...about prison football in Louisiana. Its only about 5 minutes long, but the film maker has succeeded in allowing the viewer to feel some compassion for these hardened criminals. I think its a good discussion starter about what the goals of our penal system ought to be, American justice, race in America, the value of those who have done wrong, the reality of rehabilitation, and the importance of pride in the human experience. There really is a lot of weight in such a short movie.
~MET
...and there could be more. When I started staying at my parents' on trial one it was winter. Now, as I watch the house and pets for the last round of treatment it is spring and Tut's plantation is coming to life. I love my dad - but he's nuts. He has lots of land to grow stuff - and he takes advantage of it. I knew I was going to post about his green thumb, but I thought 3 or 4 pictures would do. With these 18 pics I'm not sure I have it all...and its very unassuming and classy in its layout. Above is his pride and joy. I don't know what it is - but its almost in full bloom. He has many buckets of veggies and stuff:
And, he has his own hanging tomato thing that he copied from the commercial (and most likely improved) here is one:
He does a great job with rocks and plants as the next several pictures illustrate:
I'm glad its been raining this week, cause I'm sure I would have been responsible for the deaths of many of these plants. When I take Murph out I marvel at the work my 72 year old hero has done with his property. He's the man!
Tonight I was sitting on the couch with my Mom and Dad's pets and I noticed how much they liked each other. I then began to realize how much they seemed to mean to each other, and that began to get me thinking about how important siblings are to each other. Above are the Thurston siblings with our matriarch. Below are my two children at Chris' high school graduation:
Here are Murph and Fatcat:
And, Burt and Owen enjoying a nap:
Another short film - This one is called Broken Things, by Irish filmmaker Vincent Lambe. Its kind of sad, and the ending is a little abrupt,but I like it. Here is Lambe's website: http://vimeo.com/vincentlambe
Enjoy,
~MET
Back from another glorious weekend in the Maine woods. I haven't been to Peaks-Kenny State Park since I was a kid, and I found it well maintained and a great place to camp. The place was packed, but the sites are not so close that you feel like you don't have any privacy. Kids on bikes went by, or people walking to the beach. I spent most of Saturday reading. Here are a couple of pictures of the view from my chair:
I read, relaxed, went for a couple of walks, and ate "camp food":
I also got some fishing in:
I'm checking out for a few days - camping and fishing on Sebec Lake. (above) I'll see you all on Sunday. have a great weekend.
~MET
Just back from the representative assembly in Portland. Another class event staged by the MEA, which included the following highlights:The RA never fails to inspire me to do the work of a local labor leader, and never fails to make me very proud of my profession. There is no better title than teacher.
~MET
I'm back at home tonight from rooming with Murph and Fatcat, but I only have tonight to sleep in my own bed. Tomorrow I head back to P-Town for the MEA Representative Assembly. Its a great couple of days representing my local association as the MEA decides on its direction for the coming year. I'll post about it when I return on Sunday. Hope all is well with everyone - got to go tune into the Nats.When I was a kid I played A LOT of wiffleball with friends, and one of our favorite things was to imitate the batting stances of the players from the era. Of course, I did all of the Red Sox, but we also did Joe Morgan, Willie Stargell, Rod Carew, and lots of others. I also liked to imitate the pitching style of Dennis Eckersley, Luis Tiant, and my favorite: Tom Seaver. The guy in the video has been featured on the MLB Network a few times - and is quite good. I thought all you Sox fans would appreciate this one.
~MET
Its been said that Mother's Day was an invention of the Hallmark Corporation in an effort to sell more cards. If that is true then we owe a debt of gratitude to the fine folks at Hallmark. It is only right that at least one day a year we all stop and think about Mom. That is especially true for me this year, as my mother is in Washington receiving her 5th round of treatments for cancer. My gift to her is my wish that her health improves steadily between now and next Mother's Day. She has one more round to go, and I couldn't possibly be more proud of the matriarch of the Thurston clan. I love the picture above - and remember thinking even as a child that she looks very much like a movie star from the glory days of film. Can't you see her turning away from that table and slapping Spencer Tracy? My FAVORITE picture of my mom is this one:
The scene is a kitchen table in 1964, and my mom and I are sharing an ear of corn. I'm a robust one-year-old, and judging by the the apparel I'd say that we are having the corn as part of a breakfast. I don't remember it, of course, but the blurry image never fails to bring a smile to my face. What a wonderful example of Mammie's sense of humor and ability to have fun with her eldest son. I found this picture of Sarah and I employing a similar technique on an apple in 1988:
I am a lucky man - I am surrounded by great mothers. Kathy has been a wonderful partner working hard with me to raise Chris and Sarah as a team after our divorce, my mother-in-law Judy is perhaps the hardest working human being I have ever known, M-S is a truly fantastic mom, which is more and more evident as I watch Kori and Alex develop into fine young adults, and my mother is simply the most loving, caring, accepting, generous, and courageous person on Earth. I hope you all have a wonderful day - you all deserve it. I love you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day.
I am very happy that Governor Baldacci signed the Gay Marriage Bill, but I do not look forward to the next several months. As proud as I am of our progressive legislature, I am just as frightened about how the discussion will turn very ugly as we inch toward a "people's veto" of the measure. Of course, leading this vote for discrimination will be Michael Heath:
Heath is the "leader" of the Maine Family Policy Council, and is simply the worst man in Maine. I will be having hundreds of discussions with people, and will try to get them to remember that:~MET
I have taken a liking to the creativity of short films. I am fascinated by a filmmaker's ability to tell a story, teach a lesson, or just entertain us in 15 minutes or less. I am also a fan of written short stories...maybe I just don't have much of an attention span. Anyway - I thought I would include a film here once in a while for your enjoyment. I'll start this series with Schwardsfahrer by Pepe Donquart. Its German, and won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film in 1993. It's about 10 minutes long, and the subtitles are in white so they are hard to read sometimes, but its worth a watch. When I watch this I feel as uncomfortable as the riders of the train appear, and I wonder if I would have said anything to the old woman. I'd like to think I would have done so. The ending is great, and provides some humor when we are in need of it. Whenever I post one of these don't be afraid to leave a 'review" of your own - good or bad. Enjoy.
~MET
Aside from the emergence of the black flies and mosquitoes, this past weekend was awesome. Nice weather, a couple of great walks with the dog, chillin' with Owen, I got to visit briefly with both Sarah and Chris, and I spent a lot of time with M-S. I've been in a really good mood lately, and since the weekend began I have three new things to be excited about:
I don't think I've ever been here, but I know when we camped as a family when I was a kid we did a lot of the parks. Its supposed to have good fishing, and there are a few golf courses nearby. I'm hoping fab might be able to come up for a round on Saturday. Sebec Lake is just above Dover-Foxcroft:
I'm really looking forward to it, and to be honest - I need to get into the forest.
The painting is called Lake Champlain Sunset by Kathy Hebert. So, in August, 2010 we hope to spend a week on the water close to Burlington. We'd be close to the happenings of the city, and be able to retreat to a lake setting to relax. Not to mention that the single 'A' affiliate of the Washington Nationals just happens to be the Vermont Lake Monsters. We'll start planning for real right after Christmas, hopefully it will all work out. Lots to look forward to in the the months ahead!
I went to St. John's Church in Bangor yesterday to see Sarah in her last performance of the year. If you add up the theatre productions and the three choral groups she is a part of - it adds up to a busy schedule. This time it was the a capella group called Euphony. Next year the University Singers will be going to NYC, and Sarah will be singing at Lincoln Center - she's already pretty excited about that. For some reason the two pictures I took in the church came out blurry:
The show was excellent, and I think the acoustics really added to it. Some of the songs were absolutely haunting, and in those times when a song would build from softer sounds to everyone singing loudly the church made the song sound much better. After the show we went to Bangor to have sushi at a place Sarah likes to frequent. It was very good, and we had a nice visit. I got to the church during intermission because there was an accident on I-95. I sat with my car turned off for 30 minutes:
And, when we started to move it took 25 minutes to get to the site of the wreck, which was only 3 miles away. This is the line of traffic behind me:
Everyone just stopped their cars and got out to walk dogs or walk around. One young man took advantage of the time to give everyone one of these cards:
