Manhattan

459

Football in Manhattan.

Home at 12:33 AM.

Lions won 40 to 14.

Good Night

chris

My History with the Lord: The Naive Years

460

As I have documented earlier, I traveled an unconventional path to Jesus.  (However, I would argue everyone walks an “unconventional” path.)

I gave my heart to Jesus on May 3^rd, 1980.  I was baptized in a lake and became part of a congregation of people meeting in a converted corner grocery store.  I talked with Sam and Deb Dye every day.  I went to a bible study at their house on Wednesday evenings with a few other kids from my school.  I studied and prayed every day.  If someone said they were a Christian and their lives sort of matched that then I embraced them.  I was pretty hostile to the “High Church” formality.  Sam was insistent on relationship with God and relationship with others as God’s priorities.  I also was encouraged to go to many different kinds of churches.

A girl in my class invited me to her church when she heard I’d been saved, so I went one Sunday evening. We sat in the second pew with a few other kids.  Before  the meeting started another girl tapped me on the shoulder and said (all in one breath),”You go to that ‘Christ’s Church’ don’t you well they believe that only people who are baptized go to heaven well you don’t even need to be baptized to get saved so your theology is wrong what do you think about that?”

I didn’t know what to think.  I wasn’t taught that only people who are baptized go to heaven. I didn’t believe that. I knew that I was going to get baptized because I had read about it on my own in John 3.  I thought it was ironic that I was sitting in a Baptist church getting lectured on why you didn’t have to be baptized, and I didn’t even have a problem with it.

On some Sunday nights a group of us would go to the New Life Center in Des Moines near Drake University.  It was a block of older homes and an old school converted into a Christian Community.  Some folks called them a cult.  I liked going there because they had drums.  The music pretty much sucked, but it was loud and enthusiastic.  Folks would clap and sometimes fall down.  It was chaotic, and I liked it.  I mentioned to someone that I went there occasionally.  He looked at me in disbelief, “You know they are ‘tongue-talkers’?” I wasn’t sure what that was, but he assumed I knew the implications of it.  I gave him my best teenager answer, “So?”  He was even more shocked, “You know all that jibberish that comes out of their mouths might be from the Devil?”  That sounded serious, and silly.  I felt good there.  I liked the emotion and the passion. Sure they were weird and probably crazy, but they were so committed.

I really felt like I could walk with anyone who was going in the Lord’s general direction.  I was not a slouch when it came to study.  I read a lot of books and was introduced to Francis Schaeffer.  It was a very kum-by-ya time.

There were, however two groups I had open hostilities toward: 1.) the super-formal/ultra-liturgical churches who relied solely on tradition, and 2.) T.V. Preachers like Jim Bakker  and Jimmy Swaggart.  I couldn’t stand either one.

I was at a friend’s house and he turned on the 700 Club.  There was Pat Robertson and Ben Kinchlow in the middle of, what looked like, the Jerry Lewis Telethon.  There were tables of people answering phones.  There seemed to be some kind of urgency, like something needed to happen right then.  The phone calls were people calling in prayer requests, mostly medical needs.  Assistants were running on camera and handing cards to Pat and Ben who would read the requests on the air.  They then placed the prayer request cards into a giant “Prayer Clock” which was a huge clock with slots all around the face for the cards.  They then laid their hands on the clock and began to pray, “Lord, hear these requests.  I feel you are healing Bob in Omaha from a lingering sickness and you are healing Sue in Portland from depression and you are delivering Dave in Minneapolis from alcoholism…” and it went on for the next couple of minutes.  Then it was over, and the chaos ensued again with people answering the phones and assistants running around handing cards to Ben and Pat who then read the miracles that happened during the 2-minute prayer. Ben was crying as he read about the man who healed of a life time rectal problem the moment the prayer was done.  Then they cut to a commercial. Awesome.

I guess I’d appreciate being healed of a lifetime rectal problem as well.  But overall, the whole deal just didn’t seem to be…well…right.

I’m still not a fan of those big TV ministries, although I’m slightly less hostile than I used to be.

chris

Hey! That's personal!

461

197

Well, I've received my first question from a reader, so I'll answer:

"In one of your posts you mentioned that you were exposed to porn as a boy. has this affected you as an adult? In our computer age, so many of our kids are getting an eye full of this and it terrifies me"

First of all, my sexuality is not only my private concern it is also (and exclusively) my wife's private concern.  So I won't be breaching that subject.  I will say this.  I refuse to participate in pornography.  Like any addiction, you must say "yes" to pornography in your being for it to have a foothold within you.  I approach our culture's general usage of sensuality the same way I approach the usage of alcohol.  I refuse to have even one drink and I avoid nearly every situation where alcohol is near.  I cannot say with certainty that if I started drinking that I would stop.  I will not put myself in a position to find out.

