Paladin, Chapter 3

EXT. CAMPSITE - NIGHT

PALADIN and POLLYANNA sit by flickering burning camp fire, after having consumed their dinner.  

PALADIN: That was very good what you cooked.  Congratulations.

POLLYANNA: Thanks.

PALADIN: I know from experience how difficult it can be to cook out here in the wild country.

POLLYANNA: You know how to cook?

PALADIN: When I am in San Francisco, I eat well.  Some of the best chefs there are my friends.  I have learned a lot from them.

POLLYANNA: Really?

PALADIN: Really.

POLLYANNA: We should arrive in Windfall by noon tomorrow.  What's your plan?

PALADIN: You introduce me to CHARLES and I'll take care of the rest.  

POLLYANNA: Sounds good...You know, what we did in San Francisco we could do again...right here.  

PALADIN: Let's leave San Francisco back in San Francisco.  We're in wild, dangerous country now and have to pay close attention to what's going on around us.  

POLLYANNA: I don't see anything wild here except the two of us.  I'd like to get wild again with you.  Remember, I'm a desperate woman.

PALADIN: Yes.  I remember well.

There is a noise of two approaching cowboys on horseback.  PALADIN stands up.  The cowboys ride into their camp.

FIRST COWBOY: (to PALADIN) Howdy.

PALADIN: Howdy. 

FIRST COWBOY: Seen your camp fire.  Mind if we warm ourselves a bit?

PALADIN: No.  Come in.

The two scruffy-looking cowboys dismount from their horses and walk over to fire where they warm their hands.

FIRST COWBOY: Gonna be cold tonight, I figger.  

PALADIN: Could be right.

FIRST COWBOY: (to POLLYANNA) Beg pardon, ma'am.  Didn't notice a beautiful woman was here.  You folks married?

POLLYANNA: (smiling) Thanks for the compliment, but we're not married.  What about you, cowboy?

FIRST COWBOY: No, ma'am.  I don't rightly think a good woman would want an ugly buck like me.

POLLYANNA: Oh, I don't know.  With a shave and a haircut, I think you'd look mighty handsome.

Second cowboy laughs.  First cowboy scowls at him.

FIRST COWBOY: Well, now, I might do that first chance I get.

PALADIN: (to POLLYANNA) I think we ought to get some rest now so we can get an early start at sun up.

POLLYANNA: Okay.

FIRST COWBOY: Thanks, folks.  We'll be headin' down the road a piece now.  Thanks for sharin' your fire.

POLLYANNA: You're welcome.

PALADIN nods.  The two cowboys mount their horses and depart the camp.  PALADIN and POLLYANNA prepare their bedding.

PALADIN: Do you flirt with every man you meet?

POLLYANNA: Not every man.

PALADIN: Good to know.

PALADIN is not so sure.

Algebra of Wealth

 One of my father's pearls of wisdom that he passed down to me was "happiness is a well paying job."  I followed his advice and became an accountant.  

On the other hand, I convinced my college roommate Scott to follow his passion (painting) instead of becoming a high earning dentist.  Thus, I knew different than to follow my father's advice...but, I did.

Some time ago, on Michael Smerconish's Saturday morning show on CNN, he interviewed Scott Gallaway, a professor at NYU's Stern School of Business.  He recently wrote a book called Algebra of Wealth.

In the book, Gallaway's focus for young people is “primarily about earning an income — and you’re going to need a decent amount of it.”  Of course, each of us must decide how much of an income is enough.  What life style do we want?

Gallaway writes that you should follow your talent more so than your passion and increase your earning potential where you can. Achieving financial freedom will help eliminate economic anxiety (not earning enough to support your chosen life style).  To him, economic anxiety is our number one problem.

As an example of stupidity in our choices, Gallaway points to the huge amount of people who want to be actors, an industry where almost 99% of whose members earn very little.  Former roommates Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall once had to work at menial jobs to support their ambition to become actors.  Whatever happened to them?

