Death of an Idol

Paul Newman died yesterday. I cried today when I heard the news. He was a hero of mine since my adolescent eyes first meet his baby blues in The Silver Chalice. I must have been 13 or 14 years old and the 1955 movie was on our brand new color television. It was Paul's first big screen performance and the movie was not notable, but I knew the very moment I saw him on screen that I was in the presence of someone who would be long remembered. I continued to follow his career, watching older movies on television and the newer ones in the theater. I aged with Paul, even though he is almost three decades older than me. And how he did age, naturally, beautifully becoming such a distinguished older man. The last two roles that I admired him in were his performance as Kevin Costner's father in Message in a Bottle and the role of John Rooney in Road to Perdition. In between that first movie and his last, there were so many memorable moments. Here are just a few of mine, well worth watching, again and again.
The Color of Money (1986) .... Fast Eddie Felson
Absence of Malice (1981) .... Michael Colin Gallagher
Slap Shot (1977) .... Reggie 'Reg' Dunlop
The Sting (1973) .... Henry Gondorff
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) .... Butch Cassidy
Cool Hand Luke (1967) .... Luke
Hombre (1967) .... John Russell
Harper (1966) .... Lew Harper
Hud (1963) .... Hud Bannon
The Hustler (1961) .... Eddie Felson
Exodus (1960) .... Ari Ben Canaan
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) .... Brick Pollitt
The Long, Hot Summer (1958) .... Ben Quick

My admiration for Paul extended far beyond his ability as an actor. His long marriage to Joanne Woodward survived in part because they removed themselves from the superfluous environment of Hollywood. They raised their children in Connecticut and managed to stay out of the public eye. Paul also pursued other interests, outside of acting. His long time association with racing was something that I am sure gave him great satisfaction. He was a competent driver. And then there's his establishment of Newman's Own brand giving us all quality healthy foods with profits filtering to nonprofit organizations. I hope this business will be continued by his daughter Nell.

I am going to miss Paul Newman, with his bedroom blue eyes and grin that was wider than the big screen. His on and off screen legacy will be with us for a long time to come.

When I was a BU Coed

Sometimes it is very hard to think about how far removed I am from my coed days at Bloomsburg University, then Bloomsburg State College. I spent some very happy years at BU, as a class leader, sorority member, and RA. I made some lasting friendships--people with whom I am still friends and with whom I enjoy spending time. But can it be that many years ago? I don't really feel that much older. I can still remember football games, wrestling meets, basketball games, even swim meets--only because a good friend was on the team. :-)

I remember sorority and fraternity functions, some a little wilder than others. Concerts by some of the hot groups, which will definitely give away the time frame; The Association, BS&T, The Loving Spoonful. I remember graduation, which occurred just a few days after my 21st birthday, early on a Sunday afternoon. My best friend and I managed to down a couple bloody marys before hand. I remember how proud my mom and dad were that their only child was a college graduate.

A long time ago, a wise and dear friend told me to treasure the special moments for much later times when I was rocking away my hours. She was right. Those very special moments will be with me for a long time.

Huskies Win Again

Yesterday's game was a bit of a nailbitter. The Huskies have always been a second half team, but I was really worried yesterday that Kutztown would pull out a win. But thanks to Coach Danny Hale's patient ways, the Huskies won 31-21. GO HUSKIES!
With four wins under the belt, there are still seven more games to go, including West Chester and East Stroudsburg.

Authors We Love Have Blogs

I love Judy Blume--okay, maybe that's a little over the top. I don't even know Judy Blume, but I do know her writing and have been recommending it to kids since I started teaching in the early 1970's. I think my daughter Leigh read every book ever written by Judy Blume. She loved them too. It's 2008, almost 40 years since Judy wrote her first book, Are You there God? It's Me Margaret, but my elementary students still clamor to check out Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Fudge, or Superfudge. Her writing and understanding, particularly of adolescent girls is timeless and marvelous.

I discovered today, while helping a student research Judy Blume for an authors' book, that Judy has a blog--imagine that, just like me she writes in her blog as often as she can. Somehow, I feel closer to her now, and closer to my own goal of publishing someday. In her most recent blog, she discusses being a hockey mom , like a certain other newly famous female. Judy says some of the same things in her blog that I said just a few days ago in mine, only she says them infinitely better than I did. Don't believe me, read for yourself. Read her September 7 entry, Hockey Mom.

Huskies Win

My alma mater goes 3-0 with a shutout against Mercyhurst.

Bloomy, Blizzard and I are so excited. Looking forward to the Kutztown game next week.

