Cheer up, only 28 days until spring "officially" arrives. Less than a month until the frozen tundra that has become our homes begins to recede, and, if we are very lucky, we may finally get to see some green.

You remember green, don't you?

This past weekend, My body finally gave in to the viruses that have been going around, and I spent the entire weekend in four hour increments waiting to take my next dose of Tylenol to relieve my fever and body aches. Nothing quite like sweating in your bed when it's below zero outside.

The fever broke on Sunday night. I guess I had the "work friendly" version of the flu that robs you of a weekend and allows you to return to work on Monday. For those of you struggling to get through this, I advise lots of water, Vitamin C, sleep when you can and find something to take your mind away from your body.

All this month, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), one of my favorite satellite channels, has been running films that either earned Academy Awards or were nominated for Academy Awards. They call it their 31 Days of Oscar, and it's a good time to have a digital video recorder (DVR).

During this weekend, I watched some movies I had seen before, as well as some that I hadn't seen. After watching the PBS documentary by Ken Burns on World War II, watching John Wayne's "Sands of Iwo Jima" and "They Were Expendable" with John Wayne, Robert Montgomery and Ward Bond about the PT boats, were much more relevant. "Sands of Iwo Jima" was one of the few movies that John Wayne died in. I had a Social Studies teacher in high school who would always ask us to name the movies that "The Duke" died in, and I haven't been able to remember them all. "The Cowboys," "The Shootist," "The Alamo," and "Reap the Wild Wind" are the titles that come to mind, but I may have missed one. Any help?

I watched a film I had never seen before: "Amistad," made in 1997 by Steven Spielberg. It's a period film, based on a true story, a little known chapter in our history. La Amistad was a Spanish slave ship that the slaves escaped and revolted, brutally killing all but two members of the crew during an Atlantic crossing in 1839. The Africans directed the Spanish to take them home, but they end up in America.

They are imprisoned as runaway slaves and become pawns in a high stakes battle between numerous political factions, both in America and internationally. They don't speak English, and it isn't until abolitionists hire a lawyer that figures out what language they are speaking and finds an interpreter that their story can be told.

The Africans were kidnapped illegally in Sierra Leone, where slavery was illegal, then brought to a facility where they were sold to the Spanish. The case is made that they were not slaves at all, rather free citizens of another country.

After winning in the state court, President Martin Van Buren, in the midst of a reelection campaign, pulls the judge and replaces him with a second judge that upholds the initial verdict.

The federal government, seeking to soothe relations with Spain and keep a lid on the gathering anti-slavery movement in America, chooses to appeal to the Supreme Court, where eight of the nine justices are slaveholders. At this point, the abolitionists turn to former President John Quincy Adams, played wonderfully by Anthony Hopkins, to argue their case.

Did you know that John Quincy Adams is the only former president that was elected to Congress? Can you imagine any of our recent presidents serving in any elected office?

But I digress... Hopkins gives an Oscar nominated performance. His arguments before the Supreme Court are eloquent and stirring. When I watch films like this, I mourn the loss of our language.

The court finds 8-1 in favor of the Africans, who return home to find their nation in civil war. I highly recommend the movie, even after my fever broke.

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.