I approach sensuality the same way.  I refuse to put myself in a position to be tested.  Those testings will come without me waving them over saying, "Hey! You with the big stick! Come hit me in the head a bunch."

In the same way Meth uses your own physiology against you, so does pornography to the male brain.  It takes a powerful stimulant and runs rampant, ruining a person's heart.  It is better to never do it once and it takes a miracle, literally, to recover. 

A man who was very influential in helping me over early wounds was Don Crossland.  I went to a series of seminars he held a Belmont Church in Nashville in the 80's.  He spoke of "shame" and how victims tend to identify with and embrace the shame they have gone through.  They begin to believe they caused the woundings others have inflicted upon them.  They even begin to love them, much like Golem loved the Ring of Power in LOTR.  He used Romans 1:25 often, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie..." stating that it is subtle and happens all the time, we embrace and own the opposite of God's purposes and truth, calling it "right" when it is the opposite of right.

That was when I got angry at some of the parts of my past, especially some things that I had assumed were normal (seeing pornography) when actually it was shameful, demeaning, and damaging.  It was a great release and one of those milestones in my life that propelled me further with the Lord.

chris

Meth

462

Meth is an interesting drug, interesting in the same way that some folks are interested in the Holocaust of WWII or interested in serial killers...

Meth is a chemical that, when ingested, affects a very specific part of the brain, the part of the brain that produces dopamine.

Dopamine is the chemical that causes us to feel good.  You could even say it is the good feeling. God created us so that when pleasant, beautiful, or desirable experiences happen to us a part of our brain will fire-off some dopamine and we'll feel good.

Meth bypasses the beautiful sunset, or lovely meal, or passionate kiss, runs directly to the brain and cranks on the dopamine faucet, causing the individual to feel great, exceptionally great, greater than they've ever felt, and for no reason other than they smoked, snorted, or injected Meth.

Here's the "too good to be true" part.  As the Meth causes the release of dopamine, it actually changes (damages) how the brain works so that, over time, the only way the person using meth can feel anything is by using meth.  They become dull to everything else.  Those normal triggers fall flat. The beautiful sunset, the lovely meal, the passionate kiss trigger...nothing.

When I worked at the prison in Newton I was talking to an inmate getting ready to be released.  He had been in prison for a number of years.  He had a long history of smoking "crank."  I kept asking him, "How do you feel about your release?"  He would always reply, "I'm excited to get out.  I'm happy." but his demeanor never indicated he felt that way.  He presented as if he felt...nothing.  He seemed to be reciting phrases that he knew he should be saying, but it wasn't in his heart.  He was completely flat.  Although not completely flat, he knew how to get angry.  There must be something about the power of anger that could cut through his stupor.  He was dangerous when he was angry, and not remorseful afterwards even though he could give you textbook answers as to why he got angry, why it was wrong, and what strategies he needs to utilize in the future.

It takes about one year before the brain will start to recover from meth.  The cells in the brain that produce dopamine die, however, other parts of the brain will take over that task to some extent.  The thing that triggers the brain to recover is, get this, a barrage of good experiences (beautiful sunsets, lovely meals, passionate kisses.)

God has caused us to be receptors of goodness.  He has even wired our physiology to be healed by goodness.

 

Taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8

 

 chris

Random

463

Listened to a guy who was born with no arms talk today.  I wasn't sure what his point was other than to tell about his life.

Learned that ignoring or withdrawing social contact from someone is also in the "bulling continuum." Not sure what I think of that, but if that's true, sometimes I'm a bully.

Finished the book "Wizard & Glass" today.  Stephen King started writing it in 1970 and finished it in 1996 (when he was 48).  He said it was a story he avoided finishing it because of some of the hard themes.  I also had a hard time finishing reading it for the same reason.

I missed my family today, more than usual.

Admitted that my little blogs have not been very insightful.

Was reminded how very glad I am that I never drink alcohol.

I like pizza.

I need to settle on and start my diet.

That is all,

chris

No good deed...

464

198.5

Came to the 1st day of a 3 day Special Education  administrator's conference.  This is my 6th year coming.  The 1st day has been Special Education law which has involved many case studies.  Basically we have to work very hard to not get sued by parents.  Believe it or not, sometimes parents take advantage of the rules.

