Comments on: Question of the Month: Hero

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:51:27 +0000

So sweet.

By: eileen_rita

eileen_rita — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:55:35 +0000

lol – that’s ok. Worse things have happened
It actually started a great conversation once I had convinced everyone that Mariah Carey wasn’t MY hero. haha

I love your questions each month, they leave me thinking about them for days afterwards. Thank you!!

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:55:42 +0000

I’m so sorry for getting that song stuck in your head.

By: eileen_rita

eileen_rita — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:10:09 +0000

Yes thats him!

I don’t know that he changed the world, but I find his story inspirational. The version of of the book ‘Reach For The Sky’ is a junior edition I brought when I was in Intermediate School (ages 11-13). It’s written in the simplest language, with double spacing and thick paper. I just love it

p.s. got caught humming Mariah Carey at the bar last night….thanks for that

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:41:20 +0000

How sweet and heartbreaking to think of you being saved by Astro Boy at 4:30 in the morning!

This Douglas Bader? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader

I had to look up Kate Sheppard, too: http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/sheppard.html

Love learning of people for the first time – thanks!

By: eileen_rita

eileen_rita — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:10:46 +0000

I can’t describe how fitting it is to me that Astro Boy is hovering at the top of page that talks about heroes. I used to get up at 4.30 every Saturday morning and watch that cartoon when my parents were seperating. He was my hero at the time…there’s very little shouting at 4.30 in the morning..

It’s so hard to pick just one! There are so many iconic figures that have existed and done amazing things, but Douglas Badar who’s story I still keep within arms reach of my bed and Kate Sheppard who gave NZ women a voice are two people I think of often.

Hero. It’s such a small word.

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:42:34 +0000

An impressive list and says a lot about the person you are.

By: Carmelo Brian Valone

Carmelo Brian Valone — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:43:41 +0000

The spirit of George Carlin-he’s not such a ‘well respected’ literary character but he came from nothing and became a writer and public figure who at one point took on the supreme court -via his ‘freedom of expression’ i.e. the old ’5 dirty words’. Charles Bukowski as he like me is considered an ‘uneducated slob’ in the traditional sense of education. He did it despite it all. F. Scott Fitzgerald too -as he had dyslexia just like myself.

Also a good friend of my Elyn Saks, Who’s now a world renowned USC law professor and has beaten anything and everything the world, has thrown her from her Schizophrenia to beating out Cancer. I don’t want to give away too much from her memoir-but she is my most recent and closest living hero to myself.
Finally, I’m sure there’s a bit of Obama in there-what’s not to love or respect-

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:59:04 +0000

Well, now, instead of having “Hero” stuck in my head, I have “La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!”

Great story, Carolyn!

By: Carolyn_Burns_Bass

Carolyn_Burns_Bass — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:36:37 +0000

When my stepfather began courting my mother, he introduced her to Joan Baez and bought several piano music books. Although my mother could play and sing much like Joan (my mom was an amazing chanteuse), I never had formal piano lessons, so I would plunk out the melody line of Joan’s songs with my right hand. Tried to learn guitar, but my small hands couldn’t span the neck of my mom’s huge classical guitar.
I was about eight, the Vietnam war was raging, and I fell in love with Joan’s brooding soprano and folk sensibilities. None of my friends knew Joan Baez until junior high when she had that hit “The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down.”