The Rising Son

by Pa Rock
Proud Father

My youngest, Tim Macy, was born on this date in 1979.   It was a Sunday, the first day of autumn, and our family was on the way to church when it suddenly became apparent that the day would not be going as planned.  We dropped Tim's older brother and sister off with friends who were at church, and then proceeded to the local hospital to await the birth of of the next member of the family.

Tim was a happy child, always an extrovert, who made friends easily.  For  a few years during his adolescence he and I were a family of two, a situation that undoubtedly had a substantive impact on both of our lives.  Tim was living out west in a culturally challenging environment while he was in high school, a situation that ultimately led him to leave school early - without a degree.  It wasn't long, however, before he completed a GED and enrolled in college.  A few years later the one-time high school dropout graduated from the University of Kansas with the degree of  Masters in Fine Arts.

Tim did a lot of writing while he was in college.  He posted short stories to the internet, and was published in several print sources.  He also was involved in playwriting classes while he was working on his masters degree.   At one point he entered a playwriting contest for plays that were no longer than ten-minutes in length, and he won the regional competition for his effort, "Attack of the Asians," a win that entitled him to present his entry at the national competition which was held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  His dad was there, puffed up with pride as he watched his son's writing come to life on a stage at that world renown venue.

Several of Tim's plays were  presented at the University of Kansas while he was in graduate school, including one that dealt with the still unsolved 1988 disappearance of Kansas high school student Randy Wayne Leach.  The entire Leach extended family and many of their friends showed up for the opening night performance, an event which drew much press coverage and comment throughout the Kansas City media market.  Tim's dad, who had driven in from Kentucky, was in the audience opening night and the next night, too!

Two of Tim's internet stories were made into short films, and one of those was later transformed into a full-length motion picture.  Ramaa Mosley, a director of commercials from Los Angeles, had come across Tim's story, "The Brass Teapot," and telephoned him about the possibility of her turning it into a short film, a project that reached fruition in 2007.  (Julia Roberts' husband, Danny Moder, served as the cinematographer on that project.)   The short film version of "The Brass Teapot" met with enough critical success that Mosley decided to turn it into a feature-length film.   Tim was involved in the writing and production of that effort which was filmed in Fishkill, New York, in 2011.   The movie starred Juno Temple, Michael Angarano, Alexis Biedel, and Bobby Moynihan, and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012 - and again Tim's dad was underfoot to enjoy that success as well!

Another of Tim's short stories was developed into a short film by students at Ohio State University in 2009.  Tim co-wrote the script for that project, "The Dying Western," a film which went on to win several awards including the Festival Award at the Appalachian Film Festival,  the Audience Award at the Route 66 Film Festival, and the Jury Prize at the Las Vergas  Film Festival.   Tim's dad, both of his siblings - Nick and Molly, and Cousin Reed were all in attendance at the Las Vegas Film Festival!

In 2015 Tim and Ramaa Mosley teamed up again to make another full-length movie.   They co-authored a script about a young female veteran of the Gulf Wars who returns to the Ozarks for her father's funeral and to look for her estranged younger brother.  While she is struggling to reconnect with her past, the young woman finds a boy living in the woods on his own and becomes involved in his life.  The movie "Lost Child" was filmed in and around West Plains, Missouri - giving Tim's dad, a resident of that small Ozark town, a front row seat for observing the magic of making a movie!  "Lost Child" starred Leven Rambin, Jim Parrack, Taylor John Smith, and several local individuals from the West Plains area.  It premiered at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis in 2016, and later that same year received top honors at the Kansas City Film Festival.

Tim's wife Erin is a licensed speech correctionist, a plant enthusiast, and a great mom.  She and Tim are the parents of two wonderful children:  Olive, who is eight and currently studies acting in her spare time, and four-year-old Sully (Sullivan) who has just begun pre-school and appears to be on the road to becoming a stand-up comic.  The Macy's of Roeland Park, Kansas, are an extremely close and loving family - and Pa Rock misses not getting to see them nearly as often as he did before the pandemic hit.

Happy birthday, Tim.  Thanks for always making me so proud!