Midpoint Music Festival’s First Film Partner Has a Midwestern Mission

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Not all filmmakers want to live in New York or L.A.  There are many bonuses to living in the Midwest: the cost of living, the change of seasons, the fact that drive time to most locations is only about 30-45 minutes, not to mention fresh corn on the cob!  But it can be challenging to make films in a part of the country that doesn’t have the industry support systems you can find in the big cities that are established as the production centers of the country.

It’s difficult, but not impossible.  It’s actually being done, every day.  In Cincinnati, I can name quite a few locally produced independent films: “Ruth Lyons: First Lady of Television” by Mark Magistrelli and Dave Ashbrock came out this year, in 2010 Terry Lukemire and Aymie Majerski released “4192: The Crowning of the Hit King,” and Paige E. Malott and Leland Schuler gave us “Cincinnati’s Abandoned Subway.”  There is a network of filmmakers working here and in other parts of the Midwest, but support can be hard to find when you’re new to the business, or – like me – getting back into it after a long break.  How do you keep up with the technology, how do you find funding, where can you find resources that keep production costs down?

The Midwest now has a new organization dedicated to answering those questions, and it’s based here in Cincinnati.  I recently sat down with Marcelina Robledo, herself a local independent filmmaker, and Executive Director of The Midland Film Institute (MFI).  MFI is making a commitment to share information that supports independent filmmakers; in order to enrich the area culture, and to keep our filmmaking talent from leaving the area to seek their success elsewhere.  The organization has many goals, but already bears the distinction of being the first partnership to provide a film component to the well-established “Midpoint Music Festival” this September.  It was a long and winding road that brought Ms. Robledo to this initiative.  A full-circle route, in a way, considering her first career goal was to become a high school Band Director!

Marcelina Robledo, Executive Director Midland Film Institute

But when studying Music Education didn’t end up being what she had anticipated, Ms. Robledo found herself on a journey toward her passion that didn’t always present a clear picture of where she was going.  Music was one love, visual media was another.  She decided to try to get into film as a make-up artist and enrolled in Beauty School.  That wasn’t quite the right fit either. So about ten years ago the Indiana native came to Cincinnati State to double major in Audio/Visual Studies and Web Design. While there she took a part-time job working the box office for the Cincinnati Symphony, then moved up to a full-time position in Group Sales which took her out of college again.  But that job led to a position as Group Sales Manager for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, which provided as she describes it “boot camp” on the business end of working in the arts.  She was then prepared to finalize her studies, and finished with a degree in Media Studies and Filmmaking from The Union Institute. She worked freelance, teaching and producing, until landing a position with Artswave (known then as The Fine Arts Fund) as their Manager of Community Partnerships. 

Each job she took along the way gave her a mélange of skills that apply directly to running the Institute. She has learned sales, budgeting, and outreach.  And since the official mission of the Midland Film Institute (MFI) is to showcase and honor the work of independent filmmakers, and to provide artistic and professional development for filmmakers from all walks of life; she came to this new endeavor well prepared.  It was while still with Artswave that Robledo learned about the efforts of a local actor, John Lawson, who was gathering professionals together to help create a regional film festival. 

Lawson had worked for the Butler County Convention and Visitors Bureau for a number of years, and was convinced that regional film was an area to tap that would contribute to local economics and sustainability – keep and grow that industry right here.  That was a concept that fell in line with Robledo’s own convictions and efforts through Artswave, and she was more than happy to accept a position on the Board when approached by a member of the team Lawson had assembled.

As the Board pondered the challenges and motivation behind orchestrating a film festival, they began to think about the benefits beyond a one-time event.  What about creating an organization that while showcasing the efforts of the Midwestern filmmaker, also answers the questions about the business side of film along with the creative aspect?

MFI intends to support filmmakers who are seeking the knowledge and the networks to make their talents known, and want to live and work in this part of the country.  The idea is to connect production people from as far west as St. Louis, as far east as Philadelphia, and from up to Milwaukee and down to Nashville.  If, for example, a Cincinnati filmmaker wants to shoot something in Philadelphia; MFI hopes to have a network established that helps filmmakers from these areas connect to share information about locations, local talent, exhibition venues, or even just to share something as basic as a couch to camp out on for an overnight stay.  A future goal is to organize conferences for filmmakers from these geographical locations.

Acting as a “midland” network hub is a longtime goal that will be cultivated through online resources.  Right now, in addition to preparing for the Midpoint Music Festival, there are other programs MFI is developing to provide educational outreach for artistic and professional development to different segments of the community.  The flagship program is their “A Mile in My Shoes Project” which in this inaugural year is reaching out to women soldiers and veterans.  Five women are being selected as students to participate in a twelve-week program to create their own ten-minute documentaries.  Using consumer grade equipment, reinforcing the lesson that self-expression can be affordable, the workshop will teach the students how to filter out a single life story, structure that story, and present it through visual moving media.

Beyond that, Ms. Robledo is currently speaking with a local school board about creating a summer media camp for kids.  It will be geared toward teaching children about visual literacy, understanding media, and planting the seeds of questioning what you’re seeing and hearing – important skills to have in the digital age.  Throughout all their educational programs, the institute will be addressing how to look at yourself as an entrepreneur, the importance of understanding the business side of the art.

MFI has applied for 501(c) 3 status because they feel the institute is community-owned, and that Ms. Robledo and its Board of Directors are merely stewards for what will become a community-sustained organization.  The non-profit status will allow them to accept donations and sponsorships, and could provide the potential for the organization to act as a producing agent for filmmakers in the future.   

Providing professional development and a means to showcase the work of area filmmakers is how the Midland Film Institute intends to impact the economic development of filmmaking in our neck of the woods.  And in that way, they hope to keep the talent here and thriving, and telling stories from the heart – from the heartland.  Bravo!

Watch “Coming to Ground” This Month on KET

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A beautiful, compelling, and important film you don’t want to miss by Jean Donohue and Fred Johnson of Media Working Group, Inc.  Learn how Kentucky farmers embraced a new agriculture future after the decline of tobacco farming.

Here’s a link to the schedule of air dates on KET: http://www.ket.org/tvschedules/episode.php?nola=KCOMG+000000

For more information about the film and filmmakers: http://comingtoground.org/

“Coming to Ground” Premiers Today

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Jean Donohue and Fred Johnson premier their film “Coming To Ground” today at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM on KET. What one state did to change its agricultural future, Kentucky farming 10 years after Tobacco. Shot in the pastural beauty of this luscious state, the film shows us a Commonwealth embracing a change that protects our earth and our health.  Healing from the ground up.  The cinematography of DP Mark Stucker shows us a landscape at times rustic and crisp, gritty; at times sultry and lush, bountiful.  Kentucky shows like the best of her horses, seemingly swelling with pride from being part of a movement toward healing from a very basic level.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coming-To-Ground-The-Movie/170821826266701

It will be airing throughout the month, so be sure to catch it!

 

Still from the documentary "Coming To Ground" 2012 (J. Donohue/F. Johnson)

Can You Get Behind a Tax Designed to Save Our Cultural Heritage?

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I can.  I am an artist, so I am an arts supporter.  And I love my hometown and it’s history, so it’s museums and cultural venues are important to me. I’ve always believed that I had that in common with the people who choose to live here, whether they were born here or not.

So when I read the article “Avenues Explored for Arts Funding” on Cincinnati.com about the proposed tax incentive for supporting renovations and maintenance for our local cultural institutions, I was uplifted – thought it was a great idea. Then I read the comments other readers had made, and was immediately discouraged by the pervading attitude of dissent. Blah, blah, why should we pay for this? What am I going to get out of this? Why can’t the city pay for it?

Well, I thought, we who live here are ”the city,” aren’t we?  Also – my tax dollars have paid to build two sports venues that I’ve used exactly twice.  I have nothing against our sports heritage, in fact, I think it’s an integral part of the wonderful combination of culture that makes Cincinnati a great town.  We have so much to offer here – sports, the arts, theater, the museums, the architecture, an incredible zoo and aquarium, education, industry – as well as the beautiful geography of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.  Our history and area is rich with accomplishment, diversity, beauty – we all benefit from this, we are all enriched by this.  It’s what makes this a great area to live in, why so many people want to raise their families here, why so many natives leave and come back.

