Just an ironic thought... Rappers like 50 Cents and Ice T have been using nicknames for decades without so much as a casual mention of their real names, yet the new Real Life Super Heroes are often called into question as to why they choose names that, in reality, often have more meaning than just a cool nickname for the front of their grill.

In fact, thinking about it a little further, pilots have been using Call Signs with similar effect for many more years that represents who they are. So, where is this going? Well, I’ve thought for a long time that we should really embrace these names we find for ourselves later in life. And a reminder to find a name that fits who you want to be. Superheroes use them to announce what they are or stand for. Captain America. Dare Devil. Dr. Fate. I say we take the same care to pick a name that makes us stand up for what we want and tells the world who we are.

So, my given name is James but that’s only because my grandfather’s name was James. It represents who I am as much as Hank or Steve or Jeff. Yet, there is it. I’m James, or Jim if you will.

The real question we should all ask ourselves is, “Who do I want to be?” K, I’ll start. Although I’m often far from it, I’d like to be a good role model for people, as opposed to the other nickname using members of our society, such as Snoop Dogg or Biggy. Okay, okay … I’ll admit Snoop has come a long way since becoming a dad.

So, I say we all embrace our Call Signs as who we want to be. It’s a constant reminder to be our best selves and a constant challenge to live up to those names.

Hello. My name is Citizen Prime. What’s yours?

Kid Heroes!

The League of Citizen Heroes (LOCH), is dedicated to helping people of all ages be the heroes in their own lives through three foundational principles. First, we believe all people have the Heart of a Hero if allowed to show it. Second, we think communities should help police themselves in a responsible and affirmative fashion. And third, we believe children need positive role models rooted in their areas of interests. All of our energies are aimed at priming people to fulfill these goals for the liberty and happiness of their families, their friends and their communities.

Kid Heroes (Finding the hero inside): With so many negative values and choices in the world competing for our kid’s attention, LOCH thinks it is vitally important to encourage an enthusiasm and excitement for true heroism in the hearts and minds of our future generations.

We are engaged in passing on those heroic ideals that made this country great through Kid Heroes assemblies and visits. Kid Heroes takes the fun and energy of superheroes and brings that to kids with a real life superhero, Citizen Prime! Citizen Prime stands for courage, good citizenship, and always having hope. His message is to inspire those qualities in every child.

We all know that our kids are naturally drawn to the exciting fiction of their favorite superheroes. LOCH takes that super-enthusiasm and applies it to school and community assemblies that help present choices and deeds that are in line with a heroic heart and mind.

The Citizen's Watch Program

The League of Citizen Heroes (LOCH), is dedicated to helping people of all ages be the heroes in their own lives through three foundational principles. First, we believe all people have the Heart of a Hero if allowed to show it. Second, we think communities should help police themselves in a responsible and affirmative fashion. And third, we believe children need positive role models rooted in their areas of interests. All of our energies are aimed at priming people to fulfill these goals for the liberty and happiness of their families, their friends and their communities.

The Citizen Watch (Reach out, Inform and Remain Present): LOCH recognizing that community policing programs out currently in our neighborhoods and we respect and honor those inspiring programs.

The Citizen’s Watch is a like minded program with one differentiator: we bring the fun in.

Part of LOCH’s philosophy is that communities that play together, stay together and The Citizen Watch brings communities together both in real life and in the virtual world.

Besides a patrol schedule and cooperating with our local law enforcement agencies, we hold get together and block parties, creating a synergy of good will. The Citizen Watch utilizes that good will to reach out, connect, and be there for each other. Some of our projects include supporting logistics at public events, personalized community watch programs, self defense and personal awareness seminars and seeking out everyday folks who need a little help.

What is The League of Citizen Heroes

Many people have asks what is the basis for The League of Citizen Heroes. To this end, we have started a blog and we'll do our best to answer your questions. Starting with the very basics which will be this post. Enjoy!

The League of Citizen Heroes (LOCH) has developed an exciting and positive approach to community involvement centered around the inspiration and ideals of superheroes! Superheroes are instrumental in our story telling, and our view of right and wrong. They have infused their reality into our cultural mindset. LOCH is the next step in this evolution and breaks the comic barrier, bringing heroism to the street in the form of programs geared around the concept of super heroic service. The programs created by LOCH are impactful, wide-ranging and a lot of fun to be involved with. LOCH’s three basic principles translate directly into our grassroots programs.

First, we believe all people have the Heart of a Hero if allowed to show it. This principle is the cornerstone of all Citizen Heroes programs. All our projects are driven primarily from this simple concept, and the more we know, the more we are sure this is true.

Second, we think communities should help police themselves in a responsible and affirmative fashion. We take this principle to the streets with one of our programs, The Citizen Watch, our community policing effort. The Citizen Watch is the next advancement in a watch program. It differentiates itself by the unique access to social networking and community awareness resources, such as promoting block parties, having web access to your local Citizen Watch logs, etc...

Third, we believe children need positive role models rooted in their areas of interests. Our Kid Heroes program capitalizes upon our unique position by demonstrating the “right thing to do” using real life super heroes! Kid Heroes hits schools and community programs with assemblies showing kids the great benefits to living with the Heart of a Hero everyday. Every group of Kid Heroes consists of four to six actors and a genuine, inspirational superhero.

And to bring it all together, we have a social organization within LOCH. We call it Company C. Company C brings block parties, social engagements, and community opportunities to each and every program in a way that amplifies its affect. Citizen Watch programs receive organizational help to assemble block parties. Citizen Heroes can meet and swap stories at one of our Citizen Hero get-togethers. Kid Heroes can participate in fund raisers and other opportunities to show their Heart of a Hero.

One of the keys to the excitement surrounding LOCH is Citizen Prime – LOCH’s unique real life superhero. He represents you, me, and every good citizen. His armor, mask and cape help us identify the Heart of a Hero within ourselves. As a super heroic presence Citizen Prime, along with The League of Citizen Heroes, makes the world a more colorful, exciting place to live.
Another way LOCH is different form your standard non profit is LOCH is very in tune with the ideas and proposals of its members. Programs are being established involving our Citizen Hero’s own unique talents and interests. One example is fictional webisodes and graphic novels. These are based on an alternate “Prime-Verse” where Citizen Prime and his allies have real super powers!

All our LOCH programs are freely available to anyone who feels they might have The Heart of a Hero. To date, no other organization has created such a fun and inspirational way to get people of all ages involved in volunteerism. Although, superheroes are uniquely American in origin, they have spread across the world and inspired millions of people through books, movies and radio. Finally, superheroes have broken the comic barrier and we can use their inspiration to identify the Citizen Heroes among us.

What is The League of Citizen Heroes

Many people have asks what is the basis for The League of Citizen Heroes. To this end, we have started a blog and we'll do our best to answer your questions. Starting with the very basics which will be this post. Enjoy!

The League of Citizen Heroes (LOCH) has developed an exciting and positive approach to community involvement centered around the inspiration and ideals of superheroes! Superheroes are instrumental in our story telling, and our view of right and wrong. They have infused their reality into our cultural mindset. LOCH is the next step in this evolution and breaks the comic barrier, bringing heroism to the street in the form of programs geared around the concept of super heroic service. The programs created by LOCH are impactful, wide-ranging and a lot of fun to be involved with. LOCH’s three basic principles translate directly into our grassroots programs.

First, we believe all people have the Heart of a Hero if allowed to show it. This principle is the cornerstone of all Citizen Heroes programs. All our projects are driven primarily from this simple concept, and the more we know, the more we are sure this is true.

Second, we think communities should help police themselves in a responsible and affirmative fashion. We take this principle to the streets with one of our programs, The Citizen Watch, our community policing effort. The Citizen Watch is the next advancement in a watch program. It differentiates itself by the unique access to social networking and community awareness resources, such as promoting block parties, having web access to your local Citizen Watch logs, etc...

Third, we believe children need positive role models rooted in their areas of interests. Our Kid Heroes program capitalizes upon our unique position by demonstrating the “right thing to do” using real life super heroes! Kid Heroes hits schools and community programs with assemblies showing kids the great benefits to living with the Heart of a Hero everyday. Every group of Kid Heroes consists of four to six actors and a genuine, inspirational superhero.

And to bring it all together, we have a social organization within LOCH. We call it Company C. Company C brings block parties, social engagements, and community opportunities to each and every program in a way that amplifies its affect. Citizen Watch programs receive organizational help to assemble block parties. Citizen Heroes can meet and swap stories at one of our Citizen Hero get-togethers. Kid Heroes can participate in fund raisers and other opportunities to show their Heart of a Hero.

