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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Where I Come From, Rain is a Good Thing


I’ll readily admit that when I was a kid, I loved summer vacation.  Summer vacation meant that you had two and a half months of doing whatever you wanted to do, whenever you wanted.  When I was growing up, I can remember all of the thousands of things that I could only do during the summer holidays.  Here are just a list of just a few of the things that I did when I was a kid between the months of June and September.


I would head down to the outdoor sidewalk sales downtown and browse all of the booths and merchandise set up in the middle of the street.  I remember being a child thinking how cool it was that we could actually walk on the road and not have to worry about being run over by a car!  Mind you, I very rarely bought anything at these sidewalk sales, but usually the used book store would have used cassette tapes and Archie Digests that I would spend my tooth fairy money and allowance on.


There would also be instances in which a carnival or fair would come to town, and I would practically beg my parents to loan me ten dollars so I could ride on some of the rides (yes, kids, back in the late 1980s, fair rides were really that inexpensive).  Whenever I went to the fair, if I could ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl, The Scrambler, the bumper cars, and the merry-go-round, and still have enough money for a cotton candy or a cherry flavoured Sno-Cone, I considered that successful budgeting!

And, of course, there were all of the summer festivals and concerts, and outdoor events that took place only in the summer.  Whether it was watching our favourite bands and singers performing outdoors, or watching hot-air-balloons launching up into the sky, or enjoying the company of other people over cold drinks at a sidewalk cafe, there never was a shortage of activities to do in the summer.


Well, provided that it didn’t RAIN, that is.

On days in which it rained during the summer, it was never much fun...especially when I was a child.  Rain meant that we had to stay indoors instead of going out.  Rain meant that sidewalk sales had to be cancelled, because the rain would destroy all of the goods available for sale.  Rain meant that I couldn’t go to the fair because my mother believed that I would catch pneumonia if I rode on the Tilt-A-Whirl in the pouring rain.

(A theory that I ended up disproving when I was twelve, by the way.)

I’ll be honest.  Whenever it rained on my summer vacation, I was upset.  It was bad enough that on my birthday it almost always rained, but to have the rain fall on my summer vacation?  That was just too much!  I would have been more than thrilled if it never rained during the summer holidays ever again.

Well, flash forward to the year 2012, and it appears that I am now getting my childhood wish granted.  This past summer (at least where I am currently living in Ontario, Canada), we have had only three days where it has rained.  And on each of these three days, the showers never last any longer than three hours.

What I didn’t think about as a child were the consequences that came from having no rain fall during the summer holidays.  Now that I am 31, and am experiencing the longest drought that I have seen in my lifetime, I can clearly see how my childhood wish was very misguided.


All over my province, farmers and crop growers are losing their shirts the longer the drought lasts.  The crops that they have planted have not been doing well at all, due to the lack of rain.  Even walking down the street in my town and seeing the once green grass now a sickly shade of yellowish-brown, I can see just how devastating this drought has been.  I can’t even imagine how stressed out the farmers are in this area.  I really feel for them.

Of course, this drought is also causing a lot of frustration in the grocery store where I currently do my day job.  As a result of fruit and vegetable fields in this area shriveling up in the relentless heat of the sun, the prices in our produce department have been steadily rising.  If this drought gets any worse, it’d eventually be that buying a couple of apples may end up costing as much as a gallon of gasoline! 

I now see that wishing for a summer without rain was not the smartest idea.  Now I wish that we could have nothing but rain for a complete week in hopes that somehow, the summer growing season can be salvaged, and that we never have to worry about running out of raspberries, peaches, and corn on the cob.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that rain can be wonderful.  And, hey, what a coincidence that our Sunday Jukebox song has the same message.

It isn’t very often that I leaf through the country music section of the record listings to spotlight for the Sunday Jukebox.  The last time I featured a country artist was on September 11, 2011 when I used an Alan Jackson song to discuss the 10th annual remembrance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  In this case though, there really was only one song that seemed to fit the theme of the blog.  Let’s have a listen.


ARTIST:  Luke Bryan
SONG:  Rain is a Good Thing
ALBUM:  Doin' My Thing
DATE RELEASED:  January 25, 2010
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #37
PEAK POSITION ON THE COUNTRY CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week

Yes, Luke Bryan was right.  Rain is a good thing.  And, I sort of wish that we could get some more rain now.

But I’ve talked about the drought long enough.  Why don’t we change the subject and talk about the artist who sings this particular song?


This is Luke Bryan, but Luke Bryan is merely his stage name.  He was born Thomas Luther Bryan on July 17, 1976 in Leesburg, Georgia.  On or around his fourteenth birthday, he was given the gift of a guitar from his parents, and this prompted Luke to take on jobs playing in local clubs with local bands throughout his teenage years.

