Monthly Archives: December 2014

Column: 2015 Resolutions

by Woody

My new memoir WOODEN & ME is also available here at Amazon

*      *     *  

Make 2015 A Daily Masterpiece

“New Year’s is a harmless annual institution,” wrote Mark Twain, “of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.”

1newyearIn addition to wishing you and yours a New Year filled with great joy and health, I thought I’d take a moment before 2015 arrives to make some resolutions – humbug and laudable, both. Perhaps you will find some worthy of your own pursuit.

I resolve to …

… keep in mind the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.”

… own my day.

… try to live up to the wisdom of these lines in Rudyard Kipling’s remarkable poem “If” – “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two imposters just the same.”

… try to treat Fret and Anxiety like the imposters they are.

… unplug, unplug, unplug.

… sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen.

… pass up the nearest open parking spot in order to leave it for someone, perhaps an elderly person, who might find it difficult to walk very far.

… give compliments 100 times more frequently than unsolicited advice.

… not count the items in a person’s crowded basket in front of me at the Ten Items Or Less Express Line. It’s not like an extra three or five items of theirs is going to delay me terribly.

… listen to more live music, the smaller the venue the better.

… listen to others more – and more closely.

… laugh more – including at myself.

… as my hero Coach John  Wooden encouraged and practiced, “Make friendship a fine art.”

… try to, as Eleanor Roosevelt advised, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Or, at least, challenges me.

… heed Samuel Beckett’s wisdom to “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

… try to suffer fools more gladly. As my Grandpa Ansel said, “It is good at times to deal with ignorant people because it makes you feel so smart.”

… try not to be an ignorant fool too often myself.

… again from Grandpa Ansel, keep in mind: “The only way to travel life’s road is to cross one bridge at a time.”

… read deeply from good books.

… read shallowly from fun books, too.

… use my car horn as though I have to pay $10 for each honk.

… buy two of anything a kid under age 10 is selling.

… check my email in-box less frequently and write more snail-mail letters.

… spend less time on Facebook and more face-to-face time.

… conserve water.

… shop at local small businesses first, local chains second, and buy on-line as a last resort.

… pick up litter and not just on Beach Clean Up days.

… keep a coffee-chain gift card in my wallet for when I come across someone down-on-their-luck.

… stop to smell the roses – and daydream at the clouds and savor sunsets and marvel at starry night skies and appreciate similar works of nature’s art.

… visit more museums.

… heed John Muir’s call to “Keep close to nature’s heart and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”

… be quicker to forgive.

… be slower to criticize – including of myself.

… give flowers out of the blue and not just to mark special occasions.

… keep in mind the words of Wayne Bryan, which his twin sons Mike and Bob put into action so wonderfully: “If you don’t make an effort to help others less fortunate than you, then you’re just wasting your time on Earth.”

Lastly, again as Coach Wooden advised, I resolve in 2015 to try to “Make each day a masterpiece.”

*   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Wooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upCheck out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”

Column: Balls Bouncing In

by Woody

My new memoir WOODEN & ME is also available here at Amazon

Readers Deck Halls With Sports Balls

The day before my annual “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” kicked off, serial supporters Howard and Kathy Reich got things rolling – and bouncing – by donating two basketballs, two playground balls and two footballs.

Jim Cowan also enthusiastically jumped the gun by delivering ten basketballs – one each in honor of mentors who played important roles in his life – to the Ventura Boys & Girls Club. He happily noted: “They remembered me from past deliveries.”

BallDriveThe generosity has continued and to date, dear readers, you have donated 93 new sports balls to give local disadvantaged kids reason to smile.

There’s still time to drop off gift balls at any local youth organization – and please email word of your donation to woodywriter@gmail.com so it can be added to the final tally.

Here are some more generous givers to further inspire you:

Former Star – and all-star – sportswriter Jim Parker was as quick with the giving as he always was on a keyboard, and on Day 1 donated a basketball and soccer ball at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ventura.

“I donated a football and basketball to the Montalvo Boys & Girls Club in honor of my brother, Michael Demeter, a great person and athlete who will be glad kids will be helped,” wrote Allison Johnson.

Draza Mrvichin dropped off two basketballs, four soccer balls and five baseballs to the Saticoy Boys & Girls Club.

Dorothy Jue Lee donated two official NFL footballs and one NBA basketball, noting: “As a retired elementary teacher I know how valuable balls are for children.” A week later, Dorothy decided she wanted to do more and gave another football and basketball to the Salvation Army, a recipient choice that honors the memory of Julius Gius who originated The Star’s annual Bellringer Campaign.

