Vanessa (Robert) McClintock

Vanessa

An ADDENDUM here: My grandfather, David A. Bayles, was on the very first football team at Red Bluff High. I remember playing with his football as a kid when we visited from Dunsmuir. Except it was a rugby ball. During my high school years at RBUHS, Grandpa was honored at each Homecoming Game for being the sole surviving member of that team. He played in 1904, so that was 60 years later.

Now, I see that our class has been invited to this year's Homecoming as "Golden Grads." Add 10 years and you have my grandpa. Time flies, has flown, and is now accelerating. :-)

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Nothing in particular stands out. I fondly remember almost all of you, some in particular.

Because I grew up in Dunsmuir and spent but three years in Red Bluff, most of my "stories" are from another time and life.

That said, it's is amazing the indelible and good memories I have of my short stay in Red Bluff. My family's history and legacy on my Bayles side is long and deep, and my summers spent there as a child have helped establish my "kinship" with my high school classmates.

High School Diploma -- RBUHS
Bachelor of Arts: Physical Education -- CSUS
with Minor in Recreation Administration

Bachelor of Music: Theory/Composition -- CSUS

Master of Arts, Music: Theory/Composition -- CSUS

I've done a number of things, from working on the railroad as Conductor and Brakeman, to working in the classical music world as Conductor and Composer, to teaching music in community colleges and later teaching full-time in community colleges CIS, specializing in Web Development and Design. Now I concentrate on photography and the web. I had traveled with the Sacramento City College football team for seven full seasons, do portrait and event work, and some of the typical work of my field, including weddings, receptions, news conferences, portraiture, etc.

My first collection of short stories (69,000 words) and my first novella (22,000 words) are now available in the Kindle format via Amazon. All of my stories reflect my own experiences or my observations of life and people and are all based on kernels of truth. The characters are often composites of similar people I have known at different times and in different places. It is possible some of people you might vaguely recognize. :-)

They can be found at:
https://www.amazon.com/Vanessa-McClintock/e/B01NAJSFIT

Otherwise, not a lot, but I still get around. Fortunately, I am healthy, still relatively strong and agile, which helps greatly in my current endeavors. I am enjoying a new world of fashion :-)

In the music world I found some recognition as a composer when I was in the top ten world-wide finalists of the then prestigious Rudolf Nisim International ASCAP composers competition, and when my documentary film score was honored with Silver and Gold awards in the international market. I also was awarded four commissions by the Sacramento arts groups to compose works for my chamber orchestra and for a larger jazz ensemble (quasi-symphonic).

I find great joy and fulfillment in my main emphasis today in photography. It's amazing what a big camera and large lens will do toward opening doors and meeting interesting people from sundry backgrounds and experience.

My only real travels have been to Japan, Lubbock, Texas (and I was not in the military), and Columbia, S.C. and a few years ago to Boston on the Fourth of July. Japan was with a native girlfriend which opened the doors to living in Japan rather than being a tourist; Lubbock and Columbia were via invitations as a composer and then conductor; Boston -- to visit my daughter.

As with the rest of you, my greatest achievement is having my daughter, raising her to be a good person and a nice person (you would like her), and now having the blessing of seeing her begin her own life with much greater focus, direction, and purpose than my own.

Carlsbad, CA, and Dunsmuir, California -- my hometown. I usually get one or two photography assignments there per year.

Too many great works of art to pick one. I confess to drifting when I hear certain songs of our youth.

With that said, the "Four Last Songs" by Richard Strauss (especially as performed by soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Sir Georg Solti) have increasing importance and influence. The late string quartets by Beethoven--if you have an inkling about them, I suggest you watch the movie, "The Late Quartet," which gives great insight into one of them.

I love all of the Meg Ryan movies, especially "You've Got Mail," which is no iconic to the nascent beginning of the public internet.

"Libeled Lady," "The Human Comedy" (based on the book by William Saroyan.)

Most of the movies from the Golden Age of the 1930s.

Too many to choose even only a few.

Love the contemporary Hallmark movies on the Hallmark cable channel.

Although I frequently pick up Hemingway's "A Movable Feast," I enjoy most of Hemingway's oeuvres . I recently discovered Elizabeth Strout--incredible author of "Olive Kitteridge" and "My Name Is Lucy Barton," and more.

For hope and inspiration, I sometimes reread "The Human Comedy" by William Saroyan.

Life is good.
No matter hold badly things in life may have been, are, or will be,
Life is good.

For the first time in my live, I have been happy on an extended continuum.

Now that my first set of literature is online, I will pursue my next collection.

I continue to compose chamber music--string quartets, etc, and hymns.