The Rest of the Story

Somewhat opposite to Bill, I more or less grew up on Los Angeles. It was a great place to grow up in the late 70s and all through the 80s. It felt like the center of the universe. As the 90s settled in however, and as I grew into someone who had to support himself and a family (though we made our start in Southern California) I was chafing and couldn’t wait to move somewhere else. After a very short stint in New York City (which was a blast, just at the end of the Giuliani years) I ended up in small-town South Texas just outside of San Antonio. Twenty great years later, I have finally landed in Florida, Bill’s “Best Run State in the Nation” award for 2022. I have wanted to move here for decades. I even live in a county where my vote can actually swing things! Not on its own, but it does not always vote blue like when I was in California, nor does it always vote red like when I was in Texas. I can’t wait to vote in the next election.

Anyway, as a young(er) man in Texas, I was just blossoming into political awareness (I do remember being a fan of Reagan’s in my youth, and generally being a Republican in a school of Democrats while in California, but we were all kids schooling like fish). Unfortunately, everywhere I turned I realized I was being bombarded with liberal media. It actually surprised me back then. If a few of us can still remember the dark ages before smart phones. The Internet was still being called the information super-highway. People actually ordered (and read) physical newspapers.

I stumbled across Eject-Eject-Eject in some rest-stop on the “super-highway”. I don’t know how it got through the liberal URL filters, maybe because the whole thing was still new to them too. But there was an article about a cardboard submarine. I was glued. I was shocked. Who WAS this writer? He had an amazing ability to say things I felt and knew, but could not articulate – especially under pressure of an argument with a liberal “friend”. I made all the classic mistakes, but here was someone who cogently armed me with rocket-launched logic grenades that actually shattered my liberal “friends-now-enemies” quick-glib illusions and left me with fewer (and better) friends and bewildered goofballs in my wake.

I HAD to read more! But these were not light-weight articles. This person (squint for the signature) “Bill Whittle” took time and research, invested personal stories and packed succinct punch into awesome-soaked columns. I read about the cardboard submarine again. And again. Sponging up what I had been so thirsty for.

AT LAST! I new article! Honestly, I cannot remember the specifics of the Submarine article well enough now, only that I was starved for it and loved it. The next article, I remember even less well. It might even have been two articles later. Perhaps because, stunned, I felt stung. Still in beautiful language, with clear and concise conservatism, the article made some brilliant points, but it seemed to me to attack spirituality in a way that made me feel like the coach has just benched me. I wanted to be on the ice! Stick in hand, breaking up plays, passing to teammates (the only sport I ever played well was ice hockey, I was right-defense, go figure for California Boy who moved to South Texas and now lives in South Florida. All of them bastions of winter ice-ponds and hockey history…) But here I was, the bewildered bemused one.

The article was, as I recall, still soaked with the nectar of conservative thought that I could not believe was actually captured in printed word.

I was not very confrontational, and being in I.T. and having had a lot of exposure to the Internet in its infancy, I had already realized the futile nature of leaving a comment on a post. But I was suddenly inspired. I mean, I used to do a lot of writing on bulletin boards, and this new “forum” thing was basically just a new name for those old phone-in gathering places. Heck, I still frequented newsgroups (how’s that for highlighting obsolescence?) though I believe they were called usergroups.

I would write a comment, try my darndest not to sound bitter, but rather felt like maybe I could share with Bill that some of us, who absolutely loved his work and wanted more of it, were spiritually minded. I set to work, figuring he would never read it. I mean, who was I? Some reader among thousands. So many readers commented, how likely was it he would even see this? But maybe some other people would and they’d know that I, too, craved more of Bill’s work but was spiritually minded, so it was okay if they were too.

I believe I myself had just gone through several “iterations of faith” not unlike what our friend Zo describes. I was not interested in institutions, I was interested in the actual SALSA of religion. Don’t give me the arugula or kale of dogma, I wanted the awesome sauce of actual truth. But I had to get there myself because I had a deep mistrust of institutionalized religion and the people who thrive there. Oddly, I still have respect for the genuine preacher, but it is such a fine line and so easy to make me squirm.

So, like describing myself, I think I said something to the effect “I don’t believe your spiritual journey is over.” I can’t even remember for sure, but I know I posted. It was cathartic, even if I knew it would be pointless. Again. Bill had more important things to do, like preparing the next hyper-charged sharing I couldn’t wait for.

I lost track of Bill, I think Eject-Eject-Eject went dormant and life marched on. I raised kids. I changed careers. I started to see how many cards were stacked against us on the political stage and began to collect those few people/websites where the truth was spoken even if it screamed against a storm of wrongheaded lemurs.

Then, after at least a decade, probably more, my YouTube feed (which I have had success with, honestly) presented for me a recommended video: “I can’t believe they let you do that here” or something like that.

Some well-dressed man with exquisite humor and biting wit extolled the very state I had called my home and had been so badly beat up in popular culture. This Californian was crisp, clear, and hysterical, told a story so well – HEY! That name sounds familiar. I can’t remember from where. Firewall brought me back to Bill.

Very quickly I put together that this is what he’d moved on to, and I found every link I could, devoured every video, and told everyone I could about it. I’d found Bill again and he was not only still alive and kicking, he’d THRIVED! Personally I still think that Firewall about Texas is my favorite, then he started his own website!

I subscribed as soon as I could. I have been a subscriber since. My favorite is actually Stratosphere Lounge though I can almost never make it live. But I remember going back to Lounge 87 or so (that’s my favorite number) and watching every one since.

THEN I WAS MENTIONED!! Oh my GOSH I’d had no idea I caused white-hot rage! Oh man, I got to let him know, have to get in touch with him! But I was, at the time, an over-the-road trucker and didn’t have a lot of time for making shows or sending messages. I did try to send in an email or two but by now I was sure they weren’t all being read, and I didn’t hear back. I made it to a couple Lounges, but didn’t feel like I should try to hijack the chat just to tell this very long story. I do remember one episode right near the end I posted to the chat (my chat name is DragonTaylz because I managed to lock myself out of DragonTayl) thanking him for doing the lounges because it meant so much to me even if I couldn’t usually see them live. He read my chat and thanked me back. GLEE! All of us want to make a connection with Bill now and again. Let me know next time you’re in South Florida and I’ll take you to dinner or cook you something in my flat so you can meet my mom.

BUT… my daughter is also a BW.com member, and she made a couple of Lounges I didn’t, and DANG! She brought me up! I got to see him talk about it again, and no I’m not departed, I was just on the road in a big rig.

Finally, I have settled in South Florida, enjoyed so many more of Bill’s works, and then AGAIN I came up – in an episode with Zo about Elon Musk. I thought to myself I had better go ahead and write up this little episode, and possibly put a link to it in the forums when the next Stratosphere Lounge thread gets opened. Who knows. I just want Bill to know a little more about the other side of that event.

[does his best Paul Harvey] “And now you know…”

Good day!