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Several of you may know that Jason was about to publish his first book, a collection of his favorite "Moments With Joey" (some stories shared previously on this blog, as well as several new segments) around the time of his death. Its taken quite some time, but I finally felt ready to revisit this project, as well as a few others he had been working on.
It is bittersweet to see this come to being and not have him here to see his joy from all that hard work finally coming to pass.
Can I just imagine this moment for a minute? (Yeah, I know, my Photoshop skills suck, but just roll with it people!)
Jason had a way with words that could capture a moment and infuse it with childlike wonder and delight so real that you could reach out and touch it. As such, I feel it is all the (to quote Jason) "more better" to now be able hold a little piece of that magic in our own hands.
Any proceeds that come from the sale of "Moments With Joey" will go into publishing other books he has worked on, including one some of his old students are well familiar with, "Take The Long Way Home". As planned, "Take The Long Way Home" and "My Brother Ryan" will both be published in 2019. Several children's picture books are planned as well. More on that to come.
With the purchase of the paperback, you will receive a deal to also purchase the eBook version at a discounted rate, perfect for giving or keeping for yourself. The Kindle version is also available to read for free as part of the Kindle Unlimited library (just in case you happen to be a member).
You can find "Moments With Joey" currently on Amazon, or just click the link above. Feel free to comment with some of your favorite Joey moments, or memories of Jason below, as we would love to read them.
Lastly, I get asked about the Joey Dosent Lyke Kittys shirt that Jason used to offer (drawn by his ever-talented sister, Miya Edwards). Yes, the shirts are now available again. Click the link above to be taken to Red Bubble's website where you will find the design available on a variety of shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers and more. As Jason would say, it is all just pure awesomesauce.
I wish you all the best for this holiday season, and joy in the new year to come.
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I am curious…have you ever heard this name before?
If you haven’t, you’re probably envisioning a type of moss seed or fertilizer; however, I can assure you that he is neither of the two.
Bill Peet is an author…one I highly recommend. He is a wonderful writer/illustrator who worked for Disney Studios for 27 years. Yet, this is not the reason I would urge you to check out his work; it’s because I love his books. He has wonderful stories which are easy to connect to, and lessons which can simply be taught through the medium of his tales.
In a word—his books are brilliant.
I recently assigned my class to create a mini-book based on the American Hero they selected a few weeks ago. I thought it would be nice for them to have an example which they could look at when it came time to make their own booklet. I started this project at 4:30 this afternoon and I just finished. Granted, I didn’t draw any of the illustrations, these came from his autobiography (which, by the way, is incredible). But it still took a while to put together.
So, for this post I thought I’d share a few screen captures of the mini-book I plan to share with my class tomorrow.
Just know…I know that this isn’t ‘amazing’ material, it’s more to simply share with you the great author which I have come to love.
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The bowl sat before me, filled with gold and silver.
It wasn’t long before I found myself reaching out, taking one of the golden nuggets into my fingers and examining it carefully. I slowly tore back the golden foil, the other side reflected silver glints of light; the modest, little, auburn piece emerged, like a butterfly from a cocoon.
The ridged edges, reminiscent of the crown of a great king, were fully exposed as the inner silvery foiling fell away, like locks of tinsel.
I held this little treasure in my fingertips as the rich, chocolately smell began to permeate the air and waft towards my nostrils.
As I pulled the waxy paper from the valleys of chocolate, it came away with little fits of resistance. In a few places, the chocolate clung to the paper and remnants of peanut butter were left behind, as if it were a fruit which was not quite ripened yet.
This little coffee-tinted delight began to melt in my fingers.
I popped it into my mouth.
I could feel the rough ridges, but only for a moment as they dissolved into a downy puddle, and the peanut butter mass—whose texture was grainy—felt wonderfully rich coating my tongue.
The twisted and discarded wrapper was left behind, a leftover to a pleasure I must enjoy only every once and again.
Ah, the simplicity of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
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I’ve had several instances where people have sent me the “list these things about yourself” challenges, and while these may be fun at times, I find that they are not really my style…as Jaylee would say, “not my usual blog fodder.”
She is so right.
However, I was listening to a Howard Jones song the other day…perhaps you’ve heard of it. I love this song. Have for years; one of my favorites by him. So I figured that I would like to let you get to know me a little bit more well…but only through Howard.
Good old Howard…
Like to get to know you well… Really?
Like to get to know you well… Are you sure?
Like to get to know you well… Why?