Bryan graduated from Lee County High School in 1994, and he had dreams of moving to Nashville, Tennessee immediately after graduating to pursue a career in recording country music.  But those plans were shattered after the death of his brother, Chris.  Chris died the very day that Luke was planning on leaving home.  So, Luke stayed in Georgia, and attended Georgia State University, pledging for the Sigma Chi fraternity, and taking on a job working with his father, despite the fact that everyone encouraged him not to give up on his dream of moving to Nashville.

Eventually, Luke realized that his loved ones only wanted what was best for him.  And what was best for him was moving to Nashville.  So, seven years after his first attempt, Luke Bryan moved to Nashville on September 1, 2001.  Two months later, Luke ended up landing a job...as a songwriter.

As it turned out, this was a great thing for Luke, as his talents in writing songs proved to be the ultimate networking experience in Nashville.  Because of this job, Luke managed to meet and work with some of Nashville’s biggest stars including Travis Tritt and Billy Currington.

It wouldn’t be until 2006 that Luke Bryan would end up being discovered by a representative for Capitol Records while he was performing at a club.  The rep was impressed by Luke’s talent, and signed him to a recording contract on the spot.


Luke Bryan’s song writing skills seemed to help him out a lot when he was working on his debut album, 2007’s “I’ll Stay Me”.  Of the eleven songs that appeared on the album, he wrote or co-wrote ten of them.  Some of the singles that charted on that album were “All My Friends Say”, “We Rode in Trucks”, and “Country Man”.  All three were hits on the country charts, but failed to reach the top.


It seemed as though Luke’s second album, “Doin’ My Thing” was doomed to the same fate.  The album’s first single, “Do I” (which was co-written by the members of Lady Antebellum) was a strong release, but only managed to peak at #2 in the summer of 2009. 

But then “Rain is a Good Thing” was released, and it became Luke’s first #1 hit.


The song’s lyrics are quite simplistic in nature.  Basically, it depicts the story about how rain causes corn crops to grow, and with the harvesting of the corn comes the manufacturing of whiskey, which, according to Luke Bryan makes the gals get a little bit frisky.

Which is always a good thing.

In some ways, the idea behind the song came from a saying that he and co-writer Dallas Davidson used to say whenever both of them were bummed about the rain.  The saying was “Rain makes corn, and corn makes whiskey”, and whenever both of them said the saying, it made them feel better, and more accepting of inclement weather.

Who knew that little saying would end up giving Luke the first of many country music chart-toppers?  That’s a good thing, wouldn’t you say?


Rain is a very good thing.  I just wish that the summer of 2012 had a lot more of it.  But, it’s only the end of July.  There’s still a slim chance that we might just see some raindrops falling from the sky in August.

At least, I certainly hope so, anyway.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Going for Gold at the 1977 Laff-A-Lympics




How many of you out there plan on watching the 2012 Summer Olympics?

The Olympics are probably one of the most watched sporting events in the entire world.  As many as one billion people worldwide are expected to tune in to watch at least one of the Olympic events being showcased.  Thousands of athletes representing 200 different countries compete in a variety of events, all with the goal of winning a bronze, silver, or gold medal.  This year, the Olympic ceremonies are being held in London, the third time that the city has hosted the Summer Olympics (the other two years were 1908 and 1948) since the modern Olympic Games were first held in Athens, Greece in 1896.


All eyes will be focused on London, as the nations participating in the games will be cheering on their athletes in the quest for gold.  I know that I will be wishing all of my fellow Canadians the best of luck in the Olympic Games, and hope that they bring home the gold.


Traditionally speaking, Canada hasn’t done so hot in regards to gold medals won...at least in the Summer Olympics.  The highest amount of gold medals won by a Canadian team was ten, back in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.  Coincidentally, the 1984 Games also had the highest amount of medals won in total by a Canadian team with 44.  As far as other gold medal counts go for Canada, we ended up winning seven gold medals in Barcelona 1992 and four in both St. Louis 1904 and Amsterdam 1928.  


Embarrassingly enough, one of the most disappointing performances by a Canadian team in the Summer Olympics was in the very year Canada hosted the games.  The 1976 Montreal games were a disaster for Canada.  Not only was the Canadian team shut out of winning a gold medal (we ended up winning eleven medals total though), but the debt was so massive that it took three decades to pay it off!  Thankfully in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, we had our best gold medal performance ever for the Olympic Games with 14 won!

Go Canada!

