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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2014)
Page 12 Klo rt la nò (Dbserncr Dear Friends: I am coming to you today on behalf of my brother, Mark Brock. He suffers from Chronic January 8, 2014 Tearing Up All Over Again cording her fights with the film's captures (particularly in the early writers and, as you can hear scenes) the child's vision of a Poppins were never really re from a sampling played during beloved parent. The young ac solved. The film depicts a meet the closing credits, (a very nice tress who plays Ginty (newcomer ing of the minds that I didn't touch) her demands were far Annie Rose Buckley) embodies really believe while watching it from reasonable. the attentive resoluteness of a and, sure enough, that part is All that said, I re-watched the child grasping for the comfort she pretty clearly fiction. This is it trailer while reading up on the has sometimes felt in the embrace Which brings me to the purpose of this letter, not only is a trans self a Disney film and it feels back story, and teared up all of a parent who increasingly fails plant major surgery, it is also extremely expensive. Even with typically scrubbed and shiny, over again, rem em bering the her. That pain is real and, although insurance, there are many expenses that are not covered and must more sugar than medicine. film's charms. For me, the film the film’s depiction of the connec be paid out of pocket. He will be on a life-time of anti-rejection But the fact rem ains that still works, though I'm at a bit o f tion between childhood pain and medications. Mark will need to travel from Portland to Seattle and Travers — a middle-aged Lon a loss to explain why. Here's my adult behavior feels oversimpli relocate for at least 3 months at the time of his transplant. This is doner who had no love at all for best shot. where your help is desperately needed. fied, Thompson makes you feel the Disney mystique - did agree I start with Emma Thompson. that pain too. To help ease this financial burden, a fundraising campaign in Mark's to allow Disney to make the film. She lifts this material beyond In the film, Travers consciously honor has been established with HelpHOPELive, a nonprofit Why? The deal she got (which what might otherwise have been recognizes how her past is influ organization that has been assisting the transplant community for 30 included 5 percent of the film's a cheap comic contrast between encing her, and so does Disney. I years. All donations are tax-deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive gross) set her up for life, but was a veddy proper Brit, unimpressed doubt that happened. But some in the Northwest Lung Transplant Fund, and are administered by it only about the money? She by the "jollification" endemic to thing like that frequently happens them for transplant-related expenses only. So please consider fought hard for her vision for the Disney's world, and the folksy on an unconscious level in the making a donation today. film through the years of its pro mogul. Her Travers is fittingly artistic process, and it is magic. On behalf of Mark and our family, thank you for your kindness, duction, and insisted on coming complex; many of her biting criti Much of the fun of the film hap generosity, support and prayers; Thank you, Kristina Booker, 503- to the Hollywood premiere (as cisms o f that world are apt, even pens in scenes depicting the cre 281-6092 well she should have) despite while she is being rude and of ative process, when the vaunted Please send donations to: HelpHOPELive the fact that Disney did not invite fensive; she is a master at calling songwriting team of Richard and 2 Radnor Corporate Center her. out artificiality, and she delivers Robert Sherm an (beautifully 100 Matsonford Road, Suite 100 Even in the undeniably patri the film's best lines with a per played by Jason Sch wartzman and Radnor, PA 19087 archal world of the early 1960s, fect, precise zing that makes you B.J. Novak) bounce out tunes that outmatched by Disney in money, laugh out loud but also wince at were so beloved to me in my own Make checks payable to: HelpHOPELive. Note in memo section: for Mark Brock; For credit card donations, please call power, and influence, Travers the thought of having to deal childhood, which was also char 800.642.8399 or visit helphopelive.org and enter Mark Brock in was no victim. Nor, indeed, was with her. She isn't exactly a femi acterized by the failures of those the “Find a Patient” box on the home page. she a hero; she insisted on re- nist icon; she is quite unkind and to whom I was most deeply at self-centered, as was the real tached. Perhaps I bought the de Travers. But she is also wounded, piction of the prickly Travers (who as many unkind people are. And insisted the film was not to be a she is a satisfying bundle of con musical) gradually softening as tradictions. Zchon R. Jones, DC these good-hearted men woo her The film veers back and forth with "Let's Go Fly a Kite" because 333 NE Russell St., #200, Portland, OR. 97212 between the battle with Disney those songs still reduce me to (503) 284-7838 and Travers' troubled childhood. tears. And not until seeing this film Although she saw herself as a had I ever consciously connected Truly making a difference in the lives of relentless apologist against arti the story to my own childhood Auto Accident victims and Injured Workers for nearly 20 years. ficiality and sentim en tality , pain. If you or someone you know has been in an accident, Travers was herself a reinven It may well be that Travers, in call us so we can help you with your needs. (503) 284-7838 tion. She was not a British m a all her selfishness and complexity, tron at all, but was bom in A us responded to the music and good- tralia as Helen G off (nicknamed heartedness of the Disney ver are located on the Ginty). sion, even while bitterly protesting com er o f MLK and Russell She was deeply attached to it to the end of her days. She Street, on the second floor her father, Travers Goff, a char famously cried at the Hollywood above the coffee shop. ismatic banker and hopeless al premiere, and most people say it coholic who perhaps nurtured was because she hated the film, her imaginative spirit but also not because she was moved by it, hurt the family and died while as this film suggests. But I suspect Travers was quite young, leav both may have been true. In my ing the family destitute. experience, a person can relent Pai kina Aren During the troubled period of lessly insist on hard-headed real her life depicted in the film, ism, and still be stirred by a hopeful Travers' mother attempted sui vision of what ought to be pos cide and the family was assisted sible, and be buoyed by a heartfelt Russell St. by a strong and brisk aunt who song. S may well have inspired the char Darleen Ortega is a judge acter of Mary Poppins. on the Oregon Court o f Ap The film somewhat clumsily peals and the first woman o f traces Travers' objections to the color to serve in that capacity. production to unresolved pain of Her movie review column Opin her childhood losses and, despite ionated Judge appears regu Advertise with diversity in the clumsiness, the connection larly in The Portland Ob Call 503-288-0033 ads@portlandobserver.com resonates. server. Find her movie blog at Colin Farrell, play ingthe father, opinionatedjudge. blogspot. com Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). His lungs are failing and he is unable to do many things that most of us take for granted. Mark's doctors at University of Washington Medical Center have told us that his only option is a life-saving double lung transplant. c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 9 Chiropractic Auto Injury Clinic, PC Portland Observer
