I haven’t blogged for a while. I apologize. Today something struck me so strongly I just had to write. There was a supplement in the Denver Post called “Super Lawyers.” In it there were pictures of some of Denver’s most powerful lawyers and law firms. I couldn’t help but notice that in the featured firms there were no lawyers of color. Where are the African Americans? The Hispanics? With so many minorities working their way through our legal system shouldn’t there be minority lawyers too? There was a cover photo and feature about an Asian lawyer named Kenzo Kawanabe but that was the only minority person I saw. Then I looked at the New York Times wedding announcements (the women’s sports section) and the couples were so diverse. They were Interracial, gay, immigrants, seniors and it seemed like a much better reflection of the country we have become. Just saying.
The Chinese Scam I Almost Fell For
It’s amazing the lengths people will go to to rip others off. I recently was contacted by a Mr. Dehua from Henan Yu Xin International Co. Ltd. in Zhengzhou, China. He emailed to say that his company was making a 20 episode series of 25 minute documentaries in HD for television broadcast. The intention was to enlighten the Chinese audience about America’s history, economy, culture and tourism. At first I was a bit skeptical. How did he find me? Was it because I did a documentary length piece on Chinese influence in the Caribbean for Dan Rather Reports? Was it because I spent three months in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics? Did I impress someone along the way who referred me? I emailed him back. He followed up with the project information. It was in detail and he clearly understood the logistics of production. He also informed me that they would pay $50,000 to $60,000 US per episode. The project was a dream come true with a budget that would allow us to produce excellent television. It kept me up at night thinking of ideas that I would bring to the Chinese and people I would collaborate with. I worked out a production schedule and sent him off my ideas. He said “I am so happy that we have a so good beginning.” Today as I was looking for more information I came across this warning from a production company in Munich, Germany.
http://www.filmingholidays.com/2012/07/18/beware-b2b-scam-from-china/
Thanks to the internet and the experience of the production company in Munich I was saved from going any further down this scheming road. I am now posting this as a cautionary tale to warn fellow producers and production companies. The scam which first swept through Germany and Italy and other European countries has now reached American shores. I guess if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
For more information on Vicky Collins visit Teletrends Television Production and Development.
Guns In My Backyard
The other night while having dinner on our deck on a warm summer evening we heard automatic weapons fire. We live in the suburbs of Denver, about a mile as the crow flies from the Family Shooting Center in Cherry Creek State Park. We often hear the peppering of gunfire as people shoot and train with handguns and rifles. It is background noise for us, just like the planes flying over our house as they line up to land at nearby Centennial Airport. But this night was different. It sounded like we were on the front lines in Syria or Afghanistan. The shooting went on forever. Non-stop uninterrupted automatic weapons fire. I called the Sheriff’s office and they said they were getting numerous complaints. Then I called and left a message at the range, saying they were being insensitive and not being good neighbors, especially in light of the recent Aurora shooting which left so many people dead, injured and on edge.
Much to my surprise, the next evening, the proprietor of Family Shooting Center, Doug Hamilton, called me. He was very earnest and apologetic that we were disturbed. He was certain it was an unusual confluence of atmospheric conditions that carried the sound all the way to us. He told me they were having a special demonstration event for the staff that they do once a year. He said he was calling back everyone who left a number and wanted to assure me that they were good neighbors. He even told me about sound buffers they were installing. We had a good dialogue, but when I suggested to him that perhaps they do not need to fire off automatic weapons at the range, or if it was essential to have this event annually, perhaps his staff could take a field trip to the country, he went silent. He listened politely to my feelings but when we hung up I wasn’t sure he really heard them.
And therein lies the disconnect. I will be candid. I am not a gun person but in recent years my stance has softened dramatically. My car dealer has his concealed carry permit. My son’s best friend hunts. I visited the Tanner Gun Show and understood why some women felt they needed to have a handgun. I get that people want guns for recreation and protection. I have learned to respect their rights. I believe I am being very reasonable. But I cannot understand why we need to have automatic weapons in my neighborhood or in any neighborhood for that matter. When I posted my story on Facebook the jaws of my friends in Canada and Australia dropped. They couldn’t get their heads around an evening in the suburbs listening to automatic weapons fire or even the irony of a place called Family Shooting Center. They have such a different world view from ours.