You know, all this talk about the Olympic Games makes me think about a Saturday morning cartoon show that I vaguely remember watching as a kid.  It was a show that also had an Olympic themed setting.  Although the series aired in between the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics, the show did show everyone the hilarity that could occur if some of our favourite cartoon characters competed in some of the events that some of our celebrated athletes won medals for.


Today, we’re going to look back on the short-lived Hanna-Barbera cartoon “Laff-A-Lympics”.

“Laff-A-Lympics” only managed to run for two seasons during ABC’s Saturday Morning cartoon block.  It debuted on September 10, 1977, and ran for 24 episodes, which were rerun on the station until July 31, 1979.  The television show was loosely based on events that were featured in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, but also ended up having elements from “Battle of the Network Stars” thrown in for good measure.

The premise of the show was simple.  A total of 45 characters from various Hanna-Barbera cartoons were divided up into three different teams.  Each episode featured these three teams competing against each other in various events.  Now, unlike the real Olympic Games, in which cheating is strongly discouraged, in Laff-A-Lympics, it’s quite normal to have strange things happen on an Olympic course. 

The Laff-A-Lympics were hosted by Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf, and because the show aired on ABC, both characters were outfitted with bright yellow sportsjackets (which all ABC sportscasters wore back in the late 1970s).  The show also had guest characters serving as judges and commentators which included Jabberjaw, Peter Potamus, Fred Flintstone, and Barney Rubble.

I suppose that you want to know what the three teams are in Laff-A-Lympics, don’t you?  Well, here they are, written entirely in their team colours.


THE SCOOBY-DOOBIES

SCOOBY-DOO - Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Dum, Shaggy Rogers

DYNOMUTT, DOG WONDER – Dynomutt, Blue Falcon

CAPTAIN CAVEMAN – Captain Caveman, Brenda Chance, Taffy Dare, Dee Dee Skyes

SPEED BUGGY – Speed Buggy, Tinker

JEANNIE – Babu

HONG KONG PHOOEY – Hong Kong Phooey



THE YOGI YAHOOEYS

YOGI BEAR – Yogi Bear, Boo-Boo Bear, Cindy Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Pixie, Dixie, Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, Yakky Doodle

QUICK DRAW McGRAW – Quick Draw McGraw, Snooper, Blabber, Augie Doggie, Doggie Daddy

HANNA-BARBERA NEW CARTOON SERIES – Wally Gator

GREAT GRAPE APE SHOW – Grape Ape


THE REALLY ROTTENS

Mumbly, Dread Baron, Dinky Dalton, Dirty Dalton, Dastardly Dalton, Mr. Creepley, Mrs. Creepley, Junior Creepley, Orful Octopus, The Great Fondoo, Magic Rabbit, Daisy Mayhem, Sooey

TRIVIA:  Originally, the Scooby-Doobies were supposed to have different characters.  It was originally planned to have Jeannie from “Jeannie” on the team, as well as Melody, Alexander, Alexandra, and Sebastian the Cat from Josie and the Pussycats.  But due to trademark rights held by Columbia Pictures Television and Archie Comics, the characters weren’t able to be used.  Jeannie was replaced with Hong Kong Phooey, and the Pussycats characters were replaced with the cast from Captain Caveman.  However, since Babu was an original Hanna-Barbera creation, he was allowed to be a part of the show.

EVEN MORE TRIVIA:  With the exception of the Daltons from Quick Draw McGraw, and Mumbly from “Grape Ape”, the people on the Really Rottens were original creations.

Here’s the fun part though.  Although the Scooby-Doobies and Yogi Yahooies were two separate teams, they ended up working together very well.  They were all friends, and when one member of the team got into a sticky situation, the other team would help him/her to safety.  The Really Rottens on the other hand really lived up to their name.  They would often play dirty tricks on the other two teams all in the name of getting an advantage in the games.  They only cared about one thing.  Winning.

And just how did teams win?  Well, after each event, they were given a set of points.  In almost all cases, the first place team would score 25 points, second place team would score 15 points, and the last place team would get 10.  In the last event, the point totals would be doubled, or teams would get added bonus points.  At the end of the episode, the team with the most points, ended up with the gold medal. 

But what the Really Rottens didn’t realize was that points could also be deducted from totals if any of the people on the team were found guilty of sabotaging events, they could lose points.  And those lost points could mean the difference between winning and losing!

In fact, over the 24 episodes of the series, I can tell you that one team won the gold medal fourteen times.  Another team only won it twice.  And the final team won the gold medal seven times.

But, wait...that’s only a total of 23 medals.  What about the missing medal? 

I could tell you.  But wouldn’t it be more fun to watch it yourself?  I couldn’t find the episode online, but if you watch the episode “Siam and the Moon”, the answer behind the missing medal is found there.


