Please Don't Break My Heart by Writing Negative Comments About John Wayne

I will not relent in my love for John Wayne, despite the fact that I have been openly mocked by three different people this week for it. But I think it is in my blood.

When I was in high school, my aunt gave my mom one of those life-size, stand-up cardboard cut-outs of John Wayne for a joke. I put it in the window next to our back door so when anyone drove up or came in, there was John Wayne looking out the window at them. My sister didn't think that was cool so she would always move it and then I would put it back and then she would move it again. This went on for months.

Whenever I talk to my grandmother on the phone, my grandfather will pick up just so we can have a little banter from True Grit and then hang up. When they were here last week and I was in the parking lot headed to my car, my grandfather walked out to the balcony of the motel and we had to yell it to each other from there, too. He says, "Coooorrrrn Dodger?" Then I say, "Light a match, and let me see if there's blood on it first." Then he laughs and says, "We ain't lightin' no matches!" And once for his birthday, my mom and I got him a cake that said "Corn dodger" on it instead of "Happy Birthday." (Everytime we eat we also have to say another line from the True Grit: "I've had enough. And enough is as good as a feast."

John Wayne's favorite character he ever played was Ethan Edwards from The Searchers. He even named his son Ethan after him. My brother is also named Ethan. (Ethan Christopher that is. But my mom now wishes it were Ethan Chance, after JW's character in The Hellfighters.)

My brother Ethan loves John Wayne and has already started reciting his lines at age 4 (the legacy continues!).

A few years ago I was in Moab, and I made our group make a special trip to the lobby of the Apache Motel, where John Wayne stayed while filming a movie once, so I could get a picture of myself there---and they even had pictures of him hanging on the walls!

Last year I celebrated my birthday with a dinner at a restaurant a half-hour south of here called The True Grit Restaurant.

I have read 2 biographies of John Wayne.

I have been asked by more than one friend to recommend John Wayne movies to give to their dads. (including Schatze whose dad insists on calling him The King instead of The Duke. He knows that Elvis is the King, but insists that John Wayne is the King to him.)

It is normal for me to give at least one gift related to John Wayne a year to my mom.

My mom has written a letter to one of John Wayne's sons.

Only a few months into my job, my boss was in a meeting and he had his door open. He and the other man had both been Marines and our office is near the Iwo Jima Memorial so their topic of conversation turned to the movie The Sands of Iwo Jima. As I sat at my desk down the hall, I listened to them talk about the movie and spend a few minutes trying to remember John Wayne's character's name. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and just confessed to my eavesdropping by yelling down the hall "It's Seargant Striker!"

Besides owning John Wayne movies, I have a coffee table book on my shelf The Duke: A Life in Pictures as well as a CD America: Why I Love Her. It has patriotic music over which John Wayne narrates stories and poems about America.

While I was at BYU, Carly and I briefly got into writing at e-pinions.com. I wrote 2 v. passionate reviews of True Grit & The Quiet Man.

In 2004, a friend of mine had a St. Patrick's Day party where we watched The Quiet Man. It was a lovely affair and when we all received our invitations in the mail, they included a line stating that I would be there to talk about the movie with my vast John Wayne knowledge. It was a lot of pressure, but I really came through.

I have to admit that I feel like I know John Wayne and that he is part of my family. I think it's hereditary (my mom saw Big Jake in the theater 6 times as a kid)...or maybe it's just his manly man, tough guy, patriotic, father-figure image that none of us can resist.