Written January 19 and first posted on facebook.

Hello friends. You know those times in your life that make a difference and you know in your heart you will forever keep it to yourself?

Given the day and what will transpire for our country tomorrow, I need to share these words if I plan to sleep tonight.

Many years ago I was coaching football and I had the answers! I had a chance back and forth with a college football coach who had won a National Championship and was a chief Promise Keeper. He was at a coaches clinic and so was I.

I was all high and mighty with my idealism. The Coach told me to cut guys some slack. He told me challenging works better than judging. “Mercy triumphs over judgement.” We need to use the same barometer to measure others as Jesus would measure us. He told me that too. I paraphrase.

Let’s move on. Make tomorrow better. Republican, Democrat, Independent, Neutral, whomever you are you will surely find someone tomorrow in some circumstance or the next day or the next day and you will have a choice to make. Better or worse?

In the end “Mercy triumphs over judgement.”

For the record, my name in a drawer in the Harrison County Court House has a big R next to it. Republican. I don’t apologize for that or what has made me hang my head at my own party. Better days are ahead.

“Mercy triumphs over judgement.”

Don’t talk yourself out of a simple truth. THERE IS A BETTER DAY AHEAD. Be a part of the solution! We need you. Our kids need you.

Nearly thirty years later, a Coach’s speech still motivates when it needs to.

I’m just speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Look at that.  Does it get any better than that!

This is a photo of me and Jackie Gayheart.

Many years ago I stopped in on her just to say hello at her new digs in Ramsey.  Jackie is the mother of my dear friend Marc Gayheart and his precious siblings.

On that visit to see Jackie, we talked of old days and present days.  She left the room.  She came back with a piece of paper.  She knew I was making music.  She knew I was writing and recording songs.  Jackie handed me a piece of paper with what she deemed as song lyrics.  It made me nervous.  I was early in my musical journey.  This piece of paper, while delighted to be handed, was nothing I wanted to be a part of.  How could I get this right?  That is what I asked myself.  And that was that.

This piece of paper was always within arm’s reach in my home office.  I looked at it many times for many years.

One day I looked at it and grabbed my guitar.  And good things happened.  I recorded this song with just me and the guitar at Jeff Carpenter’s Al Fresco’s Place Recording Studio in Louisville.

I made this recording for Jackie and her family.  I saw to it that many CDs of this recording were passed on.  And on a Tuesday in May in 2018 at a Harrison County Hymn Sing, I sang this song at Unity Chapel UMC.  I will never forget the look on Jackie’s face as I was singing.  I looked at her and gave a her a nod.  Priceless.  Thankful.  Amen.

The recording I handed off to the family was comprised of the following intro and corresponding lyrics.  Jackie wrote the words and I wrote the tune.

How’s it going group?  This is Danny Johnson and I am coming to you from Al Fresco’s Place Recording Studio.  Jeff Carpenter is on the board, a very near and dear friend, and we are going to record a song that Jackie Gayheart handed to me many years ago.  The day she handed it to me I had a silent scream on my face because she asked me to put some music to it and at the time I was not very comfortable doing that.  Things change.  I found this song recently and was delighted that I did and about fifteen minutes later it was complete.  I hope you enjoy it.  Jackie, I hope you enjoy it as well.   

Then I played the tune.

Going Home   (Words by Jackie Gayheart and Music by Danny Johnson)

When we think about the future the present and the past

We know this is fleeting and it’s never going to last

But we know our home in heaven will be ours forevermore

We will be there for eternity upon those peaceful shores

Chorus                                                                                                                                     Going Home…Going Home

We’re just travelling down life’s highway going home

When our life on earth is over and we cease this world to roam

We’re going home…just going home…going home.

We have all have trials and temptations in our life’s every day

Yet we must follow Jesus and walk steady in His way

We look forward to our meeting with our savior by and by

When we’re called up there to rest in our mansion in the sky

Repeat Chorus

Bridge

So walk carefully down this road of life and don’t forget to pray

There will always be a reckoning on that final day

Walk closely to the savior and hold tightly to His hand

Until the day we finally reach that blessed promised land

Repeat Chorus

I dug this CD out tonight and listened to it. I found out today that Jackie passed away on January 13th.  It was the best demo recording I ever made.  That means just me and the guitar and that’s it.  I am proud of this recording.  Without Jackie and her kind eyes and words, it would have never been. I am so blessed.

So today I mourn the loss of my first musical co-writer and loving soul to all.

For the record, thank you Jackie.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Oh my.

I must say I am not too inclined to write much this week.  There just isn’t time to get it all in.  Being an old-school Republican sick with what he is seeing, I doubt my views would matter.

See why I don’t want to write!  This is awful.

On a lighter note, my dear friend Brother Tim Petty’s Alabama Crimson Tide won their 6th National Title under the direction of Head Coach Nick Saban.  That is the same number of titles the Tide won under Coach Bear Bryant.  There is a museum on campus dedicated to Coach Bryant.  I doubt there will be another museum for the current coach.  History is changing a bit by the likes of Youtube and stuff like that.  I see it.  What was once ever so elusive is now in the palm of your hand.  What we thought we would never see again in 1988 is now common place if we want to “look it up”.

On that subject.  Am I the only citizen clamoring for the release of the NBC TV show ED to be released to DVD?

I digress.

Brother Tim’s Coach, Nick Saban, won his sixth National Championship last night.  Thank you for beating Ohio State.

Today the Indiana Hoosiers were placed at #12 in the final AP poll for the…wait for it…sixth time in school history.  Saban wins 6 titles.  IU gets ranked in the final poll for the 6th time.

1945, 1946, 1967, 1979, 1988, and 2020.  Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Final AP Ranked Indiana Hoooooosiers!!!!   If you have been to a game at Memorial Stadium some of that might resonate.

But guess what?  I am confident the Football Hoosier faithful won’t have to wait for 32 more years to be ranked again.  Get used to it for a while.  With a nod to Bob Dylan, Things Have Changed.

I sure hope more change will follow.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

On July 6, 2014 I wrote the first installment of speaktherights.com.

One of my favorite photos put on this page some time ago.  My Uncle Stanley and myself taken at family reunion in Forest, Mississippi.

Today is January 2, 2021.  I am writing the 600th installment of speaktherights.com.

I have written a half a million words on this space.  I have enjoyed it all.  I have been asked why I do this.  My answer: It is just one of the things I do.  I didn’t plan on doing this.  It turned out that way.

Have we ever been more delighted to see a year go?  2020 will certainly acquire a euphemism or two moving forward in subsequent years.  I’ll just call it a pain.

I am sitting here listening to AMAZON music.  Justin Hayward’s solo album Songwriter released in 1977.  I am listening to this because on this past August 28th I lost my radio station.  Or at least I lost my desire to listen to my radio station.  Robert Becker sold 96.3 WJAA and that was that.  Nothing against the new owners.  But, for me, it was over.  The Cool Bus was never cooler than when Robert Becker walked out.

I still miss 890 WLS The Rock of Chicago.  I have written about that here many times before.  Uncle Lar and Little Tommy doing Animal Stories.  Oh my.  Irony?  Robert Becker is from Chicago.

This past year I saw that Les Grobstein, who was once the WLS Sports Director, was celebrating 50 years in the business.  Albeit he got an early start, 50 years is still 50 years and Les is still going strong in Chicago at WSCR 670 The Score.  Good for him.

A year with no music.  That was 2020.

Justin Hayward at The City Winery in Nashville, October 30, 2019.  This was the last concert my dear wife, Carrie, and I attended.

Seems like a decade ago.  Justin was kind enough to send me a recorded message to pass along to Robert Becker this past Spring, as I conveyed to Justin of Robert’s selling the station and Robert’s devotion to playing a Moody Blues tune even when I wasn’t requesting the song.

I shouldn’t say a year with no music.  Shame on me.  You can look on YouTube and find Tuesday Afternoons with Justin Hayward.  This year he was kind enough to present a video series of acoustic renditions of songs both originally by The Moody Blues or solo material we had never heard outside the record.  It was very nicely done and there are many of them.  Thank you again, Justin.

Post #600.  How can that be?

