Roadshows

So, did you know that I really like roadshows? When I was still our ward's young men president last year and we got this year's stake calendar, I was super excited that roadshows were on the calendar for September 20th. In fact, one of the first things I talked to Sister Veasey, the ward young women president, about was how we had to schedule about 2 months of combined time for practices, set design, etc. I love roadshows! I think that they're as close as I will probably come (at least, for the foreseeable future) to writing, directing, or acting in anything. As a youth, I would practice and practice my one or two lines all of the time and I always spent some time getting the costume right, etc. Then, while living in Lakeland shortly after my mission, I even wrote and directed the roadshow for our Cypress Branch (Lakeland's singles branch which has since dissolved). It was super fun!

Anyway, fast forward to now. Our stake decided that roadshows would be a youth activity (IMO, the way they always should be) this year, so the stake YM/YW presidencies are in charge of helping and encouraging the wards to get ready and excited about them, to read scripts, to get the stake center set up, etc. So I am in heaven. This is a blast! The only thing that would be more fun is putting together a roadshow myself. But I'll leave that to the experts (I never said I was good at it, just that I loved it. You know?)

Why do I like roadshows so much? Maybe because they helped me to build confidence in front of people as a teenager. Maybe because they give us an excuse to be cheesy and provide a forum for satire and parody. But I think the main reason that I like roadshows is because of a man named Mike Bingham, who was my young men president and then my bishop as a youth. He made roadshows fun! We always laughed at the good parts, had just the right music and lyrics, enough rehearsal time to really get it down, good encouragement... and an after-party where everyone involved got an award of some kind. I think one year I got the "loudest exclamation" award (the award names were always made up to match what you did) for my one line: "Prior preparation prevents poor performance, SIR!"

I hope I can be the kind of mentor and leader that creates experiences for my youth and for my family that will be remembered, with fondness and humor, even 15-ish years later. And I hope the youth of our stake catch the vision and the fun of roadshows, so we can do it next year too.