text:
Another SEO Scammer Calls Me
I had been getting a number of e-mails from various tech companies wanting to help me improve my website ranking. One in particular got my attention because the language behind it was only slightly off kilter, like speaking to a European who had only been in the United States for a few weeks and hadn't quite gotten hip to the nuances of American English.
The one line that struck me right away was "There is some lacuna in your website which needs to be improved so that your website becomes visible on top of the Search Engines and eventually help you get more traffic and more business". The author uses the word "lacuna" to indicate "gap" and it's not a word you'll hear commonly used in the United States. I'm only aware of it because it's used to indicate a period of silence within a piece of music. The author of the e-mail used it incorrectly, as lacuna is the singular form and lacunae is the plural, a fact I learned from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the third episode of Season 7, "Interface", we see Commander Data staring at a blank screen when in fact, he what he is viewing is a lacuna within an alien poem. The ancient Doosodarians were known for their poetry that contained lacunae which sometimes measured several days in length. During this pause, the poet and audience are encouraged to acknowledge the "emptiness" of the experience. The Doosodarians believed that while the poem may be blank, the emptiness itself had a poetic meaning, so it could not be considered "nothing" as such.
After some back and forth over e-mail, I finally got a rep from the company to call. As suspected, the caller had a noticeable foreign accent. Clovis answered and passed the phone to Diksmash. After hearing the pitch, Diksmash successfully negotiated a deal with the sales rep where the rep would issue a bill for $1,000, of which Diksmash would keep $500 and kick $500 to the company. Clovis interrupted the call, said he'd been listening the entire time and was going to call the police. The conversation was turned over to a manager who attempted to do some damage control. Clovis kept talking over him, asking him for his company's address. The manager kept refusing, trying to refer Clovis to a doctored up website instead. Clovis responded by singing his ABCs which really seemed to set the manager off. Just before hanging up, the manager exclaims: "go call the police. I don't give a damn. Bye bye".
Posted by TommyMac at 6:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Telemarketer Pranks
Kalahari Resort at Wisconsin Dells
Growing up in Suburban Chicago in the 70's and 80's, the Wisconsin Dells was a fairly popular vacation destination among my friends and their families. Back then, the tourist activities in the Wisconsin Dells centered around small amusement parks, nature tours, the Wonder Spot, Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show and its various knockoffs and, of course Noah's Ark Waterpark. My own family preferred Door County to the Wisconsin Dells despite the fairly intense advertising blitz that would go on during the warmer months of the year. I can still remember the jingle: "Mother Nature created the beauty, we created the fun! The Wisconsin Dells, a great time for everyone!"
So, it wasn't without a bit of bemusement that I took my family up to the Kalahari Resort at Wisconsin Dells this past weekend. I had heard that the Dells had been expanding its waterpark offerings since the 90s to the point where Lake Delton is now considered "The Water Park Capital Of The World". I expected to be crush amidst a throng of tourists while being fleeced in every way possible from various theme parks with their hands in my pocket. But, to my surprise, it was actually a very pleasant and fun experience overall. We got a nice, spacious room with two queen beds, pull out sofa, fridge and a very large television. Access to the theme park at Kalahari is included in the room price. Access to the water park is extra, but I didn't feel like it was an unreasonable amount. Kalahari is even nice enough to refrain from locking down the room's television so that it can access USB media, thus allowing me to play movies from my USB drive. The prices at the restaurants and concession stands were pretty reasonable except for a few items (bottled soda being the obvious outlier). And, in general, there was something for everyone. My youngest son was an exception, but he's a rather odd demographic since he's nearly 5 and is very short for his age so he isn't tall enough to go on a lot of the rides in the theme park that interest him yet the rides he's able to go on are too "young" for his age.
I'm nearly petrified of heights, so the ropes course which consists of various climbing elements suspended 2 - 3 stories off the ground was a considerable challenge to me. My five-year-old was a real trooper for most of it and I reasoned that, if he could brave it, then I could too. Plus, they latch everyone in with a rope system so that, if you do fall, you won't get hurt. Still, I wasn't looking forward to the possibility of dangling from a rope while waiting for someone to pull me back onto the course. The rules of the course state that participants should empty their pockets and that no cell phones or cameras are allowed. Still, I brought my smartphone up and took pictures of my son crossing various obstacles. I did get caught by a Kalahari employee at one point, but he was cool about it and just asked me to put it away.
The water park at Kalahari is a lot of fun and I think that there's a decent balance between things to do for adults and things to do for kids. There's a lazy river, a number of kids areas, a swim up bar, an indoor/outdoor spa and a whirlpool spa. There are a number of different water slides to choose from that zip all over the water park. My own favorite is the Tanzanian Twister, a spiral flume ride that spins you around the flume at about 40 miles per hour before dropping you out from the bottom of the flume into the pool below. Now I know what being a flushed turd feels like.
If I have one complaint about Kalahari, it centers around the ability to capture the experience. There weren't many group photo ops available. On every trip, I like to get at least one picture of the entire family together, and it's not easy to do so. Having a photo op managed by resort staff is something I often rely on in order to make that happen. Near as I could tell, Kalahari had only one available and it was only for about an hour or so. There's also the Virtual Area, which I think is a lot of fun, but the lack of video recording availability is a bit of a let down because it would be pretty fun to see how ridiculous everyone acts while they're putzing around in a virtual reality realm. These are just minor nit-picks, though. We had a great time overall.
Location: Lake Delton, WI, USA
RIP J. Geils
John "J" Geils, guitarist and founder of The J. Geils Band, passed away at the age of 71 last night. He was found in his home, and all indications are that he died of natural causes.
This one actually hit me pretty hard. "Freeze Frame" was the first album I ever bought.
It was at the dawn of the Mtv Era. For a kid like me, "Centerfold" was the perfect video. It featured a bunch of pretty girls, of course, but the band itself was an eclectic mix of characters, bookended by a cool lead singer and an aloof guitarist. These weren't the type of people you'd see in music videos today. The band members were in their late 30's rather than their early-to-mid 20s and they lacked a certain polish. That was fine by me, because, at the time, when compared to my peers, I lacked a certain polish. The video for "Centerfold" held a special place in my mind. My fevered adolescent fantasies featured myself as Peter Wolf among the various hot girls who went to my school who wouldn't ever talk to me much less do a dance routine in the middle of the classroom. My mix of misfit friends was cast as the band with my best friend serving as J. Geils.
"Freeze Frame" was the second video from the album. The band was having a great time throwing paint at each other and there was this weird animation thingy in the middle that I found fascinating. I was sold! "Freeze Frame" would be my first official album purchase. The moment I got my allowance, I was off to K-Mart to pick it up. I can remember the moment that I first picked up that record. I pulled it from the rack and raised it up slightly above my eye-level. It was like finding a legendary treasure that you'd only read about in books. Yet, here it was before me in all its vinyl glory! No longer would I have to listen to "Freeze Frame", "Centerfold" or "Angel in Blue" at the whim of Mtv. I was in control now.
There was a slight problem: The final song on the album is "Piss On The Wall". Should my mother happen to see such vulgarity, especially in print, the album would surely have been confiscated. Luckily, my oldest brother was old enough to have fewer restrictions on his purchases. He offered to hold onto "Freeze Frame" for me, as if it were part of his collection. I could listen to it in his room any time I wanted. With the headphones on. I wore down the needle on his record player listening to it.
"Love Stinks" started getting some play on Mtv but, to my astonishment, it wasn't on "Freeze Frame". It was from a different album, one that had come out before "Freeze Frame". What?? There was life before Freeze Frame? With my next allowance, I went out and bought it. This time, however, I did not want go to K-Mart with my mom and run the risk of there possibly being another vulgar song title which my mom might possibly see and use as a reason to veto the purchase, so my brother took me to an actual record store to buy it. When I got there, I discovered that there were SEVERAL J. Geils Band albums that had been made before "Freeze Frame".
Over the next few months, I used my allowance to buy them too. I was astonished at what I'd heard. Instead of happy, goofy pop music, I was treated to bluesy, angsty, soulful music. It was such a departure from what Mtv told me to expect, but that was a good thing. It opened up a whole new world for me because, before they were the momentary darlings of Mtv, the J. Geils Band were the masters of East Coast blues-rock. I started to investigate bands with similar sounds and buy their albums.
This was a serious addiction. I used money that was normally allocated for buying Star Wars guys or GI Joes to buy music. I not only bought albums, but I investigated the stories behind the bands. I wanted to know about them, so I bought magazines like Rolling Stone so I could read album reviews and interviews. I'd even go so far as to look up articles in the periodicals index in my school library. When I reached High School, I toyed with the idea of becoming a music journalist or a DJ so that I could interview my favorite bands. And when I do some side work as a DJ, in the back of my head, I wanted to sit both J. Geils and Peter Wolf down in a room together and have them take me through the conception of each and every song they wrote (which can never happen now). They say that at some point, ever child must put away his toys and take up the implements that make him a man. Well, the J. Geils Band and "Freeze Frame" started me on that journey. I became a man because of that album. And, years later, upon discovering that a middle school crush had become an amateur cam model? Well, my blood ran cold.....
Creative differences between J. Geils and Peter Wolf eventually led to Wolf leaving the band in 1983. They'd reunite several times over the years for one-off shows here and there, but an argument led to the band touring without Geils, who then sued everyone and quit the band for good. I had hoped that the band would get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 and patch things up again. A reunion won't ever happen again, but maybe we can still get them into the Hall of Fame.
Anyway, RIP J. Geils. Your music made me a fan not only of your band, but of music itself.
I'm going to listen to the Best of J. Geils Band, then I'm going to spin up Peter Wolf's "Sleepless", which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest albums ever made. You should too.
Debunking Jefferson's War Against Islam And The Barbary Pirates
Yet another Facebook rant is making its way across my newsfeed. This one offers a distorted account of President Jefferson and the Barbary Wars turning Jefferson's breaking of a high seas protection racket into a post Colonial-era crusade against Muslims. There are various different versions of the text, but here's the one I've seen most often:
A 232 Year History of our fight against Islam & why it is no longer taught in our public schools...
When Thomas Jefferson saw there was no negotiating with Muslims, he formed what is now the Marines (sea going soldiers). These Marines were attached to U. S. Merchant vessels. When the Muslims attacked U.S. merchant vessels they were repulsed by armed soldiers, but there is more.
The Marines followed the Muslims back to their villages and killed every man, woman, and child in the village. It didn't take long for the Muslims to leave U.S. Merchant vessels alone. English and French merchant vessels started running up our flag when entering the Mediterranean to secure safe travel.
Why the Marine Hymn contains the verse, "To the Shores of Tripoli ".
This is very interesting and a must read piece of our history. It points out where we may be heading.
Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago the United States had declared war on Islam, and Thomas Jefferson led the charge!
At the height of the 18th century, Muslim pirates (the "Barbary Pirates") were the terror of the Mediterranean and a large area of the North Atlantic. They attacked every ship in sight, and held the crews for exorbitant ransoms. Those taken hostage were subjected to barbaric treatment and wrote heart-breaking letters home, begging their governments and families to pay whatever their Mohammedan captors demanded. These extortionists of the high seas represented the North African Islamic nations of Tripoli, Tunis , Morocco , and Algiers - collectively referred to as the Barbary Coast - and presented a dangerous and unprovoked threat to the new American Republic .
Before the Revolutionary War, U.S. merchant ships had been under the protection of Great Britain . When the U.S. declared its independence and entered into war, the ships of the United States were protected by France. However, once the war was won, America had to protect its own fleets. Thus, the birth of the U.S. Navy. Beginning in 1784, 17 years before he would become president, Thomas Jefferson became America's Minister to France. That same year, the U.S. Congress sought to appease its Muslim adversaries by following in the footsteps of European nations who paid bribes to the Barbary States rather than engaging them in war.
In July of 1785, Algerian pirates captured American ships, and the Dye of Algiers demanded an unheard-of ransom of $60,000. It was a plain and simple case of extortion, and Thomas Jefferson was vehemently opposed to any further payments. Instead, he proposed to Congress the formation of a coalition of allied nations who together could force the Islamic states into peace. A disinterested Congress decided to pay the ransom.
