11.30.06
Posted in Family Life, Reflections on Life in General at 9:47 pm by Administrator
Have you ever heard a phrase or read a passage that gripped your soul and refused to let go? I am struck by that sensation often. It is one of the reasons I love to write. I dream of reaching the ever elusive (maybe sometimes not so much) level of causing that reaction in one of my readers.
On one of my Christmas CD’s, Kenny G compiled a version of “Auld Lang Syne,” which he called “The Millennium Version.” It was released at the turn of this century. Every time I listen to it, my soul is gripped, and I am find that I must stop whatever it is I am doing, sit down and listen to the song. It is about 8 minutes long and contains snippets of news events, television programs, and speeches that shaped the world during the 20th Century. If you have never heard it, I suggest you find it and listen to it. It makes me feel small and insignificant when listening to how the world in which I now live was shaped.
Here are just a few of the powerful words that capture my senses every single time I listen to the song:
“I have a dream…that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Martin Luther King’s immortal words, spoken on August 28, 1963. Every time I hear those words, I am moved to tears. Since I am the mother of two children of color, I echo his sentiments whole heartedly.
“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and ’slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”
President Ronald Reagan speaking on January 28, 1986 after the space shuttle Challenger exploded after takeoff. I was a senior in high school when this tragedy struck. I still remember exactly where I was when I heard the news.
“Let the word go forth from this time and place, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans….”
President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961, during his Inaugural Address. Regardless of his personal life, his political affiliation or his heritage, John F. Kennedy gripped the souls of much of this nation. I cannot help but be drawn to what he said.
Have you ever listened to one of Martin Luther King’s speech’s in its entirety? Read any of Ronald Reagan’s or John F. Kennedy’s speeches? I have not. I think now I will. My soul needs to be gripped more often by powerful words.
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Posted in Family Life, Reflections on Life in General at 6:41 am by Administrator
Yesterday, my kids had a half day of school (why not the Wednesday before Thanksgiving instead of after Thanksgiving? It is a question parents are still asking around the school district). Because of this short break, I thought how fun it would be to take them to see the new movie “Happy Feet.” The trailers all promised a toe-tappin’ good time. Hah.
I have no problem with a writer/author/director using certain forms of media as a platform from which to spew his or her various political/social/economic beliefs and agendas. I DO have a problem with that person trying to cram that down the throat of millions of innocent, unsuspecting, sponge-like children around the world. Happy Feet offended me to the bottom of my toes. My feet were tappin’, alright. They were just tapping in annoyance, followed soon by anger.
The trailers show penguins singing, happy, playful, intimating that this one lowly little penguin will change his world forever by searching for his “heartsong.” Great, right? Wrong. It quickly turns into one of the most blatant anti-establishment movies I have ever endured.
Humans are called “aliens” and the only visions we are given as the audience of these horrible, frightening creatures is of a bird with a yellow plastic marker attached to its leg. Then another penguin shows up, choking to death from one of those six-pack can holders around his neck. This choking goes on for an unbelievable 20 minutes. Twenty minutes of a brutal, vicious, impending death scene….IN A CHILDREN’S MOVIE!!! I kept watching my children’s faces and they were covered with fear and anxiety as they watched this penguin struggle to breath and, in the end, try to kill himself because he can’t take the pain anymore. When the penguins do find the mean, nasty aliens “who just don’t care about us,” (quote from the movie), it is in an industrialized town with menacing, rusted out equipment, broken windows, trash-strewn lawns, and circular saw blades with horrifyingly sharp teeth, all set in a dark, very gloomy, terrifying setting. Again…IN A CHILDREN’S MOVIE.
I went online this morning and read some reviews. Most were inane, repeating the same words of praise they used for any other animated movie out in the last 10 years. However, I found one that identified what the others omitted. The Washington Post, generally a more liberal newspaper, hit the nail on the head this time:
THE FAMILY FILMGOER ® by Jane Horwitz at the Washington Post (taken from www.fandango.com)
Happy Feet veers off-course about three-quarters of the way through its rather long-feeling 98 minutes. It turns from being a glorious, funny, adorable computer-animated penguin musical about diversity and acceptance into a screed against human encroachment on their habitat. It feels like two films — one a riotous musical comedy, the other a somber alarm call filled with looming fishing trawlers and ugly debris. Even the more typically ‘toon-ish scary bits — giant leopard seals, killer whales, birds of prey bursting out of the sea and swooping down to get our penguin hero — are highly intensified. (We learn it’s because the fish supply is dwindling.) So is a prolonged subplot in which a penguin nearly asphyxiates as a plastic 6-pack holder tightens on his neck. Happy Feet may be too much for many kids under 7, some under 8. (Know how well your child separates animated fantasy from reality.)… His side adventures among trawlers and in a zoo turn the film very dark before the dawn. Director George Miller also added somber notes to Babe: Pig in the City (G, 1998). In Happy Feet, this keeps the film off-balance.
Ms. Horwitz is absolutely correct: know your kid well. Otherwise, nightmares and questions a 7 or 8 year old is not capable of understanding may arise from those same kids.
I totally understand, believe and support the need to take care of our environment. I also know the Bible clearly states that God gave man dominion over the earth, meaning we are at the very top of the food chain. Nowhere does it say, “unless the animals are furry and cute.” It is an awesome responsibility, one not to be taken lightly. But it is also a reality. They are animals. We are people. Our advancement as humans may change the face of the world, but at the same time, that same advancement allows those directors, writers, and others in Hollywood to drive fancy cars and live obscenely decadent lifestyles within the walls of their multi-million dollar homes. Double standards drive me insane.
So I caution you to do your research before taking your kids to see this movie, and afterwards, use it as a teaching experience…to teach your kids that there are different viewpoints in the world, and that not everything you see, read, hear, is the truth. Hopefully, it will also teach your kids to seek out the truth and do their own research.
Meanwhile, these not so happy feet will use their own medium to proclaim my extreme disappointment and dissatisfaction with this movie.
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11.28.06
Posted in Reflections on Life in General at 8:06 am by Administrator
Well, three days into our return from our former life and things are back to normal. Better than normal, in fact, if I’m truly honest with myself. Usually Mondays are fraught with tension, grumpy kids, and the serious blahs. Yesterday, however, was not that way at all. The kids finished their homework, played with friends and then hopped into the car for our typical Monday shuttling-about-town trek for diving and basketball practices.
I have not fully recovered from the trip, however. I’m still fighting a mild case of the blues and wish that I had more to return to here in Indiana. But instead of launching a full-blown pity party, I have started to think what I can do to change that. So far it involves playing a lot of Solitaire on my computer.
And speaking of computers, my husband bought me a lovely new laptop for our 10th wedding anniversary. I enjoyed its speed and sleekness for a whopping 7 days before it puked its guts and died. Yesterday, I called Apple (as many of you know, I am a devoted follower and worshipper at the altar of the great and mighty Macintosh) for technical support. I do not lie one bit when I tell you how my conversation went.
Me: Hi, I just bought a new MacBook Pro and it worked fine for about a week and then suddenly I can’t get it to turn on at all. I can hear it trying, but the screen remains blank and I can’t see anything.
Tech: OK. Well, let’s get the serial number for it. Click on the blue apple in the upper left corner.
Me: Did you hear what I just said? I cannot get it to turn on! (Me thinking: if I could see the blue apple, do you think I’d be throwing away precious minutes of my life talking to you?)
Tech: Ooohhh! Ok. Well, let’s see. I think you can find the serial number–
Me: I found it under the battery. What next?
This went on for approximately 45 minutes, complete with him telling me I could return it to the store where I bought it. The end of our conversation went like this:
Me: I didn’t buy it at a store, I bought it from apple.com
Tech: Apple.com? (silence for a few seconds). OOOOOOHHHHHH! You mean you bought it on the internet!
Sigh. There it goes–fluttering away on golden wings: 45 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.
I should have done what I originally expected to do: take it to the Apple Store in the mall. At least there, hopefully, I won’t be senselessly and tragically robbed of 45 minutes of my life.
Like I said…back to normal here!
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11.20.06
Posted in Reflections on Life in General at 4:42 pm by Administrator
…or can you? I am visiting my old stomping grounds in Orlando for the first time since moving away. I must confess, I dreaded the trip.
Most people who knew I was heading down here asked me, “Aren’t you so excited to go back and see everyone?” They all expected me to say, “Oh yes! I am all aflutter with excitement.” When in reality, I was nervous, afraid, anxious.
As we drove to church on Sunday, my husband asked me, “Are you excited?” I said, “Nervous.” He said, “Why?” I said, “I’m afraid I’m going to be sad.”
And there it is. I dreaded the trip because I was so afraid of what I would find here. Would everyone be different? Moved on to new places, things, friends? Or would nothing have changed? I didn’t know which I hoped for. If everything was different, then it would be easier to let go, albeit quite sad to see. However, if nothing had changed, would I be happy they were all the same or would I be depressed because all was as I had left it, as if waiting for me to slide back in and pick up where I left off?
The reality is much harsher. Nothing has changed, but I know everything is different.
You know the old saying, “You can never go back…”? Well, I’m not sure I agree with that. You can go back. Always. The question, I now believe, is not can you, but rather should you.
I don’t have the answer. I just know that a major part of me still rests here in Orlando. The part of me that is vibrant, active, alive, and full of friendships. I leave tomorrow and realize I am faced with my new reality: the rest of me that lives in the north. And still I will wonder, “Should I have gone back?”
I think I will say yes. While sad and lonely, I am thrilled to know I am loved and missed and cherished, just as I always was when I lived here. I just don’t happen to live here anymore. Now I just have to figure out how to make the two parts of me meet once again.
Nothing has changed…but everything is different.
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11.11.06
Posted in Reflections on Life in General at 9:12 am by Administrator
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