The 2022 Speak Out Act (federal) specifically spells out that those agreements are unenforceable when they involve allegations of sexual assault or sexual harassment.

And it takes it a step further: making it clear that, even for NDAs signed prior to the Act becoming law, those too may not be judicially enforceable.

Now you know.

General information of course, totally unrelated to any other posts on this site, let alone any specific categories listed.

Why would you even think otherwise?

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And I now have hope that Herschend is going to bring some good changes to Silverwood.

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What I didn’t fully realize was that I was one of the very few people he had confided in–and in my case, it came in small bits, tentatively, over time, because he was still working on how he was going to tell his story. We discussed the idea of intentionally not writing about any of the events in third person–that is, only what he personally experienced or witnessed. We expected, from him telling his story, that others would then be ready to tell theirs. And we know this to be true, because we both had people reach out to us, individually, about this.

I didn’t know that I was one of the few he’d opened up to until I received a message from one of his close friends after his memorial service. [For those unfamiliar, he passed in January.] I hadn’t attended, because I frankly didn’t feel close enough to him (ironically), but also there was a level of guilt, not knowing whether I hadn’t messaged enough, or too much…or if our messages helped or made it worse for him emotionally and mentally.

So…we are meeting Monday to share information. Hopefully I can provide some answers and some solace to a grieving family, and perhaps we can, together, bring clarity to his story.

Update: the rescheduled meeting with Isaiah’s family is now set for 9/8. There will most certainly be a post following the meeting.

Update, 9/17: there have been some developments after meeting with Isaiah’s family. I have several drafts posts ready and waiting, but because of the potentially major developments, am holding off. Sorry for the vagueness, but it’s necessary at this point.

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So let’s step back from the specific example, and get to my two hot takes on the topic. One is general, one is very personal.

Hot take #1: Abortion has always been about eliminating the “undesirables”. We can talk about nuance, we can talk about compassion, but in the end, this has always been the point. What’s changed over time–but only to an extent–is the definition of what is deemed undesirable. For Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, it was about eliminating the “unintelligent” and the black community. From her, directly:

“The eugenic and civilizational value of birth control is becoming apparent to the enlightened and the intelligent.”

“We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

Eugenics was the driving force behind Hitler’s plan to exterminate his “undesirables” as well…he just did well after birth. Abortion is nothing but a subset of eugenics. The goals are the same.

Undesirable now can mean potential birth defects, the baby being the “wrong” sex, or simply convenience. So let’s at least be honest about it.

Hot take #2: This is the very personal hot take, guaranteed to make some people upset. But as the dad of a disabled child, I believe I stand in a place of understanding in a way the general population cannot.

The hot take is this: as Evanna grows up, she is going to know and understand what I’ve written above, that there are people who believe in the “right” to eliminate those who are deemed undesirable, including those who are disabled. She is going to know that there are people–probably some who claim to care about her–that would prefer or choose for her not to have been born, because they believe she is somehow “less than” or some sort of undue burden, because that is what abortion boils down to in the end.

Bonus hot take: Jesse Ridgway can rail against those who oppose what they chose to do all he wants, but here’s the thing: he is the one that decided to announce it to the world like he’s somehow this brave and moral leader. Even on social media, eventually people notice that the emperor has no clothes. Point is this: not everything needs to be put on social media…and clicks and views aren’t a great indicator of morality.

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In regard to the behind the scenes stuff, January’s sudden and unexpected death of former Silverwood magician Isaiah Daniels put the exposé of those stories on the back burner, in large part because Isaiah’s experiences were kind of the impetus for that. Those aren’t my stories to tell (broadcast and amplify when they come out, for sure though) since I was not directly involved. That does not in the least affect the truth, the depth, or the effects of those experiences, however.

But with the Herschend acquisition of Silverwood*, it deserves a second chance. A clean(ish) slate. A new beginning, if you will.

I’ll still point out issues if experienced this season, because the issues deserve to be highlighted so that they can–hopefully–be addressed.

–S.

*Last season would have been our last as season pass holders had it not been for the Herschend acquisition, because of the issues experienced.

Additionally, my thoughts on the structure of the contract–relying on just experiences with my own clients–is that the 2026 season is likely to be a transitional season, meaning Herschend is likely to be mostly observing this season and planning out changes. But that’s just my personal thoughts. So I’ll probably be slightly more forgiving in criticism this season. As I wrote last season, I fully expect that the changes brought in by Herschend will be good ones, based on the rankings of Dollywood and on the experiences of previous Silverwood cast members that went on to work at Dollywood.

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Then someone quickly ID’d the owner as some local ‘influencer’ by the name of Jake Schnatter. I’d never heard of him before…but decided to do a little social experiment of sorts. I posted the below on IG, initially with only the first line.

The experiment was to see the reactions. I posted nothing offensive, nothing personally attacking the guy, just a funny little comment.

The internet did not disappoint, though because of the vitriol of the first two comments, I quickly deleted them, blocked those two commenters, then turned off commenting for a while. But the gist of the comments can be found in almost all threads online about it. And to me, the responses are fascinating.

The first and the ones with the most vitriol were defending him in a way that was WAY overboard, as if my comment was somehow smearing him or saying something offensive. Even had one send me a FB message like he was trying to intimidate…and over this comment?! [As an aside, Cody Gervais, formerly of CDA, now living in Bozeman, or Evan Nicholson, realtor in CDA…it’d take a whole lot more than that. I’d be more than happy to meet over coffee sometime to discuss your…concerns.]

The second set of comments I found repeated throughout local FB threads about this were comments that basically said: Jake has worked hard to be where he is/get what he has. My first thoughts were, “Ok, but what does that have to do with anything?” Conversely, if someone works hard for something, they tend to be more protective and careful with it, no?

The other comment was along the lines of “he’s a good kid” and usually combined with the second category of comments above. But does that bear out? Publicly-available records show past cases all involving…you guessed it…driving. Not necessarily extensive, but enough to question the claim, especially when a car crash is involved.

Like the original IG post, the point isn’t anything against Jake himself. Like I wrote, above, I’d never heard of him before, nor does his status matter to me in the least. But the responses…those tell a story.

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But…I have resolved to not post anything that is or could be considered either hearsay or gossip, so have decided that until some of this breaks publicly and people are more willing to relay their own personal experiences, I’m not going to post any more about it. Rest assured though that once it does break, and once other people feel more free to talk, it will be covered in depth. Trust me in this: I *wish* I could go public with what I know at this point, but without being able to cover what I write with third-party, authentic, authoritative documentation, I’d be almost begging for legal action against me. Even if 100% true. Not worth that risk.

PS: If you happen to be a previous cast member at Silverwood and have firsthand experience or information [about, shall we say, inappropriate or unprofessional behavior…by anyone…] and are willing to share, please use the About area to contact, or reach out via IG DM. Your info will remain confidential unless or until you say otherwise.

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One of the stranger things since resurrecting the blog has been the hits from the past week. Flooded with ones like this image, from Singapore, and more importantly, from Tencent., which is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen.

The hits aren’t really concerning in and of themselves. But they are crawling what looks to be all of the pages from the blog prior to me taking it offline years ago.

Digging up the past, so to speak.

So let me return the favor. Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989. Known in China as the June Fourth Incident. Read more here.

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Frankly it was because our incident just felt like more of the same of what we’ve experienced at Silverwood this season (here, here, here, and here–though not in chronological order–and it felt like anything else I posted would just be beating the metaphorical dead horse. My intent is not to dump on Silverwood, but make them–and the public when Silverwood doesn’t respond–aware of the issues. From my perspective, over the course of the entire season, it seems to be either a focus or training change related to accessibility.

This one was more dangerous though. By a lot.

After a couple seasons of talking about the Log Flume, Evanna decided she wanted to try it.

The pictures I took don’t show it well, but the layout of the loading/unloading area inside is this: the waterway splits into two areas to alternate loading and unloading. The normal area for loading and unloading is in front of us in the picture a bit, with the right lane loading/unloading from the right side, and the left one from the area between the two lanes. This detail is important in a bit.

The handicap loading/unloading area is on the right side, back a bit from the regular line, with a gate that opens to allow access, and an area that allows a rider to stash their wheelchair or other devices. Note of high importance: the handicap area is ONLY on the right, and can only load/unload from the right lane.

All went relatively well. We boarded and rode. But at the end of the ride, our car was directed to the LEFT lane. So we did the only thing we could do at the time: we unloaded, and waited in that center area between lanes for the attendant. And waited…and waited, holding Evanna, since her wheelchair was across a water lane from where we were, with no way of crossing. He gave no direction, provided no solution…just kept going, leaving us stranded.

After several sets of riders had gone through, a boat was stopped at the handicap area, so I yelled out to him, exasperated, if I could walk across the boat to get to her wheelchair. He opened the gate to allow, and we did, nearly losing my balance doing so.

This incident kinda sums up our Silverwood season. I don’t know what exactly changed or who directed the changes, but I do know that there were changes, and those changes had an impact on Evanna and her desire to visit…and I’m not sure she even picked up on a lot of the changes, or the words that were insensitive or uncaring, or Silverwood’s social media choosing instead of responding to one of the first incidences that I posted about on IG to just block me from tagging them. But I did.

And I can say that unless something major changes, we will not be getting season passes for the 2026 season (after having them the previous four seasons).

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Came across Ugreen this summer, and ended up picking up a DXP4800 Plus. The story of obtaining it is long and convoluted, fraught with attempted fraud via Aliexpress sellers (yes, plural). Perhaps for another time. But got one.

The thing is a beast, especially once I added in a couple NVMe drives for caching. More storage, faster storage, and running several apps in Docker. And even a Windows 2000 Pro VM for nostaglia, and because I could. Has run flawlessly.

Development continues to expand apps and capabilities of the Ugreen OS, but it is very similar to Synology without the cost, or the now price-inflated, Synology-branded drives required in many models.

Comparison of specs between the units for kicks:

DS215j: 800MHz Marvell Armada 375 dual-core CPU, 512MB of DDR3 RAM. 2 bays.

DXP4800 Plus (with upgrades): 12th Gen Intel Pentium Gold 8505 CPU (5-core, 6 threads, 3.3GHz with turbo up to 4.4GHz, 8MB cache), 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a 128GB SSD for OS. 4 bays.

Don’t do what I did (attempt to order from Aliexpress to save a few bucks). Unless you use PayPal + American Express, and have local USPS on your side when the tracking sent isn’t your unit (AND hope USPS gets a picture of hte label in their system!), or addressed to you or to your address, and are exceedingly patient. Order from link at Amazon instead.

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