Roger Ebert–The Man, The Legend

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Sheri H.

  Today was an incredible sad day for the movies, and for me. Roger Ebert, the man whose name became synonymous with film reviews, passed away at the age of 70. When I heard the news earlier, I actually cried as if a member of my own family had died. The memories of my favorite Sunday tradition, watching “At the Movies” with my mother, came rushing back to me. My mother and I would watch, offering up our own critiques along the way, but, more often than not, nodding along to whatever Ebert said. Reading his reviews at a very early age, as well as his “Answer Man” column, began my love of film, and the art of critiquing it. I hoped to one day … Read More… →

The Bobber: A Life of Crime Diverted

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Kevin Walsh

BobberAndChain

It was a great fishing hole only a few blocks from our house in a suburb of Cincinnati.   My dad was transferred by Ford from Detroit and we were all still getting used to having so much nature around.  Crayfish and creeks were scarce in Detroit, but “craw-dads” were numerous in the “cricks” just down the street.

Crick

There was a reservoir and a public park that offered a ledge where we took … Read More… →

“The Call” for Better Hollywood Scripts

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Kevin Walsh

TheCall

Going to the movies is a major investment.  You’re out cash, time and usually patience if the person behind you is kicking your chair so much that you can’t read the Facebook posts of the guy in front of you.  So when Hollywood actually lures us from our giant HD screens rather than having us wait a month to see it on the shelves at Target in 30 days, it had better be worth it.

I’d already heard the reviews that The Call was disappointing, but sometimes it’s fun to escape and I had already surrendered enough credibility with shows like … Read More… →

The Arguments Against Gay Marriage

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Robert Phillips

It took two days of Supreme Court hearings to prove that people still oppose gay marriage and are willing to go to great lengths to prevent it.  Two days. Granted, the two days were devoted to the constitutionality of two different laws: Proposition 8, a voter referendum in California declaring same sex marriages in that state invalid, and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage as a man/woman union. To state the two positions in brief, proponents of gay marriage feel they are being denied equal protection under the law, denied access to the rights of married partners for health benefits, inheritance, etc., and that they are being singled out as a result of their status under a “separate but equal” theory. Opponents of … Read More… →

Opening Day: A Benchmark or 1/162 of a Season?

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Kevin Walsh

OpeningDay

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons…”

–T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

I always liked that mileage marker that Eliot used.  For many of us in education, we measure our lives in years teaching–or perhaps by an unforgettable group of students (good or bad!).  My sister Katie, a managing editor of weekly magazines for over 20 years observed that teachers at least had closure, that there is time to take a step back and assess what’s been done.  When Katie was finishing one magazine for print, the following two weeks’ magazines were well under-way.

And … Read More… →

“Want to help me hide the eggs?” Farewell to the Easter Bunny…and Childhood

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Kevin Walsh

Please excuse this rerun from 2013, in honor of Easter today…

Easter_Cincinnati_EggHunt_Backyard

It was already a big night.  I was able to stay up a little later than my three younger sisters.  I was a cocky 8 year-old sitting on the vinyl couch in the lower floor of our tri-level watching “The Ten Commandments.”  Of all the scenes, I’m not sure why Edward G. Robinson’s unlikely casting stays with me even to this day, but it was this scene…

The door-wall slid open, and my dad’s face appeared, “Want to help me hide the eggs?”

It took a moment for … Read More… →

You Can Take the Teacher Out of Service, But You Can’t Take the Service Out of the Teacher

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Kevin Walsh

Rich

One of the greatest gifts of teaching is spending the day with other teachers.  But even in the department-store enormity of a high school, we all close our doors at the bell and, in essence, work alone.  We meet in meetings that no one wants to attend, by the copy machine that no one wants to un-jam or by the mailboxes, that no one wants to look into–all of these situations aren’t the most positive climates for collegiality.

I was fortunate to begin working in the late 1980’s, when Michigan teacher-strikes were winding down and school funding was healthy. … Read More… →

1976: More than just the Bicentennial Year to me

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Laura Kelly

Since this blog is all about blasts from the past triggered by a photo or media, I couldn’t resist sharing this recent walk of mine down Memory Lane, featuring my father.

My little nostalgia trip started with seeing an ad in the newspaper that reminded me of a real trip I once took.

Pippin

Yes, Pippin is coming back to Broadway after last being seen there in the early 1970s. (Of course, Pippin never really went away—it’s been one of the most produced shows in schools and theaters around the world for decades.)

Pippin has loomed large in my mind for a … Read More… →

The Place where High Tech meets Mad Magazine

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Joe Maguire

 When I was a kid about ten, I picked up a copy of Mad Magazine.  I even remember which one it was.  We lived in the house on Steel at the time.

mad cover

Anyway, the tradition was passed down to another generation and Kevin became the keeper of the flame.  I am sure he will expand in the future.  

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a computer geek and techie.  I have been that was since I was a kid.  I listen to a podcast on the TWIT network called “The Giz Wiz”.  The podcast are available on … Read More… →

The Three Things Babies Don’t Want You to Know

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Robert Phillips

sophie eagle

This is Sophie, my two year old daughter, in a diner in Davie, Florida. I posted this photo on Facebook with the caption, “Go Eagles!” In an act that took me 30 seconds, I enlisted my innocent two year old into my plan to annoy as many Dolphin fans as possible. Raising my three girls has been a pleasure not just because I find ways to express my fundamental obnoxiousness, as important as that is. It’s also a joy for all the reasons everybody talks about—unconditional mutual love, having at your constant disposal little balls of indescribable cuteness, the pride in self-perpetuation, blah blah … Read More… →

“The Easter Bunny’s Problem” by Melanie McAleer

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Joe Maguire

Eggs

Note:  Here’s a holiday poem published by my grandmother, Melanie McAleer, in the 1940’s–posted by her son, Joe.

The Easter Bunny’s Problem

Once a rabbit had a problem, and it wasn’t very funny,
You see he was the special, one and only Easter Bunny,
And he had a special duty to get up at break of day
On every Easter morning and give Easter Eggs away.

Something like old Santa, once his journey had begun,
Of the million little children, he never missed a one,
Yes, this was Bunny’s happy boast. ” I never missed a … Read More… →

My Dad’s Tribute Video: Someday I’ll watch this and not lose it…

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Kevin Walsh

MomDadWalshDance

It had taken me five years to gather the courage to put this thing together.  I lied to myself and thought I was ready.  I’d converted the wedding video, hauled thirty VHS tapes to school and scanned through all of the footage.  I’d loaded up each segment of my father’s life into pretty little categories:  Dad, Grandpa, Family, Friends.  Each with its own neat chapter on the DVD menu partitioning his life.

Jim Walsh died suddenly in 1997 at the age of 57.  And I’d “been the soldier,” to quote my dad’s Uncle Jerry when I called him with the news.  After … Read More… →

Being White and Male in South Florida.

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Robert Phillips

 In its article “Being White in Philly,” Philadelphia Magazine recently reminded us that we are not a post-racial society. Reviewers of the recent book “Lean In” by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg vigorously remind us that we are not post-gender either. I have to admit to a childish moment of resentment when I hear the reaction to the article or read these book reviews. I rebel against the perception (which may be in my mind alone) that I’m the bad guy. Am I seen as a secret racist, a card-carrying member of the He-Man Woman Hater’s Club?  Am I the villain, or worse, am I Alfalfa?

Being whiteRead More… →

Amazon, My Guilty Conscience and the Decline of Detroit Shopping

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Kevin Walsh
travolta

I was waiting for some photos to get developed at Meijer–a Michigan-based store where I had done my shopping since they opened in 1977, a short bike ride from my house. It was an enormous place–“Thrifty Acres” they called themselves.

Even now, when I walk through the produce area, I remember where the record and 8-track department was. I can still see the “Saturday Night Fever” and “Grease” cardboard mobiles hanging from the drop ceiling. My favorite memory is the foot-long plastic containers that encased the 8-tracks to discourage shallow-pocketed shoplifters.

Meijer also carried darkroom chemicals in their … Read More… →

“Reporters Apology” by Melanie McAleer

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Joe Maguire

The following poem was written by Melanie McAleer (posted by her son, Joseph Maguire)

Reporters Apology

REPORTER’S APOLOGY

(after viewing a Senior Womens’ Tennis Tournament)

I was sent on this assignment,
Nothing promised to be duller,
Without the thrill of homicide
Nor a fight for race or color;
I wondered why my editor
Had given me this task,
But being true reporter
I went, and didn’t ask;
After all a Senior Woman
Was a female with a shawl,
And I couldn’t quite envision her
Connecting with a ball;
… Read More… →

“Cobbler and the Cowboy” — My Grandma’s Poetry

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Kevin Walsh

 CobblerAndCowboy

66 years ago, this poem was proudly cut from the newspaper and placed in a scrapbook.  My grandmother, Melanie Vier McAleer died just two and a half years ago at the age of 94–an accomplished woman by any standard, winning a national doubles championship in tennis for women over 70.

But her greater love, one that stayed with her through her entire life, was poetry.  She was a regularly featured writer in Detroit papers throughout my mom’s childhood in the 1940s and 50s.  Her whimsical style and clever insight into the human condition was spot-on.  I remember being flattered … Read More… →

Getting Rid of Old Photos: Confessions of a Packrat

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Kevin Walsh

PhotoPile2

Logic has to end somewhere.  Sure it all worked in theory.  Representing the years from our marriage in 1992 and our purchase of a nice digital camera in 2005 we somehow stopped creating nice photo albums–perhaps the same reason we took all those pictures–two kids.  It’s not often you hear parents of a four and two year old say, “Wow, they’re finally asleep.  Let’s scrapbook!”

But we kept snapping those pictures and getting the film developed.  We’d pick up the envelopes and negatives, look through them, mail a few off to relatives and put the envelope promptly in a … Read More… →

Willy Wonka, Shirking Responsibility and a Great Night Out!

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Kevin Walsh

 OompaLoompas

Tonight in Detroit you can once again blame your parents.  The punchline for the Oompa Loompa’s many songs dealing with Charlie and his competing four brats for the keys to the fabled chocolate factor is “The mother and the father.”  

I was only six years old when this classic film premiered and I remember nodding my head in the theater thinking, “Yeah, the little creepy orange guys are right.  Those kids are spoiled rotten.”  Perhaps it was some kind of smugness that I would later have a stuffy professor explain to me as the same joy that the … Read More… →

Oz: And You Thought the Munchkins Were a Tough Crowd

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Kevin Walsh

Oz-doll

(With all the amazing effects and strong actors, this scene was one of my favorites.)  

I got my first gig as a film-reviewer two nights ago and got to review Oz the Great and Powerful for our local Royal Oak online newspaper,   It addresses the challenges of not just tackling one legend–but two, with Wicked’s fan-base.

A local-link:  my kids’ principal was Sam Raimi’s teacher.

royaloak.patch.com/articles/oz-the-great-and-powerful-lions-and-tigers-and-principals-oh-my

Seth MacFarlane’s Only Oscar Gig: Can’t we all just lighten up?

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Robert Phillips

sad face 

Actors (either gender) are, at their best, magicians. How scary was DeNiro staring into the mirror as Travis Bickle? How sad was it when Brando as Vito Corleone momentarily broke down over the body of his murdered son, Sonny? More obscure: do you recall Melora Walters smile at the end of “Magnolia,” which contained more meaning than entire movies? Their work deserves praise, but let’s put things in perspective.  Every year, they “roll the red carpet out” for themselves. They honor themselves and their work in a gala presentation that lasts about 15 hours. The Oscars this year started two weeks ago, and I think it’s still on. Every … Read More… →