This weekend, my girlfriend and I decided we wanted to end the summer right. We took off for the mountains with our kids and our husbands to make a memory. Chris made us dinner while the two of us took a quiet walk. Just being outside in the cool evening air without the ability to …
Author: Pj
Praying for a Miracle
I have spent a few years contemplating on a rather personal and definitely private matter. It is the concept of well, prayer. It isn’t really an inquiry about if someone is in this communication with me; it was more like why is it necessary at all? I mean, when you think about it, if you …
Perks of Production
One of the “perks” I did not anticipate with the project is getting to know people. Complete strangers write to me to tell me their stories or connection to the colonies. As a result, we have recorded many interviews that add more depth to the story. It has been a pleasure to meet, talk with …
Putting All of the Pieces Together
This last weekend we traveled to Mexico to get some “B” roll footage, voiceovers and interviews. For 10 years, I have been reading and researching. Now in the production stage I keep thinking of more ways to get more footage. At work I am NOT even allowed to read anymore. I sneak books home to …
100 Years of Progress … Or Not …
Working on a documentary about the colonies has some unexpected perks. I’ve spent ten years looking through piles of dusty journals, stacks of fading photographs and hours (and hours and hours) of old VHS tapes trying to find those little gems that will make the documentary unforgettable. The perk this week was going through the …
Driving Miss Cyndi
While we were in Africa, Cyndi rented a car. I was her co-pilot reminding her to drive backwards. That told her BIG brain to stay on the wrong (left) side of the road. I was also in charge of getting us to where she wanted to go and then getting us back. I failed miserably. …
Flying Film Crew
Taking a film crew to Mexico was one of the most traumatic experiences I have ever had. I now can appreciate what Cyndi went through two years ago in Africa. The minute we crossed the border, I felt completely responsible for these people. The weight of it all did not end until we arrived back …
Film Shoot in Mexico
We are going on one last research trip to “the Place.” I say we are going home. I often feel like that. It is where I bore and raised my children. I also call California home. I wonder if Arizona will every feel like home…doubt that one. I am taking a small film crew. There …
Carmon Hardy
Yesterday, while on yet another research trip, we spent the day interviewing a history professor at University of California – Fullerton. His name is Carmon Hardy. He did his doctoral dissertation on the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. He was the one that helped Nelle Spillsbury Hatch complete her book, STALWARTS SOUTH OF THE BORDER. After …
Come Play!
So I got this from another blog, and it seems appropriate. Kind of like the WIKI page. I remember once going to girls camp and the girls were getting a little irritated with each other so I suggested we play the “say something nice” game. I know I am pathetic. So, everyone had to say …