Not a Curse but a Calling It’s not a curse but a gift to us, The best path we could seek A place where God can lift us We kneel; our knees is weak And when one of us is kneelin’, We understand his fears. We know what all us is feelin’ We cry each other’s tears. That’s just what Jesus done For all us human folk. He agreed to come get born To feel ever’ pain and poke…. Read more
I received this from Cort McMurray in August, 2020–a year before his untimely death. He asked me to keep it private (it’s a sacred experience), but I think I should share it now. From Cort: “I have debated sharing this with you all day today. I ask that you kind of keep it between us, because it’s something I don’t talk about very much. This is going to be a little long. I had a lot of problems with the… Read more
Text from Darius: 5:35 p.m., Friday July 2 Contacted Jed Woodworth from Church History Dept. Gave him your “short” version of today—including the pastor’s contact info. He will follow up with personel in that department. There is much more to the Len and Mary Hope story. This is enough for now. I will work on the screenplay during my long layover in Denver. We will get moving on it quickly. Texts to Bruce: I am ready for a… Read more
I left Utah on Thursday, July 2nd at 3:15 p.m. and flew to Denver, planning to board a connecting flight to Columbus, Indiana, where I was needed by my nieces. I found the right gate quickly. It said Columbus. I sat down and worked on my screenplay about Len and Mary Hope, a Black couple who attended an LDS Church in Cincinnati, Ohio (1936-ish) until the branch presidency let them know that they should no longer come to church. At… Read more
Casting: At this point (the anniversary of the independence of the RDC, 30 Juin, we favor David Minor Ilunga, #3) for the title role. We have cast Guillaume as King Baudouin. Read more
Obituary Julia Gay Groberg Blair passed away at home on Monday, September 21, 2020 in Provo, Utah, surrounded by her daughters. She was born to Delbert and Jennie Holbrook Groberg on December 28, 1932 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where she grew up. A talented actress and violinist, she majored in English at BYU, where she met her husband, Robert Wallace Blair. They were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on August 17th, 1954. Shortly after Julia graduated from BYU, she… Read more
No. Here’s the Democratic National Convention pledge on one night. And here. Another night. Apparently, there was an incident wherein the person saying the pledge omitted “Under God.” Was it a political statement? Could have been. Perhaps the person reciting the pledge is an atheist or religiously opposed to invoking God in a political context. Is that okay? Well, read the first amendment to answer that. Does that mean that Democrats are trying to change the Pledge of Allegiance to delete God?… Read more
After taking the plea deal, Maye was released from jail. She had spent seven months behind bars and often in the medical unit. I was with her when she had a court appearance. She was again her stunning self, dressed and coiffed beautifully. The prosecutor did a double take, which I noticed. He had been dealing with a traumatized woman in an orange jumpsuit, and she now stood before him like a queen. She gave birth to her daughter soon… Read more
Maye’s attorneys met with her. This is her description of the meeting. I am pasting it from her communication with me and making modifications only to protect identities. Given that [the judge] has shown and verbalized his bias and prejudice against me before I ever stepped foot in his court room, I’m told he’ll never concede his presence in this case, because he attached to it far too much. Had it been a bench trial I would have been sentenced… Read more
This is the note I sent to Maye’s support team just after she was jailed: “The situation is serious. If [she] is convicted, she could spend 25 years in prison.” She was twenty-four years old at the time. Such a sentence would’ve kept her behind bars until she was forty-nine. If all twenty-seven charges had been answered with additional prison time, she could well have been looking at life in prison. In the bail reduction hearing, the public defenders chose… Read more
