A Big Star In Many Ways

films over three years.

He had reached stardom. He mentored other actors including Charlie Chaplin and Bob Hope. He brought Buster Keaton from vaudeville to Hollywood to star in many of own films as well as co- first trial, the jury voted 10-2 for acquittal. The second trial had a deadlocked jury. At the third trial on April 12, 1922 the jury acquitted him after five minutes deliberation. It didn’t matter that he was declared innocent; it was the first major reer was ruined. He later changed his name to William Goodrich and stayed behind the scenes as a director. Ten years later, he died on June 6, 1932. The trials had not only ruined his standing as a major movie star, but they also ruined him financially. star with Arbuckle in others.

He was born Roscoe Conklin Arbuckle. He never liked the nickname Fatty. He used to say he wasn’t funny because he was fat; he was funny and entertaining because of his acting ability. He said he would have been comedic even if he was thin.

There’s a chance to see two of Arbuckle’s silent film classics at the Historic Park Theatre. The theatre has scheduled silent movies for Sunday, June 4 at 2 p.m. In “Out West” Fatty is a drifter who wanders into a western town and saves the residents from the evils of Wild Bill Hiccup, played by his nephew Al St. John. Most of the action takes place in the Last Chance Saloon owned by Bill Bullhorn played by Buster Keaton.

The second film is “The Bellboy” where Arbuckle and Keaton play bellboys in a not-so-normal hotel with various hysterical antics throughout the film. In both films there’s a girl (there’s ALWAYS a girl) who becomes the object of Fatty’s affections.

The third film is “The Rink” starring Charlie Chaplin. Not only do you get to see Chaplin’s acting ability, you also get to see his roller skating skills. There was no extra or stuntman for Chaplin; he does his own roller skating and is quite accomplished.

All films will be accompanied by ragtime pianist Scott Wilseck, who has played piano music as background to countless silent films. Not only will Scott fit appropriate tunes to the action on the screen, he will entertain the audience with lively piano music for a half hour before the movies begin. Scott will play on the 100+ year old piano which sits in the oldest movie theatre west of the Mississippi River.

The fabulous career came crashing down to tragedy when he was charged with the murder of actress Virginia Rappe. There were several trials. At the

Hollywood scandal and his took a tremendous toll on his career. Following the trials, he was banned from films. Eight months later the ban was lifted but the damage was irreparable and his ca-

So this is a chance to see three great stars of the silent era: Chaplin, Arbuckle and Keaton as well as listen to great piano music in the background.

Reigning Champions Of Statewide Natural Hazards Competition, EPMS Club Wins Cash Prize and Recognition For Environmental Work

Congratulations are in order for the Estes Park Middle School Environmental Resilience Team for taking 1st place in the statewide Earth Force RISE (Resilience. Innovation. Sustainability. Environment.) Challenge sponsored by lands” focused on advocating for change at the state level to support senate bill 23-166, the Creation of a Wildfire Resilience Code Board, which outlines Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) sented their work to Estes Park community members at an Earth Day event as well as had the opportunity to present their proposal at a town board meeting. and the Association of State Floodplain Managers Foundation. The middle school team includes Eva Carosello, Talisa codes. This April, the students traveled to our state’s Capitol to meet with Senator Cutter to show their support for the

Rushing, Zia Velani, Eric Vega, Lela Fortini, Maya Brandewie, Amelia Watry, Carsyn Zehr and Quinn Battin. 6th grade science teacher, Ravi Davis, sponsors the team.

The team collaborated with the Estes Valley Watershed Coalition to assist with their wetland restoration project along Fish Creek as well as help with restoration efforts in Rocky Mountain National Park. As for the team’s future plans, they are hoping to build upon their environmental awareness and continue collaborative efforts with our community partners.

None of this work would be possible without the support of local community members who provided guidance and encouragement throughout this project. The team would like to especially thank Chief Wolf of the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, the Estes Valley Watershed Coalition, and Koren Nydick with Rocky Mountain National Park.

