BECOMING AMERICA!

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #396

Many of you know that, with my colleagues Steve Lawless and Joel Henry Stein, I have written and composed a musical entitled Convention: the Birth of America, which is about our nation’s Constitutional Convention of 1787. But what you may not know is that when I gave a CD of the songs of the musical to my friend Dr. Jo Ellen Chatham and she shared it with our mutual friend The Hon. Bijan Kian. Soon both of them came to me and suggested that we should tape 17 one-hour videos with guest interviews, with each one having the theme of one of the 17 songs. So we did exactly that, along with an added Introduction to the show that we taped at the Nixon Library. The name of our show is Becoming America. America is a Perfect Idea; the United States of America is a Work in Progress. And I am proud to say that we will begin broadcasting the show on Wednesday, January 18, 2023 on YouTube. More specific information will be posted on my website, which is www.JudgeJimGray.com.

I am proud of our work. We call Dr. Jo Ellen “The Professor,” because she teaches at Concordia University, and we call the Hon. Bijan Kian “The American,” because chose to immigrate to our Great Country from Iran. Obviously we don’t have all of the answers, but we feel that this show should interest our fellow Americans in learning more about our Constitution as well as more generally about our country itself. No, by no means has America been or is it now perfect. But we are still striving for perfection. In addition, our wonderful guests have also truly added to the discussion. Some of them are local luminaries, such as Retired Judge Andy Guilford from the Federal District Court, and former Congressman and Dean of the Chapman University Law School Tom Campbell. Others come to us from deep in our past, such as President George Washington (who prefers to be called General Washington), and President James Madison. So please join us, and help us spread the word. The episodes will be broadcast once per week for 18 weeks for no charge, and will also be available on demand forever more. So they should be useful tools to help educate and inspire our high school and university students, as well as the rest of us old-timers. We had a great deal of fun creating these shows, and are hopeful that you will all enjoy and benefit from them, and that they will help to bring us more together.

Comment for the week: Husband to his wife: “For the past 30 years all you’ve done is find mistakes in what I say.” Wife: “For the past 31 years.”