I have commented on and shared photos from places and people from all over.  I have been blessed.

One of my favorite photos from Tunnel Hill Bridge.

Do we go on with it?  I guess so.  After all, it is one of the things I do.

Speaking the rights…and yes, GO HOOSIERS today against Ole Miss!

Danny Johnson

Well.  I wish I were more computer-interactive savvy.  I guess I’d rather write.

So I wrote a song to get a few thoughts to music and help me make better sense of some things.  Songs help me that way.  I have found meaning in some tunes years later after I have written them.

I recorded this tune on my phone, as I can’t get into Jefferson Carpenter’s studio yet.  This would have been simple in simpler times.  Tried to transfer it to YouTube.  Didn’t work.  Not for me, anyway.

So here are the lyrics to the tune.  Had fun writing it.

INDIANA FOOTBALL 2020 (I Believe)

V1

Well in Bloomington they line up eleven

Just as well as they line up five

You can sense a fear out there

Since Indiana football has come to life

I’ve seen it all my born days

Corso, Mallory and too many since

Empty stadiums in the best of times

I know all too well what its meant

Chorus

I believe in this Indiana Football Team

I believe in the way they play and what they mean

And thank you Coach Allen and your staff for all you’ve done

You know I have believed since day one

V2

So tell me what’s with the likes of ESPN

Running on the bottom of the screen

Why did they have to tell the world

Something so football obscene?

They made it a point day and night for you to know all too well

That the Hoosiers didn’t cross midfield

On the last drive against the precious Buckeyes

Do you think that made someone sleep well?

(Repeat Chorus)

Bridge in conversation style

So this Indiana football team has made some history

Imagine a team ranked number 7 in the AP poll

Playing a bowl game… against a team with a losing record

And you have to look down that same AP poll (if you have time)

All the way down to #22 to find the next ranked team

Playing in a bowl game… against a team with a losing record

In the parlance of Vince Lombardi I think he’d say

“What the hell’s going on out there” (YouTube it.  You’ll laugh.)

Repeat the chorus….fade out.

Have a Happy and Safe New Year’s Eve!

I wish you and yours the best.

Speaking the closing rights of 2020.

Danny Johnson

In earnest, I doubt a network TV graphics department could put together a photo like this in five minutes.  All my props were in one room, save the Liberty Bowl sweatshirt.  Had to run upstairs for it.  And the throws were in a separate room.  Too many memories and so many good times.

I was on the phone with Aunt Barbara in Brandon, Mississippi yesterday.  We go back and forth a great deal during football season.  We hold forth on the Ole Miss Rebels.  She has been a fan for many decades.  So have I.  She and I saw our first Ole Miss game together in 1989 which was about 18 months after her husband, my Uncle Durwood, passed away due to a brain tumor.  And so my affection for Ole Miss football took on new meaning.  It was and has been a significant  glue that has kept Aunt Barbara and myself in touch over the years.  We love to talk football.

We have been fortunate enough to see a few games together.  Games in Jackson in 1989 and 1991 against Arkansas.  In 1996 my dear wife, Carrie, and I went down for the LSU game in Oxford.  In 1999 my son, Jarrett, and I went down for the Georgia game in Oxford.  In 2002, Aunt Barbara came up for the UK game in Lexington.  I went down for the South Carolina game in Oxford in 2003.  That was Eli Manning’s senior year.  In 1994 Aunt Barbara came up here to watch Indiana play Minnesota.  And in 1996 she came up to watch Indiana host Penn State.  Between 2000 and 2013 I may have missed one Ole Miss game when they came up to play Vanderbilt. Dates have not been kind of late. Out of town or at another game. And I can’t leave out the game in Knoxville with Brother Bob Biddle and Davis.  Trying to forget the score.  I can play Rocky Top on guitar by memory. So there.  History is in place.

My parents were born in Mississippi.  My sister was too.  I was “on the way” when my folks moved to Brownstown, Indiana.  I first saw the light of day in Columbus, Indiana on March 18, 1968, the same year the Hoosiers played in the Rose Bowl.  I have a younger brother and he too was born in Indiana.  History is in place.