Many years ago a book was written by Thomas Harris, a psychologist, to address the problem that many children have in growing up…to believe in themselves and feel that they are ‘OK’. So many children grew up in families where their parents let them feel, early on, “You’re not OK!” Words from parents or other adults, even other children, like: ‘stupid’, ‘disgusting’, ‘ugly’, ‘bad’, ‘loser’, can leave a lasting impression on a child, making them believe “I’m not okay”, as they grow older. This low self-esteem contributes to behavior in later years that almost always negatively impacts society. We’ve perhaps heard the phrase: ‘Self-fulfilling prophecy’, and that certainly is borne out in the lives of many young people. “If I’m bad…and I’m convinced I am…then I’ll show them ‘bad’!” How many crimes are you aware of that are committed by high-self-esteemed people? Every one of us needs to remind our children that they are quality people, children who can be proud of themselves, and children of whom we are very proud. That does not mean that we overlook their failures or fail to exercise proper discipline, but that we love them and are proud of every positive achievement and supportive in their every endeavor … whether they win or lose. Let them grow up knowing “I’m OK” and “Dad and Mom, You’re OK!” So, in that respect, “I’m OK and you’re OK” is not wrong.

The title above is designed to remind us of the need to always strive to do / be better in every endeavor we’re involved in, whether parenting, marital responsibilities, our social interactions, our efforts at our work…the list goes on. The reason for our focus is that too many people look at themselves and their activities and say: “I’m OK!” leading to a spirit of self-satisfaction, contributing to a lack of initiative to ‘go higher’. As a result, many could be ‘great’, that are content to be ‘good’. During his presidency President Abraham Lincoln attended a worship service with some of his closest friends. After the service, he was asked by one of them how he would rate the sermon. He replied, “His sermon was well organized. He had his thoughts well in mind”. But, he continued, “His sermon was a failure!” When asked ‘why’, he said, “He didn’t ask us to do anything great!” Life is all about doing things ‘great’…or at least ‘greater’.

I’m happy to say that I’m a Denver Nuggets’ fan, because I witness the spirit that should be in each of us to ‘do something great’. Nikola Jokic, for one, is one whom we can, and should, emulate in any activity that means a lot to us. As the two-time MVP, the ‘Joker’ is not satisfied with being ‘good’, or even ‘great’, as he plays at the level he does right now. At every opportunity he is out there on the court, practicing his shooting, passing, and doing all the things he already does well, trying to do even greater things.

What about in those areas that have eternal value? Recently I read an article …actually a sermon…entitled ‘A Good Enough Sermon’. Having preached thousands of sermons in my lifetime as a minister, I was interested in what makes a ‘good enough’ sermon. The ‘good enough’ was not about the sermon at all…it was about a man who thought he was ‘good enough’, and came to Jesus to get that verified. He’s often called ‘the rich young ruler’ and his story is told in Luke 18. He proudly shared with Jesus the good life he had been living…from his youth up. Therefore ‘he was good enough!’ he thought. Jesus quickly showed him what ‘he lacked’. Sadly, the young man went away, refusing to move on to discipleship and ‘heavenly treasure’.

I’ve said all this to say, ‘I’m not OK!’ and ‘You’re not OK!’…as you are. God expects us to ‘go up higher’. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Be ye perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48) In the Hebrew letter we are told to “Go on to ‘perfection’ (‘maturity’). In other places, Paul states God’s goal for ‘everyone to be perfect’, having ‘perfect love’, and other spiritual qualities. “We’re not OK”…we can do better. With this goal in mind, beginning this coming Sunday morning at 9:30, I have the privilege of beginning a series of lessons about ‘Reaching for Perfection’ at our 9:30 AM class time. You are invited to join us for that challenging series. I also invite you to be there at the 10:30 worship hour to hear my son, Kevin Lewis, a preacher and teacher from Iowa, begin his series on: ‘Jesus, according to the Gospel of John’. You will be blessed…and so will we.

