In 1995, Albom is a successful sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press. After seeing his former sociology professor Morrie Schwartz appear on Nightline, Albom phones Schwartz and is prompted to visit him in Massachusetts. A coincidental newspaper strike allows Albom to visit Schwartz every week, on Tuesdays. The book recounts each of the fourteen visits Albom made to Schwartz, supplemented with Schwartz's lectures and life experiences and interspersed with flashbacks and references to contemporary events.
After being diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Morrie's final days are spent giving his former student Mitch his final lesson of life. The memoir is divided into 14 different "days" that Mitch Albom spent with his professor Morrie. Throughout these days, Mitch and Morrie discuss various topics important to life and living. The memoir also recounts Mitch's memories of Morrie as a professor.[4]
Mitch Albom was born in May 1958 in New Jersey. Originally, he was a pianist and wanted to pursue a life as a musician. Instead he became an author, journalist, screenwriter, and television/radio broadcaster. In his college years, he met sociology professor Dr. Morrie Schwartz who would later influence his memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie.
Morrie Schwartz was a sociology professor at Brandeis University who was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The son of Russian immigrants, Schwartz had a difficult childhood, indelibly marked by the death of his mother and his brother's infection with the Polio virus. He later went on to work as a researcher in a mental hospital, where he learned about mental illness and how to have empathy and compassion for other people. Later in life, he decided to become a sociology professor in hopes of putting his accumulated wisdom to use. This is where he met his student Mitch Albom, who would later become a lifelong friend. Schwartz was married to Charlotte Schwartz, with whom he had two children. After a long battle with ALS, Morrie died on 4 November, 1995. His tombstone reads, "A teacher until the end."
In 2002, the book was adapted as a stage play that opened off Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Co-authored by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher (Three Viewings) and directed by David Esbjornson (The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?). Tuesdays with Morrie starred Alvin Epstein as Schwartz and Jon Tenney as Albom. It received positive reviews.[5]
Based on the best-selling memoir of all-time, Tuesdays with Morrie is the powerful and moving story of Mitch Albom, a hard-driving sportswriter, and Morrie Schwartz, his former college professor. This tender, yet profound play, originally presented by Theater J, recounts the two men reuniting as Morrie faces his own mortality as an ALS patient. What starts as a simple visit turns into a weekly pilgrimage and a beautiful lesson in humanity, compassion, and friendship.
*The Saturday night performance will feature a special VIP experience as well as a talkback following the performance with Mitch and the Actors on stage along with other MCA Guests for any audience member interested in attending. Learn more here.
"Tuesdays with Morrie" (TWM) is more than just a dying man's last words. Itis an inspirational recount of a man's life -- a man whose passion for thehuman spirit has continued to live long after his last breath.
You could say there are two stories within TWM. One is the story of a manand a disease. The other is the story of a professor of social psychologywho has come to understand that life's complexities can be broken down intosimple truths.
Take aging -- an issue many struggle with. As his disease progresses,Morrie finds himself dealing with aging in a more concentrated way thanmost. When Mitch asks him how he is able to refrain from being jealous ofthe young, Morrie says, "It's like going back to being a child again. Someone to bathe you. Someone to lift you. Someone to wipe you. We allknow how to be a child. It's inside all of us. For me it's justremembering how to enjoy it." With wonderful insight, Morriecontinues, "We all yearn in some way to return to those days when we werecompletely taken care of -- unconditional love, unconditional caring. Mostof us didn't get enough." Now if that isn't getting the most of anunfortunate situation, I don't know what is!
When I first started reading TWM I immediately thought of Maya Angelou's"Won't Take Nothing for my Journey Now". Angelou has a way of tapping intolife's biggest questions with such clarity and understanding you almostthink she was sent by a higher power to help guide lost souls. While herpoetic prose sweep you away, Morrie's simple wisdom has the same affect.
Morrie speaks to every person because he is every person. He has led asimple yet meaningful life that inspires you to live yours to thefullest. Perhaps his story is more powerful because you're not only takingin his wisdom, but you are experiencing his death. In his words,he is fortunate enough to know he is dying, to take stock of his life as itcomes to an end. He handles this with bravery and compassion, and when thefinal moment comes you feel as though you've lost a dear friend.
I had the pleasure of hearing Albom speak, and tookthe opportunity to ask him how his time with Morrie had changed hiseveryday life. In a true testament to his mentor, Albom's life has changeddramatically. He spends more time with his wife, takes more time off workand has restructured his work regime. He flies overseas to visit hisfamily more often. In short, he is investing in the people in his lifethat he cares about most. He says he faces life with less fear than he didbefore, knowing that life only comes around once and somehow things willwork out. It is clear he is a more settled person and possesses a truesense of meaning.
Stephanie Bowen has worked for CNN for over seven years in Washington,D.C., Atlanta and Los Angeles. She is currently exploring the world of creative writing at UCLA andparticipates in a monthly book group.M O R E R E V I E W S
A+ Audio Study GuidesAlbom, Mitch: "Tuesdays with Morrie"Baldrige, Letitia: "In the Kennedy Style"Balling, Christian: "Revelation"Beran, Michael Knox: "The Last Patrician"Biskind, Peter: "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls"Brooks, Geraldine: "Foreign Correspondence"Buchanan, Edna: "Pulse"Burstein, Daniel and Arne de Keijzer: "Big Dragon"Cahill, Thomas: "The Gifts of the Jews"Flynn, Vince: "Term Limits"Golden, Arthur: "Memoirs of a Geisha"Kurtz, Howard: "Spin Cycle"Lamm, Steven and Gerald Secor: "The Virility Solution"Levy, David: "Comets: Creators and Destroyers"Palin, Michael: "Hemmingway's Chair"Pepper, William: "Orders to Kill"Posner, Gerald: "Killing the Dream"Sheard, Robert: "The Unemotional Investor"Sparks, Nicholas: "Message in a Bottle"Spencer, Scott: "The Rich Man's Table"Roberts, Cokie: "We Are Our Mothers' Daughters"Rice, Ann: "Pandora"Wasserstein, Bruce: "Big Deal"Wilson, Edward O.: "Consilience"
This book for the blind is offered in Original or Unified English Braille.What is Original Braille?What is Unified English BrailleFormat Original Contracted Braille - $31.95Unified English Braille - $34.95Original Uncontracted Braille - $42.95Unified Uncontracted Braille - $46.95Shipping: FREE From our Production Plant Continue Shopping Product Features Product DescriptionAsk a Question?Product Features Package Weight: about 3.3 pounds.Product DescriptionMaybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher. Someone older who understood you when you were young and searching, who helped you see the world as a more profound place, and gave you advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of your mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift to the world.Ask a Question About this Product(From the Self-Help Books shelf.)
Not that Albom noticed, until the day when, at 37, he switched on the television and saw his old college sociology professor, Morris Schwartz, being interviewed about death by Ted Koppel on ''Nightline.'' In his student days at Brandeis University, Albom had considered Schwartz a friend and mentor. It's easy to see why. Schwartz belonged to the counterculture -- he told Albom not to worry about making money, he encouraged him to read Erich Fromm and Martin Buber and to follow his inclination to be a musician, even though Albom senior wanted his son to go into the law. Yet, since graduating, Albom had lost touch with Schwartz and the values he represented. In Albom's words, ''I traded lots of dreams for a bigger paycheck, and I never even realized I was doing it.'' Though Albom had vowed never to work for money and wanted to join the Peace Corps, he had ended up -- in his account -- materialistic and spiritually shallow, leading the round-the-clock life of a successful journalist.
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