Do I want to pay higher taxes? Of course not. Nobody wants more taken out of their pocket – recession or not.  But a tax that supports our arts and museums is a tax that I would vote for.  Because I believe it will serve to protect our heritage, sustain our capacity to make Cincinnati a destination town for visitors, and contribute to our growth as individuals and as a community.

Spring Stretch

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Dance like only the angels are watching,
Stretch like a cat in the morning sun,
Breathe in the fragrance of flowering buds in spring,
And the earthy trace of decaying leaves in the fall,
And lush, damp summer in between.

Sing with full strength of voice,
Stretch open the chest to release the notes from within,
Breathe in the tendrils of song lilting on the air,
And buzz with the intrepid emotions that stop and begin.

Love with an honesty that makes your heart ache
Stretch beyond that lump in your throat
Breathe in the vapors of chemical attraction,
And your senses alive with anticipation,
And your intuition fraught with dedication.

Embrace life filled with wonder and hope,
Stretch outside your world for focus,
Breathe in the love that surrounds and sustains you,
And weaves invisible strands of soul that connect you.

Think often about what makes you smile,
Stretch those thoughts over the setbacks,
Breathe in the joy that courses through,
And sets up the world dancing in your mind’s eye,
And brings it around through the Power of You.

How to Be Generous With an Empty Wallet

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Have you heard about the guy the media was calling “the nicest guy in the country”?  He has a blog he’s doing about challenging himself to do at least one nice thing a day for a stranger for 365 days straight.  It was a good, heartwarming story; though it seemed to me that a lot of what he’s doing is giving away money, things like buying subway tickets and paying for people’s gas and stuff.  I saw another similar story about a group of people practicing random acts of kindness, and they’re doing things like paying for people’s parking at the hospital.  It’s great, I like to see the media giving attention to this, and I like to see people who are making it a part of their lives to spread good energy around.

Last night I was talking to a friend of mine and she recently started reading a book about the Law of Attraction.  It said something about giving, because in doing so you will attract abundance from what other people give to you.  She said she’d never really felt that she could give before, because she’s always strapped for cash; and that made me think of those random acts of kindness reports that have been in the news.

I remembered that when I was watching the reports I thought “That’s great, and I’d love someone to help me out that way too, but sounds like they’re spending a lot of cash, and who can afford to do that these days?”  What I had thought then and shared with my friend last night, was that I wish they had reported more acts of kindness that aren’t monetary but can be just as rewarding.  Acts that still fall under the category of “giving” and can make a big difference in someone’s day.  Plus, it’s like that insurance commercial about doing the right thing where they show a chain reaction of nice things people do after someone has done something nice for them.  When someone does something nice for you, you’re more in tune with the good feeling it gave you and you’re likely to want to perpetuate that feeling.  Your awareness has been raised, and that will inform your next action.

We can all afford to give a compliment, a smile, a helpful bit of knowledge, a helping hand.  I’ll offer my doggie bag to someone who asks me for spare change when I’m leaving a restaurant downtown; I’ve never been turned down.  You can volunteer your time and skills for an organization or institution, babysit for free, help a neighbor or family member with a home or yard task.  Give a hug to someone (if they’re open to that) when they look or sound like they’re having a bad day.

Remember the Little Drummer Boy – I have no gift…shall I play for you?  I know a guy who gave an impromptu performance with his guitar recently, and boy did that act of kindness come back to him – he got discovered (more about that story in another blog).

Of course, if you have the money to be able to ease a small part of someone’s life, you should definitely give in that way if it feels right to you.  In these economic times, you’ll probably make someone ecstatic.  Just remember that if you’re scraping by and payday is a few days away, you still have plenty of ways to be generous and kind if you want to do what you can to send positive energy out into the world.

Meeting the Legend, Larry Smith

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I’ve talked with Larry Smith, the legendary puppeteer, a few times on the phone about my documentary “Footprints On The Air: Television Legends of Cincinnati”; last night I got to meet him in person along with his student and lifelong friend, Wayne Martin.  We sat down for dinner at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse with a beautiful view of the river, and for me, a feeling like we’d already met.

Which in a way we had, “Larry Smith’s Puppets” was one of my favorite childhood shows, and I became a television junkie pretty early on.  My girl, Hattie, and Nasty Old Thing, I loved checking in on them – EVERY day.  And You did too, those of you in a certain age range, when Larry reigned supreme on WXIX from 1968-1974.

