The Unknown Generousity of an Officer

Yesterday, I witnessed this and felt compelled to share the story.


After I got out of work Friday, I went to Panda Express on Shields and Blackstone. I walked in and to the left was sitting a police officer enjoying a meal. I smiled at him and he smiled back. He had a kind face with dark hair parted to the side. On the booth down from him sat a black man, wearing a white t-shirt and shorts. He looked worn by life and disheveled. He looked straight ahead. He was not eating or drinking anything.

While in line, I overheard the police officer ask him if he was hungry and that he would buy him something if he was. The man replied no that it was okay and that he was just sitting here minding his business. The man and the police officer struck up a conversation. While I continued to wait with a short line of people for the noodles to cook so we could order, I caught pieces of the man and the police officers  conversation.

The man was telling him that he lived on the west side of Fresno and went on about things in life; the officer listened attentively while eating.  I looked at the man when he said the west side and thought how far he was from home. He seemed happy and had a very jovial way about him. He was smiling and just carrying on with small talk.

Eventually the noodles were cooked, I ordered my food and proceeded to walk out. The officer and the man were still small talking, and again I heard the officer say, you sure you don't want something to eat and the man said, no, it was okay and that he didn't really like Chinese food and again he said, I'm just sitting here.

When I got into my car where my husband and three year old were waiting, I told my husband the story as we drove across the street to McDonalds to get our son a Happy Meal. While in the drive-thru of McDonalds, I see a police car pull up. and out comes the police officer and the man. I said to my husband look, there they are.

They walk into the McDonalds, the closer we get the window to pick up my sons food, I see the police officer ordering the man food and the man in his white shirt and dark skin with an endless grin on his face.

I really was taken back. What a kind unselfish act. Thumbs way up to this officer! A true image of a public service.  I don't know necessary what the man was doing there, whether he was homeless or not. What I do know is that this police officer extended the greatest hand of friendship and kindness to a stranger far from home with no money to buy food of his own.

This police officer did not do this generous act for anyone to see, he didn't know that I was a blog writer and that I had left my phone in the car and because of this, instead of  focusing on my mobile phone while I waited, I listened and took in my surroundings, which meant their conversation. He did this act because it is probably just in his character to help others, to serve. This made me think of something Pastor Franklin often says, that what we do when no one is looking, is who we really are. It is ones true character.

When I told my mom this story she said it made her feel good inside knowing that good people still exist and especially because it was a police officer because most of the time all we hear is negative about them. Well, clearly, there is good that abounds behind the badge and their good deeds and helpful hands are not witnessed by us everyday, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.


Francine

Light Up Downtown 5K Run!

 

 

Tomorrow evening in downtown Fresno, Red Ribbon Project will hold its first 5K Run/Walk to bring awareness to HIV/AIDS. Hundreds of local Fresnans will join in bringing awareness by taking to the streets and Lighting Up Downtown Fresno in unity.

T-shirts and glow bands will be provided and  are ready for pick-up to all those that registered. If you haven’t already registered there is still time, contact www.cornerstonecommunitycare.com for more info. Living Social, which is one of the many sponsors of this year’s event, is currently offering a terrific deal.

Penned  Write is a sponsor of this year’s event and is offering 20% off a resume package deal, which includes a resume & cover letter to all participants of the Lighting Up Downtown 5K event.

I encourage you all to register and make a difference in the community. This event is family friendly. So bring the entire family down, children included and take part of a great community event in the heart of Downtown Fresno.

Francine McMillon

Forever, Our Mexican Girl

Jack Kerouac’s book “On the Road” has long been a youth anthem for generations. After tomorrow, Tim Z. Hernandez’s “Manana Means Heaven” will surely be added as an anthem for Mexicans and lovers of literary greatness everywhere.

The book, “Manana Means Heaven” tells the tale of  Terry a real life character readers first met in Kerouac’s
“On the Road “ and  in the excerpt titled The Mexican Girl” which was featured in the Paris Review in the year 1956. It is crazy really that this woman “Terry” (actual name Bea Franco) met Kerouac while awaiting a bus in Bakersfield headed to Los Angeles. Together, she and Kerouac spent their nearly two week relationship traveling throughout the Central Valley  and along with migrant workers toiling in the fields of rural Fresno.

 

Photo Credit: (AP Photo/ Bea Kozera Estate)

It is crazy that Bea Franco was immortalized in the literary world and for years, she had no clue of this fame. I recall reading this book and being drawn to her character that I reread her story repeatedly. A Mexican girl, married, with two children, fleeing her abusive husband  in one of the greatest coming of age books in the world and this brief tale is centered around all that is familiar to me; Fresno, Central Valley, Selma, field workers, a Mexican girl, my Mexican people. What girl wouldn’t be drawn to those factors?  

Bea was immortalized by Kerouac’s book but what Tim Z. Hernandez has done was create life to her character, both through the greatness of his imaginative mind and also the time he spent interviewing her. Hernandez found Mrs. Franco living in Fresno and with vivid memories of her time spent with Kerouac. What Hernandez created will no doubt become a masterpiece in the literary world.

Tomorrow at Fresno Art Museum is the Official Book Release Party from 6pm  sharp – 8pm. If you or someone you know would like to attend and support our local writers that are doing it big in the literary world. I encourage you to attend.  Spread the word, attend, support, buy a book & read. In Fresno we are all about reading.

Where: Fresno Art Museum

2233 North First Street

Fresno, CA 93703

Time: 6-8pm

for additional information on Tim Z. Hernandez and his book Manana Means Heaven visit:  http://timzhernandez.com/tag/manana-means-heaven/

 

Francine Ramos McMillon
Penned Write
for all your writing needs
Contact me @ pennedperfectly@gmail.com
or by phone @ 777-0746

 

Small towns and Raisins

Lately,  I have been doing minor research on my next writing project.  I traveled to Biola, CA, which was not much of a travel at all, a mere 20 mins or less from my home. Nevertheless, I went there on August 8, drove through the tiny city, took pictures, and attempted to get a feel of what life is like there.

The main street was wide and long. It was warm outside and locals sat outside of storefront buildings with their backs leaning against the walls, and their bottoms on the warm sidewalk. The town seemed desolate and silenced by the lack of opportunity. I clearly did not get what I was looking for. What I am writing has nothing to do with the history or town of Biola itself, rather, individuals and an animal having lived their entire life in a small town.

I do however, want to know as much about the area for sake of scenery, and also, I am nosey, when I write about a topic, I want to envision it all, from the smallest details to the largest. Knowledge is power. Therefore, I did some minor research on BIola and here is what I came out with. I think it is pretty freakin cool, and I am much more interested now than I ever was in how my characters will be shaped by this “Biola History”. 

As the great songwriter Eddie Vedder once said, “A small town predicts my fate, perhaps that’s what no one want to see.”

Small-town minded people can be either a gem in rubble or the salt that covers a blister and who is to say what makes the difference in the two.

Biola stands for Bible Institute of Los Angeles. William and Mary Kerchoff founded Biola in 1912. There seems to be from what I gathered through articles a strong Molokan presence there. I have been unable to locate anywhere in writing that William and Mary Kerchoff were Molokans themselves. Although, I have a feeling that it is possible. When Molokans immigrated over here from Russia their names where difficult to translate, so many of them stand out by their last names having been translated incorrectly. Many have names ending in Volov ot Valoff or ending in off.

Molokans mean “milk drinkers” in Russian. Molokans are a Christian sect that refused to obey the Russian Orthodox Church. Molokans seem to be more like Quakers in daily lifestyle and they wear head coverings while in church, like many Apostolic and Penacostal churches I grew up in.

Biola is located just west of Fresno and north of Kerman. According to the 2000 Census report, its population is just over 1600. Last year the small agriculture town turned 100 years old. It celebrated this event with its annual Raisin Festival. This year it will hold its 57^th Annual Raisin Festival and Parade on October 11-13th, complete with car show and royal crowning of the Raisin Queen & King.

I am curious what the parade will be like. I may have to attend the event and find out. From what I gathered over the past few weeks has intrigued me. 

This is a picture from the main street. As one can see the wide, nearly desolate street is empty considering the time of day was just before 6pm.

