Well, there are a couple of more games to go (hopefully), but West Virginia hasn’t seen the Final Four in 51 years. We’re back.

We’re partying like it’s 1959.

I love the way this team actively identifies with the state of West Virginia and repeatedly pays honor and gives thanks to the blue-collar people of the state. That comes from Coach Huggs, the native son, who recognizes what this means to people all across the Mountain State.

I know it doesn’t interest everyone (and oddly infuriates others), but I’ve been a dyed in the wool Mountaineer fan for every second of my 33 years on earth, and this is pretty exciting for me and many other long-suffering, loyal fans.

We’re going to enjoy it!

Here’s hoping for a victory against the Devil, I mean, the Blue Devils. But win or lose, this has been a great year.

Mitch Vingle has the best article on the victory over (what could almost be a future NBA all-star team in) Kentucky that I read. Enjoy it.

Interesting note. Joe Mazzulla has played Duke before in the NCAA’s. With good results.

OK, probably won’t interrupt my usual scintillating content (ha) for this kind of thing much more. Only on big events. Scouts honor.

If you could force every member of government (all 3 branches) to read one novel, what would it be?

My Top Choice?

1984 by George Orwell (with Animal Farm being a close second). Every voting adult should read these.

What else?

Well, I got myself mentioned over at www.hatrack.com, the website of first-class author Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game, The Worthing Saga).

Kind of cool. And kind of lamely self-promoting.

See for yourself.

For Your Infuriation. (Yeah, right.)

I plan to resume blogging next week.

Remember back when I said I was done posting for the week? Well, I had forgotten that I planned to engage in Loren Eaton’s Christmas Eve Shared Storytelling extravaganza.

Loren is hosting this event at his site, I Saw Lightning Fall, but he had asked that everyone involved post their own “ghost” story at their own blog. 

The idea is to post a 100 word, flash fiction story with a spooky-like Christmas theme.

Now, I am not a fan of horror, and am rather more often on the strongly dislike side of that chasm. But the point of congress for me is in the murky in-between of speculative delight. I absolutely hate slasher movies and anything like that. But I like movies like The Village and Signs, if that gives you some idea of where I’m at.

So I didn’t write a “ghost” story exactly, but I tried to get into the spirit of things with my offering.

Note: Writing fiction in 100 words is like asking you to pick which you’d like to keep: your eyes, nose, ears, or tongue. It is a series of painful choices. It’s also a great exercise.

I hope you like the story tomorrow and that it isn’t a waist of thirty seconds of your life.

Well, here’s my challenge for us all on Veteran’s Day.

If you are at any restaurant and you see a man or woman in uniform come in, buy their meal for them.

It’s a small step, but a good way to show gratitude.

My Dad, Don Smith, is a combat veteran and my personal hero. Thanks for serving, Dad. And our deep thanks to all of you who have served.

Over at the Rabbit Room the question is, “Where are you from?”

It’s a chance for them to see where the readers are from.

As of this reading there are only 2 from West Virginia (and one is me, I assume Stacy Grubb is the other).

I feel like Al Gore not carrying his home state in the election. If you would, go over and say you’re from West Virginia (or wherever).

Someday when I have more confidence we’ll try this exercise here.

Sorry: Football post. Sorry also: Local interest. Sorry part III: Easily offended MU fans take a deep breath.

I post the video below in honor of tomorrow’s game between my West Virginia Mountaineers and our cute, cuddly, little brother school Marshall University in the “Everything-to-lose and Nothing-to-gain Bowl.” (c)

Note: I say “cute, cuddly little brother” with affection. I like Marshall fine. Green is my favorite color. Even though I was persecuted as a child for being a West Virginia fan, I hold no ill will. I root for the Herd. I went to school there for a minute. I was in a class with some amazing football players and they called me “Beck.”

