Indiana | dual personalities

Last week the OM and I watched season one of Goliath (2016), the Amazon Prime original series “about a disgraced lawyer, now an ambulance chaser, who gets a case that could bring him redemption or at least revenge on the firm which expelled him.” (IMDB)

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Although pretty intense and typically vulgar (every other word was f–king), it held our interest, which is saying something these days.

On Friday night we watched Hoosiers (1986) because the main character in Goliath–Billy McBride, played by Billy Bob Thornton–was obsessed with the movie and watched it at times of high stress. (I read that George Steinbrenner admitted to watching the movie 250 times.)

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We enjoyed it very much.

Hoosiers is loosely based on the Milan High School team that won the 1954 Indiana state championship. With an enrollment of 161 students, it still stands as the smallest school to win a state basketball championship in Indiana. Hoosiers ranks high on all sorts of movie lists – 13th on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Times; fourth on an AFI poll of the 10 Greatest Sports Films of All Time; and first on USA Today’s For The Win list of the 25 Best Sports Movies Ever Made.

I must say, I can’t see this movie being made in Hollywood today. It takes place in Indiana–a flyover state after all–and is all about the old-fashioned virtues: hard work, dedication, forgiveness, humility. Characters say things like, “Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team – no one more important that the other.” It is about good people. There is no sex, no violence beyond some unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of opponents. And there are two ministers who travel with the team (on a church bus!) and pray before every game. At the final game: “And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen.”

Gene Hackman, who plays Coach Dale, thought the movie would bomb. He was wrong. It touched a cord with a lot of Americans. It is a very good movie, subtle and nuanced. Dennis Hopper is great. I wish he had won the supporting actor Oscar for which he was nominated.

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So my advice is that you should try it, if you haven’t seen it, or watch it again if you have.

BTW, I looked up the original review of Goliath in the New York Times and, of course, there was the de rigueur correction at the bottom: A television review on Friday about the new Amazon series “Goliath” included an inaccurate discussion of the show’s plot structure. The critic mistakenly watched the first two episodes out of order. Morons.

*Said by Jimmy Chitwood at the end of Hoosiers (1986).

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August 17, 2016

“On the banks of the Wabash, far away”*

by chuckofish

“That month he developed the habit every night of picking up the Bible the last thing before he went to bed and reading a few verses, and from thinking a prayer and from thinking thanksgiving, he advanced to the place where he boldly, in the silence and serenity of the little room, got down on his knees and prayed the prayer of thanksgiving. Then he followed it by the prayer of asking. He found himself asking God to take care of all the world, to help everyone who needed help; to put the spirit and courage into every heart to fare forth and to attempt the Great Adventure on its own behalf… Then he arose, in some way fortified, a trifle bigger, slightly prouder, more capable, more of a man than he had been the day before. He had asked for help and he knew that he was receiving help, and he knew that never again would he be ashamed to face any man, or any body of men, and tell them that he had asked for help and that help had been forthcoming, and that the same experience lay in the reach of every man if he would only take the Lord at His word; if he would only do what all men are so earnestly urged to do–believe.”

― Gene Stratton-Porter, The Keeper of Bees

Today is the birthday of Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924) who was an American author, naturalist, and nature photographer.

She wrote several best-selling novels–Freckles, A Girl of the Limberlost, and The Harvester–which are set in the wooded wetlands and swamps of the disappearing central Indiana ecosystems. She knew and loved these, and documented them extensively. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and she was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world. Many of her books are still in print.

I have to admit I have never read any of her books, but I have always heard of them–especially The Girl of the Limberlost, which has to be one of the all-time best titles ever. Indeed, Stratton-Porter is one of Indiana’s best known authors and she really put Geneva, Indiana on the map by writing about the Limberlost swamp. Besides writing best-selling novels, she was an amateur naturalist who studied the bird life of the upper Wabash and recorded her observations. She was also a pioneer photographer, taking pictures of the birds she studied and loved.

Stratton-Porter’s two Indiana residences, “Limberlost Cabin” in Geneva, Indiana

and the “Cabin at Wildflower Woods” in Rome City, Indiana

were both designated Indiana State Historic Sites in 1946 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are operated by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation as house museums.

