Presentations #3

This week's memoir presentations were very inspiring and showed me what people are capable of. My top three choices from this week are Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton, The Other Side of Heaven by John H. Groberg, and Making Mavericks by Frosty Hesson.

Beyond Belief was about an amazing baseball player, Josh, who had his parents taken away by a bad car crash. This also took away his baseball career as he quickly turned to drugs. Over the years he became an addict. In the end, Josh found a way to get past his addictions and weaknesses and went back to playing baseball. He is currently one of the best base ball players out there and set a new record for the home run derby. What Josh's story revealed to me that even when you dig yourself in a deep hole, there's always a way out if you're willing to find it.

The Other Side of Heaven was about a Morman missionary who goes to Tonga where there is no water, electricity, or technology. He never cared that he was poor. When Josh went to Tonga, there would be many obstacles facing him. For instance, he was the only white man and none of the natives spoke english. Also, he didn't know how to speak their language. He lived in primitive ways compared to his life before and faced much discrimination from the islanders. Josh felt sorry for them because they have so little. One day, and old man on the beach told him that he'll never be happy because he seeks self pleasure. The message that this story told me is that although some people live in poverty and  have less material goods, they may be happy with their lives because they value morals and are happy with the people who make up their lives.

Making Mavericks was about a surfer in San Francisco who aspires to be one of the best and wanted to ride deadly waves. His training is intense and part of it includes having to hold his breathe for more than three minutes. Surfing teaches him life lessons and he gains priorities, morals, and characteristics through his pastime. This showed me how the composition of our very being depends largely on the people, events, and activities that we encounter.

Presentations #2

Many lessons can be learned from memoirs such as the ones in the presentations this week. The three books that meant the most to me were The Kindness of Strangers Penniless Across America by Mike McIntyre, Happy, Happy, Happy  by Phil Robertson, and Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis and Carry Sloman.

The Kindness of Penniless Strangers describes Mike McIntyre's homeless journey as he travels across the USA as a homeless man and leaves all of his possessions behind. He did this because he wanted to break the every day cycle of his life. On his journey he meets about a hundred strangers and has to deal with the struggle of trying to understand all of their lives and choices. The video in the presentation showed me that some people aren't who they seem. Many were homeless by choice and others were fired and unemployed. It goes to show that judging a person is wrong because there may be a reason behind their lifestyle.

Happy, Happy, Happy is about a very smart man who lives his life for happiness. Phil Robertson says that we all make mistakes and struggle to find happiness. He cherishes his simple life and family values. He is very traditional and has a poor family. They are a hunting family. Phil could have easily been a phenomenal quarterback but decided to follow God's word and his destiny to find what he truly loves and that's his family and hunting. This memoir teaches me that it doesn't matter how much money or fame one has if they're not happy with their life. This encourages me to go and find what I truly want to do and to find what makes me happy.

Scar Tissue is about Anthony Kiedis' life as a child and in present. As a child, his father introduced him to many drugs including heroin, cocaine and marijuana. Of course, this transformed Anthony into a drug addict in his teen years. As he became a musical legend, he realized that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would never have came together if it weren't for drugs. He would "cold turkey", or go into rehab for months at a time and then have a relapse. Anthony has a unique opinion on drugs. Despite how drugs have harmed his body, including contracting hepatitis C, he believes that drugs are good to an extend and help a person to relax and feel better. Although I disagree, I find his perspective on drug use very interesting in the sense that in his life, drugs lead to many success stories and controlled the outcomes of his life.

This Week's Presentations

This weeks presentations were very interesting. My three favorites were The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, and Two Kisses for Maddy by Matthew Rogalin.

The Glass Castle was about a girl living with irresponsible parents. Her dad was the town drunk and he would camouflage the family's struggle with the idea of the glass castle. His promise was that they would have a glass castle out in the middle of nowhere where they could get away from it all. This was a very interesting idea because as Jeannette grew up, the glass castle transitioned from a drunken promise into hope for the future. She is now a writer living in luxury and feels bad that her mother is living in poverty but she understands that's what her mother prefers to do.

The Last Lecture struck me and made me understand just how valuable life really is and that life needs to be lived to the fullest. This memoir was about a professor who is dying of cancer and gives a lecture to show people how they can fulfill their childhood dreams. One of his dreams as a kid was to play in the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers let Randy practice with them to help him reach one of his dreams. The message of his memoir is that people need to be more proactive with their lives and that people should do what they want to do.

Two Kisses for Maddy is about Matthew and his true love. When the wife, Liz, gives birth to her child she passes away due to a blood colt in her brain just before she got to hold her baby. After Liz died, Matthew struggles to live without Liz. I found the ways he deals with this obstacle very touching. He sees Madeline as the gleaming image of his wife. He also believes that Liz is watching them from p above and will always be with them. When he kisses Maddy, he kisses her twice. One is from him and the other is from her mother. I found Matthew's life very moving because despite his suffering, he found a way to be a good father and cope with the loss of his wife.