The Fragility of Life

By Mike Hendricks

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Our college family lost one of our own Wednesday night, once again underscoring the temporary, fragile nature of life. Kasey Jo Warner was struck by a vehicle and killed while she was out for a walk with her 3-year-old daughter. The man driving the vehicle was arrested at the scene for vehicular homicide and driving under the influence.

I had waved goodbye to Kasey just a few hours earlier, yelling out my window that I would see her tomorrow as I drove past her. But tomorrow never came. Kasey was only 28 years old. She left behind two beautiful daughters, her husband, her parents, other relatives and hundreds of friends. She had her whole life in front of her and she had everything to live for. She was beautiful, bright, articulate, witty, intelligent and full of life. We had a gathering for her Thursday at the college and there wasn't a dry eye there because everyone loved Kasey.

Everyone.

We've had so many tragedies in this area recently. Death has taken away some of our best and brightest and it's impossible to understand or even comprehend. Some people believe that our ticket is punched the moment we're born; that when our time is up, it's up and there's nothing we or anyone else can do about it. Some people call it fate. Others call it bad luck. Some believe its all part of a larger plan that people simply can't understand or fathom. I don't have any idea. It doesn't make any sense. It's hurtful and harmful. It leaves a void that can never be filled. It's without rhyme or reason. It is, in fact, absurd.

Most of us can't fathom death. We don't like to talk about death. We don't even like to use the word "die" so we make up all kinds of others words to substitute for it. We say that people passed or passed on or passed away or crossed the bar or succumbed or expired. If you die in a hospital, it's possible that the final thing written on your chart will be "negative patient care outcome."

We can't fathom death because we've always been alive. We know there was a world before us but we didn't live in that world. We know there will be a world after us but we won't live in that world either. We can't imagine, understand, or comprehend death so we do every thing we can to avoid talking about it or dealing with it, even though it will eventually visit us all.

Ever since I was on the police department and witnessed death almost daily, I've tried to personalize death. It's so easy not to in this hustle-bustle constantly busy world. We read about death daily in the newspaper and hear about it nightly on the evening news. Whenever I hear of someone dying, I try to think about how I would feel if that was a friend or loved one of mine. I try to feel what their friends and relatives are feeling and enduring when the mighty, indiscriminate hand of death snatches someone near and dear to their hearts away from them. When I do that, those people that I read about or hear about are no longer just a statistic. They become real people to me, just like they are to those who know and love them, and I believe that makes me more human in the process of living my own life.

I've written in this space before that the leading cause of death is life. Nobody gets out alive and the surest sign of dying is being born. But when something happens like it did Wednesday night on a county road outside of Arapahoe, it suspends our beliefs and crushes our hopes and dreams. It robs us of a friend, a colleague, a mother, a daughter and a wife. It turns good into bad, beautiful into ugly, and hopeful into hopelessness.

It crushes our spirit and poisons our heart. It makes us question everything. And it makes us madder than hell.

It is believed that Kasey, just before impact, pushed her daughter's ATV into the ditch before being struck head-on. That's what Kasey would have done if there was any way possible to do it. She would have sacrificed her own life in a heartbeat to save her daughter's life. And I believe that's exactly what she did.

Because Kasey was already a hero in life, it doesn't surprise anyone who knew her that she was a hero in death as well.

Bridge to Terabithia

By Jarod Weidner

Jess Aarons loved to run. It was his only escape from his troubled home life, and plus, he was going to be the fastest kid in the whole school, an honor that would soon lead to much glory and many accolades from his schoolmates. But there was one small problem: in the first recess race of the new school year, Jess just got beat by a new girl.

So begins Bridge to Terabithia, a new movie based on the Newberry Award winning book by Katherine Paterson. It chronicles the relationship between Jess and the new girl, Leslie Burke, as they become friends and create an imaginary magical world known as Terabithia.

As to be expected, the movie is not as good as the book. Still, it follows the plot fairly closely, and the acting is solid. Even better, instead of diverting from the book and distracting the audience with special effects and an overkill of imaginary creatures (a la The Chronicles of Narnia), the movie makers put an emphasis on the person-to-person relationships. We see Jess and Leslie's love and need for each other's companionship, Jess's anger at his dad, and the friendship Jess and Leslie create with Janice, the school bully. Since we can grasp the relationships, it hits extra hard when the unthinkable tragedy happens.

Something was lost in translation from book to film during the part about Leslie's death. In the book, it comes as a huge shock, and Jess refuses to believe it. We the readers continue to hold out slim hope that somehow there has just been some confusion, and Leslie will emerge from Terabithia as good as new. But in the movie, we can see disaster coming from the beginning. From Jess's trepidation about the rope to the numerous images of the rapidly rising river, it is clear that something bad is about to occur.

But overall, Bridge to Terabithia stays very close to the book and produces strong emotions. We feel sadness at Leslie's death but also hope near the end when a new queen of Terabithia is crowned. And from what Leslie taught him, Jess learns that there are ways to live life besides running from it, which is a lesson that all viewers will take from this film.

Miracle on 34th Street Rekindles Christmas Spirit

By Jarod Weidner

An interview with Miracle on 34th Street

By Amanda Hock and Krystal Bartlett

NPCC Theatre Department hits the

Road to Nowhere

Some of our comrades up at North Platte Community College spent the summer writing, filming, and editing a short film, titled Road to Nowhere, under the direction of Ritch Galvan, Theatre Instructor. Check it out!

The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery

If you ask any professional actor if a play is ever performed without errors, they will always say no. This definitely holds true for “Murder Mystery.” It is a play that is built upon these follies and brings to life the actors’ worst nightmare, a big mistake on stage. The exception of “Murder Mystery,” is that everything that could go wrong, will go wrong. The scenery collapses, cues are forgotten, lines are missed and the sound effects are hardly ever correct. If any other play had those mistakes, it would never be performed, but “Murder Mystery” couldn’t be performed without them.

The play begins with Mrs. Reece, played by Lisa Burns, giving the audience a history about the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society and the errors in previous plays. She also frames the rest of the play by giving us a little foreshadowing of what is to come. The play then moves to the drawing room of Lady Doreen Bishop. Clarissa, played by Cheryl Scott, is almost murdered by an unknown assailant, but the assailant can’t reach her, so she must choke herself. Nathan McCarty who plays Pawn enters to find Clarissa and Lady Doreen played by Ree Smock is barking orders at Pawn who mixes them up while on the telephone reporting the murder.

Throughout the entire play, characters walk on stage and then quickly walk off because they entered too soon or, possibly, too late. I was in tears due to all of the hilarious mistakes. The mystery of the murder deepens as characters realize that every time someone goes missing, a chess piece is taken off of the chess board.

Every actor played their parts well and were well adapted to the new black box theatre even with the late start of the play due to construction of the theatre. A black box theatre is simply that, a black box. That gives the director many opportunities for staging. The chairs can be moved anywhere so they can have theatre in the round, or traditional set-up because the stage, which is a black mat, can be moved to any side or corner of the room, or even the center of the room. That provides endless ways to set the stage and new ways to teach acting because the actor must realize that they can be seen from all four sides instead of the one side that comes with traditional theatre.

Sue Watts and the entire cast and crew of “Murder Mystery” need to be commended for their wonderful work and making an hour and twenty minutes pass so quickly as I sat laughing hysterically in my seat. I hope to see many more wonderful productions come from the new black box theatre.