When "Good Morning America" Came to My House

I've had a lot of experiences that never would have happened if I hadn't joined the Legion.

A good example would be the afternoon "Good Morning America" came to my house.

First lap through Gilroy.
Taken in the garlic fields
at the end of my street.

It was last August and I'd been working for months so our garrison could cross the Golden Gate Bridge with Kevin Doyle of "the 501 Mile Walk."  I'd walked with Kevin on his journey down the coast, (in my armor, of course), and he'd stayed with my family here in Gilroy.  We discussed the idea of doing a big ending to his walk.

 And, it was a good thing it took him the entire summer to walk down to San Diego and back.  It took that long to acquire all of the permits and complete all of the logistics to pull this event off.  Lucas film wanted to get involved.  (Obviously this thing was a Public Relations goldmine.)  We invited the four other California garrisons, plus all of the other Star Wars fan groups.  And, the general public.  So, we had to coordinate it all through the Golden Gate Bridge Authority the same as if we were doing a marathon.  Oh, and there was construction going on around the bridge in the areas where you would normally stage and park.  Ah, anyway, it was a joy to coordinate.

All of that aside, in addition to all of the coordinating, I also volunteered for the job of calling all of the reporters.  We have two other press officers in the garrison, but I actually like doing PR.  OK, I love it.  This was the part of the event that was actually fun for me.

So, I spent the entire week leading up to the event compiling an enormous contact list and cold calling all these reporters.  This was the first time we'd do an event of this scope, so I was creating this list from scratch.  These were all cold calls.  I had no relations with any of these folks.  All I had to go on was the hope I was very, very good at what I do and the fact this was an irresistible story.

No nibbles for the first day.

Sigh.  Maybe I wasn't as good as I thought.

One phone call on the second from a small paper.  Ah, it was something.

Third day, a phone call from a major newspaper.   I did a ridiculous happy dance around my living room, (and stepped on the poor dog.  Sorry, Spot.)

This was Kevin on the return visit.
He happened to run into (not literally) an employee
from the Monterey Bay Aquarium while walking.
She offered a private tour. I tagged along.
More fun stuff with the Legion.

On day four, the phone lines exploded.  I was on the phone line with one reporters and others were buzzing in.  NBC.  ABC.  CNN.  The story went wild.  One of the best weeks of my life.

On Thursday, I went to go pick up Kevin.  He'd been making the rounds of visiting some of our members as he walked up the coast.  I had a full set of interviews set up for him.  I wrote him cue cards with speaking notes.  It was glorious.

Friday afternoon we were focusing on getting ready for the event.  Kevin was tearing apart his armor trying to fix some of the damage from 1000+ miles on the road.  My phone rings.  It's a producer from NBC.  Not the local station.  The network.  Is Kevin available to do a segment for "Good Morning America?"

Uh... sure?

The camera crew was currently in Oakland.  I'm in Gilroy.  Geographically, that is not the furthest you can be dispersed in the Bay area.  But, on a Friday afternoon, that is bad.  Very bad.

"Do we need to come to you?" I asked, thinking of everything I still needed to do before the event.

"No, we'll come to you."

Best five words ever.  I provided my address and hung up the phone.

It then occurred to me "Good Morning America" was coming to my house.  Huh.  Kind of cool, I guess.  I quickly checked the house to make sure it was somewhat presentable.  Yep.

Several hours later, the TV crew showed up.

Alright, it was one guy with a camera.  So, technically that would make him a photojournalist.  He asked if I'd be in the story, too.

"Sure," said my huge ego.

He ended up video taping Kevin and I as we sat outside on the back patio working on our armor and talking about the event.

Kevin on the back patio working on his armor

It would have been perfect if the dog hadn't decided it was time to play ball in the middle of the segment.  She came over and dropped her tennis ball on Kevin.  And, then me.  And, then in front of the camera.  I think she even mooned the camera.

Bad Spot.

There was no time to re-shoot since it had taken so long to get to us with traffic.

Kevin and Spot.  You may wonder how the dog got the name...

So, in the end, they used the audio and not the video.

Ah, well.

They did recycle one exterior shot of the house.  I say recycle because a few months prior Kevin was on a segment of "NBC Nightly News" and they used a pic of the front of my house.  This was a shot from his trip down the coast and I can't remember if I submitted it, or if it was pulled off his FaceBook page.

Kevin in front of the house.
This is the image they ended up using.
Gilroy always has been famous for the great surf.

Anyway, kind of funny after all that, they only ended up using audio.  They could have almost called done the interview over the phone.

Still, it makes for a good story.

I'll do a separate blog entry with some pics from the walk because there are literally thousands. (I'll pick a select few.)  The press coverage was insane.

Not taking Star Wars too seriously

It's very easy to get caught up in the world of Star Wars.

There is just so much.  Videos.  Comic books.  Novels.  Fan fiction.  Fan clubs.  Merchandise and collectibles.

But, it is important to step back once in a while and take a break.  Remember the world that exists out of the Galaxy Far Far Away.  Touch base with friends who are not Star Wars and did not have a countdown clock for "The Force Awakens."

I'm in a mixed-marriage.

No, I am not referring to the luscious brown color of my husband's skin.  That's never been an issue between us.  No, the problem is I married a non-Star Wars fan.

And, he fairly exploded this past weekend because he had too much Star Wars.  So, it was a good reminder to me of the world out there that still exists regardless of whether Rey is a Skywalker or a Kenobi.  Whether Han Solo is truly dead or can rise from the ashes like a Phoenix.  Whether Kylo Ren can redeem himself or is damned for eternity.

Some people just don't give a Bantha's backside.

I'm grateful for that explosion because it is an important reality check. While this is something we do for fun, it has a very specialized place in our lives.  And, the place is called fantasy.  That fantasy world has to be forcibly shoved into the backseat sometimes lest it take control of our lives.

Thoughts?