew of my acting background and had seen some of my professional wrestling work on youtube. I have no idea how big of a part it would have been or even what it was, but Olivia wanted me to come to DeKalb and read for a part. He said that even if I wasn't right for the part, he'd find something for me to do in the film. So I could have been in a film that nobody has ever seen or heard of, and the few who have seen it describe it as, "a little better than Tommy Wiseau's The Room"
My Great Grandpa Leomer "Pug" Danels almost played football for the Green Bay Packers
I don't know much about my Grandpa's football career. I didn't even know about it until long after his death. I know that he played for the Packer's farm team for a couple of years back in the mid 1920's. I've been told that he was pretty good and had a promising football career ahead of him if he had chosen to take it. However, his father died unexpectedly and if he didn't return home to Delta, Iowa his mother was going to lose the farm. He decided to give up his football career and head back to Delta to save his mother from losing the farm. He soon met my Grandma Marie Kerber and the rest is history. Had his father not died and he not had to return to Delta, he may have ended up getting bumped up to playing for the Green Bay Packers. Then again if that had happened, he would have remained in Wisconsin, never returned to Iowa and I wouldn't be here.
My Dad Almost Died When He Was a Baby
When my Dad was an infant he contracted a severe case of Pneumonia that nearly took his life. He was very sick and in the hospital for a long period of time. One doctor even prepared my Grandma Norma and Grandpa Harry for the possibility of him not pulling through. My Dad says that he credits his mom and Grandma Danels for why he made it through and defeated Pneumonia. He says that they would take turns with him rocking him all night long and he believes that is what kept him alive.
My Uncle Tom Died and Came Back to Life
I suppose this doesn't effect my life or if it does, I'm not exactly sure how it does. However, it is a really neat story. I'm not sure of the exact year. I believe it was 1976. My Uncle Tom had recently graduated high school and went over to a party in Sigourney. While at the party, he experimented with some LSD and then began the journey back home. Only instead of heading home towards North English, he wound up going the other direction and ended up in Oskaloosa. In Oskaloosa he wrapped his car (a station wagon) around a tree. When he hit the tree, he was thrown into the very back of the station wagon. When paramedics arrived, they took him to the hospital and he died on the operating table. My Grandma Richard and Grandma Kathleen were called to the hospital and when they arrived, they were notified that Tom had died in a car accident. With my Grandma going hysterical in the other room, my Grandpa was brought in to identify the body. When the nurse lifted the sheet, Tom turned his head opened his eyes and said, "Dad?" According to my Grandpa, the nurse turned white and fainted. Death came for my Uncle Tom that day, and Life told death, "Not your time, pal. He's still mine."
You know what makes this story even more bizarre? Had my Uncle Tom been wearing his seatbelt, he would have been trapped in the front seat, instead of being thrown in the back. He would have been crushed to death and not survived. After discovering this, he hasn't put on a seatbelt again. It sort of reminds me of Robert Shaw in JAWS when he says, "I'll never put on a life jacket again." Uncle Tom hasn't worn a seatbelt in nearly 40 years.
I Could Have Ended Up the Stepbrother of Kyle Hanson
Kyle Hanson was a two time state champion for Wilton High School and a two time All American for Northern Iowa. I was in 6th grade when my Dad dated Kyle's mother for about 1/2 a year. I never spent much time around Kyle, but the little time we did spend with each other I got along with him. We played Mortal Kombat together one time and he gave me a ride on his motorcycle a couple of times. I wonder if the relationship with my Dad and Kyle's mom had worked out if that would have had any effect on my wrestling career. He might not have had anything to do with me at all for all I know, but then again maybe he would have. Having a two time Division I All American beat up on me, teach me how to lift weights and give me other advice might have made me into the great wrestler that I always wanted to be. Then again, maybe it wouldn't have.
I Almost Became Related to The Greatest Wrestler That Ever Came Out of Sigourney
Seeing that I wasn't a great wrestler myself, not anywhere close, I am often asked if I had a family member who was. The answer is that no I didn't. Both my Uncle Larry and my Uncle Greg wrestled in high school, but it's not like it is a family tradition. The truth is, I am a very sensitive person. I cry easily. I see a dead dog or cat on the side of the road, I usually have to wipe my eyes. I was picked on and bullied a lot when I was little. Getting me involved in wrestling, put an end to that, it gave me a way to defend myself. To this day, I'm still emotionally an easy target to be bullied, but bullies leave me be because of my physical presence. Sure, I'm the guy that cried about the dead kitten on the road, but I'm also the guy you just saw military press 200 lbs 8 times. I have wrestling to thank for that, and so many other great things in my life. I suppose that's why a guy who never even qualified for districts, has such a love and a passion for the sport.
My Grandpa did date Bonnie Yoder for a long period of time though. There was even talk of them getting married once. Bonnie is the mother of Clark Yoder, three time state champion, Sigourney's greatest wrestler of all time. His brother Ross was also a state champion. My Grandpa and Bonnie dated I believe up until my freshman year of high school. I always got along great with all of the Yoders, especially Ross. Hell, I still get along very well with all of the Yoders. Ross's son, Wes, is currently a wrestler for William Penn University. While we're not related, I still sometimes think of him as my cousin. He'll be entering his sophomore season this year and is looking for his first collegiate victory. Can't wait for that to happen. So, no I'm not related to any great wrestlers, but I did refer to two of Sigourney's all time greatest as "Uncle" for a period of time in my life.
I Gave Up An Opportunity to Cover UFC/MMA Events
In 2010, I get a random message out of nowhere from a guy named Kevin Schlosser who ask me for my phone number because he wants to call me. I give him my phone number and Kevin calls me back saying he owns buckeyewrestle.com, which he's going to make into takedownohio.com and he wants me to be their blogger and writer. I ask him what's in it for me and he tells me that he'll get me into the NCAA tournament for free. I'm sold. I go to work for Kevin and have a lot of fun working with him and his other two associates whose names escape me.
One night, Kevin calls me up at about 2:00 a.m (Not a big deal at the time because I was a cab driver) because he has this great opportunity he wants to talk to me about. I ask him, "what is it?" He says to me, "I won't be able to pay you a lot of money upfront, but how would you like to travel around the country with me covering MMA and UFC?" I think Kevin was expecting me to jump at the idea and be all excited about it. Instead I sat silent for a moment.
"I'll cover all of your meals, hotel cost and pay you at least $200 a week."
My response was that I didn't really care for MMA/UFC and that I wasn't all that interested. In some ways I think I made the right decisions. Matter of fact in a lot of ways I know I did. I was averaging around $300 a week as a cab driver. Granted, traveling around with Kevin, I suppose I didn't technically need to be paying rent for an apartment, but I still had plenty of other bills to worry about.
I have no idea how that would have turned out, had I taken Kevin up on the offer. I think he did it for a period of three or four years before he got out of it himself and I have no idea how successful or unsuccessful he was. I sometimes wonder if I didn't shoot myself in the foot, and if it might have lead to more opportunities as a writer/journalist. I have no idea.
I don' t think Kevin has ever forgiven me for turning him down on the offer. He called me back a few weeks after the initial offer to try and talk me into it again and I turned him down for good. Since that time, we've only talked about three times. All three times have been for 5 minutes or less, and this used to be a guy I'd talk to for 3 hours at a time. I suppose I did run into him at the Olympic trails back in 2012 when they were in Iowa City. It was good to see him, but I could sense a bit of apprehension from him because I think he's still hurt by the fact that I didn't want to help him cover MMA/UFC.
I Should've Been in the Movie, Seven Minutes
Ever heard of Seven Minutes? No, well neither has anyone else. As much as I wish it would have been a success for all of those involved including Matt Murray and Jeff Harrison, it wasn't. I finally got my hands on it a few years ago, and I couldn't even finish it. It's better than The Room, but not by much. J.D. Olivia, who wrote and directed the film, filmed it in DeKalb, Illinois. He knew of my acting background and had seen some of my professional wrestling work on youtube. I have no idea how big of a part it would have been or even what it was, but Olivia wanted me to come to DeKalb and read for a part. He said that even if I wasn't right for the part, he'd find something for me to do in the film. So I could have been in a film that nobody has ever seen or heard of, and the few who have seen it describe it as, "a little better than Tommy Wiseau's The Room"
Monday, September 21, 2015
I sold my Cab Soul to the UBER Himself Last Night
I will be the first to admit, when I first heard about UBER, I was very skeptical. Matter of fact, if I had to hold my left hand up and solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I would have to admit that I was downright critical. You see, I was a cab driver for three years and 5 months of my life. My loyalty was the to cab companies and more importantly to the cabbies who are trying to make a living. Yet, the more I began to study UBER and separate fact from fiction, the more it began to grow on me as something that might actually be positive. Something that might even be good for me.
I have a good job. Matter of fact, I have a very good job. Iowa One Call treats me well in a variety of ways, including financially. I make enough money to have a nice home, a nice car and pay my bills quite comfortably. For that I am very thankful. However, I don't make enough money to where I can put much money in the bank for savings. I don't make enough money to where I can throw an extra $100 towards my monthly loan payments to get them paid off quicker. I've tapped into a few different ideas. About a year ago I tampered around with the idea of getting involved with Primerica and trying to sell insurance part time. The more I talked with representatives, the more of a burden it seemed it was going to be than a benefit. I've also contemplated around with the idea of getting a part time job at a convenience store or something of the sort, but with my whacky and goofy schedule with Iowa One Call, which can sometimes put me all the way across the state for days at time, that wasn't going to work either.