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripoli's ambassador to Great Britain to ask by what right his nation attacked American ships and enslaved American citizens, and why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts. The two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran that all nations who would not acknowledge their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise." Despite this stunning admission of premeditated violence on non-Muslim nations, as well as the objections of many notable American leaders, including George Washington, who warned that caving in was both wrong and would only further embolden the enemy, for the following fifteen years, the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages.
The payments in ransom and tribute amounted to over 20 percent of the United States government annual revenues in 1800. Jefferson was disgusted. Shortly after his being sworn in as the third President of the United States in 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli sent him a note demanding the immediate payment of $225,000 plus $25,000 a year for every year forthcoming. That changed everything.
Jefferson let the Pasha know, in no uncertain terms, what he could do with his demand. The Pasha responded by cutting down the flagpole at the American consulate and declared war on the United States. Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers immediately followed suit. Jefferson, until now, had been against America raising a naval force for anything beyond coastal defense, but, having watched his nation be cowed by Islamic thuggery for long enough, decided that it was finally time to meet force with force.
He dispatched a squadron of frigates to the Mediterranean and taught the Muslim nations of the Barbary Coast a lesson he hoped they would never forget. Congress authorized Jefferson to empower U.S. ships to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli and to "cause to be done all other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war would justify".
When Algiers and Tunis, who were both accustomed to American cowardice and acquiescence, saw the newly independent United States had both the will and the right to strike back, they quickly abandoned their allegiance to Tripoli. The war with Tripoli lasted for four more years, and raged up again in 1815. The bravery of the U.S. Marine Corps in these wars led to the line "to the shores of Tripoli" in the Marine Hymn, and they would forever be known as "leathernecks" for the leather collars of their uniforms, designed to prevent their heads from being cut off by the Muslim scimitars when boarding enemy ships.
Islam, and what its Barbary followers justified doing in the name of their prophet and their god, disturbed Jefferson quite deeply. America had a tradition of religious tolerance. In fact Jefferson, himself, had co-authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, but fundamentalist Islam was like no other religion the world had ever seen. A religion based on supremacy, whose holy book not only condoned but mandated violence against unbelievers, was unacceptable to him.
His greatest fear was that someday this brand of Islam would return and pose an even greater threat to the United States .
This should concern every American. That Muslims have brought about women-only classes and swimming times in America at taxpayer-funded universities and public pools; that Christians, Jews, and Hindus have been banned from serving on juries where Muslim defendants are being judged; Piggy banks and Porky Pig tissue dispensers have been banned from workplaces because they offend Islamist sensibilities; ice cream has been discontinued at certain Burger King locations because the picture on the wrapper looks similar to the Arabic script for Allah; public schools are pulling pork from their menus; on and on and on and on..
It's death by a thousand cuts, or inch-by-inch as some refer to it, and most Americans have no idea that this battle is being waged every day across America. By not fighting back, by allowing groups to obfuscate what is really happening, and not insisting that the Islamists adapt to our culture, the United States is cutting its own throat with a politically correct knife, and helping to further the Islamists' agenda.
Sadly, it appears that today America's leaders would rather be politically correct than victorious!
IF YOU DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST, YOU ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT.
The amount of historical inaccuracies and flat-out lies contained within this missive is appalling. Right out of the gate, the author tosses out a falsehood: The Marines were not founded by Thomas Jefferson. The Marines were founded on November 10, 1775 by Captain Samuel Nicholas under the Second Continental Congress. They were disbanded after the Revolutionary War. They were then re-formed in 1798 in response to the Quasi-War with France. The French were outraged that the United States refused to continue paying its war debts owed to the country after the Revolutionary War. The United States argued that those debts were owed to a previous French government which no longer existed after the French Revolution. The French responded by attacking American shipping. The United States could do little to oppose France, as the Navy had been disbanded after the Revolutionary War. The French could not be negotiated with, so Congress authorized the re-formation of both the Navy and the Marine Corps. This was under President John Adams.
The "Barbary Pirates" refers to corsairs and privateers from the North African countries of Tripoli, Algiers and and Tunis (which were provinces of the Ottoman Empire) along with the independent Sultanate of Morocco. The four countries controlled a large portion of the Mediterranean and had been attacking merchant vessels as a sort-of "protection racket" since the 16th Century. Indeed, as the rant says, American shipping was protected in the pre-Revolutionary War years due to the fact that American ships were effectively British ships. During the Revolutionary War, American shipping was protected by France via the Treaty of Alliance. The protections offered in that treaty expired in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris and the recognition of the United States as its own country.
No longer under protection from any larger European power, American vessels were ripe for the plundering from Barbary Pirates. In fact, both England and France encouraged the Barbary States to attack American shipping, as it was cutting into both British and French trade. After Moroccan pirates seized an American brigantine vessel named Betsey in 1784, the Spanish government stepped in to help negotiate the freedom of the captured ship and crew. Spain then advised the United States to offer tribute in order to prevent further attacks against merchant ships. To that end, Thomas Jefferson, then serving as the U.S. Minister to France, sent diplomatic envoys to Morocco and Algeria to try to purchase treaties and the freedom of the captured sailors held by Algeria. Morocco signed a treaty with the U.S., on 23 June 1786 formally ending all Moroccan piracy against American shipping interests. This debunks the rant's assertion that Jefferson saw that there was "no negotiating with Muslims".
Indeed, negotiations with the three remaining Barbary states did not go as smoothly. The nations wanted more money than U.S. envoys were authorized to spend. No agreement was reached, and American ships were at risk. In 1795, an agreement was reached with Algeris to release the 115 American sailors they had held for a decade for $1 million, which was 20% of the U.S. budget at the time. And they wanted a yearly tribute to be paid to them in order to ensure "protection" within their waters. Negotiations in London between Jefferson and Adams and Tripoli's envoy in 1786 did indeed produce the quote about Islam authorizing its followers to attack non-Muslims because they were regarded as sinners. It was regarded more as a justification than an overall reasoning. Again, the reason for the Barbary attacks was to squeeze "protection" money out of countries too weak to challenge them.
Adams and Jefferson agreed that, since the United States had no navy with which to challenge the Barbary Pirates, tribute would have to be paid. This eventually led to the Treaty of Tripoli being signed in 1796 (again debunking the "no negotiations with Muslims" claim). Although Jefferson bristled at having to pay tribute, the argument between the political factions in the United States centered more on whether or not the U. S. should be operating in the Eastern Atlantic to begin with. Many argued that the country should be concentrating on westward expansion rather than international trade. It was Jefferson rather than Washington who was the one who warned that paying tribute would set a bad precedent and would only embolden the Barbary Pirates. Washington had sought a diplomatic end to the Barbary issues while President and had often advocated for keeping the United States out of the affairs of the "Old World" to begin with.
Tensions were rising again with the Barbary States in 1800 and just before Jefferson assumed the office of President, Congress passed a naval registration act, purchasing new ships and allowing for attacks against pirates in Mediterranean in the event of a declaration of war from the Barbary States. When Jefferson took office in 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli demanded a payment of $225,000. Jefferson refused and Tripoli declared war on the United States. None of the other Barbary States followed suit. While at war with Tripoli, the United States along with Sweden imposed a blockade of Tripoli. Hostilities raged on for four years, culminating in the Battle of Derna in which Lieutenant Eaton led a force of Marines along with Greek and Arab mercenaries to capture Derna. And, while American forces did march 600 miles through the desert, they did not go from village to village killing all the men, women and children. It should also be noted that the 200-300 Arab mercenaries in Eaton's force were Muslim, which would again debunk the rant's claim that the Barbary Wars were some kind of crusade against Islam. Also worth noting here is that, at no time did English or French vessels run up American colors on their ships. They didn't have to. Turkey, the seat of the Ottoman Empire, was allied with England and the Barbary States relied on free trade with France for supplies.
The capture of Derna gave the United States enough leverage to negotiate an end to the conflict. The resulting treaty still required that the United States pay Tripoli $60,000 for the release of American prisoners, though it was called a "ransom" rather than a "tribute". Jefferson's fear wasn't that Islam as a religion would pose a future threat, rather, he was concerned that rolling over and paying tribute to any country would weaken the United States as a player on the world stage. This is why the United States fought the Quasi-War against France and the First Barbary War against Tripoli.
The rant then goes off into a crazed railing against Muslim encroachment into American culture by citing a number of incidents that may or may not be true. And even if they are, connecting them to the First Barbary war is impossible to do without an Olympic season's worth of mental gymnastics. The one thing the rant does get right is the saying that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. But, it follows that, in order to remember history, one must study it properly in the first place, something that the knuckle-dragging author of the rant clearly failed to do.
Labels: General Nuttiness
Your Fear Over The Internet Privacy Roll Backs Is Unfounded
I see a lot of people on my Facebook feed decrying Trump's recent rollback of an Obama-era law that placed restrictions on ISPs selling your aggregate browsing data. People are up in arms and are declaring that they are going to start surfing via VPN (usually without knowing what VPN is). The more bold folks on my feed are trying to pool money together in order to buy and publish the browsing histories of their Senators and Representatives. Trouble is, these people have no understanding of what the old law did or what the new law (that rolls back the old law) does.
At issue here is the ability for ISPs to use your browsing data to send you targeted ads. This is something Facebook and Google already do to you, which is why you often see ads on Facebook and in Google for things you have searched for on Amazon or other shopping sites. ISPs take this one step further by selling your browsing data (top level domains only, they don't sell the actual pages you look at on a site) in an anonymous form bundled with thousands of other users' browsing data from similar demographics. Then, a company can essentially ask an ISP to target ads for their product to people who have visited certain domains who fit certain demographic characteristics. In the waning days of the Obama administration, the FCC issued a rule (not a law) that would have required ISPs to get their customers' permission in order to do this. The FCC gained the ability to enforce this rule due to their re-classification of ISPs as common carriers under Net Neutrality.
That law that Congress passed and Trump signed effectively blocked the FCC rule. And here's the real kicker: The FCC rule hadn't even gone into effect yet. This means that nothing regarding the way you use the Internet is changing. There's no reason to be up in arms over this if you hadn't been before the FCC issued the rule. Your ISP will still be selling aggregate data, which they have already been doing for quite some time. There are still laws in place that prevent your own personal information to be tied to your aggregate browsing information. This means that nobody can go to an ISP and purchase someone's browsing history. The best you could do is purchase anonymous aggregate browsing data in bulk that fits certain criteria. So, if you wanted your Senator's browsing data, the best you could do would be to find out his zip code and purchase the aggregate data pertaining to people who live in the same area. And even if you could do that, publishing that data online would be illegal as it would probably be considered proprietary information owned by the ISP that collected and indexed it.
That's not to say that the blocking of the FCC law isn't concerning. It is. Data targeting is huge and advertisers are pumping tons of money into it. That may not seem like a bad thing on the surface. If you're going to see an ad, I'd wager that you'd rather see one that is relevant to you rather than something completely out of left field. Yet, the unexpected side-effect of this data targeting stems from the money that is generated by it. Content is monetized by it and so content providers are increasingly desperate to earn that ad revenue by getting you to visit their site so that they can get paid for showing you targeted ads. This has led to a saturation of click-bait titles and outright fake stories generated by content providers in order to grab your attention, get you to visit their site, and get paid for showing you some targeted ads. Rather than using the Internet as a repository of information, we're using it as a repository of infotainment. The Internet has become the TV equivalent of "Fox & Friends" or "Inside Edition". Giving customers the ability to opt out of having their data sold like this could have started to push back against the constant din of websites crying out for attention in tabloid headline fashion.
The irony here is that everyone is up-in-arms over the new law, but are upset for a completely made up reason, one that they likely got wind of via a click-bait article with targeted ads embedded within it.
Debunking Jefferson's War Against Islam And The Ba...
Your Fear Over The Internet Privacy Roll Backs Is ...


