Neil Crone - Enter Laughing

Finally....dancing!

My kids went to their first dance at their new highschool last night. When I picked them up, dressed in their Halloween costumes, I knew changing schools had been a good decision. For the first time ever they were jazzed about a school dance. They'd had the time of their lives. They had danced! That alone was worth the change. I'm not sure what it is. Part of it may be the anonymity of being the new guys in a new school. You can, if you wish, reinvent yourself a bit. Maybe that's what it was. Still, as I sat in the car waiting for them I watched dozens and dozens of kids dressed in some really fantastic costumes come walking out of the school. This was a place where kids were trying. That makes all the difference in the world. There's a good vibe here. And my kids are picking up on it. Hoo-freaking-ray.

...the triumph of evil.

And people wonder why 'The Wick' has such a bad rep. Did you see the story in todays paper about the clown and his idiot brother who had painted a skeleton black, hung it by a noose to a tree in their front yard and draped a confederate flag behind it? Yeah. Lovely fellows these two. Must've just been home for a couple of weeks from Harvard or Yale and had some time on their hands. A black man who was doing some work nearby spotted this monstrosity and complained to the municipality who, to their credit, immediately called York Region Police. The coppers asked them to take it down. They refused. Did you get that? They refused. I personally think the cops showed admirable restraint at this point. I would've tasered these jerks 'til they crapped lightning bolts. Finally a full blown investigation resulted in the thing being taken down and the two brain surgeons being charged with hate crimes. They, all along, claiming it was just a halloween decoration. I'm shaking my head so much my eyes are crossed. And, here's the part I really love. The part that simply confirms my opinion that Keswick is the armpit of the province. When the papers reporters asked neighbors why none of them had complained about this abomination, the best they could do was 'This is a small community. We don't bother them, they don't bother us.' Nice. Really nice. What is that wonderful quote from Edmund Burke 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing' . Happy Halloween everybody.

So long puss...

A very troubling scene this afternoon. My wife and I were walking down the normally idyllic main street of Port Perry when we came upon a group of people gathered. A cat had just been struck by a car and lay dying in the street. Really stopped me cold. It's been a long time since I saw a domestic animal in that state. Poor thing was still in it's death throws. A few kind hearted souls had gathered around to move him off the road and...do what? Not sure. He would be dead momentarily. My heart ached. I drive by road kill by the dozens almost every day of my life and think nothing of it. Crows, coons, porcupines and the ubiquitous skunk and none of them even register anymore. But this was someone's pet. Someone will be looking for this guy tonight at dinner time. Like I say, it broke my heart.

Thanks!

You made my day guys.I want to say a huge thank you to all the kids in Mrs. Bekessy's grade 11 College English class at Monsignor J. Pereyman C.S.S. Today I received an enormous bundle in the mail. Inside were letters from all of the kids in her class. Mrs. Bekessy had clipped out one of my newspaper columns based on a quote from Mother Theresa, entitled "What are we for?" read it to her kids and had a big classroom discussion about it. I love that. I also love the fact that they all then took the time to write to me about the experience. Okay, okay, I'm sure their teacher made them do it...but let me have my moment will ya? I was thrilled to get the letters and I read each and every one of them. Thanks guys. Sometimes, typing away in my little office here, I'm uncertain as to whether anyone out there is ever reading the stuff. I love the feedback...good, bad and indifferent.

When will the Circus leave town?

Can somebody tell me why 'Family Circus' is still in the paper? Haven't all of those kids grown up and moved on to divorces and various stages of alcoholism and substance abuse as a result of their formative years in the public eye? At least, if we're going to have to still see it there in the comics every Saturday, could we not update the content a tad? Perhaps a cute drawing showing Billies little footprints, now stumbling as a middle-aged inebriate, in and out of the garden, knocking over trashcans and finally breaking a window as he realizes his gay lover has locked him out of the house? I'd read that. That's funny.

The play is still the thing.

This is a tough business. For some odd reason, maybe the vibe I was giving out, I had two separate conversations with two different groups of actors today, all of whom were experiencing a work drought. These were seasoned, excellent actors all and yet many of them hadn't worked in a long time. One of whom was, for the first time in a twenty-five year career, considering throwing in the towel. It was quite disheartening. Especially, of course, since I actually have been working. That's another one of the weird little quirks of show biz. You feel cruddy when you're not working and then you feel guilty when you are. Takes a very thick skin and a remarkably positive attitude. I suppose that goes for just about any entrepreneurial endeavor but I think even more for what we do. Most actors and writers and artists that I know don't do it because of the money or the fame or even because they're good at it. They do it because their spirit won't let them not do it. They are born to it. Their craft, their art is like air to them. Which makes it doubly hard when you have conversations like today...where friends are having trouble breathing.