Not long ago in another direction a mile away from my house a new business opened. It is a gun store, with a built in range, and the owners intend to turn the empty lot across the way into a gun club. Right across the street from my Starbucks and Einstein’s in an upscale suburb of Denver there is now a gun store. I must confess when I first saw it I had a visceral reaction. Not in my back yard. But I’ve accepted it. The only thing I wish is that since we are sharing common ground, perhaps we can reach some common ground. Can’t we all at least agree that there is no reason to have automatic weapons around here? What good comes from them except to kill people? Can’t we just leave them to those who fight wars? It seems like such an easy compromise to make and one that many reasonable people are calling for. It seems like our country and our communities would be so much safer. It would certainly keep me from losing my appetite during warm summer evening barbeques on my deck in Colorado.
For more information on Vicky Collins visit Teletrends Television Production and Development.
On Father’s Day: A Gift from the Grave
My father, Ed Collins, died when my son, Kyle, was just one year old. Perhaps he knew his time was short because on April 28, 1994, less than three months after Kyle was born, he wrote him this letter. On the envelope it said “To Kyle on his 18th birthday.” We gave it to Kyle this past February. We had waited for years to see this treasure and hear my father’s voice again. I’ve transcribed the letter here in my father’s words, as he wrote it down.
A LETTER TO MY ONLY GRANDSON
Before you read and understand this letter, I may no longer be here. I just want you to know, it was the best day of my life when you were born. The 4th of February will always be a holiday. I will celebrate it as long as I live. I remember February 2nd, when my brother was born, and February 15 when my father was born in 1878.
I doubt if you will ever comprehend what time it was. No electricity, radio, T.V. or computers. Those things are taken now so much for granted, yet 125 years ago people went to bed when it got dark, the rooster was the alarm clock and at 5 o’clock in the morning people got up to eat breakfast made from oats, Oatmeal. They took a horse drawn street car, or in winter a sleigh to go to work.
I was born in 1922. Things were already much better by then. In some homes there was electricity. Mother made breakfast on a stove burning coal. In winter 25 below 0 was a normal winter day in far away Poland where I lived.
Maybe someday you will look at a map of the world to discover to your amazement that you have some kinship in cities like Tarnow and Krakow, and maybe when you travel through Europe, you will stop in those cities. They meant a lot to me. I was a very sentimental Polack. I also made a good American.
You will travel a different road in your life. Your father and mother will show you the modern way of life that befits the end of the 20th-21st century. I envy you. It will be a time full of exciting inventions to make life easier for people to live. It will be a life full of temptations to take the most comfortable road to success.
Take a little advice from a man that passed this way. You will never know, nor will you understand life and compassion if you take the easiest road in life. To understand life a man has to take some bumps and climb some fences. Stop, smell the flowers, live each day, as if it was your last. Don’t wait for thanks and appreciation from others, just do things the best and most humane way, you will never go wrong.
Just ask yourself, is it the truth, is it fair? Will it build goodwill and better friendship, will it be beneficial to all concerned. If you take this road, you might not always win, but you will never lose, while climbing the road, the steep mountain that blocks your way, on the way to becoming a man. Love, Ed Collins, Your Grandfather.
For more on Vicky Collins visit her website at Teletrends Television Production and Development.
I Support Kony2012
Joseph Kony is infamous for his atrocities and crimes against humanity in Uganda and neighboring countries and now the group Invisible Children is trying to make him famous. Kony is one of the most sought after war criminals and the hope is by bringing attention to him the whole world will engage and finally hunt him down and let justice be served. His Kony’s Lords Resistance Army brutalized the people of Northern Uganda for 25 years, abducting children and turning them into child soldiers and sex slaves. An entire region and generation were brutalized and broken. Now Kony has fled from Uganda and has escaped into the Congo. He continues his senseless killing and the U.S. has even sent troops to help Uganda’s military track him down. A couple of years ago we met some of the child soldiers who had escaped and were being prepared to return home at Worldvision’s Children of War Rehabilitation Center in Gulu, Uganda. Their stories are painful but they are also hopeful. Here is the video we produced for HDNet World Report:
For more information on Vicky Collins visit Teletrends Television Production and Development.