Case in point:

A particular student with an IEP for Learning Disabilities in Reading in a particular district was caught with pot.  It was a zero tolerance policy violation.  The possession of pot was "not a manifestation/or substantially influenced' by the student's disability in reading.  At the suspension hearing his parents gave an impassioned plea to not suspend the student for the year.  The superintendent lifted the suspension and he returned to school.

Later that same year, the parents had a dispute with the district over the son's IEP.  They sued the district stating that the district had given him special treatment for (you guessed it) lifting his year-long suspension for possession of pot.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I worked out at the resort gym.  Limited facility so I'm giving myself only 1/2 a workout.  I'll go again tomorrow ans get the other 1/2.

chris

The best laid plans...

456

199 workouts (and holding)

Well,  my window to work-out ended up being at 8:00 this morning.  The 2-hour job at the rental house ended up being a six and a half hour job.  Then we all went to the Plaza Art Festival and we just got home.

I'm going to a conference tomorrow so I'll have to work out on the road.

Now I am done with my crappy-blog.

I suck.

chris

His name is WIllard.

466

Willard had had a rough life.

In addition to his given middle name (Fillmore), he had numerous life-obstacles

His sister and he had been removed from their home at a very early age for abuse and neglect.  Several attempts to reunify the siblings with their mother had been unsuccessful. He had been in and out of numerous foster homes and had been separated from his sister. He had a marginal IQ, and multiple emotional problems.

He also had Tourette’s syndrome.

He came to KDS when he was 12.  He was out of control.  Willard’s Tourette’s manifested itself in a variety of ways. One was in making crude and sexually explicit comments. Another was in various ticks, head motions, vocal clicks and gestures.  When he was very upset he would “snake” to and on the floor.  He would arch his back and neck, stick out his tongue and make some howling noises.  It was as if his entire body suddenly became double jointed.  He was difficult to pick up and move.

In PE he would attempt to play basket ball, however, his shoes would fly-off (no matter how tight they were tied.)  He could not make his eyes focus on the ball and he would often get thumped in the head.

He wore glasses, but he had a difficult time keeping them on his face.  His head would jerk to the side and his glasses would fly across the room.  He could read, but sometimes his head would not cooperate.  It just wouldn’t look at the book.

We tried many medications to help him, but he would display negative side affects within the first week (Tardis Dyskinesia and a general tilting of his whole body to the right.)

On one fateful day I was in my office during PE time.  I heard the door open, some scuffling, and some mostly incoherent (but partially profane) words.

The female aide who brought him to me was red faced. “Mr. Geil, we can’t take it anymore today with his…comments.  We need a break.”  I knew it must have been bad because those aides were tough and had heard it all.  For Willard to get under their skin that badly, he must have been on his “A” game.

Willard was screaming and crying.  I had a good relationship with Willard so I decided just to keep him in my office and attempt to talk to him rather than get him down to the Time-Out Room, which would be an ordeal.

He went to the student desk in the corner of my room and started screaming.  He grabbed the sides and flung it back and forth.  Usually I could take this for quite a while, but I really had some things to fill out and I needed to think.

I went to the desk and said (pretty gently), “Come on Willard, I know you’re upset. I hear you screaming and crying, but let’s bring it down a little and when you’re ready well talk we’ll talk.  I’m not mad, I’m just asking you to start bringing it down.”  At that he started “snaking” out of the desk and then “snaking” back up again.

I put my hands on the right and left sides of the desk. I never touched Willard, I just held on to his desk so it wouldn’t jump and slide around.

Willard started screaming over and over, “bloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurderbloodymurder.”

This went on and on.  I was stuck.  But then it hit me:

He’s screaming “Bloody Murder”

He is literally SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER!

It was awesome.  I was waiting for anyone to come by and hear him.  I was looking for the janitor, the financial lady across the hall, anyone.  “Hey listen! BLOODY MURDER. Get it? SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER!”

Alas, Willard finally calmed down.

We talked. We hugged. He did some write-offs, gave an apology, and went back to class.

That was kind of a fun day.

chris

Long Meeting HAIKU

467 Days Left

199 Workouts Left

I sat in a long meeting today.

Here is my long-meeting HAIKU:

Many words are said

I don't know if there's a point

So I think of cheese

chris

Let the workouts begin...

468 days left

200 workouts left

I’m looking at 67 weeks before January 1^st 2013. (That’s the day when something is supposed to happen about something.)

I want to get in at least 200 workouts (weight training) before that date.  That’s at least 3 workouts a week with no more than 2 days elapsing between any two workouts. I started this weekend and have my routine set for the next couple of weeks.

