a fish

we have a recognition program at my employer where we give a plush fish to a deserving colleague. today it was my turn to pass it on after having it for a day. i gave it to somebody that is always so pleasant, greeting me whenever they see me. few people do this, so it's nice to see somebody who does. a little kindness does REALLY go a long way in life. in other issues, i sometimes need to be politely assertive. when a colleague tries to jump into a conversation, i tell them that i wasn't talking to them and continue. had to do this today.

what motivated me to start this blog was wanting to write about emerson hough, the man and the school. since i am interested in historical preservation. we need to keep this school not only because it's up to date and renovated, but also to help people in my hometown dream about what is possible. now more than ever, we need to keep this school. like many small towns i've seen, they've been left behind by the economy. way too many empty stores. some of this had happened even before its largest employer, the maytag appliance company (where my father worked) left town after being bought out due to running into financial trouble.

i think of the movie 'october sky' about the man who became a NASA employee after growing up in a west virginia coal town. he was told the only way to succeed there was to get a football scholarship, but he proved it wasn't the only way!

so in many ways, i am becoming an unofficial historian on mr. hough. somebody has to do it. how many other newton natives have a listing on imdb? or have items for sale on ebay, currently 191? not too many. i will likely get another one of hough's books soon, and a movie based on his books. according to ebay, there are copies of 'covered wagon', but only on vhs or those pitiful laser discs. i still have a vhs player, so getting the cassette will have to do. hard to say what the book would be, though i like what i hear about 2 of them. there is 'way to the west', where he wrote about kit carson, daniel boone, and davy crockett. so it proves that somebody made crockett famous before disney did! 'story of the cowboy' is another. it was one that he was encouraged to write by theodore roosevelt and others.
i am pleased at what i can find online, it is a good tool for searching and researching. though some of the best searching is done in person. in my last visit to washington,dc, in early 2009 i decided to go to the crime and punishment museum after getting a flyer in front of the white house from mcgruff the crime dog and his companion. in the western section there is an artifact attributed to hough, and his friend pat garrett (who shot billy the kid).
i will have to admit that i knew little about hough even though i grew up in newton. there were reminders of him every so often, and it served as a springboard to find out more about who he was. the school is the biggest reminder of his legacy, as it is in the middle of town. then there is his boyhood home, with a historical marker in front given by the daughters of the american revolution. it is across the street from the school. the local chapter of ike's (izaak walton league)
also bears his name, but it is at the edge of town. but the smaller things seemed to make more of an impact on me. there was a cover of the 'saturday evening post' magazine in my dentist's office with his name on it. and the encyclopedias that my parents owned had an entry about him. former high school principal h.a. 'pop' lynn, a popular sub teacher, also mentioned him the second time he was my sub, in government class when i was a high school senior. how he was in the town's first high school graduating class, 1 of 3.
though sadly, artists aren't truly honored while they are alive. hough is no different, as many of his honors were posthumous. a few of his books were published this way, and some of the movies based on his books also were released after he passed away. 'the texans', based on his book 'north of 36' and starting randolph scott, was released more than a decade after his passing. and of course the school that bears his name was opened 3 years after his death. hough did see some success during his lifetime, though just barely, with the movie 'covered wagon'. it was written that selling the movie rights was more lucrative than most of his success from the books themselves. i felt sad that he died just a week after attending the chicago premiere of the movie. same is true for being a co-founder of the izaak walton league, an outdoorsman organization, as he only could reap the benefits for a year since it was created in 1922.

but we never know how long we have on earth either, so we must live for the moment as much as we can. i think that is the most compelling reason i found for becoming more serious as a writer, much like why i finally tried my luck at comedy clubs.