REFLECTIONS ~ Holy Week 2011 ~ "Jesus Built A Bridge"

This beautiful Easter lily was on the desk at the North Battleford Swimming Pool on Friday afternoon when Alisdair was taking his weekly lesson.  I couldn't resist snapping a photograph to capture its blooms.

May God bless you as we move through "Holy Week" in the lead up to Easter Sunday.  The "Ladies Choir" I have been singing with recently will be part of a joint Good Friday service in our community with the United Church and the Evangelical Free denomination.  We will also be singing at the Easter service at Manitou Evangelical Free Church.  The songs include:  "Love Is Why,"  "So Willing to Die For Me,"  "Thirty Pieces of Silver," "I Believe in a Hill Called Mount Calvary" and "Jesus Built a Bridge."

The last song says it all:

"Jesus built a bridge to heaven,

so that I could find a way up to Him,

Jesus built a bridge, the only way He could,

 with only three nails and two pieces of wood,

With one rugged cross,
Jesus built a bridge."

Have a blessed Easter!

POETRY & A QUESTION ~ "The Aliens Have Landed" ~ By: Kenn Nesbitt

THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED!

The aliens have landed!
It's distressing, but they're here.
They piloted their flying saucer
through our atmosphere.

They landed like a meteor
engulfed in smoke and flame.
Then out they climbed immersed in slime
and burbled as they came.

Their hands are greasy tentacles.
Their heads are weird machines.
Their bodies look like cauliflower
and smell like dead sardines.

Their blood is liquid helium.
Their eyes are made of granite.
Their breath exudes the stench of foods
from some unearthly planet.

And if you want to see these
sickly, unattractive creatures,
you'll find them working in your school;
they all got jobs as teachers!

                                                      --Kenn Nesbitt

***

Adam Revet, a young fellow in Class #9630 - Individual Verse, 10 and Under, recited this poem in the Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival.  We happened to be there that afternoon, waiting for Alisdair's turn on stage, when Revet presented his recitation to the adjudicator. The boy also performed it again at the Gala Concert Friday evening, in Logie Hall at Third Avenue United Church.

***

On Saturday morning, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix had a large full colour photograph of Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the front page.  He had been campaigning in Saskatoon on Friday and coverage of the local event, got Alisdair thinking.

"Mum," he asked.  "You know how they say that if an alien landed he would say to you, 'Take me to your leader?' "

"Yes, " I said.

"Well, if you did come into contact with an alien and they asked you that question, who would you take him to see? Your Member of Parliament? The Prime Minister? Or the guy that runs the Province?"

"You mean Premier Brad Wall?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's him!"

I had to admit, I had never given that question any thought, and I wasn't sure what I would actually do if the unlikely situation arose.  Later, Alisdair was taking the paper to one of the houses on his route.  "Hey, there is another leader you could take the alien to visit," I told him.

"You're right," Alisdair said.  "I could also take him to see the Mayor of the Village of Neilburg!"

Later, when we returned home, Alisdair contacted three of his grandparents and asked them who they would visit with their newfound friend, Mr. Alien.  He got a variety of answers.

And so, dear reader,  we pose the question ~ "Who do you think the Alien should meet? A local leader?  A provincial or state representative?  A federal or national figure? Perhaps a reigning Monarch?  Or some other powerful political person?

... "Take us to your thoughts!"  We look forward to your comments.

REFLECTIONS ~ Who Am I?? ~ "MUM or TEACHER?"

We were on our way to North Battleford for Alisdair's swimming lessons and to attend the "Gala Awards Concert" for the "Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival."  Since it had snowed overnight, John couldn't go to work, [Yes...we had an inch of snow on April 15th!  Spring must be cancelled!], so he was driving the minivan and Isobel was the front seat passenger.

Alisdair and I were in the third seat, quietly working on math and spelling.

One of the assigned words was "typhoid."  Another was "boycott."  There were nine questions in all to determine if the student was aware of the"Word Meanings." 

The first of these asked, "Which spelling word names a disease?"  Almost instantly Alisdair answered, 'TYPHOID' and then he recalled how in our January "Remember Me Pockets" Author Study he had learned how J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote "The Lord of the Rings," had contracted that illness when he was in the trenches during the war.

Question number eight asked," 'Which spelling word means 'to refuse to buy or use something?' " 'BOYCOTT'  is what Martin Luther King, Jr. did when they refused to ride the buses," Alisdair reminded me.  I gave him a "High Five" for remembering these little tidbits of information.

