To Kill a Mockingbird Meets Mr. Holland's Opus

A couple of weeks ago Judith asked if I would help out at the church tonight. My task, and one of only two reasons I was looking forward to the occassion, was to pour the wine…my cup included.

The other motivation: Reed Polk, as captivating and motivational a speaker as you could ask for. I have had the pleasure of knowing Reed through Rotary over the last few years. But until tonight I had no idea he grew up with Harper Lee ("Nelle"), author of To Kill a Mockingbird, in Monroeville, Alabama. In answer to a question, Reed says that he saw nothing in Harper that would suggest she would write her masterpiece. She was 10 years his senior and attended his church, where his father was the minister.

Now this is no small coincidence for me as To Kill A Mockingbird is my all-time second favorite movie (North by Northwest is numero uno!). Les and I were studying for law school finals and we heard it was playing at the student center. So we took a break to watch it and WOW! Perhaps it is because I went to law school for idealistic reasons, but seeing this movie was a defining moment in my life.

Turns out that awesome actors aren’t just born—they WORK it. Reed told me that the few weeks prior to shooting Gregory Peck went to Monroeville “undercover” as a homeless man. He had a tattered shirt, torn pants and a fake beard, and showed up at Reed’s church. The deacons were wary, but Reed’s father waved this itinerant—and insistent—hobo in. When alone with Mr. Polk, senior, Peck stood tall, ripped off his beard, extended his hand and said, “I am Gregory Peck and I want you to tell me everything you can about Mr A.C. Lee,” who was Harper’s father and the inspiration for Atticus Finch (Harper was Scout, Atticus’ daughter). He was a lawyer in real life and also taught Reed to play golf.

Harper said of Mr. Peck, "Gregory Peck was a beautiful man. Atticus Finch gave him the opportunity to play himself." Peck had a grandson named Harper, for her.

Truman Capote was Dill, the boy in the novel who spent summers with the Finch’s neighbor and who in real life became best friends with Harper. In fact, Truman encouraged her during her writing of To Kill a Mockingbird, and later, she encouraged his writing of In Cold Blood.

Reed tells of meeting Truman on the golf course back in the late 60’s down in Ole Miss. He told Truman that he was a new minister and used In Cold Blood as an example in his sermon to which the high-pitched effeminate voiced Capote cried “Jesus Chri-i-i-s-t!” Reed explained that just as the two criminals went to that rural Kansan house with mistaken hopes of finding fortune, many come to various churches with promises left unfulfilled. Again Capote cried, “Jesus Chri-i-i-s-t!”

[GO SEE “Capote” if you have not done so. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote is absolutely incredible!]

Afterwards, during the reception, as I am pouring—and drinking—the fruit of the vine, FERMENTED of course, this is an Episcopal church after all—Reverend Sally’s husband, Dick, tells me of his prior career as a high school music teacher. His stories reminded me of Mr. Holland’s Opus, with Richard Dreyfuss, and sure enough, when he retired the school had a huge party with a banner as in the movie. He was in actuality a true-life example of Dreyfuss' portrayal of Mr. Holland, tears and all.

Life does imitate art—wait a minute, that’s reversed. But maybe not. As Reed exhorted us, in order to reach our goals we need only DREAM our painting, then PAINT OUR DREAM!

Rfd 5/18/06

Politics and Personal Relationships

Heart over head or head over heart—how shall I be ruled? I ask this question on election eve where I have 3 very good friends vying for the Lexington mayoral race. One, the incumbent Teresa Isaac, fits squarely within both heart and head. That is, she shares the same liberal philosophy as I and we and our families are lifelong friends.

Jim Newberry I know from our law school days and our tenure on the NCCJ board together. Jim is a conservative Democrat and a friend, so it is somewhat difficult to decline my support for him in favor of T.I. (but not too much so as he opposes city takeover of the water company).

Bill Farmer on the other hand is a real quandary: he is a strong conservative Republican AND a very close friend, my younger brother’s best friend. He even threw my engagement party, so giving precedence to my political head over my personal heart is difficult.

Yet--and this is where the ballot meets the box—Bill’s eager support for his party makes him equally complicit with the lockstep Republicans in Congress in what I view as the destruction of our democracy.