She also had a honkin’ big house in Bel Air, California (she was in the movie business too), but I’m going to limit myself to exploring more of the Hoosier State. Road trip, anyone?

*Indiana state song by Paul Dresser

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June 9, 2015

“I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses”*

by chuckofish

Today is Cole Porter’s birthday.

This makes me want to SING!

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don’t fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don’t fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don’t fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences
Don’t fence me in

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies
Don’t fence me in
Let me ride through the wide country that I love
Don’t fence me in

Why this song comes to mind and not one of a dozen more sophisticated ones–well, that’s just moi I guess. Love those internal rhymes!

It also makes me want to roadtrip to Peru, Indiana!

Seven Pillars natural rock formation in Miami County

Peru, you will recall, is where Porter was born and raised. It is the county seat of Miami County and is located on the Wabash River. Among its ~~many~~ claims to fame is the fact that Public Enemy John Dillinger robbed the Peru police department armory in 1933. And did you know that Peru was the winter headquarters for several famous circuses, including Ringling Brothers, Hagenbeck-Wallace, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and others? That is why for years it was called “The Circus Capital of the World.”

But you know Cole Porter is definitely the most famous son of Peru. His maternal grandfather was James Omar “J. O.” Cole, “the richest man in Indiana,” and he had plans for his grandson. Young Cole was sent to Worcester Academy, funnily enough, and it is reported that he brought an upright piano with him. This helped him win friends; he was always the life of the party. Although he seldom returned to Peru after going off to school, he is buried there in the Cole/Porter family plot.

Are these the strangest headstones ever?

So a toast to Cole Porter! And you can listen to old blue eyes while you do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVOPf5w5Jco

*Cole Porter, who else?

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December 11, 2012

On the banks of the Wabash

by chuckofish

On this day in 1816 Indiana (“Land of the Indians”) became the 19th U.S. state. The Hoosier (“country bumpkin”) state is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populace.

The Wabash River, which is the longest free-flowing river east of the mighty Mississippi River, is the official river of Indiana. Thus, its state song is “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” written in 1897 by Paul Dresser, the brother of noted Hoosier writer Theodore Dreiser. (Apparently Paul Dresser was horrified by his brother’s shocking novels and changed the spelling of his name to differentiate them.)

The official state flag of Indiana was adopted in 1917. It was designed by Paul Hadley of Mooresville, Indiana; he won a flag design contest sponsored by the DAR for Indiana’s 100th anniversary of statehood in 1916. There are 19 golden stars on a blue field. The 13 stars in the outer circle represent the 13 original colonies of the United States of America; the 5 stars in a half circle represent the states admitted prior to Indiana (but after the original 13), and the larger star atop the flame of the torch of Liberty represents Indiana.

In our family we have a fondness for the state of Indiana because daughter #1 attended and graduated from DePauw University in the charming town of Greencastle.

During those four years we spent a lot of time in Indiana. We have been to many charming bergs in the state, including Indianapolis, Bloomington, Muncie, Terre Haute, New Harmony, Crawfordsville, Evansville–some a lot more charming than others. Indiana is, of course, a state boasting many fine colleges and universities, including Butler, Purdue, Valparaiso, Earlham, Ball State, Wabash, Notre Dame, and, of course, Indiana University.

Indiana is a state full of history and the birthplace of many famous Americans, including Johnny Appleseed, Gen. Lew Wallace, V.P. Dan Quayle, Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, Booth Tarkington, Bill Blass, Cole Porter, Kurt Vonnegut, Red Skelton, David Letterman, Hoagy Carmichael, and my personal favorites:

Steve McQueen and James Dean

Yes, Indiana. Way to go.

I could go on and on about the great state of Indiana, but I’ll stop here. I’ll just make one suggestion. In honor of the anniversary of Indiana’s statehood, I recommend watching a really good movie that celebrates the state’s love of basketball: Hoosiers (1986) with Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper. (BTW, One of the players on the high school team was played by a DePauw basketball player. The NCAA gave him a three-game suspension and he was charged 5% of his acting fee.)

We must also note that today is the birthday of two great actors (neither one from Indiana):

Victor McLaglan (1883-1959)