Just then, Isobel turned around and started calling out, "Mum!  Mum!"

John, always one for a one-liner, glanced at the 5-year old and said, "That's not 'MUM,' that's the 'TEACHER!' "

Although I didn't want to give John the satisfaction, I couldn't help myself, and had to smile at his wisecrack!

VIDEOS ~ Prime Minister Stephen Harper Sings "IMAGINE" & Causes Controversy

While Alisdair was delivering the Saskatoon Star Phoenix this morning, an article by their columnist, Les Macpherson caught my eye. He writes:

"If nothing else, this lacklustre federal election campaign has convinced me who I absolutely do not want as our prime minister:

Yoko Ono.  Yoko Ono."

"The malicious old harpy set a new standard for campaign meanness by forcing YouTube to pull a video of Conservative Leader Stephen Harper singing Imagine. This she had every legal right to do, having inherited the song's publishing rights from her late husband, John Lennon. That doesn't make it any less mean."

"Harper was touring a Winnipeg school when he performed Imagine, obviously unrehearsed, with fifth-grade student Maria Aragon. It is fine for Ono to stick it in Harper's ear by yanking the video from YouTube, but what about the little girl? How must she have felt when she learned her once-in-a-lifetime experience of performing with Canada's prime minister was expunged from the most popular video-sharing site."

"Yoko Ono doesn't care. If she has to step on a 10-year-old schoolgirl to take a cheap shot at a foreign politician, so be it."

"Protecting copyright was the means here, not the end. This was a deliberate shot from Ono at Harper. Numerous other renditions of Imagine, amateur and professional, are up on YouTube, including one by Bill Clinton, but only this one was removed for copyright reasons. It figures that Ono, a well-known lefty boohoo, would adore Clinton and despise Harper, although their differences are not as great as she might like to, uh, imagine. Clinton is more charming, certainly, but Harper is more respectful of women. You would think a self-proclaimed champion of feminism would appreciate the distinction."

"Ono's selective churlishness over copyright violates the very spirit of Imagine. The song invites us to imagine, among other things, a world of no possessions. Copyright is a kind of possession. By forbidding others from performing the song, Ono not only endorses the notion of personal property, she uses it as a stick to beat on Canada's prime minister."

"And if a 10-year-old girl from Winnipeg gets clipped by the follow through, too bad.
Too bad, as well, that Harper performed Imagine in the first place. It's a terrible song. The melody is fine and the piano riff catchy enough, but these are overwhelmed by the most nauseating lyrics in any pop song ever."

"The aforementioned line about imagining no possessions is especially hard to swallow without provoking the gag reflex. We don't have to imagine no possessions. We've seen it tried in the old Soviet Union. The record shows that it didn't work out very well. But you have to admire Lennon's chutzpah in charging $12 for a record album that urged us to reject capitalism."

"What I don't understand is how Harper, a Conservative prime minister and a tireless proponent of free markets, can bring himself to sing "imagine no possessions." It's as if he's campaigning for the NDP."

"The song also urges us to imagine nothing to kill or die for. But what about freedom?"

"This is something for which many have killed and died, to our great and enduring benefit. Lennon's very freedom to dump on the status quo that treated him so generously was paid for in blood. Imagination manifestly did not get it done."

"Lennon sounds here like one of those silly juvenile idealists who likes to pronounce that violence never solves anything. This is not only wrong, it's stupid. Violence solved Hitler and the Holocaust. Violence solved the institutionalized cruelty of Imperial Japan."

"The violence of the American civil war solved slavery. The threat of violence solved Soviet repression of Eastern Europe. It was not imagined away. To acknowledge this is perhaps too much to expect from a guy who, in the name of peace, stayed in bed for weeks."

"Somewhat easier to imagine is a world with no religion. I'm not very religious myself, so, for me, this is no problem."

"The problem would come about five minutes after religion was eliminated, when someone started a new religion. He'd have a monopoly, too, until someone else launched a competing religion. Then they'd be at it again, hammer and tongs, just as before."

"Lennon wrote and performed so many great songs, it pains me that Imagine, one of his worst efforts, is the one that endures. What I like to imagine is never hearing it again."

lmacpherson@thestarphoenix.com
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

***

When our deliveries were finished, we came home and checked online and found the video, was actually still available. (It's posted above.)

In the words of Lennon's "Imagine" ... "You may say that I'm a dreamer ... but I'm not the only one..." as Alisdair wants to become the Prime Minister of Canada someday. He's already started learning how to make speeches, but obviously we should be finding a music teacher so that he can also learn how to play piano for impromptu photo opportunities while out on the hustings prior to elections!

Just imagine... my son as Prime Minister Ramsay-Mackenzie! Now that WOULD be something to sing about!!

GRAPHIC NOVEL ~ The Hound of the Baskervilles ~ By: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Stone Arch Books

This colourful "graphic novel" is similar in format to "The Speckled Band and The Blue Carbuncle" that was the subject of a post on December 7, 2010.  However, this book is in full colour and contains eight chapters:  "The Great Detective,"  "Legend of the Hound," "A Dangerous Game," "Baskerville Hall," "Mystery on the Moor," "The Hound's Next Victim," "Holmes Closes In" and "Death on the Moor."

There is a "Glossary" at the back of the 63-page book with 14 Vocabulary Words:

ancestor (AN-sess-tur) - a relative or family member that lived a long time ago

comrades (KOM-radz) - good friends

convict (KON-vikt) - someone who has been in prison for committing a crime

elderly (EL-dur-lee) - another word for old

fatigue (fuh-TEEG) - great tiredness

identify (eye-DEN-tuh-fye) - to recognize who a person is

loyalty (LOI-uhl-tee) - faithful support of someone

lunatic (LOO-nuh-tik) - a wildly insane or crazy person

maiden (MAYD-uhn) - a young, unmarried woman

mire (MYR) - an area of extremely wet and muddy ground

moor (MOR) - a grassy area with soft, spongy ground like a bog

phosphorus (FOSS-fur-uhss) - a kind of chemical that glows in the dark

prehistoric (pree-hi-STOR-ik) - happening in a time before history was written down by humans

revenge (ri-VENJ) - an action taken to pay someone back for something mean they did in the past"

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1859 - 1930

There are also notes about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland.  In 1885, he graduated with a degree in medicine from Edinburgh University.  Shortly after, Conan Doyle opened a successful medical practice in England.  While there, he married Louise Hawkins, and the couple soon had two children, Mary Louise and Alleyne Kingsley.  Meanwhile, Conan Doyle published several stories including 'A Study in Scarlet' in 1887.  This was the first story to feature the character Sherlock Holmes.  Before his death on July 7, 1930, Conan Doyle wrote 55 more tales about the world's most famous detective."

Additional information is also provided about Sherlock Holmes:

"Sherlock Holmes is the world's most famous detective.  In fact, he's so well-known that many people believe he was a real person.  However, Sherlock Holmes is actually a fictional character created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

"Although Sherlock Holmes wasn't a true-life detective, his character was based on a real person.  While at Edinburgh University, author Conan Doyle studied with a surgeon named Dr. Joseph Bell.  The author admired Dr. Bell's ability to diagnose his patients simply by examining the clues of their illness.  Conan Doyle gave Sherlock Holmes the same brilliant detective skills."

"So where did the name Sherlock Holmes come from?  Some people believe this question remains a mystery.  Others, however, think Conan Doyle used the last name of another doctor, Wendell Holmes.  The author may have also used the name of violinist Alfred Sherlock."

"At age 27, Conan Doyle wrote his first Sherlock Homes mystery in just three weeks.  The story, titled 'A Study in Scarlet,' appeared in the 'Beeton's Christmas Annual' magazine in 1887.  One year later, the story was published as a book with illustrations by the author's father, Charles Altamont Doyle."

"After 'A Study in Scarlet,' Conan Doyle wrote a dozen more Sherlock Holmes stories, which appeared in the Strand Magazine in London, England.  These stories also included illustrations by artist Sidney Paget.  Many people credit Paget for creating the detective's famous look, including his pipe, deerstalker cap, and inverness coat."

"By 1893, Conan Doyle decided to stop writing Sherlock Holmes mysteries.  In the story, 'The Final Problem,' the author killed off the great detective.  Readers around the world became extremely upset by this decision.  At their request, Conan Doyle continued writing Sherlock Holmes mysteries until 1927.  Before his death on July 7, 1930, Conan Doyle had written a total of 56 stories about the detective."  His passing was mourned the world over. 

The writer was buried at Minstead Churchyard,
 Hampshire, England under an oak tree. 
His headstone is a cross bearing the words:
Steel True
Blade Straight
Arthur Conan Doyle
Knight
Patriot, Physician and Man of Letters

"In the stories, Sherlock Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street in London, England.  Today, this real address has been turned into a museum for the great detective.  Visitors to the residence can learn more about Conan Doyle, his mysteries, and his character, the brilliant Sherlock Holmes."

