It's been an interesting last couple of days

    Just got back from a big Picnic for the Royal Arts and I am beat. Nothing like being part of a group of old guys trying to play a game of touch Football. I think I will be reminded in the morning that I am not as young as I think I am anymore.
   But anyway the last couple of days have been interesting in the news. But there is one thing I feel like chatting about right now and that is about Lance Armstrong. Those of you that know me know that I am a big support of Lance and a member of the Livestrong Army. So, where I fall I the lines is actually pretty simple. Leave the guy alone and let him do the work he does now! Stop trying to ruin him and what he did by calling him a cheat. How many times did he test? How many times did he fail?He didn't fail once.
   Still the witch hunt went on because if those few that one it once or twice cheated and got caught then someone that had to win it seven times had to cheat. But in the process of going after him you just proved that testing in the sport is useless. Even though he passed you didn't get the result you wanted so you beat him down until he is tired. It's funny I am reading some different things about the Tour de France. So many of these riders have had their titles stripped from testing positive but in the Tour's eyes some of them are still considered Champions. The sport is messed up.
    Here's the thing about this that kills me thought. There are people out there that are comparing this to Melky Caberra, and Joe Paterno. If you are doing that Stop. Really please stop! There is no comparison, Melky was an idiot. And Paterno well that's another story. Lance never got caught and he didn't let some horrible crimes go on for way to long.
      The thing that is cool about this whole thing is Nike isn't going to drop him. Glad to see it! Smart move for Nike.

     So now he is done with all and walked away from the sport he loved to go back to fighting a bigger baddy and we are glad that he is back.

       Livestrong!

A lesson learned...

It's interesting when you learn something while you are on vacation. Now for those of you that no me know I am from Jersey. I have been to NYC plenty of times to see family and go to games. But the thing is a lot of the sites that the city is no for I have never seen that is until this trip.

When my wife and I had a conversation about this she was surprised to know I have never made it out to see Lady Liberty. Then when she asked me why I told her that it never was a priority. Not a priority to see one of the great landmarks of this great country!

I don't know if that was the way I was brought up or just one of those things that we just took for granted. I knew that needed to change and didn't want that to be the same for my child. So it took me 38 years to finally get out there to see her and it was worth it. It was also one of the highlights of vacation for my daughter.

Now the thing that makes this even more interesting is that a lot of the people I knew were the same way and never really thought about seeing it an other things also. I did this for the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center. Got to see at least one of the two of them.

So, I am curious if those of you that are reading this believes the same thing. Do we take what is in our backyard for granted? Do you want to change that for your kids?

The statue of JoePa

So reading some of the headlines today I see the President of Penn State is ordering JoePa's statue to be taken down. I think this is a move that is a way for the school to save face and show they are trying to move forward. But the thing is how to you change something that was going on for so long. You can't erase a Legacy especially one like his. You can't forget the things he did for the school as well as the football program. Next are they going to say that those names are going to be like Voldemort in Harry Potter? You can't say them.

This is history and sometimes history is something you can't forget no matter how hard you try. We spend our lives trying to make a legacy and because of one decision he made to not do the right thing the school he loved wants to bury him in the books.

So, I am curious to hear what other people think on this. What would you do if you were the President of Penn State? Would you order the statue down and why?

Thanks for reading.

What makes a good hero?

As a writer, we have the opportunity to create characters and when we do we all want to create that character that everyone remembers.Just think of some of your favorite books and you can tell me who the main characters were. But to be able to create that character especially the hero that everyone remembers well that's just magic.

Now, what makes a good hero character? If you look back to the characters that Hemingway wrote about there was a certain attribute that made then very compelling.They played. They played with pain and they played with pain gracefully. This was how it was described in the words of my sixth grade English teacher when we were talking about The Old Man and the Sea. Not a book you would expect to talk about when it came to a good hero character but it was one that stuck in my head for all these years.

The thing is that can still apply to the good Hero characters now. Two examples I can look at are Thomas Hunter from Ted Dekker's Circle Series and Scott Harvath from Brad Thor's Series. These two writers created characters that played through some serious pain and came trough it. That is why I think we remember those character's the best.

But now with the way the world is now are those characters still good heroes? If not then what makes a good hero for  today's time?

Do you agree? Take a look at those characters you remember from the books you read and let me know what you think. Why are they a good Hero character to you?

Thanks for taking the time to read.

A new beginning....

Well it seems kind of odd for some people that have been following me that I would title this blog a new beginning because really what have I done. And in some way you are right, I really haven't done anything that out of the ordinary.

But that is the reason for the change. It's time for an upgrade and it's time to do something different so I just won't be another writer trying to make a name for myself in the big pool of writers that are all trying to do the same thing. Over the next several posts an experiment will be going on, I am going to try some different things and see what works and what doesn't work. It's going to be a way to see where this idea is going to take me because really when it comes down to it. I am tired of just being another writer trying to get a deal. I have a message that needs to be heard and it's time to sound off. So come and join me for the ride and let's see where this is going to go.

Oh and in case you are wondering what ever happened to the emkeelan.com website. I decided that it needed to be taken down. It wasn't where I wanted it to be, and I wasn't putting out material that was good enough for those of you that have been on the ride with me so far.

So once again thank you for sticking around and hopefully this next part of the ride is going to be a little less bumpy.

Thanks.