Power of Prayer

While waiting for the remnants of Ike to hit Dallas and waiting for my beloved Huskies to be on Internet radio, I thought I'd post to my blog. Here in Texas, many are cautiously watching as Ike's damage is revealed and of course, we are all praying for safety and limited damage for friends and family.
I'd like to ask each of you to extend your prayer to a friend of mine from high school. Patti suffers from normal pressure hydrocephalus, a condition that almost always requires the insertion of a shunt to drain off excess brain fluid. Patti is in the process now of finding a surgeon and course of treatment. I hope all of you will remember her in your prayers. I believe strongly in the power of collective prayer. I am praying for the successful treatment of this condition so that Patti may resume her life as a mother, grandmother, business woman and friend.

College Yearbook

Okay, one step further with the yearbook pictures. How is this one from my sorority photo. I was a junior at BU.

Yearbook Pictures

About a week ago, my friend Meredith put a picture up from a web site called yearbookyourself.com. I went to check it out and realized, I don't have to pretend, I can just drag out my yearbook and scan the photo, so I did. It's a little grainy but here it is. Can you guess the era?

Rants and Raves

A few days ago, my husband read a post to me from Craig's List. I went into the list to reread the post a few hours later and actually sited it here on my blog. I spent a good portion of Sunday afternoon looking over the Rants and Raves section of Craig's List. Wow! I've always known that there are bigoted people in our world, but until I read some of these posts, I had no idea how bigoted or to what level the hatred reaches. From the use of gutter language to threats of death and beyond, I was truly shocked.
Being a librarian, I've always had strong feelings against censorship, but I have to wonder how sane it is to have a place where people can publicly vent their anger and vile ideas. I have no problem with people having different political viewpoints, but when they are based on lies, inuendo and unproven allegations, coupled with biased hatred, you really have a breeding ground for a troubled society. I love the Internet for its accessibility, instant access to information and informality. But I am troubled by the cloak of anonymity that allows enraged people to spew hate-laden words cascading on all of us like candy falling from a broken pinata. I don't want this to be the world in which my grandson grows up.

More politics

Eric found something interesting on Craig's List today. I am linking it here. I liked it because it was written by a republican about the republican ticket. His words were thoughtfully chosen and, in my opinion, right on target. Let's hope others agree.
http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/rnr/831681356.html

A Great Day

The day started with getting to Dylan's soccer game by 9 AM. It was the first of three games he played today. A little much in the Texas heat, but then I guess I am not six. I have to get used to typing six since his birthday was just yesterday.

After Dylan's first game, Eric and I headed for home so I could listen to Bloomsburg, my alma mater on the Internet. Today they played California of PA, the number 5 ranked team in Division II football. What a game. We were ahead at the end of the first half 14-0. California came on strong in the third quarter but they just didn't have enough to pull it out. My Huskies won, 24-17. We're beginning the season with a great 2-0 record. I am already looking forward to playoffs. :-)

Dylan's Birthday

Today I spent the whole day in the world of a five year old who was high on the excitement of celebrating his sixth birthday. Oh, my! I conveniently forgot what little boys are made of. I don't think he sat still more than the time he was in my car going to school and then back in my car while driving to dinner tonight. He was a wild child, giggling, laughing, jumping up and down. His energy level made me tired just watching.

Thank goodness he was fairly settled for school. Settled at least until 2:05 today when the fire alarm went off and we all had to trek outside and wait for 30 minutes while the determination of what caused the alarm to go off was made. It had something to do with the outside sprinklers, but goodness, by the time we all got back inside there were more than a few excited children.

As soon as everyone got back inside and settled, Dylan handed his kindergarten class cupcakes for his birthday. Thank goodness there was enough time for that, because failure to eat those cupcakes might have caused a major meltdown for birthday boy.

Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. As soon as dinner was over, Dylan, Leigh, Shane and Cole went off to watch Shane play hockey in Frisco. Tomorrow Dylan has 3 soccer games. I hope he stays awake!!

Politcal campaigns

I never cease to be amazed at what comes out during political campaigns. One candidate attacks another, but when he is challenged on a similar area, it is suddenly a different story. This is a quote from the McCain campain today.
“The McCain campaign will have no further comment about our long and thorough process,” Schmidt said, lashing out at “the old boys’ network” that he says runs media organizations.

I am laughing at the idea that the news media is an old boy network. Here all this time I thought old boy network described the Grand Old Party. Today McCain insisted the media lay off the children. But that didn't stop him from a wonderful photo op with Bristol Palin and her boyfriend. The whole thing is a little bit of an enigma. The Palin's oppose sex education or the distibution of condoms to teenagers. Yet here they are faced with an unexpected grandchild, a young daughter forced to grow up faster than is needed and the desire for all of us to look the other way, not question, not comment, just believe that Sarah Palin is the best possible person for the second highest position in US government. Perhaps this politcal mother should have taught her daughter about condoms. Why compound the "mistake" of premarital sex with bringing a child into the world when you are barely more than a child yourself? Is choosing your life partner in such a situation a good thing?