42 - A Movie About Methodists!

Dave and I saw this weekends' # 1 at the box office movie, "42" yesterday.  Most Americans know that the number 42 stands for the great athlete and great human being, Jackie Robinson.  Even I know that.

He broke the color barrier in baseball and paved the way for all kinds of athletes.  Not many of us have the quiet strength to pull something like this off.

I know two Floridians who's families hosted Jackie Robinson in their homes here in Florida during those times when he wasn't allowed to stay in a hotel.  Great stories about Jackie Robinson abound in Florida.

In 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to play for his Montreal farm team.  What followed changed the history of baseball and helped change history for all of us.

Why did Rickey do this?  Why did Robinson accept?  Here's my answer.  Because they were both Methodists.  Rickey explains in the beginning of the movie how this works.  He said that God was a Methodist as well, but I wouldn't go that far.  However, he did stress to Jackie Robinson that he would have to have the quiet "turn the other cheek" strength of Jesus in order to survive.

Toward the end of the movie Branch Rickey tells Robinson that he was motivated to do what he did by something that happened to him when he was a student at Ohio Wesleyan.  That's a Methodist school.  Just sayin'.

There are a number of vile, racist men - who lived in vile, racist towns - in this movie.

One of the towns was Sanford, Florida, right up the road from me.  It's changed some, but still has a ways to go.  It's the town where the unarmed young black teenager Travon Martin was shot last year.

See the movie.  It will inspire you to be a better person.  You don't necessarily have to be a Methodist.


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Bragging About Our Kids

Many years ago, when I was speaking before groups and somebody would compliment me on my super achieving children I would respond "Well, none of them are in jail."

I stopped saying that one day when it was made clear to me that, somewhere in most every audience, there is a parent who's child is in jail.

My friends and I are now at the age - and our children are at the age - where all sorts of things have happened.  We know how fragile life is.  We've seen death and divorce and bankruptcy.  Bragging is usually reserved for extraordinary acts of kindness or for something like "He actually came to see me!"

 The most important truth I came to appreciate early on was that many people have influenced my kids over the years.  I'm extraordinarily grateful to most of them.  Twenty to thirty years after leaving home my kids are still the most interesting people I know.  And that's saying something.

On Thursday night my younger son John was inducted into the Florida State University Business School Hall of Fame.  He's the youngest person to receive this honor.  It came about due to the efforts of scores of people.

Including his three siblings.

• One of whom couldn't be there but sent him cuff links which he wore and held up for the crowd to see.
• One of whom flew in on a private jet, stayed about an hour, flew out again - and is now in Bolivia. 
• One of whom wore her Marilyn Monroe dress for the occasion. 

John thanked a number of people.  The first person was his high school speech teacher and debate coach, Dr. Koslow, who flew in for this event.  Here's a photo of me with Dr. Koslow.

I'd like to thank him, and every person who's ever helped shape my kids into who they've become.  There are hundreds of you out there. I hope you know who you are.


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College Week

Yesterday Dave and I, and several friends, toured Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida.  The Princeton Review voted the Florida Southern campus the most beautiful in the nation.

This, in my opinion, is due largely to its president, Ann Kerr.  She's a visionary.  Much of the campus was designed many years ago by Frank Lloyd Wright.  She's worked hard to restore the campus to its original beauty.

I always thought Mr. Wright's  low ceilings were due to the fact that he was short.  An ego thing.  Turns out it wasn't and he wasn't.  It was all about aesthetics.  He was at one with nature.

Three of my kids attended Florida Southern.  And the school has always been like Mecca for Florida Methodists.   I hung around the campus from time to time for about 40 years.

Dave took these photos yesterday.

Tomorrow we're going to look over the University of Florida campus in Gainesville.  U of F and Florida State University are huge rivals.  The last time I was on the U of F campus I saw three bumper stickers that said:  Your Momma Is Ugly and She Sent You To Florida State.  That had to be describing me and messaging my kids.  Two of them (I actually claim three) went to Florida State.

On Thursday we'll be on the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee, where, that evening, my son will be inducted into the Florida State Business School Hall of Fame.

Dave and I will try to behave ourselves.


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My Obituary

This morning's syndicated column by Connie Schultz deals with the death of rocket scientist, and winner of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Yvonne Brill.  Or, more precisely, her obituary.

Yvonne's obit begins like this:

She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children. "The world's best mom", her son Matthew said.

Here's the thing.  Every good mom, no matter what else she's done, feels that raising those kids is the number one priority.  I certainly did. And do.  Nothing else comes even close.  And I'm sure Yvonne Brill would want her son to say nothing better than she was the world's best mom.  But I hope Matthew is aware of what else she did.

For instance, Yvonne Brill, who died on Wednesday at 88, was a brilliant rocket scientist, who in the early 1970s invented a propulsion system to help keep communications satellites from slipping out of their orbits.

Connie Schultz says it so well,  A newspaper obituary is meant to tell the story of why a person mattered in the world at large.  It's a fierce competition.  Thousands of people die every day, but few of their stories make the cut. 