An Iowa One Call Board of Directors representative suggested to me to try UBER. He had to talk me into it, but he assured me that I would love it. Well, he was right. Not only do I love UBER, I LOVE UBER. It is 10,000 times better than cab driving. Ooh, let me count the ways.
Now before I get started, there are a few drags with UBER. You use your own car, so you have the wear and tear on you vehicle. Some say that it's also a drag that you have to pay for the gas too, but I had to pay 50% of the gas driving for Number One Cab and a surcharge of $0.50 per trip with Yellow. To me it's not a drag. The only thing that did suck thus far is that I had to upgrade from personal to commercial insurance on my car. I went from paying about $78 a month to now paying $140 a month. I also had to upgrade my phone too, which I doubt anyone besides me had to do, considering I'm the only person I know my age that still uses a "granny" cell phone.
Now, why do I say UBER is 10,000 times better than cab driving?
You Work When you WANT to Work
Until you spend 12-15 hours in a cab a night, every night, seven days a week, you do not realize how awesome this is. Working for yellow cab, I might have 1-3 rides between 6 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Most nights you weren't really working until 10:00 p.m. - 2:30 a.m. I had nights when I would sit for as long as 5 hours without a single ride. 5 hours where I was making NO money, AT ALL. Yet, I couldn't go to the gym. I couldn't go sit down at a nice restaurant and have a meal. All I was allowed to do was to find a place to park and just sit there.
It was even worse in the morning. It'd be 5:45 a.m. I'd been sitting in a parking lot since 3:00 a.m. bored out of my mind. I'd watch the minutes solely tick by on the clock, begging them to go faster so I could go home. Then at 5:55 a.m. I'd get a call to go all the way across town to pick up Janet and take her to work for her $7, blatantly refuses to tip ride. I'd only make $2.80 off of that ride, and it'd put me back to the office around 7:00 a.m.
In UBER you don't deal with that crap! If it isn't busy, you turn the application off and you do whatever it is you want to do. Go to the gym, read, write, hang out with your friends. If you learn the times and places to be, you work when it's busy. There is no wasting time and I am so thankful for that. UBER-ing kicks the shit out of cabbing.
You don't have to deal with the BULLSHIT
Now don't get me wrong. Many of the customers who rode with Yellow cab were good, decent and fun people. Yet, not everyone was. I can't count the number of times when some pretentious woman who thought because she was good looking, that I should drive her to Northern North Liberty for free. Someone that spent $75 on alcohol that night, but think $10 for a cab ride home is OUTRAGEOUS. How about the times I was robbed? How about the time a guy put a pellet gun to the back of my head? How about the time a guy stole $90 from me? How about all of the shady people I had to deal with?
Guess what, you don't have to deal with ANY of that in UBER. Your fare is paid AHEAD of time. The customer sets up a direct withdrawal and you set up a direct deposit. It is easy, convenient and awesome. You won't get screwed by someone who doesn't have any money. You don't carry any cash on you, so you won't get robbed. It is fantastic.
You know what else? It is so much cheaper to ride UBER than it is to take a cab. At yellow cab in Iowa City when I was driving 2 1/2 years ago, it was $2.50 to start out and then $2 a mile. It was also $2 for each additional customer. I've heard that the rates have nearly doubled.
I took a gentleman and his girlfriend for a ride the other night. If he had been riding in Yellow cab (with the prices I just mentioned) the ride would have been about $25. With Uber he only paid $15. That's $10 he saved by going UBER. He also got to ride in a nicer vehicle. You know what else, even with the $25 cab ride, I wouldn't have made any more money. I got 75% of that 15, for a total of $11.25. I only would have gotten 40% of the $25 for a total of $10 with Yellow Cab. Better on the driver, better on the customer. Once again UBER-ing kicks the shit out of cabbing.
Not Only Do they Rate you as a Driver, but you Rate them as a Rider
UBER cares as much about their driver as they do about their customer. If someone is unpleasant to drive around and they are belligerent and rude, you can give them a low rating. If they get too many low ratings, UBER will not allow them to use the services anymore. They want the ride for the customer to be very pleasant and enjoyable, which is typical of all businesses. They also want the ride to be pleasant and enjoyable for all of the drivers. Now, I will say that certain dispatchers had that attitude at Yellow Cab and stuck up for me and the other drivers. Others however, didn't. At Number One Cab, owner Rafat Alwhn didnt' care if the customer pissed on your head, just as long as he made his money. Again, UBER-ing totally beats the ever loving crap out of cabbing.
Now I realize I only listed three reasons, but you have to realize how big those reasons are. I worked 12-15 hours a day, sometimes for as much as 100 hours a week. For what? An average of $350-$500 a week. I can make that UBER-ing for four hours a night Monday through Thursday and then pulling a 10:00-3:00 on Friday and Saturday. No more, "This $20 ride should only cost me $1 because I am really pretty!" No more, "An extra $1 per passenger? There are only 15 of us!!" No more people opening up the cab door and taking off on a dead sprint. No more BULLSHIT.
I realize that some of my cab friends will call me a traitor. I may even lose some friends over this, but this is one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. I think I'll earn an extra $10,000 this year if I am able to work as much as I'd like to. That goes a long way in getting some of these loans paid off.
My only concern, and I have a feeling that it'll turn into a big concern before long, is that UBER will become saturated. I do fear that. Once that happens, it will no longer be beneficial to me. However, I think it'll be a good long time before it does.
To add to how cool UBER-ing is, you know what happened last night? One of my customers bought me supper. I kid you not. Bought me a sub from Casey's. Now how cool is that?
I have a good job. Matter of fact, I have a very good job. Iowa One Call treats me well in a variety of ways, including financially. I make enough money to have a nice home, a nice car and pay my bills quite comfortably. For that I am very thankful. However, I don't make enough money to where I can put much money in the bank for savings. I don't make enough money to where I can throw an extra $100 towards my monthly loan payments to get them paid off quicker. I've tapped into a few different ideas. About a year ago I tampered around with the idea of getting involved with Primerica and trying to sell insurance part time. The more I talked with representatives, the more of a burden it seemed it was going to be than a benefit. I've also contemplated around with the idea of getting a part time job at a convenience store or something of the sort, but with my whacky and goofy schedule with Iowa One Call, which can sometimes put me all the way across the state for days at time, that wasn't going to work either.
An Iowa One Call Board of Directors representative suggested to me to try UBER. He had to talk me into it, but he assured me that I would love it. Well, he was right. Not only do I love UBER, I LOVE UBER. It is 10,000 times better than cab driving. Ooh, let me count the ways.
Now before I get started, there are a few drags with UBER. You use your own car, so you have the wear and tear on you vehicle. Some say that it's also a drag that you have to pay for the gas too, but I had to pay 50% of the gas driving for Number One Cab and a surcharge of $0.50 per trip with Yellow. To me it's not a drag. The only thing that did suck thus far is that I had to upgrade from personal to commercial insurance on my car. I went from paying about $78 a month to now paying $140 a month. I also had to upgrade my phone too, which I doubt anyone besides me had to do, considering I'm the only person I know my age that still uses a "granny" cell phone.
Now, why do I say UBER is 10,000 times better than cab driving?
You Work When you WANT to Work
Until you spend 12-15 hours in a cab a night, every night, seven days a week, you do not realize how awesome this is. Working for yellow cab, I might have 1-3 rides between 6 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Most nights you weren't really working until 10:00 p.m. - 2:30 a.m. I had nights when I would sit for as long as 5 hours without a single ride. 5 hours where I was making NO money, AT ALL. Yet, I couldn't go to the gym. I couldn't go sit down at a nice restaurant and have a meal. All I was allowed to do was to find a place to park and just sit there.
It was even worse in the morning. It'd be 5:45 a.m. I'd been sitting in a parking lot since 3:00 a.m. bored out of my mind. I'd watch the minutes solely tick by on the clock, begging them to go faster so I could go home. Then at 5:55 a.m. I'd get a call to go all the way across town to pick up Janet and take her to work for her $7, blatantly refuses to tip ride. I'd only make $2.80 off of that ride, and it'd put me back to the office around 7:00 a.m.
In UBER you don't deal with that crap! If it isn't busy, you turn the application off and you do whatever it is you want to do. Go to the gym, read, write, hang out with your friends. If you learn the times and places to be, you work when it's busy. There is no wasting time and I am so thankful for that. UBER-ing kicks the shit out of cabbing.
You don't have to deal with the BULLSHIT
Now don't get me wrong. Many of the customers who rode with Yellow cab were good, decent and fun people. Yet, not everyone was. I can't count the number of times when some pretentious woman who thought because she was good looking, that I should drive her to Northern North Liberty for free. Someone that spent $75 on alcohol that night, but think $10 for a cab ride home is OUTRAGEOUS. How about the times I was robbed? How about the time a guy put a pellet gun to the back of my head? How about the time a guy stole $90 from me? How about all of the shady people I had to deal with?
Guess what, you don't have to deal with ANY of that in UBER. Your fare is paid AHEAD of time. The customer sets up a direct withdrawal and you set up a direct deposit. It is easy, convenient and awesome. You won't get screwed by someone who doesn't have any money. You don't carry any cash on you, so you won't get robbed. It is fantastic.
