Newspaper Page Text
OPINION
A 4
CHAMPION
March 31 - April 6, 2016 • Page 7 A
How much do you make?
An always enjoyable part
of my job is participating in a
school’s career day.
I enjoy the break from
my normal journalistic duties
to mingle with school faculty
and other professionals. I
like the chance to play with
the digital whiteboards that
I would have tried to hack if
we’d had them when I was
a kid.
But most importantly,
as someone who has been
involved with youth ministry
and mentoring and tutoring
my whole adult life, I enjoy
being around the young
people.
I usually bring a stack a
tt&f
Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
Managing Editor
@AndrewdhampNews
newspapers to pass to the
students and bring some of
the tools of my trade: a lap
top, cellphone, camera and
notepad.
Using the now ubiquitous
digital whiteboards, I project
a PowerPoint presenta
tion that shows the basics
about my job and includes
some cool photos such as
a student catching air as he
skateboards down some
stairs or serious photos such
as a Black Lives Matter rally
in Decatur.
I find it rewarding to tell
them about my job and an
swer their questions about
college, careers, salaries
and life in general.
And the students always
have interesting questions
like some I heard during a
career day at The Champion
School in Stone Mountain.
How much money do you
make? Have you met any
one famous? Have you ever
seen someone get shot?
In a letter to career day
participants, counselors from
The Champion School stat
ed, “The career information
that you share with our stu
dents will be very valuable in
broadening their knowledge
of the world of work. Young
people need to know what it
takes to be successful in the
career they choose.”
Career day is an impor
tant part of the education
a school provides. It gives
students a glimpse of the
so-called real world, and it
provides them with a break
from their regular school rou
tines. Additionally, it allows
community members the
opportunity to give back to
schools.
Schools are always look
ing for people of all careers
and trades and economic
levels to talk to their stu
dents about the various jobs
students can pursue.
So find a school and
volunteer for its next career
day. And be prepared to an
swer the “How much do you
make” question without ac
tually telling how much you
make?
ONE MAN'S OPINION
He's got high hopes!
“...And my mother, the
dear woman, had a very
special name for me...her
only son. I couldn’t read,
though we didn’t know why
at the time, most of my
teachers and both of my
parents simply thought I
was slow, or worse, stupid.
My mother’s pet name for
me, until well after my high
school graduation was,
translated from German...
Dumb Dog, ” actor/author
Henry Winkler, sharing his
own story and part of what
inspired him to co-author a
series of best-selling chil
dren’s books.
During my own high
school days, many a week-
night in those mid-to-late
70s was spent peering
back and laughing at what
seemed to be the simpler
times of the 1950s via a
long-running ABC sitcom,
Happy Days. Originally con
ceived as a vehicle for for
mer child actor Ron How
ard to return audiences to
the simpler Eisenhower era
of the 1950s, the program
became a breakout vehicle
for an actor originally hired
for a six-line cameo in the
pilot.
Arthur Fonzarelli, aka
the Fonz, will forever be as
sociated with the actor who
portrayed him for more than
a decade, Henry Winkler.
Winkler, now 71, remains
a regular character on the
Adult Swim late-night pro
gram, Childrens Hospital,
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
Columnist
on the Cartoon Network, but
for millions of Americans, he
will forever be the Fonz. But
it wasn’t always just TV’s
golden era. The show’s
writers began to run out of
scrapes and ideas for the
Fonz to save Richie Cun
ningham and his crew, so in
a season 5 cliffhanger, they
had the Fonz on water-skis,
sans leather jacket, jumping
a shark. Yes, that is where
that phrase came from.
There is something
about nostalgia and yearn
ing for simpler times which
often seems particularly
attractive to the youth who
never actually experienced
those good ol’ days. During
the late ‘90s and early part
of the last decade it was
That 70s Show which argu
ably gave America Ashton
Kushter, Mila Kunis and
Topher Grace. It will be
interesting to see what my
children and grandchildren
later find to be funny or cool
in the That Millenium Show,
yet to be produced or aired.
Beginning in 2003,
Winkler started a lasting
collaboration with estab
lished children’s author, Lin
Oliver, about a 4th grade
boy, Hank Zipzer, who is
dyslexic. The humorous
stories mirror Winkler’s
own life and childhood as
he struggled with the learn
ing disability, while viewed
through a positive prism and
fictional-version of himself,
who never gave up. Zipzer
is the self-labeled, World’s
Greatest Under-Achiever.
As the Hank Zipzer
series grew in popularity,
readers asked for more of
Hank’s younger days, which
brought on Here’s Henry,
and a series of now seven
prequel stories of a younger
Hank Zipzer. The two series
have combined sales ap
proaching four-million, and
regularly land atop The New
York Times best-sellers list.
During a recent appear
ance and book-signing at
the Decatur/DeKalb Public
Library, Winkler often spoke
directly to the children in the
audience, leaving the stage
and frequently bending to
meet them at eye level,
smiling and saying that “If
you work hard, follow your
dreams and keep trying...
you will be something spe
cial.”
He poignantly shared
a photograph of himself,
his wife and parents at the
Smithsonian Museum in
1980 as he donated his
famous leather jacket. His
parents beamed behind
him. And, Winkler had a
softer message for parents
in the audience...
“That’s my parents be
hind me, smiling at the
Smithsonian. But I didn’t
need them there then when
I had ‘made it.’... I needed
them when I was struggling,
when I was the only one
who believed in me, when
I was their “dumb dog” son
who could never quite grad
uate from high school...”
(Winkler’s learning disabili
ties kept him in school an
extra summer semester).
My own daughter, Olivia,
was near the front of the
book-signing line. She is in
first grade, and also learn
ing to read. She clutched
her book with a smile and
watched patiently as the
Fonz wrote her a short and
sweet note. Winkler waived
her inside and behind the
u-shaped table enclosure,
intended to separate au
thors from fans. Winkler
and Oliver each gave Olivia
long and genuine hugs and
whispered words of encour
agement into her ears...the
smile and photo which fol
lowed were beaming. The
Fonz always had a way with
the ladies. It may no longer
be 1976, with Happy Days
topping the ratings charts
for ABC...but for our world
and little family, it was cer
tainly one happy night with
the Fonz. Wo!!!
Bill Crane also serves as
a political analyst and com
mentator for Channel 2’s Ac
tion News, WSB-AM News/
Talk 750 and now 95.5 FM,
as well as a columnist for
The Champion, Champion
Free Press and Georgia
Trend. Crane is a DeKalb
native and business owner,
living in Scottdale. You can
reach him or comment on
a column at bill.csicrane@
gmail.com.