Golden Jesse

Photo: Jesse Owens at the start of his record breaking 200-meter race during the Olympic games August, 1936, in Berlin. It's a reproduction of photograph in "Die Olympischen Spiele, 1936" p. 27.

JESSE REMEMBERED: Tuesday evening (after I'd already posted the blog), our family watched an episode of the PBS series "American Experience" about Jesse Owens. I really wanted CJ, especially, to see it since he had just finished reading a book about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. Before the show started, I let CJ know that Owens' feats actually preceded Robinson's.

I also knew CJ would be interested in the story because of the Nazi Germany element of the story (CJ is interested in Nazi Germany because he can't understand how Hitler rose to power and was allowed to carry out his hateful agenda).

It was a one hour program and it did a nice job of chronicling Owens' rise through high school and collegiate ranks of track and field. The story was told through interviews with sociologists, sports writers, '36 Olympic Team members, and spectators of the Munich games. The documentary included lots of amazing footage of Owens competing. Man, what a runner he was! His form just looked light years ahead of the competition. There were also archival interviews with Owens. He was an educated, well spoken man who carried himself with grace and dignity on the playing field and off.

Footage from the Olympics was dramatic. I have to admit, that when I see film of streets lined with Nazi flags it strikes a chord of terror within. I guess that's "good" as humans should never forget the horror of those times.

We learned about Hitler's snub of Owens, refusing to shake his hand or even be photographed with him after he won his gold medals. We also learned that Owens had 4 gold medals instead of 3, as he and another African American athlete were subbed into a relay event at the last minute. One explanation presented was that Owens and the other athlete were replacing Jews were were on the US team, at the insistence of Nazi authorities. Apparently as much as Nazis disliked blacks, their disdain (understatement, I know) for Jewish people was even stronger.

We learned about Owens' post Olympic gold life, and how it was filled with struggles rather than accolades or riches, largely because despite his athletic feats, he was still a black man in a white man's world.

One aside, last night's program marked the the first time I heard the name Eulace Peacock. Dubbed “The World’s Fastest Human,” Peacock beat Owens in seven of the ten 100–yard dashes they ran against each other in 1935. However, due to an injury - he pulled a hammy - Peacock was unable to compete in the Olympics, and we all know how Owens did in '36.

I wonder if poor Peacock ever got past the 'what ifs'? But I suppose that's one of the reasons so many people love sports - the unpredictable outcomes and events, the agony and the ecstasy of it all.

AS THE WORM TURNS: After a week off for spring break, it was back to classes in Shoreline. Today Annabelle had art and they both had science class. (In art class she made a cardboard starship, in case you were wondering.)

Funny story I forgot to share. The kids were checking their worms a few days back and each declared one of their worms to be dead. They based their declaration on the fact that the worms were completely still and stiff, very different looking than before. I started in with the (now familiar), "What a shame, but they lived good lives" spiel. However, it's a good thing Christian was home at the time. He took a look and pointed out that he thought they'd just metamorphosed into their next stage of life. That's right, one is a pupa! Well I'll be darned!

And so we have a couple of hopefully not dead critters at the house. Naturally, the kids are very eager to see what the next change brings!

Meanwhile, in their science classroom, the milkweed bugs are reproducing like Tribbles.

 

Today, the kids worked on the concept of symmetry. A mirror came in handy for that.

They also made some spiders and butterflies, an exercise that helped them learn the proper body part names, like thorax, abdomen, etc.

CAKE WRECK: The kids were so SO excited when we happened upon a train wreck of a cake at the Shoreline Fred Meyer store today. We're all big fans of the Cake Wrecks Web site which chronicles bakery cakes gone wrong. I'd say the one we found is a good candidate to be featured on the site.

SLIP SLIDING AWAY: What you see below is a photo taken inside a processing facility at Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. In it, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) technicians attach the Dragon capsule to the second stage of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.

Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Dragon was supposed to make an unmanned launch to the ISS in March. And then it became April. Then May (the 7th, to be exact). And this afternoon SpaceX posted about a probably slip (delay) on Facebook.

There's a lot at stake here, as right now the only way the USA can get people or supplies to the ISS is via a Russian rocket and capsule. Dragon is supposed to be our Great Hope for the near future. I guess the future just isn't as near as we'd all hoped it would be. ... No word on the latest (and I do mean latest) launch date yet. More info here: http://www.nasa.gov/spacex.

SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE!: This evening, CJ, Annabelle and oldest bro Rick went to the final day of the Seattle Science Fiction Film Festival at Cinerama theater and saw what just might be the campiest movie in the history of cinematography.

"It was AWESOME!" CJ declared afterward. "You really should have seen it!"

Don't worry, CeeJ. Been there, done that multiple times.

PRETTY IN PURPLE: These gorgeous little flowers are ALL over our neighborhood. Seriously, by the thousands. Their show is short lived, though. A week from now, they'll just be a pretty purple memory.