The pen is mightier than the keyboard

I received the nicest note yesterday. A lovely lady, whom I am sure I have never met, took the time to write to me and my wife and tell us how much we would be missed from this little town. It was remarkable. I can't tell you how touched I was that someone had taken the time to sit down and hand write a long and heartfelt note to say such kind things. And someone I have never even met! That's pretty cool, let me tell you. And it brought home something else to me as well. In this cyber-world of instant messaging and 'winks' and LOL...when you do receive a handwritten note, or even a typed letter that someone has had to think about, purchase a card for, stamp and mail, it makes a huge impact on the recipient. If you're like me you might not be able to remember the last time you received a 'letter' in the mail. Doesn't happen very often. I send dozens of emails off each day, but I couldn't tell you the last time I sat down and 'wrote' to someone. I think, for the same reason that e-books will never replace a paperback you can carry to bed with you, emails will never have the heart of ink and paper. Thanks dear lady.

You know what scares me?

I shouldn't listen to the radio in the morning. I don't read the paper, except on weekends, and I generally do my best to keep the flood of panic and ridiculous fear out of my home...certainly try not to start my day with it. But I was blindsided this morning. I heard a report about a certain senior segment of the U.S. voting demographic that Obama was having difficulty reaching. Well, I'll be honest, it was the large Jewish community in Florida/Miami Beach. I heard one woman quoted as saying (re: Obama) "He was raised with Muslims, he went to a Muslim School. Adolph Hitler himself said Give me your children for the first three to five years and I'll have them for life. As a Jew, he scares me."
And that kind of thinking scares me. I understand how a Jew might have a different sensitivity to Muslims than the rest of us. But Barack Obama & Adolph Hitler? This is blinkard, rabid fear. It's also something that is born out of and unique to any community that has become too insular. You see it in any 'tightly knit', exclusive group. Fear is like fungus, it grows in the dark. Read a book...get out and meet some Muslims. The majority of Islamic people are no more members of the Mujahadeen or Taliban than most Jews are Zionists or Haredim. Most of us just want to love, be loved and worship our God in peace. Please don't equate a man of remarkable intelligence, vision, compassion and learning with Adolph Hitler. This serves no one. Think with the brains God gave you folks and feel with the heart he gave you.
In love and friendship.
Neil

Idling for doughnuts?

It's pretty clear to me that people are really going to need to see some polar bears roaming the neighborhood before they start taking this whole global warming thing seriously. This morning I witnessed about fifteen cars lined up, engines idling, at the local Timmy's drive-thru. Not good folks. Especially in light of the fact that it probably would've been just as fast to park the vehicle, get out and get your java and gut rocket from the counter. There are, I know, places in the city where drive-thru's, through the action of responsible locals, have been outlawed. They just don't want the air they and their children are breathing to be laden with exhaust. For some reason up here in the beautiful countryside we seem to think we have a different supply of air...just because we look around and see green fields everywhere we're able to turn a blind eye to what we're really doing to the environment. If you can't think of yourself folks, at least think of your kids. For two reasons: They're watching and they will breathe the air we leave them.

Back to boxers

I'm making the transition from briefs back to boxers. I think it's going well. A little difficult in the early stages...a lot of bunching up and that occasional feeling of 'too much' freedom. But it's all coming back to me. I and a handful of pals were in the forefront of the boxer revolution back in my highschool days. (Not to be confused with the Boxer Rebellion in China) A good buddy of mine had moved here from California, where, apparently everybody wore boxers and nobody wore 'bun huggers' (as he called them). We were all white kids from Agincourt and it was 1976 and everybody was wearing 'bun huggers'. But one by one, my southern Cal pal converted us to the glory and 'freedom' of the boxer. Until eventually there was a dozen or so of us who could be easily identified by the puff of cotton boxer short poofed up from the back of our jeans. Don't get me wrong. We were not in any way trying to portray the 'low slung, pants around my ass prison look' so popular nowadays. All of our pants fit quite nicely up around our hips where they were meant to be...we were just having a hard time getting the boxers to stay down.
I wore them for a long time and I can't really remember when I abandoned them for 'briefs' again. I have a feeling my wife had something to do with it. Not out of any personal agenda...just that she buys my gotchies. But I'm back. And I think I'm back to stay. After all, can you really have 'too much' freedom?