Monthly Archives: May 2019

Orange In My Rainbow Is For Joey

by Woody

Orange In My Rainbow Is For Joey

            The greatest overworked word in the English language is “greatest.” Well, unless it is “best.” Or, perhaps, “favorite.”

The problem with this trio is these opinions tend to shift as surely as ocean sands. One day, for example, I might consider Rembrandt the greatest painter ever; the next day, van Gogh is the best of all time; yet another day, Michelangelo or Picasso or even Basquiat and his graffiti-inspired art is my favorite.

Best, favorite, greatest too often miss the mark. Better to imagine a rainbow and give the human gods each a color. Or, in the case above, a hue on the palette.

Likewise with authors. Instead of bestowing the crown of Favorite or Greatest or Best, far better to imagine a single shelf in a bookcase with room enough only for a narrow rainbow of volumes. Steinbeck, Hemingway, Twain and Shakespeare comprise my personal Mount Rushmore, but there is top-self space for Woolf, Austen, Angelou and Rowling as well.

Oh, yes, between the honorary bookends I have also inserted a few friendly hues largely unique to my elite shelf: Ken McAlpine, Jeff McElroy, Roger Thompson and, naturally, Dallas Woodburn.

That’s the beauty of my rainbow philosophy: there are always enough colors to satisfy the eye of each beholder. Furthermore, giving Bach a golden hue does not diminish Beethoven’s bright red, which in turn does not raise him above Mozart’s forest green.

Joey Ramirez, left, and Coach Phil Mathews, right.

Ask me to name my favorite/greatest/best athlete from my quarter century as a sports columnist and I would be flummoxed. My personal rainbow, however, comes into ready focus – albeit with all shades of blue going to my idol and mentor, John Wooden.

Magic Johnson, who I wrote more columns about during my span than any other athlete, gets the hue of Lakers gold. Arnold Palmer, who like Johnson always treated me like I wrote for the New York Times rather than a local paper, gets a Masters-jacket green shade.

And bright orange – the Ventura College Pirates’ shade – in my rainbow goes to Joey Ramirez. This selection will come as a surprise only to those who never watched No. 13 in stalwartly action. Under Joey’s leadership as star point guard during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons, the Pirates had a combined record of 73-5 and played in back-to-back state championship games.

Joey exemplified Coach Phil Mathew’s “We Play Hard” motto. Not only did the Santa Paula native get floor burns diving for loose balls, he gave the hardwood skin-and-bone burns. And yet it wasn’t Joey’s fierceness and winning ways that painted him into my rainbow – it was his grace and character in defeat.

Especially, I remember the second state championship game loss by two points on a night the basket had a lid on it whenever Joey shot the ball. Listed on the roster at 5-foot-10, Joey stood tall as a center afterward despite his heartbreak.

Here’s some more that puts Joey in my rainbow: he was a standout college student; became a high school math teacher; and now, as head coach of the VC men’s basketball team, stresses education to his players. It is not lip service: Joey and his lovely wife Olivia’s three sons – Andrew, Marcos and Eric – are straight-A students on top of being exceptional athletes.

One more reason: hard as a gemstone externally, inside Joey can be a softie. This was on display last Sunday evening when he was inducted into the Ventura College Athletics Hall of Fame.

Truth is, Joey wasn’t the only one in attendance who teared up during his splendid acceptance speech – my rainbow briefly turned blurry.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

Great effort spreading “Goodness”

by Woody

Great effort spreading “Goodness”

            At first blush, it would seem impossible to answer with authority who was the biggest winner at the recently concluded 119th annual Ojai Tennis Tournament. After all, new champions in 25 different divisions joined a legendary roll call that includes Jack Kramer and Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King and Tracy Austin, and five-time doubles champs Mike and Bob Bryan.

Upon further consideration, however, the biggest winners were a few draw sheets worth of kids who didn’t even play in the prestigious tournament. Specifically, disadvantaged youth from local programs taught by Walter Moody, as well as the Santa Paula High girls tennis team and Pacifica High’s boys team.

Judging from their smiles you would think each young player had just won match point upon receiving top-flight rackets, apparel and new shoes, and tennis balls.

The biggest champion of all, therefore, was Rhiannon Potkey. Her official nonprofit organization Goods4Greatness made the grateful smiles happen by collecting equipment donations from college teams and junior players at The Ojai.

If you are a local sports fan, Rhiannon’s name may ring familiar. She was a gifted sportswriter at The Star beginning as a night intern straight from high school graduation in 1998; as a stringer while attending UC Santa Barbara; and eventually joined the staff fulltime. In 2016, Rhi departed for stints at The Salt Lake Tribune and Knoxville News-Sentinel.

A year ago, Rhi took a brave leap from newspapers to freelance in order to have time to start Goods4Greatness.

“I reached a point,” the 39-year-old Knoxville resident notes, “where I needed to make a decision because my passion is helping others. I wanted to start this (G4G) for years and years, but needed to get to a point in my life and career when I could make the time to do it.”

Growing up, sports were Rhi’s life. She played on whichever club was in season, tennis year-round, and as a point guard at Ventura High made the All-County Team.

“I loved assisting others,” Rhi shares, an attitude that extended off the hardwood and planted the seeds for Goods4Greatness. “Seeing teammates who rarely could afford equipment, I always wanted to give them my ‘old’ stuff that was still in good condition.

“Then as I began reporting, I covered high schools from drastically different socioeconomic areas and wondered why I couldn’t just take some of the richer program’s equipment and bring it down to the less fortunate programs. I knew there was a void that needed to be filled.”

Rhi has made it her mission to help fill the void with all manner of sports equipment.

Some of the gear donated at The Ojai Tournament this year.

“I want every kid to get the experience I received without economics preventing them from playing,” she allows. “Every time I see a kid’s face light up is meaningful.”

An especially meaningful example: “I had a single mom start to cry because she wasn’t going to be able to afford to have her son play baseball, but the bat, helmet, pants and cleats I gave them enabled her to afford the registration fee.”

John McEnroe never threw as many tennis rackets in anger as players at The Ojai happily tossed to Rhi and the kids Goods4Greatness serves. Other benefactors made financial contributions, including a check from the Bryan Brothers so generous it gave Rhi “tears of joy.”

(Financial donations can be made at www.Goods4Greatness.org or checks payable to “Goods4Greatness” mailed to 312 Chestnut Oak Drive, Knoxville TN 37909.)

“There’s no better role models on and off the court in professional sports than the Bryans,” Rhiannon says of Mike and Bob. Rhi likewise is an exemplar of great goodness.

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   Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

What is a Mom? Book Illustrates Poetically

by Woody

What is a Mom? Book Illustrates Poetically

            With Mother’s Day arriving tomorrow, my 26th without my own mom, the poetic words of Maya Angelou again come to mind: “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.”

Expand Angelou’s 23-word quote into 62 oversized pages of poems, and rainbow artwork, and you have the newly published book “What is a Woman?” which could instead be titled “What is a Mother?” Indeed, this book was birthed by a high school club/nonprofit organization “Together to Empower” and is there a greater role any mom plays than to empower her children?

Club founder Michelle Qin, a Stanford-bound a senior at Dos Pueblos High who last year was named “1 of America’s Top 10 Youth Volunteers”, recently sent me a copy signed by 40 of its contributing writers and artists. Unsolicited books in my mailbox normally go directly into a box earmarked for The Ventura Friends of the Library, but this one caught my eye – and then captured heart.

“What a book!” is my reaction after perusing “What is a Woman?” From the front cover featuring the vibrant painting titled “Crescendo” by Cheryl Braganza to the back cover with her joyous-and-powerful painting “Women of the World Unite”, the pages between are meant to be viewed and read and savored.

To be sure, the combination of emotional poetry and short essays with amazing artwork makes “What is a Woman?” special. It is like having an art museum’s exclusive exhibit right at your fingertips.

The artwork is captivating: color paintings to black-and-white photos, realism to abstract. Furthermore, the art – and writing, as well – is arranged with deep thought, thus affording a powerful effect. For example, Lea Basile-Lazarus’s “The Silent Voice” showing a white silhouette of a woman with her fist raised in a crowd appears beside Jennifer Casselberry’s vivid portrait titled “Protest” of a solo woman with her arm also lifted high.

Another taste: Photographs of sculptures titled “Lotus” and “Tree” by Francine Kirsch, featuring two woman in yoga poses, appear next to the portrait “Dancer: Strong is the New Pretty” by Kate T. Parker.

Poetry highlights this strength-and-beauty theme on other pages, such as a work from Noël Russel that begins, “I am here because my mother dreamed that I could be” and, after describing an immigrant parent’s difficult life, concludes: “I am here because of a dreamer.”

On the eve of Mother’s Day, the painting “Daughter of August” by Laura Gonzalez on the closing page seems especially poignant. It features, faceless from behind so as to be a universal pairing, a young girl walking hand-in-hand with her mother through a long-grassed field. My interpretation: the girl is being empowered with each step to eventually pursue her dreams beyond the white fence in the distance.

The daughter could as well be a son.

“We are a movement comprised of girls and boys,” Michelle emphasizes, noting there are now club chapters on the east coast and in Vancouver. “Although our main goal is to empower girls, it is equally important to us to emphasize that we all have the power to make a change. After all, our world will only get stronger with girls and boys in the lead, together. That’s why we are called Together to Empower.”

Through the words and paintbrushes, sculptures and camera lenses, eyes and voices of empowered girls in elementary school through women of international fame, this book (available at www.togethertoempower.org) teaches us about true beauty, true strength, true feminism.

“What is a Woman?” answers its own question beautifully as a rainbow.

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   Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

 

Part 2: Twain and Muir’s Meeting

by Woody

Part 2: Twain and Muir’s Meeting

Except for a story believed to be apocryphal, Mark Twain and John Muir, separated by only three years in age, never met. The two famous writers did, however, cross paths astrologically on April 21 – Muir born on the date in 1838 and Twain dying on it in 1910.

Following is Part 2 of how I imagine their conversation, using their own written words, might have gone had they shared a campfire in Yosemite.

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Muir: “A slight sprinkle of rain – large drops far apart, falling with hearty pat and plash on leaves and stones and into the mouths of the flowers.”

Twain: “A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.”

Muir, laughing: “Wash your spirit clean. Keep close to Nature’s heart – and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.”

Twain: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Muir: “As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature’s sources never fail.”

Twain: “Lord save us all from old age and broken health and a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms. I was young and foolish then; now I am old and foolisher.”

Muir: “Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away.”

Twain: “If all the fools in this world should die, lordly God how lonely I should be.”

Muir: “Most people are on the world, not in it. In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

Twain: “There is no use in your walking five miles to fish when you can depend on being just as unsuccessful near home.”

Muir: “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

Twain: “Now, the true charm of pedestrianism does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking. The walking is good to time the movement of the tongue by, and to keep the blood and the brain stirred up and active; the scenery and the woodsy smells are good to bear in upon a man an unconscious and unobtrusive charm and solace to eye and soul and sense; but the supreme pleasure comes from the talk. It is no matter whether one talks wisdom or nonsense, the case is the same, the bulk of the enjoyment lies in the wagging of the gladsome jaw and the flapping of the sympathetic ear.”

Muir: “Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.”

Twain: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”

Muir: “Going to the mountains is going home.”

Twain: “There is nothing more satisfying than that sense of being completely ‘at home’ in your own skin.”

Muir: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

Twain: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Muir: “The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”

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   Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …