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A lot of people have a hard time wrapping their heads around the TV show Lost. How could something so goofy be so popular. Here's a quick breakdown about why I like it.

1. It's fun.

There's a pure goofiness and audacity to the show I respect. A lot of people get all butthurt because there are polar bears living on a tropic island, or there's time travel, or there's a smoke monster. I find that stuff entertaining. I imagine that there are a lot of conversations in the writers that end with "Who cares? Who says we can't do that?" I respect a show that does that.

As an addendum to point one. The show never breaks its own rules. Everything that happens on the show has been established by something that has happened previously.

2. The Characters

There is a level of character development on this show that is unmatched by any network show. What started out as a necessity (we have 24 episodes to fill about people stranded on an island, shoot, let's create a dozen main characters with elaborate back stories) morphed into one of the shows strengths. Because of the storytelling, we actually care about all these people. Yes, it can be outlandish (Hurley) but it makes the characters that much more relatable. Because we know their pasts, their actions on the Island have that much more impact.

3. It's fun to talk about

Lost, for all it's goofiness, is fun to talk about. There are all these crazy theories about everything, and none of them are ever right, but that makes it better. The idea that there are millions of people trying to figure out what's going to happen, and none of them are right, that's a credit to the writing.

Look at it like this, how much time is spent trying to figure out what's going to happen in the Super Bowl. But in reality, no one knows what's really going to happen until kick-off. Lost is the Super Bowl for nerds.

4. John Locke

There is s psuedo-spirituality/philosophy slant to the entire show. There's a lot of talk about fate, reason, faith and destiny. However, there isn't too much that it bogs down the whole show. Just enough to get you thinking, maybe. It manages to get your brain working a little while polar bears eat Smoke Monsters in an ancient Egyptian Temple in the middle of the Pacific.

It used to be that this week was one of my favorites out of the entire year. St. Patrick's Day + March Madness + College = A good time all around. But the further away from college I get the less I care about college basketball.

It might be that my Alma Mater was horrible this year, and they play in the Pac-10, which has such a terrible TV deal that's it's near impossible to watch their games unless you live there. It might also be that I am fed up with filling out brackets. Every year I would toil over my bracket, hoping that this year would be the year that I finally won the pool.

I would do research. I would pick an underdog. I would try. Then, every year I would lose to someone who had no idea. We've all heard the stories of people who win their office pool because they made their picks based on colors or mascots. This happened to me, twice.

Still, it's hard not to get swept up in the action. This week there will be 32 games, and probably a dozen of them will be pretty good. I just can't get excited about it.

My theory is that I am getting older, and the space in my brain is becoming limited. What I mean is that as you get older you only have some much time, and so much time in your brain, to keep track of things that are important to you.

When you're young, keeping track of sports is easy because, honestly, what else are you going to do. For me it was sports, girls and food. That was about it. Now there's bills, work, family, friends...girls, and then, maybe, after all that, sports.

So I have to pick and choose what sports I care about. College football still reigns supreme, and I love the Lakers. In the last couple of years I added baseball to the mix. So, that's it. There just isn't room for college basketball (I also feel the same way about the NFL as I do college basketball, but that's a more complicated issue).

Growing up is really about prioritizing. And as things in life pile up, as they grow and grow, there's less and less room. Space is limited, so college basketball--you're out.

I have to admit that one of the joys of this job is getting letters. It lets you know how you're doing; how people are reacting to the work you are doing. However, the problem with letters is that they can be anonymous. People can say whatever they want, and not have to face the consequences.

Today, I got such a letter. Again, I am fine with the fact that it criticized a story I wrote. That comes with the territory. What I didn't like was the fact that the person did not attach their name to it anywhere. They simply signed it "A Concerned Honey Brook Citizen."

This letter was in response to an article I wrote about Tiffany Barkman-Kirlin who was recently paralyzed. Her family was holding a fundraiser and wanted some publicity.
Below is the letter word for word and my response in bold:

Attn: Editor, Jacob Speicher

No problems so far.

Please review the attached article (The article I wrote?). This article in the Record was the most unprofessional article I have ever read in your publication. (Really? I kind of find that hard to believe. But, fair enough.)

Your facts are not accurate and obviously never verified. (Umm, I talked to the mom and her sisters. I had a picture of Tiffany in her hospital bed. I also had it on good authority from one of my coworkers who personally knows the mother that everything was on the up and up. What's the problem?) Mrs. Kirlin IS NOT paralyzed from the neck down, but rather has very limited finger movement, although unfortuneately is paralyzed from the waist down. (Oh, I see. You want to argue semantics over "degrees" of paralyzed. Then, you're right. I'm sorry. )

We are all devestated by this accident, including her husband. Andrew Kirlin was never mentioned by anyone or you in this report. (This is a fair point. I did not mention Andrew for reasons that are uninteresting and not for public consumption. However, I should have mentioned the man's name, as I am sure this accident was just as traumatic for him as it was everyone else. I apologize.)

Does it not seem strange there was no organization sponsor of the hoagie sale and benefit for Tiffany Barkman-Kirlin? (No, people around here do it all the time.) Is this legal? (Why wouldn't it be?) Funds used for home improvement? (That's not really a question. It's more of a statement of frustration. The "home improvements" were to make the house wheelchair accessible, it said that in the story.) No accountability to anyone how monies will be spent? (This is a legitimate concern, and I won't make light of it. However, I think there was enough evidence, at least as far as I was concerned, that the family had legitimate fancial woes, and the money would be put to good use.)

Obviously, your reporter (you mean me? Right?) did not do any background work or verifiy statements made or quoted. (Yes, I made it all up. Integrity be damned.) Why? (I already said, don't care about integrity.)

I truly believe the Record owes an apology in your next publication to the public, contributors and helpers who were mislead by this article. (I'm not sure what I would be apologizing for. I guess leaving out the husband and not mentioning she has "very limited finger use." So, for that, I apologize.)

Thank you, (Your Welcome?)

Concerned Honey Brook Citizen

Q: How long were you on tour for?
T: I think over all, about three months. I think there was a little break. Basically, we went out on tour with Lil’ Wayne, and we jumped off of that early because our guitarist was having a baby. After that we were taking a break, and we were supposed to be off for a little while, but we ended up going back on tour with Lil’ Wayne because apparently the tour got extended and was still going on. And then, after tha,t we just did a two-week tour of a bunch of different colleges, and that brings us up to now pretty much.
Q: How has being in the Gym Class Heroes changed your life in a way you didn’t expect?
T: It’s a really odd feeling having people around the county who know who you are and support what you are doing. And granted, I am closer to the bottom of all of that; I don’t stand out as much and make an attempt to be out front, but it’s really interesting to have people be that supportive. So if I put out a blog, and I have a thousand followers; if I had put out a blog when I was delivering auto parts it would have been my ten friends following me, it’s really kind of cool to know in that sense that you can write stuff and people will read it and comment on it and say I agree or I disagree.
Q: Talking about blogs, how do you think things like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace affect the future of the music industry?
T: It’s kind of a double-edged sword. The thing I find most disappointing about the music industry and the way things are going right now it seems music on a physical medium is getting ruled out, and I think that is sad for the next generation of kids. Don’t get me wrong, I have an I-pod and it’s packed with music, and I download a lot of stuff, but to not have something to correlate the vision. Cover art, and holding it when I was younger, was the coolest thing, and I guess it’s sad that younger people are going to get to the point where they don’t have that.
Q: So what have you been working on during your down time with The Gym Class Heroes?
T: Well, I definitely will record a lot, and work on solo material, and I’m hopefully do a project with Justin from The Danger-O’s. I’ve been doing pretty crazy free-range noise stuff with my brother. And I’m trying to start a summer band that will only exist for the next three months. We’ll write songs, I can record us, and we’ll probably play a couple of shows, and that will be it.
Q: If people want to get in touch with you or keep tabs on what you’re working on, where should they go?
T: Myspace.com/tylergrant, is my music myspace page, I put a lot of stuff I’m working on, including a link to download my new solo album for free. And if you want to be in my summer band you can send me a message there.

I was going through the stack of back issues of the Tri County the other day, and I noticed a pattern. Almost every issue had a front page story on Honey Brook. Whether it was the borough or the township, for the past three months there has always been something going on in Honey Brook.

Now, I guess this really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Honey Brook is in our coverage area, and it makes sense that there would be a lot of stories coming out of that area. However, I would’ve never suspected the frequency with which these stories appear.

We at the paper try to cover as much of the region as we can. We try to hit Elverson and New Holland as often as possible, and I have been out to Warwick several times to cover the fire department’s battle with the Township for funding. What I am getting at is that the extensive coverage of Honey Brook is not intentional. I did not come into this job aiming to cater exclusively to the ins and outs of Honey Brook. It just happened. So the obvious question is why?

There are two simple answers: first, they seem to have the most stuff going on, and second, they call me. This is not meant as an insult to the other townships and boroughs, but just a simple fact. The majority of the people who call me and let me know there is something I should cover are from Honey Brook. Again, it’s no agenda on my part, these are just the people filling my mailbox with things they want covered.

However, I think there is a more complex reason why so much happens in Honey Brook, and it stems from involvement. The people there really seem to be involved. For example, the past borough council meeting had to be moved to a bigger building because there were too many citizens in attendance. Also there are several community action committees in the township. These are average citizens who have banded together to affect change. So, the members of the community are more involved, but it still begs the question why.

I think the reason has to do with the simple fact of where Honey Brook is located. For all intensive purposes, it is isolated from everywhere else. It’s an island unto itself. Up in Morgantown and Elverson they are close enough to the Turnpike that they can consider themselves connected to the surrounding municipalities. Likewise, New Holland is close enough to Lancaster that they can feel like a part of the city and county. However, Honey Brook isn’t really close to anything.

It’s at least a 15 minute drive in all directions to get someplace new, and another 20 minutes if you want to go anywhere more than a “small town.” Because of this isolation I believe the people of Honey Brook have started to band together to make the community entirely their own. That is why there have been so many news stories coming out of the town. These people have taken stock in what they have, and realized that no one will make it better but them.

I went to the Twin Valley Middle School Friday night to watch members of the Philadelphia Eagles play basketball against members of the faculty as well as people from the community. Besides being one of the loudest things I have ever attended, it was also one of the most unintentionally hilarious.
I’ll start with A.J. Feeley’s mustache. I don’t know what it is about backup quarterback’s but they always have horrendously bad facial hair (the all-time title goes to Kyle Orton’s neck-beard). I guess they think that since they aren’t going to play they have to look ridiculous to get noticed. You may not know them for their play, but you do know them for their mustache, and I guess that’s good enough.
Also there that night was Eagles wide-receiver DeSean Jackson. This is the same DeSean Jackson that spiked the ball for scoring a touchdown before he actually crossed the goal line. So, he’s kind of a knucklehead. He was pretty mild-mannered when the game started, but as it went on he got more and more intense. During three successive trips down the floor he missed an easy layup, got a shot blocked and took a hard foul. After that, his body language completely changed. He went it to “screw this, I am a professional athlete, and I will dominate you” mode almost instantaneously. He made three three-point shots in a row and had two steals to end the quarter. He had a Jordan-esque quality about him, if Jordan had ever played pickup basketball, against teachers.
I also thought during half time that someone was going to die. Someone decided that it would be a good idea to have “Swoop” the Eagles mascot throw souvenirs into the crowd. I generally support the merchandise into crowd dynamic, especially when air-powered cannons are involved, however, I no longer support throwing green footballs into crowds of elementary students.
The fact is that most elementary students can’t catch. This creates a controversy over who actually owns the piece of merchandise. The kid who touched it first believes he has a right to the ball, but once it hits the ground, so does every other kid in the area. What follows is an unholy dog-pile with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I saw several punches being thrown, and one kid, emerging from the pile victorious with the ball in hand, was chased and tackled by another student.
However, the funniest event of the night involved an Amish man on Twin Valley’s team and A.J. Feeley. This Amish guy was Bruce Bowen to Feeley’s Kobe Bryant. Wherever Feeley went this Amish guy was there, pestering him. He had at least three steals on Feeley, and each time Feeley would have this look on his face like, “I can’t believe that just happened.” And Jason Avant or DeSean Jackson would look at Feeley like, “Come on, A.J., pick it up, or we’re going to throw you in a locker with John Runyan’s ‘lucky socks’ from the 2005 Super Bowl run.”
Either way, it was a fun night, and I am glad I went.