Friday, February 19, 2016

Can't believe I remembered my password the night before Harper Lee Died

After several years of not knowing the password to this blog, I finally remembered it and was able to post last night. Then I woke up to the headline at al.com and the article by Connor Sheets telling the world that Nelle Harper Lee has died.

I only met her once, but safe to say it was a memorable day!

Kim Agee, Jim Rotch, Darlene Rotch and Harper Lee at the reception prior to the Birmingham Pledge Award ceremony


Someone on Twitter said, "Harper Lee can now be the recluse she desired to be."

I replied, "She wasn't really a recluse, she just didn't like fame." And I think that's the truth.

Anyway, here is a video I shot of Harper Lee meeting students from Fairfield Prep and Mountain Brook High School in 2006 when she came to Birmingham to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Birmingham Pledge Foundation.


(The gentleman at :26 is Stephen Black. He is the grandson of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, Yale Law grad and founder of FocusFirst. It's a non profit that trained college students provide vision screenings to pre-school children throughout Birmingham, specifically in low-income areas.)

A day prior to the event, Lee rode the train unaccompanied to Birmingham from Monroeville, Alabama. She then spent the next day touring the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and meeting students who were there that day. A luncheon was given in her honor, prepared by legendary chef, Clayton Sherrod.
Nelle Harper Lee & Chef Clayton Sherrod at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute


Miss Lee was then accompanied by Birmingham Pledge Foundation founder Jim Rotch and his wife Darlene to a pre-event reception held at the Alys Robinson Stephens Center. Lee graciously spent several hours standing to meet fans and admirers. I noted then that she had on very sensible shoes!


She also met with students from Fairfield Prep and Mountain Brook High School who were putting on a join production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in Birmingham. The students came directly from play practice and were in period costumes. I started shooting video at that point because the the air in the room changed, for lack of a better way to describe what it was like when Lee looked up to find the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird walking towards here.



The young man playing Dill leaned over and asked, "May I give you a hug?" Lee exclaimed, "Of course!"

Then it was on, Nelle Harper Lee hugged every one of those kids or shook their hand if it was proffered.



That action starts at about 1:26 of this Harper Lee video. Great evening, needless to say!

Later, she accepted the Lifetime Achievement award from Birmingham Pledge Founder Jim Rotch, Cathy Ovson Friedman and Judge Houston Brown.

After several minutes of a standing ovation Lee said, "I have a speech prepared," and paused. People gasped. No one expected that!

Then she continued, "But my heart is too full to make it. All I shall say is thank you, thank you for one of the greatest days of my life."


Thursday, February 18, 2016

Wow, I finally remembered the password to this blog about the time I met Harper Lee!

I'll try and upload some photos soon.

And nah, I passed on her "new" book.

Monday, July 04, 2011

It's been far too long since I blogged about Nelle Harper Lee

My apologies for not updating this blog! I had that one big event where we met Harper Lee and then the wonderful performance of "To Kill a Mockingbird" put on by two local high schools. One school is almost all black, Fairfield Prep, and the other, Mountain Brook High School, is almost all white.

It was a great play, and the significance of the two schools working together, especially here in Birmingham, Alabama was something I thought about for a great while. And if you have not heard Kim Agee sing (and she was still in high school when she sang this) you really must click here! This video contains still pictures from the performance along with the audio of Kim singing "A City Called Heaven." (Choral Direction by Patsy Howze, what a brilliant move.)

Ben Raines has written a great article about Harper Lee's sister, Alice Lee, a very accomplished woman in her own right. I think Harper Lee fans will find it interesting.

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/06/alice_lee_sister_of_author_har.html

Here is a little snippet from that article:

"Alice Lee, 99, still works eight hours a day at the Monroeville law office started by her father, A.C. Lee, considered the model for Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. In the afternoons, Miss Alice, as she is known around town, visits with her sister, the reclusive author Nelle Harper Lee. Miss Alice handles her younger sister's legal affairs, as she has done since the 1960 publication of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel catapulted Harper Lee to fame. (Ben Raines/Press-Register)"

Also, if you are looking for video of Harper Lee, I still have the videos posted at Youtube.

