No News is Bad News

Its funny how you get attached to the news. Every day you turn on the tv in the morning, sometimes at noon when you're not working, at night for primetime news...you really just take it for granted. I've always enjoyed the morning program at KTVU-2. So it wasn't a surpirse for me to wonder why on my last week in the bay area I never saw Noreen again. I mean, she had probably been gone for some time. But like I say, its funny how you get attached to the news....news people, anyway.

It was her eyes. They were tired. They've been through a lot. They carry a lot of experience. It was heartwarming to find out later that Noreen had been a longtime resident (and local favorite) in New Mexico.....where she has returned (http://www.kfoxtv.com/noreen/index.html).

This brings me back to the days when I was travelling a lot. I would be somewhere in Argentina, Toronto, or Colorado, but when I turned on the TV all I had to do was turn to CNN Headline News and I would feel right at home. Of course, that was when Lynne Russell was still anchoring it.


Lynne just had a great way of delivering the news. She was always calm and poised. She'd be smiling a bit but you'd never really know what that meant.

I think I was somewhere in Orlando when I was watching her last broadcast. They showed a lot of odd clips. My favorite was Lynne finishing a bit of news, and then slapping a post-it on her forehead.

I miss you, Lynne. Headline News has never been the same since you left.

Saved!

Have you ever seen the movie Dogma? If you have (and enjoyed it), then you will love Saved!. Like Dogma, it questions Christianity and the many levels people have taken it to make it their own. While Dogma used a comic satire to deliver its message, Saved! Stayed in the realms of reality. In one movie, it pushed Christian faith to a corner, dragging it through all the realities that will test any disciple: homosexuality, premarital sex, adultery, teenage pregnancy, rebellion. By the time you finish the movie, you realize that you’re not looking at a movie about Jesus freaks anymore. You’re witnessing the realities of life.

I turn back to the movie Dogma, for it delivers the same message. It wasn’t that God wants all of is to surrender our lives and worship him. He just wanted us to have a good idea about it all….about life.

I think that message goes beyond religion. And that makes it more powerful.

The Woodsman

The Woodsman is not just a story or redemption. It is a story of the road do redemption. It shows that redemption is dangerous. A repeat offender often has to be on the brink of a relapse, and hopefully be able to snap back. It’s as real as facing your demons as it gets. It’s no fairy tale story indeed. And like what really happens in real life, it all will take time.