You know what else? It is so much cheaper to ride UBER than it is to take a cab. At yellow cab in Iowa City when I was driving 2 1/2 years ago, it was $2.50 to start out and then $2 a mile. It was also $2 for each additional customer. I've heard that the rates have nearly doubled.
I took a gentleman and his girlfriend for a ride the other night. If he had been riding in Yellow cab (with the prices I just mentioned) the ride would have been about $25. With Uber he only paid $15. That's $10 he saved by going UBER. He also got to ride in a nicer vehicle. You know what else, even with the $25 cab ride, I wouldn't have made any more money. I got 75% of that 15, for a total of $11.25. I only would have gotten 40% of the $25 for a total of $10 with Yellow Cab. Better on the driver, better on the customer. Once again UBER-ing kicks the shit out of cabbing.
Not Only Do they Rate you as a Driver, but you Rate them as a Rider
UBER cares as much about their driver as they do about their customer. If someone is unpleasant to drive around and they are belligerent and rude, you can give them a low rating. If they get too many low ratings, UBER will not allow them to use the services anymore. They want the ride for the customer to be very pleasant and enjoyable, which is typical of all businesses. They also want the ride to be pleasant and enjoyable for all of the drivers. Now, I will say that certain dispatchers had that attitude at Yellow Cab and stuck up for me and the other drivers. Others however, didn't. At Number One Cab, owner Rafat Alwhn didnt' care if the customer pissed on your head, just as long as he made his money. Again, UBER-ing totally beats the ever loving crap out of cabbing.
Now I realize I only listed three reasons, but you have to realize how big those reasons are. I worked 12-15 hours a day, sometimes for as much as 100 hours a week. For what? An average of $350-$500 a week. I can make that UBER-ing for four hours a night Monday through Thursday and then pulling a 10:00-3:00 on Friday and Saturday. No more, "This $20 ride should only cost me $1 because I am really pretty!" No more, "An extra $1 per passenger? There are only 15 of us!!" No more people opening up the cab door and taking off on a dead sprint. No more BULLSHIT.
I realize that some of my cab friends will call me a traitor. I may even lose some friends over this, but this is one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. I think I'll earn an extra $10,000 this year if I am able to work as much as I'd like to. That goes a long way in getting some of these loans paid off.
My only concern, and I have a feeling that it'll turn into a big concern before long, is that UBER will become saturated. I do fear that. Once that happens, it will no longer be beneficial to me. However, I think it'll be a good long time before it does.
To add to how cool UBER-ing is, you know what happened last night? One of my customers bought me supper. I kid you not. Bought me a sub from Casey's. Now how cool is that?
Sunday, September 13, 2015
If you LOVE Sports or you HATE Sports you NEED to read this.
"Just assumed you hated sports, you're a band director, right?" Craig McClenahan, the band director at my alma mater Sigourney high school commenting on an assumption someone recently made about him. An assumption that unfortunately comes from a stereotype. A stereotype that unfortunately has many truths to it.
A friend of mine who is daily, sometimes hourly encouraging me and giving me advice on how to improve my writing because he wants to see me professionally published someday, will often interrupt our conversations to remind me how much he hates sports. He even coached a sport once, and he still loathes them with a passion.
Another friend of mine made a post the other night about his general dislike for sports and many commented their dislike for sports. Some even commented on their absolute hatred of sports.
My whole life I've always struggled with this concept trying to figure it out. My two greatest loves in life are the sport of amateur wrestling and the creative arts of writing and theatre. In junior high and high school it wasn't a big deal to be on the wrestling team and out for a play. Where I attended school, it was "normal" for someone to want to play a sport and participate in the arts. It wasn't until I got into college, that I learned how much of an anomaly I was for having interest, love and passion for both. It wasn't until I got into college, that I learned some kids hate sports, hate athletes and hate anyone who has anything to do with sports.
My time at Northwestern College, I was a part of the theatre department all 2.75 years I was there. Many of the theatre kids decided right of the bat that I was NOT one of them because of my interest in wrestling and weight lifting. I was often seen and treated as, "What the F is that wrestler dude doing in OUR department?" I'm not saying that everyone treated me that way, but the vibe and indirect sometimes even direct, "We DO NOT LIKE YOU because your an athlete" message was very strong.
A guy that ended up being one of my dearest friends and someone I respect and admire a great deal, Kailen Fleck, did not care for me at all when he first met me. I wore a baseball cap most of the time, with a wrestling T-shirt and I was a lean muscular 175-180 lbs kid with big arms. I looked like one of those arrogant jocks that went to his high school. He assumed since I looked like the kids that used to pick on him and make fun of him, that I must be one of them. Kailen decided one day to go against his initial judgment and actually talk to me. He got to know me. The intellectual, compassionate, thoughtful, philosophical and empathetic me. Being the kind of guy he is, with the integrity he has, he came up to me one day and told me all of this. He told me that one of his biggest regrets that he had our freshman year was deciding that he did NOT want to get to know me and that one of the best decisions he made that year was getting to know me.
Unfortunately not everyone at Northwestern College was like Kailen Fleck. Some took one look at me, made the initial assumptions he made and their mind was made up for good. I was the wrestler/weight lifter dude. I must have been just like the bullies that attended their high school that picked on and made fun of the band, theatre, choir and artsy kids and its their turn to say, "F you" to me.
I'll admit that after a while, I let it get to me. What I should have done, and what I did do some of the time is go out of my way to prove I wasn't like that. However, it was much more work than I thought it would be. Sometimes it didn't matter how hard I tried. Some of the theatre kids made up their mind of who I was long before they ever talked to me, and it didn't matter what I did. Their mind was made up, period. As a result, it pissed me off and their were times when I decided, "You're going to treat me like a prick, then I'll be a prick." I regret having this vengeful attitude and I wish I would have not let them get to me, and focused harder on the ones that did come around and begin to accept me.
I have to say that the treatment from the wrestling team towards me for being in theatre was completely different. I never officially wrestled in college, but I did attend practices 3 to 5 times a week. There were three wrestlers on the team that personally didn't like me, but it wasn't because of my vast interest in theatre. Everyone else on the team I got along with great and they actually supported my love for theatre. Even though I was only casted in about three plays my entire time up there, members of the wrestling team came to support me. For the two one act plays I wrote, "Quaker Stake" and "A Little More Grey" many members of the wrestling team came to watch them. Even one of the wrestlers, who made it clear to me that he didn't care for me as a person, came to watch "A Little More Grey" and told me afterwards that he thought I was one hell of a good story teller. The wrestlers never once chastised me or ridiculed me for my passion for theatre. Therefore I'll admit it is hard for me to relate to the theatre kids who went through that in high school. I am unable to be empathetic, but I try hard to be sympathetic. I try hard to understand the world that they are coming from.
As a result of my unpleasant experience at Northwestern, I got out of theatre for good for about 5 years. I didn't want to experience the feeling of people disliking me and even hating me for what I deem unjustifiable reasons again. I still itched to get on stage and to hopefully write plays again, but scared that I was going to experience it again.
I met and befriend Beverly "Mama" Meade one night in the cab and surprised her when she asked me what my interest in life were, when one of the things I said was, "theatre." Even though I was reluctant and scared, she talked me into going out for a play with Iowa City Community Theatre. I walked into auditions later on that week. I was terrified. Not that I would look like an idiot, screw up and get a part, but that I would get casted and then be surrounded be a group of actors who gave me the, "What the F is this wrestler/weight lifter dude doing here?" treatment. I was casted and the first night of rehearsals I didn't throw up before I went, but I came awful close to it. That's how nervous I was.
I don't think I've ever had a more pleasant surprise in my life. Right off the bat I clicked with the other actors. They accepted me and treated me like one of their own. Even though some of them (actually all of them) were far more talented and gifted than I am, they all treated me with open arms. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life. The next play I was in was an even better experience and I never would have imagined that. Both plays and the play I was in after that were awesome. I made some great, forever lasting friendships with many of those people. It was the experience that I feel I was robbed of in college for stupid reasons, and I am so glad that I got to experience it.
I often wonder why it was different for me then, than what it was for me in college. This may sound stupid, but I think it might have had something to do with weight gain. In college I was very lean and muscular. I looked like a million bucks. Chiseled chest, very defined triceps and a pretty little vein that ran through my bicep. I didn't have abs, but I had a flat stomach. By the time I was in ICCT, I had gotten fat. Still looked like a lifter and a pretty strong dude, but with a belly and a pair of A cup sized tits. As strange as it sounds, I still wonder if this had something to do with theatre people being more accepting of me as ridiculous of a conclusion that it sounds.
I also wonder if maybe it had something to do with the clothes I wore. When I was in 7th grade, I attended a wrestling camp at Wartburg College. Head coach Jim Miller told us that it was our duty to promote the sport in every way we could. Wrestling was only growing to grow if we made it grow. I took that to heart and began wearing wrestling t-shirts and wrestling baseball caps everywhere I went. I wonder if this is a part of why the Northwestern College theatre kids didn't like me. In ICCT, I still wore wrestling t-shirts and wrestling baseball caps to rehearsals sometimes, but I also wore other clothes too. Sounds strange, but I contemplate if this had something to do with being more accepted as well.