Harper Lee Speaks Photo Montage of Harper Lee - Video of her speech


Harper Lee Speaks, accepts award from The Birmingham Pledge Foundation

Thursday, January 11, 2007

State board honors author Harper Lee in Montgomery

State board honors author Harper Lee in Montgomery
1/11/2007, 2:31 p.m. ET
By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press


MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Pulitzer prize-winning author Harper Lee normally shies away from publicity, but she made an exception Thursday to accept an award from the Alabama Board of Education and to help honor a diverse group of high school students who brought her words to life for a new generation.

It was an unusual board meeting that brought tears to the eyes of Alabama first lady Patsy Riley and ended with Lee stopping in front of a sign that said "no photographs no autographs" to pose for a picture with several students from mostly white Mountain Brook High School and all-black Fairfield High Preparatory School.




"This is unreal. She is really a national treasure and she doesn't meet many people. It's a privilege she would take the time to meet with us," said 17-year-old Mountain Brook senior Gena Casey, who played "Scout" as a grown-up in a stage production of Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird," published in 1960. The play was a joint production of students from the two Birmingham area schools and was performed Wednesday night at the Davis Theater in MontgomeryThe state board made Lee their guest of honor at Thursday's meeting and passed a resolution honoring her for "sharing her extraordinary literary gift with Alabama and the world."

Calling her a "true Alabama icon," Gov. Bob Riley presented Lee with the resolution.

Lee, who rarely speaks publicly, spoke quietly with Riley when she accepted the resolution.

"Thank you governor. This has been overwhelming," she said.

It was a rare second appearance for the 80-year-old Monroeville native, who was presented with a piece of pottery following the Wednesday performance and met with students and fans afterward.

Board member Ethel Hall, a retired educator from Fairfield, said when she taught English she made Lee's work a mandatory part of her classes.

"Every student had to read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and every student had to write a paper on it," Hall said.

Riley said he was impressed by the collaboration of black and white students on the play.


"This was a brilliant idea to bring these groups together. I would love to see this done in Huntsville and Mobile and across the state," Riley said.

At the start of Thursday's meeting, the students stood in front of the board members and sang "A City Called Heaven," the closing song in their production. Sitting on the front row of the board room, the governor's wife wept as she listened to the song.

"You literally brought my wife to tears," Riley said as he thanked Lee and the students.

After the meeting, Lee was quickly escorted from the room, but she paused in the foyer to pose for the picture with students who had key roles in the play.


"There are some things you never expect to do in a lifetime," 17-year-old Regan Stevens of Mountain Brook said of having her picture made with Lee. Stevens played the young tomboy Scout in "To Kill A Mockingbird," which looks at racial injustice through Scout's eyes.


Friday, January 05, 2007

Improve "To Kill A Mockingbird?" Yes.

Black Gospel music added to To Kill a Mockingbird made it the play it was meant to be. Improve Harper Lee? This does.

FairfieldPrep HS (all black) and Mountain Brook HS (All white) did a great job. This production was directed by Pat Yates and Choral Direction Patsy Howze.

Both teachers were given signed books from Nell Harper Lee (by Jim Rotch.) Kim Agee, who played Calpurnia, sings the Mahalia Jackson song at the end. She is a great talent!!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Student Photo Video Montage, Nelle Harper Lee

A Photo and Video montage of Nelle Harper Lee. Photos taken Sept. 13, 06 at the Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, Al.

Miss Lee was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Birmingham Pledge Foundation. Prior to that she graciously meet admirers at a fund raising reception for The Birmingham Pledge Foundation.


The highlight of the reception was the arrival of students from Fairfield Preparatory High and Mountain brook High School. The students are staging a joint production of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Scenes from the play