back-logging: from Anthony

I just finished looking at Brian Tanner's blog.  He blogs a lot.  It made me wish I blogged more.  So instead of blogging more, I'm just going to re-post a blog here that was originally written for my blog on myspace.  That's the easy way around things.

A little about the way I approach blogging.  I usually don't like to narrate much about my life.  I prefer to talk about ideas that have been on my mind.  I also like to keep them rather brief.  Additionally- I am media-tarded.  I have no idea how to put cool pictures or film clips into them.  I just write a little something in the hopes that it will provoke some sort of discussion.  I posted this particular blog on July 15th.

Perhaps the transfer of back-logged myspace blogs signals the end of myspace blogs altogether.  I'm not sure.  We'll see what happens.  But for now, here is the blog entitled "too cool for school."

"Ohio Light Opera does a little Fourth of July concert on the town square of Wooster Ohio every year. We put together a few little patriotic choral numbers and the orchestra plays. It's really... cheesy... and awesome. I mean both of those adjectives with all my heart. This year we did an Irving Berlin medley and an Armed Forces salute. The music is not great. It's cheesy. But when we stand up on those risers and look out at the veterans stand up and be recognized and then sing to them... that's awesome in the real sense of the word.

The guy I stood next to runs wardrobe for the company and also plays little parts in a few of the shows every season. He had in his music folder a photo of his son who just joined the army last year. He may have thought it was cheesy, but you couldn't tell. He gladly stood up, proud to be an American and said God bless the USA.

Then we went to see the town fireworks display. Keep in mind, this is Wooster Ohio. Of course, that doesn't mean anything to most people. That's my point. The town is small enough that most people don't know it exists. So you'd kinda expect a wimpy fireworks display. Nope. It rocked. These people got it. This is our nation's frickin' birthday! Let's shoot the wad to say happy birthday to Uncle Sam! There maybe problems in Capitol Hill and in the White House, but we don't need to pretend we're too cool for America.

The Wooster Independence Day celebration isn't the only thing that has got me on the anti-too-cool-for-school rant. Singing operetta sure helps. None of these shows are Shakespeare. Some of them are kinda (or a lot) deficient in the theme, plot, and dialogue departments. But nothing sends an audience running away screaming better than the actors apologizing for the material. If we can just get past our too-cool mentality, we enjoy the shows and so do the audience.

Last on the "let's not pretend we're above everything" checklist comes from subbing as the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School teacher at church on Sunday. I got to stand up and tell people how excited I am to have the Book of Mormon in my life. I didn't use the Afterglow church voice for it either. I'm proud to report that I could use the same voice I use to tell people how excited I am for LOST to come back in the fall to tell people how much I love the Book of Mormon. I don't have to pretend to be cool about church. I really love it.

It feels awesome to not have to be cool."

I understand that ended with a split infinitive, but oh well.  Discuss.