On that note, I’ll end this note by wishing all athletes competing in London the very best of luck, and may all of your Olympic dreams come true.


And if they don’t, there’s always Rio de Janeiro in 2016!

Friday, July 27, 2012

The Jeffersons - Finally Gettin' A Piece Of The Pie


There are some days in which I really miss being a child.

Back when I was five or six years old, there were only twelve channels on television to choose from. Yes, I know by then cable television was around, but my family wasn't able to afford it until the early 1990s. Prior to that, I know exactly what the channels were that we had to watch at that time. And what's scarier is that I can tell you what channel corresponded with each station. And, that I still REMEMBER them twenty years later!

Back in 198-whatever, the channels we had to watch were the following.

02 – TVOntario (Toronto)
03 – Global Television (Toronto)
04 – CBC Television (Ottawa)
05 – CBS Television (Detroit)
06 – NBC Television (Detroit)
07 – CBS Television (Watertown)
08 – PBS Television (Watertown)
09 – CBC Television French Language (Montreal)
10 – Cable 10 (Brockville)
11 – CKWS-TV (Kingston)
12 – ABC Television (Detroit)
13 – CTV Television (Ottawa)

(Yes, you're reading this correctly...we did have two CBS affiliates.)

Actually, with cable television, the line-up didn't really change that much. Channel 5 became CFMT-TV, which is now called OMNI1. Channel 6 moved to Channel 15, and Channel 12 moved to Channel 19.

Why am I bringing this up though? It's partially related to today's blog post.



Of all the channels that we had on basic cable, I'd have to say that I watched Channel 6 (WDIV-TV) the most. That would be NBC for all of you keeping score at home. I know that these days, NBC seems to be struggling with keeping an audience, but back in those days, it really was Must See TV. Most of the cartoons that I watched as a young boy on Saturday mornings happened to be on NBC, and back in the 1980s, NBC had wonderful sitcoms such as The Hogan Family, The Cosby Show, ALF, The Facts Of Life, and The Golden Girls.

My favourite time to watch our NBC affiliate though was immediately after school let out for the day. You see, back in the 1980s before daytime talk shows and the Today Show expanded into the afternoon, the daytime block was filled with soap operas as well as affiliate time. And, after Another World, there would be an hour of programming dedicated to classic sitcoms from years gone by. From 3-4pm, I'd watch these classic shows and love them. The first show was “Gimme A Break!”, which aired from 3-3:30.

And from 3:30-4, this show aired.



Today, we're going to take a look back on the classic sitcom “The Jeffersons”. Although I watched the program on an NBC affiliate, the program originated on CBS. It ran from January 18, 1975 until June 25, 1985. The fact that the show ran for eleven seasons was a milestone in itself (especially since the program it spun off from, “All in the Family” ran two seasons shorter). But an even bigger milestone? It remains the longest running sitcom featuring a predominately African-American cast ever, more than 25 years after airing its final episode. And, just as the theme song says, the entire premise of the series involves a couple moving on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky, and the trials and tribulations surrounding life in a high-rise.



Obviously, there's a reason why I chose to spotlight “The Jeffersons” in today's blog entry. Three days ago, on July 24, we lost Sherman Hemsley. The actor, who portrayed George Jefferson passed away of natural causes at the age of 74.

Hemsley enjoyed a long career in the field of entertainment in a career that spanned a little over four decades. His first acting job was on the stage. In 1970, he starred at the character Gitlow in the Broadway play “Purlie”. Shortly after that, he moved from Philadelphia to New York to study with Lloyd Richards at the Negro Ensemble Company. He later joined Vinnette Carroll's Urban Arts Company where he acted in such productions as “Old Judge Mose is Dead”, “Croesus”, and “The Witch”. Hemsley seemed to really embrace the theatre as that was all that he exclusively did between 1970 and 1972.



And then Norman Lear came into Hemsley's life, and offered him a job. Lear was in the process of casting for his new television series “All in the Family”, and he believed that Hemsley was perfect for the role of George Jefferson, the neighbour of Archie and Edith Bunker. Hemsley was torn. He loved doing theatre and didn't want to give it up, but at the same time the television role intrigued him. Lear told him that he would hold the role open for him, and in 1973, Hemsley joined the cast of “All in the Family”, and two years later, was spun off into “The Jeffersons”.



