Despite the fact that I'm a bit of a moron, I think it turned out quite well.
As you can imagine, when you write a weekly piece for TV you get a lot of ideas floating through your head. And sometimes, you get ideas that seem a little...familiar. A case in point?
Late last week, I had a picture I wanted to use, and had what I thought would be a perfect idea for a “Life in the 906” that would allow me to to use this shot--
This past weekend, as I was writing that bit, something started to gnaw at my brain. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but there seemed to be something...off about what I was writing. Then I typed a line that I thought particularly cute, and realized why the whole thing seemed a little off.
I had written and performed the piece I thought would be a perfect idea for yesterday a month ago. I didn't even remember that that “perfect idea” was also perfect on March 24th.
Sometimes, I amaze even myself. And usually not in a good way.
After sitting for a few minutes and shaking my head in disbelief, I realized I still had the picture, and (hoped) I could use it as the basis for something new. It took a few minutes, but after a little pondering and a lot of self-incrimination, I stumbled upon a way to use that picture in a new piece, one that combined a little poetry, a lot of nice photographs, and at least two references to “Dirty Dancing”.
In other words, it was almost everything I want in a “Life in the 906”.
I'll be the first to admit I got lucky this time around. I can, however, foresee a future weekend when I have what I think is a good idea, only discover (hopefully not too late) that I did it last week or last month or last year, and not be able to throw something together quite so easily. I guess that's one of those things you have to deal with when you've done over 130 TV bits, and (sadly) also something you have to deal with when you're a moron.
You know...like me.
(PS--Because of a technical issues I didn't actually get to read the last paragraph I wrote, and because of another technical issue I don't have a recording of it. So here, if you're curious, is the script in its entirety--
There’s one word that you usually don’t think of when you think of the UP. But we’re in a two or three week span right now where that adjective, sadly, might apply.
You see, we’re in that two or three week span when, and I apologize for using a four letter word here, the UP is dull.
During the summer the UP is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. As fall kicks into gear we get to live among an explosion of color.
And even though I am severely opposed to the concept of winter, there is an ethereal beauty associated with it.
But for the two or three weeks in which we currently find ourselves, the weeks after the snow melts but before the grass turns green? Not so much. Almost anywhere you look in the UP it’s a mix of brown and gray, a jambalaya of leftover sand, leftover leaves, & leftover dog poop.
It just looks dull. And making Upper Michigan look dull is like putting Baby in a corner. Nobody should ever do that. Yet for these two or three weeks Mother Nature is acting like Johnny Castle never uttered those immortal words.
It’s just not right. After the winters we have up here, I‘d like to think we deserve better.
But during these few weeks we start to see the signs that we will be dull no more. The browns and the grays are already starting to fade away.
Grass is slowly darkening into green.
Trees are teasing us with buds that will soon become leafs.
And the first flowers are starting to poke their heads above ground, all signs that in just another two or three weeks the UP will be at its full glory, ready to dazzle us with the beauty of our short but spectacular summer.
But for this week, and maybe next, that beauty is just a dream for the future. Until then, we’ll just have to make it through the one time of the year when you can honestly call the UP a four letter word.
Dull.
I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906”
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