Author Archives: Woody

Talent Show Reveals Bravery, Magic

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

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Judge Wowed by Middle School Talent Show

Imagine if you could create your own dream talent show by choosing a la carte from concerts and performances you have personally seen over the years.

Mine, off the top of my head without looking through saved ticket stubs, would include: James Taylor and Paul McCartney each singing and playing guitar; solo vocals by Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, and Whitney Houston; band performances by The Who, The Pretenders, and Fleetwood Mac; comedy by George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld; a set by the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band; some Cirque du Soleil dancers; and a couple street performers – a young man in Dublin, Ireland, on the violin, and a teenage boy in a New York City subway drumming on large plastic buckets.

In my dream talent show, James Taylor would be in the line-up.

James Taylor is in the line-up of my dream talent show.

Now that would make for two hours of out-of-this-world entertainment!

The ticket price, of course, would also be out of this world.

Last week, and free of charge, I was treated to a talent show magical in its own right. It was my good fortune to be a judge for Santa Paula’s Isbell Middle School Talent Show.

Along with fellow judges Kay Wilson Bolton, Sheryl Meisenheimer and Alfonso Gamino, I was instructed to score the 19 acts in four categories: Presentation, Skill, Originality and Costume. Each category was worth five points.

Judging was more difficult than I anticipated. For example, it seemed wise to score the first few acts conservatively to allow wiggle room above – but how conservatively?

Hence, if Leo Reichling – who did a solo dance that was a mix of ballet, Justin Bieber steps, and street moves – had been the opening performance, I would have felt I could give him only 4.9s across my scorecard. You know, just in case an eighth-grade singing-and-dancing Beyonce came later.

However, by the time Leo took the stage midway through the show, I felt confident giving him a perfect 20. He was that terrific.

Which is not to say there weren’t other wonderful acts. From a guitar solo to piano solos; from an a cappella solo to vocalists with accompaniment; from a handful of group dance numbers to a comedy skit, the talent was entertaining from the opening act to the closing curtain.

It seems a cliché to say this, but just by taking the stage each contestant showed great talent. After all, displaying courage is a talent in itself.

Giving an oral report in front of one’s middle school peers can make the palms sweat; performing on a stage is tenfold more intimidating. Which is why one of the most memorable acts of the night in my eyes, and heart, was one that did not score well.

It was a pianist and bucket drummer. The duo began flawlessly, but slowly the piano grew softer while the drummer picked up the beat and volume. It was all very good and seemed a purposeful decision to fade out the piano and bring the street percussions front and center.

Suddenly, however, the pianist looked up from the ivory keys with his face registering terror. He had lost his place in the arrangement. If only he had faked it, I doubt the audience would have been any the wiser.

Instead, the pianist bolted off his bench and raced offstage, embarrassed. He need not have been. As Woody Allen has been credited with observing: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

The boy had bravely shown up. I hope the lesson he takes away is that the worst thing that could have happened on stage did, and yet it was not the end of the world.

To the contrary. His performing partner did not show the slightest anger. The audience did not laugh or jeer at the slip up. Rather, the Isbell Middle School students applauded the effort.

Actually, I think that was my favorite part of the evening: the kids. Not just those who courageously stepped on stage, but also those who watched respectfully, rhythmically clapped along with singers and dancers, and applauded enthusiastically for every single performer.

Leo’s feet were fantastic, but all the kids were hands-down terrific.

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

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …

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‘Wright’ Perspective on Air Travel

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Air Travel Depends on ‘Wright’ Perspective

At the end is where I shall begin today, with the beginning coming at the close of this column. There is a reason for this, as you will see.

Also, there is a reason for the chronicle of complaints to follow – a list almost as long as a TSA security line. Yes, this tale is about the headaches and frustrations of traveling by airplane.

While my recent flight from LAX to New York’s JFK International had no thrown punches or any passengers dragged off because of overbooking, in many ways it still typified why air travel can seem as pleasant as a kidney stone.

Air travel has changed a great deal since the 1903.

Air travel has changed a great deal since the 1903.

Working backwards, we start at Baggage Claim. After a long walk through the terminal and waiting another 15 minutes at the designated carousel, the bell rang and the lights flashed and the merry-go-round for suitcases finally began moving.

Around and around it slowly turned, but no luggage emerged.

Another ten minutes passed before our flight’s baggage finally began to appear – on a different carousel.

This carousel quickly stopped. Not-so-quickly is restarted. My suitcase eventually appeared, about in the middle of the pack, about 40 minutes after we passengers had arrived at Baggage Claim.

Departing the massive jet was like 100 boxing matches held inside 100 shower stalls. Instead of flying fists to duck, one needed to dodge carry-on luggage being yanked from the overhead storage bins.

A duffle bag far too large to qualify as carry-on, landed a punch to the back of my head. No apology was offered. Instead, the culpable woman tried to push her way through the Space Mountain-like line in the aisle ahead, announcing: “I have to get to a connecting flight!”

As if she were the only passenger in a rush. By the way, we were two rows from the back of the plane. Her rudeness was rightly met with scorn.

Like Usain Bolt at the blast of the starter’s pistol, the instant the captain announced we had stopped taxiing, 97 percent of the passengers bolted out of their seats. They instantly battled to retrieve their carry-on bags like NBA players boxing out for rebounds.

The landing at JFK was so smooth that had a cup of water been secured outside on the wing it would not have splashed. Inside the plane, however, it looked like a tornado had passed through with trash, blankets and food strewn everywhere – especially in first-class.

The man in front of me reclined his seat the entire flight, giving himself a few extra inches of extra comfort while rendering my video screen dark from the tilted angle.

A baby cried, and loudly, for half an hour.

A couple across the aisle from me complained to the flight attendant about this, that and the other. Their complaints grew ruder, and louder, the more wine they drank.

My seatmate also wore a tank top and had armpits like a pelt. I know this because he kept raising his arms to adjust the air-vent nozzle.

My seatmate unpacked a huge salad which he ate with the same gusto the Beast in “Beauty and the Beast” attacked a bowl of porridge. Lettuce shrapnel struck me three times.

After boarding the plane on time, our takeoff was delayed 35 minutes.

Now the beginning. Our captain greeted us over the P.A. system with an apology for the delayed departure and then shared this eloquent message:

I know air travel can be frustrating at times. I think it’s well to remember that the Wright Brothers made their first flight just 113 years ago. We’ve come an amazing distance, very quickly, since then.

That historic flight covered just 120 feet – the wingspan of this Airbus A330-300 is longer than that.

That first flight also lasted only 12 seconds and reached an altitude of about 20 feet – our altitude will be 36,000 feet and our scheduled flight time is 5 hours and 41 minutes.

So keep the Wright Brothers in mind and have a nice flight.

Thanks to that wise perspective, I indeed had a wonderful and enjoyable flight.

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

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …

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Local Radio Host Walks His Talk

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Local Radio Host Walks, Walks, Walks

His Talk for Relay For Life

In the movie “Caddy Shack,” Carl Spackler, the groundskeeper played by Bill Murray, is caddying for Bishop Fred Pickering when the wind and rain turns torrential.

“What do you think, fella?” the Bishop asks.

“I’d keep playing,” replies Spackler. “I don’t think the heavy stuff’s gonna come down for quite awhile.”

This, in a nutshell, describes Tom Spence’s experience at the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Ventura at Buena High School last weekend.

Tom Spence is a superhero for local charities.

Tom Spence is a superhero for local charities.

As the winds forced most participants to seek shelter, and eventually pack up and leave early, Spence’s reaction was: I don’t think the heavy stuff’s here yet so I’ll just keep on walking.

Spence, a Ventura County radio personality for more than three decades and currently host of The KVTA Morning Show, has participated in numerous Relays For Life. This year he stepped up his game.

“I decided I’d walk the entire time,” says Spence, who made his goal public: Walk 53 miles – two marathons – during the 24 hours from the Relay’s opening ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday to its closing celebration Sunday morning.

After arriving more than an hour late straight from work, Spence walked a solid 12 miles in the first four hours before taking a 30-minute break.

The next four hours, however, saw his pace slow down as the winds picked up.

“I thought I was sunk at Mile 22,” Spence confides. “The cold wind was breaking me down. It was awful. I felt like I had the flu. I knew I had no chance for 53 miles.”

His hopes gone with the wind, Spence sought refuge in a friend’s RV.

“I was a new person after the half-hour break,” Spence recalls. “I was rejuvenated.”

It was more than the rest that did him good – it was good company rallying to his side. Friends, neighbors and even about 40 of his loyal listeners braved the elements to keep him company.