Larry’s the type of boy genius who jumped right into what he loved at the precocious age of five when he started making puppets at home, after not being able to afford what was in the store window. He was hired to work on his first television show at the tender age of fourteen, with his school Principal making schedule allowances, and the city bus taking him to the Dayton station after class.  His has been a lifelong fascination with the mechanics and the animation combined with characterization and story telling that is the art of Puppetry.  From my research it appears that he holds of the distinction of being the only local broadcaster to have had contracts with all six local stations: WCPO, WKRC, WLWT, WXIX, WCET, AND WIII (Channel 64).  His program “The Magic Forest” on WCET in 1966 ran for two seasons as a forerunner to “Sesame Street” over the NET television network in various markets.

Larry developed as an artist and performer by embracing the whole process, from building the puppets and sets to the lights, camera, and action.  He came of age with television and the creative license of a pioneer living in the hippie, progressive neighborhoods of Clifton and Mt. Adams.  He spent a year in New York working on Broadway with the legendary Burr Tilstrom when “The Village” was just coming in, introducing him to the beatnik types he would give a voice to in his adult-oriented series “The Contemporaries” on WCPO when he came back to the Queen City. When Larry says “Those were crazy times” he knows what he’s talking about.

Larry is 73 now and retired.  He stayed on television through the 1990′s with “The Magic Forest” on Storer Cable, and did a kids show on WGRR radio as well.  He did hundreds of personal appearances, produced numerous television projects and commercials, created countless memories for himself and for us. When Larry reminisces about his career he is joyous, playful, appreciative.  I’m so excited to include his artistry in my film, to honor his gift, and to be able to say “Thank you” in person.

 

Larry Smith, Mary Jo Schottelkotte, Wayne Martin

 

The Holiday Table: “You Might be from Cincinnati if…”

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Part of the clan at Table 1

Does “Home For The Holidays” for you mean that your immediate family will fill a table for ten, and you still need another two or three tables to seat spouses and children?  Maybe not, but you probably know someone from a family that large, if you’re from Cincinnati.

I am from a family that large, and I am from Cincinnati…and Yes, we were raised Catholic.  Our normal nightly routine was to pull out the leaves to the “big” table (which sat ten) and then drag the “little” table (which sat four) over to join the big one.  Sometimes we added a card table if any friends were joining us for dinner.  Often we had to bring in the dining room table’s chairs and the piano bench to accommodate seating needs.  Growing up that way, it didn’t seem so unusual to me.  Almost everyone I went to grade school with came from big families, anywhere from six to fifteen kids per household.  And I grew up in the 1970’s and 80’s, my birth order is ninth out of twelve; I was aware of the cultural phenomenon called “The Baby Boom.”  Born in 1965, I was right on the cusp, teetering into “Generation X”. Most of the kids I knew came from families of six, seven, eight, nine children, or more.

Like many people from this area, I went to a Catholic High School.  So it wasn’t until I got into college, really, that I started to realize that families the size I was used to were not the average.  It might have been the average in pockets all over the Greater Cincinnati area, from the West side over to the East side, but it didn’t seem to be the norm for people I was meeting then, coming to the university from other states and cities.

And even now, friends I have who were born and raised elsewhere seem to have a different concept of what makes a “big” family…they think four or five kids mean big.  When you tell people that in gathering for the holidays you’re going to a sibling’s home because they have a house big enough to hold all of you – and you explain that even a partial gathering, only half of you getting together means 25-30 people – it gets a reaction.  Eyes wide, lips slightly parted, that pause – I guess as they’re doing math in their head.  Or thinking about how they would fit all those people into their own home…or the pressure of cooking for that many.

But being from a large brood is kind of neat.  I think it really is a “You know you’re from Cincinnati” thing too.  And it’s a slice of American life that probably won’t see a repeat occurrence. Even the 4,317,000 births in 2007 that broke the record of births that took place at the height of the Baby Boom in 1957 were attributed to an increase of childbearing by women of all ages, with an average of 2.1 children per woman, according to the New York Times.  So it was more women having babies vs. women having more babies; having three or four children or more remains the characteristic of a past era.

Like most people born and raised here, I’ve always been aware that we have a large concentration of Catholics in this area.  But I decided to look into that history to see if I could prove or disprove my theory that the big family thing is unique to Greater Cincinnati, maybe because of that factor.  What was going on in the rest of the country, while people here were raising families the size of small armies?

