MAY 18: Lesson Three - Tuesdays With Morrie

Introduction

Lesson Three - Tuesdays with Morrie

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” - Morrie Schwartz, Tuesdays with Morrie

Mitch Albom was born in New Jersey in 1958, though he spent the greater part of his youth in Philadelphia. In 1979, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where met and studied under his beloved professor, Morrie Schwartz, the title character of Tuesdays With Morrie. In 1982, Albom was awarded a Masters degree from Columbia University in New York. After failed stints as an amateur boxer and nightclub musician, Albom began his career as a sports journalist, writing articles for newspapers such as the The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Detroit Free Press where he was employed from 1985 until his reunion with Morrie in 1995. Albom also has his own nationally syndicated radio show, Monday Sports Albom. In 1995, Albom began gathering notes for his book, Tuesdays With Morrie, which documents his and Morrie's discussions on the meaning of life which they hold each Tuesday of every week in Morrie's home. Albom claims to have written the book to offset Morrie's severe medical expenses, and has said in interviews that the profits from the two-year bestseller are divided between himself and the Schwartz family.

Morrie Schwartz was born in 1916. He graduated from New York's City College, and went on to win a fellowship to the University of Chicago where he was awarded a Ph.D. in sociology. In 1959, he began teaching sociology at Brandeis, a nonsectarian Jewish-sponsored university, established in 1948. It was not until 1995, when he was dying from ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, that Morrie ended his career as a professor. A fatal neuromuscular disease, ALS is characterized by progressive muscle debilitation that ultimately results in paralysis. ALS is commonly known as Lou Gherig's disease, after the famous baseball player who died of the disease in 1941 at the age of forty.

Albom begins his visits to Morrie in mid-1995, during the climax of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Simpson, an acclaimed star football player, had been on trial for the June 1994, murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her acquaintance, Ronald Goldman. Simpson had pleaded "absolutely not guilty" to the double murder, although he had been known for violence against his ex-wife and had led the police in a car chase. Major controversy surrounded jury members, who were said to have been racially biased in Simpson's favor. When in October of 1995, the jury acquitted Simpson of the murder charges, the nation suffered a severe racial division, white against black, evidenced in Tuesdays With Morrie by Connie's horror at the announcement of the "not guilty" verdict.

 In Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch recalls how the political controversies of the 1970's affected his and Morrie's years at Brandeis University. Following the nation's withdrawal from the Vietnam War in 1973, and former President Nixon's resignation from office in 1974, the Brandeis campus, like many college campuses nation-wide, was a hot bed for political debate and protest. Continuing the thread of racial tension in Tuesdays With Morrie, is a story Morrie tells about an incident in which he had acted as the negotiator between the university president and a group of black students who felt that they were being oppressed by the school administration. The students had established their protesting grounds in one of the university's science buildings, and hung a banner from a window that read: "Malcolm X University." The banner paid homage to Malcolm X, a premier black leader and militant advocate of black nationalism who was assassinated in 1965.  - sparknotes.com

What is ALS?

ALS and Lou Gehrig

According to the ALS Association, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a “progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.” The muscles that are affected don’t receive nourishment and begin to atrophy as a result. The degeneration of nerves in the spinal cord leads to permanent hardening or scarring. For those afflicted by the disease, it is a progression that slowly steals the usefulness of the body away, even when the mind remains sharp and aware; some have compared the disease to being imprisoned in one’s own body. While there is no cure, there is a new drug that has been proven to slow the progression; however, the prognosis for most people diagnosed with the disease is between 3-5 years. People who have family members with the disease are more likely to develop ALS, although that likelihood is still rare at around 1%. Other studies have linked an increased prevalence of ALS in athletes who experience multiple concussions, and people who have served in the military. The ALS Association has plenty of resources on the subject and can be visited at alsa.org.

ALS is often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, named after baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees from 1923-1939 and hit 493 home runs over his career. Known for his sheer power, consecutive game record, recipient of multiple MVP awards, and leading the Yankees to six World Series titles, Gehrig earned the nickname “The Iron Horse” and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired. Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 36 and died 2 years later, shortly before his 38th birthday. While the disease was discovered by a French neurologist in 1869, it remained fairly unknown until Gehrig’s diagnosis and death. Gehrig once wrote in a letter to his wife that ALS is more like “chronic infantile paralysis”; in other words, eventually Gehrig would eventually become fully paralyzed and need total care, much like an infant. Lou Gehrig’s good-bye speech, referenced in Albom’s memoir, is one of the most famous and moving speeches of the 20th century. You can listen to his speech 

You may be familiar with ALS, already, because of the Ice Bucket Challenge started in the summer of 2014 by ALS patient, Pete Frates. Its purpose was not only to raise money for more research, but to also raise awareness of the disease. The viral nature of the challenge reached millions of people via social media, and in just one month, the ALS Association received over $100 million in donations. You may also be familiar with theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking. Hawking was diagnosed with ALS in 1963, but has defied the odds and the usual prognosis timeline. He has steadily lost the use of most of his muscles except for his cheek muscles over the years. While Hawking’s mind remains clear, his ability to communicate and his mobility have become extremely limited. Hawking’s inspirational and thought-provoking TED-talk from 2008 can be viewed 

The beginning of Tuesdays with Morrie mentions Albom’s reconnection with his beloved professor after seeing his 1995 interview with Ted Koppel on Nightline. Before or after reading the memoir, you might be interested in seeing Morrie’s interview, and putting an actual person’s face and voice with the disease. You can watch Morrie’s Nightline Interview series 

http://www.storyboardthat.com/teacher-guide/tuesdays-with-morrie-by-mitch-albom

Resources

Tuesdays With Morrie - online

Lesson

Read the background information on ALS and Lou Gehring.
Watch the videos posted along with that information.

Read Tuesdays With Morrie.

Assignment

 (100 marks)

Open a new PPT document. Label it E201U4L3surname
In this document, complete the assignment as outlined below.
Submit this assignment using the Dropbox for U4L3 IH/TWM symbol

Much literature reflects the struggle of the individual to cope with or overcome threatening forces.

Consider what author Mitch Ablom has to say about the individual in the midst of threatening forces in his memoir, Tuesdays With Morrie. You are going to focus on ONE symbol in the novel that ties together what he has to say.

In your presentation, you must do the following:

• Slide 1: Choose ONE of the symbols in Tuesdays With Morrie. Explain in a paragraph of at least 200 words, how this symbol ties together the memoir. Why is it important?
• Slides 2-6: FIVE sets of quotations, that reference your chosen symbol, from the memoir illustrated by photos. (One set per slide.)
• Slides 7-11: What does EACH of the quotations, which references your chosen symbol, add to the memoir? Discuss each one separately in at least three sentences.
• Slides 12-16: Why did you choose EACH one of the photos that you did? Discuss each one separately in at least three sentences. 
• Slide 17: Why did you place your images in the order that you did?  What effect you were you attempting to achieve? Discuss in a paragraph of at least three sentences.
• Slide 18: How does this symbol illustrate the individual in the midst of threatening forces? Provide a thesis statement to answer the question, "What idea does author Mitch Albom develop regarding an individual's capacity to prevail over threatening forces?" Explain your thesis in a paragraph of at least three sentences.

Conclusion

In a world where we get so caught up in the noise, the obligations, and the pressure to do more, be more, buy more, we often forget that life isn’t supposed to be about all of that. As Morrie says, “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” The shadow of death and dying strips away all of the things that don’t matter and pulls the things that do much closer.