Archive for January 2011
A rain(bow)y night Vibe
Yesterday’s post took a lot of time and energy, but was well worth the effort. Tonight, the Vibe is a relaxing share on a rainy night of hockey on television.
Witnessing this was one of 2010′s best gifts to me — a double rainbow somewhere between Minneapolis and Osage Minnesota. I saw it after visiting one of Earth’s finest citizen’s and one of my best friends, Kevin Featherly. I stood there for ten minutes as the Sun poked in and out of the clouds causing the rainbow and fast wind-driven clouds to shift colors and move like ballerinas across the sky…………..
Write it: Reader’s Choice, Topic One
(Note from The Vinman: This is a long-read piece. It is a complex question on a specific incident and event that requires a deep read. But I asked for topics 
)
From New York, my beloved sister Co sent this:
I would love to read about your perspective of time as it relates to the internet. I was intrigued by the notion of needing to educate “at a break neck pace,” and it struck me because this morning in the NY Times they reported that they’d made a mistake in their coverage of Senator Gifford’s shooting and declared her dead erroneously, again because of this need to get the info out on the internet immediately. Do we all really need to be this sped up – and/or does the internet need to be cognizant of speed for some good reason? Or, could a news agency or website be known for being thoughtful, accurate, creative, not necessarily fast?
(VjK) I need to begin by saying the Arizona tragedy (like many similar) – and the question posed – makes me process a response quite carefully. Frankly, it gives me pause because in the fall of 1993 a crazed lunatic – much like the trigger man in this case – walked into a Family Fitness Center in El Cajon, CA less than a mile away from me and killed four innocent people there before turning the gun on himself. Having just put El Cajon’s The Californian newspaper to bed, it was my job to stop the presses (yes, I yelled, “STOP THE PRESSES!”) and collaborate by phone with our reporter on scene and write a front-page article to be delivered only hours later.
Unfortunately, that was not similar to Gifford’s shooting in one way: Police and medical staff on the scene confirmed quickly that those who had lost their lives were dead instantly. Chaotic as the scene was, in a similar shopping center, it was cleared and roped off quickly. And there was no instant ongoing reporting other than radio and local television, neither of which were in a 24/7 news cycle then. The national news picked it up within hours, and I will never forget the relief in my sister Co’s voice when I answered her call to the newsroom from the East Coast to make sure I (and my future wife Sheila) were okay. She had been worried the killer had hit our gym not knowing which it was.
Old Vibe Spurs New Vibe for 2011
Two skaters in their own Winter Classic on Rush Lake Sunday. (c) Vince Kern 2011
The Universe smiled on me today even though the snow-less landscape outside my window belied how cold it was in my part of Earth.
You see, like you, I’ve spent a good amount of time lately recharging, pondering 2010 and thinking about spending more time doing things that are helpful and meaningful for me and others. And the fortuitous Friday celebration of both Christmas and New Year’s Day provided The Vinman with two solid long weekends to recharge, ponder 2010, plan and prepare for 2011.
On the way home from filling SheRock’s Explorer with gas, an old vibe provided the perfect moment for the new. It was at the same time unexpected, transitory, infinite, expected and perfectly symmetrical to my life and thoughts lately. And it all came merely because I was looking for a picture with an open mind.
An open mind that had passed up on two pictures I’ve planned to take for sometime because I only had my iPhone for a camera. The two shots I can get anytime deserve better. But open enough to see if the lake down the street from my house could give anything up.
The walk to the shore only made me wonder if one of my goals to take a picture a day (inspired by some creative colleagues) would only lead to contrived shots and glad I had been smart enough to wear my new flannel-lined jeans out of the house. The lighting was poor and my hands pained from the cold as I looked though the lens.
“Nothing, what can I do with this?” I thought as I panned to the southwestern vista of the surprisingly frozen lake after a few days of 50-degree temps. Should I sacrifice quality for a pic a day? Heck, anyone can do that. Maybe my muse was getting his ass kicked by a joy-shitting adversary?
And then I heard it. The sharp pitch of a steel edge cutting into a turn with a deepening bass tone as the blade digs deep. And “thwack!” a “clap” of the puck back on the ice and I turned to see the unmistakable silhouettes of, of, no I don’t know them…….Of me and my brother?
