I forget that not everyone is on facebook or has a subscription to the Boone County Journal, two places where my weekly column appears. So here is the link to this week's installment for you Blogger folks. Enjoy!
http://www.bocojo.com/articles/2011/10/19/opinion/doc4e9ede4ea5856750649730.txt
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Thursday, September 08, 2011
My Latest Column
My most recent column appeared in this week's Boone County Journal as part of a 9/11 commemorative spread instead of the opinion section (there's no link to it on the Journal's website.) For those of you who don't subscribe to the paper, I've pasted the article below:
I woke up on the morning of September 11, 2001 giddy with anticipation. My 30th birthday would be exactly two weeks later and I was busy planning a party to end all parties. Then, the unspeakable happened. Four hijacked planes and thousands of tragic deaths later, plans to celebrate the anniversary of my arrival in this now terrifying world were immediately discarded. Suddenly a party that only minutes earlier was a rite of passage and a good excuse for acting like a fool seemed foolish and grossly inappropriate.
I left work not long after the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed knowing there was no way I could make sales calls while the chaos of the day’s events were still unfolding. I went home and turned on my TV. The images I saw that day are permanently etched into my memory. I am sure that is the case for you, too. One particular image is still so painful to recall that I hesitate to write about it. However, I believe I recall this image so vividly because I was meant to write about it.
An anonymous firefighter, one of the many true heroes of that horrific day, walked swiftly past a camera crew in lower Manhattan carrying something in his weary, ash-covered arms. While most eyes were trained on the debris and smoke blocking out the sun, my focus shifted to the bundle in the first-responder’s embrace. I became physically ill when I realized that it was the lifeless body of a very young child—a child that appeared to be almost exactly the same age as my own son Alex.
My child was at daycare that morning, happily oblivious to the tragedy befalling our country. I thought about going to pick him up early so that I could hold him and reassure myself that the world was not ending, but realizing how lucky he was to be so happily oblivious at that time I decided to let him enjoy his day with his friends.
Then I realized that mine was not the only birthday celebration the Naughton family had been planning. Alex would be turning one year old just a week after I turned 30—just three weeks after the terrorist attacks of that morning. Somehow, despite the darkness that had descended upon our nation that day, Bethany and I would have to pull ourselves together and make Alex’s big day the best of his young life. We would deal with raising a child in the Age of Terror later.
It occurred to me while watching my son stuff chocolate birthday cake into his cute, little ears at his party that as long as American families were willing and able to come together to make the next generation’s special moments the best they could be, the terrorists would never win.
How can parents help America win the War on Terror? By teaching our children that no matter how determined some evil people are to change the way we live, we must be more determined to live our lives the way we choose. We cannot let the actions of a few maniacs cause us to live in fear. We cannot allow a madman on the other side of the world to influence how we raise our children. We must carry on with our lives in honor of those who lost theirs that day and in the ten years since.
And we must not cancel our birthday parties, even during our darkest times. Life is a precious gift and a birthday party is a celebration of that life. I can attest that the expression of unbridled joy on a toddler’s face while he coats his entire head with chocolate frosting on his first birthday, just three weeks after the attacks of 9/11, is a glorious affirmation that America has already won the War on Terror.
I woke up on the morning of September 11, 2001 giddy with anticipation. My 30th birthday would be exactly two weeks later and I was busy planning a party to end all parties. Then, the unspeakable happened. Four hijacked planes and thousands of tragic deaths later, plans to celebrate the anniversary of my arrival in this now terrifying world were immediately discarded. Suddenly a party that only minutes earlier was a rite of passage and a good excuse for acting like a fool seemed foolish and grossly inappropriate.
I left work not long after the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed knowing there was no way I could make sales calls while the chaos of the day’s events were still unfolding. I went home and turned on my TV. The images I saw that day are permanently etched into my memory. I am sure that is the case for you, too. One particular image is still so painful to recall that I hesitate to write about it. However, I believe I recall this image so vividly because I was meant to write about it.
An anonymous firefighter, one of the many true heroes of that horrific day, walked swiftly past a camera crew in lower Manhattan carrying something in his weary, ash-covered arms. While most eyes were trained on the debris and smoke blocking out the sun, my focus shifted to the bundle in the first-responder’s embrace. I became physically ill when I realized that it was the lifeless body of a very young child—a child that appeared to be almost exactly the same age as my own son Alex.
My child was at daycare that morning, happily oblivious to the tragedy befalling our country. I thought about going to pick him up early so that I could hold him and reassure myself that the world was not ending, but realizing how lucky he was to be so happily oblivious at that time I decided to let him enjoy his day with his friends.
Then I realized that mine was not the only birthday celebration the Naughton family had been planning. Alex would be turning one year old just a week after I turned 30—just three weeks after the terrorist attacks of that morning. Somehow, despite the darkness that had descended upon our nation that day, Bethany and I would have to pull ourselves together and make Alex’s big day the best of his young life. We would deal with raising a child in the Age of Terror later.
It occurred to me while watching my son stuff chocolate birthday cake into his cute, little ears at his party that as long as American families were willing and able to come together to make the next generation’s special moments the best they could be, the terrorists would never win.
