NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS * SAVING MR. BANKS * NEBRASKA

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass - Somehow I've come through life having never read about Frederick Douglass any more than to know that he had been a slave and became a free man in the 1800s.  Thanks to Peter's stellar education at New Trier, he read and studied this book in English last year, and I finally got around to reading it.  This is a beautifully formally written first person account of the sad and difficult life of a slave.  Nothing I can write will fully convey this story of violence and hope.  It's only a short story, but it is packed with truthfulness and conviction.  Only by reading original first person accounts will we be able to move forward in life so as never to forget or repeat the painful parts in our histories.  


Saving Mr. Banks - This is the Disney movie about the making of the Disney movie Mary Poppins.  In 1961 Walt Disney invited the author of Mary Poppins, P. L. Travers, to come from London to Los Angeles to work on the movie script with his writers.  She arrives with a lot of baggage (not the physical kind), and the movie explores her past while telling the story of how Disney's Mary Poppins came to be made.  All in all it's a charming movie. 

Nebraska - Valerie loved this movie as one of her best of the year, so I was anxious to see it.  It's a road trip movie about a father and son, and it's a good story, and you stay with it because the characters are so good, and because you want to see what happens.  The mom is worth the price of the ticket alone!  Ultimately it's a sweet story of love and family devotion and small town america, and it has one of the best endings ever.  As I was searching for a photo to accompany this post, I came across the information that the director of the movie, Alexander Payne, is Greek. He was interviewed by the hollywood.greekreporter for anyone who's interested.