Speech

If I have any fans in the utmost reaches of northern Utah, I’ll be giving a speech at the Producer Revolution forum in Logan, Utah Thursday, April 19 from 7:00-8:00 p.m.  The speech is open to the public and there is no cost to attend. The forum will be held at the Kimber Acadamy building at 3125 N. Main.

Most English Majors Aren't Evil

Dear News Media:  I don’t know why you're so obsessed with pointing out that the Virginia Tech killer, Seung-Hui Cho, was an English major unless it has to do with that violent stuff he wrote for a short story class.

One doesn't have to be an English major to be a writer or to even write disturbing one-act plays. Even non-English majors are capable of writing sick stuff and killing innocent people.

So you know, the majority of English majors are normal people who have a strange like to read and write. Some people would call us bookworms. Most of us have no desire to kill or harm others.

Thanks for listening,

Abel (An English major)

Random Thoughts April 2007

As a kid I never had allergies. Now that I’m an adult, I get them every spring. After five years of this you’d think I realized that be able to more quickly diagnose a stuffed up head as allergies instead of “a head cold that won’t go away.” Marathon Girl is always happier after long runs.

Chicago Jo’s recent marathon experience reminds me of my own experience and why I stick to short runs.   With two boys who always want to play with me as soon as I get home from work. One of their favorite activities is to have me swing them both around in my arms. I don’t know what I’m going to do once Molly gets old enough that she wants to play with dad too. Last time I checked, its impossible to grow a third arm.

Nothing makes my boys happier than taking them to the park.

Writing fiction is much more difficult than writing non-fiction. With non-fiction you already know what happened and simply have to artfully retell those events. With fiction, even if you know what you want to happen, sometimes you realize it’s not going to work and have to either rewrite an entire chapter or simply start over.

The bad thing about spring is that I have to start mowing the lawn again. I hate mowing the lawn even though I like the way a freshly mowed yard looks.

Why is it politicians want to bail out people who were stupid enough to take out mortgages they couldn’t afford? Do they really think that eliminating consequences for bad decisions will actually do these people any favors?

One of the people I admire is a sister-in-law who’s never afraid to do the right thing no matter what the consequences.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever watch TV after LOST goes off the air. It’s going to take a show with excellent writing, strong characters, and a great plot to even make me consider trading my time for the boob tube. The good news is that LOST will be back for a fourth season.

I’ve noticed a lot more people wearing Detroit Tiger hats since they went to the World Series. My guess is I’ll be the only one claiming to be a Tiger fan if they tank this year.

I need more sleep. Six-and-a-half hours a night isn’t enough.

The one thing I wish I had more of was time. There’s just not enough of it to accomplish everything I want to do in a day.

And speaking of time, whoever returned my watch to the gym's lost and found has my eternal gratitude.

Now I'm It

Responding to Lisa’s tag... Three things that scare me: • The Ring movie • Those who blindly follow others • Media hysteria

Three people who make me laugh: • The Marx Brothers • My kids • Jon

Three things I love: • Writing • Reading • Running

Three things I hate: • Wasting time • Watching TV (except LOST) • Going a day without exercising

Three things I don't understand: • Why people go on killing sprees • Why it takes the state so damn long to build new roads or fix existing ones. • Hypocrites

Three things on my desk: • A stack of unread books • The latest issue of The New Yorker • Photos of my wife and kids

Three things I'm doing right now: • Blogging (duh) • Drinking lemonade • Writing a speech I’m giving Thrusday night

Three things I want to do before I die: • See my kids grow up and have kids • Publish all the novels that are bouncing around in my head • Meet Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clearance Thomas

Three things I can do: • Keep up with Marathon Girl on short runs • Ghostwrite books, essays, etc. • Read all day without getting tired

Three things I can't do: • Throw away books • Summersaults • Draw

Three things (or people) I think you should listen to: • Thomas Sowell • Matt Drudge • Books on tape (for long drives)

Three things (or people) you should never listen to: • Don Imus • Celebrities • Global Warming activists

Three things I'd like to learn: • Spanish (it’s more useful than Bulgarian) • How to cook Chinese food • How to change my car’s oil

Three favorite foods: • Meditranian Pizza • Marathon Girl’s fried chicken • Wheaties

Three shows I watched as a kid: • Battlestar Galactica • Alf • Knight Rider

Three things I regret: • This will all be detailed in my book, Room for Two.

Three people I tag:

• Mrs. Ronk • Scott • Jon 

Knowing When to Say Good-bye

Emilio Gonzales is terminally ill.

The 17-month-old boy has been diagnosed with Leigh’s disease – a rare illness that is characterized by degeneration of the central nervous system.

He’s been in a pediatric intensive care unit since December 28. According to doctors his condition is irreversible. He can’t breath on his own. He’s fed through a tube. He rarely opens his eyes. He does not have a gag reflex. He shows no real purposeful response or movement.

Without life support, Emilio would die.

Emilio is at the center of a growing controversy surrounding a 1999 Texas law that allows doctors and hospital administrators to decide when to end life-sustaining treatment in medically futile cases. If there’s no hope that a patient will recover, hospitals can give a 10-day notice to the family of their decision to discontinue care.

Even though the law’s been on the books for eight years, hospitals have rarely had to send notices because doctors and family members usually come to an agreement about when is the best time to end treatment.

However, Emilio’s mother, Catarina, doesn’t want life support removed without her consent. She says she understands the condition of her son and that one day she’ll have to say good-bye but wants to be the one to decide when her son’s life will end.

I feel for Catarina and the decision she’s facing. Taking a child off life support is the hardest, most difficult decision anyone can ever make.

Five years ago, my daughter, Hope, came into the world three months early. Though she wasn’t suffering from a disease like Emilio, she was dependant on a ventilator for breath, tubes for food, made no purposeful movements, and had no higher order brain functions. Four days after intensive testing by doctors and specialists, I was informed that Hope’s condition was irreversible.

Since Hope was too young to speak for herself, I was the one who had to make that life and death decision for her.

Coming to the conclusion to remove my daughter’s life support was utter hell.

On the outside Hope looked fine. She had ten fingers, ten toes. Her skin was a healthy pink color. Even though she was three months early, she had a thick mat of brown hair.

Inside, however, her body wasn’t working. His lungs couldn’t function. There was severe brain damage. Her nervous system was shot.

None of that mattered; not to me anyway. She was my daughter. And like any parent I was hoping for a miracle – one that, as it turned out, would never arrive.

Many agonizing days and sleepless nights passed before I came to the conclusion that being dependant on machines for basic life functions such as breathing, isn’t really a life. Lying in a hospital bed, unable to communicate with or even be aware of who was around you isn’t living. There was no chance that Hope would recover. She could never come home with me. Her life, so long as she lived, would be in a sterile hospital room surrounded by life giving machines.

I didn’t want my daughter to live like that.

Nine days after she arrived in this world, Hope was removed from life support and died in my arms.

I understand Catarina’s hesitancy to remove Emilio from life support. They’re the actions of a parent still holding out for a miracle. They’re the actions of a parent who’s not ready to say good-bye.

All life is precious but there comes a time when a life ceases to be worth continuing. Sadly, Emilio has reached that stage.

Catarina is right when she says the Texas law needs to be changed. Family members are the best ones to make the decision when or if to remove life support. No one – not doctors, nurses, or state legislators – should force their hand.

But she’s wrong to prolonging a life – and, possibly, the suffering – of her young son.

When another person’s life hangs in the balance, a choice must be made between selfish compassion and loving compassion. The only endurable and principled choice is love.

Loving compassion is choosing ‘right’ over ‘want.’ It is the willingness to take upon one’s self the extreme burden of life-and-death decisions for the benefit of the miserable, and to be willing to absorb the personal cost of anguish and heartache that follows. It might be said, “There is no greater love than a mother who lays down her heart for the sake of her child.”

If I could impart any words of advice to Catarina it would be this: let your son go to a better place. It’s the most loving thing you can do for him.

***

Enjoy what you read? Subscribe to the Abel Keogh email list. Be the first to learn about new essays, book updates, and other exclusive information.

This essay was originally published on FreeCapitalist.com. You can read all of Abel's FreeCapitalist essays here.

LOST: One of Us

For all those who have been complaining about LOST not giving any answers to some of the mysteries surrounding the Others and the Island, I hope you watched last night episode. *** Spoiler Alert ***

Last night we learned more about the Others, why they’re taking children and are interested on some of the castaways, a possible reason why Claire was “kidnapped,”  how they (used to) communicate with the outside world and how they know so much about the passengers.

Don’t start complaining that it raised even more questions than it answered. Be patient. In the remaining episodes this season, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see many more long-standing questions answered while other mysteries are opened. Save your complaints until season three is over.

Even though Juliet seems to be working with Ben to deceive Jack and the other passengers of flight 815, I’m not convinced she’s completely aligned with them. She’s wanted to get off the island for years and Ben hasn’t let her. I think she’s following along with them because she believes Ben will find a way to get her off the island – something she’s wanted to do for three years. One of the things her flashback illustrated is how important getting of the rock is to her. Don’t be surprised if she opens up to Jack and fills him in a little on what is really going on if she sees that as the best way to get her off the island. Her loyalty lies with those who can help her the most.