So we can be one, we can be one together… Well, I guess that works for me. I mean, if you’re really serious about it…
Together we can cast away the fear… Fears? Well, I will admit that I am afraid of heights…however, when I stand at the brink of a canyon in the desert, I will not hide the fact that I would love to leap off of the edge and have the winds catch me, lifting me to new vistas. Flying would be the ultimate thrill. I would like to one day skydive—probably the closest I’ll ever come to truly flying…or rather, falling with style. I’d probably have a heart attack when I leapt from the plane, but such are the chances one takes when living life.
Together we can wipe away the tear… The last time I cried—I mean really cried—was when I was asked by a friend of mine to do a photo shoot of a family. I learned that the youngest boy in the family—who was only about 3—had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. About a week after I took their family photos, he died.
Together we can strip down the barriers and be one… Well, I will have to be honest and admit that I’m not ready to take down all of the barriers quite yet. I mean, I don’t really know you all that well, and would you want all of those protective barriers gone?
Me neither.
Don’t want to talk about the weather… I know that the weather is a topic we all discuss when there’s nothing else, and the conversation is going nowhere, but I’ll be honest, I really am longing for snow…but only for a week or so, then we can go back to good old summer again. Actually, another few months of autumn would have suited me just fine.
Don’t want to talk about the news… Most days, I’m pretty far behind the news. I don’t usually watch TV other than a few episodes of this or that which have been released on DVD. There’s a big difference between what you see with and without commercials, you know? I usually find out the news from the people around me…kind of sad when you find out about the recession from a fifth grader…
Just want to get to the real you inside… The real me inside? Hmmm…now that’s a spooky place. You might just not like what you’ll find in there; after all, locks are put on doors for reasons.
Don’t you think now is the time, we should be feeling? Right now I’m feeling pretty well…a bit tired, but nonetheless well. I do like my job, my current ‘status’ in life, and with Christmas around the corner, it’s kind of difficult to feel cheerless. I do have to admit that “Deep Inside of Me” by Jericho Road always gets me feeling something as does “Little Wonders” by Rob Thomas.
Just want to simply say, won’t let you slip away… Yes, now there is a word of thanks which needs to be spoken aloud…thanks for returning to my blog day after day—I’ll be honest, I love to read over your comments; and whilst I know that there remains many a lurker out there who chooses not to make themselves known, I appreciate your coming back from time to time. It makes me believe that I have something worthwhile to say every now and again…that, or you’re really bored and in desperate need of reading material. But whatever the reason, thanks for many a return.
People want to talk about the future… I am not sure where my future will take me. There are so many possibilities out there. I’d be comfortable in saying that I’m not quite ready to move schools again…and I absolutely love my house so that is out of the option world for just a bit longer. I think I’ll just plan on making it to Christmas break, and then see what direction the wind is blowing from there.
Don’t want to linger on the past… There is a bit too much in the past to talk about, however, I will blog about some of the better stuff from time to time. My dad would call them, “Rocking chair memories.” Aptly named, wouldn’t you say?
Just want to reach to the real you inside… Didn’t we talk about what a scary place this is already?
Forget cold glances and rejections… While I’ve gotten better at this, I still allow them to bother me from time to time…why? Not sure, really. Probably just because there’s something about feeling low sometimes which appeals to that dark side in each of us…those days when we just don’t get dressed, walk around in pajamas, and eat five bowls of cold cereal just because we don’t really care.
Leave the things that separate… These are various and sundry items, to be sure which do this. Far too many to mention in a blog post which is not all on its own.
Build on a trust that we can stand on… I usually find that when I trust someone, I really trust them unless they destroy it. Unfortunately, this has happened more times than I’d like to mention…good thing for cold cereal and pajamas.
Finding all are insecure… I have noticed that many people I encounter from day to day are pretty insecure about this, that, or the other. I’m amazed just how often we can ‘fake it’ and appear that this is not the case at all. We are truly master performers.
Opening the same door… I do tend to make the same mistakes more than once. Chalk that one up to human nature…or stupidity…whichever is more convenient or believable.
Leaving out a stubborn pride… Ah, that stubborn pride issue.
Seeing from another side… I love the song, “This Side” by Nickel Creek. It’s all about the foreignness of being in one place and not the other. There are times when I am in the other place because it’s where I belong. To quote Nickel Creek:
“You dream of colors that have never been made, You imagine songs that have never been played. They will try to buy you and your mind. Only the curious have something to find.”
Sometimes the other side is where find I need to be.
Well, that’s it for this post. While some may argue that they really didn’t get to know me all that well, just remember, “No One is to Blame.”
Pin ItI want to talk about a friend of mine, the kind of person that comes around once in a lifetime. A person who is constantly giving to others and never takes the bows or accolades for what she does. When I started teaching for the ProvoSchool District in 2000, I met Melanie. At this time she was the Art teacher at Sunset View. However, I soon discovered that she was much more than that. Over the years we’ve worked together I’ve seen a woman who is nothing short of incredible.