I checked first with the Census Bureau, hoping for some insight into live births and household size by state and city.  But the Census counts extended family for households – grandparents, step-children, etc. all living under the same roof.  I was looking for number of offspring born to the same set of parents within the decades of the 1950’s through the 1970’s.  The Research Librarians and I (I talked to three) couldn’t find data that specific in their collection, and my queries to the Bureau’s website resulted in generic replies outlining the steps to performing a search.  Online, the data only goes back to the year 2000 anyway.

Since numbers of live births are reported to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) as a state by state function, I tried their website, which is actually www.cdc.gov (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).  I did find tables on “Live Births by State” for the decades I wanted, but I couldn’t find any summaries – and I don’t have the kind of time it would take to comb through the data and do the math myself…or the desire to do so!  But I did find an interesting brief: “Childbearing Differences Among Three Generations of U.S. Women” by Sharon E. Kirmeyer and Brady E. Hamilton, both Ph.D.’s.  It presents data on three birth cohorts of women representing generations born at 25-year intervals in 1910, 1935, and 1960.  So if most women were having babies while in their twenties, that’s going to mean kids born in the 1930’s, 1950’s and 1980’s.

The summary stated that woman born in 1935 (Baby Boom mothers by my estimate) tended to have larger families, with four or more children being the most frequent outcome…but the average number of children they arrived at for the 1935 cohort was actually 3.0, next came the 1910 cohorts at 2.4, and last was the 1960 cohort at 2.0 (NCHS Data Brief No. 68, pg. 2, August 2011).

Further, their study concluded that these patterns were a product of “sociohistorical” forces.  Specifically the Great Depression and WW II for the 1910 cohort, the end of WW II for the 1935 cohort – when the number of marriages jumped and the economy prospered (contributing to the Baby Boom), and the increases in women’s educational and occupational opportunities combined with the availability of birth control for the 1960 cohort.  This all makes sense, right?  But what about Greater Cincinnati?  What was happening here in the tri-state, was anyone counting all these big families?  And was it mostly the Catholics who were being fruitful and multiplying?

The Census and the NCHS were counting, but they don’t ask about religion.  And according to the Ohio Department of Health at www.odg.ohio.gov fertility rates and crude birth rates relate the number of births in an area to the number of persons residing in that area…so again, not the specifics I had hoped for.

What about the Catholic Church?  I called the Archdiocese and spoke with Bishop Binzer, a very kind man to take the time to give thought to my question.  The best he could offer was that the parishes count the number of families registered, but not the sizes of those families.  However, his office did refer me to an organization known as CARA, which stands for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.  It’s a national, non-profit, Georgetown University affiliated research center that conducts social scientific studies about the Catholic Church.  On their website at www.cara.georgetown.edu, I found a publication called “The Changing Face of U.S. Catholic Parishes” by Mark M. Gray, Mary L. Gautier, and Melissa A. Cidade containing data and findings from a series of three nationwide surveys they conducted in 2009.  And I found a tidbit of supporting information!

The study found that 37% of U.S. Catholic parishes are in the Midwest, and 24% are in the Northeast.  It states that about a third of U.S. Catholic parishes were established after 1950, relative to our post-war prosperity and the Baby Boom, so it would seem that the Catholic Church was thriving then too.  And that would be supported by M. Edmund Hussey’s “A History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati” where the author sets up the chapter in Part III: “From the Second Vatican Council to the Present” by discussing the good health of the Church prior to the reforms made with Vatican II in 1962. Seminaries, convents and monasteries were full, and the nation’s Catholics were faithful in their practices.

The Northeastern states have a high concentration of Catholics, with the state of Rhode Island having the highest percentage today in the Continental U.S.  In the early 1800’s, immigrants from Ireland and Germany were seeking freedom from the leaders of their homeland, so naturally the first influx would settle on the coast that provided their entrance to the country.  But many of them were also traveling west.  Hussey states in his book that the first Catholics in Cincinnati were natives of Ireland or descendants of Irish immigrants.  By 1840, German Catholics were coming into Cincinnati at the rate of two hundred or more a day, according to Jeffrey G. Herbert’s book “Old Saint Mary’s Church Cincinnati, Ohio: A History of the First 160 Years of Catholic Faith.”  He goes on to say that by 1840, Catholics outnumbered all other religious denominations in Cincinnati.

