…or why Jan is wrong!

This was the exchange on Facebook Monday night.

 Jan Hebel – Trying to watch Gone With the Wind, I don’t get how people think this is the greatest movie ever made. What over-acting!

•  Jan Hebel –  Can’t take it any more, what a P.O.S.
• UP – Philistine!
•  Hank – Nice try. I sort of agree with u. In it’s defense, they did those battlefield scenes without computers. Ya know, casts of thousands. Music isn’t bad either. And there are some great lines. My favorite “I don’t know nothin bout the birth of no baby, miss Scarlet”. Hattie McDaniels ( I think). They could never make that movie today for less than a billion $$. But it sure isn’t Casablanca or Citizen Kane. And they were done on the cheap!
•  Rick - Frankly Jan I dont give a damn
• Jan Hebel –  ‎@ Paul (UP), I expected that
  @Hank, good observations
  @Rick, now, that’s funny! – Rick, I know you despise me but you’re the only one in Casablanca I can trust!
•  Don – Jan, do I have to see it?
• Jan  Hebel – No, Don. Definitely not!
• Don – Well, then I will.
•  Tim –  Nice, Don!
• UP - Butterfly McQueen said, “Ah doan kno nuthin bout birthin no babies”, she played Prissy. The best line in the whole movie is “Why Melly Wilkes, what a cool liar you are!”

 ”Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm…” is the opening line of Gone With The Wind.  People world wide are still caught in the charm of Scarlett O’Hara over 70 years after the movie was released.

Here’s why.

Scarlett is a great heroine.  Spoiled, vain, pretty, charming, conniving, duplicitous, and fearless, she rocked the world on the page, and came to life on the screen.

A woman who told us that she would “lie, cheat, steal, and kill” to keep her family safe and fed, she paved her way with the hearts of men, and let absolutely no one stand in her way.

She was, and remains, a literary goddess.

Sure, she killed a man, but he was a Yankee deserter.  Sure, she stole her sister’s boyfriend, married him for his money, bullied him, ran him, and eventually her actions got him killed.  But, any real man would have stood UP to her.  Sure, she was so self-possessed and self-absorbed that she didn’t realize love when it was in front of her and sure, she loved a man who wasn’t her husband even though he was a spineless wimp who couldn’t be “unfaithful with his body, nor faithful with his mind” to his own wife, but she was a winner, a survivor, a creature unlike any other in literature.

And we still love her.

It’s also one of the greatest love stories EVER!

As to the book, one must remember that Margaret Mitchell was a woman ahead of her times as well as a woman of her times.  She smoked, wore pants, partied, reported for a newspaper, and interviewed female prison inmates in a time when ladies did none of the above. 

But, she cut her teeth on the myth of the Ante Bellum South, and was fed lies, half-truths, misconceptions, and TRUTH by her mother and grand-mother.  She believed in the ‘lost cause’ at her core, even if she hated it and barely realized it.  She was truly a Southern Daughter!

And, she knew the book would sell.

As to the movie, Jan…and I still love ya’…in 1939 there were no computer generated scenes, it was truly a cast of thousands.  There was matte painting for sets, real fires for the burning of Atlanta, and animals were injured in the production.  Frankly, PETA, no one gave a damn!

It wasn’t Star Wars…thank God!

And about that “over acting” comment!  Ten, count ‘em 10 Academy Award Wins…a record that stood for 20 years until “Ben Hur” hit the screen!!!!

And, another thing, the irony of the first African American actress  (Hattie McDaniel)  winning an Oscar in a movie that many say glorifies the “Old South”, should be lost on no one!  Sure, she played a slave…it was set in 1860, in Georgia…(writer beats head against wall)…and there were very few other roles for Black women to play.

It’s a story that grips us, makes us think, and wonder, would we be willing to sacrifice so much to hang on to the things we love?

No, it’s not the greatest movie ever made…but it’s just about the greatest story ever written.

When in a quandry or dilema, I always wonder, “WWSD?”

What would Scarlett do?

 I’ll have to admit, I don’t really know how many times I’ve seen the movie, but I’ve read the book over 30 times.  And, ”my dear, I DO give a damn!” 

…Hell has indeed frozen over.

I actually agree with someone.

And it’s the President!  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the President, I just generally don’t agree with ANY President, or too many other people for that matter…it’s just one of my “things”.

After all, when two people agree on everything, one of them is no longer necessary.  I like to stay contrary…it keeps me necessary!

However, President Obama said this week that “Too much testing makes education boring for kids.”

And he’s right!

He went on to add, ”Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students or to, in some cases, punish schools.” The president spoke to students and parents at a town hall hosted by the Univision Spanish-language television network at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.

Now, I know that all the talking heads will be all over this and stressing the “dumbing down of America” crap, but the man has a point.

There are other ways to prove you know something than just testing.  Kids do well in things that interest them, and kids do well when things are taught in an interesting way and not when they are taught “to a test”.

And what’s a standard?  Who decides?  How did they get the power to do so?  Does the Mississippi in “Tom Sawyer” really represent life, or is that just what some lonely spinster English teacher said a hundred years ago?  Mark Twain’s not around for us to ask…so, we make it UP?

President Obama went on to add, “policymakers should find a test that “everybody agrees makes sense” and administer it in less pressure-packed atmospheres, potentially every few years instead of annually.”

OK, back to reality, Mr. Prez, “everybody agrees”…dude, you’re in Washington…wake UP!

I know there has to be some sort of measurement, but the pressure cooker environment of testing kids and testing teachers, which is what it has become, does little good.

This recent push of the Obama education agenda comes from the fact that practically no one has met the requirements of the former adminstration’s Child With The Left Behind No Child Left Behind policy.  I watched it fail on a daily basis.

So, kudos, Mr. President…now, what’s your plan?

…Ok, so I’m a worrier.

I have these friends, Joe and Sheri.  Sheri and I worked toghether at Brookwood High School for nearly eight years.  We became good friends.  It’s rare to have a really good friend at work, but I’ve been pretty lucky in that category.  I’ve had several.

There seems to be one person you connect with just a little more than others, and Sheri was it.

Joe, an amazing wood-worker and handy man, has been retired for several years, Sheri retired in May. 

They, as many retired couples do are enjoying the scenery around them and in some far flung places.  So, when I get the answering machine or the voice mail, I ususally don’t worry.  I know they’ve hooked UP the 5th wheel to the giant gas guzzling Dodge and headed for the mountains or elsewhere.

But one day, not at band camp, I called and someone answered.  It wasn’t Sheri, and it wasn’t Joe.  It was a voice I didn’t recognize…AT ALL!

The young man on the phone informed me that Joe and Sheri were out of town, and he was house-sitting, and watching Aunt Mary – who by the way, is a whole ‘nother post!

I didn’t ask who he was, but I was a tad non-plussed when he offered UP the fact that he was their grandson.

Like I said, I’ve known Joe and Sheri for nearly eight years.  Not once, not in a single conversation, not ever have they mentioned a grandson.

Two granddaughters, yes, two sons yes, a dog or two, Aunt Mary, yes, and yes, but a grandson N E V E R!

I was worried!

Instantly, the thought of murder and mayhem clogged my brain…I was, shall we say, “concerned”.

I could see the headline in the AJC “Elderly Couple Slaughtered In Their Home!”

or “Retirees Held Hostage By Unknown Man!

I instantly called Sheri’s cell phone.

Voice mail.

So, I panicked!

I raced over, drove by the house a couple of times – and nothing looked awry.

The Dodge was there…cause for concern, but the Bronco wasn’t…did I mention gas guzzlers?

Since the Ford was gone, I felt a scooch better, but not much.

So I called the cell again.

Again, voice mail.

And I drove by again.

All evening I wondered if I should keep checking, call the police, knock on the door, demand a tour of the house, and make sure they were not duct taped in the basement…you know, check this grandson crap out.

But alas, I decided to err on the side of sanity, and do nothing.

Then the phone ran, caller ID – Sheri’s cell.

A sense of relief, yes.

But it wasn’t Sheri, it was Joe.

Now, Joe and I are friends, but he’s not a phone talker, and when I call, he usually hands the phone to Sheri.  So, again, concern.  He simply, said, “Hey, we’re out of town, and the kid who answered the phone is the son of the house-sitter, he refers to me as his grandpa.”

Yet, still I wondered.  And I worried.

But, I talked to them both over the weekend, and they’re fine…so, they either escaped, or he’s letting them make phone calls.

Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m crazy!