As a West Virginian I know we need to play this game. As a West Virginia fan, this game is a nightmare. If you win, “Great job, big whoop,”  and if you lose it’s like your pants fell down at your own funeral. OK, I can’t think of an apt metaphor.

Will Marshall win this one? Maybe, sure. Play it enough times and it will happen. I just hope it’s not tomorrow.  

Bottom line, there’s nothing to be gained for West Virginia and everything to lose.

For Marshall there’s everything to be gained and nothing to lose. Except the game, I hope.

 Kevin Jack Smith is my dear friend. This guest post is by him. We used to reside together in a sort of poverty and sing a lot. -sam

It was three-thirty on a Thursday, and I was stuck in traffic on the interstate.  I was enjoying looking at cars and people, and being providentially preserved from an accident when I got a peek into my own soul I had never seen before.  While estimating how many people were enjoying the weather with me, I actually caught myself feeling better than about ten thousand people I didn’t even know.  Almost certainly some were doctors, lawyers, pastors and Christ-followers, but I felt better. 

Just as I was feeling smug about my life, an almost audible voice said inside me “You know you’re right smack in the middle of this jam.  You are one of them.”

Instantly, everything I’ve known theologically came crashing in on me like a sledge hammer.  The head met the heart then, and I wept for the blackness of my own soul, wept again for the grace that has kept me all these years in spite of my arrogance, then again for the grace that intruded on my commute.  There was much weeping that day, and my Lord and I had a good conversation that day, one that I’ll never forget.

So when I got the new Eric Peters album “Chrome”, I listened to them quickly just to get a feel for album.  I enjoyed it, but nothing like I do now that I’ve looped individual songs to really get their message.  “Reality Came Crashing Down” speaks to me deeply.  I know the message is different than my above experience, but a “Reality Crash” is still the theme, and it tears me up to think of someone with such talent having that moment where fame, glory and money suddenly slide way down the list of “gotta-haves” and love takes the lead.  It must have been excruciatingly pleasurable.  I get misty every time I hear that song, and EP is voicing the heart that I want beating in me, the one that serves his neighbor in the love of Christ.

Welcome to the brand new internet home of S.D. Smith. Who is -am- me, I. You are very welcome. If you are traveling here from the old home place (The Maple Mountain Story Club), then perhaps you are wondering why I have made the switch.

There are a few reasons.

One is simple clarity. The MMSC was intended to be a collaborative effort that would initially be myself and Andrew, and then later expand to some others. That got derailed along the way and it kind of just became my own blog. But it has a silly, misleading title, and I have long intended to simplify and clarify.

Two: I want to make it easier on people who are doing web-searches. People who are looking for my writing may search for my name, but are unlikely to search for “Maple Mountain Story Club.” So, there’s that. I think it serves my readers better.

Three: This allows me to develop a more flexible website which is easier to navigate and has a lot more options.

Four: A Russian sailor who gave me a bag of gold told me I would have good luck if I “svitched ower.”

I have tried to direct people to link to www.sdsmith.net (which was redirecting to the MMSC) for a while in anticipation that I would at some point get this website moving. The day has finally come. So, if you haven’t yet, please make the switch over in your link to www.sdsmith.net. Thanks a zillion.

You may be concerned about what will change. Well, not much. I’m just going to try to be a little more focused (something I’ve been trying to do for a while).

Note: If you want to bookmark the blog (for a link, or RSS), then just do www.sdsmith.net/blog. The front page will have the most recent posts, but don’t mistake that for the blog. The front page has the latest post and some other things, but it is not the blog.

As always, if there are any questions or comments, please comment away here at the blog, or visit the Contact page to…um, contact me.

Again, a huge word of thanks to Brian Patton for creating this website out of the following raw materials: Bolts, wine, snack-packs, ore from Settlers of Catan, indecipherable animal innards, and pieces of wood from the lumber of the chair his enormous rear end broke at my house.

Thanks to you all for your support. I hope you are comfortable in my new home. You are very welcome.