Hi
Everyone,
We made it! The sun is shining this morning, the crocuses and daffodils
are sprouting strong and hardy in our yard, and the weatherman is calling for “fair
weather ahead!” Oh, my, it’s like I am an addict desperate for a cocaine fix;
my body is craving for sunshine. Just looking at the sun’s rays stretching
along my living room floors and onto me sitting at my kitchen chair has me
giddy. You people who have had your summer flings in the dead of winter don’t
even know how extremely malnourished we feel, those of us who have not had an
ounce of vitamin D since the early days of autumn. My mind is so absolutely
depleted of brainpower, mental sharpness is a side effect of Vitamin D deficiency
–no lie!, that it is a struggle for me to write this email. However, reading The
Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936
Berlin Olympics (I think this book wins for our longest title) by Daniel
James Brown inspired me. It was a great interlude for biding away the dreary month
of March. Although, don’t get me wrong, I am more than ready to enjoy my
reading in a lawn chair on our overly sun-exposed deck or on a beach chair centrally
located under direct UBV rays along a seashore!
Attending the March meeting along with me were Barb K., Ginnie, Lori,
and Mandy. At first, a few in our group thought that we would not have much to
discuss as Brown’s book was long and contained pages upon pages of race
details, much that can be skimmed over, but once we began our discussion, we
delved deeper and deeper into its message. The Boys in the Boat was one of the
most inspiring novels, I for one, have ever read. We can all learn something
from these nine men who grew out of America’s working class during our nation’s
Great Depression. This was a story of how with the right ingredients for
greatness: determination, motivation, and mentorship, men can unite their
strength to achieve unthinkable goals.
This book was a so inspirational, I found it a great source of
motivation for teaching. Think about it. Nine boys must forget themselves and
unite their physical and mental bodies to triumph in the sport of
rowing. Learning that life is not all about me, when we desire a thing, is a
lesson that is hard to learn. The main character in Brown’s account of this
great event in history, Joe Rantz, struggles to come to this conclusion in
order to help the University of Washington’s rowing team win championships
against America’s elite Ivy league’ schools then ultimately winning the 1936 U.S.
Olympic Gold. Brown leads us to the climax in Nazi Berlin by focusing mostly on
Joe’s life, his overcoming the obstacles of an unnatural childhood, the loss of
his mother, then abandonment by his father and stepmother. We discussed at our
club the awful luck poor Joe had as a child and found his choice to “never
depend on anyone else, not even on Joyce,” his devoted girlfriend, “for his
source of happiness,” was his coping mechanism; however, Joe had to overcome his
suppressive attitude in order to completely trust and support his rowing team
so that they could make their mark in U.S. Olympic history.
We must all work together to achieve on the PSSA, is the point I am
trying to make with my students. “Helping
each other learn in order for our school to achieve greatness,” I tell them,
“is what we need to do. Don’t think of only yourself, think of the school. If
the school looks great, you look great, as you are a part of the school!
Remember the boys in the boat, remember the boys in the boat . . . !” is our
mantra!
The rowing team’s mentor, George Pocock, was the University of
Washington’s very own Yoda. I once read, “Tie a child to a good man, and you
will never go wrong.” That’s what the rowing teams at U.W. were blessed to have
in George Pocock, a good man. Pocock and his brother Dick both apprenticed in
the art of boatbuilding under their father who was the boat builder for Eton
College. Living at Eton also gave George and his brother the opportunity to
become champion rowers. With the prize money they saved, they immigrated to the
United States. After the usual struggles to establish themselves as independent
businessmen in America, George finally found his place at U.W. where he
flourished in his craft. Not only did he build faster and more efficient boat
shells, but he introduced many innovations in boatbuilding such as using
Western Red Cedar for the outer shell. He mentored all of the rowing teams that
came through Seattle’s rowing program during his time there, offering his sage
advice to both the coaches and boys. Pocock’s knowledge of rowing was so
comprehensive his words were held in the highest respect among oarsmen and
coaches from all over the country. For this reason, he was appointed Boatman to
four U.S. Olympic Rowing Teams: 1936, 1948, 1952, and 1956.
It was George Pocock that helped Joe Rantz get his head on straight.
Pocock gave Joe the time of day, so to speak. By teaching Joe about the art of
boatbuilding, beginning with the cutting and shaping of the wood, Pocock was
able to also mold Joe into a champion rower. By helping Joe remove the
protective walls he had built around himself, Pocock exposed Joe to Joe. Like the
wood that Pocock so expertly understood, he transferred his wisdom of
transforming raw materials into pieces of art, and inspired Joe to the same
greatness. When the alluring smell of cedar shavings finally led Joe into
Pocock’s shell house, Pocock was ready. He let the wood teach Joe. “The wood,”
Pocock murmured, “taught us about survival, about overcoming difficulty, about
prevailing adversity, but it also taught us something about the underlying
reason for surviving in the first place. Something about infinite beauty, about
undying grace, about things larger and greater than ourselves. About the
reasons we are all here. Sure I can make a boat,” he said, and then quoting the
poet Joyce Kilmer added, “But only God can make a tree.”