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Boundary County is the northernmost county of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,056. The county seat and largest city is Bonners Ferry.

Boundary County was created by the Idaho Legislature on January 23, 1915. It is so named because it borders Canada, and is therefore the only county in Idaho with an international border. It is also only one of three counties in the United States that borders two states and a foreign country, the others being Coös County, New Hampshire and Erie County, Pennsylvania.

History
Boundary County was formed on January 23, 1915, from Bonner County. It was named Boundary County because it lies on the border of Canada, Washington and Montana.

Boundary County has seven election precincts: Bonners Ferry, Copeland, Kootenai, Moyie, Naples, North Bonners Ferry, and Valley View. All contain part of Bonners Ferry City except Copeland, Moyie, and Naples precincts.  Moyie Springs was incorporated in 1947.

Settlement of the area started with the establishment of Bonners Ferry on the Kootenai River in 1864. Settlement was limited to the ferry operation until about 1890. The town of Bonners Ferry was established in 1893.  At that point settlement was still sparse with small ranching and mining operations, but an expanding timber economy.  By 1900, other areas started to develop with the Boulder (now Kootenai), Boundary (now Copeland), and Naples precincts first listed in the U.S. Census of that year. The Moyie precinct first appeared in the 1910 census.

In 1980, convicted spy Christopher John Boyce found refuge in Boundary County, for a few months, after his escape from the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex.  He stayed at the home of Gloria Ann White.  Boyce sustained himself during his stay with a series of bank robberies in the surrounding area, allegedly with technical assistance from White.

In 1992, Boundary County was the scene of the infamous Ruby Ridge siege by 350–400 armed federal agents against Randy Weaver and his family.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which  is land and  (0.7%) is water.

Adjacent counties
Lincoln County, Montana – east/Mountain Time Border
Bonner County – south
Pend Oreille County, Washington – west
Regional District of Central Kootenay, British Columbia – north

National protected areas
 Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (part)
 Kaniksu National Forest (part)
 Kootenai National Forest (part)
 Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge

Transportation

Highways
 US 2
 US 95
 SH-1

Airports
Boundary County Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) northeast of the central business district of Bonners Ferry.

Demographics

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,871 people, 3,707 households, and 2,698 families living in the county.  The population density was 8 people per square mile (3/km2).  There were 4,095 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile (1/km2).  The racial makeup of the county was 95.24% White, 0.16% Black or African American, 2.02% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.86% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races.  3.39% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 21.4% were of German, 12.9% American, 12.7% English, 9.9% Irish and 6.4% Norwegian ancestry.

There were 3,707 households, out of which 34.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.40% were married couples living together, 7.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.20% were non-families. 23.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.20% under the age of 18, 6.90% from 18 to 24, 24.40% from 25 to 44, 26.20% from 45 to 64, and 13.40% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 101.40 males.  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,250, and the median income for a family was $36,440. Males had a median income of $31,209 versus $18,682 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,636.  About 11.50% of families and 20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.50% of those under age 18 and 11.40% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 10,972 people, 4,421 households, and 2,976 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 5,175 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.8% white, 1.7% American Indian, 0.6% Asian, 0.3% black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.5% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.7% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 22.5% were German, 12.8% were English, 11.2% were Irish, 7.4% were American, 5.9% were Norwegian, 5.4% were Dutch, and 5.1% were Scottish.

Of the 4,421 households, 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.0% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.7% were non-families, and 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 42.8 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $37,712 and the median income for a family was $43,562. Males had a median income of $36,125 versus $26,076 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,011. About 15.7% of families and 18.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.0% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Like most of Idaho, Boundary County is solidly Republican. The last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the county was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Media

Television
A local translator district provides broadcast television stations from Spokane, WA.

Radio
KBFI, 1450 AM -
Bonners Ferry has been home to KBFI AM 1450 since 1983. It is owned by local licensee Radio Bonners Ferry, Inc, owned by Blue Sky Broadcasting, Inc. While licensed to Bonner's Ferry and its transmitter site is there, KBFI shares studios and offices with its sister stations (KSPT, KIBR, and KPND), at 327 Marion Avenue in Sandpoint, Idaho.

KQFR, 90.7 FM -
On September 7, 2022, FM radio air-waves over Bonners Ferry came alive with the sounds of KQFR, 90.7 FM, a full-time (24/7) Christian Family Radio station. Affiliated with "Cornerstone Christian School," KQFR transmits from atop Black Mountain. Programming includes traditional gospel music, childrens' story hours, health messages, as well as good news of the soon return of Jesus Christ. Licensed in Moyie Springs, KQFR has been heard North of Creston, BC, South to Hayden, ID, East into Troy, MT, and West to Post Falls, ID.

Newspapers
Bonners Ferry is served by a single newspaper and several online news outlets.
The weekly Bonners Ferry Herald, owned by Hagadone Publishing is the official paper of record.

Communities

Cities
Bonners Ferry
Moyie Springs

Unincorporated communities
Copeland
Eastport
Good Grief
Naples
Porthill
Curley Creek

See also
 National Register of Historic Places listings in Boundary County, Idaho

References

External links
Boundary County website
Bonners Ferry
Boundary County Airport
Live Webcamera in Boundary County
KootenaiValleyTimes.com

1915 establishments in Idaho
Idaho counties
Populated places established in 1915

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Summer is a time when many people take a bit of a break, go on vacation, and maybe even sleep in a little more. Max, however, does not need summer as an excuse to make himself comfortable and sleep more – he does it all the time.
Because he sleeps so much, I often catch him waking up, which is a perfect time to capture his true essence.
Living his life balanced perfectly on the edge of security and danger, comfort and chaos, the known and the unknown.
Well, actually the floor is pretty well known, not that dangerous, and at least comfortable enough to fall asleep there too.
Oh wait, no, he told me he definitely did not doze off while working hard.
A little ticked that he was awoken.
With a headache? A mean, he's hard headed, but seriously!
Caught trying to make a mid-nap snack.
Ok, maybe not flawless. But Max is a beautiful dog and he has taught me that even when we don't look our best (when coming out of sleep or any type of funk), we are all still valuable and beautiful creatures. He has taught me that most of the time I will not wake up flawless and I will not greet a flawless world, but it is still a wonderful, worthwhile place.
So, thank you Max for enduring my laughs and pictures as you wake up everyday. And thank you for teaching me that no matter how I wake up, I am waking up to a new day with new opportunities.


When first approached about this by a friend, it seemed like an exciting challenge to turn someone else's doodle into a wearable piece of jewelry.
She told us that her mom always doodled a little pig on any scrap of paper she was near. You always knew where she had been because you'd find this scribbled in a corner. She sent us the drawing her mom did on her iPhone and we got to work.
This particular drawing allowed us to be creative with how the final product would be. Depending on the drawing you send us, we'll help you create the best possible product.
For this pig drawing, we settled on a relief pin and a two piece necklace, which the recipient wasted no time putting it on after she opened it on Christmas morning.
These would make great gifts for Mother's Day or for new grandparents. They help keep a special memory close to their heart.
Custom doodle pieces start at $25 and take about a week to complete. Contact us to get started.


MyDocsOnline Review: Is It Still Firing On All Cylinders?MyDocsOnline Review: Is It Still Firing On All Cylinders?
MyDocsOnline Review: Is It Still Firing On All Cylinders?
Having been founded way back in 1998, MyDocsOnline is one of the most established file sharing businesses in the world.
Headquartered in Florida, the company has worked with businesses in over 160 countries to secure professional documents while delivering collaboration and data storage via the cloud.
In this MyDocsOnline review, we'll see how good this veteran file storage system really is.
First of all, MyDocsOnline is aimed at businesses and professionals, not end users.
MyDocsOnline delivers several packages intended to suit companies with a wide range of needs - from small businesses to big enterprises. There is also a free 15-day trial on the packages, meaning that you have plenty of time to get to grips with its features before committing to a subscription.
Documents and files can be shared via both mobile and desktop platforms, with Windows, Mac, iOS and Android all supported. This means that almost every mobile device will be compatible with the MyDocsOnline system.
MyDocsOnline reviews have often praised the system for its intuitive user interface, and I would have to agree with this opinion. MyDocsOnline had 20 years to get it right - and they did.
The straightforward drag and drop system, coupled with the easily accessible folders and synchronization process makes this a highly intuitive file sharing platform. The design isn't completely brilliant, but in here, it's definitely a case of function over form.
Upload and download speeds seem pretty swift throughout, and MyDocsOnline overall appears to be a sturdy and reliable solution.
There is also no limit placed on individual file size. Still, the 5GB storage offered in the standard package is perhaps a little thin compared to some of the site's competitors.
A useful feature that MyDocsOnline has is Customer Upload. Each account gets a custom link to an HTTPS page where the platform user can safely receive files from their customers. Free branding is also included - instead of MyDocsOnline logo on top you can put your company's. It's a practical tool if your business receives a lot of files from clients.
MyDocsOnline goes to great lengths to ensure that data is safe and secure, including sophisticated encryption software. There have been few MyDocsOnline reviews which have indicated that the security is on point and I absolutely agree with these sentiments.
In the 20 years of business, MyCloudOnline has been safe throughout all major attacks - so there's no reason to worry here.
Since the company targets businesses, it is pricey. At least you can choose out of several packages, and pick the price that is more fitting your wallet. And yet still, more space is available at lower prices elsewhere. If storage is your priority, consider looking elsewhere.
MyDocs Online delivers a reliable and speedy system, and security is most definitely on point. However, I can't quite recommend it for your file storage needs.
This is simply because they charge a high price for their services. Much cheaper and better value for money options available elsewhere.
So, while it might be worth some consideration for businesses with smaller files, MyDocsOnline fails to deliver a reasonable service for those needing to store large amounts of data.
Richard Viets, the CTO of My Docs Online here. Thanks for your review. I'd like to point out a few additional things that might not be obvious if you were not considering us for some particular and popular needs.
First off, we are aimed at small businesses and professionals, not consumers. There are plenty of free choices for the individual user, but businesses need a service that meets their needs and also provides real support. In addition to email support (and chat) we also answer the phone when our customers call. Second, the most popular feature for small businesses and professionals is "Customer Upload" a highly customizable and embeddable secure file upload solution that allows our customers to receive files from their customers and clients. Third, the next most popular feature is our "Share" option allowing our customers to "go the other direction" to securely deliver files to their customers and clients.
Did I mention we answer the phone to directly help our trial and paid customers? Who else does that these days?


text:
Break Room Fire Causes Evacuation at Capitol Power Plant
(Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
By Hannah Hess
The Capitol Power Plant was briefly evacuated Friday afternoon, as firefighters responded to a small fire in the break room.
Around 3:45 p.m., Capitol Police sent out an alert to notify the campus community that the complex on E Street Southeast was being evacuated due to signs of smoke. Fortunately, it was not an industrial blaze, but a small fire in an area with paper products, according to department spokeswoman Lt. Kimberly Schneider. D.C. Fire and EMS responded to the scene and quickly extinguished the fire. By 3:58 p.m., the crew was rolling up their hoses. Four minutes later the power plant was cleared for re-entry.
Architect of the Capitol spokeswoman Laura Condelucci told CQ Roll Call that plant operations were normal, and there was no disruption in service.
The power plant provides steam and chilled water used to heat and cool buildings throughout the campus, including the Capitol, Supreme Court and Library of Congress. It ceased generating electricity in 1951.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


By Manette Bousquet. Living Room. Published at Friday, January 11th, 2019 16:17:26 PM.
By Belle Poirier. Dining Room. Published at Friday, January 11th, 2019 14:36:51 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Living Room. Published at Monday, January 07th, 2019 19:53:49 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Kitchen. Published at Monday, February 18th, 2019 20:43:40 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Bathroom. Published at Monday, February 18th, 2019 21:21:29 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Kitchen. Published at Monday, February 18th, 2019 22:25:36 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Bedroom. Published at Monday, February 18th, 2019 21:45:35 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Living Room. Published at Monday, February 18th, 2019 20:42:43 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Dining Room. Published at Monday, February 18th, 2019 20:25:55 PM.
By Chantel Nguyen. Dining Room. Published at Monday, February 18th, 2019 20:57:19 PM.


As illustrated in the diagram, knowing your ideal prospect well and watching how they respond to your marketing funnel is the full service approach that leads to Success!
When our clients get results we get results - see some case studies.
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See real proof to the value of our work.


text:
Talmiriam Coaching
Lead Well
Find Work You Love
Recover Your Time!
Clients say...
"I've had other coaches before but Tali has a rare mix of practical management experience (can lean on her own experience of managing a complex group of employees while growing multiple organizations) combined with a truly rare ability to ask very helpful and guiding questions that have helped me grow as a leader/friend/person." — AP, CEO of a startup technology company
"Working with Tali I've gained insight into behaviors I wasn't conscious of — and guidance on the difference between internal and external factors of success. Tali provides a safe space to be 100% authentic, and have room for reflection and decision making based on my most authentic thoughts." — TA, Clinical Program Manager at a medical device company
"Tali brings a unique talent and skillset to this field. Her ability to understand my unique leadership style, while bringing in her years of experience and expertise as a non-profit leader, helped me gain insights that were authentic to me while also grounded in wisdom and experience. I was surprised at how quickly I gained practical benefits from Tali's coaching sessions. I found myself referencing parts of our conversation in work meetings, in my personal life, and as I made important life decisions. I highly recommend this coaching experience!" — ER, Founder of a social enterprise
Tali is extremely talented and helped me pave a path forward in my career during a time when I felt completely lost. She helped me find motivation and inspiration within myself to improve both my current role and seek new opportunities. What I loved about coaching with Tali, was that each session felt like we took a holistic look at the challenges I was facing, and through guided exercises and thought provoking questions she helped me discover mental blocks that were preventing me from moving forward in my career. After each conversation, I not only had a revelation about my own career path but also actionable tasks.
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"Tali helped me through a particularly difficult period in my life. At a time when I was overwhelmed by both my personal and professional trajectories, Tali was able to help me find solace in the uncertainty and work towards the goals I had set for myself in a constructive and positive way. On top of that, her career advice was absolutely spot on, and as a direct result of her coaching I have begun to alter the way in which I perceive and react to certain professional situations, focusing my intention on learning and growth." - CB, Program Manager at an international relief organization
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Tali's approach to crafting my resume and cover letter leapfrogged anything I would have been able to do in ten revisions. I have participated in many professional development programs and consider myself an introspective person, but the work we did was relevant, appropriate, and deep without sensationalizing moments of false epiphany, or inauthenticity. I am better able to talk about my work and how I contribute value.
One of my most painful experiences was a decision to change continents and move closer to my family. I had been seeking support from my family and friends for months with regard to a particular aspect of my leaving, and when I spoke to Tali, her guidance to change my perspective was transformative. Tali has been an amazing partner during my transition. — TD, independent consultant
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Reserve your seat at the inaugural Winemaker's Table, offerings an intimate tasting with your favorite winemaker during Spring Barrel Tasting Weekend.
Yakima Valley's newest event offers an intimate tasting with your favorite winemaker, April 27– 28, 2019. Enjoy an exclusive vertical tasting of library wines, current vintages and barrel samples from your favorite winery during Spring Barrel Tasting 2019.
This is the perfect opportunity to enjoy Yakima Valley's Spring Barrel Tasting festivities without the crowds. Eight winemakers are opening their tasting rooms exclusively to Winemaker's Table guests showcasing a vertical of their best wines. Learn the history, nuances, and stories of each wine in an intimate seated tasting.
In addition to these smaller more intimate tasting experiences, your Winemaker's Table ticket will be honored as a Premier Pass to all participating wineries for the duration of the event weekend.
Wineries will hold regular seated tastings and welcome you upon arrival. Feel free to set your itinerary and show up at the top of the hour, or, make reservations by contacting the winery directly.
Enjoy an exclusive vertical tasting of library wines, current vintages and barrel samples.
Tastings held at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. Reservations required.
Tickets must be purchased in advance. Seats are limited!
Tickets purchased by April 16 will mail to you at the location you provide during checkout. Tickets purchased after April 16 will be available for pick-up at any of the participating Winemaker's Table wineries during the event weekend.


Corn and soybeans are both higher this morning. There's very little fresh news on the trade front in corn. Corn continues to trade in a very narrow range.
Soybeans are happy to see some fresh headline regarding Chinese trade. It's the first time since the summer that Chinese officials have delivered a written response to the Trump administration of potential trade agreements, giving hope that the U.S. and China might come to some kind of agreement on the trade front. There are still speculations that Chinese soybean buyers could be forced to purchase U.S. supplies by late-December or early-January.
Stocks are seeing some strength this morning, as traders are digesting positive comments from China regarding trade and positive comments from Federal Chair Jerome Powell who spoke last tight in Dallas. The way he spoke it seems that he is committed to the gradual interest-rate-hike path. It is suspected that there will be another 0.25% hike in December.


B. Hugh Mane raids the bathroom of an uninformed consumer. There, he finds a medicine cabinet full of products that were tested on animals! Knowing that his animal friends suffer tremendously in product testing laboratories, B. Hugh Mane shows that it's possible to shop with compassion and make cruelty-free choices.
The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) is a non-profit animal advocacy and educational organization that unequivocally opposes and works to end experiments on animals and opposes all forms of cruelty to animals.


Description : You came to and bring happy for me, heating my heart and I really happy when I know I love you so much. I hope our loved will be always beauti and you're always sweet love of me. I miss you so much.


Yes, for those of you not native (or at least not currently living in) the City by the Bay, you would assume that it follows the rules of most seasons or, another common misconception, that it's warm ALL of the time being that it is in California.
You see, the warmest season (aka, "summer") here begins about August and lasts through October. This is the time when the temps heat up and sundresses, et. al are considered nearly mandatory. (And yes, for those of you who still wear SHORTS, those are kosher as well.) However, until August, though we may get some lovely (low-70's) sort of days (think San Diego with a strong breeze), the warmth of the days does some random stuff to some air current or something and the fog rolls in. (It's actually beautiful – it looks like white tentacled-clouds are descending upon the city little by little.) Once aforementioned fog takes the hilly city hostage, you're inundated with wet, cold mist, a freezing breeze, and if you don't have on at LEAST a sweater and a fleece, you're in some deep trouble. Of course, some neighborhoods fall under this more than others, but for the sake of argument, just go with me here.
Due to this VERY temperate climate, apartment buildings don't have air conditioning. They don't need it! If you're hot, open a window! Easy, free, saves electricity: EVERYONE is happy. EVERYONE, of course, except for me.
You see, like the rest of the nation, we're ALSO undergoing a heat wave. It's 80+ degrees in the city, and though today was absolutely glorious and lovely and beautiful and provided me with a day of working from home (but actually working from the park), my apartment is anything but. I live on the ground level, have windows without screens, so the only way to even TRY and cool my apartment is to have a fan (check) and put in those little temporary screens (check check) when I'm here. Which, as we all know, is quite rarely, so in my (perpetual) absence, the apartment turns into a sauna-grade hot zone. Not the best of situations with a menagerie.
So, as I ponder the quandary of an air conditioner (I'd have to put it in and out each time I left since it's super easy to break in with that as well), think good thoughts for me in my land o' hotness. Home Sweet Home it ain't…more like Home SWEAT home.


It's a wonderful creative journey from concept to complete ring. Collaborating on the design, sourcing the finest gems and expertly handcrafting the final ring.
Browse some of our recent custom designs for inspiration, change them a little or a lot, everything is possible. When you have an idea of what you want, contact us to start designing your dream ring.


A bandage in which the turns cross each other like the figure eight, used to retain dressings, to exert pressure for joints (or to leave the joint uncovered), to fix splints for the foot or hand, for the great toe, and for sprains or hemorrhage.
In this study, we evaluated 2 different miniplates in the repair of ulnar fractures with and without use of a postoperative figure-of-eight bandage for birds weighing less than 500 g.
The use of a figure-of-eight bandage did not result in a significant difference regarding speed of healing and callus formation.
Therefore, one may deduct that the use of a figure-of-eight bandage does not bring any advantages.
Based on these observations, we do recommend the use of a figure-of-eight bandage for up to 10 days after surgery, although the small sample size of the present study is a limiting factor and prevents a definitive conclusion.
The use of a postoperative figure-of-eight bandage for up to 10 days may be advantageous and appears to reduce the risk of postoperative wound infection.


Personally, I think the state overcharged. With only circumstantial evidence, strong as it may have been, I can see why the jury voted the way they did. Not that I agree by any stretch of the imagination. The state should have left the death penalty OFF the table and not tried to charge her with pre-meditated murder. While it is my own personal opinion that she died by her mother's hands, I don't think Casey meant to kill her.
Circumstantial evidence has convicted people before. Look at the case of the Charles Lindberg kidnapping case in which Bruno Richard Haupmann was tried and convicted on that type of evidence. Many people have studied the case and feel he was innocent and railroaded and there may be some justification in it. Regardless the judge let it be a circus and he didn't get a fair trial.
Looks like she is going to be forced to check in with probation...so much for her little disappearing act. Guess I will have to tune back in to Nancy for a couple of days...lol.


text:
Documents: Police knew of allegation against Saginaw area priest a year before removal
Beth LeBlanc
Law enforcement knew about an allegation of misconduct with a minor against a Diocese of Saginaw priest as early as March 2018 and the victim allegedly reported the incident to the diocese years earlier, but the priest wasn't removed from his position until Sunday.
The Diocese of Saginaw announced Tuesday that the Rev. Dennis Kucharczyk had been placed on administrative leave after law enforcement informed diocesan officials of "an allegation of misconduct involving a minor that allegedly occurred many years ago."
"Father Kucharczyk is to have no contact with individuals under 21, which prohibits him from going on school properties or participating in school and parish activities and functions," the diocese's statement said. "He also was informed that he must refrain from wearing clerical garb, refrain from the exercise of public ministry, and may not present himself publicly as a priest while the allegation is investigated by the Diocese."
A March 2018 search warrant indicates a Midland woman informed police last year of "inappropriate touching" by Kucharczyk, behavior that started in the late 1980s when she was in first or second grade until she "ended the relationship" more than 15 years later. The woman told police she alerted the coordinate for the diocese's Office of Child and Youth Protection about the incident "around 2010," according to the warrant.
The search warrant describing the complaint against Kucharczyk was unsealed on May 6 and obtained by The Detroit News.
The Diocese of Saginaw received the unsealed search warrant on Friday and asked the Attorney General's office for permission to remove Kucharczyk after reading the allegations contained within the warrant, said Erin Carlson, a spokeswoman for the diocese.
The diocese does not have its files on past allegations; however, "it is our recollection," Carlson said, that there was an allegation of inappropriate behavior against Kucharczyk in 2010 but it did not involve a minor.
The diocese said it continues to review the affidavit and the allegations contained within the document.
The Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office did not return a call seeking comment.
Kucharczyk could not be reached for comment.
Kucharczyk is not part of Attorney General Dana Nessel's investigation into Michigan's seven Catholic dioceses, her spokeswoman Kelly Rossman-McKinney said, but the situation may change.
"Any allegation that a priest has committed these kinds of criminal acts is within the scope of our investigation," Rossman-McKinney said.
Kucharczyk is one of five priests named in the search warrant affidavit signed by Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gaertner on March 22, 2018, the same day the prosecutor's office raided diocesan offices, the cathedral and the home of former Bishop Joseph Cistone.
In addition to seeking entry to those locations, the warrant sought the personnel records for Kucharczyk and four other priests, including the Rev. Robert DeLand, who was sentenced in April to 2-15 years in prison for criminal sexual conduct.
The request for the other priests' records stemmed from complaints police received after the allegations against DeLand were made public early last year, according to the search warrant.
The search warrant indicated that at least two additional priests from the diocese worked with investigators during the 2018 investigation, one of whom served as a confidential informant. One of the priests expressed concern to police about the diocese's review of complaint files in the "secured" second floor of the rectory during the prosecutor's ongoing investigation into the diocese.
The priest's concern stemmed from Cistone's history in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, where he was alleged to have watched the shredding of documents linked to clergy sexual abuse complaints, according to the warrant.
Cistone was not criminally charged in the Philadelphia incident. He died last fall of cancer.
A day prior to police seeking the search warrant, a Midland woman met with investigators and told them that Kucharczyk would hug her, kiss her on the cheek, hold her hand and give her small gifts when she was in the first or second grade at a parochial school connected to the parish where Kucharczyk served, according to the warrant.
On the last day of class that school year, Kucharczyk called the girl into an unoccupied classroom, sat her on his lap and placed his hands on her inner thighs under her uniform skirt, the warrant said.
In subsequent years, Kucharczyk wrote her letters, emails and text messages, invited her to his boat for dinner and said she could stay at the rectory if she were to run away from home, according to the affidavit. While presiding over the woman's wedding years later, Kucharczyk "kissed her on the lips for the first time" and continued to do so when they would meet after that, the warrant said.
The woman told police she eventually confronted Kucharczyk by email, then met with him at a trail in Midland to discuss the issue.
"Dennis Kucharczyk immediately put his arm around her and stated, 'Boy, what did we get ourselves into?'" the affidavit said.
Sometime after 2004, the woman ended the relationship and returned Kucharczyk's letters to him. At the urging of her husband, the woman reported the behavior "around 2010" to Sister Janet Fulgenzi, the diocese's Child and Youth Protection program coordinator, according to the affidavit.
Fulgenzi, the woman told police, assured her the allegations would be forwarded to the review board, but the woman said she had not heard back as of her interview with police in March 2018.
Kucharczyk has served as a priest in the diocese since 1985 and took a leave of absence from 1991 to 1993, according to the diocese. His most recent assignment was as pastor of St. John XII Parish, a group of churches in Hemlock Merrill and Ryan.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com


text:
Fishmore Hall, Shropshire – Menuwatch
06 March 2008 by Janet Harmer
Ludlow may not provide the top-flight restaurant competition it once did, but the customers remain discerning and demanding. As Janet Harmer learns, local chefs must be at the top of their game
Cooking in Ludlow is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand foodies have flocked here in their droves in recent years to eat at one of the town's three Michelin-starred restaurants, two of which have now moved out, leaving Mr Underhill's as Ludlow's sole holder of a star. On the other hand, the customers are highly knowledgeable - and can therefore be highly critical - about the food put before them.
The latter point is not lost on Marc Hardiman, who, at 25, is head chef of Fishmore Hall, a 15-bedroom boutique hotel with a 40-seat restaurant that opened on the edge of the town in October. "It means we have to be on our toes all the time and ensure we get it right," he says. "But that can only be a good thing. I'm very grateful that the people who come here are really interested in what we're doing."
Classic dishes
Hardiman certainly gives his customers something to think about with his modern take on classic dishes and ingredients. "I like to experiment, but not just for the sake of it, as I always ensure there's a balance to every dish," he explains.
For instance, on the à la carte menu, his starter of cod cheeks is a new combination which sees the fish served alongside some lamb's tongue - lightly pickled in a broth of white wine, vinegar, lemon juice, star anise and parsley - plus pancetta and a lentil vinaigrette. "There's a nice balance between the meaty cod, the sourness of the tongue and the rich smoky bacon, with the lentils providing the texture," Hardiman says.
Another starter partners the earthy flavours of a confit of salmon with sweet parsnips and vanilla and the richness of sautéd foie gras.
Hardiman's culinary style is a culmination of the influences he has gathered throughout his career, which has included stints at Castle House in Hereford, Home Park in Bath, the Close in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, Nunsmere Hall near Northwich, Cheshire, Charlton House in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, and most recently as head chef at the Greenway in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He also gained considerable experience in reaching the finals of the Gordon Ramsay Scholar Award in 2005.
Main course dishes include an intensely oak-smoked fillet of Herefordshire beef, smoked to Hardiman's specifications by the Organic Smokehouse at nearby Clunbury. An oxtail cannelloni adds to the richness of the dish, while accompanying carrots with caraway and maple syrups provide sweetness, with some freshness in the form of a parsley purée.
Among the desserts, a dish of saffron-poached pears, caramelised crème brûlée and rosewater sorbet has surprised Hardiman by outselling a warm chocolate pudding, which is served with a coconut sorbet, pineapple, chilli and coriander.
Local suppliers
In addition to the à la carte menu, priced at £46.50 for three courses, there's also a seven-course Taste of the Marches menu at £55, on which 90% of ingredients are sourced from within 30 miles, and a 10-course gourmand menu at £65.
The local menu is particularly popular, with about 40% of customers opting for it. Hardiman has spent a considerable amount of time sourcing the ingredients for this and the other menus. He has visited as many local suppliers as possible, including Crowsmoor Farm, near Craven Arms, where the free range and organic chickens are reared for at least 75 days for maximum flavour Trudges Farm, near Leominster, which supplies pork the aforementioned Organic Smokehouse and the Monkland Cheese Dairy, also near Leominster, which produces artisan cheeses from unpasteurised milk.
Fishmore Hall opened after a 12-month refurbishment of the Regency property, formerly home to a residential special school. Owner Laura Penman, who has been backed in the project by her parents - financial marketing executive Linton and Linda, a freelance business consultant - aims to provide luxury accommodation with all the trimmings of Frette linen sheets, flat-screen TVs and waterfall-style showers - to match the quality of Hardiman's food.
A la carte, £46.50 for three courses
Diver scallops, cauliflower, raisins, sherry
Terrine of rabbit, emulsified foie gras, hazelnuts, caramelised figs
Roast quail, boudin of the leg, fried egg, apple jus
Cornish red mullet, artichokes barigoule, crab ravioli
Scottish halibut, confit potatoes, cabbage and bacon, cèpes
Wood pigeon, turnip gratin, orange and walnut, port jus
Rum roast banana, walnut whip, coffee, bitter chocolate ice
Assiette of lemon
Shropshire blue and port cannelloni, walnut and grape salad, toasted fruit bread
Fishmore Hall, Fishmore Road, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 3DP. Tel: 01584 875148 www.fishmorehall.co.uk
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Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya, Mexico
Interview with James Nathan, 2008 MasterChef winner
Heinz Eazy Pots
Keep an eye on costs to avoid price increases


