Contributed by:
Kristin Morin/YourHub.com
Article Contributed on: 4/14/2009 5:05:16 PM
In my
previous blog entry, I outlined a challenge I made to readers of the YourHub.com print edition.
Each Thursday, I write the column that appears on page 2 of the Aurora, Adams County, Broomfield/Westminster, Boulder and Longmont sections, and I asked users to submit one-word column ideas to me that I would somehow turn into a relevant link to YourHub.com.
For those of you who are more online followers, here are the columns recently in print ... inspired by folks just like you.
WEEK 1: 4/2 'Supercolumn'fragilisticexpialidocious
Previously in
Kristin's Page Two Column, I challenged readers to send me one-word ideas for upcoming columns and I'd relate them to
YourHub.com. Needless to say, the gauntlet has been thrown down. Possibly, some of you even tuned in this week to see me potentially fall on my face.
Fortunately, thanks to
Elaine, it's impossible for me to fail this week.
It's what you say when you don't know what to say, and I've been assured that I'll always sound precocious just by saying this week's column topic loud enough: "
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."
Personally, I think Elaine just wanted my spell-checker to go ballistic, but the word brought back some fond memories.
My family's copy of
Mary Poppins was taped (remember VCRs?) off the TV during one of those free week of Disney Channel promotions they use to have.
Sometimes there is an entire series of old (and hilarious) commercials in the middle of the recording or one- to two-minute sections of the movie are missing because we forgot to hit re-record after the commercial break. In either case, what a classic.
No offense to
High School Musical 1, 2 and
3, but
Mary Poppins is what a musical film is suppose to sound like.
It's the kind of movie that stays with us, creeps into our daily lives and makes us burst into song when adding spoonfuls of sugar to our morning coffee or seeing people feed pigeons in the park. When I'm looking for something and finally find it, I almost always say, "ah ha ha ha haha, here it is." I even forgot that was a movie quote for awhile.
Its plot line also is timeless. In today's economy, is it that difficult to relate to an overworked banker and/or a family being forced to grow up too fast?
Here at the office, we have an entire design format just for movie reviews. Cinema can be a powerful tool for expression and reflection or ourselves, society and ideals. Have you seen anything review-worthy lately or can you relate today's world to films of the past? Feel free to post your thoughts on YourHub.com. We don't often get movie reviews, so the variety would be an interesting read.
WEEK 2: 4/9 The future - we're all sitting ducks
So continues the saga of the little writer that hopefully could.
Tom Treloar would like to see a "
future" themed column this week. This would have been the perfect suggestion a few weeks ago, when many readers were wondering about the future of
YourHub.com's existence. Now that you all know our office is alive and well, however, it makes things a little trickier.
I'll start by saying that thinking about the idea of the future, sometimes gives me a headache.
As you are reading this, it's the present, but right now your present is my six days in the future. To add to the confusion, now what I just wrote, on what 15 minutes ago was a blank screen and my future column, are now words in the past - making them somewhat irrelevant to the "future" idea that was suppose to be this week's theme! Whoa, I'm starting to blow my own mind.
I wasn't even expecting for the column to turn out like this. But, I suppose that's the whole point.
Can we ever really plan for the future? It doesn't seem like it. It appears that life really is like a box of chocolates and we never know what we're going to get.
Originally, thinking about this made me a little annoyed. Why couldn't we get the fancy box with the descriptive map that clearly steers us away from the crazy French coconut, lemon nougat-filled chocolates masquerading as innocent-looking dark chocolate delights. Then I realized, my indignation wasn't fair or reasonable.
Times are tough. Can I really expect whoever it is with the master plan to spring for the gourmet boxes, when I myself am forced to substitute boxed mac 'n' cheese for a night of pasta at the Olive Garden? That's economic favoritism.
With our lives so up in the air, the best we can probably do is make the best decisions we can for today and enjoy our lives in the present. Whether that be celebrating an anniversary, becoming a new parent, going on vacation or your kid winning at Candyland during family game night, let us know your stories and accomplishments by posting a kudos announcement on YourHub.com.
WEEK 3: 4/16 'Bonk'ing down life's bumpy road
This week marks the third installment in my one-word, user-submitted column idea series. I'm hoping to pull this off so as to be held in the same esteem as other successful threesomes. Tic, Tac and Toe, tricycles and, my personal favorite, the original
Die Hard triolgy (although admittedly, the second one,
Die Harder, was lacking).
A
YourHub.com coworker decided to get in on the column-challenge action.
John Zwick thought he threw me a curveball with "
bonk." Unfortunately for him, John only sees me at work, sitting innocently at my desk, unaware that he is in the presence of one of the greatest kultzes stumbling the streets today.
Keeping with the timeliness goal of the journalism world, I'll limit my "bonks" to just this past week.
"Bonk." I slipped down my icy outside staircase, carrying a suitcase and ski boots and raised a spectacular bruise on my forearm.
"Bonk." I tried to itch inside my ski helmet and slammed the ski pole attached to my wrist into my lip, which almost started to bleed.
"Bonk." I slipped in my ski boots on the way into Subway's restroom and nailed my head into the wall. Fortunately, my helmet was on.
"Bonk." Forgetting I was looking at a glass enclosure, I jammed my finger trying to point out a fur seal in an exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
"Bonk." I got a sun visor in the forehead trying to flip it from the windshield to the side window.
"Bonk." I bruised my elbow, blatantly running into a chair.
I'll quit there so you can stop wincing. Yes, my life sometimes plays almost like one continuous
America's Funniest Home Videos clip, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Life is all about falling and getting back up again.
Read a story by YourHub.com staffer
Kevin Hamm about how in the midst of a challenging economy, Aurora is receiving funds to help properties in foreclosure.
Also, check out how a
new business moving into Federal Heights will create 20 jobs and $1.2 million in capital investment.
Or, read about some
Jefferson County inmates who constructed and now maintain a public rose garden.
Do you have a story about neighbors helping neighbors or know someone with an inspirational tale? Tell us about it by posting on our Web site. Everything you post will be considered for our weekly print edition.
WEEK 4: 5/7 You gotta do what you gotta do
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I wonder where this saying originated and, more interestingly, what type of situation was so desperate that it lent itself to phrase-coining?
This week is
Steve Caulk's suggestion to my one-word column idea submission game. His idea? You guessed it ... "
desperation."
I like to dwell on the above saying when thinking back on some of the means I've reverted to in "desperate" times. I feel like it gives me a little bit of an excuse.
But really, who hasn't pierced their own ears with an apple, ice cubes, blunt earring and a candle when their mother wouldn't let them get a second set of earring holes?
Who hasn't stolen the recycle cans out of their family's garage during weekends home from college so they could buy groceries with the deposit refund?
Who hasn't gone MacGyver and cut up a hostel bedsheet and sewn it into a lining for a bathing suit, after an initial plunge in the public pool revealed white really is see-through.
Who hasn't used melted popsicles as drink mixers when the soda ran out?
Who hasn't blurred their eyes through an entire horror film rather than tell a cute date they're terrified of slasher movies?
Who hasn't wrapped something lying around the house as a present for a forgotten birthday party?
And honestly, who hasn't offered up steak dinners and foot rubs after accidently running into their boyfriend's car ... say, last weekend?
Desperate times do indeed call for desperate measures. Or maybe these "desperate measures" are actually adaptations for survival in difficult times?
Do you have a survival tip or quick fix to share with readers? Whether you know the secret to surviving the in-laws or a sure-fire way to house train a puppy, post your thoughts on flourishing in awkward or difficult situations on
YourHub.com. We're all human after all, we've got to look out for each other.