The Columbine Memorial

Regular readers of this blog know how we like to chronicle our film here, and Dave and I sometimes mix it up with some fun. We had one of our best days shooting today in months as we near the end of production, but we took some time in early evening to visit the memorial to the 13 students who were killed nine years ago this April in America's worst high school shooting. We briefly visited the outside of Columbine High School, where the shooting took place, then walked to the top of a nearby knoll where the memorial is located. The sun was heading down over the distant Rockies, but there was still plenty of light. A bit chilly. A bit of wind. We walked through the memorial, which reminded us of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, on a smaller scale. Beautifully designed. A teenage couple pictured here was visiting, too; they talked in hushed tones. Dave and I shot some film -- me, stills, he, motion-picture -- and we read the inscriptions, and the remembrances, and were deeply moved. We didn't speak much then, not until we were back in the car. We do not comprehend what happened here, but the emotions we felt -- sadness, reverence, mystification, something spiritual -- connected us to something bigger. I have a gallery of special places I have visited in my life that I will never forget, and this so properly joins it. The other still is Dave, with my shadow next to his.

-- Wayne

The Wrong Everett

Alas, the photo we found of Everett Westgate is the wrong Everett Westgate.

The right Everett is something of a mystery. We know when he was born and when he died. We know where he lived when he was two years old. We have some of his Army records. But we don't know where he died, which would lead us to an obituary, which would lead us to children or other surviving family members.

We're not without leads, though. His older brother's obituary mentions a sister, who would be about 90 now. And we can check the city vital records where we think he was born. I plan to get to that this week, so we may have more to report.

-Paul Parker

An amazing couple share their story

Finished our first full day of our Colorado shoot with two hours with Cecilia and Ray Dones, who met as young TB patients almost 50 years ago in Denver. Cecilia, whose family was originally from Wyoming (and Mexico), and Ray, also of Mexican descent by way of Texas, fell in love at National Jewish Medical and Research Center, which opened in 1899 as the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives. The parents of four children and grandparents of nine, the Dones have been married for 48 years! They had great photos and were wonderful on camera -- not to mention gracious hosts on our visit to their home. We have another full day tomorrow, but had we flown here only to get the Dones into our film, it would have been more than worth it. That's me on the left, the Dones in the middle, and Dave on the right. Jeff Toste, now our second-unit director, took the shot. After we wrapped, we drove to Idaho Springs, in the Rockies, a town that... well, I'll let Dave tell it when he blogs...

-- Wayne

Traveling to Denver

More details on the trip to follow, of course, but here's a quick rundown on getting out here to the Mile High City.
We left PVD at 2:05 aboard a relatively empty Southwest 737, arriving in Baltimore about an hour later. After a quick bite to eat, we boarded another 737. Four hours later, we touched down in Denver.

A tram-type shuttle thing took us to the baggage claim. And it has a little jingle when the doors open and close, like a strum or two of a steel guitar. Perfect. I wish that sound accompanied everything I did.

Finally, a rental car, a Ford Explorer. A 20-minute drive, we checked into the hotel, where we found Vinny Pazienza circa 1990 fighting on ESPN 2 and the clocks giving us the time in Eastern Standard. Was this some kind of strange time warp?

At the bar, we drank Coors Light (we're in the Rocky Mountains, duh) and met a very nice bartender named Caitlin who went to school in Providence and had TB as a baby. Bizarre coincidences abound so far. More to come.

---David Bettencourt

Another promotion

As we head off today for our Colorado shoot, a full schedule of interviews and gathering more great stories, we have another announcement: Dave and I have named Denver Post columnist Mike McPhee as ON THE LAKE'S Associate Producer, Colorado. Mike has done an awesome job with us on the Denver/Colorado sections of the film, and will join us over the next few days. Mike is the real deal: He was part of a Post team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for coverage of the Columbine High School shootings, and a team that was a finalist for another Pulitzer in 2007. With Projo colleague Paul Parker and me also part of a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer, seems like we have some serious common ground...

-- Wayne

One promotion

In recognition of his extraordinary help in tracking down patient No. 1, among other work, Dave and I have decided to name Paul Parker Associate Producer, Research. Here's how Paul describes himself:

Paul Edward Parker is an investigative reporter at The Providence Journal, where he has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In his spare time, he builds swing sets in the back yard and totes a toddler to the tops of New England mountains. With what's left after that, he cooks supper, washes laundry and picks up pieces of Mr. Potato Head. As he's drifting off to sleep, he grabs his laptop and bangs out a few sentences in his unpublished mystery novel series featuring investigative reporter Jerry Sullivan. Somewhere in that chaos, he finds time for another passion: genealogical and archival research. Parker, 44, was born in New Haven, Conn., and grew up in the suburb of Wallingford. He attended public schools before going to the University of Connecticut, where he eventually majored in journalism. He lives with his wife and two sons in Pawtucket, R.I.

-- Wayne

On The Trail Of Everett

One of our patients, Barbara, wrote in her letters about her boyfriend, Everett. (Hear Alex read from one of the letters that mentions Everett.) We have enough information from Barbara and her family to figure out who Everett was, this despite the fact that two men with the same name were born a couple of years apart in the same general area. The picture here is of one of those Everetts, but I still have to determine whether it is the right Everett.

-Paul Parker