I can just see my obit now:  She made a mean "Six Week Bran Muffin Mix" that not only tasted yummy but kept her family regular; she followed her husband from church to church for 30 years and took 25 years off to raise four children. 

Of course, it's quite likely that my kids don't know what I did - and do.  When I was home doing family stuff I tried to keep my career on the down low.

When my husband, Ken, died, he got that coveted sweet obituary spot in a few papers.  While it was a bit padded, it did do him justice in the big things he accomplished in his life.  I was reminded of it this very week because (nine years after his death) one of my kids posted it again on Facebook.

So, while you may not be fully aware of my accomplishments, here's a start.  In thinking about the extraordinary things listed in Ken's obit - as Ginger used to say about Fred -I did all those things as well.

Only backwards.  And in high heels.

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Life of Pi

The book, Life of Pi, came out in 2001 and was an immediate best seller.  I read it.  Or I tried to.  The kid on the boat with the tiger made no sense to me.  I just didn't get it.

So when the movie came out I wasn't interested.  Then it started racking up Academy Award nominations.  Then a couple of my friends, whom I really respect in this area, said "go see the movie."  But we never got around to it.  And, frankly, I still wasn't thrilled with the idea.  Especially since it's long (two hours plus.)  And I had read that the book was "unfilmable."  Why would I see an "unfilmable" movie of a book I didn't like?

Yesterday we went to the neighborhood discount theater.  Life of Pi was the only thing even remotely worth seeing.  We had to pay big bucks ($3.25 each) because it's in 3-D.

I don't like 3-D.

So there I was - sitting in the theater in my big dark glasses.  I'd like to describe this film to you but I can't.  I was mesmerized from the time it started until the end.  Each frame of this film is beautiful in a magnificent way.  It's just plain visually spectacular.

But it's not "all hat and no cowboy."  It's full of cerebral symbolism.  It's about a boy (Pi) who is shipped wreaked on a small boat with a tiger (Richard Parker.)  But it's also very much about the nature of God.  (One of my favorite topics.)  Pi is curious about God in all God's forms.

If you can still find Life of Pi at a theater, please see it.  If you must watch it at home it just won't have the same impact.  And see it in 3-D.  I take back everything I've ever said about 3-D.

The ending has two versions.  You'll want to discuss these endings with your friends.  Which do you think is the "real" one?  Why is it important?

Life of Pi ended up receiving four Academy Awards.  Best direction (by Ang Lee,) best musical score, and (of course) best cinematography and visual effects.


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I Admire Herman Cain

All who know me well - or not so well - are scratching their heads at the above statement.  But I've been, occasionally, listening to Herman Cain's new radio program when I'm in the car  He has replaced the mean spirited Neal Boortz.

I'll have to say he's funny and entertaining.  What's more, he's kind to his callers. And much of his rhetoric is positive. He's always been good at inspiring folks, or, as he says, helping folks be self-motivated.  Herman and I agree on that.

Yes, we are still poles apart politically - and in other areas as well.  But, as John Wesley, said, it's good to walk together where we can.

But don't worry Diane Rehm, I will never abandon NPR.


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Spring Awakening

Spring is here.  We're all having spring awakenings.  But I'm talking about the awakenings young people have when they reach puberty.  All healthy young folks experience big changes and begin thinking about things that scare the bejebbers out of their parents.

I strongly believe that the way parents - and religious leaders - should deal with this awakening is - straight on.  These changes are God-given and need to be affirmed.  How we're gonna deal with them is serious business.

I wish that 15 year olds didn't have to deal with having the power of life and death.  But they do.  It's hard to believe that some 14 year olds don't know where babies come from.

On Saturday night Dave and I went, with several friends, to the University of Central Florida Theater to see the play "Spring Awakenings."  A German play, written in 1890, it deals with the issue of adolescence in a severely oppressive society.  When it first opened on Broadway it was banned and closed down the next night.

Decades later it was redone as a rock musical.  In 2006 it was a huge hit on Broadway.

The UCF version of Spring Awakenings is excellent.  The music and the young actors are amazing. It's also hard to watch, uncomfortable. To me, the central theme is that, in the late 1800s, in Germany,  young people were to do as they were told, not ask questions, not express feelings and not embarrass their parents, the school or the church.

Joshua Chase Gold, the director of the play we saw on Saturday says this:

Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, ....carries with it the rarely used subtitle "A Children's Tragedy."  Taking my inspiration from this title, I searched for the tragedy of the piece.  Dealing with once taboo....issues of sexuality, puberty, rape, abuse, abortion, homosexuality, and suicide the notion of "tragedy" seemed clear: the tragedy is in the circumstances.  As I began to explore more and search for the story I wanted to tell, I realized that the tragedy, in fact, centers around the destructive things that can happen when we speak at  each other instead of to each other. 

The sad thing is that "children" are still suffering and dying - because we aren't respecting what they're going through and helping them navigate this exciting, dangerous, wonderful, agonizing time.


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