 

 

 

 

 

Francine McMillon

Penned Write

"for all your writing needs"

pennedperfectly@gmail.com

www.pennedewritebyfrancie.blogspot.com

(559) 777-0746

 

 

Writer of the week, Ian McEwan

photo credit: Annalena McAfee

"I used to think I would have to spend a lifetime shaking it off. Now I know that's impossible, and unnecessary, and that you have to work with what you've got."   Ian McEwan, 2011  (article Mother Tongue, from The Guardian)


Ian McEwen is one of the best, if not THE best writers today and I have been reading his articles, essays and listening to his YouTube video talks, as often as time permits me this past week. I decided to loosely write down some of his great advice for writers.

Also, I have become mildly obsessed with YouTube videos on writers giving interviews on writing, the process, the rewrites, the constant edits and the life of a writer. David Foster Wallace is a real thought provoking writer and everything that comes out of his mouth is like every work he's ever written. It is complex and lengthy.

I also watched some videos from The University of Iowa Writers Workshop.  I turn a little green watching Iowa Workshop Writers discussing how they found out they had been accepted in the program. I feel punched in the gut after the credits roll, if only, I confess to myself, if only. I love writers. I love this school. Every book I have read, that was written by a former student of the program is in my eyes, brilliant.

Back to Ian the great. Here are a few paraphrased advise tips. I ingest these like a starving animal, no fat, all meat, perfect to feed a writers mind..

A writer must be/have

• -a hoarder of words
• -set aside time to write
• -expectations placed on you to produce work
• -writers need to read
• -take reading serious
• -become a devoted reader

"I've always believed it is very important to show up at the desk. whether you have ideas or not. You've got to have the work ethic that makes you show up." Ian McEwan

All the above are simple. Yet, so important.

Ian McEwan wrote two of my favorite books, Saturday & Atonement. Sadly, I own neither. I have read both and even watched the movie adaptation   of "Atonement" and it is one of my favorite movies, much like the book. It translated so fine into film. He also talks about where he gets his ideas for stories from. He walks. Taking long walks, watching the world, people and being open, allows ideas to sprout up within him.

If you have never read McEwan, read his work. If you have not seen Atonement, watch it.

My Friday conclusion for the week. Now the weekend begins and I welcome it. No more YouTube videos this week. Ian McEwen's writing tips has me pushing myself to write and continue with completing a piece of fiction I started months ago. I go back to the story, write a little, then stop, this week I will work on finishing it, placing upon myself the expectation to finish by next Friday. Then the grueling task of finding the perfect place to submit it.

May you all have a great weekend and hopefully read a little, maybe a lot. Happy Readings!


Francie McMillon
Contact me for all your writing needs
@ pennedperfectly@gmail.com
(559) 777-0746