I have some parameters:

Ø      I’ve allotted up to 2 hours for workouts (30 minutes total travel time to and from the gym and 90 minutes to stretch, lift, and stretch.)  Because my workouts were high reps before, my gym time got to be pretty long.

Ø      I have 17 machines I’m using (I may get to free weights, but I doubt I’ll get a partner to lift with me) with a minimum of 30 reps per machine.

Ø      I use a timer per machine to keep me moving. (Before, I took a leisurely approach. Now I have more of a time-crunch)

I’m still fighting through the arthritis pain in my shoulders, neck and back but I know the more I strengthen the muscles around my joints the better I’ll feel in the long run.

I’m still unsure what to do about the cardio.  My knee felt good the past two days and Aleve has always been my friend.  I may get to walk more and even run if my weight drops enough.

I’m working on a Saturday-Monday-Thursday schedule with Wednesday being my flex day if Thursday doesn’t work out.

I have not tackled the food issue yet.  I did see that men can sign-up for Weight Watchers on-line for free.  I may have to go that route.

I’m wearing my knee brace for first time in 6 years. It seems to help.

I’m not really very enthusiastic about starting.  I put this in my blog so that the 1 random guy in Russia who’s been reading my blog can hold me accountable.

chris

About cheering.....

469

We went to the Chief's home opener. 9/11 (cryptic) The Chief's had a fumble on the opening kick-off and gave up a touchdown two plays later.  The game (and possibly the the season) was for all intent and purposes, over.

Before the game there were flags and screaming and a monstrous flag, and fighter plane fly overs and David Cook and fireworks. There was a lot of noise. Then adversity happened immediately and the place almost went silent.  Then there was booing and drunken cussing.

In Wesley's football game tonight there were about  40 people on our side of the field and 5 people for the other team (from Topeka).  We were down, and the boys had made mistakes. At the half our team jogged off the field with their heads down. I noticed that the other team's coach was the loudest voice on the field.

Well I just wasn't going to tolerate that in the 2nd half.

When our boys hit the field after 1/2 time I started "bellarin'"  I have a piercing, loud, and utterly obnoxious voice (if you've ever heard me sing, you know what I mean.)  and I started cranking out, "LET'S GO BLUE!"

I was the only one yelling.  And it was ridiculously loud. So loud that other people in the park started cranking their necks "Was that a wounded moose I heard?"

I was there to have fun and I mostly don't care about embarrassing myself, so I launched into a tirade. "KNUCKLE UP BLUE! GO GET SOME BLUE! CRACK SKULLS BLUE!" And other assorted innane blatherings.

Between the two sets of bleachers on the home side is the press box. On the other side was 10 or so of the Varsity Players.  When I started in they were right there with me.  So I started trash talking with them about their "Spirit."  "YOU CALL THAT HOLLERIN' BOYS? YOUR MOMMAS WHO ARE SITTIN BEHIND YOU ARE CRANKIN' OUT MORE SOUND THAN YOU! I'M ONE OLD MAN AND I'M SPEWIN' OUT MORE DECIBLES THAN ALL-YA'ALL (the plural of, "Ya'all") PUT TOGETHER!"

They loved it and they turned it up. Then the home school moms turned it up. Then every one started in.  Pretty soon we went from down two scores to up one.

In the end the "Cair Paravel Lions" from Topeka won the day, but it was close, not the blow-out it looked like it would turn in to.  As our team came off the field we made a human tunnel for them to run through. Everyone got into the act, even the coaches.  It was fun.

Our team had lost "courage." So we "encouraged" or built up their courage, even through adversity.

Sometimes being loud is good.

chris

I told a lie about asbestos...

470

It was my freshman year at Central Christian College of the Bible (CCCB) in Moberly, Missouri. It was the first couple months of school and I was already getting a little socially bored. I felt a bit out of place in that I had a different “history” then most of the students there.  However I wasn’t alone. There were five of us from Knoxville and I had my songwriting buddy, Tony Beaverson.  Still, I was trying to “play nice,” but sometimes you just have to make things interesting.

A group of us (a dozen or so) were in the 2^nd floor lounge of the main building.  People were just talking and cutting-up.  There was a TV in the corner and the news was on.  It was a story about “asbestos.” This was 1981 and scientists were just discovering the health hazards of asbestos. The sound was turned down low so you couldn’t quite hear everything the reporters were saying.  A very pretty (and yes, blond) girl sitting next to me asked, “What are they talking about on the news?”

I couldn’t resist.

I replied, “For years big buildings have had a naturally growing fungus under the floors, ceilings, and walls called ‘asbestos’.  It acts as a natural fire retardant, so builders have always just left it, however, they are now discovering that it causes near-sightedness and abnormal facial hair growth in those who work near it.  Victims also develop an inability to wear their hats straight.”  Sure enough, as I’m talking there is news footage of guys with their hardhats askew on their heads pointing at asbestos under big industrial concrete floors and on big concrete walls, and yes, everyone they interviewed had a beard and glasses.

“Huh?” the girl replied, “I think I’ve heard something about that.”  Then she went on talking to whoever she was with.

Later Tony says to me, “What were you saying about that asbestos thing?”

Me, “Oh, I was just having a little fun with someone who really didn’t want to know about asbestos and who really wasn’t listening to my answer anyway.”

Tony, “Yeah…cause that was kind of weird all those guys had the glasses and beards.”

Just lucky I guess.

(I hope that girl got on Jeopardy and sub-consciously referenced my misinformation into a bizarre response to one of the answers/questions.)

chris

I made a joke once.

471

I taught "Gifted" students for about 8 months for the Maury County (TN) School District.  At the beginning of the year we had a multi-school staff meeting that was attended by myself and about 30 women.

My boss was named "Charlene" pronounced "CHAR-LEEN" (she was named after her father.)  At each of our places at out tables was a little candy bag tied with a dainty (and beautiful) ribbon.  Charlene was a very proper Southern Lady.  She was very formal and things needed to be done in a proper Southern way.  We all understood how things were supposed to go and we all accepted our roles, even though it made for a super-boring meeting.

On our lace candy bag ribbons were beautifully written (in calligraphy no less) inspirational sayings.  Charlene would call on someone in the meeting occasionally to read the inspirational messags and everyone would quietly nod or say to the person next to them, "Oh yes,,,so true, so true...lovely, simply lovely...blesses my heart..."  They were things like, "Children are God's blessings for the future" and "I believe that for every drop of rain, a flower grows"...lame stuff like that. I don't do well in meetings anyway.

So it came to be my turn.  "Mr. Geil, Why don't you read your ribbon? OK?"  So I awkwardly stood before the 30 women, all sitting at the edge of their seats, waiting for the wisdom to..spew.

I looked at the ribbon. Read it to myself.  Shuffled on my feet uncomfortably.  Looked up at the crowd, shrugged, and stated this proverb:

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

I grinned (or shall I say sha-grinned) and sat down.

Everyone slowly turned toward Charlene with quizzical looks and grins (some of the less sophisticated chuckled.) She turned a bright shade of red and started laughing uncomfortably. "Ho ho ho it doesn't say that, no it doesn't say that at all." she kept repeating.  I handed my ribbon to the woman next to me as if to say, "See?"  She never let on that it actually said something like, "Children are wet cement" (or something like that.)

That made the meeting better for like...5 minutes.

chris

Where to start?

472

As I've documented earlier, I'm good at losing weight, I'm terrible at keeping weight off.

So Eric is off to school.

We've got the "get Jaron graduated" plan in place.

We have the "Wesley earning High School credits" plan in action.

And Christian is acting like a middle-schooler.

So I really have no more excuses.  Healthy Chris must emerge.  So today I worked out for the first time in 2 months.  Now granted, our family did rehab an entire house in July during 1000 degree weather, so I did lose weight during that time, but for me to be successful I have to have a one two punch: gym-time, lettuce-time.

Salad has always been one of my favorite foods, and when I've lost weight in the past I've eaten tons of salad and tons of rice.  But eating healthy takes planning and time  My commitment level wanes often.  It's just easier to eat something quick, and for some reason that always seems to be something super fattening and unhealthy.

The gym-time is going to be an issue.  I have the, "I need a new knee" problem, but I have a more pressing, "My back and hip are succeeding in killing me" problem.  Neither one of my legs works very well and that's a problem.  I know I'm going to have to load-up on pain meds tonight to be able to sleep (and I only lifted for an hour.)  So my dilemma now is:

A. Gut it out (which I won't be able to do because...well...I'm nearly 50 and it's counter to what I'm trying to do.)

B. See a Chiropractor (which I'm leaning toward-painfully)

C. See a general practitioner and get a referral (which my insurance may make me do anyway, plus I need a full physical anyway.)

I had about a 2 year streak of every-other-day workouts about 5 years ago.  We belong to a good gym and I really have no excuses.

We'll see if I make it there Monday.

chris

I need a new knee...

473

The other day my right leg locked in a bent position for three days.  I made my wife go buy me some crutches.  I went to work and endured the endless questions, "Hey, whats wrong with your leg?" So I decided to give everyone a different answer.
"Hey, whats wrong with your leg?"
"Cramp"
"Hey, whats wrong with your leg?"
"LJIS (Long John Silver Impersonator Syndrome)"
"Hey, whats wrong with your leg?"
"Antelope attack"
"Hey, whats wrong with your leg?"
"Parasitic Twin"
"Hey, whats wrong with your leg?"
"Nothing, but there's something wrong with my armpitts"
"Hey, whats wrong with your leg?"
"Oldness"

Actually that last one is true.

So I'm going to hold out for 10 years if I can and get a new 30 year ceramic knee.

I asked my Dr. if I could get a lego knee,  but he was not amused.

chris

Eric's Road to CCM (Post Script)

474

We drove to Cincinnati Tuesday, September 13th.  He got settled in his room and hung-out with his class.  We bought him some additional stuff at Bed Bath & Beyond and of course, Wal-Mart.

On Wednesday his class had several hours of "diagnostics" where all 18 of the students sung an entire song, did a monologue and danced.

While they were doing that, we met with many of the parents of MT15.  They were from California, Toronto, Dallas, Denver, Florida, New Orleans, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and KC.  Many stories were exactly (and eerily) the same (kids who sing constantly, spacy, a level of parent enmeshment, not quite fitting in, multiple school offers, nuttiness.) Some things were completely different.  We met a couple who didn't allow their daughter to do many productions because they had her on a path to "peak" at 26 years old rather than 16.  One parent cried the entire 4 hours we were together in anticipation of missing her son.

We drove home to KC today.  Eric had his personal diagnostic critique and reported to us that they liked his voice although he had some jaw placement issues they would work on.  They liked his previous dance training. They felt that even though he had some good expression and mannerisms during his monologue, he was, nevertheless, not-believable.  Apparently, many others were pretty well roasted.  All of them were told to go to the gym. So since Eric is the only one with gym and weightlifting experience, he is the whole classes designated weight trainer.

He had that determined, focused tone in his voice that I've come to recognize as the, "I'm on a mission and have no time for chit-chat" voice so we got off the phone pretty quickly.  If I know him, he'll debrief with his class mates individually and give them encouragement and perspective about the day.  He'll rally the troops in his own way.

chris

Eric's Road to CCM (Parts 3, 4, 5)

477
476
475

(OK, we're heading to Ciny and I'm not going to guarantee I'll have time to write, so I wrote this one 3x as long. Read it in chunks, or all at once. It's long.-cg)

The Research

Eric had been going to Longview Community College since he was 15.  We knew he was going to continue to go there at least one year after he graduated High School and possibly 2 years.  He knew he wanted to pursue music or theater.  His band was very good and he had the skills of a drummer and vocalist who could get work, but it was all very general or nebulous.

In 2010 he performed two of his best roles back-to-back. He was “Fagin” in Oliver! and “Harold Hill” in The Music Man. These two roles solidified in all our minds not only his potential, but his love for theater as his primary calling.  So I began to do what I do best, I started collecting and organizing data.

At the university-level there are two kinds of theater degrees; academic degrees (BA-Bachelor of Arts) and performance degrees (BFA-Bachelor of Fine Arts). A BA in Theater could be related to teaching with the possibility of performance where a BFA has a goal of performance with the possibility of teaching or administrating. A BFA has very few general education classes (history. literature, psychology) and some academic classes (music theory, history of theater, Shakespeare).  The bulk of the classwork is in voice lessons, sight singing, dance (jazz, tap, ballet), acting and performance, hence the term “conservatory” being attached to these programs.

More and more schools have now added a BFA in Musical Theater to their conservatories.  These programs tend to accept 20 to 40 students a year. Most have some sort of live audition process where you must sing two one-minute excerpts from songs, do one or two monologues, and learn a dance audition.  A student must first be accepted academically to the university and then be accepted into the conservatory.

As I (thoroughly) investigated Musical Theater schools, I noted there are generally three mentioned in everyone’s top 10 lists when talking about “Best” musical theater programs in the country, they are:

>The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

>Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg

>College Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati.

Then there is another tier that are talked about a lot (but not by everyone):

>The Boston Conservatory in Boston

>New Your University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Manhattan

>Penn State University at State College

After there were some old, established, and respected programs as well as up-and–coming programs such as:

>Chicago Conservatory of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, (downtown)

>Ithaca University in New York

>Pace University in New York

>Elon University in North Carolina

>Webster University in St. Louis

>Point Park University in Pittsburg

>The University of Oklahoma in Norman

A lot to choose from…

Narrowing the Field

This was our thinking: an actor is like a general contractor in the construction industry.  No one cares where your carpenter went to school (or if he even went to school) they want to know, “Can you install these cabinets and will they look great?”  The more skills a contractor has (plumbing, HVAC, dry wall, roofing) the more work he can get.  So if he has some training, it better directly translate into skills that can help him make money.

Eric needed skills, not a degree, to be a working performer.  Most people in Hollywood do not have some kind of acting degree.  They do however; take lots of very expensive acting classes.  On Broadway most performers do have some kind of degree and they still continue to take acting and dancing classes and they have vocal coaches.

With that in mind, we targeted a small number of schools.  Some of Eric’s friends applied and auditioned for over 20 different schools.  He narrowed his list to seven.

1. Missouri State University.  They have a comprehensive conservatory model.  The in-state tuition and possible scholarships meant we could afford it with very little debt, and it was close to home.
2. Texas Christian University.  Because Gina Milbourn (a TCU Grad) had such a profound influence on Eric as a performer (she had directed Eric in 6 different shows) he felt obligated to audition.  They also have a full conservatory.
3. Point Park University.  They are an up-and-coming program that was aggressively looking for talent.
4. Penn State University. An established Major University in the 1^st & 2^nd tier discussion.
5. The Boston Conservatory. A conservatory unto itself without being part of another University.  Also in the 1^st & 2^nd tier discussion.
6. The Chicago Conservatory. Part of Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago. Closely involved with Professional Theater in Chicago with the opportunity to get professional work (and Equity points) while going to school.
7. CCM. Arguably the #1 program in the country.  Known for producing spectacular vocalists and a record of their graduates getting lots of Broadway and Tour work.  The National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) musical theatre accreditation standards were based on CCM’s practices.  This was, overwhelmingly, Eric’s first choice.

The annual cost (without scholarships) to TCU is $44,000.00 a year (Boston Conservatory was higher).  The annual cost at Missouri state is around $14,00.00 a year.  CCM was somewhere in the middle.

So Eric applied to all seven schools (and yes, we paid the non-refundable application fee for all seven schools).  Being home-schooled, Eric’s transcript was “tricky” but he was academically accepted to all of the schools.  The next step was the auditions.

The National Unified Auditions

To audition for a Conservatory, you can schedule a time at each individual campus (which means flying or driving all over country) or you can go to one of four places where all the major musical theater schools gather together and hold a four-day audition-fest called, “The National Unified Auditions.” They are held in February each year in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and the Grand Daddy, Chicago. 

The Chicago Unifieds are held at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago. They advertise that 25 Musical Theater programs will be represented, but I imagine it is closer to 50. All the major, sub-major, and unknown programs have representatives there.  There are also representatives from England, Scotland, and Ireland.  Here’s the picture; in one location (or general location) there are hundreds of musical theater performers (teenage men and women) from all over the country running around with their parents in a huge hotel from one audition to the other, warming up, stretching, crying, being dramatic, laughing hysterically, fighting with their moms, hugging their dads, sprinting to their next auditions three floors down in 2 minutes. It is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done with Eric & Amy.

My attitude through this whole process was that I was going to act as Eric’s Agent and Manager as long as I could.  I wanted all of his energy to be focused on singing, dancing, acting, and interviewing.  So I had a very thought-out plan for the auditions.  Some schools wanted you to Sing, Dance and Act all at the same time.  Most had a separate dance call from the singing and acting, sometimes on different days.  He was going to see 6 schools, which meant 12 audition times.  I scheduled everything with a one or two hour break in-between.  Everything was done mid-morning to mid afternoon, and I always built in time to eat (Eric will not eat when he gets focused.)

We took the Amtrak from KC to Chicago Sunday morning. His dance audition for Chicago Conservatory (CCPA) was that evening.  Roosevelt University is a couple blocks from our hotel.  He was in a group of about 20.  The audition was led by Luis Perez, a principal dancer for the Joffrey Ballet and a Broadway veteran (Original to Phantom, and  Chicago as well as the Lead in the revival of Man from La Mancha.) It was fun for us to sit around and talk to the other parents from around the country while we all waited.

The next day he did his songs and monologues for CCPA.  He sang/danced/read for Point Park University and TCU.  After his vocal audition for Point Park the director of the program pulled him aside and offered him a place in the program on the spot.  They accept around 20 students into their program annually.  They also offered him the most scholarships of any other school, about 20k in support.  The people from TCU were suspicious.  After his audition they asked him, “Are you really interested in TCU, or did you just come here because Gina told you to come and you practicing for other auditions?”  Eric assured them he was interested, although, the folks from TCU were exactly right.

