Donald Levine, a Hasbro executive credited as the "father" of the immensely popular GI Joe toyline, passed away this past Thursday after succumbing to cancer at the age of 86. Since GI Joe spawned the idea of and the term "action figure," Levine was actually a father to an entire industry.
Not a day goes by that I don't somehow, consciously or subconsciously, live out a lesson I learned from Calvin & Hobbes. I sense I'm not alone in this.
Unless you’re on a media blackout, I suspect you know that today would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday. She lived a long life–she died nine years ago at 91 years of age–and I have to admit to shedding a few tears for her even though I never knew her personally–because she is one of my greatest influences.
She found her path, and nothing deterred her once she began moving forward. She just kept forging her way, guided by passion and love, and in doing so, changed the way Americans view food, cooking and eating forever.
Without Julia, I doubt there would be locavores.
The Slow Food movement would undoubtedly have started in Italy, but would it have come to America if we hadn’t been schooled by Julia? Maybe not.
And I doubt that there would be as many women in professional kitchens today if we hadn’t all grown up seeing Julia cook her heart out on television before God and everybody.
God bless her–we need more like her. (And truly, I think we have many, many more like her, following in her footsteps each and every day. People learning to grow, cook, eat and preserve good food seem to be popping up everywhere like porcini mushrooms after a rainstorm.)
To celebrate, PBS put together a video–”Julia Remixed.”
Here it is, so we can all celebrate together.
And remember: “Life itself is the proper binge.”
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