One. It shows people from all walks of life united around a cause. From former Presidents to movie stars to that large lady sitting on her porch scared to death of the impending cold water, people are taking the challenge and sharing it. We are a united people and it is easy to forget that because there is so much in the world that tears us apart. But our founding fathers knew there was something to this experimental idea of bringing people from different backgrounds together. I want you to know that this is a good thing.

Just like the pain of the ice cold water shocking your skin, our nation has experienced many painful situations that have threatened to end the experiment.  But we, as a people, are stronger than that.

Two. It is so funny watching grown people drop a bucket of ice water on their heads. It is cool to laugh at yourself and not always take yourself so serious. I have so much respect for those who have taken this challenge. I have enjoyed the creative expression many of you have shown, from Tom Cruise’ many buckets of cold water to the Vanilla Ice rapping ladies in front of their pool.

The only way we will heal race relations in this world is going to be through laughter, because there is too much to cry about on both sides. It is time for everyone to step back and stop taking themselves so serious.

Three. I have learned a lot about ALS in a few days of social media than I would have in weeks of classes. I am inspired by Pete Frates story.  I love how God can take our struggles and make it a triumphal moment. I hope Pete is enjoying watching people all over the world dump ice on their heads.  Even more so, I hope he is in awe of the money sent to the ALS foundation who went from $2 million a year ago to more than $41 million  to date.

If there were a similar challenge around race relations we could deal with issues in a clever, funny way.

Four. Beware of the people who say disparaging things about the challenge. Yes, there are other things happening in the world, but if you can’t take a couple of minutes to unite with us, you are the problem.  If you can connect on this issue, it opens doors to connect on other issues. If you only want to connect on your issues… you are the problem.

Five. The Bible tells us that there will always be struggles in this world until the Lord comes back.  But occasionally He gives us these moments where we can enjoy each other and laugh. We can participate or watch.  But lets all appreciate how ALS and this challenge has made us a united people again reaching out to one another and supporting a good cause that needs some attention.

Peace and Hair Grease

Family Tree is moving right along. It is still in editing. In the next week, we will start work on graphics and scoring. 

Last night, I was reminded of one of my influences as a director and performer. Charlie Chaplin. I found myself caught up in a documentary on Charlie Chaplin as he began to hone the character The Tramp. I am mesmerized by him as a performer and producer.  I love his comedy because he knew what would make people laugh.  He wasn’t afraid to take a risk and he worked at it very hard, one scene had 262 takes! As I watched scenes shot in 1917 and wondered how did it, I was too captivated by his work to switch channels and go back to the show I was watching.

Chaplin created moments that just made me go “Wow.” I mean it has been almost a hundred years and the bits he created on film still pulled people in.  That is what I want. People will still be watching bits from my work a hundred years from now and laughing.

Like Chaplin, I believe that laughter has healing properties. I think we take ourselves too serious.  We need to laugh loud and often.

TCM ran a documentary on Charlie Chaplin titled Birth of a Tramp.  It said Chaplin went against conventional wisdom and doubled the length of comedy films. Audiences were used to 20 minute comedy shorts. Chaplin increased his to 40 minutes. He felt he needed more time to tell his story and knew the audience would like it. He was right.

He knew what he wanted to do and he did it. I work the same way. I know what I want and I am going to do it. Don’t tell me the rules or how it won’t work.  Either get on board or get out the way. Thanks Charlie.

Peace and Hair Grease

For a young woman who spent most of her life in fear, she was doing things she had never imagined. She left the world of adding numbers together and entered the world of private investigation.
ReCovery is the story of her first solo mission. Claire races modern day pirates for treasure hidden in the mountains.

You can get a free Kindle edition of this book Sunday, August 3. If you download it, write a review.

Post Production continues. Our hard work is with the editors right now. I remember explaining to them my vision for this project and how excited I was. I giggle as I think about it. The more I talked about it, the more enthused I was about it. It was hilarious.

But I was just telling someone that if you don’t believe in your project, others will have a hard time seeing the vision. Many folks in this cast took my vision and made it their own. It was so much fun to watch.

God packed this project with talent and heart. It was a privilege to lead this group.

We are still working on graphics and scoring which will compliment the story. We are heading towards the end. This project has been an incredible journey. I look forward to us all celebrating together.

Peace and Hair Grease
Karen

I know I have said this before, but I wanted to say it again. Thank you to all of the people who donated to the making of Family Tree.

I love what God can do to a life poured out to Him. This is an amazing journey and I am glad He brought this group of people along. You can see their names if you click my list of supporters.

I pray that the Lord God will bless you pressed down, shaken together and running over. Eph 3:20.

Here is the first trailer for the movie, Family Tree.

Let me apologize first, because I am not an video editor. I don’t have the patience. I recognize that there are some technical glitches, but hey, this is the first of many trailers for this project. I hope it peeks your interests and you take this journey with us.

Family Tree is a dramedy that tells the story of an African American family that do not like each other, but is forced into having a family reunion by one of the members. The story explores family dynamics and what is family. Is it blood or relationship? And what does one have to do with the other?

Family Tree is the story of a family who don’t like each other, but find out that through thick and think they love each other. The family matriarch, Flora Jones, is challenged by her granddaughter, Kate to have a family reunion. Flora knew her children couldn’t speak two kind words to each other, less lone share a meal or party together.

One of the things I learned about storytelling from the Bible is that sometimes a person is important, sometimes a situation is important. Some bible stories start off with “Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found in Israel.” (1 Samuel 9:2) This tells us Saul is key to the story. Then there are bible stories like “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak,” (Matthew 9:20) This points us to the situation, and doesn’t bother us with names.

In telling the story of Family Tree, sometimes the character was important, sometimes the situation was important. There were days when the actors and crew looked at me like I had lost my mind. I would say, “Don’t worry about the line, just do this!” and I would give them some piece of action to complete. Sometimes these jokers came with their own actions. There was a lot of laughing. Some of the characters you are going to remember, some of the situations are going to make you laugh for decades. There are many standout moments in the picture, but I know an amazing ensemble was formed. You will see it.

I enjoyed this story. I enjoyed watching the actors bring it to life. But I loved watching what God did with the story that went beyond my original vision for it. Every person who participated brought something that was significant. It was cool watching them become a family. As we were wrapping up, some hated to leave. They loved watching each other work. Only God’s presence can bond people like that. It was a privilege to lead them.

I confess that I prayed over every actor and all of the crew before we ever turned the cameras on. I spent the last 30 to 40 days on my knees praying for His intervention. Upon getting up from that position, I learned to accept and receive what He delivered, regardless of if it looked like what I imagined. I trust Him. He knows what He’s doing.

We finished principal photography in June. We will spend July working on graphics. It will head to the editors at the beginning of August. I know that He who began a good work in us will see it through to the finish. I can’t wait to share it with you.
Peace and Hair Grease.
Karen