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Boomerang! BlogTuesday, February 17, 2009 Charging...  I took the battery for my Mac down to the “Genius Bar” the other day. Batteries aren’t included in extended care warranty. I think the powers-that-be assume something like 300 recharge cycles -- so I was expecting a brush off. Then, suddenly feeling like a genius myself, I quietly laid the battery out on the counter in front of salespeople and other customers. You see this particular battery may have depleted in energy, but it had kicked into an unusual growth spurt, bursting out of its container and looking downright ghastly. Too scary to look at (this is very much like too big to fail) “fat boy” was quickly disposed of and my Mac was vested with new life. But it’s those 300 recharge cycles I’m writing about. Just how many recharge cycles does the average human being have, do you think? I ask that after watching my home state of Illinois go through it’s quarterly corruption scandals, and learning that my adopted state of California, with the 8th largest economy in the world, would be in bankruptcy court if it could (but can’t). Given that hill to climb, I sometimes feel I’ve had my 300 cycles… that I’m “wore out” as it were. Then one of my kids will do something wonderful, or I’ll talk to someone on the phone about how their child can’t wait for the opening sound of the boomerang on their new issue, and, yup, you guessed it, the “depleted” battery magically – and against all laws of human nature -- recharges. I.F. “Izzy” Stone was a journalist in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, who went through far more than his guaranteed re-charge cycles. Hounded by extremists both on the left and the right, Stone fearlessly pursued the truth in very difficult times. The rise of Hitler-brand fascism, sent many people, including Stone, leftwards. Immediately after the war communism had replaced fascism as the new swear word. It is true that some Americans were slow in seeing Stalin’s brand of terror. Russia, after all, was an important ally to America during the second war. But the vicious red-baiting that ruined so many loyal Americans’ lives, was like a mad dog at Stone’s heels. At one point, unable to witness the carnage as friends and fellow journalists were attacked by no less than Edgar J. himself, Stone fled with his family to Paris. But it was those very friends that lured him right back again. He wasn’t going to allow his beloved America go down this path without contributing to their defense. And I’ll be doggoned if Izzy’s spit and vinegar didn’t charge me up all over again… Turning Points… coming up. posted by Boomerang! 12:13 PM 0 Comments   Monday, February 9, 2009 Cold out there, huh?  Yea, well, reminds me of the time one of my brothers did something pretty stupid. Well, actually, not pretty stupid... REALLY stupid... with tragic consequences. I was sniffling in my room and my Dad sat down next to me on my bed and said. "OK... you can still play basketball, right?" I said yea. "And you can still play the guitar?" I said yea, again. "And you can still write a pretty fair story, as I recall." I nodded. And he shrugged and went back downstairs. posted by Boomerang! 12:55 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Meanwhile... Back at the Ranch  Yes… there IS progress on the new issue. Our Turning Points Interview is with I.F. “Izzy” Stone, longtime journalist (since he was 13) and defender of those who could least defend themselves. We’ve got a Schmave story about an elderly gentlemen pulling out the stops to avoid a birthday party. Then Hayley & the King are working on a story about living “smaller”. Simultaneously, there are other things happening around here we need your help with. In the spirit of #44, we are looking to do what we do -- better. In that vein, we are meeting with 12 local subscribers to get their thoughts on a few things. If you want to be part of that, drop us an email: boomkids@sbcglobal.net. If you aren’t local, but want to be part of the feedback mechanism, we’d sure appreciate it, and we’ll think up something nice for your trouble. While I probably cant promise to helicopter in for your son or daughter’s birthday party, we WILL make it worth your while. Some of our focus is on the “watering holes” where you and other likely boomers gather that might be a good place to let people know about our stuff. Another focus is how we can build out our new “tribal” website to take our content into a new dimension for our audience. Finally, here is another snapshot of the BOOMERANG! spread taken by our 6-year-old chronicler. This was once our front door. Well I guess it still is. It just isn’t attached to our house anymore. But as it does still retain the height records of Hayley, Jessica Nat & Bo, we thought we better give it a spot in the woods. posted by Boomerang! 7:05 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Inaugural Day: Short Stories from the Center of a New World  A middle-aged Afro-American man leaning against an iron fence, looking downwards, American flag hanging limply from his hand, a now-drying tear stream etched into his cheeks... Malia & Sasha Obama unexpectedly jumping up with their father to take the oath of office... As the camera fans out over the National Mall, a sea of waving flags and hands stretching farther than the eye could see… An O-Ba-Ma chant starts up miles away from the inaugural stage -- with those without tickets, who perhaps worked the hardest to get there -- and, 90 seconds later, finally arrives at the $1,000 seats... Amidst all the hoopla, moving trucks parked at the back of the White House, one set of belongings coming in, one set leaving... Five thousand children gathered at the Harlem Armory in New York screaming -- as only kids can scream -- at the sight of a President whose skin color is the same as their own... John Lewis, a 69 year old Afro-American man, who on southern Freedom Rides was arrested 24 times and beaten severely, seated in front of the stage... Let’s pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. Hope is seeping under the door. posted by Boomerang! 10:30 AM 0 Comments