A couple of months ago, a comedy friend of mine, who also lifts at the gym I go to, came up to me and asked me if he could ask me a question. I told him sure. He asked me if I felt that the other comedy people held something against me because I was in fairly decent shape and obviously someone that was into baseball and wrestling. I told him that I personally hadn't experienced that yet. The theatre people I hung around with were very accepting of me and treated me well. Then again, because of my job and how busy I get sometimes, I hadn't spent as much time around them as he had. He told me that he did feel discriminated against because of his interest in lifting weights. I told him that I experienced similar feelings while in college.
It's been something that has bugged me for a long time and I've felt an uncomfortable itch to say something about it for nearly a decade. I haven't yet because I haven't known what to say. I feel that there isn't much I can do to change it for the better, if anything. And, maybe I can't. Maybe there is nothing I can do. I would like to understand it though.
Yes, I do feel that because of narcissistic and arrogant jerks in high school that participated in sports, who decided to pick on, ridicule, chastise and make fun of the artsy kids, that in turn I sometimes have to suffer because of THEIR choices. That sometimes artsy kids who were picked on by an athlete who looks like me, assume that I am like him and make up their mind that they hate me too.
I don't think that's the only reason theatre, choir, band, art, dance, ect people hate sports and athletes though. I think there is more to it. As a wrestler, I know what it is like to be in a sport that, "nobody gives a shit about." Granted I live in Iowa, a state where wrestling is very popular, but I don't see the world with blinders. I know that in some states like Alabama, wrestling is as popular and followed as high school tennis is here. I know that in Mississippi, many don't even know what amateur wrestling is. I say this because I know what it is like to feel ignored and underappreciated, which is what I think many artistic people feel.
Iowa State is putting on "Treasure Island" here in a few weeks. Does anyone know about it? Does anyone care? Not compared to the number of people who will attend the football game that weekend. A college has a football game, the whole community knows about it. Hell, the WHOLE state knows about it. The WHOLE state talks about it and the WHOLE state attends it. Iowa plays Iowa State in football yesterday, your facebook and twitter feed is full of nothing but facts, stats and opinions on the game, the players and the coaches. You cannot escape the fixation that Americans have with football. Meanwhile the theatre department, who works extremely hard will be lucky to get a couple hundred people to their production. The music department might get lucky and draw near 1,000 to their concert. Small potatoes to the 75,000 that usually show up at Kinnick stadium for a football game.
As a society we praise and idolize our sports and our athletes. Ask someone to name the best wrestler, the best football player and the best basketball player at their high school. They'll think for a second and rattle off the names in 30 seconds or less. They know who they are. Even if they don't like sports and pretend that they didn't pay attention, they know who they are. They can't help but know who they are because so much attention and recognition was given to them. Yet ask who the best band student was. Ask who the best actor was. Ask them who the valedictorian and the salutatorian was and suddenly you're stuck for an answer.
I get this frustration, I understand it.
I see myself as a creative person, a writer first and foremost. I view myself as a theatre person who happened to wrestle in high school and a theatre person who happens to like wrestling and baseball. That is how I see myself, but I realize most people don't see me that way. They see me as a wrestler/weight lifter first and foremost. They do not see me as the theatre guy who likes wrestling, they see me as the wrestling guy who likes theatre. Why? The clothes I wear and the way I'm built. Believe me, when I call a college and ask for a wrestling t-shirt to be sent to my house, I always ask for a theatre t-shirt to be sent too. I'd wear "Iowa Theatre" t-shirts the same way I wear "Iowa Wrestling" t-shirts, but guess what? They don't make them. That's why I don't wear them. If they made them and I could get my hands on them, I'd wear them, but they don't.
What do I think needs to be done? Well, I think it is up to us, the athletes (and believe me I cringe calling myself an athlete knowing how much better other people are at sports than I am) to show the theatre people that we aren't a bunch of jerks. We need to discourage chastising and ridiculing and bullying. We need to encourage support for one another. Everyone has different interest, talents and passions. We don't need to divide amongst one another and reproach one another. We should instead unite and celebrate one another. I'm not saying you need to suddenly start attending every event for everything. I'm simply saying that if you have a son on the football team, don't encourage him to think he's better than the kid who excels at the science fair, who couldn't catch or throw a ball if his life depended on it. If you have a kid who is a genius at science and consistently wins the science fair, don't encourage him to treat the football player, who struggles to maintain that C- in science class like an idiot. Instead lets teach our kids to celebrate their differences and encourage one another at what they're good at.
Am I talking to the wind here people? I'm a weight lifter AND I'm an actor. I'm a creative writer AND I'm a wrestling/baseball guy. I'm not ashamed of anything and I'm not afraid to wear my theatre hat in a wrestling room. I'm not afraid to wear my wrestling hat in a theatre room. I shouldn't have to be. It's stupid and it needs changed.
Will you the athlete help me to change it? Will you the artsy person be accepting of the effort giving by those who do try and change it? Will you take stereotypes and stigmas you have about us athletes and give us a chance to start fresh? Will you? Both sides, the athletes and the artsy types have a lot of characteristics that need changed.
It can be done. Will you help me to do it?
A friend of mine who is daily, sometimes hourly encouraging me and giving me advice on how to improve my writing because he wants to see me professionally published someday, will often interrupt our conversations to remind me how much he hates sports. He even coached a sport once, and he still loathes them with a passion.
Another friend of mine made a post the other night about his general dislike for sports and many commented their dislike for sports. Some even commented on their absolute hatred of sports.
My whole life I've always struggled with this concept trying to figure it out. My two greatest loves in life are the sport of amateur wrestling and the creative arts of writing and theatre. In junior high and high school it wasn't a big deal to be on the wrestling team and out for a play. Where I attended school, it was "normal" for someone to want to play a sport and participate in the arts. It wasn't until I got into college, that I learned how much of an anomaly I was for having interest, love and passion for both. It wasn't until I got into college, that I learned some kids hate sports, hate athletes and hate anyone who has anything to do with sports.
My time at Northwestern College, I was a part of the theatre department all 2.75 years I was there. Many of the theatre kids decided right of the bat that I was NOT one of them because of my interest in wrestling and weight lifting. I was often seen and treated as, "What the F is that wrestler dude doing in OUR department?" I'm not saying that everyone treated me that way, but the vibe and indirect sometimes even direct, "We DO NOT LIKE YOU because your an athlete" message was very strong.
A guy that ended up being one of my dearest friends and someone I respect and admire a great deal, Kailen Fleck, did not care for me at all when he first met me. I wore a baseball cap most of the time, with a wrestling T-shirt and I was a lean muscular 175-180 lbs kid with big arms. I looked like one of those arrogant jocks that went to his high school. He assumed since I looked like the kids that used to pick on him and make fun of him, that I must be one of them. Kailen decided one day to go against his initial judgment and actually talk to me. He got to know me. The intellectual, compassionate, thoughtful, philosophical and empathetic me. Being the kind of guy he is, with the integrity he has, he came up to me one day and told me all of this. He told me that one of his biggest regrets that he had our freshman year was deciding that he did NOT want to get to know me and that one of the best decisions he made that year was getting to know me.
Unfortunately not everyone at Northwestern College was like Kailen Fleck. Some took one look at me, made the initial assumptions he made and their mind was made up for good. I was the wrestler/weight lifter dude. I must have been just like the bullies that attended their high school that picked on and made fun of the band, theatre, choir and artsy kids and its their turn to say, "F you" to me.
I'll admit that after a while, I let it get to me. What I should have done, and what I did do some of the time is go out of my way to prove I wasn't like that. However, it was much more work than I thought it would be. Sometimes it didn't matter how hard I tried. Some of the theatre kids made up their mind of who I was long before they ever talked to me, and it didn't matter what I did. Their mind was made up, period. As a result, it pissed me off and their were times when I decided, "You're going to treat me like a prick, then I'll be a prick." I regret having this vengeful attitude and I wish I would have not let them get to me, and focused harder on the ones that did come around and begin to accept me.
I have to say that the treatment from the wrestling team towards me for being in theatre was completely different. I never officially wrestled in college, but I did attend practices 3 to 5 times a week. There were three wrestlers on the team that personally didn't like me, but it wasn't because of my vast interest in theatre. Everyone else on the team I got along with great and they actually supported my love for theatre. Even though I was only casted in about three plays my entire time up there, members of the wrestling team came to support me. For the two one act plays I wrote, "Quaker Stake" and "A Little More Grey" many members of the wrestling team came to watch them. Even one of the wrestlers, who made it clear to me that he didn't care for me as a person, came to watch "A Little More Grey" and told me afterwards that he thought I was one hell of a good story teller. The wrestlers never once chastised me or ridiculed me for my passion for theatre. Therefore I'll admit it is hard for me to relate to the theatre kids who went through that in high school. I am unable to be empathetic, but I try hard to be sympathetic. I try hard to understand the world that they are coming from.
As a result of my unpleasant experience at Northwestern, I got out of theatre for good for about 5 years. I didn't want to experience the feeling of people disliking me and even hating me for what I deem unjustifiable reasons again. I still itched to get on stage and to hopefully write plays again, but scared that I was going to experience it again.
I met and befriend Beverly "Mama" Meade one night in the cab and surprised her when she asked me what my interest in life were, when one of the things I said was, "theatre." Even though I was reluctant and scared, she talked me into going out for a play with Iowa City Community Theatre. I walked into auditions later on that week. I was terrified. Not that I would look like an idiot, screw up and get a part, but that I would get casted and then be surrounded be a group of actors who gave me the, "What the F is this wrestler/weight lifter dude doing here?" treatment. I was casted and the first night of rehearsals I didn't throw up before I went, but I came awful close to it. That's how nervous I was.
