Sex, Politics, and Religion

A few people have asked me, “how do you decide what to write about?” Last week it was by turning on the news in the morning and hearing the startling claim that humans had been cloned.

Most weeks I would have to answer with the old English teacher’s question; “why do writers write?” Ideas just come and I need to get them out. I either write about it, or bore my students I suppose.

A compliment was passed on to me about the column recently. Someone had mentioned that they thought it was good to have someone writing about religion and politics “and things like that” in our newspaper- Thus this week’s headline.

They’re the three things we aren’t supposed to talk about in polite company, but if you don’t what else is there to talk about? In high school, things like cars, stereos, bands, and sports facts didn’t stick in my mind long enough or well enough to be able to carry on a conversation very well with most of my peers. I watched CNN like other guys watched ESPN.

Here, I’m at even more of a conversational disadvantage. I don’t know much about agriculture and even after living here two years (and being married-into the community for 12) I still can’t remember everybody’s names, faces, families, jobs, spouses, kids illnesses and histories. How do you keep track of everybody?

So, should we just talk about the weather? Been nice. Got colder lately. Yep, Mm Hmm.

Mind you, one has to be CAREFUL how one discusses sex, politics, and religion.

I know a woman who lives in a mostly Catholic town, she drew up Methodist but she’s taking classes to become a Lutheran Pastor (ELCA, not LCMS.) Did I mention that she’s served as a Labor Union representative for contract negotiations? She is also the mother of triplets!

There. I talked about all three, sex, politics, AND religion, all in one paragraph. You may not like unions, you may not think women should be pastors, but the fact that I’m aquatinted with she and her husband shouldn’t offend you. Does it? Will you forgive me and continue to read this column? I sure hope so.

Thank you for reading. And thank you to those of you who have either said something to me in person or who’s comments or complements have gotten around to me second or third hand.

I’ve always wanted a chance to do this, so it means a lot to me if you enjoy it. I hope I’ve given you some chuckles, made you think about something in a new way, or maybe even tugged your heart string once in a while.

I also want to say thank you to all you expatriates. We have many, many readers outside of Ute and Charter Oak. Thank you Herb Neddermeyer for sending us your thank you a few weeks ago. Herb has been renewing his subscription for decades. How’s the weather in Fairfield, California Herb?

Herb, I was thinking about you while I watched the Rose Parade from Pasadena last week. That sapphire and cobalt blue sky must be due to all the rain you’ve been having. Then it started snowing during the bowl games and I remembered how beautiful our rolling hills are around here, like a painting most days. You really don’t know what you’re missing if you haven’t been back “home” lately, Herb.

There, now I’ve talked about the weather AND sports. All I needed was some practice. Hello to ALL the folks who no longer live in the area, but still read the NEWSpaper.

We have cousins, originally from Ricketts that live near Charter Oak, California. Then there are all you folks who moved away when you retired or when you went to college. Hello to you, and thanks for reading. On Tuesdays, when they stuff and fold and label these papers, it’s fun to think about the distant places they’re mailed to.

Hello to all you college kids. I’ve always felt that you’re not just graduates of COU, you’re alumni of the towns too. I hope you keep in touch and think of Charter Oak and Ute as places to come back to, not just places to get away from. When you dorove home for break this year, did you see the lights they put on the Ute sign on the east side of town? Cute huh? Hey, did you ever stop to think that you can’t even say “cute,” without saying “Ute?”

How can I forget to say hello to Aunt Marylin and Uncle Mike? She saves all her NEWSpapers and makes sure to pass them along so the whole family gets to read them.

You should know that I actually thought about naming this column “Sex, Politics, and Religion,” but I was afraid that might scare some people off. I was going to just call it “The Column,” but I thought that was too generic. By the way, thank you to the gentleman who wrote to “Ted Lyon.” Mike Lyon is the publisher, he’s much taller than I am.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to try to make these columns shorter, they always end up being about one page typed. But many people make suggestions.

Jackie likes it when I write about my daily commute to Dunlap on L51. Of course, Boyer Valley has been on Christmas Break, same as COU, so I haven’t been able to drive it, let alone write about it.

My brother-in-law Mark was waiting to see my daughter Ellie show up in the column. But two things have just happened, I just got to the end of this page and she just woke up from her nap and has started dismantling the den.

You’ll just have to read about her Christmas misadventures next week.