Like most liberals I believe in government: a) that benefits the greater public interest (welfare, health care, social security, housing, education, etc.), b) is honest and transparent and not beholden to special interests, much less outright bribes, c) operates in a multilateral fashion and does not engage in counterproductive, immoral pre-emptive war, d) that respects the separation of church and state. I truly and to the depths of my soul think the Republicans have over the last 25 years acted in near total opposition to ALL these principles and as such against most of what I hold dear.

So even a brother or sister, were he or she to run under the GOP banner, I could not support. Odd, I now understand why brother fought against brother in the Civil War. In essence, this is what I told Bill during our frank conversation.

Yet, I have now come to the realization that it is the HEART that should take priority in ALL circumstances. That is, no matter what my gyrations, no matter what logical and to my mind morally right arguments I may weave to buttress my philosophies, the political wheel will roll on as if I did nothing. Thus, “God give me the serenity to accept that which I can not change” is the tranquilizer that quells my political passions of late.

When Bill called this afternoon to get permission to quote my opposition to Newberry’s proposed sales tax increase, I would certainly have done so, but for the appearance of entangling our business. I DO oppose such an increase, so it would be honest. And I could look my liberal friends in the eye and say, “look, does it REALLY matter, he’s my friend, and in any case I will always stay true to my philosophy. Who knows, it may even rub off on him. As my Uncle Willy always said, you catch more flies with honey than you do with salt!

So I joke and laugh and cry and hug my conservative friends and family—all the while believing that the structure they support is stifling our nation. Yes, it’s important, yet I sense that try as I might, all my huffing and puffing won’t blow that house down.

Still, as my heart overflows my head recalls: “most people stop when they’re tha-a-a-t (thumb and forefinger spaced one inch apart) far away.”

Where the spirit leads, I will follow.


Rfd 5/15/06

Toast

A huge advantage to losing 35 pounds and being dead-on the “ideal” weight for my age and size is that I can eat bread again. Not that avoiding it did any good for as I fastidiously avoided any starchy carb I watched my weight steadily climb from 175 to 200 over a 5-year period. I was running and exercising as well, yet still my girth grew.

And now I know why: Diet Coke, or more precisely ANYTHING with Nutrasweet (Aspartame) or Splenda (Sucralose). You can see a photo of me from that period and note the “aspartame puff” as I call it. I attribute much of my weight loss from this elimination of all diet drinks. These artificial sweeteners make you GAIN weight by slowing your metabolism and reducing your brain’s secretion of seratonin.

PLEASE, for YOUR health, and anyone you care about—QUIT ALL DIET DRINKS AND Aspartame and Sucralose specifically. They also affect your neurology, decrease your energy level, create learning disorders for youth and cause cancer. [Please refer to my blog article for a detailed history of aspartame
http://peacecow.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_peacecow_archive.html].

I went cold turkey on not only aspartame, but also all meats—chicken, beef, pork (I still eat fish, but very sparingly)—and anything with hydrogenated oils, like basic peanut butter, margarine, crackers AND I limited my total calories to under 2000 a day.

I re-discovered whole, natural foods like nuts and grains and veggies and fruits as well as new-fangled choices like soy bologna, vegenaise, tempeh and tofu. And I mustered up all the courage I could to actually buy…BREAD! Wow—I was really living on the edge now—whole loaves of BREAD, on my counter and in my fridge.

Now I don’t get ordinary bread. Whole wheat, or spelt only. And I bought a new toaster, a spiffy Cuisinart 2-slot toaster--$39.99, with a digital dial, I couldn’t wait to have my first toast in many a year.

But it was quite by accident that I discovered the IDEAL toast, which for me is crunchy and nearly black. It was night and I was hungry so I plopped a couple of slices in and set it at level 8. But I fell asleep. So the next morning I saw the toast and instead of throwing it away I wondered what would happen if I re-toasted it at a lower setting, 2. Now I always keep a couple of slices "in the holster" ready for the second go-round.

Wow—that wonderful browned-bread aroma filled the house; only freshly ground Starbucks coffee smells better than that! The toast was perfect. I eat one slice at a time, slathered thickly with vegenaise, mustard and the soy bologna—my newest, bestest buddy!

Crunch, crunch, crunch…ah-h-h-h!