Working Together For Good

This is the cover of this week's Time Magazine.  Even with all the hoopla going on about the extraordinary number of presidential candidates out there,  the brother of one of these guys or the wife of the other, will most likely be their party's nominee, and, consequently, the next president of the United States.

So, in our overheated, ratcheted up society, they should hate each other, right?

Wrong

George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who were first brought together by the elder President Bush, are still working together on some extremely important issues.  They're still treating each other with respect.  For instance, this year Bush, Clinton and the LBJ and Bush libraries created a leadership-training program for 60 mid-career private and public officials.  They're also still getting together socially.  When they were at the NCAA basketball finals last year, the crowds cheered like crazy.

I think Bill Clinton, in this article  by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, says it best for all of us who truly want to be a part of making this world a better place...

I do believe that people yearn to see us both argue and agree.  And they know in their gut, they gotta know, that all these conflicts just for the sake of conflict are bad for America and not good for the world.


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Publix and the Movies

We've had our last "Florida Goes to the Movies" class at Rollins College.  As you know, I loved every minute of it.

One of the films that was briefly discussed was "Edward Scissorhands."  What flashed up on the screen was our most iconic shopping center in central in Florida,  Southgate in Lakeland .  It had a cameo in "Scissorhands."  But, with its retro arches and long history,  it was a well loved icon long before it was in the movie.

Johny Depp as Edward Scissorhands
leaving Southgate.

My son, Scott, has been married for thirty years.  His father-in-law, Roy Tye, (one of the sweetest kindest southern gentlemen I've ever met), as a Publix Supermarket employee in 1957, supervised the construction of Southgate Shopping Center.

 Scott attended Florida Southern College in Lakeland in the '80s so Southgate has had a special place in his heart for a long time.  In the last few decades the company he founded, Crossman & Company, has managed Southgate.  This has included some re-dos, and one that involved totally tearing down the Publix Supermarket and rebuilding.

But the iconic, pop culture, retro arches are still there.  So, having given birth to Scott,  I'm claiming a little part of this part of Florida history.

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Gabby Rates the Movies

See this. 

Last week my grand kids from Georgia were visiting.  While I was walking in the mall with my youngest, Gabby, who is seven, I asked her opinion about the summer movies.  She's somewhat of an expert.  Her exact words were:

Grandma, do not watch "Paul Blart, Mall Cop 2." It's the worst movie I've ever seen.

Don't see this. 

OK, got it.

Then she asked if I'd heard of a film called "Minions."  Of course I have.  It opened number one at

Minions are the key to
understanding this.

the box office a few weeks back.  But Gabby doesn't know or care about box office receipts.   She knows what she likes.  And it disturbed her that, a couple of years ago, I didn't sit through the entire showing of  "Despicable Me."  (I can't believe she remembers that.  She was five.)

In my defense, Gabby knows I have difficulty with animation.  But she didn't think that was the problem.  Here's what she told me in the mall last week.

Grandma, I don't think you understood the plot.  I think you should go see "Minions".  Then watch "Despicable Me" again.  You'll understand it better.  

Because Minions is the prequel!


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All The Light We Cannot See

I, just this morning, finished reading this beautiful, amazing, frustrating, hard to read best seller.

Besides being on the New York Times Bestseller list for weeks and weeks, the Times also listed "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr, as one of the 10 best books of 2014.  It was a National Book Award Finalist...and the list goes on.

I'm amazed that it was, and still is, a best seller because it's not easy.  At 530 pages, it's daunting from the get-go.  From the beginning where we meet the main characters - nothing much happens the way you think it will - or hope it will.

The story follows the lives of two characters.  Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris. Marie-Laure is blind.  Her father adores her.

Werner is an orphan in a mining town in Germany.  He is gifted with the ability to fix radios.

Naturally, in this epic, there are loads of other complicated characters playing against the backdrop of World War II.

What did I like about "All the Light We Cannot See?"

The Magic of Radio - I grew up listening to the radio.  I still do.  It's an intimate means of communication.  I can relate to how important radio was to both Marie-Laure and Werner.

Saint Malo

Cultural Treasures - This book reminds us, once again, of how conquerors like to plunder and steal treasures and what those who love them will sacrifice to save them.