I’m wondering if the “incident” Roseau referred to back in Season 1 has to do something with women on the island not being able to carry their pregnancy to term. Ben said he was born on the island so we can assume that at some point women could safely carry their babies to term. Maybe the mysterious Dharma Initiative did something that messed with the island’s mysterious properties. Of course the real question is what are the Others going to do with Sun once they find out she’s pregnant?

Finally, interesting that the Others seem to have different names for some of the passengers. Juliet refers to Kate as “Austin” when she’s talking about their plan to infiltrate the survivors. (This isn’t the first time they’ve done this.) Anyone have any theories as to why?

Also of interest is when Juliet told Sayid he’d kill her if he knew what she knew. Many of the Others, when caught, have preferred death to captivity. Makes you wonder what’s really going on.

The Great Consumer Easter Egg Scramble

 

Each year the city my family lives in holds an Easter egg scramble. About 10,000 of those pastel-colored, plastic eggs are scattered throughout the city’s largest park. The eggs are filled with candy, toys, or prize coupons. All children 12 and under are welcome to take part.

After watching my two boys participate in it for the first time last weekend, I’m wondering if we’ll do it again next year. Instead of a fun-filled event, the scramble turned in to an ugly display of the consumer mentality – the idea that there’s never enough and one has to get what he or she can before others take it.

Our two boys aren’t old enough to understand the finer points of an Easter egg scramble which, last time I checked, is to gather as many eggs as fast as you can.

My oldest son, almost three, gathers eggs at a pace that makes a sloth look like a cheetah. He needs to proudly show Mom and Dad the egg he’s found then shake it to make sure there’s candy inside before he moves on to the next one.

My 18-month-old is more likely to pick up one egg, open it, and devour the candy inside and forget about the other eggs. One Easter egg filled with treats is more than enough to bring a smile to his face.

Our two boys fell in the three-and-under section of the scramble. Parents were told they were allowed to aid their kids in gathering eggs. My wife and I assumed this meant accompanying our boys and pointing to an egg and, perhaps, giving one to show them how it was done and encouraging them to pick up another one.

It seemed like the other kids in this section were as clueless as our boys as to why they were there. Though a few three-year-olds wanted to run out and grab some eggs early most of the kids clung to mom or dad or ran around on the grass, playing. A two-year-old girl with dark red hair standing next to us seemed more interested in trying to play with our boys than going after Easter eggs.

Then the horn sounded and chaos ensued.

The parents in our section descended upon the candy-filled eggs, dragging their children behind them. From the way many parents acted you’d have thought these were the last Easter eggs on Earth or that one of them held a million dollar prize. They’d pick up an egg, throw it in the child’s basket, and quickly pounce on the next egg before the kid knew what was happening.

In less than 30 seconds the several thousand eggs in our section were gathered. Most of the kids still had dazed looks on their faces when it was over. They seemed to be asking the same question as my wife and I: “What just happened?”

We thought the Easter egg scramble was for kids, not parents. The event should have taken ten minutes – not 30 seconds. It should have been a chance for the kids to have fun and learn how to compete with each other, not with adults.

Sadly, the parent’s fear or loss overpowered what should have been a fun event for children. Instead of letting kids enjoy gathering eggs according to their own ability, it turned into a depressing spectacle of parents pushing each other out of the way for a plastic egg filled with a few pieces of candy.

Our experience on Saturday showed that our children are too young to fully understand and appreciate the purpose of an Eater egg scramble.

Unfortunately, most parents didn’t seem to understand the purpose of it either.

***

Enjoy what you read? Subscribe to the Abel Keogh email list. Be the first to learn about new essays, book updates, and other exclusive information.

This essay was originally published on FreeCapitalist.com. You can read all of Abel's FreeCapitalist essays here.

If the Shoe Fits, Wear It

For the last 18 months Marathon Girl and I have been ordering our running shoes online. Since we both prefer running shoes that happen to be hard to find in regular sporting good stores, it’s been much easier to click the mouse a few times and have the shoes delivered to hour house as opposed to spending an afternoon shopping. We found a good, reliable store in Maryland, Holabird Sports, that not only sold the shoes we wanted for less than what we could pay for here, but were always delivered them promptly to our house. Then Runner’s World had to go and mess everything up.

In October they listed Marathon Girl’s favorite running shoe as a Best Buy. Since then it seems like all the runners in the world have jumped on the I-must-buy-this-shoe bandwagon and suddenly shoes in Marathon Girl’s size have been notoriously hard to find. Yesterday Marathon Girl mentioned her current shoes were feeling a little worn so I went online to buy some for her. Instead of the usual three minutes it took me to place the order, I spent 30 minutes just trying to find a pair. Finally I was able to find a pair at Zappos.com. Even though they were more expensive than Holabird, overnight shipping was included in the price so Marathon Girl was able to break in her new shoes the next day.

The thing with any shoe, running or otherwise, is that is has to feel good to your foot. Just because a magazine or Web site recommends shoe doesn’t mean it’s going to feel good when you use it. For example, I’ve never been able to wear Doc Martins because they never felt good to my foot. Their sole was always felt too hard for my tender feet.

I’ve even had to find new running shoes on occasion. Soon after Marathon Girl and I were married, I bought a pair of Nikes that I had been using for several years. But this new version of the shoe didn’t feel right. It started rubbing my foot the wrong way. So after only eight miles of use, I gave the shoe to one of my brothers to use. (It worked great for him.) Meanwhile I had to find another type of shoe that felt good when I ran. (Thankfully Marathon Girl knows enough about running shoes that she told me to try Adidas who, in her opinion, make the best athletic shoes in the world. I now agree with her assessment.)

So to all runners who are jumping on the Runner’s World recommendation bandwagon, please find a shoe that you, not the editors of some magazine, are comfortable with. Recommendations are nice but that doesn’t mean it will help you run faster or feel good on your foot. Find a shoe that works for you and stay with it, please.

LOST: Left Behind

It’s been said that we’re no more than six “steps” away from each other – that we are all in some way connected to each other. This connectivity we all have brings about those small world moments when we meet someone and discover we have a common friend or acquaintance, went to the same school, or have some other connection to each other. One of the things I enjoy LOST is they way it shows how everyone’s lives on the island are in someway intertwined with each other. It’s not just the fact they shared an airplane that crashed on the island, but that many of their lives are connected in more personal ways. For example, Anna Lucia knew Jack’s father in Australia. Jack and Claire are (thought they don’t know it) are half-siblings.

This week we saw how in her past life Kate met up with Cassidy, a woman who was conned by Sawyer and is pregnant with his child. It was a sad connection. Both of these women felt betrayed by people they loved and Kate was determined to know why her mother turned her into the police.

In a heartbreaking but realistic scene Kate finally has a chance to talk with her mom wondering why she wasn’t glad her abusive husband was killed. "You can't help who you love, Katherine, and for good or bad I loved him," she tells Kate. Kate then tells her mom that she killed her stepfather for her (Kate’s mom). But her mom replies that Kate did it for herself.

Cassidy feels the same way about Sawyer as Kate mom feels for her deceased husband. Even though he conned her out of her life savings, Cassidy was still loves him and still hopes he’ll come back to her which is why she has yet to call the police.

I don’t think the writers are making these connections haphazardly. I think at the end of the show a lot of the characters are going to realize the connections they share and that many of them were brought to the island for a specific purpose. (This is something I actually think Locke understands better than any of the characters on the island.)

***

I love it when the black cloud (a.k.a. the security system, smokey) is on the show. And after yesterday’s episode there’s an interesting theory over on LostEasterEggs about the black cloud that pops up occasionally.

…as Smokey approaches the fence, there are three large “heads” that are very noticeable. Could the it be confirmation that Smokey is indeed the “Cerberus” mentioned on the Blast Door Map? It is possible that Smokey is comprised of three separate entities that are capable of joining together, or working independently?

To see an image of the three heads, click here.

Who's Your Tiger?

Mitch Albom has a great column yesterday on the Detroit Tigers. An excerpt:

Not too long ago, you — me, we — were all blissfully done with this habit. Not too long ago, April was just the month that came after March, as it was in the years before Detroit had a baseball franchise.

That's because over the last decade, for all intents and purposes, Detroit didn't have a baseball franchise. Oh, there were men in uniforms. Oh, they took the field and they came to bat and they sold hot dogs and people paid for parking.

But it wasn't much to watch. Some years the Tigers were bad, and some years they were really bad. Occasionally, they were truly awful.

And now?

Now they are good.

Now they are the defending American League champions.

Now they are the guys who did everything but win the World Series.

And here you are again, all revved up with someplace to go.

Too bad the Tigers lost their opening day game to Toronto 5-3. Still, this is a season to look forward to. And instead of hiding my face in shame, I'm quite proud to wear my baseball hats with the old English "D"

Go Tigers!