Month: December 2024

I know that I have just witnessed something too amazing to even describe when I find myself filling with so much emotion that tears suddenly drop from my eyes. So it was when I viewed the movie version of the musical Wicked. I had seen a live performance years before and the story and music had remained among my favorites. I was quite excited when I learned that it had been remastered into a film. 

On the week of Thanksgiving I joined my daughters and some of my grandchildren at the local cinema for an evening viewing. A few of us wore pink or green or even both colors as a kind of fun tribute to the characters Glinda and Elphaba. We grabbed our popcorn and sodas and settled into our reserved lounger seats anxious to get through the trivia, advertisements and previews that seemed to last even longer than usual. The mechanism on my seat was not working so I had to sit upright just as I always had went I went to movies in the past. In spite of the little annoyances here and there I was excited and happy when the first scenes appeared on the screen. I knew instantly that I was in for something quite special. 

Wicked, the movie, has everything that I enjoy, beautiful music, enchanting cinematography, a clever story and incredible performances from every actor, most particularly Cynthia Evie  as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. I was mesmerized from start to finish and felt that I was watching a film that will certainly become an instant epic classic to delight audiences for as long as The Wizard of Oz has done. It somehow seemed to be the inevitable epilogue to that favorite from the nineteen forties that launched the career of Judy Garland. Surely we had all wondered what forces had created the Wicked Witch of the West with her flying monkeys. Had she always been so evil?

As a political junkie and observant educator I am a fan of history. I have found that most of us are influenced and shaped by a lifetime of events beginning with birth and how we are treated in life. The stories of Elphaba and Glinda are as old as the beginning of time when circumstances beyond anyone’s control metes out punishments and rewards based on little more than the ways in which society views certain groups or kinds of people. The politics of who we are and who we become may be a result our good fortune or derive from brutal prejudices over which we have little control. 

As we grow and mature we each invent ways to survive with as little hardships as possible. For some growing up takes place in an atmosphere of love and plenty. For others it is a lifetime of unfounded prejudice and misunderstanding. The politics of where we were born and how we appear to the world all too often determines the trajectory of our lives even when we try diligently to overcome the difficulties that make us less than in the eyes of others. Somehow the history of the world continues to categorize people as winners and losers based on many superficial characteristics over which they have little or no control. 

Wicked asks us to look beyond the obvious and superficial, to realize that we all too often overlook greatness only because it does not look the way we think it should be. It makes us wonder how often we have followed the superficialities of a crowd rather than learning about the truth of people or situations that are not exactly what they seem to be. It challenges us to ask questions and ferret out truths before making assumptions. it demonstrates how human it is to passively fall for lies and propaganda aimed at controlling us and how sometimes the very person who seems to be the villain is really the one who is doing what is right and just. 

I was swept away by the timeliness of the story in Wicked. It is as meaningful today as it would have been hundreds even thousands of years ago. It captures the good, the bad and the ugly of our humanity in an enchanting tale. If we watch it properly we may see ourselves and realize that we have to ferret out the truth on our own or surely we will be mislead. It tells us how we should beware of false promises and patriotism that asks us to turn on segments of the population who are different from ourselves. It demonstrates how powerful it is to make us afraid of others to the point of no longer seeing them as human.

Wicked is not just a fluffy feel good movie. It asks us to think and consider how we ourselves might be creating hate by hating. It is a stunning production that will certainly win many kudos when awards season begins. Everyone will be touched by the great care taken with every aspect of creating this incredible movie. If you have not yet seen it, I recommend that you do so soon. Make it a family affair. Go with people that you love and then ask yourself who the Elphabas are in your life. Think about what you might do to hear what they have to say before shunning them. We each have so many wrongs to right.  

I love Christmas. It has always been my favorite day of the year. While I love to decorate the tree with twinkling lights and tinsel, but my favorites are the nativity sets that I place in virtually every room of my home. I’ve been collecting them for years and each of them has a special story associated with them. 

My husband and I were married in early October so our first Christmas together came only two months after our wedding. We were both students at the time, still doing our best to gather enough hours to graduate. I had a job as a teachers’ aide at Elliot Elementary and earned just enough to pay our rent and buy gasoline and a few groceries. To say that we lived on a shoestring would be an understatement but somehow we believed that we would make it on a wing and a prayer. 

The first Christmas we managed to cut back just enough on our grocery bills to purchase gifts for our parents, my brothers and each other. It was almost a magical feat to pull it off, but we did it. We also managed to purchase a tiny live Christmas tree and a couple of boxes of ornaments and a string of lights. It wasn’t exactly a Charlie Brown tree but it was rather close. Somehow we did not even notice how meager our efforts must have appeared to everyone else. We were proud that we had managed to stretch our budget just enough to have a bit of Christmas cheer. 

The only thing that seemed to be missing was a nativity scene. Somehow it did not feel right without one and yet we were measuring every single penny. That’s when I found one that was only five dollars. It was small and rather plain but it had all the major characters in the story of Jesus’ birth and somehow we loved it. Still, we did some serious soul searching to determine if we would make it until my next paycheck if we splurged any more than we already had. 

We must have walked away from that little creche five or six times until finally deciding to throw caution to the wind. We still have it fifty six years later and it remains my favorite because of what it meant to us when we shared our first Christmas together. 

Since that time we have purchased many other Nativity sets that are much grander. We have one that takes up the space of an entire table. It is perfectly styled in porcelain. The figures are almost a foot high and the colors so true to life. There is even a lovely background for the scene. It is the most elegant of our collection and while I truly love it, there is another set that takes my heart. It is a set of little figurines from A Charlie Brown Christmas. All of the familiar characters are decked out in costumes that appear to be made from sheets. They wear paper crowns and veils. Baby Jesus is portrayed by Woodstock and Snoopy is a stunning shepherd. It brings back memories of watching those characters celebrate the birth of Jesus each year on television when we watched with our little girls who still tune in to the Christmas classic to this very day. 

There is also another very special set that has a story similar to the one from our first Christmas. It centers around one of the first Christmases after my father died. My mother, brothers and I had settled into a new house and wondered if anything would ever again be as magical as it had been when my father was still alive. Mama soldiered on through her grief and did her very best to deck the rooms of our home with tinsel and a lovely tree. She played Christmas music and laughed at our antics.

Later Mama and I made cookies and stored them in tins in case anyone came to visit. We had packages under the tree and my brothers and I had visited Santa and shyly told him what we wanted. We hung our stockings  and felt quite proud of how everything looked so lovely. Then Mama suggested that we take a trip to the neighborhood TG&Y to look for presents for our neighbors. 

As we walked up and down the aisles perusing the offerings we suddenly noticed a magnificent Nativity set with gloriously crafted figurines. It came with a lovely wooden structure that seemed to be almost real. We could not take our eyes from it. We were frozen in admiration and without saying anything it became apparent that each of us was wishing that it could be in our house for Christmas. Sadly the price seemed to be more than we dared spend so we left the store without even suggesting that we purchase it. 

On the way home Mama quietly spoke about how lovely the Nativity set was. Sensing that she was waiting for encouragement we bravely admitted how much we would like to have it in our home. Mama became quite pensive and began to list the pros and cons of spending so much money. We were already home before the debate had even ended. We silently went into the house believing that it was a pipe dream to think that we might be able to buy the beautiful Christmas scene. 

Being children we were soon distracted by silly games when Mama suddenly appeared and announced that she believed that we would never forgive ourselves if we did not go back to get the set. She grabbed her purse and told us to follow her to the car. It only took a few minutes to get back to the store and to our delight the Nativity scene was still there. We were overjoyed as the clerk carefully wrapped each piece and placed everything in a lovely box. 

We set up the the three kings, the shepherds, Mary, Joseph and Jesus as soon as we got home. It would be part of our Mama’s Christmas decorations for the rest of her life. That set is now about sixty eight years old and lately it has sat in my home. The pieces are worn with age and some of them are missing. The wooden building fell apart years ago but what is left is still so wonderful that I cry a few joyful tears as I set it up each year. 

I have many other Nativity sets each of which have wonderful stories as well but the ones I have told about you are sure the best. Christmas is about love and I remember it as I set the figures out each year.