This Summer Life

Have been working every day in the garden. Some of the honey bunch tomatoes are ripe!
Things are growing nicely, actually catching up after our late start.

Summer school finished, in what felt like an eye blink. I taught a Film and Society course and would recommend these films for summer viewing-- all available in the library system:

A Face in the Crowd: a 1957 film starring Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau, directed by Elia Kazan.^[1][2] The screenplay was written by Budd Schulberg, based on his short story "Your Arkansas Traveler." Powerful film. Makes you think about the word: made.

Network: a 1976 American satirical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about a fictional television network, Union Broadcasting System (UBS), and its struggle with poor ratings. The film was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet. It stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch and Robert Duvall and features Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, and Beatrice Straight.

Both of these films work in comparison/contrast.


Tootsie: a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, and producer/director Sydney Pollack. Tootsie was adapted by Larry Gelbart, Barry Levinson (uncredited), Elaine May (uncredited) and Murray Schisgal from the story by Gelbart.


The Betrayal-Nerakhoon: The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Kuras has spent the last 23 years chronicling the family's extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film. (documentary). I'm still thinking about this film.

Gran Torino: Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.

Most of my class didn't know who Clint Eastwood was. How is that possible? In any event this tied with the documentary.

** All film blurbs gleaned from Wiki descriptions.

We viewed 13 films. This isn't the complete list.

Project: Currently working on a collaboration with a fellow Rochester poet. We've entered week four. To date, I have 12 new poems . I have been enjoying this challenge. Some of the poems have trigger some ideas for essays.

Going to a Red Wings baseball game tonight!