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Are you doing your job properly?
I get nervous before every single one of my plays. The degree of nervousness varies; it's always worse if it's one I directed and it's especially bad if the show has had a bumpy production, but whether I'm feeling mild uncertainty or full blown terror, I have never gone into any opening night with a sense of breezy confidence. And even if the show seems to go off without a hitch, even if we get all the laughs and gasps and tears we wanted, that nervousness comes back in full force over the next few days as we wait for the reviews to come in.
The worst was the hours before my very first play, Windmills, opened in 2010. I had gone through the rehearsal process happy and excited by how it was all coming together, but when opening night arrived I was a nervous wreck. This was back in my acting days and I had a lead role in the show as well – I was shaking like a leaf when I walked onstage for my first scene.
What characterised that fear, a fear that has lingered to some degree ever since, is the simple fact that you can never be sure how something is going to be received. When Windmills was performed I was eighteen and utterly untried as a writer. It was the first time my work was going before an audience and as such the first time my belief that I was good enough to do this would be put to the test. And while I have learnt a lot since then, I still don't know whether any given show will have the effect I want it to. To some degree, a play is a Schrodinger's Cat – it's impossible to know until people come out of it just how well it works.
Of course it's somewhat subjective. If you trawl the depths of IMDB you'll find savage putdowns of the most beloved and respected films. Rotten Tomatoes, for all its flaws as a system, has shone a light on the fact that there is no such thing as a story for everyone. The percentage of people who dislike something will vary, but even the most impeccably crafted piece of art will have detractors.
I don't want to go too far down the path of the subjectivity argument; there are, after all, people out there who believe Rogue One is a masterpiece. The truth is that I think there is value to consensus, even if it doesn't account for the reaction of every individual. If most people like your play, book or movie then you've probably done something right. You can't please everyone, but that doesn't mean you should write off any and all criticism as being 'just someone's opinion'. After all, listening to well-argued negative feedback is how you get better, even if you don't always agree with it.
The reason I'm writing about this is, somewhat predictably, the opening of Moonlite. I've made no secret of the fact that Moonlite has been one of the most stressful shows I've ever been involved in; from compromised availability of the cast and band to a venue that simply put, isn't a theatre, nothing about this show has been easy. And when opening night came around I was partly certain it was going to be a mess. Would people be pissed off by the noise from upstairs? Confused by the flashback-based narrative structure? Offended by the fact that, despite being sold as a musical, it doesn't really follow any of the rules of musical theatre?
I was ready to be laughed at. I was ready for withering or patronising reviews telling me what an idiot I was for ever thinking I could make something like this work. I was ready for Moonlite to be a massive failure on every level.
But of course, there is one fundamental difference between Moonlite and past plays that haven't come together, and that difference is that everyone involved has worked their arses off to make this show happen. And everyone is a professional who knows what they were doing. Is Moonlite perfect? Of course not. But it's sold out its season, had rave reviews and by all accounts been massively entertaining for the audiences we've had. We had a vision for this play; for it to be a raw, rough, rollicking journey through the story of a larger than life character, a story told with heart, humour and catchy, toe-tapping songs. And I think we've delivered that. The cast give brilliant, dedicated, emotional performances. Dan's music is phenomenal. The band are brilliant. And I'm really proud of my script. Nobody has let the team down, everyone has done their job and in any play that is all you can ever ask for.
Are there people who don't like Moonlite? Nobody's told me as much, but I'm sure there are, just as I'm sure there are people who are indifferent or ambivalent towards it. But by and large the lesson I've learnt from this play is one of 'if you build it, they will come'. If you put in the work, if you are tough on yourself and make sure you're operating as professionally as possible, then chances are you will have a quality product. Not one everyone will love, but one you can be proud of. If you know what you want to achieve and put everything towards realising that vision, you probably will.
Arrogance will kill any creative project; just half arsing it and hoping for the best. If you produce a script you don't believe in or phone in a performance or basically assume that somebody should like something just because it's there then your project is doomed to fail. Call it Rogue One syndrome.
I won't ever stop being nervous before the openings of new shows. But I will know, going forward, that as long as I can rest assured that I've done the best I can, I can stand by the product and know that if people don't like it, at least I tried. Basically, my big, life changing message is this; do the work, reap the rewards. It won't always pay off, but it's a damn sight more likely to if you do your job properly. That's all.
Development on Display
Yesterday I was rushing to fill out a major application for Bitten By Productions and I stumbled on a bit of a dilemma. The application required details of every previous show the theatre company applying had done, including reviews. For us, this would range from Reunion, the tiny, unassuming comedy I put on with friends back in 2013, to Moonlite, the play with songs that has sold out almost its whole season and has a cast of trained musical theatre professionals, which opens tomorrow.
Moments like this, moments that literally require you to chart years of creative development, are great for reflection, but the problem here is that said charting came as part of trying to convince a major player in the theatre scene to give us a lot of money for a future production. And frankly, I don't especially want to hold up some of our earlier works as examples of what we can do now because they're not.
I was lucky enough in that every play we've done has at least one positive review and even the reviews that were more on the fence came from early shows rather than anything we've done recently. Showing signs of clear development probably isn't the worst thing in the world, but it does make me think. After all, we advertised plays like Below Babylon and A Good German with just as much conviction as we did far stronger recent shows like Springsteen or The Commune. To me and anyone who has seen all over even some of our output, the improvement is obvious. How could it not be? Over years of growing and learning if you don't get better you're doing something wrong. But the problem here is that, to the average punter who might have seen one of those early plays, there is no reason to believe that Bitten By Productions is now worth taking seriously. Not when you parted with your hard-earned for a show that might not have seemed worth it.
For creatives, this is a dilemma with no clear solution. I strongly believe that the only way to really improve is to put your work out there, gauge the reaction, learn from your mistakes, and continue. Sure, you can study writing for theatre and learn all the practices and conventions and whatever, but that will never teach you as much as sitting in a darkened room, hearing the gasps of audience members around you, or else reading a savage review or seeing friends lie through their teeth to your face about liking a show. It's these tough experiences that make you learn, that cut your ego down to size and teach you that you have to stop thinking about art as self-expression. Nobody gives a fuck about your self-expression. Nobody should have to pay thirty dollars to see you express yourself. If you're going to ask that of anyone then you have to offer them something else. What does your play have? Will it make them laugh? Cry? Shuffle to the edge of their seat, wide eyed and enraptured?
The truth of course is that opinions are subjective and not everyone will like your work even if you do everything right, but you will be coming from a much stronger position if you are able to justify to yourself why a total stranger should see this play. This requires interrogating the worth of every aspect of your script so that when faced with criticism you can at least justify why you made the choices you made.
In early plays I didn't ask for much feedback. My tokenistic substitute for this was giving the scripts to people I privately knew would only say nice things. Essentially I, on some level knowingly, cut myself off to criticism because I believed I could do this and that my work deserved your time and money. In the process I took advantage of the support of friends and family, all of whom helped produce and put on plays that were simply not ready. And when the negative feedback came, I shrugged it off. I felt bad about it, sure, but I rarely engaged in what it was saying.
Engaging, here, doesn't mean agreeing. It means listening and considering. You can think feedback is wrong. But you have to be able to articulate, at least to yourself, why it's wrong. That is one of the biggest and most valuable lessons I've learned.
But, of course, it doesn't heal the damage of those early mistakes. It won't win back directors, producers and established actors who came and saw my plays on the recommendation of friends and probably walked away vowing never to trust that friend again, let alone see anything else written by that Bergmoser kid.
Of course this begs the question of at what point your work becomes consistently ready for consumption, and to that there is no answer. The best I can offer is that I used to look back on plays that were about a year old and cringe, now, when thinking over just about every script I've written since 2015, I can find something of value or at least justify why I made the choices I made. Not everything I wrote in that time was good, but the scripts I didn't feel good about didn't see the light of day. That might be the biggest difference.
I wish I could tell everyone who came and saw Below Babylon or A Good German and the rest that I'm a better writer now and my new work will be worth their time. But I can't so I have to take the hit. And furthermore, if I could go back and tell my younger self not to produce work that wasn't ready, I wouldn't. The lessons I learned in that time, for me personally, made it all worthwhile.
It's not a one size fits all thing. I wouldn't recommend everyone make the choices I made. I'm impulsive and impatient and I'm lucky now to be surrounded by collaborators who temper those traits. If you have a play you want to produce, be honest with yourself, get it into the hands of people who will rip it to shreds and listen to them before you decide how to proceed. Because I can promise you with the weight that comes from experience that you will not get away with just throwing a show on and hoping for the best. But you will certainly learn from it.
Comfort food, nostalgia, and knowing when enough is enough
For as long as there have been classics, people have been paying tribute or adding to them. Shakespeare has been reimagined so many times and almost all the Greek epic poems or plays soon got sequels from new writers, if they weren't already an addendum to or reimagining of a previous piece. Basically, there has always been, and will always be a hunger for more of the stories we love. As such, a current media landscape dominated by nostalgia, long running franchises and reboots is hardly a new thing.
The truth here is that film and TV are relatively young mediums, and we're only just reaching the point in their life cycle where returning to the well is becoming an ubiquitous thing, especially in TV. And unlike reimaginings of Shakespeare plays, in the cases of most television classics they're recent enough for many of the key creatives to still be alive and active, meaning we're seeing a glut of stars and creators returning to the characters that made their careers. From The X Files to Fuller House, Will and Grace to Roseanne, many long dormant properties are coming back and this is only the beginning.
It's a mixed bag. On the one hand, streaming services mean that TV shows cut down in their prime can be revived, sometimes years after the fact (please save Hannibal), but on the other hand shows that had their time, had an impressive run and were considered classics are returning. When a series ended on its own terms after many seasons, do we really need more?
Recently I've been re-watching a lot of Arrested Development and Community. The two shows have a lot in common; both were clever cult hits that struggled in the ratings, both were unceremoniously cancelled and both were later revived by streaming services in victory lap runs generally considered to not hit the heights of their respective heydays. Nonetheless, both shows are still technically alive; Arrested Development has a fifth season coming this year and Community remains in active talks for a movie.
The other day I did a bit of an experiment with both shows; after watching a classic episode from an early season, I put on one from the revival. I turned off the first episode of Arrested Development's fourth season after five minutes and laughed maybe once in the episode I chose from Community's sixth. The contrast was stark and unflattering; neither show, in the end, was near its creative prime.
And yet, I'm still excited for more.
Part of this comes down to nostalgia; re-watching both shows instantly transports me back to the place I was in my life when I first discovered them, and that's a potent thing, but unlike a belated sequel to a beloved film, a TV revival offers something a more. An actor friend of mine once said that TV was a preferred medium for him because it gave actors the chance to develop a character over an extended period of time, which, in turn, means that we build a relationship with them. Over several years and sometimes hundreds of episodes, we get to know and love the ensemble of a given favourite show and as such going back always feels like revisiting old friends. There is something inherently comforting in re-watching favourites, a reminder that no matter how far you have come in life, hours of entertainment with the fictional people you love are still there for you to go back to at any time. And if you follow a TV show for years it becomes more than just an instantaneous time portal; sometimes the lives and growth of these characters over an extended period of time can parallel your own, and so the attachments we forge become something more personal than that of recalling a single special moment.
In the case of a beloved film that we watch over and over pleasure comes from the familiar, from knowing every line, shot and beat. In TV it's different; when there are so many episodes we often forget certain gems and while there are always favourites we go back to, the process of a true re-watch often yields a thrill of rediscovery, or a new appreciation for things we didn't like the first time. It's comfort food with the added bonus of a potential for new flavours. Seen through that light, how can we not get excited at the prospect of spending more time with these old friends?
Of course, it comes with an element of risk. In 2013 I was so excited for the final season of Skins, a show that meant a huge amount to me as a teenager. This last run would revisit characters from the early seasons (Skins changed cast every two years), picking up on them in their young adult lives. This, to me, was thrilling; the characters of Skins were so special to people of my generation because they were teenagers at the same time as us, sharing (albeit heightened) similar experiences, heartbreaks and woes to what we were all going through. The prospect of seeing those beloved characters living lives that reflected our own years later? The power of that can't be understated.
And for the first few minutes it worked; I remember seeing Effie and her friends hanging out and drinking wine on the roof of their shitty apartment between work and uni, seeing my own life reflected back at me in a way I hadn't since the early years of the show. It really was like seeing an old friend, a friend who I could still relate to because we were in similar places in our respective lives years after we last saw each other. There was a unique and special feeling that while I had been growing and changing, these characters had too.
But then, of course, Skins fell victim to its own worst impulses. It went for unrealistic, sensationalised drama over the power of relatability and as such I stopped watching the final season before the end of its six-episode run. I felt betrayed and angry. I wished Skins had not come back at all.
And yet, if you told me today there would be a new season revisiting those characters, I don't know that I could promise you that I wouldn't be watching.
As more and more shows are revived, I find myself speculating on what else could come back and, in the process, start to wonder if I'm going to see more of the TV show that has possibly had the biggest influence on me, that show being Scrubs. Scrubs was the first show I ever fell in love with and it shaped my style and sensibilities like no other; it taught me how to blend pathos, humour and relatability but it also taught me that sometimes it's better to quit while you're ahead. The first four seasons of Scrubs are TV classics (three is the best), and after that it descended into cartoony, unfunny tripe. Scrubs did manage to regain some quality in its eighth season, building up to a TV finale that I still think might be the best of all time, one that balanced the melancholy of saying goodbye with an assurance that life, for these characters and for ourselves, will go on. It was perfect but then they had to go and fuck it all up with a ninth season that sold itself as a reboot but did very little to let go of the past.
And yet, now, years later, despite knowing that Scrubs had the perfect ending and ruined it with an unnecessary addendum, I still want more. I want to see my friends again. I want to laugh with JD, Turk, Elliot and Dr Cox. I want to see where they are in life and if the fantasies JD had in the season eight finale did come true or if, true to Scrubs form, something more complex happened. I want this despite knowing that I don't need it, despite knowing that there is no reason to believe a 2018 Scrubs reboot could recapture any of that early magic if it couldn't do it in 2010, despite knowing that the season eight ending was so good because, at the time, it was an ending as is still considered the real finale by the vast majority of viewers.
TV characters often feel real because of the sheer amount of time we spend with them, because we see them weekly, because we stick with them through the good and bad, through the classic episodes, the forgettable filler, the jump-the-shark moments and the emotional goodbyes. We forge an attachment to them that can become a yearning to see them again, a yearning that means we ignore the fact that nine times out of ten it's better to leave the stories we loved behind so as to keep on loving them.
The problem with connections like this is that they create a weight of expectation that belated revivals can scarcely live up to. Harry Potter, Skins, Scrubs and so many more now all have an asterisk hanging over them, that footnote of "yeah they were really good except for the unnecessary follow-up". Even if we can turn a blind eye to the Cursed Childs and Scrubs season nines of the world it doesn't mean they're not there, a constant warning that it's always better to say goodbye when saying goodbye still hurts, rather than when we don't care anymore.
If a Scrubs reboot happened I would watch it. I would watch it despite knowing that I shouldn't, because I'm only human. Likewise I will of course watch Arrested Development and the Community movie and any other reboots of old favourites that come my way. But, if you gave me the choice? I would rather they never happen at all.
Are you the right person to tell this story?
It was about a year and a half ago now that Dan Nixon and I first sat down for drinks at the Grace Darling and discussed the prospect of a gay bushranger musical. Dan had invited me to grab a beer with him so he could pitch me a project, and the moment he said the words 'Captain Moonlite' I got excited – after all, it had only been a couple of months earlier that I had first learned about his story on an episode of Shut Up A Second and had started thinking of how to get it out there. The idea of a musical theatre show seemed more fitting than most.
After a few beers and a lot of excited ideas being thrown around, Dan said something to the effect of 'it's a little odd though, two straight guys writing this play'.
At the time we laughed it off, but the words stuck with me. Back at VCA we had often been asked about our scripts 'why is this a story that only you can tell?' Usually the answer was something to do with personal experience, but it becomes a harder thing to justify when you are writing something that is miles divorced from your own life.
This very discussion starts getting into thorny territory, the question of what themes, ideas and situations a writer has the right to explore, whether it is inherently arrogant to delve into experiences that aren't your own, but personally I think doing so sits at the core of being a storyteller. In his play The Pillowman Martin McDonagh suggests that 'people only write what they know because they're too fucking lazy to make something up', and while I don't necessarily agree I think there's something to that. After all, if people only wrote what they knew we never would have gotten Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter. Furthermore we never would have gotten some of the great dramas or crime films written and directed by people who never experienced anything close to those events. In general, the problem with writing 'personal' stories is that in most cases the only person who finds your life interesting is you and it's arrogant to assume that anybody else will.
So if it's arrogant to write outside of your experience and arrogant to write within it, what are you supposed to do?
My theory has long been that it's not what you write, it's how you write it. Whether two straight men writing a musical about a gay bushranger is wrong comes down to how it's done. Likewise even the most mundane life can take on significance and pathos if it's presented in a way that is engaging and interesting. I believe that writers of all backgrounds have the right to explore whatever the hell they want, but crucially they have a responsibility to do it well, especially when it's engaging with a real experience that isn't their own.
Of course, saying that is a lot easier than doing it.
In 2013 I wrote a play about a Nazi officer in a concentration camp falling in love with a Jewish inmate. It was an idea I had had since high school, one I believed was challenging, compelling, powerful and all those other adjectives you apply to historical dramas exploring sensitive territory. The problem was that none of those adjectives were true; my assumption at the time was that purely by writing about this subject matter I was doing something somehow brave or with inherent artistic value. Consequently, when the play came out a year later, we were rightly eviscerated in our first review. A Good German remains a source of shame and motivation for me, a constant reminder of what not to do.
The mistake I made, one born of pure arrogance, was never really interrogating why I wanted to tell that story. I think the premise is strong and, in the hands of someone more equipped to explore it, could have made for an amazing play. But one of the biggest lessons I learned from A Good German is that just because you have an idea doesn't mean you're the right person to realise it.
While A Good German proved that this isn't always the case, usually an idea that is your own will have more personal meaning than one someone brings you, and so before I could write Moonlite I had to find my angle. Outside of it being a great story, I had to ask myself why I personally wanted to tell it. What could I bring to the table that someone else couldn't, someone else whose life closer matched that of the subject?
In the end it's a matter of theme. What is your story about? What are you trying to say? In the case of A Good German the answer to that question was some vague guff about grey areas of morality, and as such I needed something stronger for Moonlite. After all, if this play didn't have something to say beyond 'hey check out how zany this story is' then it would fall flat.
As I researched I kept this question in the back of my head. I looked for the parts of Captain Moonlite's life I related to, the actions he took that I understood, the moments that moved me, and then I interrogated why that was. Through this process, I found the story I wanted to tell, the angle I would approach from and the theme that would unify the show. My Moonlite is not about his sexuality, although that is a big part of it, but rather about the divide between legend and fact, the question of whether the truth is more important than the story when the story is what people remember. It's a theme that has always fascinated me, one I have explored in other pieces of writing, and one that, as such, I feel I am qualified to tackle. Furthermore it's one that suited the story of Captain Moonlite.
It's for this reason that I have no qualms about my being the right person to tackle this version of the story, partly because I know for a fact that other people will have their own interpretations and they are no less valid than mine. There is no definitive take on a real person's life.
Every story has, in one way or another, been told. Originality or individuality, to me, comes from the telling of the story rather than the subject. As such the first question any writer should ask of any project they're working on is whether they are the right person for this story, and if so, why? You might find that it saves you from working on the pieces that don't mean that much to you and lets you focus only on the ones that do.
All that said, Moonlite is yet to open so for all I know it could be a massive failure that leaves me singularly unqualified to write this blog. Time will tell.