Bob Lewis

Summer Vacation

How quickly winter turns to summer here. Most years we don’t seem to have much of a spring at all. Except for this year. This year, winter was very long and now spring seems to be dawdling as well. The rain, as good as it is for Colorado’s reservoirs, added an element of unease as alerts of flash flooding beeped across my phone. Even this very minute, the clouds are gathering above me. Fortunately, I happened across an article by Dan Rather where he shared the story of his first summer, family vacation as a boy. For a time, it took me away from my worries about climate change and Colorado’s crazy, unpredictable weather. Summer vacations. Rather’s written words reminded me of my first summer holiday with my family as a 10-year-old girl. Like Rather, I also remembered the salty smell of the ocean, the feel of warm wooden planks under my feet, and the sun brilliantly sparkling across the waves. Rather wrote about the great Galveston seawall while I have lovely memories of historic ships in the Mystic harbor. His family traveled from Houston to Galveston, Texas and about 20 years later my family traveled from upstate New York to Mystic, Connecticut. The feelings of being a child and traveling to some new exciting location crammed into the car’s backseat with a younger brother were the same. The weeks before Memorial Weekend in Estes Park, residents are frantically busy preparing for the flood of summer tourists on their family vacations. This year I find myself smiling and reminiscing about my first family vacation. On the aforementioned trip to Mystic, my family stayed in a small, 4-room cottage a couple of blocks away from the beach. Tired green-yellow grass pushed up through the sandy yard. We couldn‘t tell the sun-weathered cottage’s color, maybe yellow. Next door on both sides, were cottages looking very much the same. I must have been about ten, my brother about 8 and I’m pretty sure there was a new baby sister probably about 9-10 months old. These were the days when moms held onto their babies in the front bench seats of automobiles sans seatbelts. This mom was our newish stepmother and though that was not something I was happy about, the fact that she was able to talk my Dad into going on vacation awarded her lots of brownie points that summer.

Mystic is known for its collection of sailing ships and for the re-creation of an entire 19th-century seafaring village. On the first day, we all trouped up and down the boardwalks of the seaport and boarded the sailing ships as well as the last surviving wooden whaleship in the world. Wandering around the village looking at crafts and peeking into 19thcentury storefronts, I was searching for small bags of rock candy. All of this was semi-interesting for a 10-year-old whose true interest was getting into the ocean. It was now too late for that but promises were made about the next day. We went back to the cottage which was equipped with a kitchen where my stepmom could cook all our meals instead of going out to restaurants. I’m sure we all would have preferred restaurants, especially Mom.

The next day, I was up early and dressed to jump in the ocean. But, I had to wait the prescribed hour after breakfast so I wouldn’t get cramps and wait out the excruciatingly long time it took everyone to finish breakfast, get into their bathing suits, feed and change the baby, etc. Finally, I could see the long peer that was packed with kids all about my age. After getting one final lecture about ocean safety, I was jumping from the pier with all my new pals. We would bob back up and grab a piling to hold onto and then do it all over again. I loved the feel of the waves pulling at me and the taste of the briny sea. I’m sure my parents were around but I didn’t feel particularly watched over. The early 60s were a time of freedom from helicopter parenting. Even in the ocean. I just remember laughing, jumping off the pier, hiding from my brother, tugging on my bathing suit, and wishing these days would never end.

I was hanging out with a local girl whose name I don’t remember now. Probably Kathy or Linda or Betty Ann. Later in the afternoon, she said, “Let’s go to the candy store.” And thinking about that rock candy, I said, “Sure!” And when she said her brother could give us a ride to the store in his car, I said, “Neat!” So we fell into the back seat of his car throwing our towels over the seat to prevent the plastic from burning our legs and we headed down the road. I had zero idea where we were going but I didn’t really give it a thought. I was on vacation! I found out later when my mom asked my brother where I was, he said I’d gotten in a car with some guy and driven away.

When I got back, my stomach bursting with candy, it was dusk and my parents were standing outside watching and waiting. “What did you think you were doing Mary, getting into a strange car with a strange person without so much as telling us?” My mom was furious. That was the last spanking I ever got and at age 10 I could not believe that was happening. I was way too big to be spanked. I also got quite the talking to about strangers and getting into cars and going somewhere without getting permission. The next day I learned about “restriction,” which meant not being allowed to leave the house or play with anyone for the rest of our stay. I had to remain on the porch and couldn’t even go out into the parched yard let alone the beautiful blue ocean. That was the first time I was on restriction but definitely not the last.

Still, in spite of getting in trouble, I remember that week fondly. That was the only time my family vacationed in a cottage by the sea.

Mary Mesropian has lived in the Estes Park area since 1994 and is a new SoulCollage® Facilitator. She also teaches collage and art journaling. Her email is maryruthdancer@yahoo.