- Not only is Cloud Creek Ranch the home Gwen the Beautiful
and I share with various furry and feathery friends, it's also a school
where people come from all over the world to study media writing and production.
I always find the students fascinating and love being around their talent
and zeal.
-
- Last week, we had our most impressive student yet. A
Chicago high school freshman I call Conan. At 14 years old, he's a 6-foot-5,
325-pound defensive tackle who plays football not because he loves it (he
doesn't), but because he's a certified genius with an IQ literally off
the charts, and he wants to leverage his size as much as possible so he
isn't mocked by other kids.
-
- In return for a crash course in video editing, Conan's
been helping Burl Jr. the New Caretaker and me with the chores this week.
He's been feeding the animals, clearing brush, mending fences. Feeling
what it's like to be part of the land. It's been eye-opening to experience
life from the perspective of a Barely-A-Teenager who proved himself not
only to be brilliant but also wide open to whatever comes his way.
-
- At first, Conan was all kid. "My mom says you created
the Silver Surfer," he said to me as he brushed out Huck the Spotless
Appaloosa's snarled tail.
-
- "Kind of," I said. "I helped start up
the TV version."
-
- "I remember that," Conan said. "I was
about 5. The Surfer was awesome."
-
- Then: "Um what were his powers again?"
-
- "The Power Cosmic."
-
- "The Power Cosmic! Wow!"
-
- The next day, a FedEx truck pulled up with a package.
A baseball cap and T-shirt for a new film. Conan, who couldn't fit into
either of them in two million years, gazed at these holy artifacts in awe.
"How'd you get those?" he said.
-
- "I'm a friend of the director," I said.
-
- "The director! Wow!"
-
- By the third day, Conan was demonstrating a lot more.
-
- "You were right about this video editing program
being tricky," he said as his hands flashed across the computer keyboard.
"So, I remapped the keys to make it more intuitive. And I've already
cut together the first half of my video."
-
- "In one day? It would take me a week to do that."
-
- "Here, take a look."
-
- Conan leapt up and carried our old oak bench across the
room to the monitor as though it weighed nothing instead of a hundred pounds.
-
- Gwen and I sat down together. She looked at the bench.
At Conan. At the first half of Conan's video. "There's a word for
this," she said. "Wow!"
-
- On the fourth day, Conan revealed yet another side. He,
Burl Jr. and I were outside at dawn as Cloud Creek did one of its magic
things. We were over by the hay shed when Conan noticed that Huck and Elaine
the Not So Wild Mustang seemed to be missing from the corral.
-
- "Where are the horses?" he said worriedly.
"Do they go deep into the woods at night?"
-
- "Not too deep," I said. "The corral doesn't
go beyond that first stand of trees."
-
- "Then why can't I see them - ?"
-
- Conan broke off as Huck and Elaine appeared through the
mist 50 yards from the fence. He stared. "They're not coming from
the trees," he said. "They're taking shape in front of them.
But how? Where'd they go?"
-
- Huck ambled over to the fence. Whickered a greeting.
Conan reached out to rub Huck's neck, and saw something he didn't expect.
-
- "His mane is braided!" Conan looked over at
Elaine. "So's Elaine's! But they weren't braided last night!"
-
- "The Good Ole Boys call those 'witches' knots,'"
Burl Jr. said.
-
- "To get witches' knots they'd have to be where there
were witches," Conan said. He smiled broadly. "They go someplace
very special at night, don't they? Someplace that's not exactly here in
this world. Am I right?"
-
- "You sound like you're pretty OK with that idea,"
I said.
-
- "More than OK," said Conan. "I love it.
I mean - "
-
- The three of us said it together:
-
- "Wow!"
-
- Teaching isn't always all it's cracked up to be. But
students like Conan make up for just about anything. I feel like I've been
in the presence of a superhero in training.
-
- Cloud Creek Ranch has turned into Professor X's Academy.
Be hopeful all ye who read this. A new generation of champions is growing.
The best is yet to be.
-
-
-
- ***
-
- Copyright C 2006 by Larry Brody. For permission to reprint
this column, please write to LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org.
-
- ******
- Author Larry Brody's weekly column, LIVE! FROM PARADISE!
appears on his website, www.larrybrody.com. He has written thousands of
hours of network television, and is the author of "Television Writing
from the Inside Out" and "Turning Points in Television."
Brody is Creative Director of The Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts, the
world's first in-residence media colony. More about his activities can
be seen on www.tvwriter.com and www.cloudcreek.org. He welcomes your comments
and feedback at LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org. Brody, his wife and their dogs,
cats, horses and chickens live in Marion County, Arkansas. The other residents
of the mythical town of Paradise reside in his imagination.
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