Monday, January 19, 2009 Coming soon… A Gathering of the Tribe   When I sat down 19 years ago to write brochure copy about this untested medium I had in mind, I wrestled with scores of ideas before coming up with the phrase: “Do you remember the sense of power that came in the mail with your secret decoder ring"? For me, that captured the promise of BOOMERANG!… the power, the excitement, the mystery. Since then, we’ve done pretty doggone well on the story part. But in my writerly focus on content over the years, I forgot the delicious decoder-ring component that accompanies tribal membership… the secret handshake, coded-message kind of stuff that makes being a kid worth the price of admission. I mention “tribe”, because before they are introduced to adulthood, kids have a common innocence, curiosity – and yes, fierceness. By dictionary definition, a tribe is “a society or division of a society whose members have common ancestry, customs, beliefs, and leadership.” Common ancestry? Sure. We all came from parents who love us, who commit outrageously courageous acts to preserve our well being, yet who are sometimes oblivious to those things that matter most. Common Customs? Talking into the night with friends, snow ice cream, reading a good book under the covers by flashlight, obsessing over our favorite music and/or sports team, shoving embarrassing stuff underneath our beds. Check. Common Beliefs? I think we can all safely say that no matter HOW much we like school, it lasts a little too long -- as does winter. For that matter so does time “inside”. Dessert should be served first at dinner; toys rule over clothes as birthday gifts. Check. Leader? Admittedly, #44 has a lot on his plate. So until he gets around to building chocolate factories in every community -- Mr. Willy Wonka That’s the dictionary stuff –and a little on the “light “ side. Like so many other concepts, a deeper, truer essence of “tribe” lies underneath… in murmurs, longings and imaginings that never quite make it beyond the subconscious: A sense of justice…. affinity with nature… a sense of optimism… unbridled curiosity. Lets face it BOOMERS: kids are a tribe. So we are going to develop one part of our site as a comfortable place for our tribe to gather. OK. So in terms of “gatherings” this is second best… to an oversized blue Bugatti convertible stopping by your house to ferry your kids to a weeklong convention of waterfights, campfires, bracelet-making and long, long hours of storytelling. We’ll keep that for the third act. What we have in mind for now is a Secret Website Portal that will transport your kids to a place where they can take BOOMERANG! stories to the next dimension: Photos of our Turning Points subjects; snapshots gathered from Toby’s American Journeys with Gramps; a video tour of Tucker Jones official treehouse office and pics from BOOMERANG! studios. That’s what we’ll provide. But we also need pictures, letters, poems and photographs from members of the tribe. About what BOOMERANG! stories mean to you… how ideas in BOOMERANG! have shown up in your own house… about where we should take this from here. I’m writing a cool story at the moment about living with less. Before I get back to that, I want to offer you the first of many glimpses into life here at the BOOMERANG! spread. The teepee was erected by Natalie. Bo (self-portrait) is the photographer. posted by Boomerang! 9:54 AM 0 Comments
Saturday, January 17, 2009 Barack, Flight 1549 and Us So... where do I start? A beginning is always a good place to start. But lets face it. All the exposition that goes on in the first act is a little tedious. It’s much more exciting to parachute into the second act where “precarious” is the state of being. So let's do that. The second act opens aboard a plane floating – for the moment -- on the Hudson River… in the mind of a young, relatively inexperienced man tightening his tie in the mirror as he prepares to take over as President of a massive, deeply scarred country… at a table where a creative sort of fella with nary a marketing bone in his body, plans resurrection of an intrepid children’s media company with a new business partner. Landing an Airbus in a river is not an easy thing to do. The bummer is AFTER managing somehow to do this, you recognize you are now packed into a vessel that is meant to fly --not float. Oh, and that water seeping into the cabin? It’s icy cold. If you can read the account of one guy picking up a hysterical mother AND baby in a bear hug and muscling them out of the plane, without leaking around the eyes, you are a stronger man person than I. And then there’s Mr Obama. Twenty-six months of endless speeches and airports have earned him the right to take over