How can parents help America win the War on Terror? By teaching our children that no matter how determined some evil people are to change the way we live, we must be more determined to live our lives the way we choose. We cannot let the actions of a few maniacs cause us to live in fear. We cannot allow a madman on the other side of the world to influence how we raise our children. We must carry on with our lives in honor of those who lost theirs that day and in the ten years since.
And we must not cancel our birthday parties, even during our darkest times. Life is a precious gift and a birthday party is a celebration of that life. I can attest that the expression of unbridled joy on a toddler’s face while he coats his entire head with chocolate frosting on his first birthday, just three weeks after the attacks of 9/11, is a glorious affirmation that America has already won the War on Terror.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Support Your Local Columnist
I know, I know. Why buy the cow if the milk's free? If I keep posting links to my column for you to read on my blog for free, then why would you ever buy the paper? Well, if you live in Ashland or Hartsburg, or if you just want to read my ramblings the good old-fashioned way in ink, then you'd be supporting a privately owned small business AND yours truly. Subscriptions are only $15/year for the Boone County Journal, so order yours today--and tell 'em Travis sent you!
http://www.bocojo.com/articles/2011/08/03/opinion/doc4e395e3bcbb33627656492.txt
http://www.bocojo.com/articles/2011/08/03/opinion/doc4e395e3bcbb33627656492.txt
Monday, August 01, 2011
Settling In
Sorry to leave you hanging for the last few days, but a severe case of jet lag has left me with precious little energy for writing. Tiana is adjusting well to her new home. I wrote about her actual moment of homecoming for my newspaper column which will be published this Wednesday. Suffice it to say that her reaction brought tears to my eyes. You've never seen a happier kid. Ever. All of us are adjusting to life as a family of five, and of course there are moments of disharmony now and then, but all-in-all, I can't complain. Tiana is an amazing girl and aside from Truman's occasional temper tantrums, the three siblings are getting along well. Life in the Naughton house is as normal as it will ever be.
In addition to my column, I wrote a feature article for the newspaper that will appear in next week's edition about my observations of China. It points out a few of the differences between our two countries and the ways this small town boy was affected by being surrounded by a billion and a half people. Also, I plan on revising my book Naked Snow Angels in the coming weeks in advance of releasing a second edition called Naked Snow Angels 2.0--Now With Fewer Typos! (Or something like that.) Plans are in the works for a book reading/signing event to be held at the Ashland branch of the Daniel Boone Regional Library sometime in November. And today, I received two royalty checks in the mail from Amazon for the copies that sold in May and June. Thank you to everyone who has supported me as my writing career has begun to take off. Who knows how far it will go from here, but I know that with the support of my family and friends, I'll always feel like a success.
In addition to my column, I wrote a feature article for the newspaper that will appear in next week's edition about my observations of China. It points out a few of the differences between our two countries and the ways this small town boy was affected by being surrounded by a billion and a half people. Also, I plan on revising my book Naked Snow Angels in the coming weeks in advance of releasing a second edition called Naked Snow Angels 2.0--Now With Fewer Typos! (Or something like that.) Plans are in the works for a book reading/signing event to be held at the Ashland branch of the Daniel Boone Regional Library sometime in November. And today, I received two royalty checks in the mail from Amazon for the copies that sold in May and June. Thank you to everyone who has supported me as my writing career has begun to take off. Who knows how far it will go from here, but I know that with the support of my family and friends, I'll always feel like a success.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Flinal Blog post from China
It's 11:00 on this Wednesday night in Guangzhou. I am happy to say that it is our last night in China, having spent the previous 14 nights in this country cooped up in a hotel with three bored kids who have a desperate need to get back into a daily routine at home. For a time, China was home to two of the members of our family, but it has never felt like home to me. I have tolerated the sensation of claustrophobia while being swallowed up by the throngs of people who crowd every sidewalk, restaurant, park, and street, but I have reached my threshold. I'm a country mouse who is content living in a very sparsely populated corner of the world, completely opposite of the world full of city mice I've been visiting for the past two weeks. In our two trips to China, the smallest city we stayed in had a population of 6 million people. That city is Nanning, which is where we got Truman two and a half years ago. Harbin, where we got Tiana, has 10 million inhabitants. Guangzhou, where we are now, has 12 million, and Beijing has 20 million. To put it into perspective, New York City would only be fourth on that list. And most of the people there speak English. Well, at least half do.
Tomorrow, we'll be on our way home--for a full 24 hours. The kids, and especially Tiana, will test my patience throughout the journey, but by 9:00pm Thursday in Hartsburg, MO (10:00am Friday in China), the never-ending flight, the crowds, the language barrier, the relentless stares by curious Chinese everywhere we have been, and the feeling of complete isolation despite being surrounded by millions of people will instantly vanish as we walk Tiana up the stairs of her new home and into the beginning of a new chapter in all of our lives.
I'll be back on facebook Friday (without the help of my cousin Larry Barr, who has been doing a great job of converting my emails to blog/facebook posts for the past two weeks--THANK YOU, CUZ!!!) so I can respond to your comments finally. We really appreciate all your words of encouragement and support. Thank you all!
Finally, here's the link to my latest newspaper column in today's Boone County Journal. Enjoy!
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