Kate Larsen, also a teacher, also donated to the Salvation Army, giving one football, one soccer ball and one basketball, noting: “It’s something to get the kids out of the house and off their electronic games.”

Another teacher, Kathy McAlpine, and her husband Ken, donated a soccer ball and Jane Montague dished out one basketball.

Glen Sittel donated one soccer ball, basketball and football and shared: “My son’s favorite ‘toy’ was always a ball and I think of the great times any parent can have with their children with something as simple as a ball. In addition, this gets the kids away from our electronic age and back to good old outdoor fun and exercise.”

Joann VanBuskirk, who donated two balls, similarly noted: “Sixty minutes a day is the new slogan to get kids outside and your ball drive will help a lot.”

Karyne and Tom Roweton gave one basketball, football and soccer ball.

Norma Zuber enlisted her sisterhood at Ventura’s Philanthropic Educational Organization Chapter FZ and donated four basketballs, four soccer balls and four regulation softballs. PEO’s motto is “Helping women reach for the stars” but it also helps girls – and boys – do so.

In addition to donating regulation-size basketball, football and soccer balls to Oxnard Fire Station No. 1, Sally and Tom Reeder added a fourth ball, explaining: “We lost a little boy this year – the grandson of our dear friends – who was 16 months old. In memory of Aiden we added one small soccer ball.”

Despite being hobbled by recent knee-replacement surgery, Audrey Rubin bought and delivered one soccer ball and football “in honor of my two bright, healthy (and athletic) darling grandkids.”

Linda and Jerry Mendelsohn did something even more important than donate 20 soccer balls to Westpark’s Police Activities League after-school sports program – they got their 4-year-old grandson involved in the philanthropy.

“I took Garrick shopping with me, explaining again why we do this – to help kids who might not get something for Christmas,” Jerry wrote. “He helped me pick out size 3, 4 and 5 soccer balls, load them into the shopping cart, then onto the conveyer at the register, and, finally, into the car for transport to my office, where we unloaded. The feeling that comes from doing this for disadvantaged kids is priceless.”

*   *   *

Wooden&Me_cover_PRWoody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”

Column: Some Best Books

by Woody

Dealing Out Some Winning Books

Amos Bronson Alcott, an 18th century teacher and writer, observed: “That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.”

Annually, I try to expectantly open 52 books and in recent years have shared brief summaries here of a few I highly recommend.

1-MBFF_coverThis year, however, I’m listing only the titles and authors of nine books that you can check out further on-line – or, better yet, in a brick-and-mortar bookstore – and focusing my attention on a 10th book I think most everyone will close with lasting profit.

New also, at the suggestion of voracious reader Scott Harris, this year I kept track of my progress by using a deck of playing cards as 52 different bookmarks.

My endorsements off the fiction shelves: Bookmark two of spades was “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee; ten of spades was “Beautiful Ruins” by Jess Walter; five of diamonds was “To Have and Have Not” by Ernest Hemingway; five of clubs was “Juncture” by Ken McAlpine; jack of clubs was “Pastures of Heaven” by John Steinbeck.

And nonfiction: Eight of clubs was “How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World” by Steven Johnson; nine of clubs was “Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year” by Tavis Smiley; three of hearts was “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution” by Walter Isaacson; jack of hearts was “Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life Hardcover” by Louis Zamperini.

Card No. 52, the king of hearts, was a serendipitous bookmark because “My Best Friend’s Funeral,” a new memoir by Ventura’s own Roger W. Thompson, gripped my heart royally.

“When you’ve cried and cried and your eyes can produce no more tears, they begin to come from someplace else,” Roger writes about the loss of his best friend of 20 years, Tim Garrety. “They come from pieces of your heart, broken like jagged stones, and must be pushed from your body. The pain is beyond bearing.”

For Roger, this unbearable pain also included his dad’s death. Roger was 13.

“I grew up believing in God and prayed earnestly for my dad to get better,” Roger writes. “I even believed the power of my prayers would save him. When he died in spite of my efforts to convince God otherwise, I eventually stopped praying. It’s hard to trust a God who doesn’t look after little kids.”

It was a kid who stepped forward to look after Roger; Tim befriended him when he most needed one.

1-insideMBFFWhile pain runs through the chapters like trout through High Sierra streams, more powerful is the friendship, fun and faith that flows. Indeed, this is a coming-of-age story revolving around surfing and skateboarding, guitars and girls, loss and love, play and work, marriage and fatherhood.

Ventura is also an important character, from Buena High School to downtown, from Hobo Jungle to Two Trees, from Surfer’s Point to Skate Street indoor skate park Roger and Tim cofounded.

Of his father’s long battle with drug addiction, Roger writes: “In the end, my hero lost. That was the day I stopped believing in heroes.”

Actually, as the pages turn and turn, we learn Roger hasn’t stopped believing. His father remains larger than life in his eyes; his grandfather is his hero; Tim’s own troubled father eventually becomes heroic, too, slaying his alcohol dragon.

And, of course, Tim is Roger’s hero.

To the reader, another hero emerges: Roger.

In the beautiful eulogy he delivers for Tim – who died at age 33, the same age Roger’s dad died – Roger said: “He lived full of faith, grace, hope, and love.”

It is an apt description of the author and “My Best Friend’s Funeral.”

Moments before delivering the eulogy for his best friend in the Ventura Theater filled – as they had once dreamed as boys in a rock band – to standing room only, Roger heard a question in his soul, in Tim’s voice: “Are you living a life that matters?”

Roger Thompson has certainly written a book that matters.

*   *   *

Wooden&Me_cover_PRWoody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

 Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”

Column: Let It Rain

by Woody

Raindrops, Please Keep Fallin’ on Our Heads

Burt Bacharach composed all the right notes, but I think he got the lyrics wrong in his Oscar-winning Best Original Song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” from the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

1-rainHe begins: “Raindrops keep falling on my head / And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed / Nothin’ seems to fit / Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling.”

Lamenting rain? Not in California where we need to consider swapping the grizzly bear on our state flag for a Sahara camel. The rain clouds earlier this week fit just fine, thank you.

More Bacharach: “So I just did me some talkin’ to the sun / And I said I didn’t like the way he got things done / Sleepin’ on the job / Those raindrops are falling on my, head they keep falling.”

Sleeping on the job? Our Southern California sun is more overworked than a UPS driver in December. If it weren’t for homeowners living in the dangerous shadows of burned foothill areas, I’d say let our sun sleep on the job like Rip Van Winkle.

The recent rains were a welcomed sight – and sound. There is nothing like falling to sleep with raindrops dancing on the roof. Mozart never sounded sweeter, if you ask me.

As for sights, watching children walking to school in bright raincoats and ponchos or carrying Disney-character umbrellas is the stuff of Norman Rockwell even in 2014. Better yet is to see school kids jumping in puddles and even though you can’t hear their laughter over the noise of your car’s wiper blades you can vicariously feel their joy.

Equally blissful is to be a grown-up acting like a child, stomping in puddles while out on a workout run. I know because I did just that while listening to raindrops falling on my head as a soundtrack instead of the usual playlist on my iPod. Afterwards, I peeled off about 20 pounds of soaked clothes and shoes in the laundry room, all the while feeling like I was 7-years-old again and coming inside from a wet and wonderful day sledding in Ohio.

After a couple of these sloppy runs it was a letdown to have the sun quit sleepin’ on the job.

Bacharach continued: “But there’s one thing I know / The blues he sends to meet me won’t defeat me / It won’t be long ’till happiness steps up to greet me / Raindrops keep falling on my head.”

Here’s one thing I know – rain doesn’t give me the blues. Heck, I even saw a man whose backyard resembled Pompeii after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, interviewed on the TV news the other night saying that we need the rain and the mudslide won’t defeat him.

The scattered property damages, injuries and traffic problems aside, rain greets us with happiness. The happiness of a couple walking hand-in-hand on the beach promenade; anglers fishing off the pier; surfers doing rain dances on their boards.

Bacharach’s closing verse: “But that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turnin’ red / Crying’s not for me / ’Cause I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin’ / Because I’m free / Nothing’s worrying me.”

Rain makes me feel like rejoicing, not crying. And I’m far from alone because in the past couple years I can’t remember any Californians complainin’ about rain. To the contrary, conversations and Facebook posts and Twitter tweets celebrate precipitation.

The drought is what worries us. Raindrops make us feel free. We embrace our fresh-scrubbed world because we know the sun will start gettin’ things done soon enough. It’s the storm clouds we need to do some talkin’ to.

When the raindrops keep fallin’ on my head, I feel like singin’. I think Gene Kelly’s character in the 1952 Hollywood musical “Singin’ in the Rain” got it right: “I’m singing in the rain / Just singing in the rain / What a glorious feelin’ / I’m happy again.”

Glorious, indeed. As Eric Clapton sings, “Let It Rain.” Again, soon.

*   *   *

Wooden&Me_cover_PRWoody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”