temple grandin

i love (love!) this movie. as a side note, i realize i've been mostly writing about books and movies, and not as much the baking/cooking. i will soon share a crockpot recipe (winter vegetable beef soup!); otherwise, i'd have to change the blog's name or continue feeling like a fraud.

but for now, i have to tell you about temple grandin. the title of the movie is the name of a girl born in the 40's with autism who exceeded expectations, to say the least. claire danes did an amazing job. her mother, played by julia ormond, also- amazing. other supporting roles that i thought were fantastically played- her favorite teacher dr. carlock, & temple's aunt.

i won't go into detail about the movie. or even tell you everything i loved about it (yet). but i am pleading with you to watch it. and i want to tell you briefly about a scene where temple and her mother are talking after a christmas party- where temple's anxieties were stirred due to overstimulation. she tells her mother she doesn't understand why people were looking at each other while she was talking excitedly about her studies. what do the sideways glances and smirks mean? her mother grabs temple's shoulders and looks directly in her eyes.

"you know how people tell each other things with their eyes?" she asks. "well, this is me telling you, 'i love you, and i respect you.'"

the mother love, not to mention the attention and concern of her professor and her aunt, were instrumental in motivating temple to accomplish all she did. i love a story where skeptics and naysayers are silenced by the belief and motivation of a few!

another country

c.s. lewis talked about nostalgia as an indicator of yearnings for eternity. he explained that a longing for home, or for a thing of our past, is really just pointing to the desire we all possess for the "knowing in full" that heaven affords. i stumbled on a terrific expression of this in great expectations. the below excerpt is about literal/earthly travel homeward, but i like the parallels for we who are making a pilgrimage heavenward. and how can you not love dickens!

"the june sky was blue, the larks were soaring high over the green corn. i thought that countryside more beautiful & peaceful by far than i had ever known it to be yet... they awakened a tender emotion in me, for my heart was softened by my return, and such a change had come to pass that i felt like one who was toiling home barefoot from distant travel, whose wanderings had lasted many years."

"by faith, abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. by faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did isaac and jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ...[he] admitted [he] was a foreigner and stranger on earth. people who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. they long for a better country—a heavenly one" (hebrews 11:8-16).

"blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage" (psalm 84:5).

motionless travel notes

as i've already admitted, i'm obsessed with the diving bell & the butterfly by jean-dominique bauby. my brother richard was in town recently with his wife, girls, & intern. i made them watch the movie (based on the book) with me, & i noticed something i missed before. so i'll comment on it & then maybe you won't have to hear about it after this, at least not for a while :)

bauby used the metaphor of a diving bell to help his audience understand how he felt after a massive stroke that made him the victim of locked-in syndrome (see 11/15 & 12/8 posts). there was a distinct shift in his attitude shortly after doctors apprised him of his condition. acknowledging he still had his memory & imagination, he decided to write a book. the phrase that struck me during the second viewing was bauby's description of his writings as "motionless travel notes." initially, this sounded depressing to me, but it seems to be about perspective. his limitations left him with only one avenue for expression. yet, he at least still had the ability to think & express, & he chose to focus on that rather than the loss of other faculties. another thing that hit home for me more in round 2 was the first part of the title. several times in the film, bauby is shot wearing a diving bell helmet in water & seems to be grasping at nothing. it's such a strong image for how trapped & helpless he feels. but again, the entrapment isn't so severe as to completely destroy his hope... which is why the story's so inspiring. if you haven't read/seen it yet, please do!