I don't think I've ever had a more pleasant surprise in my life. Right off the bat I clicked with the other actors. They accepted me and treated me like one of their own. Even though some of them (actually all of them) were far more talented and gifted than I am, they all treated me with open arms. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life. The next play I was in was an even better experience and I never would have imagined that. Both plays and the play I was in after that were awesome. I made some great, forever lasting friendships with many of those people. It was the experience that I feel I was robbed of in college for stupid reasons, and I am so glad that I got to experience it.
I often wonder why it was different for me then, than what it was for me in college. This may sound stupid, but I think it might have had something to do with weight gain. In college I was very lean and muscular. I looked like a million bucks. Chiseled chest, very defined triceps and a pretty little vein that ran through my bicep. I didn't have abs, but I had a flat stomach. By the time I was in ICCT, I had gotten fat. Still looked like a lifter and a pretty strong dude, but with a belly and a pair of A cup sized tits. As strange as it sounds, I still wonder if this had something to do with theatre people being more accepting of me as ridiculous of a conclusion that it sounds.
I also wonder if maybe it had something to do with the clothes I wore. When I was in 7th grade, I attended a wrestling camp at Wartburg College. Head coach Jim Miller told us that it was our duty to promote the sport in every way we could. Wrestling was only growing to grow if we made it grow. I took that to heart and began wearing wrestling t-shirts and wrestling baseball caps everywhere I went. I wonder if this is a part of why the Northwestern College theatre kids didn't like me. In ICCT, I still wore wrestling t-shirts and wrestling baseball caps to rehearsals sometimes, but I also wore other clothes too. Sounds strange, but I contemplate if this had something to do with being more accepted as well.
A couple of months ago, a comedy friend of mine, who also lifts at the gym I go to, came up to me and asked me if he could ask me a question. I told him sure. He asked me if I felt that the other comedy people held something against me because I was in fairly decent shape and obviously someone that was into baseball and wrestling. I told him that I personally hadn't experienced that yet. The theatre people I hung around with were very accepting of me and treated me well. Then again, because of my job and how busy I get sometimes, I hadn't spent as much time around them as he had. He told me that he did feel discriminated against because of his interest in lifting weights. I told him that I experienced similar feelings while in college.
It's been something that has bugged me for a long time and I've felt an uncomfortable itch to say something about it for nearly a decade. I haven't yet because I haven't known what to say. I feel that there isn't much I can do to change it for the better, if anything. And, maybe I can't. Maybe there is nothing I can do. I would like to understand it though.
Yes, I do feel that because of narcissistic and arrogant jerks in high school that participated in sports, who decided to pick on, ridicule, chastise and make fun of the artsy kids, that in turn I sometimes have to suffer because of THEIR choices. That sometimes artsy kids who were picked on by an athlete who looks like me, assume that I am like him and make up their mind that they hate me too.
I don't think that's the only reason theatre, choir, band, art, dance, ect people hate sports and athletes though. I think there is more to it. As a wrestler, I know what it is like to be in a sport that, "nobody gives a shit about." Granted I live in Iowa, a state where wrestling is very popular, but I don't see the world with blinders. I know that in some states like Alabama, wrestling is as popular and followed as high school tennis is here. I know that in Mississippi, many don't even know what amateur wrestling is. I say this because I know what it is like to feel ignored and underappreciated, which is what I think many artistic people feel.
Iowa State is putting on "Treasure Island" here in a few weeks. Does anyone know about it? Does anyone care? Not compared to the number of people who will attend the football game that weekend. A college has a football game, the whole community knows about it. Hell, the WHOLE state knows about it. The WHOLE state talks about it and the WHOLE state attends it. Iowa plays Iowa State in football yesterday, your facebook and twitter feed is full of nothing but facts, stats and opinions on the game, the players and the coaches. You cannot escape the fixation that Americans have with football. Meanwhile the theatre department, who works extremely hard will be lucky to get a couple hundred people to their production. The music department might get lucky and draw near 1,000 to their concert. Small potatoes to the 75,000 that usually show up at Kinnick stadium for a football game.
As a society we praise and idolize our sports and our athletes. Ask someone to name the best wrestler, the best football player and the best basketball player at their high school. They'll think for a second and rattle off the names in 30 seconds or less. They know who they are. Even if they don't like sports and pretend that they didn't pay attention, they know who they are. They can't help but know who they are because so much attention and recognition was given to them. Yet ask who the best band student was. Ask who the best actor was. Ask them who the valedictorian and the salutatorian was and suddenly you're stuck for an answer.
I get this frustration, I understand it.
I see myself as a creative person, a writer first and foremost. I view myself as a theatre person who happened to wrestle in high school and a theatre person who happens to like wrestling and baseball. That is how I see myself, but I realize most people don't see me that way. They see me as a wrestler/weight lifter first and foremost. They do not see me as the theatre guy who likes wrestling, they see me as the wrestling guy who likes theatre. Why? The clothes I wear and the way I'm built. Believe me, when I call a college and ask for a wrestling t-shirt to be sent to my house, I always ask for a theatre t-shirt to be sent too. I'd wear "Iowa Theatre" t-shirts the same way I wear "Iowa Wrestling" t-shirts, but guess what? They don't make them. That's why I don't wear them. If they made them and I could get my hands on them, I'd wear them, but they don't.
What do I think needs to be done? Well, I think it is up to us, the athletes (and believe me I cringe calling myself an athlete knowing how much better other people are at sports than I am) to show the theatre people that we aren't a bunch of jerks. We need to discourage chastising and ridiculing and bullying. We need to encourage support for one another. Everyone has different interest, talents and passions. We don't need to divide amongst one another and reproach one another. We should instead unite and celebrate one another. I'm not saying you need to suddenly start attending every event for everything. I'm simply saying that if you have a son on the football team, don't encourage him to think he's better than the kid who excels at the science fair, who couldn't catch or throw a ball if his life depended on it. If you have a kid who is a genius at science and consistently wins the science fair, don't encourage him to treat the football player, who struggles to maintain that C- in science class like an idiot. Instead lets teach our kids to celebrate their differences and encourage one another at what they're good at.
Am I talking to the wind here people? I'm a weight lifter AND I'm an actor. I'm a creative writer AND I'm a wrestling/baseball guy. I'm not ashamed of anything and I'm not afraid to wear my theatre hat in a wrestling room. I'm not afraid to wear my wrestling hat in a theatre room. I shouldn't have to be. It's stupid and it needs changed.
Will you the athlete help me to change it? Will you the artsy person be accepting of the effort giving by those who do try and change it? Will you take stereotypes and stigmas you have about us athletes and give us a chance to start fresh? Will you? Both sides, the athletes and the artsy types have a lot of characteristics that need changed.
It can be done. Will you help me to do it?
Friday, September 11, 2015
If she were alive today
I never got to know her. No one did.
If she were alive today, she'd be a week or two into her senior year of high school. A 17 year old, who would turn 18 on March 3rd and graduate in May. I can't know what she'd be like or what she would look like. I can't know anything about her, but I can imagine.
I'd like to think that she would have Barry's height and I can't imagine her with anything other than his friendly smile. I imagine her much like my older sister Sara, to be an attractive girl who is impervious to how beautiful she actually is. I can imagine my mother hounding her from time to time saying, "Sydney, if you'd just doctor yourself up a little bit and take some care in how you looked, all of the boys would be crazy about you." I don't think any of that would matter to her though. I don't see her being superficial at all. Matter of fact the only reason she'd own any makeup at all is because my mom bought it for her. It'd most likely go bad before it was ever opened. Being beautiful and popular wouldn't interest her much, although she would be well liked. She might not have a ton of friends, but all of her friends would be honest and pure, a lot like I imagine she would be. As for a boyfriend, I imagine she'd have one. A guy that matched her personality and her demeanor. A guy who would throw on a pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt and an old John Deere baseball cap, blackened on the bill from where he had grabbed it so many times. Substitute the baseball cap for hair combed straight back in a ponytail and the two would practically match.
I'd like it if she took after my mom and me and enjoyed reading, but I can't help but imagine that she'd think that there was too many interesting things going on in the world around her to get caught up in the world of a novel. I think she'd enjoy classes that dealt with agriculture, environmental science and hands on learning but other than that think school is completely a drag. Even though I'd preach to her the importance of doing well in school, I think she'd get by with a B's and C's report card. Post graduation, I see her continuing to live at home with my mom and Barry while she took classes at Indian Hills Community College.
Would she be a drinker? One to party? Seeing how heavily Sara got into it during her teenage years and how I didn't touch it at all, I think Sydney would meet us somewhere in the middle. She'd be too intelligent to ever get behind the wheel of a car after she had drank. She'd be too intelligent to ever allow someone who was drunk to drive her home either. She'd never allow herself to drink to defenselessness and in the case that someone would try and take advantage of her, she'd have the smarts to always have her protective boyfriend and friends near by.
I can't say what her religious beliefs would be, but with my mom, Barry, Sara and me, I can feel rest assured that her morals and values would be pretty high. She'd be the nicest girl in the class, but prove that she has a "take no shit from anyone" attitude anytime someone tried to act superior on her. She'd stick up for the nerdy, the ugly and the weak. She'd tell me stories about how girls who think they're really something special were making fun of a slower girl in the class, and how she put them in their place.
I think she'd find me weird, as do most people, but I think we'd have a healthy older brother, little sister relationship. I'd hope that she would appreciate how I'd stick up for her whenever my mother tried to manipulate her. I think she'd come to me for advice on things and trust that what I told her was honest. When I'd go back home to visit, I'd take her out of dinner and we'd share stories of our lives.
That's who I'd like to imagine she'd be, if she were alive today.
If she were alive today, she'd be a week or two into her senior year of high school. A 17 year old, who would turn 18 on March 3rd and graduate in May. I can't know what she'd be like or what she would look like. I can't know anything about her, but I can imagine.
I'd like to think that she would have Barry's height and I can't imagine her with anything other than his friendly smile. I imagine her much like my older sister Sara, to be an attractive girl who is impervious to how beautiful she actually is. I can imagine my mother hounding her from time to time saying, "Sydney, if you'd just doctor yourself up a little bit and take some care in how you looked, all of the boys would be crazy about you." I don't think any of that would matter to her though. I don't see her being superficial at all. Matter of fact the only reason she'd own any makeup at all is because my mom bought it for her. It'd most likely go bad before it was ever opened. Being beautiful and popular wouldn't interest her much, although she would be well liked. She might not have a ton of friends, but all of her friends would be honest and pure, a lot like I imagine she would be. As for a boyfriend, I imagine she'd have one. A guy that matched her personality and her demeanor. A guy who would throw on a pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt and an old John Deere baseball cap, blackened on the bill from where he had grabbed it so many times. Substitute the baseball cap for hair combed straight back in a ponytail and the two would practically match.
I'd like it if she took after my mom and me and enjoyed reading, but I can't help but imagine that she'd think that there was too many interesting things going on in the world around her to get caught up in the world of a novel. I think she'd enjoy classes that dealt with agriculture, environmental science and hands on learning but other than that think school is completely a drag. Even though I'd preach to her the importance of doing well in school, I think she'd get by with a B's and C's report card. Post graduation, I see her continuing to live at home with my mom and Barry while she took classes at Indian Hills Community College.
Would she be a drinker? One to party? Seeing how heavily Sara got into it during her teenage years and how I didn't touch it at all, I think Sydney would meet us somewhere in the middle. She'd be too intelligent to ever get behind the wheel of a car after she had drank. She'd be too intelligent to ever allow someone who was drunk to drive her home either. She'd never allow herself to drink to defenselessness and in the case that someone would try and take advantage of her, she'd have the smarts to always have her protective boyfriend and friends near by.
I can't say what her religious beliefs would be, but with my mom, Barry, Sara and me, I can feel rest assured that her morals and values would be pretty high. She'd be the nicest girl in the class, but prove that she has a "take no shit from anyone" attitude anytime someone tried to act superior on her. She'd stick up for the nerdy, the ugly and the weak. She'd tell me stories about how girls who think they're really something special were making fun of a slower girl in the class, and how she put them in their place.
I think she'd find me weird, as do most people, but I think we'd have a healthy older brother, little sister relationship. I'd hope that she would appreciate how I'd stick up for her whenever my mother tried to manipulate her. I think she'd come to me for advice on things and trust that what I told her was honest. When I'd go back home to visit, I'd take her out of dinner and we'd share stories of our lives.
That's who I'd like to imagine she'd be, if she were alive today.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
My Favorite Professional Wrestling Announcers
One of the most important elements to a professional wrestling company's success, yet also one of the least recognized and often least appreciated, is the commentary. A good broadcast journalist, accompanied by an excellent play by play color commentator often enhances the action that is taking place in the ring. And they talk about intriguing, interesting topics when the wrestling in the ring, isn't as spectacular. They make sense of what is happening, feeding us knowledge. They often make agreeable or disagreeable comments based on their biases for certain wrestlers and they often make us laugh. There have been many commentators throughout the history of professional wrestling, that I have enjoyed listening to. Some I've enjoyed so much that I've listened to, without watching, various wrestling cards on my smartphone while traveling down the road. We all have our opinions on who was the best and here is mine.
Good ole J.R. is in the minds of many, including his own, the greatest commentator of all time. In my opinion he isn't the greatest, but he is without question one of the greatest of all time. I enjoyed him most during his WCW years and then his early WWE years. He was so full of information and facts during that time. I loved how he would comment on the wrestler's histories, saying where they went to college, what they studied and if they excelled at a sport. It was fun knowing that some of my favorite professional wrestlers played football in college, or maybe the wrestled or played basketball. It humanized them to a degree, to where they were still real life superheroes and super villains, but ones that liked to play cards or ones that liked to read. He never completely demystified a wrestler's character, but instead added little fun facts that made it easier to like and cheer for them. In 1996, with encouragement from upper management he went from being the man with all the facts, to being the guy that shouted, "He broke him in half!!!!" and "It's a damn shame!" along with other what soon became tiresome clichés. I didn't enjoy this Jim Ross as much. I don't think he did either. Today Ross has his own podcast, where he tells his own wrestling stories and has guest on to tell theirs. I listen to his podcast quite often. I enjoy it quite a bit.
Long before he became "Mr. McMahon" the evil owner of the World Wrestling Entertainment, he was simply a commentator on his own show. He seemed so insignificant and unimportant amongst the wrestlers and even the other commentators that I remember being extremely shocked back in 1992, when I found out that he was the owner and operator of the company. Unlike today, with the internet leaking out information left and right, back then things were much more kayfabe. McMahon had the persona that he was simply a worker for the company doing play by play on the matches and he played the character flawlessly. I enjoyed him as the commentator. I sometimes wish now that his "Mr. McMahon" character has died out and faded away, with Triple H and Stephanie taking the position that he would come back and do commentary. Of all things I've seen him do on screen, I feel he was best at that.
Do you know why they called this guy perfect? He was! That's why. There wasn't anything this guy couldn't do. He could wrestle, he could manage and he could commentate. I enjoyed everything that he ever did and I miss the man immensely. I have no doubt that while his wrestling days would most likely be over, he'd be involved in professional wrestling in one way or the other today. What I loved about his commentary was how quick he was on his feet. He never allowed anyone to get the best of him or any situation to alter him up. Simply put, he was exactly what he said he was, "absolutely perfect."
I thought a lot about Roddy Piper the other night and asked myself, "What made him so special?" Why was he so beloved by so many people, including myself? Why do so many of us miss him so dearly? The answer is simple. It was his realism. He was a very sincere and genuine person, full of a lot of emotion. Sometimes that emotion was raw and sometimes it was crazy, even downright "Rowdy" but that's what made him so interesting. He was never disengaged and he was always intense and in the moment. He made what was happening on the screen real to me, because I think he made it real to himself. He had a magic about him that encompassed everyone he came in contact with, filling the atmosphere with energy. I sometimes find myself getting really into the moment, as I hear ole "Hot Rod" on the commentary and other times I find myself laughing at how insanely intense the man would get. Like Mr. Perfect, the guy could do it all and he did. Commentating was simply one of his many gifts.
To this day, I've only seen a handful of Ventura's matches and to be quite honest none of them have impressed me all that much. It's funny to me that so many people refer to him as, "former professional wrestler" and remember him as a wrestler, because while he was a good wrestler, his wrestling was nothing much above average. What he should be remembered for instead, is how good of a professional wrestling announcer he was, because frankly he is one of the best of all time. Even though he was a heel commentator, I appreciated him because I felt that he did a great job of exposing the fact that the good guy wrestlers didn't always play by the rules either. That sometimes the bad guy wrestlers, even though they were jerks, had more integrity and class than the good guy wrestlers did. People talk a lot about how the Attitude Era of professional wrestling broke boundaries with the idea of wrestling not being so black and white and having more shades of gray, but I think Ventura was illustrating that a good 10 years prior with his superior commentating skills. Like many successful people, Ventura has a variety of useful skills, his voice being perhaps his best.
If I find out one day there is a God, and I'm allowed to ask questions, one of the questions I will ask is why he took away (or allowed it to be taken away) a man's greatest asset in life? If I think about all of my favorite things about professional wrestling and what made me fall in love with professional wrestling, listening to Bobby Heenan talk might be the number one reason. Today, if you are unaware, Bobby is no longer able to speak. A vicious battle with throat cancer has lead to his lower jaw being removed. If I could, I'd give him the ability to speak again and I think a lot of wrestling fans would. Professional wrestling is all about entertainment and few if any could entertain as well as Heenan did. He was intelligent, he was witty and above all else he was funny. I've laughed more listening to him ramble on and "weasel" his way out of predicaments he put himself into, than I have watching comedies or comedians on T.V. A great wrestling personality and also a great person, I wish things were different for Heenan. I wish that he could still speak and continue to share his gift with the world. A great wrestling personality and a great person, Bobby is truly one of the best.
I loved everything about the Gorilla, and all these years later, I miss him as much today as I did the day he passed away. Whether it was with Jesse Ventura or Bobby Heenan, his commentary for me is second to no one. He knew how to play off his broadcasting partners and make what was going on in the booth just as entertaining and sometimes even more entertaining than what was going on in the ring. I loved how he was his own person and said what he felt. He never seemed to be controlled or saying something because someone else wanted him to say it. He had a thought, he shared it and I loved that about him. Although he didn't live to see it, he also worked hard to bridge the gap between amateur and professional wrestling and I think he'd be happy to see how far it has come since his passing. I guess all things, good and bad have their place and their time. I'm sad that his time and his time doing commentary for professional wrestling has passed. I feel very lucky and honored to have been alive during his time though. Through youtube, movies and television his memory will live on forever.
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| #7 - Jim Ross |
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| #6 - Vince McMahon |
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| #5-Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig |
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| #4 -Rowdy Roddy Piper |
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| #3 - Jesse "The Body" Ventura |
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| #2 - Bobby "the Brain" Heenan |
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| #1 - Gorilla Monsoon |
Saturday, September 5, 2015
"Kim Davis Lies" (Sung to the tune of Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes)
She’ll
quote the scripture she was told
Huckabee and Santorum will be allies
She’ll be hypocritically bold
She tells Kim Davis lies
She thinks it’s icky that gays screw
she’s committed adultery trice
She herself is a hoe
She tells Kim Davis lies
And she’ll lie to you
She’ll confuse you
all the better just to manipulate you
she’s hideously ferocious
and then quoting biblical scripture that she’s ignored will make her fans hush
she’s got eats McDonald’s every day, thunder thighs
she tells Kim Davis lies
No support from the Pope of Rome
She wants to kill sodomites
she has the face of a boar
She tells Kim Davis lies
She’ll try to convince you
that she herself doesn’t have any Unbiblical vice
Until stories pop up that she didn’t think anyone knew
She tells Kim Davis lies
and She’ll exploit you, cause she knows to
all to get recognition, attention and money from you
supercalifragilisticexpealidoshus
and she hates the thought of world that is equal and just
We’ll probably find out later that she’s bi
She tells Kim Davis lies
Huckabee and Santorum will be allies
She’ll be hypocritically bold
She tells Kim Davis lies
She thinks it’s icky that gays screw
she’s committed adultery trice
She herself is a hoe
She tells Kim Davis lies
And she’ll lie to you
She’ll confuse you
all the better just to manipulate you
she’s hideously ferocious
and then quoting biblical scripture that she’s ignored will make her fans hush
she’s got eats McDonald’s every day, thunder thighs
she tells Kim Davis lies
No support from the Pope of Rome
She wants to kill sodomites
she has the face of a boar
She tells Kim Davis lies
She’ll try to convince you
that she herself doesn’t have any Unbiblical vice
Until stories pop up that she didn’t think anyone knew
She tells Kim Davis lies
and She’ll exploit you, cause she knows to
all to get recognition, attention and money from you
supercalifragilisticexpealidoshus
and she hates the thought of world that is equal and just
We’ll probably find out later that she’s bi
She tells Kim Davis lies
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
My Love for Horror: The 1970's
I wish I could remember who recommended that I see this, but I don't remember for sure who it was. I think it might have been Nicole Smith or maybe it was Eric Bates. Regardless of who it was, I was told that it was one of the best horror films ever made, and if I wanted to list myself as a fan of horror then this was a must see. The film had me hooked from the beginning. As soon as I saw the art work on the VHS cover, I was captivated to see the film. With my short attention span, I often get up at least two to three times during a film to do something else. It is rather common for me to start a movie, watch part of it and then finish it the next day. This was not the case with The Exorcist. I started the film and watched it straight through. I don't think I even allowed myself to turn away from the screen once. I barely allowed myself to blink. The film had my undivided attention. I don't know why I did, but for some reason I thought that it would be a good idea to watch it alone, in my Dad's basement with only a small lamp on. He was staying the night at his girlfriend's place at the time and I was all alone. Two scenes in the film scared the bejeezus out of me. When the demon's face appears for a split second sent a chill down my spine. I think it was very wise of the film makers to only show the face for a spilt second the way they did. Any longer would have allowed the mind to examine the face and determine that it wasn't that scary. The other scene that sent a chill down my spine, was when Regan went down the stairs backwards in that neck-bridge stance. I don't list The Exorcist as a film that scares me, because it didn't scare me upon a second viewing or any other viewing since. It did scare me that night though. I didn't move an inch on that couch all night. I didn't even get up to turn off the T.V. I sat there alone, with that small amount of light coming from the lamp until I finally passed out from exhaustion.
I saw bits and pieces of this film probably 25 times or more, before I finally got a copy of it and watched it all the way through start to finish. Some people don't think it is correctly categorized as a horror, but I think it has enough commonalities with horror to where it can be. This is not only one of my favorite horror films, it is one of my favorite films. If you look closely at my favorite horror films, 100% of the time they all have one thing in common: A heroic protagonist. I think some film makers miss the importance of having a good protagonist in a horror film and that's why their films aren't as good as they could've been. Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) is a likable, heroic character that is easy to relate to and I think the movie centers on him much more than it does the shark. I also appreciate how the film examines rather gray issues, such as the decisions that the Mayor (Murray Hamilton) has to make. If he admits to a killer shark in the area, then the businesses in Amity Island suffer. His community relies heavily on tourism. Yet if he doesn't admit to a killer shark in the area, people will die. I love how the movie hits this lose-lose situation head on and how a man must face his greatest fear in order to overcome an evil to save his community. Last but not least, I also find it interesting that author Peter Benchley says that if he had to do it all over again, he'd have written a novel where the shark was the protagonist and the human was the antagonist. I'm not sure how that would have worked with a shark. Another animal instead? Well.....
A lot of people sum this movie up as a rip-off of JAWS and I couldn't disagree more. To me the movie is the exact opposite of JAWS in that the creature is not an evil, mindless killing machine but instead a empathetic, thinking, emotional animal whose determination for vengeance is quite understandable. I also commend the movie, for making the antagonist Captain Nolan (Richard Harris) a multi-dimensional character. They could have easily made him a straight up unlikable character, easy to hate but instead decided to give him some redeeming qualities. The scene where he admits that he is sorry for what he did and that he wishes he could apologize to the Orca for his actions is in my opinion the best scene of the movie. A very underrated film that often gets passed over because of unfair comparisons to JAWS, I recommend to check this out if you haven't yet.
There were a ton of since forgotten horror films made in the 1970's that few people even know exist and even fewer people have ever seen. The truth of the matter is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be one of them if it wasn't for one very specific reason. When I first saw this film, I couldn't believe how awful it was. The writing was bad, the acting was bad, hell nearly everything about the film was bad. You didn't have to convince me that the film's budget was only $300,000 and that most of that was spent on editing. The movie established that from the get go. Yet, this is one of the most influential, beloved horror films of all time. Why? Plenty of other horror films made in the 1970's that were just as good. Plenty of other horror films that no one ever talks about that are actually better, with a better story and better acting. Why is this film listed as one of the all time greatest? Five words. "Based on a true story" and there you have your answer. There is something about a story being based on real events and real people that draws an audience in. The real gag is that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre couldn't be more loosely based on real events than what it is. The story didn't take place in Texas, it took place in Wisconsin. No one was killed with a chainsaw either. Matter of fact, director/writer Toby Hooper got the idea for a chainsaw killer while sitting in a mall one day looking at chainsaws wonder what would happen if someone were to go berserk with one. There is no leatherface, or anyone even remotely close to him. Ed Gein, who he's "based" upon was a disturbed overly religions, pervert who suffered from necrophilia. He only killed 2 to 3 people (two for sure, one is questionable but likely.) In my opinion Toby Hooper or whoever it was that thought of using the tagline, "based on a true story" was a genius. It took an otherwise B film that would have been out of the theater faster than it came in and turned into a million dollar idea. Many films have since capitalized upon the power of "based on true events" but none have benefited more than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Personally, I find the remake much better.
Believe it or not, but this is how I first learned about female biology and the menstrual cycle. As a 13 year old boy, I was totally grossed out by the locker room scene and it made me actually scared of women for a while. I know it sounds ridiculous now, but I had a hard time being around women or talking to them because all I could think was that they go through this God-awful disgusting process once a month for 3-7 days. Girls would touch me in P.E. class and want to give me hugs throughout the day and every time they touched me the thoughts of blood would go through my mind and I'd shiver. I never talked to anyone about these feelings and eventually they went away. As I learned more about it in health and sciences classes throughout school, I came to realize how laughable my thoughts were. When reading, The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs I came to discover that I'm not the only person alive who had these thoughts. In a strange way that was comforting.
I also took away from Carrie the importance of being nice to people (unless given justifiable reason not to be) for two reasons. A, you don't know what they go through at home. Carrie's mother reminds me of a relative of mine that I can't stand, only Carrie's mother is a lot worse. People are often strange or weird because of reasons that often aren't revealed to us. If we knew the answers to our questions, I doubt we'd be as quick to poke fun. The other reason to be nice to people, is that you don't know what they're capable of. Being a supernatural movie, Carrie had telekinetic powers. What she was capable of is make believe. However, the torment she was going through and the pain she felt from being ridiculed and made fun of, there wasn't anything make believe about that. While she couldn't have gotten back at everyone the way she did in real life, those telekinetic powers could have just as easily been a gun.