Pocock went on to explain to Joe the many steps in the wood’s processing
and other elements that ensure the making of a great boat, “The ability to
yield, to bend, to give way, to accommodate, was sometimes a strength in men as
well as in wood.” Joe was glued to Pocock’s deep understanding of wood and its
relationship to everything in life. Pocock’s wisdom came straight from his
heart, “He said for him the craft of building a boat was like a religion. . .
You had to give yourself up to it spiritually; you had to surrender yourself
absolutely to it. When you were done and walked away from the boat, you had to
feel that you had left a piece of yourself behind in it forever, a bit of your
heart. Rowing,” he said to Joe, “is like that.”
Pocock continued to take a personal interest in Joe, leading Joe to
discover his inner greatness. Until Joe was able to overcome his own motto to
“never depend on anyone else,” Joe would only be a second rate rower for the
U.W. rowing team. Pocock “suggested that Joe think of a well-rowed race as a
symphony, and himself as just one player in the orchestra. If one fellow in an
orchestra was playing out of tune, or playing at a different tempo, the whole
piece would naturally be ruined.”
Joe’s determination to transform himself was an important key to U.W.’s
big Swedish coach Al Ulbrickson in leading his team to victory at the 1936
Olympics in Berlin. He counted on Pocock to mentor Joe, and mentor Pocock did,
“When you really start trusting those other boys,” he counseled, “you will feel
a power at work within you that is far beyond anything you’ve ever imagined . .
. as if you have rowed right off the planet and are rowing among the stars.” It
was a frightening concept to Joe to trust others when he had been let down by
people he loved so many times in his life, but finally he let go. For Coach Ulbrickson,
this meant he finally had all of his ducks in a row. At a varsity victory, he
remarked to the press, “Every man in the boat had absolute confidence in every
one of his mates.” Ulbrickson knew that all the elements that constitute
greatness had finally converged, “the right oarsmen, with the right attitude,
the right personalities, the right skills; a perfect boat, sleek, balanced, and
wickedly fast; a winning strategy . . . ; a coxswain with the guts and smarts
to make hard decisions and make them fast. It all added up to more than he
could really put into words.”
Brown’s account of Joe Rantz and the U.W.’s amazing rowing team is
dappled with historical images of Adolph Hitler and his attempt to fool the
world. By hosting the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Hitler was able to
present an illusion of cultural perfection. Visiting athletes and Olympic fans
were none the wiser as they were greeted by clean and perfect villages and
accommodating people. It was a trip to remember for all. Although as many looked
back, they were able to pick out the camouflaged cracks and flaws in the
superficial image Berlin presented that, while caught up in the spirit of
celebration, they simply overlooked.
Brown’s epilogue is noteworthy and a topic of much discussion at our
book club. It was interesting to learn how the “Boys in the Boat” commenced on
with their lives after graduating from U.W. The biographical sketches proved
clearly that these nine men were all winners in and out of the boat. After
serving their country in WWII, they all returned and resumed successful careers.
Their U.S. Olympic Gold medals were well earned, I believe, not just for their
feats in rowing, but for their lives, shining examples to all of us in America
on how to live and contribute to our nation.
The Boys in the
Boat: is a book I will
share with students and many others who I hope will find the same source of
inspiration in its pages as I did. At our meeting, our book club has selected
many inspiring titles, but we pick our books based not only on their capability
to inspire and inform but also for entertainment and relaxation. I’m not sure
which category our April title will fall under, I haven’t started it yet; but
we are reading Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
by Beth Hoffman. The New York Times
describes it as the Steel Magnolias
meets The Help. Set in a
1960’s Savannah, Georgia, our book club, I’m certain, will find much to discuss
in Hoffman’s southern tale. In the story, CeeCee’s mother tells her daughter,
“if you want to glow like you are lit from within, CeeCee, wear pearls and a
pale pink sweater,” so let’s all wear pearls and something pale pink to our
meeting! If you want to take it a bit further, add a white straw hat with a
yellow band and a red flower pinned to the side like the one CeeCee’s Aunt
Tootie gave her!
We will meet at 6 P.M. on Wednesday, April 22, at Morgyn’s Frozen Yogurt
and Treats, 152 N. Main Street, Butler, for our discussion. This is a new
location for us and a variation from our usual dinner menus, so please allow
yourself the indulgence of a sweet treat when you arrive! Lori confirms that it
is a cozy little spot, so let’s give it a try.
See yah’ all soon,
(just practicing my southern dialect for club!)
Tammy
No comments:
Post a Comment