Neither book, nor any of the studies I found, gave me my family size data or my comparison of Catholic population by city for the decades in question.  So I have concluded this: the data I seek is just too specific.  I could probably forge on for years trying to uncover some kind of tracking that would bring me the numbers I’m looking for.  But that’s not going to happen.  I don’t need it, because I know in my heart that this is a Cincinnati thing.  Maybe it’s also a Providence, Rhode Island thing too, and that’s good.  Whether it has to do with Catholicism or not, it is a slice of Americana past.  I’m sure there are families of twelve and fifteen kids in the Northeast and elsewhere, we in Greater Cincinnati don’t own it.  But maybe I just need to be more specific: You might be from Cincinnat if…for the holidays, you need two or more dinner tables just for your immediate German-Irish siblings!

Happy Holidays!

All Twelve Kids 1970's

 

 

 

 

Could Your Pet be the Character Barometer You Should be Listening to?

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Miriam

There are those who say that cats have one foot in the spiritual world, and I could be convinced of that; but what I do know for sure is that my cat is a great judge of character. Miriam displays her distrust of a human upon the first opportunity to meet them; by not bothering to meet them at all, or by sizing them up and making her presence known in a very personal way.

Last week she solidly refused to come out from under the bed to meet someone I was contemplating doing business with.  No amount of my cajoling and flattery had any effect in getting her to budge.  “She’s a shy girl,” I said, “maybe next time.”  No.  There won’t be a next time, there will be no moving forward with that party.  I just came to the decision a little bit later than Miriam had.

But a couple months ago, the Cinematographer for my documentary came over to install some software on my computer.  He hadn’t been seated at my desk barely a minute when she jumped up on it to sniff him, and rub her face on his arm requesting that he pet her.  When I asked her to respectively move out of the way, she settled quietly on the back of the couch where she could closely watch him at work; and, I guess, breathe in his energy.  He was kind to her, as is his way, and she glowed with approval.  When he was gone, she talked at me with her clucking noises, rubbing my legs – I really do think she was vocalizing her approval.  It was a good feeling.

I’ve decided that I need to pay more attention to her as a barometer of character because her accuracy is spooky.  In fact, it’s not just a cat thing, because both she and my dog, Tess (God rest her soul), had expressed their opinions of people who’ve come into and out of my life in the past.

Tess

There was no ignoring one incident with a former boyfriend – well, in retrospect there was no ignoring it, because I should have listened to their initial impression but I didn’t. The first time this guy came to the house, he sat down on the couch, and cat and dog came over to make their assessments.  Miriam said nothing and made no physical contact, she simply sat her fluffy self at the base of his feet and stared at him.  Tess, in her never-ending quest for human contact, sidled on up and put her head in his lap; and my date proceeded to mindlessly pet her while we talked.  The next thing we knew, Tess was projectile vomiting into his lap!  He jumped up, Tess backed away, he ran to the bathroom for a towel, and I went to Tess to get a closer look at her face and determine if she was sick or something.  Just then, Miriam squatted down where the date’s feet had been touching the rug and proceeded to urinate!  “Miriam!” I exclaimed, and she torpedoed across the room and disappeared, as cats will do.

The date had come back into the room, chuckling about the vomit, walking over to sit back down and I had to warn him about the puddle of pee before he stepped in it.  I offered to launder his shirt and jeans as I was headed into the kitchen to get something to soak up the urine.  He declined the offer and instead called it a night, asking me what was up with my animals.  His tone was good-natured, surprised, puzzled, amused.  But I’m sure he was thinking “Wow, this girl has some crazy animals!”  I was flabbergasted.

I should have realized that I was simply forewarned.  The date turned out to be a Player – yes, with a capital “P”.  When he dumped me three months later with the “It’s not you, it’s me - I’m just not ready to be tied down in a relationship” excuse (his exact words), I didn’t get any sympathy from Tess and Miriam.  But I did get a whole lot of comfort.  After all, they’re animals and that’s why we love them, right? And I’ve decided to be grateful not only for the comfort Miriam provides, but for her character assessment as well.