Obituary: Shirley Temple Dies at 85

Article: Iconic actress Shirley Temple passed away this week. She is famous as the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang, danced, cried and smiled her way into audience hearts during the Depression-era. From 1935-1938 she was America's top box-office star, starting when she was 3 years old. She was loved for her expert singing and tap dancing. No other child star has ever beat her record. Today's kids may recognize "Animal Crackers in my Soup," which she made famous, seen here. She later made history by being the first to tap dance with an African-American man, seen here.  She had a line of dolls made to look like her and all girls wanted to look and dress like her. She even had a drink named after her -- a cocktail of ginger ale and syrup with a cherry.President Franklin Roosevelt once said that "as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right." She helped Americans forget their troubles through her smiling face.

When she got older, audiences were no longer interested. She retired at 21 and raised a family, what she says was her life's greatest role. She also said her mother shielded Shirley from becoming spoiled by fame. She never left her daughter alone on a set; when she once did, a director got Shirley to cry for a scene by frightening her; she never left Shirley again. Shirley never went down the track of drugs and alcoholism, as besets so many other child stars. Later in life, she also became an ambassador for Republican administrations.

For pictures of the young Shirley Temple, click here.

Songs Save Woman's Life

Article: In Israel, two yeshiva boys had the tradition of going to the local hospital every Shabbat morning to distirbute candies and wish everyone a "Refuah Shlemah"--a speedy recovery, as well as a "Shabbat Shalom"--a Good Sabbath. This past Shabbat, they were in the emergency room when they discovered one of their fellow yeshiva students there. They visited him and sang him songs for Shabbat. Then, they pulled aside the curtain and found he was sharing a room with a woman, around 60 years old. She was hooked up to many wires and she appeared to be sleeping. Her family had been told she was about to die and nothing could save her. They put a bag of sweets next to her bed and said, "Shabbat Shalom." The following Monday, the woman opened her eyes and said to her son that she now had the strength to live, thanks to those boys' songs and sweets. They had saved her life.

Child Prodigy Performs in Israel

Article: Alma Deutscher is a child prodigy on piano. Born in England to a British mom and Israeli Dad, Alma is a composer, pianist and violinist. She lives in England and is only 8 years old but has already written an opera, The Sweeper of Dreams. She could identify notes when she was 2 and was playing Handel Sonatas at 3. At 6 she wrote her first sonata. She says she hears and makes up tunes in her head, even when she is not playing. See the video of her being interviewed and playing piano.

Discussion After Watching Video:

• What do think of her playing? Are you surprised she is only 8 years old?
• Discuss the game they played -- she makes up song after choosing 3 notes. 
• Notice she switches between English and Hebrew? Why? How does she know both languages?Which language does she seem more comfortable in?
• Alma is likely a child prodigy and likely practices a lot. What do you practice a lot? 

Preparing for the Olympics

Article: On Friday, the Winter Olympics will kick off in Sochi, Central Russia. However, Sochi is still not ready: hotels, stores and a mall are still unfinished; in the mall, only one store is open. Yet there is also much new construction, fancy new trains and shiny new buses. Olympic Park, where much of the sporting venues will occur, is ready. Thus, Sochi is an odd place right now: certain parts ready for the Olympics yet much that is not. An example: the hotels. The hotels are more like upscale apartments, Soviet style. The exteriors are all identical except for different colors of paint. Elevators don't work. None of the "hotels" have names; instead they have numbers, often affixed to the building with a piece of paper and tape. If you want to find a restaurant at one of the buildings, you have to walk around it a few times, look through windows, until you find a woman in an apron. There is no hot water yet. When workers, still setting up, were asked why nothing was ready yet, the ubiquitous answer was, "It's Russia." The reporter's biggest surprise was when he woke up in the middle of the night to find a Scandinavian man in his room. The stranger had been given the key and told the room was empty! Click here for pictures.

Discussion:

• Why is it a problem if hotels are not finished by the time Olympic guests start showing up? 
• Why is Russia so behind schedule (talk about impact of Soviet culture, even though USSR no longer exists)
• What is your favorite Olympic sport? What are you looking forward to watching on TV?   

Famous Debate--now forgotten--Resurrected

Article: In January 1961, a world-renowned British historian, Arnold Toynbee, was invited to Canada, to McGill University, to deliver a speech. (As an aside, Toynbee famously met with the Nazis and was a Nazi sympathizer). At McGill, Toynbee questioned the right of Israel to exist and equated Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the 1948 War of Independence with the Nazis. Interestingly, the date was only 1961, not present times, when we hear similar speeches. His lecture provoked outrage and in response, Israel's Ambassador to Canada, Yaakov Herzog, challenged him to a public, live debate, which Toynbee accepted. Israel's foreign ministry wasn't thrilled with this, so Herzog represented himself only, not the State of Israel. In a fascinating article recalling this debate, Herzog is remembered for his courage in taking on this anti-Semite, who was twenty years older than him and a towering intellectual, and for winning the debate. Today, the debate is largely forgotten but Herzog is remembered for defending Israel by showing Israel is an ordinary state with problems faced by every state, not trying to idealize Israel and make Israel seem perfect. What do you think of this idea?

To watch the debate in parts, click here. The article itself is well worth reading.

Radiation-Protection Vest Developed by Brilliant Minds

Article: An Israeli high-tech company, StemRad, has developed a vest that can protect someone from dangerous radiation. It is the first product of its kind; until now, people exposed to gamma radiation died (like in Chernobyl's nuclear reactor accident, in which 28 firefighters died rescuing people). The science behind is it this: nuclear radiation kills bone marrow throughout the body, however 50% of one's bone marrow is around the waist. If radiation is stopped from reaching the waist, the rest of the body's bone marrow remains safe. Additionally, he vests are light, so firefighters won't have trouble moving around. They will still be able to operate their equipment and help evacuate people. Those involved in developing the vest include an Israeli professor of chemistry, who recently won a Nobel Prize, Michael Levitt. Already the German and Russian governments are looking to purchase the product. The vest costs $7000 and plans are to make it available to everyone.

Discussion:

• What is a recent nuclear disaster? (Japan)
• Why is radiation dangerous? How do you keep nuclear reactors from overheating (water)
• How will this vest save lives not only of firefighters but the public as well? (If firefighters can evacuate more people, more people will be saved)

Phillip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead

Note: Parents, this blog entry may be too bleak for your kids. I share these stories with my kids as "cautionary tales" about drugs but that's your call...

Article: Famous actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment this weekend presumably of a drug overdose. Two packets of heroin was found beside his body, along with a syringe in his arm. He was only 46 years old. He suffered from drug addiction in the past, but had been clean for 23 years. He is best known to audiences for his Oscar winning role in "Capote" and for his role as game master in Hunger Games. When he won the Oscar, he thanked his mother, "She took me to my first play and she stayed up with me and watched the NCAA Final Four, and my passions, her passions became my passions." He is survived by three children.  

Discussion: 

• Hoffman first began acting in high school. Acting was his passion. What is your passion? What do you want to do when you grow up? 
• Why is this tragic? How could his death have been prevented?