Happy Birthday Franz Kafka!

````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````````Kafka

 

If you Google; as I Google, then you must have noticed todays new Google Doodle. It is Gregor Samsa from Metamorphosis, one of Franz Kafka’s most beloved and heartbreaking novellas. Today would have been Kafka’s 130^th birthday.

He was born July 3, 1883 and died June 3, 1924, as an unknown writer. Throughout his lifetime and even at his death; he received none of the fame that he is so associated with today. On his deathbed, he asked his best friend Max to destroy all his work and never show it or submit it to the world. Had his friend obeyed Kafka, the literary world would have never known great works as, “The Trial” and “The Castle”.   

Yet, nothing quite compares to “Metamorphosis”. It is such a somber read and by far my favorite. Kafka writes with such a deep sorrow and an immense amount of guilt in Metamorphosis.

Kafka’s main character, Gregor Samsa wakes to find he has metamorphosed into a vermin (I imagine him a cockroach, the big fat ugly, water-loving cockroaches, with long shitty-brown antennas). Eventually ,his family also becomes aware of his new body. He lives with his father, mother and sister and they never come to accept the transformation of Gregor.

 Instead, they are disgusted by it. Moreover, Gregor at times just wants to help financially, as he once did, and love them. He is often read, gazing in awe of his sister or peeking out his room, while his mother sews and his father reads the evening paper, watching and lovingly embracing their life. Yet, even his best intentions are abhorred. In one scene, his sister is playing the violin while two male guests are visiting.

Gregor the cockroach is in his room, wounded by an apple that remains stuck inside his buggy body. An apple that his father threw at him in anger.  Gregor wakes from a nap to hear his sister playing and is in awe of the sound. He thinks to himself that he must not be so much of a vermin since he can appreciate good music.

As he crawls out of the room, hair and dust and all the trash the dirty floor holds, clings to his body. He intends to go out, praise his sister and climb on her neck, whisper how much he loves her and how proud he is of her, after all he did pay for her violin lessons and was one of her biggest supporters, prior to becoming a beetle.

Instead, he is seen as a horror and shortly after, left to die with the lone apple still embedded in his side. His family cannot fathom Gregor’s image any longer. So they leave him, in detest they abandon the son, brother that they once loved, and that cared and worked hard to provide a better life for them. Yet, now that Gregor is useless and physically putrid, crawling on the floor as a bug, eating as such, no long is he useful to them and their disgust of Gregor Samsa has reached the breaking point. Happily, they depart.

I encourage you to read this novella. I just told you the parts I loved; there are more images, words, emotions, scenes that are worth purchasing this gem of a book, reading, and adding it to one’s collection of literature.

So a big Happy Birthday to Franz Kafka. In remembrance I am making peanut butter cookies, because peanut butter is brown just like Gregor was in the end.

I skimmed and speed-read my book, once again, searching for one of my many highlighted favorite quotes and there were just so damn many. I think I lit the entire book in yellow. A true testament to how much I loved this book when I originally read it almost a decade ago, and cherished Kafka’s dark and beautifully woven words. Here is one of the many
quotes that I love. It shows the wonderful heart of a man turned cockroach. O Gregor!

“He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning. He still saw that outside the window everything was beginning to grow light. Then, without his consent, his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis


Francine McMillon
Penned Perfectly
For all your writing needs
Contact me @ 777-0746
pennedperfectly@gmail.com

μέντορας

The above word means mentor in Greek. I studied Greek a semester at Fresno State. It was one of the hardest but most beloved classes I had the pleasure of having.

Today at work, a co-worker and I exchanged phone numbers. She just got into the Master’s program at State and was informing me that today would be her last day working with me. I said good, now we can be friends. She replied, “even better, I need someone like you to mentor me. You can teach me all you know about English and literature and make me a better writer.”

Another co-worker quickly jumped in that he had a mentor while in college and it changed his life and opened doors in business and made available many opportunities for growth.

In life, we are given many people that really change our paths. Some may be family, or friends or college professors. The first mention of a mentor can be found in Homer’s The Odyssey. The word mentor actually derived from such a story.

In Greek mythology, Mentor was a great trusted friend of Odysseus and tutor to his son Telemachus. Odysseus’s wife Athena would often assume the form of Mentor and give advice to their son while Odysseus was off fighting the Trojan war, thus beginning the role of a mentor in one’s life. The name mentor means wise and trusted counselor.

I may no longer be in college, but I don’t think one is ever to old to have a mentor. I know now, as a mother and wife, and writer, I too, would love a mentor. I am going to have to find one or bring an old one back. Like a former boss of mine, who does non-profit work. She made such a huge impact on me and although we are still in contact, finding time to meet with her proves harder and harder. But I may just have to find the time. The conversation today really opened me up to the fact that we all need someone to look up to, to confide in and grow from and with and not just a friend but a mentor.

Here are some great famous people that I came across that had influential mentors. So who is your mentor?

 
William Jefferson Clinton : Nelson Mandela was Clintons mentor. Clinton has this to say about Mandela-"He came out of twenty-seven years in prison a stronger, greater man than he was when he went in," Clinton wrote. "He said his transformation began when he realized his tormentors could take everything from him 'except my mind and my heart. Those things I would have to give them. I decided not to give them away. And neither should you.' "

Stanley Tucci ( I just love this guy. He is so amazing): says his father, head of a high school art department in New York, was also his greatest mentor. "As a teacher he had humor and patience, adapting himself easily to each student's needs, personality, and ability," Tucci wrote. "Most important, he taught without judgment, believing that grades should not even be given in art.... it was for these reasons that I grew up not being afraid of my creative impulses, but following them."

And of course the amazing Supreme Court Justice. My hero, Sonia Sotomayor.“When a young person, even a gifted one, grows up without proximate living examples of what she may aspire to become--whether lawyer, scientist, artist, or leader in any realm--her goal remains abstract. Such models as appear in books or on the news, however inspiring or revered, are ultimately too remote to be real, let alone influential. But a role model in the flesh provides more than inspiration; his or her very existence is confirmation of possibilities one may have every reason to doubt, saying, 'Yes, someone like me can do this.”
― Sonia Sotomayor

& a few more celebs.

Christian Dior, fashion designer, mentored Yves St. Laurent, fashion designer

Maya Angelou, poet, mentored Oprah Winfrey, actress and talk show host.

Oprah Winfrey mentored Dr. Phil McGraw, psychologist and talk show host

The Absurdity of Extreme Couponing & Sausage

I rant from time to time. Sometimes people, things, events, really strike a nerve within me. Sometimes, to my own dismay this brings others a great deal of anger. I’ve been accused of riding on a high horse, words by a former great friend. I take those words with a bit of inner acceptance. For one,  I know that the truth hurts, nevertheless, when called upon to speak it, I will, high horse or not.

Rude, some may say, I agree, but when it comes to family and close friends, certain things are necessary and in some instances truth be told can be a good thing.

I have a certain cousin, one of many; I won’t use her name for legal reasonsJ. However, she is one of those “extreme coupon people”, that raid local food stores, CVS Pharmacy’s, Walgreen’s and just hustles their way out of the store with a slew of toilet paper, canned goods, razors (as if she grew so much hair), to then stockpile in makeshift shelving in the basement or a hallways closet of their home.

My mother’s doors are always open to family; she gives and gives, last week found herself finally on the receiving end. My coupon queen cousin comes over, declaring her admiration for my mother always having  “been there” for her and how appreciative she is and then states, I want to give you something, to help you with the household and grandpa (my mother cares for her 96 year old father, my grandfather, my cousin's grandfather). She then unloads large amounts of Farmer John’s sausage and pastries.

In gratitude, my mother accepts the boxes and boxes of “alleged” coupon deals from Walgreens & Food 4 Less. She is completely unaware what really lies in the cardboard boxes.

I visit my mother later that day. There is no ice in the refrigerator, so I proceed to the outside storage freezer, where my parents keep their meat products and as I open the white freezer, I see, get this, about 75 packages of Farmer John’s breakfast sausage, all neatly piled on top of one another. Immediately, my first thought is…mmmmm.... how peculiar. I then yell, mom where did you get all these sausage?

She yells back, as I slowly begin to close the freezer door, ice bag in my arm, cup in my hand, “O your cousin blah blah came over today and blessed us with it and she also brought sweets for grandpa. Blessed?  Suspicious, as I often am, I walk into the kitchen look at all the Madeline cookies and cream cheese croissants and notice the clear plastic is full of released oils and sugars as the food inside has clearly expired, I look at the expiration date and gasp.

I go outside and peer back into the freezer, and to my astonishment, all the 75 packages of sausage are nearly one year old. The sausages look like gray asphalt and aged. Clearly all the food has gone bad.  A blessing?? No, more like a curse and an insulting one at that. What was my extreme couponing cousin thinking, if she was thinking at all?? Did she no longer have room in her trash can??? Did she actually think my family, her family, would enjoy, year old toxic sausage? Does she think my parents suffer from a lack of money, or dignity, or breakfast links?

My cousin, this cousin always was an asshole. This confirms my initials thoughts when I was 16, and she used a water-hose for “fun” to viciously pre-soak one of our aunts. She humiliated her, and then laughed it off and said, well she looked hot and needed cooling off. They didn’t speak for years. I was 16 then, and I wanted to alley-fight my cousin.

Now, I want to call her and tell her how dare you bring my mother expired food. Come back in your leased car and pick your junk up and let me slap you a few times so you will know to never enter my mother’s house again blessing her with anything but gold.

My mother urges me against all this, she pleads, “O don’t say anything mija, some people have funny ways. We can’t even give them to the dogs, lets just throw it out.” So together, we pile the pastries and sausage up and walk to the outside dumpster and toss it all in.

In the end, extreme anything is absurd. There should be balance to everything. If you stockpile 500 gallons of tide and are not a supermarket  and continue to buy- you are an idiot. If then you go through all your coupon loot and find some have met the expiration date, and rather than throw out, you give it to relatives or friends- you are an asshole idiot and more than likely will raise asshole idiot kids. Nice clipping.

 

~~ Francine McMillon

For all your writing needs.... Contact Penned Perfectly @ (559) 777-0746 or

by email @ pennedperfectly@gmail.com

Sylvia Plath

            

It was summer 2002, when I first read her work. The sun was fervent as always in Fresno,  piercing life with its heat. while I sat on the floor of the Humanities building at Fresno City College, speed reading my English assignment. Class would begin in less than thirty minutes, and I knew the instructor for this class loved to call on random students in the classroom and ask, ....so what did you think of the poem, tell me how it made you feel…. I didn’t want to be oblivious to his queries. So as usual, minutes before class, I read the three poems assigned. The last one, Daddy, I read, and read, and reread, and wrote on the side of the page, highlighted words, like-  Ach du  and  lines, like- I used to pray to recover you & The boot in the face, the brute, Brute heart of a brute like you.

I mouthed the stanzas slowly, allowing each word to drizzle out of my mouth, like molasses, sweet to the tongue, a treat for my ears as her written words were spoken, Plath’s poems were like a revelation to me, revealing the beauty of words and its power. Plath’s work had a heartbeat; it was alive. Each poem was full of the abundance life offers, complete with fear and the quiet beauty of it all. Even today, her work still lives on.

 Soon after i found myself  purchasing Plath’s “The Bell Jar” in audio format, it was read by celebrity Maggie Gyllenhaal, such a great choice. Maggie’s voice was perfect, no other woman, save Plath herself, could have done it justice.

This year is the 50^th anniversary of her life. In honor of this during the London Literature Festival, several British actors and writers will be reading from Plath’s book “Ariel”. I can’t think of any place I’d rather be than there come May 26. Hopefully, it will be broadcast on an American network so American fans of Plath can partake of her poems being read aloud. There really is something about poetry being read aloud that is so beautiful and Plath's words are the best.  

If you've never had the pleasure of reading any of Sylvia Plath poems, I recommend stopping by any bookstore or even google some of her work and enjoy. Open your mind and heart to poetry, it is the best thing for the soul or at least that's what my physician says. :)