How Hunter S. Thompson Looked for a Job
There was never a dull moment with Hunter S. Thompson. He wrote this cover letter in 1958. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times shared it today with his Facebook fans and remarked that it was the best job application letter he ever read. It also appeared in the Fear and Loathing Letters Vol. 1. We miss Hunter S. Thompson in Colorado. When he died it kind of took the high out of our high country. Don’t think his chutzpah led to a job with The Sun though.
Vancouver Sun
TO JACK SCOTT, VANCOUVER SUN
October 1, 1958 57 Perry Street New York City
Sir,
I got a hell of a kick reading the piece Time magazine did this week on The Sun. In addition to wishing you the best of luck, I’d also like to offer my services.
Since I haven’t seen a copy of the “new” Sun yet, I’ll have to make this a tentative offer. I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a job with a paper I didn’t know anything about (see enclosed clippings) and I’m not quite ready to go charging up another blind alley.
By the time you get this letter, I’ll have gotten hold of some of the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I’ll let my offer stand. And don’t think that my arrogance is unintentional: it’s just that I’d rather offend you now than after I started working for you.
I didn’t make myself clear to the last man I worked for until after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him, he’d tell you that I’m “not very likable, (that I) hate people, (that I) just want to be left alone, and (that I) feel too superior to mingle with the average person.” (That’s a direct quote from a memo he sent to the publisher.)
Nothing beats having good references.
Of course if you asked some of the other people I’ve worked for, you’d get a different set of answers.If you’re interested enough to answer this letter, I’ll be glad to furnish you with a list of references — including the lad I work for now.
The enclosed clippings should give you a rough idea of who I am. It’s a year old, however, and I’ve changed a bit since it was written. I’ve taken some writing courses from Columbia in my spare time, learned a hell of a lot about the newspaper business, and developed a healthy contempt for journalism as a profession.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you’re trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I’d like to work for you.
Most of my experience has been in sports writing, but I can write everything from warmongering propaganda to learned book reviews.
I can work 25 hours a day if necessary, live on any reasonable salary, and don’t give a black damn for job security, office politics, or adverse public relations.
I would rather be on the dole than work for a paper I was ashamed of.
It’s a long way from here to British Columbia, but I think I’d enjoy the trip.
If you think you can use me, drop me a line.
If not, good luck anyway.
Sincerely, Hunter S. Thompson
For more information on Vicky Collins visit Teletrends Television Production and Development.
Start a Holiday Tradition: Christmas Tamales
Every year on Christmas eve I make tamales for my family and neighbors. It has become a holiday tradition and labor of love and my girlfriends join me with their own recipes in my kitchen. We cook our tamales and socialize and drink and it’s all very festive. In the event you’d like to start a tamale tradition of your own, here’s a great recipe. My family loves it and insist I make them every year. Happy holidays to everyone.
Chicken Tamales Recipe from Maseca Collection – Jesus Bojorquez
Mexican Recipe Ingredients:
6 cups Maseca Corn Masa Mix for Tamales
6 cups Chicken broth
1 cup corn oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 large rotisserie chicken
2 cans salsa verde or tomatillo sauce
1 bag corn husks
Mexican Recipe Instructions:
Soak the corn husks in warm water until soft.
Blend with an electric mixer Maseca corn masa mix for tamales, corn oil, salt, baking powder and the chicken broth to obtain a consistent mixture.
Shred the chicken and marinate in the green salsa or tomatillo sauce.
Spread masa evenly over corn husks, and spread a spoonful of marinated chicken on top of the masa.
Fold the sides of the corn husk to center over the masa so that they overlap to make along package.
Fold the empty part of the husk under so that it rest against the side of the tamale with a seam.
Place the tamales in a steamer and cook tamales for 35-40 minutes. Check every 20 minutes.The tamales are cooked when they separate easily from the corn husk.
Enjoy this delicious chicken tamales Mexican food recipe! I also add shredded Colby/Jack cheese to each tamale.
Preparation Time (min): 60
Cook Time (min): 60
Prep Tool: Tamale Steamer
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