Similar to acting, Scott's chosen field of art is one where it is also difficult to make a living.  I believe he suffered from economic anxiety his whole life.  But, I don't think he regretted his decision to pursue his passion.

Me on the other hand, I followed my father's and Gallaway's advice and I regret doing so.  I wish I had followed my passion, like I advised Scott to do.

In my forty year experience working, my job satisfaction had little to do with the work I was doing.  It had everything to do with the people I was working with.  Did we like, respect and treat each other well...or not?

  

Dan Stulbach

Dan Stulbach, the actor, was born in Brazil in 1969.  He graduated in Social Communication at the Higher School of Advertising and Marketing in Sao Paulo.  There, Dan created a theater group from which he directed shows.  

Later, he lived in San Diego and New York studying English and taking advantage of opportunities to see movies and plays.  Dan bears a resemblance to the American actor Tom Hanks.

I first saw him in the Brazilian telenovela, Mulheres Apaixonades (Women in Love), where Dan portrayed Marcos, a man who occasionally beat his wife with a tennis racquet.

Several months ago, we learned that Dan had rented an apartment in our building in Sao Paulo.  Cristina and I were anxious see the celebrity in our midst.  I saw him a couple of times.

Last month I was standing by the elevator in the building's garage waiting for Cristina to park the car when a man approached me.  I told him in Portuguese that I was waiting for my wife.  He noticed my foreign accent and asked me where I was from.  I asked him where he thought I was from.  He guessed Germany.  I corrected him.  

When Cristina arrived, she engaged the man in an extended conversation.  When she finally entered the elevator with me, I asked whom she was talking to.  Dan Stulbach.  I had not recognized him in the somewhat darkened garage.

The very next day, Cristina and I were on our way to our local cinema to see the film, Ainda Estou Aqui (I'm Still Here) starring Fernanda Torres.  On the steps in front of our building, we ran into Dan again.  

This time we engaged in a conversation with him in both Portuguese and English.  It turns out all three of us saw Tom Hanks in his Broadway play, Lucky Guy.  Dan got a chance to briefly meet Tom backstage.

Very soon after the movie started we were shocked to see our new friend Dan was in Ainda Estou Aqui as a family friend (Baby) of the protagonist (Eunice).  When does that ever happen...to see a person on the street...and then in a movie on the same day?

Very recently at the Golden Globe's award show, Fernanda Torres won the Best Actress Award in a Drama.  I thought of the scene she had, one on one, with our friend, Dan Stulbach.  

    

Mrs. Tootsie Doubtfire

Tootsie is a 1982 American satirical romantic comedy film directed by Sydney Pollack.  It stars Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray and Geena Davis. 

In the film, Michael (Hoffman) is a talented actor with a reputation for being professionally difficult to work with.  In order to get a job acting, he adopts a female persona (Tootsie), the opposite of his male persona.

Mrs. Doubtfire is a 1993 comedy.  It stars Robin Williams, Sally Field and Pierce Brosnan.  

In the film, Daniel (Williams) is being divorced by his wife (Field).  As a devoted father, he yearns to remain close to his children.  Because of this, Daniel adopts a female persona (Mrs. Doubtfire) and lands the job as his children's nanny.

Neither Tootsie nor Mrs. Doubtfire were actually female.  They simply adopted a female role, both acting and dressing as such.  During the Twentieth Century, such people were referred to as transvestites, now replaced by the term transgender.

From 2014 to 2015, Rachel Dolezal was the president of a local chapter of the NAACP (Spokane, WA).  In spite of the fact that both of her parents were White, Rachel "identified as a Black woman."

Rachel was forced to resign as president.  Apparently, you can't simply identify as Black...you must be Black.

William Thomas was born male in 1999.  In 2019, he decided to identify as a woman and adopted the name Lia Thomas.  Lia then switched from the men's swimming team (at the University of Pennsylvania) to the women's swimming team.  

William/Lia went from being a mediocre swimmer on the men's team to a NCAA champion on the women's team.  Apparently, you can simply identify as a woman (transgender) to compete as a woman...even if you are a biological male, with all its advantages.