Channeling Brigham Young and whipping the devils off the Earth
In 2011 while attending classes at Dixie State University, I was approached by a person working on a film being produced by The Center for Media Innovation and the Washington County Water Conservancy District. While touted as a documentary film, it did have at least the appearance of actually being an infomercial promoting the controversial Lake Powell Pipeline. Nevertheless, it wound up being a decent short film about the arduous work endured by the pioneers of southern Utah.
The production crew was searching for someone to cast in the part of Brigham Young, and it escapes me why Jay Beecham was not their first choice. But in a curious happenstance, they approached me instead. I imagine that when sitting in a meeting discussing it, someone piped up and said, “Hey, there’s this burly bearded dude who takes some classes here and cruises around on a long board. He looks just like him.” Oddly enough, I do.
My initial thought on reading for the part was that I needed to make it clear that I had no experience whatsoever as an actor. Nevertheless, I read for the part, and they chose me. The scene I took part in was filmed out at the Fort Pierce wash where a reenactment of pioneers struggling with drought conditions was filmed.
I was to depict the inspirational speech given by Young to the discouraged settlers. I was given a script, but after a couple of takes, Tuckett approached me and told me to just ad lib the lines and see if we could “catch lightning in a bottle.”
I did. And I suppose Tuckett approved, because my lines in the film were completely improvised from my understanding of the script and the event itself.
When initially preparing for the part, I did some research on Young and was frankly somewhat enamored by the resolute and bold nature of the man, not to mention his notorious longtime friend Porter Rockwell.
Two things became clear to me at the outset.
For one, Young was less interested in coming to inspire the discouraged pioneers, many of whom were deserting his charge of settlement, than to motivate them. From the little I know of the man, I gathered he was coming to put a metaphorical foot in their asses, tell them to quit their bellyaching, and get about the work at hand. The work of the Lord.
The other thing that ruminated in my mind came from my experience from having lived in the area for about five years at the time. I found the culture here to be laced with the unabashed qualities of materialism and the appearance of success, earned or not, and that often the modus operandi in dealings with these people was a passive-aggressive approach to nearly all business and interpersonal encounters.
I wondered, with all of its pioneer pride, where in the hell men in this community like Young went. Suffice it to say that pondering still lingers as I witness at close hand the obtuse and malicious manner with which people in positions of entrusted and elected power pull out all of the stops, legal or otherwise, to justify the abuse of citizens in this community — Mormon or not.
And it is becoming increasingly apparent as more sources and interviews lead to the compilation of revealing research, timelines, events, interviews, and documents that the beating heart of it all is avarice and greed by those people in such position. Period.
And having spent the briefest of moments placing myself in the mindset of one of the most revered prophets in the predominant faith of this community, I cannot help but think about that day in January, 1877 when at a private dedication ceremony for the newly erected temple in St. George, Young addressed the people there:
“He asked if those in attendance thought he was satisfied with the temple. He then said, ‘I am not half satisfied, until I have whipped … the devils from off this earth,’ and crashed his hickory cane down on the pine pulpit.”
I think it is quite possible that the devils he referred to were men and women like the ones who are today engaging in duplicitous means of personal gain under the guise of work for the community, and by default their faith. If he were alive today, he’d surely have something to say about it.
It’s something I ponder.
On a side note, I am compelled by honest critique to tell you that their is a method to my nuanced approach to addressing some of the things happening. It is in part because I am working with sources and information that requires confidentiality as well as right and useful timing in exposing the truth. While I will acquiesce that it can give the appearance of mere conjecture, it is not. I’ll let my track record for the work speak for itself and ask that those who have followed me over the years trust me.
And, as always, bastards beware — I do not have your best interests at heart.
See you out there.
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Amen.