December 15, 2014
CHAMPION—December 15, 2014
Sunday was semi-sunny and two hours of vitamin D straight from the source has lifted the spirit of one old Champion who feels cheated when the moon is out and she cannot see it for the clouds. Knowing that the sun is gleaming and beaming on the other side of the hazes does not warm or comfort her. The Geminid Meteor Shower peaked behind a dense fog with embers from the ‘rock comet’ streaking through the heavens fit to awe if they could have been seen. (The three mile long chunk of rock called ‘3200 Phaethon’ was only discovered in 1983, so its comet tail has been unappreciated before.) Maybe next year the skies will be clear. For now, it looks as if Champions will trade the gloom for the cold. Champions will not complain. Winter will officially arrive next Sunday on the Brrrrrright Side!
Skyline’s teacher Lannie Hinote says, “Big congratulations to the Skyline Archery Team for placing 3rd in the Middle School division at the Crane Archery Tournament. To Cheyenne Baker for placing 3rd in elementary, Morgan Whitacre placed 6th in middle school female division and Gavin Sartor placed 6th in middle school male division, Levi Hicks placed 7th in elementary and Dylan Ford placed 10th. Crane is one of our most challenging tournaments.“ The skills these young people are developing in this fine archery program are skills that they will be able to cultivate for their lifetimes. They will be able to provide meat for their tables or compete in the Olympics. Girls and boys can compete and not really run the risk of blowing out their knees—an all-around good sport. Skyline students celebrating birthdays this month include second grader Destiny Surface whose birthday is on the 20th, and Logan Brown, seventh grader, on the 21st. Yea! Birthdays!
Shannon Alexander and Spike Jones share the 14th of December as their birthday. They were born in different years but they have a lot in common. Multitalented, zany, creative, productive (good looking) men with great smiles and big hearts are treasures in a hum-drum world. Spike Jones and the City Slickers brought a light hearted approach to ‘serious’ music and gave America some hearty laughs back in the 40s and 50s when they were much needed. Shannon just makes a person smile. Then he takes a picture. He takes lots of pictures from which emerge the portraits that are destined to be the real family heirlooms. It takes a special eye to see the way he does. K and Zack look at him kind of funny sometimes. Judy Gale Ing was another jewel in the world that came to light on December 14th. It was said of her, “Judy lived like all should live, free spirited and wild at heart.” “Judy was everything that I perceive as being right with life. She was more than a sister to me. She was a life mentor and I think of her often,” said Daniel Ing, a sentiment echoed by her bereft Champion Comadre. Jesse and Sarah Ing journeyed up to Champion from Texas with their mother on many occasions. They jumped off the big rock at the Mill Pond, and splashed in the Bryant and Hunter Creek. They scampered up and down the hills ferociously with their friends doing all the wild, country kid things, being rowdy and getting muddy and eating watermelon with the juice making stripes down their dirty bellies. Judy and Sarah are off dazzling the heavens together and Jesse is having his birthday on December 16th. He’s a big time Hollywood guy now, but he and his mother and sister occupy a big chunk of some Champion hearts. Amanda Masten has the 16th as her birthday as well. She has had an exciting life that started out over by Ava. She jumped off that big rock at the Mill Pond as she was growing up and now watches her own children jump off of it. Well, Olivia jumps off of it when she is not catching the biggest crawdads you ever saw, and Leo will be big enough to jump off of it in a year or so. Rita Silverberg is having her birthday on the 17th. She is reaching the same ripe age as a number of substantial ladies in this area. Many were the happy hours she shared with friends here while their children were young. Now her Joby Dorr is off in the wilds of the Pacific North West living an adventurous life, and Rita is in Tucson, Arizona making it a more lovely place. Ben Cohen will have the charming Ilene sing that birthday song to him on the 22nd. Together they do a Spike Jones like acapella bagpipe rendition of ….one cannot remember the song for the hilarity of it. They are teachers and students and excellent examples of a perfect fit. Happy birthday to you Champions–every one!
Among the emails in the champion@championnews.us mail box is another from Ms. Anne Thrope. She says, “OK, you’re enjoying ‘low’ gas prices now, but think about it. Do take advantage of two dollar gas, but don’t figure that you’re getting a bargain. You’re going to pay for it sooner or later at whatever price they stick you with and there won’t be anything you can do about it. You can fairly well figure it is just a manipulative, nasty ploy by Oli Garkey and his oil producing companies to assert: # 1. That on account of ‘fracking’ we’ve got just way lots of oil. #2. Gas prices being down, no use investing in any of that funky alternative energy like ‘solar’ and ‘wind. #3. Don’t bother buying a car designed to get good gas mileage. #4. Figure that oil is good, hence Keystone is good (or will be when they jack the prices back up). #5. Some say Saudi Arabia is doing this to drive small American producers out of business, but they (Saudi Arabia, British Petroleum, Shell, hell, all of them) are in cahoots. For a while it looked like the lower cost of oil was a manipulation to punish Vladimir Putin for his intrusion into Ukraine and a way to punish ISIS for their million-dollar-a-day oil habit, stealing out of wells in war torn areas to finance their heinous nastiness. Shoot! If we can have two dollar gas to punish Putin & ISIS, how come we can’t have two dollar gas to benefit hard working Americans? I’m just saying that things are rarely what they seem, so enjoy it while you can and don’t be surprised when it changes in ways we cannot imagine now.” Other emails in the box say things like, “Thanks for all the good news from Champion! You folks sure have a lot going on. You make everyone want to be a Champion.”
Imagine, if you can, The General, in his alter ego, holding hands with Dorothy and skipping down the Yellow Brick Road with the gang headed off to Oz, or ‘himself’ standing at the helm of Aladdin’s magic carpet, wind in his face. That kind of thing is what he has been up to this week according to Ms. Coolforests. His whole existence has become like a dream. ‘Euneirophrenia’ is a noun that represents the peace of mind that comes from having pleasant dreams. Though it takes some time to figure out the pronunciation (you-knee-row-frenia), it will be a handy word to use in a sentence around the old wood stove at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium. Come and join the holiday fun over on the North Side of the Square on the wooly, wide and wild banks of Old Fox Creek. Sing, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. Where the tree tops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow.” Then you can say, “We sure do have a lot of nice euneirophrenia in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!”