One of the last two college football stadiums I walked near was in Bloomington on November 23rd last year.  I was there at Memorial Stadium to watch Indiana play with my dear chum Adam Disque.

The other college stadium I was last near was in Oxford, Mississippi on December 26th of last year.  It seems like a lifetime ago.

The Grove was empty that day, just as it has been this football season.

I have a number of relatives who “finished” at Oxford.  I think they still say that in the South.  I hope so.  Oxford is a delightful place.

So is Bloomington, Indiana.  Much like Oxford, located in a town that is anything but a metropolis, Bloomington is easy to negotiate and get to know.

While I can rattle the dates of each of the Ole Miss games I have attended, including two bowl games, off in Tupelo minute, I can’t begin to tell you how many Indiana University Football games I have attended.  Too many to remember. My first memory is 1975.  I know I have mentioned it here before.  IU was playing Utah.  It was tangible proof to me that something from Utah did exist aside from a chunky state form I had seen on a map that Mrs. Anderson pulled down in front of the chalk board in our 1st grade classroom.

I’ve seen every Big Ten team play.  Even the newer kids on the block.  Back in the day when we played fewer games, the non-conference opponents that came calling were sturdier than most we get now.  USC and Marcus Allen came in 1981.  LSU came in 1977. Missouri was a regular for a while.  Kentucky and IU had a nice rivalry once upon a time.  Southern Miss showed in 1995.  My Dad has degrees from both schools.  Before the game he declared, “I can’t loose!”  He was wearing an IU sweatshirt with a USM t-shirt underneath.  He showed it off to all around believe it or not.

Precious memories.  In late October of 1988 I was visiting a friend in the Harrison County Hospital.  I picked up a sports magazine that was published in Indianapolis and was themed around all things sport-worthy in the state.  Joe Sparks, the Indianapolis Indians manager, was on the cover.  An insert photo on the cover featured former Warren Central and then quarterback at Illinois Jeff George.  I was nervously paging through the magazine not paying attention to much until I came across a story about Indiana defeating Kentucky the previous month.  My Mom and Dad and I had season tickets.  I looked at a photo of the crowd.  That’s where we sit, I told myself.

There we are near the top.  My Dad peering through binoculars.  Me in a maroon long-sleeved shirt somewhat rolled up along the forearms.  My Mom?  Well there is a space between Dad and me there.  Mom was on what I call one of her “field trips”.  We always had an aisle seat so she could roam easily.  That is a great aisle seat, as most of the field is to the right.  Now, I won’t mention names, but some of you Jackson County, Indiana-Americans may find someone else you know if you do the “Where’s Waldo” thing close enough.

In 1989 we were a few rows lower on the aisle when Indiana was upset by Purdue.  Lost a bowl game and probably a piece of hardware we don’t need to discuss.  Just when I was over Ken Anderson losing Super Bowl XVI, this came along. There is something to be said about the losses hurting worse than the victories feeling good.  I wish it weren’t that way.  But anyone who has laced up an athletic shoe knows.

Have you noticed?  I don’t want to talk about this Indiana-Ole Miss matchup.

Ohio State got the gold mine and Indiana got the shaft.  The Big Ten changes its rule to placate the blue-bloods and Indiana is #7 in the AP poll playing a team with a losing record.  No offense, Ole Miss. You know I love you.  What is worse, is the next team in the AP poll taking on a team in a bowl game with a losing record is #22 in the AP poll.  It’s unreal.  Indiana University Football just doesn’t compute with some.

The last team I want to see Indiana play is Ole Miss.  I have never rooted against the Rebels a day in my life.  But.  Know this.  On January 1, I hope Clemson beats Ohio State by 40.  Then, on January 2,  I hope Indiana beats Ole Miss by 40.  That is how pathetic all this is.  There is part of me that doesn’t want to watch any of it.

But, in the meantime, lets look back on better days.

With Andrew Evertts and Adam Disque.   Another tradition broken this year.

With Brother Tim and Michelle.

Brother Tim got me to T-Town last year.  I thank you again.

Took a picture of the scoreboard with the Rebs up 10-7.

Good times at Alabama.

