American Dream Labs

Since January, I have been with Glenn, discussing, dreaming, capturing images and getting a sense of his urgency to keep on restoring Hope, Courage, and Love. At first I tried to connect dots. Now I simply watch the story unfold, knowing that with time, the dots will all connect themselves. There are thousands of apparent dots over the last year as the The American Dream Labs have crystalized from concept to action. One apparent connection is that once upon a time, Glenn Beck had to look for stories to tell...

Now the stories are looking for him. Below are clips and moments from what I have seen on the road with Glenn.

Glenn and Tania sat across from me at breakfast in Rome. Glenn alternately took bites of his raisoned oatmeal and doodled notes on the English version of the local Herald. The new Monte Blanc pen, a John Lennon Special Edition, was made from vinyl.  A friend, a Jewish man in Florida, who hosted us three days earlier gave it too him through tears at the end of two-hour lunch in Boca Raton. Florida was a stop on the way to from New York to Rome where the Women’s International Zionist organization honored Glenn at a black-tie gala. Enough about the pen.

He read the headline West’s Clash With Iran Is a Windfall for Russia, and then quickly made his way down the page, speed-reading the article. His notes, Of Course, this is why they don’t support action. He leaned  back from his oatmeal in silence and stared at the ceiling. Pause. After a few beats he looked back at the table with moist eyes. “We’ve got to go to Australia.”

...

Studio C was freezing cold at 6:30 AM. Everybody, except Glenn, wore a jacket. The daily planning meeting ended and Glenn synced to his Jambox, reclined, eyes to the ceiling and blasted the Beatles’ Revolution and All You Need is Love. Later that morning we called Sony, trying to get rights to do a version of the songs. We were rejected with no explanation or offer to license.

....

A year ago Glenn announced American Dream Labs. Today on radio he said, “I’m bound and determined to rewrite the rules for the media.”

....

In a hotel room in Pennsylvania, just before giving a speech at the Dayspring Academy’s annual event, Jon (Glenn’s librarian) opens a rare book package, A View of the Hebrews, by Ethan Smith, 1823. Carefully turns the pages, reading them carefully. “Wow. Wow.” The book was a popular theory about Native Americans as descendants of the ancient Jews that was espoused by Jefferson and other founders.  “We’ve got to reach out to the Native Americans.”

...

Alaska. A mathematician hands Glenn a page with formulas and designs that were not immediately decipherable, but after some consultation he became aware that they are brilliant algorithms.

...

A Yale computer science professor visits in Dallas. “We have to change education. We have to get rid of America’s schools and Universities. Here’s how to do it...”

...

At the rodeo in Fort Worth. Glenn wipes away a tear and says, “we have to tell the stories about Cowboys."  I receive an email not long after, “we have to find the New Columbia." Somehow those are connected.

...

Saturday, July 28, Glenn walks around field at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. He rubs a surveyors compass that he had been carrying in his pocket. He pulls it out to show Matt Maher, who holds it with tears in his eyes. The compass was George Washington’s personal compass. It has a dent where George Washington used to rub it with his thumb. “We’ve got to give the world this experience.”

...

1:00 AM in early August on Glenn’s ranch we sit under a full moon with enough light for him to read Walt Disney’s original prospectus on Disneyland. He had just finished reading to the kids and kissing them goodnight. The land was dry and quiet. The flag waving and the ring occasionally hitting the flagpole were the only sounds we heard, from 60 feet above our heads.

He read the entire thing aloud and studied the hand drawn map then said,  “We’ll build a company that will help people find happiness and knowledge.  We’ll build something that is uniquely American that will demonstrate the hope in the future to demonstrate and teach people how to learn from the past, the mistakes and the great inventions and ingenuity and dreams of the Americans of the past and bring them into the future.”

...

As the first unofficial American Dream Labs Storytellers get together, Glenn, Ben, and I walked down Main Street Disney with hot corn dogs and Cokes. We compared Walt Disney’s prospectus, the original vision, with what has evolved into Disneyland. Studied history, read plaques, rode rides, and told stories. Ben and Glenn discuss the design of the Fourth of July ’13 stage. Lights, mist, projection, storms, cliffs, a moon, fire, illusion, man made tornados, etc...

At one point, Glenn explained about Walt Disney, “he had started making little tiny towns, small, little saloons and little streets and everything else, he became like a doll house manufacture almost and his brother said you’re going nuts what are you doing? He said I don’t know I’m working on something.”

...

Last week, the 20‘x12’ chalk board wall in Glenn’s office was completely rewritten with diagrams, sketches, charts, and a quote.

“Storytellers

It is who we are.

It is our highest goal.

To use all our resources and talents to TELL THE STORY;

to lift;

expose;

Inspire and Give Courage to all the world. gb”