Cast Re-United

Heres' our final logo for Summer Xtreme this year, the online experience.  It's a simple design, but it's perfection in so many ways.  We weren't actually thinking there'd be a resurrection of the space program when we were going with this theme.  And additionally, we weren't thinking there'd be a need to use the word "united" either.  More on that in a bit, but for now, take a look at many of our KidPak cast members, finally reunited after some time away.

I think it was March when we were all together last.  There are two not in this picture, but here we are, all united for a practice session this afternoon.  We were running through the scripts that I wrote, and performing them on location.  The idea is to film here in the media control center, because it looks somewhat like a mission control center of a space center.  This afternoon, Madison came with me to the church, and we led everyone down to this area.  Our stage is currently still like a Northern Lights winter wonderland, so that didn't quite work with our space theme.  In fact, the KidPak auditorium is something like a time capsule presently, all ready to go for a church service on March 15th.  We have the papers in the chairs, the Parenting Matters ready, the scripts in place and so on.... only we're in the summer.

It was so great to be with everyone again.  It was quite a happy reunion together, with a lot of catching up going on.  We've seen each other here or there, doing some filming for KidPak's online services.  But not a full skit, and not all of us together at once again.  So you can imagine, there was a lot to catch up on.  It was very nice to see everyone again, and these folks are so enthused and so ready to have fun.  We'll be filming next weekend, so we'll have lots of footage then.  Hopefully the end product will work out - we're planning on filming skits, running through them and then perhaps doing some individual shots afterwards.  The end product should be a nice ongoing series.  We'll see how it turns out, but it will be just one extra aspect of our Summer Xtreme services.  

We got home after practice, and we got home just in time to watch the SpaceX rocket launch successfully.  It was canceled earlier this week, so today was a second chance - and it was cutting it close.  There was threatening weather in the area, but they managed to make the launch, and it is such a big deal.  The President was there, and over a million people were watching because this was the beginning of a new era of space travel. 

We were nervously watching, but everything went off without a hitch, at least to the untrained eye.  It was exhilarating, and it was inspirational.  America is capable of doing so much when we are united. So many people worked hard on this, and it was so amazing to see us launch two astronauts (and their plush dinosaur) off into space.  Tomorrow, they meet up with the International Space Station, which we'll actually get to see ourselves in person later on in the week, soaring overhead.

We as a nation can soar so high, and at the same time sink so low.  This is a shot from Gainesville, which is technically our address.  If you wanted to go out and protest, you could join all these people with signs, megaphones and various chants, standing in unity against the police violence.  This, of course, is in response to the terrible murder that happened in Minnesota this past week.  The fruit of that man's murder has been more murder in retaliation, along with looting, burning and destruction of people's lives.  Somewhere within many of these protests, mobs formed and then the looting and destruction followed.  And the beatings and killings.  In Gainesville, the damage was limited.  There were police cars vandalized and damaged.  The statue on the town square was spray painted.  And other than a lot of angry yelling and accusations, things were not that bad comparatively speaking.  I feel for the officers there, many taking on the abusive accusations despite the fact that they themselves have not done anything wrong.  There's something in that though, apologizing for the sins of others.  The angry shouts are not accusations at us, necessarily, but cries for someone to empathize, and truly listen and understand.  There is that, and a shifting for many in their opinion on this whole issue of racial inequality.  But then there are the instigators of violence, and the orders from government officials to allow the mobs to destroy people's lives in the city.  That's what's happened, with many buildings on fire, many small businesses completely wiped out, and many cities now suddenly facing the reality that they will never be the same again.  Memorials to veterans have been vandalized, these sacred monuments to help us remember the lives that were sacrificed to make this place a better one.  It has been as if a series of tornadoes tore through all the cities of this country, night after night, destroying everything in their path.  It didn't matter what the skin color was of the store owner - everything was leveled, empty of everything except for debris.  One of Madison's China sisters lives in Minneapolis.  She's not a biological sister, of course, but she was adopted on the same day as Madison, in the same room.  She's with her family in a suburb close to the epicenter of the violence, where the original murder occurred.  That family is packed and ready to leave in case of an emergency.  They're living in fear, as most people in the city are.  Add this event to the ongoing virus situation.  It's as if we as a nation have just hit the self-destruct button.  A joke was going on around the internet tonight about the two astronauts:  "Congratulations on your mission.  You picked a great time to leave the earth."