I have been fortunate and blessed to have seen games in many stadiums.  Memorial Stadium will always be the college home stadium and it is the best place to watch a game. I have been in the press box, on the sideline, in every section on the east and west banks and in a few end zone sections with this one being the finest.

I am partial to the Block I on the helmets but that is my problem!

Bill Mallory.  I am sure he would enjoy what is happening for the Hoosiers now.

For me, this is what I have missed out on the most this year.  I am so glad that my dear wife, Carrie, enjoys going to football games with me.  In 2019 I attended nine college games and she was at six of them.  Looking forward to 2021.

So here’s to the 2020 Indiana Hoosiers!  Thank you Coach Tom Allen and your staff.  What a difference you have made in Bloomington.  Though the establishment of college football wants to hold their nose as they acknowledge your accomplishments, even your own conference, you have taken the high road and for that I am proud.  I have found that the high road never finds main street and your Indiana Hoosier Football team is better for it.  Hoosier Nation is better for it.  And that is more than enough.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

With complete thanks and regard to Buddy Holly and Don McLean, I feel myself that I may have taken too much liberty with the title of this post.  Disclaimer noted.

Written as I listen to the Velvet Elvis album What In The World produced by Velvet Elvis and my dear friend and partner in music, Jeff Carpenter in 1986.  My last CD was produced by Jefferson and we had some help on a couple tunes from Dan Trisko who is holding the guitar on the Velvet Elvis album cover.  I certainly appreciate all their efforts.

It was an email of all things that made me hang my head recently.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  3 dollars and 99 cents.  That is what AMAZON was wanting from me to acquire the new solo offering by Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney III.

As Andy Taylor would say, “That cut me.”

Now, I know times are tougher than they have ever been in my lifetime.  We’ve seen bad days.  But we weren’t wearing masks and trying to avoid death.  I am delighted that Paul McCartney’s album can be had for a small price.  Imagine how I felt when I looked on my Amazon Music Unlimited account and found this new Paul III waiting for me. 7 dollars and 99 cents a month and I can listen to anything including myself.

On the other hand, I still have a germ or two inside me that can’t accept an album by a Beatle can be acquired for less than 4 bucks. It can’t be.

Some of the greatest musical memories I have, prior to my finding out I can pick up a guitar and make something meaningful come out or my concert going, involve going to record stores as a kid just wading through what was, to me, a cheap art museum to visit.  I’d pick up copies of records that I knew I would never take home.  KISS, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and stuff like that.  In 1978 an album cost 7.99.  A double live or greatest hits album was 14.99.  I have said it before and I will remind you, this was when a concert ticket was 10 bucks instead of 100.  Artists made money making records THEN.

I was listening to The Bay City Rollers and could not get enough Barry Manilow.  The first time I saw the rocky coast of New Hampshire and Maine, I heard a piano opening.  The edgiest thing I had in my collection at 10 was probably Rod Stewart’s Footloose and Fancy Free.  Hot Legs was fun to listen to but the one I wanted to hear was the ballad, of course.  You’re In My Heart is still my favorite Rod Stewart song.

No, I have no grand illusion that I will make money from the music I make.  For fun I looked at my streaming account.  My tunes have been streamed and more rarely downloaded to the tune (sorry) of over 4800 times.  I will see a check when my residuals accrue 20 dollars.  Right now I have earned just over 11 bucks.

I make music because I love to do it and I am smart enough to take advantage of my resources, albeit not without substantial cost, and enjoy the talent the Good Lord has bestowed on me and the others in the room when we plug in and make it happen.

I used to look forward to release day at the record store which used to be Tuesday.  There was a board behind the counter indicating which releases were coming.  This was before, well, you know.  In 1989, long before we knew who farted in Pittsburgh twenty minutes ago,  The Moody Blues were on the release board.  They’d released the album Sur La Mer in 1988 which included their last Top 30 hit I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.  I had played that cassette raw.  I was ready for some new tunes.  The 1989 release?  I was disappointed.  It was a Greatest Hits album with two tunes reworked with proper orchestras under the direction of Anne Dudley.

And so it goes as 2021 is on the horizon.  I say bring it on!