Melanie’s youngest son was in my class my first year and it didn’t take long before she was volunteering in my classroom whenever she wasn’t teaching a class of her own. She was willing to help edit students’ writing, tutor them in Reading and Math, and would also spend countless hours helping students after school with the presentations they were required to put together. I can remember one such occasion with a boy whom I’ll call “Joey.”
Joey’s parents were uninvolved with him, and they would never help him with his homework. Melanie stayed after school and helped this boy research rockets, organize his information, write a report, make cue cards, build a model of the rocket, and put together a poster for his presentation. In order to help his parents feel “involved” Melanie sent home the pieces for the poster so his parents could help him glue them to the poster board (which, consequently, they didn’t do…Melanie helped him glue them the morning of his presentation). At Joey’s presentation the next day another parent had commented on the quality of his report. I listened to Joey’s mom who carried on talking about how hard they’d worked on it. Melanie was there but simply smiled and didn’t say a thing about the hours she’d worked with Joey, not his mother. This is how Melanie Bliss is, quietly working in the background and never saying a thing, never taking credit, yet always giving. The spotlight is not where she wants to be…she just wants to help kids.
These items, however, are just the tip of the iceberg.
Melanie Bliss took over the after-school program for Sunset View in 2000. During that time she started to write grants for funding for the program she named, “DragonQuest.” This was an after-school (as well as an off-track) program for students at our low-income school to get homework help, tutoring, and where fun classes were offered they could take part in--opportunities many of these kids would never get. She started off with a musical production of Tom Sawyer. It was this which led to a musical every year thereafter.
I watched as Melanie rewrote portions of the plays to make them better for elementary-aged students, write new songs for the productions to upbeat, popular tunes, and spend countless hours designing sets and costumes as well as working with the kids. In essence, Melanie Bliss was the after school program. However, she did all of this quietly and never drew attention to herself. She would always focus the spotlight on the kids she loved so much, never on herself.
During ensuing years, Melanie directed 7 more plays, all of which required hundreds of hours to prepare. Many of these hours Melanie worked without pay. For the last three productions, Melanie started something called, “Stories on Stage” where the kids wrote stories, turned them in, and Melanie would rewrite these stories into a play format. The students at Sunset View would then perform these short plays for parents and students alike. Once again, though Melanie would spend at least a hundred hours of personal time creating sets, designing and making costumes, writing the scripts, and working with the kids, many of these were unpaid and unknown to the patrons and employees of the school.
In 2004, Melanie became involved with Provo High’s Ballroom Program. She has worked in fundraising for the kids in that program ever since that time. Melanie has helped put together activities, organized their schedules, taken over the BYU football game concessions so the kids could raise funds for their competitions, gone as support to competitions, and helped in the organization of “Dancing with the Athletes.” All this she has done from the wings, never stepping center stage to take any of the bows she most certainly deserves.
Three years ago, Melanie started a program at Sunset View called, “Swing Pups.” This is a program for elementary-aged students to be taught swing dances by the students of Provo High. When Melanie took another job in the district with more hours - as well as starting her college degree - she kept a hand in Swing Pups. Because of scheduling conflicts at the school, Melanie has since moved the practices for this program to Provo High, and to make sure that the kids can still make it the distance, has set up a carpool between parents to ensure that every child that would like to attend has a way to get there.
I was having lunch with Melanie one day and I asked her why she spent all of this time on activities when her own, personal time was so limited as it was. In essence, this is what Melanie told me:
“When I was a kid my parents would never take me to any extracurricular activities—dance lessons, plays, nothing. It just wasn’t a priority to them, as a result, I didn’t get to do a whole lot. There are kids here at Sunset View who have the same problem I did…their parents won’t drive them to Provo Center Street Theatre or up to the Hale Theatre to try out for a production. However, if I bring these and other programs to the children—at their school—it’s close enough for them to walk. They’ll get the chance to do these things they may not have otherwise been able to do. That’s why I do it; I do it so the kids can be exposed to the arts and have experiences they may not have otherwise had the opportunities to take part in.”
I could go on for pages and pages about Melanie Bliss, and I haven’t even begun to touch on some of the things she has done for countless others. However, just know that Melanie has made a larger impact on students than any certified “teacher” I have ever seen in my life. I have never seen a greater commitment to children, or someone who has given up more of their own, personal time for the students they love.
Why am I writing this? You might ask. The answer is simple enough, I just wanted everyone to know what I know about a very special woman who would never tell anyone about these things herself (and who will kill me if she ever finds out I did this). A person I respect, a woman I admire, my hero, my friend.
If you're interested, here is a short documentary of sorts I put together about the after-school drama program:
Two of my favorite plays from the third year of Stories on Stage:
