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Saturday, October 9, 2010

Remembering an Anniversary

I'm not sure whether it was a dark cloud with a silver lining or a silver cloud with a dark lining, but it was something.

Tomorrow is an anniversary of some solemnity in American Fork. On Saturday, October 10, 2010, there was a misfortune which led to an act of heroism by one Heather Christensen, who traded her life to avert a much greater tragedy. This was the beginning of a remarkable season for an entire community, not just for the American Fork High School Marching Band.

My involvement in that remarkable season was at most peripheral. I saw some things -- not the accident which started it all -- and felt compelled to write about them here at the blog, where I generally write about things. I've been blogging for over five years, and some of my posts have been much-commented on. Others have been passed around the Web beyond my blog. Often enough I have heard privately -- in phone, by person, by mail or e-mail -- from someone who either appreciated something I had written, or didn't appreciate it. But nothing else I have written here has led to the outpouring of gratitude I experienced for what I've come to think of as my "marching band posts."

The wave of responses occurred almost entirely off-line, not in comments meant to be posted at the blog, so you've never seen or heard any of it, and there's no reason why you should or ever will. I treasure those communications, mostly because they mean that, on at least a few occasions, my writing has done someone some good.

There's been renewed interest among my regular readers in those posts, as tomorrow's anniversary has approached. And I recently began "podcasting" some of my blog posts, that is, making them available as downloadable audio files. The production values are not excruciatingly high, but the response has been positive thus far. So, for whatever use they may be, here are links to those year-old posts and to freshly-made podcasts of them, plus the "teaser" for each post. (The podcasts are also available at the iTunes store, free of charge, within a day or two of posting. Just search for "rodeback.")

A Bus, a Band, a Community (Sunday, October 11, 2009; podcast here)

Late-night thoughts on this evening's events and tragedy, and larger things.

Pride and Grace and Courage and Some Tears (Tuesday, October 13, 2009; podcast here)

If it was the angels, one of them was named Heather

Thoughts on Passing Milepost 49 (Saturday, October 17, 2009; podcast here)

It was mere coincidence that I took a trip to Idaho this weekend to visit family.

Epilogue: Marching Band, Victory, and Justifying the Costs (Tuesday, November 17, 2009; podcast here)

Some hard questions are reasonable to ask, even if they seem harsh, as long as they are asked for the purpose of finding an answer. And humanity doth not live by bread alone (to borrow a phrase).

Let's never do that again, okay?

Copyright 2010 by David Rodeback.
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