My musical nerve will be tested a bit.  A couple days ago I wrote a song about the plight of the 2020 Indiana Hoosiers football team and the slights they have endured from their own league and the football broadcasting establishment.  As usual, it took about ten minutes.  Spewing out like cheeze whiz from a garden hose, as one wise man once put it.  I may have to present this song in some form before the bowl game on January 2nd.  We’ll see.

Take care of each other and keep on thinking free!  The tunes darn near are.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

I called ESPN.  They didn’t seem to care.  They’re too busy finding ways to help the Big Ten hose the Indiana Hoosiers Football team.  The Indiana Hosers.  That has a ring to it.

It is with great sadness that I report the postponement of this year’s Corner King Classic.  Given we won’t be playing this year, I suppose we could use the cancel word.  Maybe we’ll play 2 next year to make up for it.

The original flyer for the Corner King Classic which began in 2000 as a tribute to our dear friend Malcolm Todd “Corner King” Lincoln, Sr.  I look at a picture of the two us every day I am at home.  That has been a great many days in 2020.

Corner King passed away suddenly in August of 1997.  August 26th.  I remember it all too well.  Twenty-three years ago.  There is something to be said about things we never get over and have to get through.  I could be here days telling you stories of the fun we had and then how the Corner King, who never heard a song I ever recorded, is the one, with the help of my dear wife, Carrie, and the Good Lord, who drove me to pull a guitar strap over my head for the first time a month and a half after he died.  I was searching for the sound of music again and found it was inside my head and heart and always has been.  I found out when I was thirty that I can take a guitar and piece of paper and in a few minutes chances are I will find something that was not there a few minutes ago and it is not a difficult thing for me to find.  It is a gift I am delighted I discovered, no matter how late in life I did so.

So my Colonel Reb head cover will be lonesome this year.  For the past twenty years me, Gus Stephenson, Pete Rutherford, and Samonhead Samons have played some lousy golf, laughed more than we deserve, and came back to our house to eat Carrie’s fine vittles and take in a college football game and or a game of euchre.

It has been a good time.  2020 will be the first year we have not played this annual fiasco.  Since New Salisbury Golf Course is now closed, we play at English.

Samonhead admiring a tee shot last year.  We all did…and it was his!

Pete teeing off at the par 3 #4.

Gus, the perennial favorite teeing off.

It was cold last year.

The 2018 post game get together.

We have had some good times.  I am so ready for those to happen again and I know you are too.  Take care of each other!

Speaking the Corner King Classic Rights….

Danny Johnson

Looks like Clark’s here.

Oh my.  How’s it going, group?  Do us all a favor and stay safe this Christmas Holiday season.  I know it is tough.  Believe me.  I know it is tough.  None of this is meant to be flippant.  This is serious and unfortunately serious is at a premium in 2020.  Believe it.  Somewhere there is still a central truth and a heartbeat that keeps us together, no matter what other forces try to tear us apart. Better days are ahead.

Football wise, everyone in the country knows the Indiana Hoosiers were victims of football politics and denied their rightful date in Indianapolis today to play Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship.

Do you have any idea how it feels to listen to pundits talk about Tennessee and Auburn and so on wanting Indiana’s football coach to be their new guy?  Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  And I hope he shows up today in Indy and helps Northwestern leave Ohio State, the Big Ten, the CFP, et al, a huge piece of coal upwards!

On to the picks.

Northwestern beats Ohio State...Peyton Ramsey.  Peyton winning in Indy?  Like the sound of that.  Go Wildcats!

Iowa State beats Oklahoma….It is 2020.

Texas A&M beats Tenn….Rocky Day for Rocky Top.

Mississippi State beats Missouri…It is 2020.

Ole Miss beats LSU…Coach O needs this one.  Rebs win it anyway.  Rebs winning a great many recruits to.  Merry Flipmas?  Lane Train flipping recruits like hotcakes.

Notre Dame beats Clemson…Turnovers.  ND will make it happen.  I believe that.  Not an Irish fan.  Never have been.  But, it is 2020.  They want to prove they can beat Clemson with Lawrence in the game too.  My satellite provider is in a rhubarb with a tv channel company in 2020 during a pandemic?  That is how much greed and carelessness we are dealing with in this country and is emblematic of way too much.  It won’t be on my TV screen today and I will miss it on many levels.