“I was stunned by the response, by such kindness,” Spence says. “They really lifted my spirits.”

Misery loves company. As the winds grew even stronger, so did Spence.

“Suddenly, I had a spring in my step,” he says.

A middle-of-the-night cup of Cuban coffee from a friend gave Spence’s stride another needed jolt.

As dawn arrived, so did the rain. What started out as a village of 60 tents for the various Relay teams was now a ghost town. Drenched but undaunted, Spence did the math and smiled into the teeth of the storm: “I realized I might do it after all.”

Do it he did, finishing GPS-certified Mile 53 with 15 minutes to spare.

By walking his talk, Spence raised more than $2,000 for the American Cancer Society; honored his wife, Colleen, who is a cancer survivor; and also beat down his body into agony.

“Monday morning at work,” Spence, 58, says, “I parked my car and – this is the truth – I crawled into the station on my hands and knees. I was bloody sore. I’ve done a lot of stuff – mud runs, two marathons – and nothing compares to this. I was in pain from toes to hips.”

Mark Twain said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” One might expect Spence felt this year’s Relay For Life was a long walk spoiled, but you would be wrong.

“I think this was my most memorable Relay For Life because it had to be endured,” Spence says.

It was also memorable for a different reason, a better reason, about 100 reasons.

“The real highlight was the people,” Spence says, warmly. “I can’t name everybody’s name who helped me and walked with me. People who you count on are wonderful – but also people you didn’t imagine, which is really awesome.”

The outpouring was well deserved because Tom Spence is a community treasure who has never met a charity event he would not assist.

“My motivation for helping is to make up for what I didn’t do up to when I was 21,” he explains. “I was a little slow before I started getting involved.”

Now he is unstoppable.

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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” …

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Readers Share Small Gratitudes

by Woody

1StrawberriesCover

Wooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Readers Share Their Own Small Gratitudes

A few weeks ago, I shared a list of small gratitudes – such as books, butterflies and beaches – I came up with while waiting in long line at the Post Office. Readers responded in a big way with their own musings . . .

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From Mitch Gold: “Greeting someone in the a.m. and getting a smile.”

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From Linda Valdez: “Walking in my neighborhood with the view of Wildwood Park; Hot showers after a day spent getting really dirty doing chores; Always having a book to read; Always having yarn to crochet; Having a loving dog and grand-dog; The joy of reading the newspaper on Saturday morning.”1thanks

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From Carol Ann Roth: “May I just add tacos to your list.” (Yes, Carol, you certainly may.)

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From Father Patrick Mullen: “May I suggest you add rocky road ice cream, and everything it stands for?” (My favorite, too – consider it added.)

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From Doris Cowart: “In my age group, one item you missed – waking up in the morning!”

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From Linda Johnson: “When people begin to complain when I am in a line, I complain back.

“I tell them I work Monday through Friday, about nine hours a day, without a lunch break or any break. I have to pay for my own medical insurance, and have no 401K. About four times a year I have to work 72 -hour weekends.

“My job forces me to spend long hours at our various county parks, libraries, and museums.

“In the summer, I often have to spend several day on the beach hunting for shells and rocks.

“In fall, I am forced on leaf-hunting expeditions. I need to be an expert in wildlife behavior and identification, bug catching, and lizard snatching.

“I am a home-schooling ‘Nana’ to my 4- and 6-year-old grandsons. I quit a well paying job with wonderful benefits to be home fulltime when my first grandson was 3 months old. They feed my soul and fill my heart.

“Money? Nice, but nothing makes me as happy, and tired, as spending the day with my grandkids.

“I usually get a smile from my formerly grumpy in-line-companion.”

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From Dick Birney: “Ventura YMCA, Lakers win or L.”

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From Lauren Siegel Estilow: “There are no bad days, there are only bad moments in a day. I try to be thankful for the small things – they’re everywhere, if you look.”

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From Karen Biedebach-Berry: “Glassy surf at Pierpont Beach, VHS class reunions – Class of ’82 still alive and strong – Monday Night Football anthem.

“My husband, Andy, added these two: first ice-cold beer after giving it up for Lent, Yosemite National Park any day of the year!”

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From Christy Cantrell, with a gorgeous photo accompanying her gratitude: “Hawk sighting in Camarillo.”

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From Sheila Smith: “Since (your column) started at the Post Office, the Jaime Escalante stamps and how far that stamp can take your message!”

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From a reader asking to be identified as “Dave from Newbury Park”, a not-so-small gratitude: “I’ve been battling cancer the past 1.5 years. It’s hard for me to not get depressed about my cancer, but we really do have many things to be grateful for.

“I’m 57 and there’s a 50-percent chance my cancer will return in the next year or two. For now, I’m trying to enjoy the small pleasures you wrote about.

“I’m even looking forward to my next long line at the post office – that would sure be better than not being here anymore!”

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From Ginger White: “Gratitude – to be in a country where we can audibly express displeasure, even if it is not a popular opinion, without too much risk of retribution; puppy or kitten breath; being able to wake in the night and hear the mockingbird’s mating songs, and not warfare; sunrise; friends who stand by me; being vulnerable and open, then falling in love at the young age of 63.”

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From Ethan Lubin, which anyone with a young daughter will want to modify: “Reading with my son.”

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From yours truly: My wonderful readers.

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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”

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Hitting the Books and Backboards

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWoody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

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Hitting the Books and Backboards

            Aristocles would love the Moorpark High boys’ varsity basketball team.

Better known as Plato – the nickname given him by his wrestling coach, from the Greek word for broad, platon, because of his wide shoulders – Aristocles famously preached “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

The Musketeer varsity hoopsters’ healthy combined 3.611 grade point average for 2016-17 made them the CIF-Southern Section Academic Champions for all boys’ basketball teams from schools with enrollments above 1,500 students.1reportcard

Being No. 1 in the classroom, and being honored at the Angels’ baseball game at Anaheim Stadium on Wednesday, took some of the sting out of a 3-23 record on the court.

The attitude to hit the books as hard as the backboards begins with head coach Blake Jenkins.

“I definitely preach academics and being a model citizen,” Jenkins shares. “I try to hammer home that basketball and athletics need to take a backseat to academics as well as how we conduct ourselves off the court, in the classroom and out in society.”

Jenkins’ sermons resonate with his entire congregation as evidenced by all 45 players in the boys basketball program combining for a GPA north of 3.0.

Below are some of their thoughts on being STUDENT-athletes.

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“I believe academics and sports have a great relationship,” says sophomore Harrison Hanlon, a frosh/soph shooting guard with a 3.8 GPA. “Academics teach me to make a goal and be smart on the court, and the court teaches me to be a hard worker in the classroom.

“The CIF Academic reward is a better reward for our personal futures and future of the program than just a mere league win.”

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“I believe that being a good student and performing in academics go hand-in-hand,” agrees freshman Arvin Hosseini, a frosh/soph guard with a 3.7 GPA.

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“In my opinion, if you want to play a sport you need to have great study habits and time management,” says Jacob Korotzer, a sophomore JV center with 3.6 GPA.

“The next thing you need is to is be devoted to the sport – or to anything you do in life.”

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“In my family, academics come before basketball,” says freshman Jonathan Saiki, a frosh/soph point guard sporting a 4.0 GPA. “If I don’t keep my grades up then I am not allowed to play basketball.

“Sports teach me about hard work and effort which translates to the classroom in the form of studying hard and giving effort in class.

“To be a committed student-athlete, I have to sacrifice hanging out with my friends and free time. I sometimes have to stay up late doing school work, but it is worth it in the end.”

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“Academics teach you responsibility and school comes before sports,” says freshman Noah Martinez, a frosh/soph center with a 3.8 GPA.

“The sacrifices I have to make to be a student-athlete are sacrificing my time and energy, but I don’t regret it for one second.”

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“I think tests are like games in sports because they are actually both tests for how hard one practices or studies,” says junior Branden Johnson, a JV forward with 3.8 GPA.

“Passing a test is like winning a game and failing a test is like losing.

“One sacrifice I had to make to be a committed student-athlete was to give up watching TV completely and it helped a lot. To me, academics come first, then sports.”

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“All my life, I was told that education is the most important thing you can acquire,” says junior Matt Aung, a varsity forward with a 3.7 GPA.

“The way you treat people and how you give back to the community is also very important. The feeling of self-satisfaction in knowing that you contributed to someone’s happiness and well-being is hands-down the best feeling out there.

“And I firmly believe I, along with the other eleven guys on our team this past year, are smart and young individuals – but more importantly, great people.”

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Plato’s response, I imagine, might be: Gratulatione. Vehementi factum. Congratulations. Smartly done.

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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”

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TEDx Talker to Write Home About

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWoody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

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A TEDx Talker to Write Home About

“If I had more time,” Ben Franklin wrote to a friend, “I would have written a shorter letter.”

Julie Merrick takes time to hand write short letters. And long letters. Most of all, she writes letters frequently.

It’s a surprise her right hand isn’t in a permanent claw from writer’s cramp.

1cardjulieTo give you an idea, April is “National Card and Letter Writing Month” and last year Julie took on its stated challenge to write one letter daily for all 30 days. She nearly doubled the goal with 56 letters.

She is about half as prolific almost every month.

“Some ladies buy Coach purses – I buy stationary,” Julie laughs, and then rattles off a string of her favorite stationary stores near and far. Among her favorite recent purchases are cards featuring a drawing of a smartphone with the text: “Not Sent From My Phone.”

Julie believes the pen is mightier than the keyboard.

“A letter means so much more than an email because the receiver knows you went to the trouble of buying a card or stationary, writing the letter by hand, addressing it, putting a stamp on it and mailing it,” Julie explains.

“A handwritten letter conveys that spark of you, your personality, that doesn’t come across when you text or type an email.”

Handwritten letters are time machines, Julie believes, explaining: “Letters preserve lives for future generations. They can be read and re-read and treasured.”

To call Julie an expert on handwritten letters and cards is not hyperbole. This past January, she gave a TEDx Talk on the subject titled “The Gift That Can Last Forever.” (Filmed in the Camarillo Library, it can be viewed at www.tedxcamarillo.com along with eight other local speakers.)

Like a well-written short letter by Benjamin Franklin, Julie’s 12-minute address was long in the making. Her preparation included a four-hour TEDx coaching session.

Next, to assist in memorizing her polished script, Julie taped 49 color-coded index cards on a large mirror in her Camarillo home.

Then she practiced ad nauseam. She practiced to her husband, Bob, a dozen times. She practiced countless times to herself while driving.

“I even practiced in front of my dogs,” she says.

The rehearsals paid dividends. Julie’s delivery on camera was flawless and charismatic; her message filled with passion and inspiration.

“Handwritten letters have the power to change lives,” Julie told her live audience and then shared a few letters that changed hers, including one from two decades past.

In 1987, Julie and Westmont College track team traveled to a meet in Richmond, Va., where their coach grew up. While the rest of the team was outside, Julie ventured inside the house to visit her coach’s grandfather.

“Ten years later on a Thursday afternoon,” Julie indelibly remembers, she received a handwritten letter from her coach thanking her for spending that one-on-one time with his grandfather.

“That really made me realized that the simple gesture of a handwritten letter can actually change lives,” Julie says.

In truth, she had been a letter-writer long before that day.

“Letter-writing has always been a part of me,” Julie notes. “It was instilled in me by my mother when I was young.”

Julie was further inspired by an aunt living in Minnesota.

“She wrote me when she traveled,” Julie recalls. “I don’t have kids, so now I send cards to my friends’ kids when I travel.”

Indeed, Julie walks her TEDx Talk. She sends cards and letters to family, friends, acquaintances and even strangers. For example, she read a newspaper story about the record holder for blood donations. She tracked down his address on the East Coast and mailed a congratulatory card.

Since her TEDx Talk, which has been viewed nearly 1,500 times on YouTube, Julie has received an avalanche of handwritten letters. Also, ironically, numerous emails and texts, too, from people saying they have been inspired to write more handwritten letters.

“The response has been humbling and surprising,” Julie says.

One thing that is not surprising: Julie wrote thank-you notes to everyone who had a hand in her talk.

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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”

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Long Line Leads to a Long List

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWoody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

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Grateful for a Long Line at the Post Office

            Abraham Lincoln said, “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

In line at the post office the other day, I found myself behind two women who seemingly had their minds made up to be unhappy. Indeed, their conversation was little more than a long list of complaints.

“Why don’t they open another window? . . . I know, they’re always on break. . . . I hate tax season. . . . I don’t even want to talk about my taxes – no refund this year. . . . You won’t believe what my son’s teacher did . . . I don’t know why I bought these shoes – they hurt my feet.”

1yosemitefalls

Yosemite Falls can make one’s mood soar.

On and on it went, yet a surprising thing happened – instead of contagiously bringing my mood down, they lifted it. They inspired me to begin a mental list of simple gratitudes as an antidote to their poor attitudes.

Below is part of that list – not the easy biggies like family and health and a home, but small pleasures and gratitudes. I hope you may be inspired to come up with your own list. Here goes . . .

Having a topic for a column – as happened in line at the post office – fall into my lap.

Wildflowers blooming along the roadside.

Ventura County’s best-in-the-world strawberries in wintertime – and summertime, too. Also, dipped in chocolate.

Watching birds in flight, especially when they float on an updraft without moving their wings.

Butterflies.

Finishing a really good book. In fact, being near the start or in the middle of a really good book.

Related topic: Libraries and librarians and bookstores. And newspapers.

Novocain when I have a cavity or need a root canal.

A foot massage. Actually, both feet being massaged.

Staring at the ocean, listening to the waves crash, watching surfers, seeing energetic dogs run playfully on the beach.

Seeing energetic kids on a playground.

Crawling into a bed freshly made with cleaned sheets.

Going to bed being so excited about tomorrow that I cannot wait to for morning to arrive.

Hearing an old song that transports me back in time to high school or college, to distant friends and places, even to a different me.

Terrific, caring, dedicated teachers. I might as well simply say: teachers.

Being smiled at.

The Channel Islands – viewing from afar and visiting in person.

Yosemite Valley. Especially Half Dome. Best of all, Yosemite Falls.

The feeling that comes after a good day of writing.

Reading something, anything, everything my author daughter writes.

A sincere compliment – giving one as well as receiving one.

Receiving a handwritten letter, note or card – and writing one.

A stately tree with patches of sunlight beaming through its full foliage.

Palm trees.

Pizza. Especially New York City pizza. Best of all, when eating it with my son while visiting him in Manhattan.

A run. Especially along the Ventura beach bike path. Best of all, again, when in the company of my son when he’s visiting me back here.

Ventura County’s talented musicians and artists.

Ventura County’s growing collection of microbreweries that rivals anywhere.

Related to above: A pint. Sometimes a second pint.

Murray has been making our family smile for ten years.

A square, or three, of dark chocolate.

Traveling. Near or far, new places or to see familiar faces.

A welcome-home hug, whether having been gone just a couple hours or returning after months apart.

Visiting an impressive art museum – or a school on Art Nite.

Talking with – more accurately, listening to – someone who has a true passion about something. The less I know about the subject, the better because the more I then learn.

Something, anything, everything that makes me laugh. This includes laughing at myself.

A hot shower after being outside in the cold.

A long hot shower when traveling outside of drought-ridden California.

Friends. Good friends. A few great friends.

Man’s best friend. Tail-wagging dogs. Especially, of course, my goofy, loveable, gray-faced boxer Murray.

One closing gratitude: having endless reasons to make my mind up to be happy.

How about you?

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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”

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Kids’ hunger for knowledge is good

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWoody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

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School kids should only be hungry for knowledge

The story might be apocryphal, although my belief is it is true. It certainly rings of truth. It reminds me of my friend Danny in elementary school.

Danny did not have a dad. Not because of divorce; death. He never told me how his dad died and I didn’t ask.

Back in the late 1960s, kids brought sugary treats – cupcakes or Rice Krispies squares, usually – to school on their birthday. Danny never did. Not because he had a summer birthday, but because his mom couldn’t afford to feed 20 kids.

She had a hard time feeding Danny. I didn’t know this for a long while.

1schoollunchMost of my friends and I ate packed lunches, but Danny always got the hot lunch. This meant he had to wait in the cafeteria line. With our head start, kids with packed lunches got out to the playground sooner.

One day I complained to Danny that we were getting tired of having to wait for him before choosing up sides for games. I suggested, ignorantly, he should start packing his lunch.

He confided he had to eat the hot lunch because he got it free.

It’s funny the things you remember. During sleepovers at Danny’s house I remember he always wore socks to bed. More specifically, what I can’t forget is that his tube socks always had holes in them – sometimes with two or three toes sticking out.

Danny’s family was poor.

Now you will understand why a short essay on Facebook by a woman named Veronica, a post that has been shared more than 50,000 times, hit me like a punch in the empty stomach. It reads:

“I was a free lunch kid. I will not offer my backstory because it should not matter whether or not we were ‘worthy’ or ‘irresponsible’ trash. I was a hungry child.

“Without free lunch and sometimes free breakfasts, I would not have eaten until dinner. There was no money to get a hot lunch and I suspect no money to buy supplies to pack lunch. I was a hungry child.

“I do not know whether free lunch made me work harder. I do not know whether free lunch improved my grades. I do not know whether free lunch improved my classroom behavior. What I know is that I was a hungry child and I was fed.

“I received my lunch without embarrassment or isolation. Every day, I went through the line with the standard hot lunch. I waved at the nonjudgmental lunch lady. I was a hungry kid and I ate my lunch.

“I was a hungry child and our government, through your taxes, fed me.

“Thank you.”

Veronia’s story made me think of another person who went hungry as a child: Olympic champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

“We’d stop to eat after a track meet and everyone else would buy something but I wouldn’t,” Jackie once told me, recalling her long-ago days on the East St. Louis Railer youth track team.

“I’d have to wait until I got home because I didn’t have any money. My mom always taught us, ‘If you don’t have, don’t ask.’ I’d run six events and still say I wasn’t hungry.”

Her youth coach finally figured it out. Since Jackie didn’t have – and wouldn’t ask – he started insisting she share some of his food.

Fast forward four decades. Jackie, who competed in four Olympics and won six medals (three gold), never forgot that early life lesson and kindness. When youths at The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys & Girls Club in East St. Louis kept showing up hungry, Jackie didn’t wait for them to ask for food. What if they didn’t ask? She started a free meal program.

If you ask me, feeding hungry kids is a greater legacy than Olympic gold.

Back to my friend Danny. I didn’t start buying the hot lunch – except on pizza days – but I did start waiting to eat my packed lunch until Danny got through the cafeteria line.

Other friends soon followed suit. Then we would go out to the playground together.

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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”

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These News Stories Expire April 1, 2017

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWoody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

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Breaking News with an Expiration Date

            BREAKING NEWS: The items in today’s column expire at midnight tonight.

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HOLLYWOOD – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today issued a press release announcing the embarrassing mistake that the wrong envelope was read 1ragingbullannouncing the winner for Best Motion Picture. The 1980 Oscar belatedly goes to “Raging Bull” instead of “Ordinary People.”

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NEW YORK – In stunning medical news, more than 10,000 oncologists in the United States, and nearly 200,000 other health workers specializing in cancer treatment, filed for unemployment today after losing their jobs.

“It’s the most wonderful news imaginable,” one newly unemployed oncologist said. “We have wiped out cancer with a vaccine so there just isn’t any work for us anymore.”

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WALL STREET – The New York Stock Exchange remains in a tizzy after Facebook stock tumbled for the fifth trading day in a row.

The drop coincides with a week where log-in use of Facebook fell 98 percent because, according to one analyst: “People have decided to go out and live their lives in the real world instead of through social media.”

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CAMARILLO – It was announced today that Mike and Bob Bryan, greatest doubles team of all time, were accidently switched at birth and that Mike is actually Bob and Bob is Mike.

Tennis fans continue to be unable to tell them apart.

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EVERYTOWN, USA – Millions of Baby Boomers marched nationwide in protest of their own nagging complaints about Millennials being overly coddled with an inflated sense of entitlement.

The protesters’ signs included: “Millennials Are Magnificent!”

“Our College Education Was Affordable – Sorry!”

“Millennials Rock at Volunteering!”

“What’s The Heck Is Snapchat?”

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LAS VEGAS – City officials today sent a letter to the National Football League expressing buyer’s remorse.

“We feel the Raiders are too sinful even for Sin City and hereby withdraw our approval for the team to relocate here in 2020,” the letter reads in part. “However, we will happily build a new stadium for the Patriots.”

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NEW YORK – National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell today announced that beginning with the 2017 season, the NFL will address its Traumatic Brain Injury and concussion epidemic by having all players wear 1930’s era leather helmets without facemasks.

“We feel this will stop the players from using their heads as weapons,” Goodell said.

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THOUSAND OAKS – Amgen Inc. today announced second thoughts about opening a new facility in Tampa, Florida, a move that would affect approximately 500 current employees through layoffs, relocation and reassignment.

“The City of Thousand Oaks has been extremely good to us over the years,” a spokesperson said. “We feel a responsibility to return this loyalty to Ventura County and to our local employees who would be adversely effected by the Florida proposal.”

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@realDonaldTrump – “This is my last tweet. Ever! Twitter is 4 losers! Tweeting is a bigly waste of time. So is golf. Time to get to work to KEEP America Great!”

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SILVER SPRING, MD – The FDA, citing a series of recent scientific studies, today officially declared that chocolate chip cookies are a “super food” high in antioxidants as well as high in taste.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Education today announced it will spend billions of dollars expanding a national curriculum in MAC – Music, Art and Creative writing – and place an emphasis on attracting the brightest students.

“While we recognize STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – helps make society better,” a spokesperson explained, “we feel without question MAC makes for better citizens.”

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            COOPERSTOWN, NY – Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred today announced a new rule aimed at shortening game times. Beginning with the 2017 season openers, batters will get only two strikes and three balls.

“A 2-and-1 count is the new 3-and-2,” Manfred noted.

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NEW YORK – The Pulitzer Prize Board today announced a surprise award honoring Woody Woodburn.

A board member explained: “Woodburn is not as good a writer as he should be; he’s not as good as he wants to be; but thank goodness at least he’s better than he used to be.”

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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”

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Odometers and Milestones

by Woody

1StrawberriesCoverWoody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

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Little Steps Add Up to Big Things

The odometer in my car recently reached 150,000 miles. I saw the milestone approaching and yet – you guessed it – forget to look down at the right moment to see it roll over from 149,999.9.

Watching 150,002.9 roll over into 150,003.0 was not nearly as exciting, I don’t imagine.

Granted, 150,003 miles is nothing exceptional for a Honda Civic. Still, it did take some perseverance as it is a 2003 model.

“Perseverance is not a long race,” Walter Elliot, a Scottish politician once noted, “it is many short races one after another.”

Nor is it one long drive, but rather many short trips – to the grocery; to drop kids off at school; to run errands; to here and to there.1SmallWooden

I had a personal odometer that measures perseverance roll over 10 days ago when my running streak reached 5,000 consecutive days. This time, I was aware when nines rolled over to zeros.

My run streak, like my Honda, is a 2003 model. Certainly I did not lace up my Nikes on July 7 of that year with the intent of running at least 3 miles every single day for the next 13-plus years.

Even when I noticed I had an unintentional streak of more than 100 days, I didn’t set a goal of 1,000 consecutive days much less 10 straight years. Rather, I set a goal that I could see on the horizon – 365 days in a row.

When I reached the one-year milestone, I decided to try for the two-year milestone. Momentum took over. All the while, however, my real goal, my real focus, was on today’s run.

Similarly, cinema’s streak runner extraordinaire, Forrest Gump, did not set out intending to run for three years, two months and 15 days. Rather, he was sitting on his porch one day when “for no particular reason” he decided to go for “a little run.”

A lot of little runs took Forrest from South Carolina to Santa Monica and then back across the country to the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Maine before turning around again and running all the way to Utah’s Monument Valley before he abruptly stopped, saying: “I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll go home now.”

My own little runs during my streak have added up to just over 48,000 miles. My next goal is to figuratively run from Ventura to Chicago, a distance that will push my streak mileage total above two trips around the earth.

If I successfully “reach” Chicago, I think I’ll head on to the Marshall Point Lighthouse. . .

Something else that got me to thinking about perseverance recently was a brick wall. Specifically, the sight of a brick wall being built. Each time I drove past, the waist-high wall grew a little longer. It wasn’t built in one hour or one day, but rather over many days of eight hours of toil.

The wall was a perfect example of John Wooden’s maxim, “Little things make big things happen.” Little bricks, one laid next to another, one on top of another, makes a big wall.

Perhaps my favorite visual of little things making big things happen was a story that golfing legend Chi Chi Rodriguez once told me.

“When I was a young boy we had a little field that was overgrown with bamboo trees,” Rodriguez recalled of his childhood in Puerto Rico. “My father wanted to plant corn, but clearing the bamboo would have taken a month. He didn’t have the time because of his job.

“So every night when he came home from work, my father would cut down a single piece of bamboo.”

Chi Chi paused, and then emphasized: “Just one piece.”

Another pause. And a smile.

“The very next spring, we had corn on our dinner table.”

A longer pause. And a wider smile.

“The lesson is that nothing is impossible,” continued Rodriquez. “The bamboo story to me is the secret to success. If you really want something and you set your mind to it and work hard enough, one by one, little by little, miracles happen.”

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

Wooden&Me_cover_PRCheck 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”

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