Of course, George Jefferson would always be Sherman Hemsley's most famous role, but it wasn't the only sitcom role he would take on. From 1986-1991, he assumed the role of Deacon Frye on the NBC sitcom, “Amen”, and from 1991-1994, he took on voice acting as he provided the voice for B.P. Richfield on the television show “Dinosaurs!”. He also brought out his George Jefferson persona in various places along with his co-star Isabel Sanford (who played his wife Louise “Weezie” Jefferson). They starred in an episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, they both appeared on “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”, and they even appeared together in a Denny's commercial!



Really, the whole working relationship between Sherman and Isabel was one of the best in the business. They really did share some amazing chemistry together. But did you know there was a 21-year age difference between Isabel and Sherman? Isabel was born in 1917, Sherman was born in 1938! I honestly had no idea that there was that wide a gap between Sanford and Hemsley. When I first found out, I was blown away...partly because in my eyes, George Jefferson looked older than Weezie!

And, if you thought that piece of trivia was shocking, I have more information and trivia about the show itself. Consider it your behind the scenes scoop of “The Jeffersons”.

1 – If you take a look at the photograph that happens to be sitting next to the telephone in the Jefferson's apartment, it changes every episode.

2 – If you've ever wondered where the building that is featured in the opening credits of the intro is found, it is located at 185 E. 85th Street in Manhattan.

3 – The name of the apartment building that the Jeffersons live in is Colby East, and the Jeffersons live on the 12th floor.



4 – Zara Cully played the role of Mother Jefferson until the 1977-78 season. When she passed away on February 28, 1978, the character of Mother Jefferson was killed off as well.

5 – Ja'net Dubois sang the theme song “Movin' On Up”. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because at the time she sang the theme song for “The Jeffersons”, she herself was one of the cast members of another sitcom, “Good Times”.

6 – Mike Evans played the role of Lionel Jefferson, the son of George and Weezie. In real life, he was only eleven years younger than Sherman Hemsley!



7 – Mike Evans played the role of Lionel Jefferson off and on during the series eleven year run. He left the program to work as a writer and producer for “Good Times”. Upon the show's finale in 1979, he returned to “The Jeffersons”. Sadly, Mike Evans passed away in 2006 from throat cancer at the age of 57.

8 – In the eleven seasons that “The Jeffersons” were on the air, they occupied a grand total of fifteen different time slots!

9 – “The Jeffersons” ended up spending quite a bit of time in the Top 10 list of the Neilsen ratings. It was in the Top 10 during its first season, and stayed in the Top 10 between 1979 and 1982.

10 – When the news was announced that George and Weezie would get a spinoff from “All in the Family”, Isabel Sanford was opposed. She was very happy on the set of “All in the Family” and didn't want to leave. But when informed that the possibility of her being recast was open if she refused, Sanford agreed to join “The Jeffersons”.

11 – The show was known for some rather controversial moments. In the earliest seasons, the characters often said the “N” word. There were episodes on such subjects as racism, suicide, and gun control. And the characters of Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker) were television's first black/white interracial couple.



12 – Speaking of Tom and Helen Willis, would you believe that there were CBS executives who lobbied to edit out an onscreen kiss between the two? Fred Silverman managed to leave the kiss intact in the show, but boy, have times changed since the late 1970s!

13 – There were 253 episodes filmed of “The Jeffersons”. Sherman Hemsley was the only actor to appear in all 253 episodes.



14 – The character of Florence (Marla Gibbs) was originally intended to be a recurring character, but based on fan reaction, the character became so popular, Gibbs was offered a contract role soon after.

15 – Marla Gibbs was herself given a spinoff series from “The Jeffersons”, entitled “Checking In”. She left the series in a similar fashion to that of Charlotte Rae (who left Diff'rent Strokes to join the cast of “The Facts of Life”) in that if the show failed, she could come back to the series. Unlike Charlotte Rae's situation, “Checking In” checked out, and Gibbs returned to “The Jeffersons” shortly afterwards.

16 – Roxie Roker had a striking similarity to the character she played. Turns out Roxie's real-life husband was Caucasian, and when she was asked if she would have a problem with it, all she had to do was show producers a picture of her husband. That answered their questions right then and there!

17 – The role of Lionel Jefferson was played by two different actors. When Mike Evans left the series after the first season, an actor named Damon Evans (no relation) was brought in for seasons 2-4.

18 – The show boasted some serious guest star power. Appearing in small episodic roles in the series were Gary Coleman, Sammy Davis Jr, Louis Gossett Jr, Reggie Jackson, Gladys Knight, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Jaleel White, and Billy Dee Williams.

19 – With Hemsley's death in July 2012, the only surviving cast members of the series are Marla Gibbs, Damon Evans, Berlinda Tolbert (Jenny Willis-Jefferson), and Jay Hammer (Alan Willis). Isobel Sanford passed away in July 2004, Mike Evans in December 2006, Zara Cully in February 1978, Franklin Cover in February 2006, Roxie Roker in December 1995, and Paul Benedict in December 2008.

20 – The show never did receive a proper series finale. In fact, when the show was finally cancelled in June 1985, the cast was not informed until after the episode “Red Robin” aired (which ended up being the last episode). Sherman Hemsley recalled that he didn't know the show had not been picked up for the 1985/86 season until he read it in the newspaper! That's pretty bad on CBS' part, wouldn't you say?

However, despite the way the show ended, it did provide lots of laughs to people of all backgrounds and skin colours, and it made Sherman Hemsley a bright star in the world of entertainment.

A star that will forever shine on after his death.



Sherman Hemsley
1938-2012

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Staring Into The Eyes Of Space


Before I launch into my weekly Thursday Confession, I wanted to take the time to remember a woman who recently passed away.



On July 23, the world said farewell to Sally Kristen Ride, who died at the age of 61 from pancreatic cancer.

In her sixty-one years of life, nobody could have possibly imagined just how much of an impact she would have in the world of space exploration and science. Upon graduating from Stanford University with a master's degree and a Ph.D. in physics, she became one of 8,000 people to apply for NASA's space program, and was accepted into the program in 1978. Shortly before her first space flight, she was put under the microscope by the media, and Sally remembered being asked some rather demeaning questions by the press, including questions asking her if she cried when things weren't going well.

Of course, we all know that Sally Ride proved her naysayers wrong.

When Sally started at NASA, she began work serving as the ground-based capsule communicator (CapCom) for the second and third Space Shuttle flights, and held a key role in the development of the Space Shuttle's robot arm.



On June 16, 1983, Sally Ride made American history when she went on her first space exploration mission as a member of the crew on Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-7. Although she was not the first woman in space (she was preceded by Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya), she was the first American woman to go into outer space. On that mission, Ride became the first woman to use the robot arm in space, and the first to use the arm to retrieve a satellite.

The following year, Sally took part in her second space flight, also aboard the Challenger. On that mission, she ended up logging a total of 343 hours in space. She was in training for her third mission when the January 28, 1986 Challenger explosion occurred, and shortly after the tragedy was named to the Rogers Commission Report and headed its subcommittee on operations. After the investigation, Ride was assigned to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and upon arriving, she went to work leading NASA's first strategic planning effort, founded NASA's Office of Exploration and wrote a report entitled “Leadership and America's Future in Space”.



In 1987, Ride began working at Stanford's Center for International Security and Arms Control. Two years later, she began teaching physics at the University of California, San Diego, and became director of the California Space Institute. Over the next few years until her death, she wore many hats. She led the public outreach efforts of the ISS EarthKAM and GRAIL MoonKAM projects. She founded Sally Ride Science in 2001, a program which created science programs and publications for elementary and middle school students, with special emphasis for young girls looking to enter the space program. She served on the board during the accident investigation in 2003 involving Space Shuttle Columbia. She even wrote (or co-wrote) five books about space exploration geared towards children who had an interest in studying space.

I would call that a life well lived. Doing something that you love doing, and dedicating your life to it.

Although Sally Ride has passed away, her contributions will forever be remembered by so many people, and her name will forever be immortalized in the history of NASA.

And now, for my Thursday Confession.



THURSDAY CONFESSION #30: Believe it or not, there was a time in my life where I wanted to pursue a career in space exploration.

I know it seems quite hard to believe, but it happens to be true. Do you remember a few months ago, when I did a blog entry on the set of Charlie Brown 'Cyclopedias that I owned in my youth? If you can't recall that entry, I've posted the link to it HERE to refresh your memory. Anyway, there were fifteen different volumes to the encyclopedia set, and each volume dealt with a different subject.

I had the 1990 edition of the set, and of that set, do you know which two volumes were read the most at my household?



They were books #3 and #9...both books were on space exploration and the study of moons and planets.

I loved to read about space, and I often pretended to build Lego spaceships, zooming through endless galaxies around my living room at home. I can't explain it, but I was always fascinated by space. I even remember being in third grade, and not really caring so much about science class...until we got to the unit on space. Then, and only then, was I excited about science. I just thought it would be so cool to see what it was like in outer space. What would it be like to experience an environment with zero gravity? What would it feel like to float through the air in a carefree manner? What would Earth look like from millions of miles away? These were all questions that I asked myself constantly when I was younger.

When I was in school, I had a dream of becoming an astronaut. I even think that I wrote a paper in second grade about how my life's ambition was to walk on Mars, just to see if there were actual Mars bars on the surface.