a bankrupt nation pilloried into a wretched form of submission. The connection between Flight 1549 and Mr Obama is profound. Stimulus and bailout packages? Right… The only thing that is going to save this planet is a calm, cool voice over the loudspeaker. “Folks, this is your captain speaking. We can get everyone off this plane and into a nice warm blanket. But it’s going to be hard work. I'm going to ask everyone to work together and take care of that person sitting next to you. You know that instruction manual in the seatback in front of you? The one you never bothered to read? The one talking about rights? And responsibilities? And freedoms? I need you to look through that with your kids. I can’t tell you how important this is because, along with the parental instincts I know you all have, this manual contains most of the information you need to know. Oh... and I want you to know that my pals and I are going to treat that manual like it means something. You can count on that from US. And I need to count on that with you. Finally, folks – yes I know there is water seeping into this ship, but don’t be scared now -- I simply need you to step up and act like the person you always wanted to be.” This almost feels like enough for today -- having written the 44th President’s inaugural speech. But one more thing. I’m proud of the audio content we have been producing for 18 years. And that is going to keep on keeping on. But, in addition, we’re going to get some grown-up help in creating a website that performs two functions: 1) Gives you, the parent, a simple and concise guide to the many different issues, individual stories and formats from which you have to choose 2) Provide another side of the site just for our Tribe: with pictures and illustrations of our content… drawings and letters from our listeners about BOOMERANG! stories… a tour of Tucker Jones’s office. AND, in my very next post, I shall begin sharing with you a photo of BOOMERANG! studios. (BTW, this feature will be featured on the Tribe portal of the site as I suspect it takes a 10-year-old to appreciate my special gift for filing…) Thanks guys. Tell a friend. Keep the faith -- we're all going to make it off the plane and into a warm blanket. Dave posted by Boomerang! 9:16 AM 1 Comments
Saturday, November 8, 2008 Direction Forward Along with the money piece and a cool Tucker Jones mystery, our upcoming issue features an incredible "interview" with Richard Feynman, widely considered one of the most creative "scientific thinkers" since Einstein. Feynman is a brilliant scientist. But it is his ability to communicate hugely complex topics to we creatures scientifically disinclined, that is a joy to behold . The quotation below demonstrates his grand perspective reaches far beyond physics. At its most basic, the quotation is a magniificent capture of what it means to be a successful student. On a larger scale, it is the climate we anxiously anticipate in this bold, new world. "You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office. You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself — it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naïve ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are." -- Richard Feynman posted by Boomerang! 9:42 AM 0 Comments
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 It's a New Dawn For almost a decade we've resisted. We've resisted efforts to reverse environmental safeguards. We've resisted incursions around the world based on economic interests. We've resisted torture. We've resisted efforts to frame all of life, from one hollow emotion: Fear. We've resisted unimaginable waves of greed. We've resisted spending priorities that funnel billions and billions of dollars to defense contractors while leaving it to local PTA's to keep school toilets from overflowing. Now it's time for the energy flow to reverse. To rebuild. To reach out. To sacrifice for for common rewards. I'm ready. posted by Boomerang! 8:20 AM 0 Comments
Thursday, September 25, 2008 Lot's of explaining to do... I've been spending hours talking with 12-year old Natalie about the financial meltdown, while simultaneously writing a story on regulation. Last night the President of the United States went on television to let us know that well, maybe the fundamentals of our economy aren't doing so hot after all. The Presidents speech was preceded by comments from a VP candidate saying, unless we act quickly, we may be headed towards a second Great Depression. The stock market? As I write this, at 10 am Pacific, Sept 25th 2008, the Dow Jones is up 250 points for the day. BOOMERS I've written this next line differently 8 times... failing each time to construct a cohesive follow-up. So let's try: "How do you like THEM apples?" posted by Boomerang! 10:01 AM 1 Comments
Monday, September 15, 2008 Regulation Anyone? I guess this is a good a day as any to write a story about regulating stuff... whether it's hurtful things that are said about others, pollution -- or financial institutions. The last 25 years has brought about a dramatic pullback from "regulation". The rationale? Individuals and institutions are self-regulating. Well, in a perfect world maybe. But not in this one. History has seen extremes to both sides of this concept. A good case could be made that we're in one right now. That's one Big Idea coming up! posted by Boomerang! 8:06 AM 0 Comments
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