One of the keys to the excitement surrounding LOCH is Citizen Prime – LOCH’s unique real life superhero. He represents you, me, and every good citizen. His armor, mask and cape help us identify the Heart of a Hero within ourselves. As a super heroic presence Citizen Prime, along with The League of Citizen Heroes, makes the world a more colorful, exciting place to live.
Another way LOCH is different form your standard non profit is LOCH is very in tune with the ideas and proposals of its members. Programs are being established involving our Citizen Hero’s own unique talents and interests. One example is fictional webisodes and graphic novels. These are based on an alternate “Prime-Verse” where Citizen Prime and his allies have real super powers!

All our LOCH programs are freely available to anyone who feels they might have The Heart of a Hero. To date, no other organization has created such a fun and inspirational way to get people of all ages involved in volunteerism. Although, superheroes are uniquely American in origin, they have spread across the world and inspired millions of people through books, movies and radio. Finally, superheroes have broken the comic barrier and we can use their inspiration to identify the Citizen Heroes among us.

Happy Son's Day

This blog might be a bit sentimental, as yesterday was my first Father's Day. I made a video about some of my thoughts as Citizen Prime. Take a look if you'd like. I hope that video gives you something to think about. This blog is really the next level down, or rather, some thoughts that didn't translate well to video.

Like every person on the planet, I find fatherhood an interesting transition – you go from a "do-whatever-I-want" adult, to a "okay, now you really have responsibility" father. Father's Day is a good day to reflect on that transition for us new dads, even superhero dads.

As Citizen Prime, I end up talking to a number of great people and others often leave me comments about what I say and do. It might be interesting to note that I really do consider each and every thought, good or bad. Sometimes I respond, sometimes I think it best not to, but occasionally one of them stays with me for a bit. This happened yesterday. An RLSH ally called JabbaJaw responded to my video and said, "As for our reasons for fighting the good fight, I've always looked at my son as one of primary points of motivation when it comes to making this a safer world for him to grow up in." Very insightful and, I would hope, a fairly universal sentiment. Yet, people can't really know what it means to be a father until they … know what it means to be a father.

See, it's its own experience. It's like tasting Salt. You really can't describe it. You have to experience it. Or to put it better, an author named Kent Nerburn wrote, "Until you have a son of your own, you will never know the joy, the love beyond feeling that resonates in the heart of a father as he looks upon his son. You will never know the sense of honor that makes a man want to be more than he is and to pass something good and hopeful into the hands of his son. And you will never know the heartbreak of the fathers who are haunted by the personal demons that keep them from being the men they want their sons to be." Pretty heady stuff, and every word of it is uncannily true.


This brings me to being Citizen Prime and father, at the same time. Prime consists of so many elements and as people take this RLSH thing in their own directions (some of which I've tried), I see a common thread as people mature and settle into it. That thread is positive action. Think about the journey of a community crusader like yin and yang. For those who have never really considered the Eastern concept of yin and yang (translated as earth and heaven), it describes two opposing and, cooperative halves of any one idea. To that point, while I primarily focus on the good mankind can do and the heroic impulses that lie inside each of us, others don the cape and cowl and focus on avenging wrongs and taking a bite out of crime. I think both aspects serve a greater purpose and we should all do a little of both.

I, myself, search for ways to address both elements. While my current mission as Citizen Prime would be hampered by more vigilante type activities, my alter ego does seek the "Yang" in the equation. For example, I'm making inroads with the local police to volunteer as a part time Citizen Officer. It's a ironic direction, but a logical one for me, as people ask me, "Why don't you just become a cop!?" To their point, police collar far more criminals that the RLSH community ever will. But my mission is different. The police are a cog in the wheel of justice. A brave, honorable cog but they enforce laws and capture crooks ... they don't usually change hearts and minds. That's my job, and I hope it's yours.


This evening I was watching Bones while grabbing a quick bite. They started talking about Love being the only true revolutionary idea. It made me think that the concepts around Prime are like that. I strive to be that Yin in a world of Yang; that force through which, I believe, the world will be a better place. Violence usually begets violence, but Love, whether for a person, people or ideal, is a creative force, and I think it's the Yin that will survive, long after our Yang exhausts itself in struggle. In fact, Yin, or Love, is the fuel of the fire inside the heart of true heroes. In fact, considering that Love created my son, I come to the inexorable conclusion that it was central in creating Citizen Prime.

So, when people give me "that look" and ask me why I'm doing this, I smile and think of my son. I think of my desire to be more than I am, for him, and I hope to pass onto him a world better than I found it. I also consider this my daily sacrament for the sins of my past, so that I can be a better man – for him. While all this culminates on Father's Day, I guess, in my case, it should really be called Son's Day because for me, it's about preparing the way for him to lead a better life. So, happy Son's Day, my boy. Happy Son's Day.

Changes

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France

A "Change Expert" (yes, people actually have titles like these in the business world) told me once, "People only have so much change they can handle at one time. Some people have more, some less. Eventually, everyone kind of pauses and says, yea, that's enough for now."

I never really thought much about it as changes – big changes – seemed a part of my life. In fact, if I was not going through some sort of deep, life changing event, I was waiting for the next to occur.

Well, the next has occurred. Citizen Prime has moved to Utah.
See, I talk so much about living a life full of heroic essence and finding the joy in life, yet I found myself slowly pulled into a life of struggle and obsessive goals and objectives; ignoring, for a time, the best route to my message for myself and my family. And as I live each day for my wife and son, as well as myself, I find their happiness is critical. And they're happiness – and mine, I discover each day – resides best in Utah.

Does this somehow affect the existence of Citizen Prime? Yes and no. I am always growing, I hope. And, at the same time, I hold firm to the values that I feel make this country and this world great. In fact, I'm rather proud of the fact that I am constantly searching for ways to make Citizen Prime relevant in our culture and send a message that people can become the hero in their own story and lead fulfilling, exciting lives.

Yet, along the way, there have been so many ruts to fall into. It's almost as if (and maybe it is) I am being tested. Not that I am in the same ballpark as he, but a story comes to mind of Buddha as he was tempted by a series of worldly traps. He passed by each one successfully only to become more enlightened. In my own small way, I hope I am on a path that carries the same message. To evolve is to grow. I saw another quote that reminded me of this.

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~W. Edwards Deming

So why Utah? Well, both my wife and I are from Utah. We have a great deal of family and many friends in Utah. And whether I'm Citizen Prime or not, my family always comes first – although I need reminding of that sometimes. As for Prime and The League of Citizen Heroes, there is much to do to establish a presence here in Utah. It's a great time to apply some of the lessons I've learned over the last three years. I'm looking forward to the challenge of starting anew.

And we're coming out swinging. A few people might remember the BlogTalkRadio show I hosted called, Are You Primed?. Well, we're producing new episodes and they'll be as informative and interesting as ever. I'll be producing a weekly vlog, as well, sharing thoughts and lessons on how to live a heroic life. I got this idea as people were contacting me wanting to do more with there lives. People have always had challenges with perception and reality when it comes to what I do and what I stand for, so I thought I would discuss how I reconcile that desire to do good and keep my feet firmly planted in reality – a lofty goal indeed and I don't always succeed!

And finally, I'm continuing this blog. My wonderful wife had an idea as we moved to Utah that, with the new reset of my mission here, to bring the hero out in everyone, she would start a blog chronicling our life going forward. I was so inspired by her idea that I committed to keep a blog myself. You can find her blog at http://www.wifeofasuperhero.blogspot.com/.

There is much to do! And I dare say not just for myself. People contact me all the time asking how they can do Good in the world. I have some ideas but usually my advice is just refining things they already know and helping them rediscover the hero that society has buried underneath years of criticism, fear and scorn. So, as you read this blog, I challenge you, break out! Be the hero you were meant to be. Turn away from the things that you know are wrong and never look back. Yes, change is necessary. Sometimes, hard change and life balance through it all.

In my life, for example, in the last year, my wife and I had a baby, we got robbed, we moved states, I changed jobs, we lost three dear canine companions, I lost the Prime Armor in an airport (briefly), had an honorary patrol with both The Black Monday Society and Geist, and continued to build both The League of Citizen heroes, my "alter ego" career and, most importantly, keep my family safe, happy and whole. And that's nothing compared to what other people have had to endure; people who have contacted me and shared their stories of good and bad. And you know what's most amazing about those people. They don't give up or give in. Those people still keep on looking to do Good and find Good in the world. I know, from all this, that people can handle much change.

As to that Change Expert's advice. She may be right, but I know our limits are so far beyond what we think they are. It's about staying in the groove, and moving forward.

Until next time, stay strong and stay heroes.