Canada, the Heber Valley, and Standing in Holy Places

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The domestic theatrical run of Witnesses continues to wind down.   I’m happy to report, though, that the movie — which represents the initial portion of the Interpreter Foundation’s overall “Witnesses” film project — will commence screening for the first time at the Avon Theater up in Heber, Utah, later this week.  So, if you live in the area of Heber or Midway or anywhere in or near the Heber Valley, this will be a good opportunity, and very likely your last opportunity, to see Witnesses on the big screen.  And, as you may recall, the movie critic for the Salt Lake Tribune, Sean Means, wrote early on that Witnesses is one of those movies that absolutely deserve to be seen on a big screen.  If you know people in the vicinity of Heber, please call this opportunity to their attention.  And, when you do so, please indicate that the opportunity will not last forever.

I’m also very pleased to announce that Witnesses will be released to theaters in Canada on 13 August.

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Jonn Claybaugh has generously contributed a new item to the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Come, Follow Me — D&C Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 32, August 2–August 8: D&C 85-87 — “Stand Ye in Holy Places”

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While I was working this morning, I had the hearings of the House select committee that’s investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol of the United States running in the background.  The accounts given by the four testifying officers from the Capitol Police and the D.C. Metropolitan Police were appalling.  And, as Officer Michael Fanone of the Metropolitan Police said, the response of many people and, sadly, of many politicians to this event has been absolutely “disgraceful.”

And, as long as I’m in an appalled mood, please permit me to share a few links with you:

“You asked, we’re answering: Your top questions about Covid-19 and vaccines”

“‘Pure nonsense’: Deconstructing common myths about the vaccine: CNN’s John Avlon sets the record straight on the Covid-19 vaccine by deconstructing and disproving common myths that are keeping vaccine-hesitant Americans from getting the shot.”

“GOP Governor gets booed for telling truth about vaccine: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was booed on stage after he said that the Covid-19 vaccine doesn’t affect fertility.”

“The Delta variant is so contagious, those unprotected will likely get it, a Trump administration FDA chief says”

“‘Pandemic not over’: Utah doctors respond to ‘alarming’ jump in COVID-19 cases”

“Opinion: Lifespans are falling, and Americans don’t seem to care: Average life expectancy in the U.S. fell dramatically in 2020, due mainly to COVID-19. This could be reversed with vaccines many people refuse to take.”

“Former skeptic has a message for Utahns who think they don’t need the COVID-19 vaccine”

We’re doing this to ourselves.  Or, more accurately, some of us are doing this to others.  The longer the virus continues to thrive and the more human petri dishes it enjoys, the more opportunities it will have in which to mutate.  And the more it mutates, the more likely we are to give rise to a variant that will largely or entirely elude the vaccines.  We’re already being asked to go back to masks.  And, if we’re really determined to keep the pandemic going, we may yet be able to reverse the trend toward re-opening the temples!