The graphic novel also provides some "Discussion Questions" and "Writing Prompts."  It is also suggested that students could obtain further information, related to the book, by checking out a website called Facthound.  First select the child's grade  and then type in the ISBN number from the book (for 'The Hounds of the Baskervilles" the code is 9781434207555.)  Then click the "Fetch It" button and three website and five other "classic" books will pop up!

Prior to reading this "Graphic Novel," I was not familiar with the story, and on the first reading was a little confused.  I've read elsewhere that since this is a "graphic novel" format, portions of the original story were left out, which may be part of the reason I was flipping back a little to check who was who.

The illustrations, by Daniel Perez, are first rate.  Most are in sepia tones.  Here is an example of  one of the pages:

Pages 54 and 55
Sir Henry Baskerville is attacked
 and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
 save him from the beast

This graphic novel is, overall, an interesting read and I am sure it will inspire many youngsters to pick up other titles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  These may have been overlooked, were it not for the comic book format of this introductory volume.  Personally, I am interested in reading more tales by this well known author.

BOOK REVIEWS ~ Jesse Owens ~ By: Mervyn Kaufman



"Jesse Owens" is another "Crowell Biography" ~ just like the books we have recently read (and reviewed) about "Ray Charles" and "Paul Robeson."

Owens was called James Cleveland Owens at birth, but when he was in school and a teacher asked him his name, he replied "J. C."  That teacher misheard the initials and thought the young boy had said his name was "Jesse."  Although incorrect, the name stuck, and the lad soon became known as Jesse Owens.

Owens was born near Oakville, Alabama on September 12, 1913.  "Jesse Owens was once the fastest man in the world.  He could run faster and jump farther than anyone.  But when he was little, he was sickly and weak.  His parents were afraid he would die" (Page 1).  Jesse was one of seven children ~ four sons and three daughters. Jesse was frail.  "Every winter he got sick.  His Mother nursed him back to health with loving care and homemade medicines.  One winter when Jesse was sick, he nearly died of cold.  There wasn't enough wood to keep the fireplace going, and he couldn't get warm.  The Owens house was made of thin boards that always let the cold in" (Page 2).

The family moved North in 1921, settling in Cleveland, Ohio.  "Life was no better for them there, because work was hard to find.  Mr. Owens rarely had a steady job.  Sometimes he washed windows.  Sometimes he swept floors.  Mrs. Owens worked as a cleaning lady.  The family ate beans and onions, potatoes and onions, or bread and onions.  There was never enough food to go around and almost never any meat.  Often they came close to starving" (Page 4).

Although Jesse still seemed frail, "by the time he was twelve, he could beat any of his friends whenever they ran races at school.  One day, after winning a race, Jesse met Charles Riley, coach of the track team at the Junior High School.  Mr. Riley trained boys on the team to run fast and jump high and far.  Coach Riley was surprised that a boy so skinny could run so well.  He thought that by running a little each day, Jesse might be able to go even faster.  And perhaps, someday, he could get on the track team" (Pages 5 and 6).

When Jesse explained he couldn't run after school because he had to help support his family, Coach Riley suggested he began training before school.  "He met Riley on the sidewalk outside the school every morning.  Jesse ran for forty-five minutes, until the bell rang.  Mr. Riley coached him, helping him run faster and farther.  Mr. Riley helped him in other ways.  Sometimes he brought Jesse food.  'See how this tastes,' he would say.  'My wife cooked it.'  He could see that Jesse didn't get much to eat at home.  Coach Riley was the first white man Jesse ever knew, and Jesse came to love him very much" (Page 6).

Jesse kept trying and Mr. Riley kept encouraging him.  When Jesse lamented that he wouldn't be good enough to make the team "this year," his coach told him:  " 'Who says you have to make it this year?'  'You're training for four years from next Friday' .... Mr. Riley kept saying this - week after week and month after month for two years" (Page 7).

"Finally, Jesse did get on the track team.  And one day he set a record.  He ran a hundred yards in only ten seconds" (Page 8).  "Hardly anybody noticed Jesse in high school, until he entered a big track meet along with athletes from all over the country.  He won the 100-yard dash, the 200-yard dash, and the broad jump.  Now a lot of people knew who he was.  Newspaper reporters wrote stories about him.  Colleges sent people to see him.  Each college wanted him on its track team.  Four years of college would cost a lot of money, but the schools were willing to pay it all" (Pages 8 and 9).


Jesse Owens 
"In Action on the track!"

By this time, Jesse was married to Ruth Solomon, his long-time sweetheart.  He was also working at night and after school - often as many as three jobs at once.  Suddenly, Jesse's father lost his job and so his son refused all the offers.  "He couldn't live like a rich man while his father struggled to find work.  He even quit the track team.  But he was very sad."  The family "scraped by on what money Emma [Jesse's mother] and the children brought in" (Page 9).

Thankfully, Mr. Riley [his old coach] stepped in.  Riley arranged with "Larry Snyder, the best track coach in the country" for Jesse to attend Ohio State University.  Jesse would be able to work three different jobs to pay for his schooling.  Riley also arranged for a job for Jesse's father with the State of Ohio, for as long as he wished.  "Jesse was so happy, he threw his arms around Riley and kissed him!" (Page 11).

Ruth stayed back in Cleveland while Jesse went to college in Columbus.  "He worked hard, studied until late at night, and trained with the track team every day.  The team had only a few Negroes.  They lived in the same house and ate all their meals together. Whenever there was a track meet at another school, they traveled in the same car.  One morning Jesse and three black teammates were on their way to a meet in Indiana.  They had been driving since dawn.  The white members of the team rode in cars ahead of them.  About nine o'clock Coach Snyder decided to have breakfast.  He stopped at a roadside diner.  The others parked behind him.  Snyder and the white boys went inside.  Jesse and his black teammates stayed in their car.  They could see Snyder talking to a woman behind the counter.  She was shaking her head, no.  They knew that meant Negroes could not eat at this diner.  A few minutes later, two of the boys came outside with plates of friend eggs and stacks of sliced bread.  The food was passed to the black athletes.  They had just started eating when they heard a loud, angry voice outside the car.  'So this is why you wanted extra food,' a man snarled.  He was a big fellow with a white apron tied around him.  The boys guessed that he owned the diner.  'You got paid, didn't you, mister?' one of them said.  'I don't want money to feed any niggers, the man shouted.  Then he reached through one of the car windows and began grabbing the plates of food.  Silverware went flying, and the fried eggs spilled on the floor.  He carried his plates back to the diner.  The hungry athletes had to eat what food was left, from the floor.  That afternoon Jesse ran as hard and as fast as he ever had.  He had to win that day, and he did.  But winning didn't make him feel any better.  He was still burning with rage inside." (Pages 11 to 15).

Jesse Owens went to the Olympic Games, which were held in Berlin, Germany in 1936.  He was entered in four events ~ broad jump, two races (100 m and 200 m) and the 4 x 100 m relay. When Owens had trouble qualifying for the broad jump, he was encouraged by Lutz Long of Germany. Jesse had fouled ~ twice!  "Suddenly a firm hand gripped his arm.  Jesse Owens found himself looking into the clear blue eyes of the man who was his rival.  'Hello, I am Lutz Long,' the man said.  'Something is wrong.  You are a better jumper than this.  You must qualify' " (Pages 18 and 19).

With this encouragement, from his competitor, Jesse Owens DID qualify (by more than a foot).  "In the actual event, Lutz Long's best jump was nearly twenty-six feet.  He broke his own record and set another new Olympic mark.  But Jesse Owens beat him.  Jesse's record jump was more than twenty-six feet" (Page 19).

"After Lutz had tried and failed to beat the American, he ran back to shake Jesse's hand.  Then he held Jesse's arm up in the air and shouted to the crowd, 'Jesse Owens!  Jesse Owens!'  A hundred thousand voices called back.  The stadium rang with the sound of Jesse's name chanted over and over.  He won the highest award for the broad jump, a gold medal.  Then he won two races and a relay.  When the Olympic Games were over, he had four gold medals.  Jesse Owens had gone to Germany with only one suit of clothes and $7.40 in his pocket.  When he left, his suit was wrinkled, and he didn't have a penny.  But he was coming home a hero.  His family could hardly wait to see him, but they were not the only ones.  Thousands of people stood along the streets cheering, when he arrived in New York City.  His picture was in every newspaper.  Parties were given to honor him.  Everyone wanted to shake his hand and talk with him, but nobody offered him a job.  It wasn't easy for a black man to get ahead then, not even an Olympic hero" (Pages 22 and 23).

Finally Jesse received a job offer.  "One night two men came to see him.  They had a plan they said would help Jesse earn a lot of money.  They were starting two Negro baseball teams.  The teams would travel around the country, playing each other.  Jesse Owens would travel with them.  Jesse was interested.  He thought he would like playing baseball.  Or maybe he would take care of the teams as they traveled.  But the men had a different idea.  They wanted to use Jesse to get more people to pay to see the teams play.  Their idea was for him to run a race with a fast horse before every game.  Jesse said no.  He would feel like an animal, doing such a thing.  'Think about it,' said one of the men.  'We'll be back.'  Jesse thought of nothing else.  The idea of racing against a horse made him sick.  Still, if he earned enough money, he could go back to school.  He thought and thought.  When the men returned, Jesse told them, 'I've changed my mind.  I've decided to do it.  Three times a week he raced against a horse, while crowds of people watched him.  He was miserable.  He felt worse than an animal.  He felt like a slave.  He quit after a few months.  He couldn't stand the job anymore.  But he had enough money to finish college" (Page 25-27).

Soon afterwards, another individual came forward and asked Jesse. " 'How would you like to make a million dollars without lifting a finger?  All you have to do is lend your name.  The idea sounded too good to be true, but Jesse agreed to it.  He signed some papers and became one of the partners in a new dry-cleaning business.  Soon Jesse Owens Cleaning Stores were opening all over Cleveland, and in other towns, too.  Business was good.  Jesse was earning more money than he had ever seen.  He bought a big house for Ruth, himeself, and their children.  There were three daughters now.  He also bought a home for his parents.  One day he tried to reach his partners and found that they had all left town.  Why, he wondered.  Then he found out.  They all owed a lot of money and had left him to pay it.  Jesse had not saved any money.  So every cleaning store was closed, and all the equipment was sold.  It took him five years to pay back what was owed.  He had to sell both houses.  It made him sad to move his parents into a shabby little apartment.  They were old now.  He had wanted them to live in comfort" (Pages 27 and 28).

In 1942, Jesse and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he helped to hire workers for Ford Motor Company.  After work, "Jesse taught basketball and other sports to a group of boys.  On weekends he gave speeches at club meetings.  People paid to hear him talk about the Olympic Games.  Soon he realized that what he enjoyed most, of everything he had ever done, was working with young people" (Page 30).

A move to Chicago, Illinois came in 1949.  "Jesse went to work for the State.  His job was to help boys who got into trouble with the police.  He knew they needed things to do to keep them out of trouble.  So he organized baseball and basketball teams, and he trained the boys to play quite well" (Page 31).

"In 1955 the United States Government sent Jesse on a good-will trip around the world.  He talked to schoolchildren and young athletes.  They always made him tell about winning his Olympic medals.  He was called the Ambassador of Sports" (Page 32).

When he returned to Chicago, Jesse went on the radio, playing recordings of Negro jazz.  He continued to travel, back and forth, speaking to schools and clubs.  "He talks about the Olympic Games, and he also talks about something he has believed in since he was a boy growing up:  brotherhood.  Jesse believes that all men are born equal, no matter what their religion is or their colour.  Not everyone feels as he does, but he wants them to, very much.  This is why he travels and talks to so many people.  He remembers how his parents struggled to bring up their children.  He remembers eating fried eggs off the floor of a car back in Indiana.  He knows things are better for some black people now.  He hopes things will still get better.  He also hopes it will be soon" (Page 33).

Kaufman's biography ends at this point.  Further research shows that Jesse Owens died in Tucson, Arizona on March 31, 1980 as a result of complications from lung cancer.  He is buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

Final Resting Place

At the time of his death, President Jimmy Carter said: "Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry. His personal triumphs as a world-class athlete and record holder were the prelude to a career devoted to helping others. His work with young athletes, as an unofficial ambassador overseas, and a spokesman for freedom are a rich legacy to his fellow Americans."

VIDEOS ~ Jesse Owens ~ "This is Your Life" ~ Parts 1 and 2

While searching for information about Jesse Owens, we came across this interesting two-part program.  "This is Your Life" featured Jesse Owens as their special guest on a show in 1960.  Alisdair and I enjoyed watching this old program as neither of us were born when it originally aired.  Jesse Owens seemed very surprised and taken off-guard by the whole experience.  After reading about Owens coaches, (Ridley and Snyder), it was nice to be able to see them! Alisdair was especially intrigued with the now long outmoded technology that Owens was given as prizes ~ it's hard to imagine a time when the antique electronic equipment on the video was actually "state of the art!"