December 23, 2005

December 23, 2005

Life is funny, you like to think that you know the times in your life that are important and you will remember them. My experiences have led me to believe that you don’t know the important moments in your life until they have passed. I didn’t realize it until much later that December 23, 2005 would be so important to me. December 23, 2005 was the last Christmas my parents were married to each other.

I know I am rolling a few days in with December 23, but you have to understand that my family does not know how to stay married and that has led me to having four different Christmases to attend. Quite often my normal holiday schedule will look like this:

– Aunt Janette’s (Dad’s aunt’s side) the weekend before or after Christmas

– Grandma Teri’s (Dad’s mother’s side) Christmas day around noon

– Grandma Vickie’s (Dad’s step mother’s side) Christmas day at six

– Grandma Vicki’s (Mom’s side) Christmas Eve at six

I was unaware at the time that my parent’s marriage was failing. They tried their best to keep me in the dark until I graduated from high school, six months later. I look back at Christmas 2005 and realize that was the last Christmas that I was a child. My parents divorce hit me really hard. Looking back, I realize they were too young to truly know who they were or what they wanted out of life.

When my parents were married, we were able to group a couple of family branches together and have a super Christmas with about 25 people. After the divorce, we went to the aforementioned schedule. That schedule is not only tiring, but also sucks the holiday spirit out of Christmas. I openly admit to people that I am not a religious person; the holidays to me are not about religion. The holidays are about getting together with your family and celebrating another year together. My holiday now is spent trying to figure out how to cram every Christmas together and how much longer I have before moving on to the next stop.

My parents divorce ultimately led to me the biggest lesson from parents, do not get married young, but I am haunted by my ghost from December 23, 2005. I am haunted by the feeling that I am not enjoying the holidays, that my family is getting older and I am staying the same age. I envy that boy from 2005. He did not not know a time when his parents were not together, a time when his family was not complete. He had not graduated college and realized there was more he should have done. He had not lost some of the family that he has wrote about. All that boy knew was high school was almost over and this would be the best Christmas so far. Unfortunately is was the best Christmas ever.

The real problem I have with the Phil Robertson/Duck Dynasty controversy

For the one person who hasn’t heard of Phil Robertson, “Duck Dynasty” and his recent comments towards gays and African Americans, but managed to stumble upon my blog, I present to you my understanding and personal thoughts on the issue.

My Facebook newsfeed, twitter account and the rest of the U.S. have been talking about tv personality, Phil Robertson, and his recent comments towards gays and African Americans. Robertson was recently interviewed for the upcoming January issue of GQ magazine. Robertson was confused by why a man would even consider relations with another man over a women.

“It seems like, to me, a vagina — as a man — would be more desirable than a man’s anus,” Robertson said. “That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”

Robertson also said that during his 67 years in Louisiana, he did not see any mistreatment of African Americans. He is quoted as saying he worked along side them hauling cotton and they were happy.

“Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues,” Robertson said.

I find Robertson’s remarks slightly offensive, but he is within his rights to speak freely. The network that “Duck Dynasty” is aired has the right to end their relationship with Robertson for his comments. But what I find most offensive is how the public is taking sides over something a “good ol’ country boy” said strictly because he is on the most watched show on television. The public, especially people my age (mid 20s), do not pay attention to the government when it is passing a law on gay rights, but because a pop culture star stated his thoughts on homosexuality, everyone is up in arms.

Firstly, how did everyone not expect Robertson to have this view? “Duck Dynasty” ends every episode with the family sitting down for dinner and their eldest son talking about a staged life lesson he learned. Robertson’s family speaks somewhat openly about their spiritual beliefs and we are shocked that he does not support gays?

Secondly, my generation is one of the least informed generations on politics and social issues, myself included. I am ashamed that we as Americans are more concerned about what a reality tv star has said than the issues behind his comments. We do not research topics that we have an opinion on, but stick to our opinions because they are “what is right.” The truly sad part about this whole situation is that in two months time, the public will have moved on to the new pop culture issue.

I said this on my Facebook yesterday and I will say it again in the future, if my friends, family and the public are going to have an opinion over something they truly are not informed about, don’t. Please, crawl back under the rock you came from.

Lastly, I laugh at Robertson’s comment that African American’s in Louisiana were not “singing the blues,” when two states over, Mississippi is the center of the blues.

How I Met Your Mother review

So a quick back track, my coworker Ray helped me get into HIMYM. I had been told for years that it was amazing, second coming of Friends, etc. but shrugged it off. I can be hard headed at times. I caught The Naked Man (Season 4, Episode 9) on tv twice in the same week and thought it was funny and I would give the show a try. I laughed and loved the first episode immediately from the Ghostbusters reference. My love of HIMYM has probably grown into an addiction because I have watched every season twice and just started it for a third time in just over a year.

Fast forward to now and Ray doesn’t like that he can’t remember all the details like I can so me, him and a few other friends are going to start the seasons over again. We are going to watch one episode a night every Sunday through Thursday and talk about it at work the next day. I figured that reviewing the episodes on this blog would be fun for me but also a good way to bone up on my writing since it’s been almost two years since I graduated college. To fellow fans of HIMYM or someone who hasn’t watched the show, I encourage you to watch the episodes with us. I would like it even more if people would post their thoughts on the episodes as well.

Thanks for reading,

Johnny Night

Introduction

Hello anyone who may be reading this, you can call me John or Johnny Night. I read online that having your own blog not only helps you organize your thoughts in a constructive manner, but can be a useful tool when applying for jobs in media so here I am. I graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2011. I never wanted to be a serious journalist before college, but came out thinking it would great to have my opinions/thoughts listened to and possibly even valued.

The following entries will more than likely be the cleaned up versions of my random daily thoughts/experiences. I would expect a lot of pop culture and music references/discussions. I currently post a song of the day and movie scene of the day on my twitter (@johnnynight24) almost every day, Monday through Friday. I will also be reviewing episodes of How I Met Your Mother, for more info on that please see my later blog titled HIMYM review.

Rock on,

Johnny Night