~~~ Francine

 

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Movie Review ** a bit of a spoiler alert

There is not a better actor in film today than the wonderful, Ryan Gosling.

                                      

In "The Place Beyond The Pines" he gives another polarizing performance.

The movie starts off with Gosling, a chiseled, tattooed motorcycle risk taker, working in a traveling fair. It takes no time at all to realize that Gosling is a risk taking loner. He is mysterious and confident and by the looks of it a criminal with nothing to lose.

Eva Mendes shows up within the first twenty minutes of the movie. She is remarkable. Her acting is done with such a feminine frailty. It is clear she holds a burden, one in which she wants to share with Gosling but instead holds the dilemma within. He explains he wont be back for an entire year. She agrees with this and again states she is okay and has nothing to say. Although it does not show in the movie that they were ever a couple, rather just maybe a one night stand.

The movie picks up a year later. Gosling is back in town for his risky motorcycle act and he stops by Ro's house ( the name of Mendes's character). Her mother is there, she is holding a white, blue eyed baby and her mother explains the baby belongs to Gosling.

This baby changes the course of his life. Prior to this knowledge Gosling is a free-living, wild, daredevil without a commitment in the world. Yet, that all changes when he sees his son. Unfortunately, Ro is in a relationship and tells him this. Nevertheless, he is committed to being a father. So he quits the bike riding stunts and dedicates his life to being a father, or trying to be.

Everything after this he does for his son, good, bad, law abiding or not. The movie takes the audience on unexpected turns. Gosling meets another loner man who compliments Gosling's fast bike riding skills and the two become instant friends. Bank robberies occur, violence, another fling between he and Mendes and moments shared with his son that are truly heartbreaking.

Ro never leaves her boyfriend and within time refuses Gosling the privilege to even see their son, Jason .

