Author: Clay D.

Dodge City 50 Years Later

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

The Internet is a funny, wonderful thing. On a recent Friday night as I was lying in bed late I realized just how diverse the Internet had proven to be to me that day.

At lunch that day I was listening to the radio while relaxing in my car at one of my favorite parks in town.  A song came on that I didn’t know, so I whipped out my smartphone, and utilizing a couple of choice apps, was able not only to identify the song and artist, but pull up a video along with the song lyrics – all in a matter of seconds.  I’m sure this would have blown my mind if I had known back in college that someday this would be possible.  I remember hearing a good song on the radio back then and having to hustle to grab the phone book, look up the number for the radio station, then try to get through to the DJ so that I could ask what the name of the song was.  Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” was one of those songs back in the winter of ‘89.

I often sit and think about the ability we have with Google to access data and information at our fingertips – it is truly amazing.  What did I do 20 years ago when I wanted to find out the name of the actress in a certain movie? Or try to figure out the name of an old song when I knew only one line of the lyrics?  I guess I did nothing.  We had no way to search for these things.  The library was of course very limited for these kinds of pop culture queries, although certainly valuable for “hard” data searches.  Now at 43, I can’t even imagine not being able to search for information on anything, anytime, anywhere and have the results instantly at my fingertips.  Of course my 18-year-old and especially my 14-year-old really don’t know it any other way.  With their smartphones they literally have access to the world in the palms of their hands. It’s a little scary to be honest about it.

Later that night, after my relaxing lunch in the park, I stumbled upon an app that gave me access to dozens of streams of old radio programs from the middle of the 20th century.  Bear in mind that I have NEVER listened to these kinds of programs, even as a kid.  They were well before my time.  I never had any sort of interest in them and certainly didn’t realize that they were still out there in cyberspace waiting to be enjoyed not only by those who heard them as kids, but by younger generations such as mine.  I really only ever knew color TV and, starting when I was 13, cable TV with (gasp!) 22 channels.

As I was lying in bed, old episodes of “Gunsmoke” streamed from my phone, as well as several other programs I’d never heard of before.  While these programs are enjoyable – it takes quite a different acting skill set to pull off drama on the radio rather than TV – what I found most intriguing were the commercials that were still intact in the middle of the programs.  An old Budweiser commercial was pretty amusing, touting its almost wholesome goodness.  I’ve always enjoyed looking at old magazines just to see the ads.  It’s interesting to see how marketing approaches evolve over the years (almost imperceptibly) as the culture changes.  I remember back in college doing research at the library for a project and finding old magazines on microfiche; I felt like ’d discovered long lost treasure when I saw the old cigarette and alcohol ads!

With the discovery of these old radio programs, the Internet had allowed me to enjoy a piece of Americana that would have been lost to me forever.  I now had access to the same entertainment that my parents might have enjoyed right after they got married in 1950.  The nostalgia of imagining whole families gathered around the radio, waiting anxiously for their favorite program to begin, is very comforting to me.  Maybe that was the highlight of the kids’ day.  After playing outside all day in the surrounding creeks and fields, coming home, eating a hearty supper and catching up on the latest trouble in Dodge City would cap off a perfect summer day.  It was definitely a simpler time, and some would say a better time.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy the same kinds of pleasures today – we just require more sophisticated entertainment.  And who knows, I’m sure one day, 50 years from now, people will get warm and fuzzy feelings imagining our generation quaintly watching DVDs and streaming movies on our 50” widescreen TV’s, tweeting and texting with our smart devices.  They will say ours was such a simple, wonderful time, and perhaps wish they could experience such a quaint life as we have…

At Church

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

As I was sitting in church this morning, I looked over at the pew across the aisle.  I noticed a cute little baby girl standing up in her father’s lap.  She was not more than a few months old.  Of course he was supporting her so that she didn’t go tumbling over into the pew in front of them.  She was having the time of her life, laughing and giggling while her father was singing.

My mind drifted in thought as it often does.  Pretty soon I was no longer concentrating on the song we were singing, but instead was lost in thought while staring at this young family across from me.  I thought about how basic the father’s role was at that point in his daughter’s life.  At that moment, his was almost entirely a physical role – he was supporting her upright and keeping her from falling and hurting herself.  Of course he has other roles:  food giver, diaper changer, bread winner.  But as the years progress, his role will evolve dramatically in her life.  Soon, he’ll be filling a much more emotional need for her.  She’ll actively realize and appreciate the security he provides in her young life.  But, as she grows and matures, reaching her teen and young adult years, his role will continue to evolve, becoming that of advice giver and an ear to listen to her problems as well as her joys.  As she becomes a mature woman, perhaps with a family of her own, he will no longer provide much if any physical protection for her, but will support her almost entirely in an emotional role.

I thought about my own life at that point.  Both of my children are teenagers, my son in his late teen years, and my daughter in her early teens.  When my son was about 17 or so, it seems I more or less checked out of being an active parent to him.  Perhaps deep down I thought that he was close enough to being an adult that he was capable of making his own decisions – I don’t know what the reason was.  If that was all that would be enough.  However, I also unconsciously stepped back from the father role with my daughter as well.  I figured, I believe, that if one child had made it this far, then surely the other one must be ready as well.  For the last couple of years I’ve been on autopilot.  I’ve felt like a father not so much of teenagers, but of young adults who don’t need me as much.

I realize now how wrong I’ve been.