I first saw this along with its first two sequels earlier this year. I don't think it's anything extraordinarily exceptional compared to other religiously based thrillers, but I think it does raise some interesting questions. First off what would it be like to find out that your own child, the thing you love more in life than anything else is incoherently evil? What's even more frightening than that is that mothers and fathers have actually thought this about their children in the past and sacrificed them. Throughout the movie we actually know what's going on and thus sympathize with what Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) is going through. We have to understand that to everyone else in the movie, he simply appears as a lunatic, the way someone would to us if they thought their child was the anti-Christ. It also raises the question of what it would be like to discover that you are evil, you were created evil and you have no real choice in the matter. It is obvious that Damien is unaware of himself and what he is. Is it really fair that he doesn't get a choice in the matter? Especially when you consider the punishment he'll receive for it, if you believe in all of that? I suppose maybe I put too much thought into such things, but as a possiblist, I wrestle with this question. I've always thought of the ideas of being a good or evil person, in regards to religion or not in regards to religion, as a means of personal choice. If The Omen has any truth to it, it is clear that it is not.
This movie holds a special place in my memory because it is the only horror film that I have ever watched with my dad. When I first took an interest in horror back in junior high school, my dad was less than thrilled. He is one of those people who most certainly does not appreciate horror. He thinks of it as mindless, senseless gore. No matter what I was watching with my friends, he'd often refer to it as "crap" and would often make me change the channel and watch something else if he came into the room while I was watching a horror film. For a long time I thought he hated all horror films, until I discovered one night while we were out for a drive there was one horror film that he did like There was one horror film that he saw his senior year of high school that he had to admit was pretty good. That horror film was The Car. My dad and I rented and watched a lot of movies over the years, but The Car was the only horror. To be honest I don't even remember much about the film, other than my dad liked it. A girlfriend of his years later, who was also a horror buff talked my dad into watching Joy Ride (2001) because she thought after discussing The Car that my dad might enjoy that film. She was wrong, he referred to Joy Ride as crap and to this day The Car remains the only horror film my dad has anything positive to say about.
This isn't the first horror film I ever saw, but it is what started my love for horror films. I watched both Halloween and Halloween II (1981) over at Chris Thompson's house on a Friday night after school. I was immediately taken with the story and more importantly Donald Pleasence's performance as Dr. Sam Loomis. I knew right then and right there that if I could I wanted the art of story telling, in one capacity or another to be a big part of my life. Watching John Carpenter's story unfold on the screen, made me want to write screenplays. Watching Donald Pleasence bring the character of Dr. Loomis to life, made me want to act. No one single film has been more influential on my life and what I want to do with it than Halloween.
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| The Exorcist (1973) |
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| JAWS (1975) |
| ORCA: The Killer Whale (1977) |
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| The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) |
There were a ton of since forgotten horror films made in the 1970's that few people even know exist and even fewer people have ever seen. The truth of the matter is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be one of them if it wasn't for one very specific reason. When I first saw this film, I couldn't believe how awful it was. The writing was bad, the acting was bad, hell nearly everything about the film was bad. You didn't have to convince me that the film's budget was only $300,000 and that most of that was spent on editing. The movie established that from the get go. Yet, this is one of the most influential, beloved horror films of all time. Why? Plenty of other horror films made in the 1970's that were just as good. Plenty of other horror films that no one ever talks about that are actually better, with a better story and better acting. Why is this film listed as one of the all time greatest? Five words. "Based on a true story" and there you have your answer. There is something about a story being based on real events and real people that draws an audience in. The real gag is that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre couldn't be more loosely based on real events than what it is. The story didn't take place in Texas, it took place in Wisconsin. No one was killed with a chainsaw either. Matter of fact, director/writer Toby Hooper got the idea for a chainsaw killer while sitting in a mall one day looking at chainsaws wonder what would happen if someone were to go berserk with one. There is no leatherface, or anyone even remotely close to him. Ed Gein, who he's "based" upon was a disturbed overly religions, pervert who suffered from necrophilia. He only killed 2 to 3 people (two for sure, one is questionable but likely.) In my opinion Toby Hooper or whoever it was that thought of using the tagline, "based on a true story" was a genius. It took an otherwise B film that would have been out of the theater faster than it came in and turned into a million dollar idea. Many films have since capitalized upon the power of "based on true events" but none have benefited more than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Personally, I find the remake much better.
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| Carrie (1976) |
I also took away from Carrie the importance of being nice to people (unless given justifiable reason not to be) for two reasons. A, you don't know what they go through at home. Carrie's mother reminds me of a relative of mine that I can't stand, only Carrie's mother is a lot worse. People are often strange or weird because of reasons that often aren't revealed to us. If we knew the answers to our questions, I doubt we'd be as quick to poke fun. The other reason to be nice to people, is that you don't know what they're capable of. Being a supernatural movie, Carrie had telekinetic powers. What she was capable of is make believe. However, the torment she was going through and the pain she felt from being ridiculed and made fun of, there wasn't anything make believe about that. While she couldn't have gotten back at everyone the way she did in real life, those telekinetic powers could have just as easily been a gun.
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| The Omen (1976) |
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| The Car (1977) |
| Halloween (1978) |
This isn't the first horror film I ever saw, but it is what started my love for horror films. I watched both Halloween and Halloween II (1981) over at Chris Thompson's house on a Friday night after school. I was immediately taken with the story and more importantly Donald Pleasence's performance as Dr. Sam Loomis. I knew right then and right there that if I could I wanted the art of story telling, in one capacity or another to be a big part of my life. Watching John Carpenter's story unfold on the screen, made me want to write screenplays. Watching Donald Pleasence bring the character of Dr. Loomis to life, made me want to act. No one single film has been more influential on my life and what I want to do with it than Halloween.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
My Love For Horror: The 1960's
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| Psycho (1960 |
I began my love affair with horror films in the early 1990's. I won't spoil what it was quite yet, but I saw my first horror film on USA Network in 1992 and I've been a avid lover ever since. Throughout the years I had been told that since I enjoyed horror films, I'd be doing myself a favor by checking out Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. I meant to view the film much sooner than what I did, but it wasn't until I was a sophomore in college that I saw the film. Viewing it in Professor Jamie Durham's "Film Aesthetics" class, I immediately saw why so many fans and critics alike regard it as one of the greatest horror films ever made. Alfred Hitchcock realized two vitally important things in making a good horror film. First, the importance of interesting compelling, characters, in an interesting compelling story. Audiences will invest themselves, their thoughts and their feelings if you give them reason to. Second, the proper usage of suspense. Thinking of what could or is going to happen, is often more terrifying than when it actually happens. Hitchcock knew this and he demonstrated it impeccably throughout the film. Although I don't know, I question whether it was the first time (or one of the first times) in a film where the killer wasn't a monster or an obviously evil person. The character of Norman Bates is quite likable and although it certainly wouldn't be today, 55 years ago it did come as a shock when it was revealed that he was the killer. Anthony Perkins played him magnificently and of course Janet Leigh was stellar as well. It also had a small part for University of Iowa graduate and one of my favorite television actors John Anderson as the used car salesman.
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| The Birds (1963) |
Another thing that the mastermind of horror understood was the power of simplicity. I've been guilty of this myself a time or two, so I can't be too judgmental but wanting to be impressive many writers/film makers go all out with complicated, convoluted stories that require so much thought and detail they often lose their audience. Hitchcock understood that you didn't have to do this. You could take a very simple concept like birds going mad and attacking people to death and allow the imagination of your audience to fill in the gaps. 1963 didn't have the technological advancements that we enjoy today in 2015, thus some of the action scenes aren't as exciting a they would be today but I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing. I think sometimes films put too much into special effects and thus the story and the characterization of film suffers. I personally would rather have a very good, yet simple story like The Birds, even if it does lack special effects.
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| Night of the Living Dead (1968) |
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| Rosemary's Baby (1968) |
A librarian believe it or not, recommended this to me about 9 and a 1/2 years ago. I had expressed my interest in horror to her, when she went over to the movie section of the library and asked me if I had ever seen Rosemary's Baby. I told her that I had not and she insisted that it was a must see for any horror fan. During that time in my life, I was slowly making the transition from a Christian to an agnostic, and found myself vastly intrigued by anything that dealt with religion. Seeing this film, and having my own thoughts and fears about what takes place in the film, I got online and examined others thoughts and feelings. Going back all these years later and reexamining those thoughts and feelings it amazes me how much differently I feel today than I did then. How the thoughts and feelings of others whom I once resonated with then, seem so foreign to me today. How the foreign thoughts and feelings of others then, seem so familiar today. I don't completely dismiss the feelings I had then. I still entertain them, but I don't think of them as "factual" as I did then and I certainly don't think of them as the only possibility. I'm not a woman, so obviously I can't imagine what it would be like to be impregnated by Satan, but the thoughts of being used as a catalyst of some sorts to bring evil to the world of any kind is quite frightening. Perhaps this is unfair for me to say, but I think the thought is much for terrifying to someone who outright believes in the Devil than it is to someone who doesn't. I know as an agnostic, who entertains the idea of the Devil being real, it scares me but back when I "knew" the devil "was real" it really scared me. A lot of times a film is simply a piece of entertainment that you watch, and either you enjoy or you don't. Other times it is a work of art that not only makes you examine it, but also examine yourself and what you believe. Rosemary's Baby had no more significance in the transition of me going from Christian to Agnostic (or as I would rather call myself Possiblist) than did any of the other 10,000 pieces of that puzzle. Yet, it begs the question. Is a puzzle 9,999/10,000 pieces put together fully complete?
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