Bradley Cooper comes in shortly after this. He is astounding. He plays the good cop, fresh out of law school and focused on Justice. Ray Liotta who is fantastic in everything he acts in plays the corrupt cop. Although Liotta is always a pleasure to see on screen, this story line is a little fluffy, and could have been left out. But it paves the way for Cooper to show his good law abiding goody-goody side. Complete opposite to Gosling character.

There is a scene where Cooper's character Avery is in therapy, the expression on his face when asked a question, the real believability he is able to demonstrate, the sadness in his eyes, his expression, shows that Cooper is not just the funny man from The Hangover, but rather that he is a true talent with so much more to dish out in his career.

Sadly, Gosling is in half the movie. And trust me his absence is felt. I kept wanting more of him and this character that he plays with such a polarizing punch. He takes this bad boy loner, with nothing to lose and makes him something no one wants to see go. He has such great charm even in a tattooed hardcore biker role.

The biggest mistake the director did was to kill him off mid -way in the movie. I longed for more of him and really rooted that he would get a chance to be a father.

I don't want to ruin the entire film and trust me , I could go on and on. I loved this movie. I loved the storyline , I loved the acting. I loved the directing. I loved the writing.

The director is Derek Cianfrance  who also directed Blue Valentine which also stared Ryan Gosling and is another one of my favorite films. The Place Beyond the Pines takes place throughout 17 years. You see the lives of many change and yet, stay in he same place with hurt and fear and regret.

A fathers blood runs deep and calls out even from the grave, sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and this movie shows this precisely. I can not say enough how Ryan  Gosling's acting was miraculous. For me, his best performance was in Half Nelson, he was also nominated for an Oscar for that film, and rightfully so. He played a crackhead high school teacher perfectly.

Yet, In The Place Beyond the Pines, he is better. He is amazing. He is movie-heaven-sent.. If he does not get an Oscar nomination and an Oscar for his performance in this movie there is no justice in the world. I hope you watch this film and enjoy it. It is worth watching at least four or five times. It will leave you in awe, deep thought and such an appreciation for real acting & great screenwriting. It will have you singing the praises of Ryan Gosling like a church choir on Holy Ghost fire.  *** perfection!!!



By Francine McMillon

For all your writing needs- Contact Penned Perfectly
pennedperfectly@gmail.com *** 59) 777-0746

Writing & Waiting & a Congratulations!

It’s Wednesday, the entire day I thought it was Tuesday, no joke. After having been on vacation for some time and my workweek beginning on a Tuesday, rather than the typical Monday. I was a tad thrown off.

Not to mention, I took a sleeping pill last night, slept like a baby, but woke like a drugged lunatic, unbalanced, lethargic, and forgetful. I was late to work, nearly ran out of gas. I had to pull off on 99 to Belmont Ave for emergency gas. My steering wheel was already a hardened mess, which is a strong indicator that the tank is running dry.

Eventually, I made it to work. My morning had started terrible. However, things changed around noon. When in my email was a bold “Congratulations” in the subject line, of a miracle email. It turns out, a short story I submitted for publication earlier this year, was accepted and will be published, alongside other great Fresno writers in, “Flies, Cockroaches & Poets”.

I am so excited that the world of journal readers, will finally meet my “Birdie”. I wrote the story titled, “The Valley Heat and You” over three years ago, never submitted it anywhere, just keep reading and editing, until I felt it was right. And I guess it now is.

Writing can be a whirlwind of disappointment, rejections and waiting, o the waiting, is sometimes the worst. No matter what, I love it. Writing is life to me. An acceptance letter reminds me I am doing the right thing by following what adds the pulse in my life, the push in my step.

“Congratulations” to life & to words. May they keep on coming.

Francine Ramos McMillon

    Contact me for all your writing needs @

                                     pennedperfectly@gmail.com *  559-777-0746

 

One Today

                             "One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores....

.....All of us as vital as the one light we move through......."

                                                                                          Richard Blanco

My highlight of the year thus far, hands down, not unlike a story I read by Tobias Wolff, that lit a fire in my soul, a fire for the love of words, the beauty and power that it ordains in one’s life; today, again, I feel that, along with the sense of  pride in being an American.