(Hey, I said I wanted to be an astronaut, I didn't claim to actually know what I was talking about in second grade! At least my second grade teacher had a wonderful sense of humour!)

Whenever there was a shuttle launch on television, I always wanted to see it. I still get a little bit upset knowing that I was born twelve years too late to be around for the first time that man ended up walking on the moon, but my parents would always have the television on whenever something big was happening in the world of NASA. Truth be told, I probably did see Sally Ride's first launch into outer space, but because I was only two, I don't even remember it.



But I do remember the Challenger explosion in January 1986. Although I was just a few months shy of turning five, seeing that spaceship explode in mid-air is one of the earliest memories that I remember seeing. It must have resonated in my subconscious for several weeks after the fact as my family recalls telling me that whenever we walked downtown, I'd tell every passing stranger all about the explosion.

The explosion was a terrible one, as many people watched the whole thing unfold live. Several people died, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first civilian to go into outer space had the mission been successful. Millions watched the event live, and reactions ranged from heartache to shock.

I can only imagine that after the explosion happened, people soon became fearful that such an event could happen again, but I was too young to understand the impact of what had happened. I suppose that if I were a bit older and saw the accident happen, I might have felt differently about it. But, despite the fate that befell the Challenger, I still wanted to go up in space. I still wanted to pursue my dream of becoming an astronaut.

So, what changed?

Well, high school, for one. High school science and I did NOT get along. I often got really terrible grades in science class despite the fact that I made an honest effort to pass. I ended up with a 72 in the biology aspect, a 67 in chemistry, and I ended up dropping out of physics about three weeks into the course, as I literally had zero understanding of the subject whatsoever. And when you consider that physics is probably the most important of the sciences that one needed to actually go into space exploration, that put an end to any dreams that I ever had of becoming a first class astronaut.



Despite this setback though, I'm still very much interested in outer space, and one of the things that I have always wanted to do was go to Space Camp for a week, just to experience what it would be like to be an astronaut through simulations and demonstrations. I always wanted to see the Kennedy Space Center up close, and I actually have a friend who resides in Florida named Kat, who sent me a care package that had space ice cream, as well as a little Christmas ornament with Santa Claus piloting a space ship!

But you know...dreams can and do change. And in my case, my dream shifted from going up into outer space, to writing about outer space, and other various subjects. And, I figure that if Sally Ride could follow her dream, there's no reason why I can't.

Rest in peace, Sally Ride. May your star never burn out.



Sally Kristen Ride
1951-2012

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Take a Look, It's in a Book, a Reading Rainbow!


My earliest childhood memories were heavily influenced by books.

Here’s a true story for all of you reading this right now.  I actually learned how to read before I learned how to talk.  Sounds impossible, right?  Well, it happens to be true. 

My parents have told me that when I was just two years old, I was able to read some things.  Being a toddler at the time, and having my sisters in public school, there were many mornings where my mother would take me to the supermarket to pick up the weekly groceries (usually at Mr. Grocer downtown, or Steinberg’s at the mall...both of which have since closed up shop).  At each checkout lane, there was a rack of magazines present.  At that time, there was People Magazine, National Enquirer, Family Circle, Reader’s Digest, Archie Comics Digests, Soap Opera Digest (at that time there were more than four on the air), and various recipe magazines. 


According to the story my mother told me, when we were waiting in line, she would ask me to point out a magazine on the rack.  She’d say “Matthew, can you show me where TV Guide is kept?”, and sure enough, I would point my little finger to the TV Guide display, and exclaim “Unh! Unh!”.  Then she would ask me where “Woman’s World” magazine was kept, and I’d point towards it and make that caveman grunt that I was only able to muster up for language back in 1983.  The cashiers were beyond impressed.

(Of course, that’s according to what my mother told me anyway...for all she knew, I could have been wanting a chocolate bar instead, and just pointed at the magazines to get her attention.)

By the time I was able to talk (which wasn’t until I reached the age of three), I was able to read some articles in the newspaper.  I didn’t necessarily know exactly what the words in the newspaper meant that I had read, but nevertheless, I did read it.  By that time, my mother felt that it was a good idea to get me my very own library card from the public library.  Every Thursday afternoon, we would walk up to the library, and I would literally spend hours in the children’s book section.  At some point, I think I asked the head librarian if I could check out every book in the library at once.  Unfortunately, at that time, people were limited to ten books per check out, so ten was all I could borrow.  But to me, the idea of a library was the best thing in the world.  You could check out books on subjects that you were interested in, bring them home, and as long as you returned them within a couple of weeks, you weren’t charged any money at all!  It was my idea of heaven.