Penn State beats Illinois…Coach Lovie Smith got it at Illinois.  Hope he was ready to go.

UCLA beats Stanford…Not a more haunting scene to me than an empty Rose Bowl as a game is being played.

Alabama beats Florida…Only one thing will defeat Bama this year.  Hope they all stay safe and healthy.

Arizona State beats Oregon State…And will be fun to watch if you can hang with a game at 1 AM EDT.

Have a good day, everyone.  Take care of each other.  And speak the rights!

Danny Johnson

We just don’t always get around to having speaks of Thanksgiving that we need to.

I don’t know how else to put it.  I am always glad when I hear from my Mom that she has sent someone a card or a short letter.  I know what that means.  I try to live up to that too.  A trip to the mailbox was testament to that earlier today and I hope the chap I desire to liven up a day for finds the spirit of the intent.  It is not a difficult thing to do.

But, days turn into months and months turn into years and you look around and you realize that this is where you are now at this moment and, yes, there are many things that you could have done differently.  That is where I am today as I type these words.

Darryl Kidd and I were always friendly.  I liked him.  I liked him a great deal.   Darryl was in a room with me at the Medora Community School Corporation Administrative Office in 2002 and it was a day that changed my life for the better.  I never told him that.  I wish I had.  I’d like to believe that was a given.  But I would have liked to of looked him in the eye, man to man, and said thank you again.

Jim Stewart called me and asked that I come back to work at Medora Schools in 2002.  He was the principal and needed a school counselor and he wanted me to be the one to do it.  I told Chief, I called him Chief, that I did not have a counseling license.  Chief told me I would get one.  He was persuasive that way.  And so it was.  On a day in early August I met with then school superintendent Drew Day and school board member Darryl Kidd.  I was familiar with both of these guys.  I taught one of Darryl’s sons.

These two looked at me and told me they wanted me to come back to Medora to help the students there.  I was there for two-plus years from March 1998 till the end of 2000.  Let me just say when I was asked back, I told Jim Stewart I will be there the next day if need be.  We settled on the next school year, 2002-2003, for starters.

What I was given by these gentlemen is a chance that does not come around very often in the education business.  They let me work toward, and slowly pay for as I went, my master’s degree in school counseling from the University of Louisville.  I started in the fall of 2002 and finished in the spring of 2007.  At the end of the tunnel I had my degree and paid for it along the way.  Some of those tuition bills were hard swallows nonetheless.  It would have never worked out this way had U of L and IUS not hammered out recent, at the time, reciprocity agreements. Graduate hours are not cheap.

Needless to say, Darryl Kidd was very instrumental is putting me in a position to succeed.  I did just that.  All told I was fortunate to be employed by Medora Schools for more than fifteen years.  Being an old Jackson County boy, it was not as long of a drive as some believe it was.  I left Medora at the right time at the end of the 2015 school year.  It worked out fine, thanks in part to folks like Darryl Kidd.

Darryl Kidd died this past Thursday, December 10th at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indy after a prolonged illness.  At Medora, Darryl would just show up at my office unannounced, help himself to a seat and always ask modestly, “Is everything going okay, Dan?”  He was there to help me.  I knew it then.  But it means more now, given I have a few more years and more experience to weigh it all.  I have been blessed in this business.  I have been surrounded by good folk at every stop.

Darryl Kidd is on the far left in this photo at a Medora Prom in 1999 is my guess.  There are some legends here for sure.

My thoughts and prayers to Darryl Kidd’s family and all who knew and loved him.

Yesterday I took a good walk for the first time in a long time.  I have been under the weather.  I always say better under the weather than under the ground.  A touch of bronchitis and a sinus infection.  I’m still here.  And yesterday I found some helpful light before the winds came in and the afternoon temperatures betrayed us.

I’m not going to say that Darryl Kidd was in that sunshine that felt so good.  And I am not going to say that he wasn’t!  But yesterday, for a while, everything was indeed going okay for Dan.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson