The message forum is an ongoing dialogue between classmates. There are no items, topics, subtopics, etc.

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful! Click the "Post Message" button to add your entry to the forum.

David Mitchell

Mike,

Interesting subject. More so because I almost NEVER read books. I had reading comprehension issues and just plain didin't like to read. Besides, I was lazy and prefered basketball in the driveway with the guys. As I mentioned earlier, I faked my way through several english assignments and one notable History assigment in Mr. Mannion's class - but he caught me anyway.

When I was small, my dad read to me from all kinds of great books, Dickens, Scott, Twain, James Fennimore Cooper, etc. And every Sunday morning, right after we got home from Mass, we could read the "funnies" together in the Dipatch. I would crawl under him on my tummy while he was down on the carpet on all fours, reading from above me. We always read Prince Valient together - ALWAYS.  Then Snuffy Smith, L'il Abner and Steve Canyon (written I think, by a famous guy from Ohio State.) I loved Prince Valient! That was a Sunday ritual that lasted years and brings back wonderful memories. 

I do not remember ever liking to read a book until a few in High School - "Mr. Blue", and "God is My Co-pilot" (no kiddiin?) - Or was it "The Bridges of Toko-Ri"?  (well, something about airplanes?). I was always a bit jealous of John Jackson and Keith Groff - they read a ton of stuff.

Of course, life is unfair - now that I love to read, I can't stay awake to save my life. I have had to learn to cheat and buy CD's to play in my car. I know it's not the same thing, but I would never have known some great stuff from Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants", to "The Wright Brothers", to the "Confessions of St. Augustine" and one of my very favorite recent ones - "The Boys In the Boat". (what an unlikely basis for a story to become such a wonderful book!) 

I even bought To Kill a Mockingbird CD last year so I could experience it again - Oh my goodness! I had forgotten what a beautiful piece of writing that is!

My first wife (and now my two daughters) was an avid reader (Mary would have three novels going all at the same time), and she encouraged me to read some good stuff. A few all time favorite books;

Tai Pan - James Clavell  - MOST FAVORITE of ALL !  (novel of British domination of Hong Kong during the opium wars) absolutley mesmerizing book - -  then utterly miserable Hollywod film! They began filming with Steve McQueen but he got cancer and died. Years later they sold film rights to someone else and they absolutely butcherd it. Even with the fine Aussie actor Bryan Brown as the star. Shame!

Ordinary Poeple - Judith Guest. Absolutely compelling reading AND a worthy film adaptation with Donald Southerland, Marry Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton.

Gemini Contenders - Rober Ludlum. This may be the one that brought me back to books. Mary loved it and suggested I give it a try.  I started it one Friday night on a holiday weekend and lived on that couch for the next three days. I was hooked by the second paragraph! I don't reall if I stopped to eat. I did put it down to go to the bathroom and doze off for a few hours now and then.

Raise the Titanic - Clive Cussler.  Wow!  Loved it!  And another case of great novel followed by absolutely horrid movie! (Cussler was once a client of my best friend in Denver - a lawyer.)

Burry My Heart at Wounded Knee -  Dee Brown. History of our deplorable record of broken treaties with the native American tribes. So well writen, I could not put it down - but so sad I simply could not finish it. If I recall correctly, we made 525 treaties with the tribes, and BROKE EVERY SINGLE ONE !

I'm sure this list is peanuts to some of you avid life-long readers but these were some great reading adventures for me. (Oh, and a bit of Thomas Merton too.)

And some poetry - especially "A Man's a Man For A' That" by Sir Robert Burns - one of my guiding lights.

I was not allowed to have comic books, so I had to sneak them. I got in a lot of trouble with Tom Litzinger once (at my 12th birthday party) when Dad discovered that I was hiding a "Land Unknown" science fiction comic book.           Uh Oh!

I think my love of films comes partly from my reading dificulties.

p.s. Wow! Brody's drug store brings back memories. I used to ride with Dad on some of his house calls and Beechwold Drugs, and Brody's were two of his frequent stop-offs along the way. I had completely forgotten about Brody's.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

First....thank you to all who have responded to my recent post and to all who may have read my niece's testimony,   I will share with her that her words have touched many hearts.

Mark....what a lucky couple you and Maddy are to have found each other.....her picture at the end of the song is lovely.

Mike....thank you for triggering some long ago memories and making me reach back in time to recall that my Mom used to subscribe us to the Catholic Youth Book Club, and each month we would be sent a book in the mail.  It was through these books that I was introduced to the lives of Kateri Tekawitha, Florence Nightingale, St. Louis and the Last Crusades, St. Katherine Drexel, Mother Cabrini,  St. Damien.  Their lives were so inspiring to me as a pre-teen girl and they encompassed a bit of history which I have always loved.  Interestingly, as I also was somewhat obsessed with sports, (and to a degree, still am), I somehow discovered the Chip Hilton series.  Jim, I can't believe that you also enjoyed this series, as I never knew anyone who had ever heard of Chip Hilton and his teammates, Speed Morris, Biggie Cohen and Soapy Smith!  Through these books, of which I had collected nearly every one, I first learned about the Statue of Liberty and the Flea Flicker plays!   Since this topic has piqued my curiousity, I did an internet search and found some trivia about Clair Bee, the author of the series, who was himself a successfull basketball coach but whose players got caught up in a point shaving scandal in the 50's causing him to resign.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_Bee   

So Mike.........."thanks for the memories" and Happy Valentine's Day everyone

Joseph Gentilini

My favorite books were and are 1) Jane Eyre; by Charlotte Bronte' and 2)  Narcisiss and Goldmund; 3)  East of Eden by Steinbeck; The Devil's Advocate by Morris West; and Mr. Blue (when I was in high school).  Every couple of years, I will read them again.  Joe

Congrats, Mark on finding your girl!  Everyone deserves to be happy.  

Janie Albright (Blank)

MM, your niece’s story is harrowing as well as heartbreaking. A friend’s dad. I think even worse than a coach. My thoughts and prayers go out to this brave young lady. And also to this man’s poor daughter and the other abused girls. Such evil.

The books I loved from a young age were the Nancy Drew series. I couldn’t get enough of this and love a good mystery series to this day. I like to get to know the characters and visit with them in each book.  Joe, I also rate Jane Eyre as my all time favorite and am due for a re-read.  I just finished reading The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar and highly recommend it.  

Mark, wonderful song! I’m so glad you are a happy man!

Valentines wishes to everyone on the forum today! 

David Mitchell

Does anybody recall those little one-sided valentines we bougt to hand out in first and second grade? With white blank space on one side and a cute pciture on the front. I think they were in packs of 25 or 50 for about $1.00 and we got them at the drug store or grocery. On Valentine's Day, the sisters would set aside a time and we'd all go around the room and give one to each student - boy or girl. 

It seems to me it stopped because some kids got passed over and were getting their feelings hurt. But then we still passed out an occasional one to a girl we liked. 

David Mitchell

Hey Mark,

She's a cutie. Has she got any sisters?

David Mitchell

I know we've all heard this before. Just thought I'd rfresh some meories.

The origin of this holiday for the expression of love really isn't romantic at all—at least not in the traditional sense. Father Frank O'Gara of Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin, Ireland, tells the real story of the man behind the holiday—St. Valentine.

"He was a Roman Priest at a time when there was an emperor called Claudias who persecuted the church at that particular time," Father O'Gara explains. " He also had an edict that prohibited the marriage of young people. This was based on the hypothesis that unmarried soldiers fought better than married soldiers because married soldiers might be afraid of what might happen to them or their wives or families if they died."

"I think we must bear in mind that it was a very permissive society in which Valentine lived," says Father O'Gara. "Polygamy would have been much more popular than just one woman and one man living together. And yet some of them seemed to be attracted to Christian faith. But obviously the church thought that marriage was very sacred between one man and one woman for their life and that it was to be encouraged. And so it immediately presented the problem to the Christian church of what to do about this."

"The idea of encouraging them to marry within the Christian church was what Valentine was about. And he secretly married them because of the edict."

Valentine was eventually caught, imprisoned and tortured for performing marriage ceremonies against command of Emperor Claudius the second. There are legends surrounding Valentine's actions while in prison.

"One of the men who was to judge him in line with the Roman law at the time was a man called Asterius, whose daughter was blind. He was supposed to have prayed with and healed the young girl with such astonishing effect that Asterius himself became Christian as a result."

In the year 269 AD, Valentine was sentenced to a three part execution of a beating, stoning, and finally decapitation all because of his stand for Christian marriage. The story goes that the last words he wrote were in a note to Asterius' daughter. He inspired today's romantic missives by signing it, "from your Valentine."

"What Valentine means to me as a priest," explains Father O'Gara, "is that there comes a time where you have to lay your life upon the line for what you believe. And with the power of the Holy Spirit we can do that —even to the point of death."

Valentine's martyrdom has not gone unnoticed by the general public. In fact, Whitefriars Street Church is one of three churches that claim to house the remains of Valentine. Today, many people make the pilgrimage to the church to honor the courage and memory of this Christian saint.

"Valentine has come to be known as the patron saint of lovers. Before you enter into a Christian marriage you want some sense of God in your life—some great need of God in your life. And we know, particularly in the modern world, many people are meeting God through his Son, Jesus Christ."

"If Valentine were here today, he would say to married couples that there comes a time where you're going to have to suffer. It's not going to be easy to maintain your commitment and your vows in marriage. Don't be surprised if the 'gushing' love that you have for someone changes to something less "gushing" but maybe much more mature. And the question is, is that young person ready for that?"

"So on the day of the marriage they have to take that into context," Father O'Gara says. "Love—human love and sexuality is wonderful, and blessed by God—but also the shadow of the cross. That's what Valentine means to me."

Michael McLeod

Mark:

A companion piece to your censor story.

What started as a joke ended with the future of two altar boys from Spain. They were detained overnight, after having surprised them putting weed in the censer-burner of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Michael McLeod

PS:

My favorite Valentine story comes from my stepson, whose grade school class was more or less forced to exchange Valentines cards indiscriminately, so nobody's feelings got hurt. One of the girls in his class had written at the bottom of the card that she sent him: "This doesn't mean anything."

David Mitchell

Mike, I love it!

My own youngest daughter (now 43) had a story in first or second grade that we laugh about to this day.

It was Valentine's day at "Most Precious Blood" (don'tcha love it?) Catholic School in southeast Denver and Megan's class was exchanging valentine cards. She had had a crush on a boy named Matt, but he had responded like a true 2nd grade male and had been nasty to her. She gave him a valentine with her hand written message,

"Matt, you are a rude boy!"    

How romantic !

James Hamilton, M. D.

David Mitchell

JIm,

Sounds like fun. And this gives me an excsue to call out Bob Berkermer. He and his wife roam the countryside in their cool RV, and he shoots scenery from all over. HIs photography would win any contest - hands down!

I mean some of it is spectacular!

Okay Bob, you've been outed. Now let the whole group see a few samples. If you refuse, I move we cancel your portion of lemonaide and cheese sandwiches (with or without the crust removed) at the upcoming 55th and the 60th.

I will even pay for the buttons we can all wear - - "NO PHOTOS, NO CHEESE"

Frank Ganley

For your answer to what books i read when growing up. I can’t remember all the books by Francis x dixon ( i think) but great biographies of great men. I devoured the Hardy Boys series, loved Tom Swift jr and even read tom swift senior books, all about space adventures and inventing all kinds of cool things. A great series of books called the lawrenceville stories, the prodigious hicky, the tennesse shad  and one more that the name escapes me. These were written early 1900’s about a boarding school in lawrenceville nj which was a prep school for Princeton. Funny stories about the hijinx of teens and their activities to keep themselves amused. I read every classic from melville to chaucer. I loved books and my favorite gifts were books. My dad taught english at St. Joseph College in Phila. I believe its now a university and reading in our house was constant and his library of books was amazing. He likedEnglish authors, i prefered american. Today i can’t read as much due to time and activities but the love of a book is still there. I can’t stand movies made after i read the book, it seems the screenwriers only read a cliff note because that ain’t how i remember the book. The worst example if that is Bagger Vance. Robert Redford produced and wrote the screen play. As i said it wasn’t anything like the book. It is so sad that todays children or teens don’t read the classics, no white whales, no knights saving the countryside, or even anything that really resembles adventures, No Leatherstocking tales, no nothing. Sad very sad. Mike i’d like to know how many in your classes have read any of the great books we had. Perhaps a survey as to what they have read might be in order. O’henry, thurber, hemingway, dickens, et al

David Mitchell

Frank,

So interesting how one thread connects to another  - even if on a differetnt subject.

I did not read or see "(the legend of) Bagger Vance". But it was filmed with will Smith and Matt Damon here in Bluffton on one of our 3 Pete Dye courses at nearby Colleton River, one of our many "gated communities". 

And then about a year ago (did I tell this before?) I had an assignment to take 6 people from the "private aviation" (read: rich folk flyin' Net Jet) side of Hilton Head Island's little airport to a house in that same Colleton River community owned by a very wealthy Ohio State Buckeye Alum and supporter.

Here is part of my assigment ticket: (see passenger's name after my arrow below)

(also in the group was one Mr. Smith - Gene Smith , OSU A.D. )  

I actually made them all sit for a minute while I told them the fun story of my dad's life-long connection with the University and how I had missed one home game in the "shoe" between about 1957 and 1965. Later I switched companies and find out the resident we dropped at is my new company's biggest client. I met him later when we drove for all of his daughter's wedding. 

Then you mentioned your dad at St. Joe's in Philly. I do beleive that is the last teaching assignment that Keith Groff had before his father died and he came home for the funeral (which is when we re-connected) and he quit his job over the phone. Then later became the founding Dean of the new School of Arts and Science at Franklin. I wish Keith would get on thiis Forum, he has a "curriculum vitae" of his teaching assignments (around the world) that would blow your socks off.

David Mitchell

I feel like I really missed something by not reading as a kid. But I did enjoy a lot of Jerry Lewis Movies and all of the Davey Crockett series on Walt Disney. Does that count for anything? 

How about Spin and Marty?

Rin Tin Tin, maybe?

Michael McLeod

Frank:

Unfortunately I am teaching non-fiction classes, which leaves out the novels I'd love to expose them to - and I'd start with Hemingway and take it from there if I could.

I do have to bear in mind, while teaching, that cultural references you and I and everybody else on this forum would recognize are going to escape them. For example: last week I wore a t shirt to class that my daughter gave me that says, simply:

Same as it ever was.

Same as it ever was.

Same as it ever was.

Same as it ever was.

Hopefully most if not all of everyone on this forum gets the reference.  But out of a class of 18 students, only two raised their hands when I asked them if they did.

Ah well. Letting the days go by. 

David Mitchell

Okay Mike,

I pleade ignorance in this case. Put me in that same category with your students. And I will take one for the team here. Let the shame be upon me, but what is it about?

Michael McLeod

Thank you for saving the honor of the class of '66 and rescuing you classmates from the ignomy of total dorkiness, Joe. C'mon guys. The world of music did not begin and end with Peter, Paul and Mary.

Brian Eno was the producer. Talking Heads was the group.

David Mitchell

Well Mike,

You needn't be so condescending. Even I know that ("the world of)" music began with with Kate Smith and Gene Autry, then progressed down through the Chipmunks, and finally to it's ultimate conclusion with Tiny Tim and Cindy Lauper.  

Jeesh!

And if it's any consolation to "your coolness", I have a T-shirt with "FREE # 24601" on it. 

Out of my entire basketball men's group at church (of which I was one of two mid-sixties players with the rest all 30 and 40 somethings), only one good buddy (a 40-ish Delta Pilot) recognized that.  

p.s. It took THAT to wake up Joe Donahue?

Robert Berkemer

OK Dave (Jim), here's where I am today in Southeast Arizona ;-)  Bob

David Mitchell

Wow Bob,

Fantastic shot !  Gorgoeous cloud colors.

Thank you

p.s. anymore of that and we may be forced to restore your cheese sandwich privileges.

Mark Schweickart

I am with Dave on a couple of things here:

1) Like Dave, I agree, and have to say "Great photo, Bob," but I also would add that if Bob keeps posting photos like these every day until the shoot day of the 27th, everyone will be too intimidated to try. So lighten up, Mr. Shutterbug.

2) I am in the same boat with Dave in that I too did not  read much outside of assigned classroom reading as a child, and ever since I hit the literary curiosity-age, at around 18, I have been trying to catch up. Hence, my becoming an English Lit major in college, and a wannabe writer here in my waning days.

P.S. I don't think it fair to assume one shares all cultural references from our days gone by. And even though in my younger days I used to always feel bad about not knowing references to works of literature and theater which were being  bandied about by people around me, I must say that I don't feel bad, at this age, to realize that I had no idea about Mike's Talking Heads reference, nor do I chide myself for cheating when I had to look up Dave's reference to Jean Valjean in Les Miz. If pressed on this Free # 24601 reference, I would have guessed that it might be referring to Mumia Abu Jamal – but there I go, using a reference no doubt not everyone would relate to either. Hey, we can't all know everything, or if we did, we would be making a killing on Jeopardy.

Dave – I certainly remember Spin and Marty, does that count?

James Hamilton, M. D.

David Mitchell

Mark,

"Spin and Marty" counts for a lot in my "book" (and I use that word losely - having seldom ever cracked one in those days).

But don't be embarrasssed by your "culteral" shortcomings. In fact, take heart, there is great news today!

It was disclosed that Amazon (speaking of "cultural references") paid absolutely ZERO in Federal taxes - for the second straight year!  Gosh, they also pay no sales taxes, (not to mention drive their employees like slaves - pregnant women being yelled at to speed up in warehouses at 105 degrees in the upper levels of the warehouses - and being searched by armed guards as they enter and leave their "happy" workplace).

I think this is exciting news! In fact, I think we should all just send every last dollar we have to Jeff Bezos and we won't need to worry about ever getting our order delivered on time again.

Just think of the Inner Peace that will bring.   

And besidies, who gives a crap about all those little local merchants - Wallmart has already wiped most of them off the map in rural America.

("Do you hear the people sing,,, singing the songs of angry men.....") 

Michael McLeod

ok ok I wasn't being as snotty as I may have sounded about talking heads.

hell of a picture bob.