So, every other Thursday from the ages of three to about nine, I would go to the library to check out ten books at a time, read them over a two-week period, bring them back, and check out ten more books.  I loved it, and I’m sure my parents loved it as well, as the books kept me very quiet and well-behaved.


Oh, I loved books so much.  I still love books to this very day.  These days I don’t have a whole lot of spare time to dedicate to reading books, but I definitely try to squeeze some time in, even if it’s only for a few minutes.  Those trips to the library really helped enrich my word power, and made me appreciate the concept of literacy even more.

Oh, and there was also a television show that aired right around the time that I ended up getting my first library card that celebrated books and reading.  It was a television show that managed to run for twenty-one seasons, and thanks to new technology, the program is now getting a second wind!

Check out the original theme song for the program, which first began airing on PBS June 6, 1983.


Yes, today’s blog topic is about the television show “Reading Rainbow”.  I initially intended to talk about this subject on Saturday, but due to recent events, I put it on the backburner.  But since I occasionally talk about books on Wednesdays, I figured that it fit.


“Reading Rainbow” was created under the leadership of Cecily Truett Lancit and Larry Lancit at Lancit Media Productions, based out of New York City.  Hosted by actor LeVar Burton for the show’s entire run, the program was a mainstay on PBS for twenty-three years before going off the air in November 2006. 

TRIVIA:  “Reading Rainbow” is currently the third longest running PBS television show ever.  Only “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Sesame Street” have run longer.

Every episode of “Reading Rainbow” was structured nearly the same way.  LeVar Burton would take the viewers on some sort of adventure.  Whether he would go on a trip to the zoo, learn all about how sports were played, or taking part in a musical performance, it was definitely something that made the show more fun.

I enjoyed the LeVar Burton segments because it allowed us to learn a lot about different subjects, different cultures, and different worlds...almost exactly the same way that books allow a person to learn about anything and everything.  Check out this segment from a “Reading Rainbow” episode from the 1980s where we learn about Chinese cuisine.


Wasn’t that something?  And, with 155 episodes of the series made between 1983 and 2006, there was never a shortage of activity for LeVar to take part in.  One memorable episode actually followed LeVar around the set of the other show he was working on at the time, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”! 

The live-action segments were a lot of fun, but of course, they weren’t the only thing to be focused on within the show.  After all, the show wouldn’t be called “Reading Rainbow” if there were no books present at all, would it?

The one unique thing about the program was that each episode was focused on a specific book (usually in relation to the live-action segments that LeVar Burton filmed for each episode), and that book was more often than not presented by a celebrity guest.  Some of the celebrities that have read books on “Reading Rainbow” have included Bill Cosby, Jason Robards, Charles Kimbrough, Josie de Guzman, and Eartha Kitt.  Even Kermit the Frog made an appearance!


Also making an appearance on the program were hundreds of school aged children making recommendations about books that they themselves have read in a segment known as “Book Reviews”.  You always knew when the segment would start because LeVar would kick off the segment by saying “you don’t have to take my word for it”.  Here are a couple of examples of these book reviews.


MINI-CONFESSION:  I listened to a few of these reviews from some of these kids, and made it a mission to find these books so I could read them too.  In any of the ones I did read, I must say that the recommendations were quite helpful, and I enjoyed the books a lot!

“Reading Rainbow” was one of PBS’s most successful programs.  Would you believe that in its twenty-three years on the air, the program received a boatload of awards?  It ended up winning a total of twenty-six Emmy Awards (twenty-five more than Susan Lucci), and even won a Peabody Award in 1992.  I can’t even tell you the number of times the program was nominated, as that number well exceeds over two hundred nominations!

And, that’s the story of “Reading Rainbow”, and its many years of entertaining children on television.  But if you think that the concept of “Reading Rainbow” is dead, think again.  In 2010, LeVar Burton announced through social media that he was working on a new version of “Reading Rainbow”, and in June 2012, he appeared at a special presentation for Apple Inc.’s annual World Wide Developers Conference where he announced that “Reading Rainbow” would become available as an app for the company’s iPad device.


The app was released on June 20, 2012 at Apple’s iTunes store, and it took only a day and a half for the app to become popular.  By June 22, it was already the #1 Educational App! 

I guess it goes to show you that people still have much love for “Reading Rainbow”.  Whether you read your books online, on a Kindle, or the good old-fashioned way, it doesn’t matter.  For me, there is nothing better than curling up on the sofa with a good book.  And, I’m sure that many others would agree.

Besides, “Reading Rainbow” always taught fantastic life lessons.  With that, I’ll close this blog entry off with a musical number that was featured on one episode of the series.  See you next time!