During the Inauguration, American Poet Richard Blanco created & read the most beautiful and delicately powerful poem titled, “One Today”

If you were unable to watch the Inauguration, I suggest to Google Blanco and hear his amazing words. The poem is truly breathtaking.

Movie Recommendation

Last night, we ordered pizza & watched a great movie. Total relax-mode, it seems this past week we have had very little of that, if any. Will & I work long days at our grueling jobs then spend nights in a gym watching my oldest son & his undefeated Edison Freshman Basketball Team play some great basketball.

So last night we chilled, got under the covers, ate pizza, talked,  vegged out & watched: Jeff, still lives at home. It is not often I endorse a film, but this is one that is a must see. It is a great, modern family centered film, filled with understanding, believing in signs, marriage, infidelity, and the love of brothers and the internal bonds that families share that through it all remains a uniting force.

So if any of you whom glimpse my page, I recommend watching it.  

 

J -- Francie

A Good Life

While attending Fresno City College years ago, I took several English classes; one of the two most influential instructors I had classes with was named Bill Riddlesprigger. RIddlesprigger was an English 1A instructor. He was always saying these detailed stories about events in his life, usually it would correlate to what the class was reading.

One short story we read that I fondly recall was called “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, the title of that story stuck in my mind, but not nearly as much as the tale Mr. Riddlesprigger confessed to a classroom of Jr. College students  

The story written in 1930 by Katherine Anne Porter tells the tale of an elderly woman who is jilted in her younger year & her later. At the end of her life, as she lay in bed, a priest at her side, prepared to offer Granny Weatherall  a blessed departure as she leaves this world with her bridegroom (Christ).

However, as long as she has waited for her groom, again he never arrives- she is jilted this time not at the alter but at the thresshold of life and death. She was ready to pass on & does not; she was ready to be a bride twice & again, still, is not. Another said cry for Mrs. Weatherall whom by now has literally, weathered it all.

Mr. Riddlesprigger went on to say that he too was once jilted and that that having happened to him was by far the best thing that could have occurred, because life had different plans for him. He had this great dry sense of humor and made light of Grannie Weatherall and sentences describing her dismay over another jilting. There were periods in that class where all we would do was laugh, nevertheless, learn by his stories sprinkled with dry-laidback-humor.

The last thing I remember about him happened the final week of class. He asked how many of us students were continuing on to University in hopes of an English Degree, myself and a few others raised our hands. He told us how after graduating from Fresno State with a BA in English and having just finished a Shakespeare class that he was so excited all he wanted to do was talk Shakespeare. So he went back to the West Side of Fresno and the first chance he got which was at a bar, he started talking about plays like Othello and Hamlet and immediately noticed that everyone he dared share his passion of literature with seemed bored and uninterested .

So he went on to get a Masters and teach. His last words were something like, so now people have no choice they must stick around, and act interested because they are my students and want a passing grade. We all laughed.

I’m sure he didn’t think that a twenty-something student, who always ran a little late to class, sat closest to the door was taking in every word he spoke, every advice-filled speech he delivered but, I did. I eventually went on to Fresno State and majored in English, there were certain instructors along the way that made a huge impact on me and  Mr. Riddlesprigger was one of them.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting front and center at my son’s high school basketball game at  Edison, next to me sat a middle aged man and his family, we got to talking  and it turns out he is the brother to my former teacher Mr. Riddlesprigger. We spoke for a while about him, I told him my fond memories of his brother, my former instructor. He also informed me that his brother had passed away nearly two years ago. He told me before the basketball game ended that he enjoyed me sharing what an impact his brother had made on me and that he often missed his brother, “My brother led a good life”, he said.

Mr. Riddlesprigger was a leader in the Fresno Community, a brother, family man, storyteller and instructor. It is so interesting how life sometimes plays out. You never know who is listening to you when you speak. So live good, treat others well, give encouragement rather than discouragement. Your words just may be what someone needs to hear.

RIP Mr. Bill Riddlesprigger.

Tomorrow was far away and there was nothing to trouble about. Things were finished somehow when the time came; thank God there was always a little margin over for peace: then a person could spread out the plan of life and tuck in edges orderly.                
                    ~~The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

 -By Francie