His next day auditions were his top priorities, Boston in the morning and CCM in the afternoon.  We wanted to have several run throughs “live” before that CCM audition.  Eric said the Boston dance audition was really fun, but very long.  It put him back for his Boston vocal audition which was in another location. It was the only time we had to run up the stairs (and it wasn’t due to my lack of scheduling, thank you.)

Eric said the mood of the CCM audition was different, more pressure.  They had a large group dance audition and then settled in to the vocal auditions.  One of his songs was “All I need is the Girl” from Gypsy (they wanted classic Broadway style which is Eric’s bread and butter.) CCM had stated in their printed literature, on-line, and they were told directly that the song could not go more than 32 bars or 1 minute.  They were told they would be marked down if they did not adhere to the strict time limit.  So Eric timed his song to stop right before the chorus, because that was exactly 1 minute.  So he launched in and sang all the way up to the chorus, then stopped (because generally, Eric is pretty obedient.) Diane Lala, (the resident choreographer at CCM and a professor there) said, “Why did you stop?”  Puzzled, Eric replied, “Well, that was one minute.”  To that Miss Lala responded, “You’ve got to give us the pay-off, sing the whole thing, sing the chorus.”  So he kept singing. That was a very good sign.

We went to Les Miz that night and of course, Marius (Eric’s dream role) was a recent CCM grad.  He was pumped.

The next day was Penn State, and he just wasn’t feeling it.  He said it was rough and they didn’t seem that into him.  We had a train to catch that afternoon, so we went back to our hotel (The Silversmith) to pack-up, relax a bit, and walk to the train station.

A Wild Card?

Many other schools and programs also would schedule auditions near the Unifieds to try and pull people in.  They would be in nearby hotels like the one we were staying in.  There was a school from Scotland doing auditions in our hotel.  The Royal Scottish Academy of Music And Drama (RSAMD) was pulling people in.  They were there one day of what sounded like a world-wide tour to fill about 4 international spots for their upcoming class.  Eric was in street clothes eating a sandwich in the lobby when a rep came to him and asked, “Are you here for the Unifieds?  Would you like to audition?”  Eric said he would so he dug out his notebook and went on in.  We didn’t have to leave for an hour, and we thought he would have plenty of time (they usually take about 10-minutes.) But he didn’t come out, and he didn’t come out, and he still wasn’t coming out.  I finally had to tell the rep, “Hey, we have a train to catch and we have to start walking in about 10 minutes, can you go see what’s happening in there?”   So she went in and about a minute later Eric came around the corner with a traumatized look on his face. He was pale and glassy-eyed.  He said, “Uh, these guys want to talk to you.”

Around the corner walked two of the coolest guys I’d ever seen.  They looked like alt-rocker-dudes rather than theater guys.  The lead guy, Andrew Panton, came over and got right down to it with his ultra-cool-Beatles-esque accent, “Well, I know you’ve got a train to catch, so here goes.  We’ve been all over the world, and Eric did the best audition we’ve ever seen.  Eric represents exactly what we’re trying to do, artists who can sing, act, dance, are musicians, and who can create music.  We’ve never done this, but we’d like to guarantee him a spot right now and offer maximum scholarship to our program in Glasgow.”  Amy began to cry, (because it’s always great to hear from someone else what you already know.)  He finished by saying, “Please take all this material and here’s my number and contact me as soon as you can.  Please keep us in mind when he gets other offers, and believe me, he’s going to get other offers.”

We then had to sprint to get a cab, sprint to the train station, and sprint to the end of the line to jump on the train as it was just getting ready to pull out.  Eric said he went in and sang “Moving too Fast” by Jason Robert Brown.  He said the piano player was perfect.  They then asked if he could play any pop songs, so he played and sang a song by Panic at the Disco. Then they asked if he wrote any music and he played and sang “Unsure.”  They were hooked.

The Final Decision

A few weeks later, after Eric had found out he was in the final group for CCM he called me at work, he was having a hard time keeping it together (he was crying.) “I got in, I got in.” he kept saying, and that was that.  He was CCM bound.  The school reports that they auditioned 800+ applicants, though, people in-the-know say it is probably more than that.  He is one of 18 in his class.  Pretty impressive considering the odds.  He was also accepted and offered scholarships from Boston, Chicago, Point Park and Missouri State.  Penn State wasn’t interested and TCU got de-interested when he was accepted at CCM.

So now, we’re in the midst of getting him to a school that is a 10 hour drive from KC.  A fun, but preliminary chapter for Eric.

Yeah, I’m proud.

chris