Kindness and Strength - We see both coming from people whom society doesn't see as having these traits.  For instance we see kindness coming from some German soldiers during the war and strength coming from old women and men - and a blind girl.

Much of the story takes place in the beautiful, walled city of Saint-Malo, off the coast of France.  We, the Americans, bombed it almost to oblivion in 1944.

I chose to read this novel slowly and to read each chapter as its owe entity, and to savor the beauty of the writing.  Otherwise, I would have been seriously frustrated.  For instance, I was engrossed in something happening in 1945 and, at the end of the chapter, anxious to learn how the situation resolved.  I turned the page to see the heading "1974."  What?

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Jonah

One of my favorite books in the Old Testament is Jonah.  Why?  Well, because, for one thing, it's very short.  But, by far, my favorite point in the story is that Jonah has a bad attitude.  You'd think that he'd get an "attitude adjustment" by the end of the book.  But, no.  He's still mad at God and wishes all those folks in Nineveh had been blasted off the face of the earth.

You know, like those folks who like to rant on Facebook.

The new minister at my church, David, has been with us for three Sundays and this is his third Sunday to preach on the book of Jonah.  Each time he's begun the sermon he's started with a funny analogy about our new relationship.  First was about "First Dates," last week was about "Job Interviews" where he ended by thanking us for not leaning back and folding our arms and giving him the limp handshake at the door.

This morning he did the pre-sermon about "meeting the family."  Some of the tips were, when meeting your girlfriend's parents,  not to stare at your phone, not to arrive drunk, to bring a gift but not too expensive (don't want to look desperate) and so on.

Then he's gone on to teach from the book of Jonah - which, as I said above, is all about attitude and  exploring the nature of God and the nature of human beings.

So I'm thinking that the lesson here is that we can rant all we want but God hangs in there with us and still allows us to do magnificent things, inspite of ourselves and our changing circumstances.


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Easy to Love

As you know, I've always loved movies.  When I was a kid I would have lived in the movie theater if I could.  I distinctly remember seeing Esther Williams, "Easy to Love" at the Circle Theater in downtown Indianapolis.  I'd seen her before but the diving and swimming in this film were over the top.

So I was thrilled the other day when, in our class "Florida Goes to the Movies," we discussed "Easy to Love."


- First, what brought on this crazy swimming movie phase?  It came right after Olympic Gold Medalist Sonja Henie's popular and spectacular skating movie phase.  In the 1940s, when Esther Williams could no longer pursue her Olympic dreams because of the war, she started making auqumusicals featuring synchronized swimming and diving.  Not to mention singers and comedians and dopey but entertaining plots.

- "Easy to Love" was filmed in 1953 at Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven Florida.  Van Johnson played Ray Lloyd, the founder of Cypress Gardens but it was a thinly disguised version of the real founder, Dick Pope.  Mr. Pope was "Mr. Florida Entertainment" long before Walt Disney ever thought of us.  

- "Easy to Love" is the movie where Esther does the big drop from the sky and then comes back up from the water carrying a lit candelabra.  Wow!  Bugsby Berkeley, the great choreographer, outdid himself in this film.

- And our big, tall, muscular Esther did it all (with a little help from stand-ins) while, in real life, she was pregnant.


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Disney Doesn't (Often) Make Mistakes

I live in Orlando, Florida, home of the "Attractions," chief of which is Disney World.  We, who are knowledgeable about economics, appreciate that if Disney suffers we suffer.

Giraffe poop being studied.

So, thank you Disney World and all the other attractions that keep us the vacation capital of the world.

Knowing how powerful and perfect the Mouse is, I thought it was really funny when one of their swell ideas went south.  A few months ago Animal Kingdom announced that a new chocolate treat would be served at their sweet shop Zuris.  And it would be called Poo!  That is as in hippo, elephant, giraffe and tamarin poo.

Disney Chocolate  Giraffe Poop.

Since Disney does everything exquisitely well, they studied the various animal poop for size, shape and consistency (but I'm not sure about smell) and came up with some yummy desserts.

(I can just see some little toddler thinking, Hey, I think I'll try this at home!)

For whatever reason, the poop idea was pulled soon after it started - so, no poo for you.


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