Message in a Bottle : choosing
between the past and the future
by Katie Galley
wire services editor
Message in a Bottle is a dramatic
movie about an experience that
touches everyone at one time or an
other: letting go. The movie opens
with Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright
Penn) going on a solitary vacation
near the eastcoast shoreline. While
running on the beach to forget some
of her recent problems (a divorce from
a a cheating husband), Theresa finds
a bottle in the sand with a mysterious
letter in it. The letter is addressed to
Catherine, and signed only by the let
ter G. The typed message is that of a
human revealing his soul to another,
talking about the circumstances that
took Catherine away from G. The
words are straight from the author’s
heart and immediately touch Theresa
so deeply that she keeps the letter and
shows it to all or her friends at the
Chicago Tribune, where she works.
The next day she finds the letter
printed in the newspaper with a plea
to respond to the contents.
Thousands of responses come pour
ing in to the newspaper about the let
ter. Most say how touching the letter
Dr. Juan Fernandez Jim6nez is a professor ol
Behrend. He was born in Escanuela, Spain.
Business, Science & Humanities
is, but two people say that they have
found similar letters, and they send
in copies of them. Theresa recognizes
the stationery immediately. She then
embarks on a journey to find G, tell
ing everyone that the story simply
intrigues her, but she secretly wants
to meet this man. After days of re
search, Theresa locates the address of
the man and is quickly on a plane to
the Outer Banks, North Carolina.
In North Carolina she tracks down
G, who we now know is Garret Blake
(Kevin Costner), and convinces him
to take her sailing. Garret tells
Theresa that sailing and restoring old
boats are all that he does. He tells her
that he once planned on selling his
own boats, but since his wife
Catherine died he can’t do it, as it was
their dream together. All Garret does
now is sail and take care of his father.
Dodge (Paul Newman).
Slowly Garret starts to loosen up
around Theresa and she starts to fall
in love with him, but Garret can’t
seem to let go of Catherine. A week
of fun times seems to have Garret fall
ing in love with Theresa, though.
Theresa eventually has to return to
Chicago, and after a passionate good
Open to ALL business, science and humanities students
bye Garret promises to call her soon.
Weeks go by and she hears nothing
from him. Disappointed she tells her
self that it’s over. Then one day, Gar
ret calls her out of the blue and says
that he is coming to Chicago to visit
her and her son.
Garret tells Theresa that he wants to
be with her all the time, but that he
could never live in Chicago, he be
longs near the sea. Theresa tells him
that she thinks there is more than that
keeping him in North Carolina, it’s
Catherine. Garret returns to his home
but Theresa says that whenever he is
ready to leave the past behind, she will
be there for him. In North Carolina
Dodge yells at his son: “You choose
past or the future. Pick one and
stick with it.”
After months of contemplation Gar
ret makes his choice and goes for a
sail. For the rest of the story, either
go see the movie or read the book by
Nicholas Sparks. This film is not just
for girls, though. Quoting a guy that
saw the movie, “It was a chick flick,
yeah, but the plot was great, and Paul
Newman was hysterical, I wish he
were my dad.”
An interview with Behrend’s
own Dr.
by Mike Coursey
staff writer
Dr. Juan Fernandez Jimenez is a
professor of Spanish at Penn State-
Behrend. He has taken a group of
Penn State students on a spring break
trip to his home country of Spain last
year. He will be taking another group
again this March. I recently sat down
and asked Dr. Fernandez a few ques
tions.
Q: Dr. Fernandez, tell me where
are you from.
A: 1 am from Escanuela, Spain.
Q: What was the size of your fam
ily?
A: We had a big family, I was the
youngest of five children. One passed
away a week after birth. I have one
sister and two brothers.
Q: What was it like growing up in
Spain?
A: I grew up in post Civil War Spain.
We had some "lean times,” but we
managed. I went to elementary school
until age ten, at age eleven I studied
in Jaen.
at Penn State
Q: What languages do you know?
CAREER FAIR
Thursday, February 25,1999
12:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Reed Union Building Commons
(freshman through senior)
Full Time Jobs Summer Jobs Internships
Visit the CDC for more complete information.
visit our webpage
www.pserie.psu.edu/career/bfair.htm
Features
Robin Wright Penn stars as Theresa Osborne, a recently divorced mother who searches for the author to
a message she finds in a bottle signed only by the letter “G" in Message in a Bottle.
Juan Fernandez Jimenez
A: I learned Latin, Greek and French.
I was fluent in Latin and French be
fore I studied English at age 18.
Q: What were some of your hob
bies?
A: I played soccer on a team in Jaen.
I also played ping-pong and handball.
Q: Where did you continue your
education at?
A: I went to preparatory school at a
diocesan seminary, a boarding school,
and I didn’t get home as much.
Q: What kind of business was your
family in?
A: My family owned some olive or
chards, my father was one of six
founders of an olive oil factory.
Q: Where did you pursue your
undergraduate schooling?
A: I went to the University of
Granada, Jaen campus. This is where
I majored in Elementary Education.
French and Business Administration,
with a emphasis on tourist adminis
tration.
Q: Growing up under Franco’s
rule, did you notice anything re
strictive in college?
A: I didn’t notice much of anything,
but there was censorship in the news-
papers
Q: When did you first go to
Madrid?
A: I first went to Madrid when I was
18, really big city.
Q: Did you go to a lot of bullfights
as a child?
A: My father look me to a few, but I
did not understand at first why the bull
had to be killed.
Q: What is your favorite memory
of Spain?
A: My hometown of Escanuela.
Q: What led you to the decision to
move to the United States? - ‘
A: In 1967 I studied at the Univer
sity of Lyon, in France. This is where
I met a group of American students,
who became good friends of mine. I
went later to visit them in North Caro
lina. In 1970 I began teaching Span
ish in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
Q: Where did you work on your
masters and Ph.D.?
A: I went to the University of North
Carolina, at Chapel Hill, where I pur
sued my masters and Ph.D. I later
taught at the University of North
Thursday, February 18, 1999- The Behrend College Beacon -pog e 9
Carolina, then at North Carolina State
University.
Q: When did you come to Penn
State?
A: I came to Erie in 1979, where I
met my wife; Guadalupe Alvear-
Madrid. We have a daughter together,
Ana Catalina Ferndndez-Alvear.
Q: How often do you get back to
Spain?
A: I get back at least once or twice a
year.
Q: I noticed when I was in Spain
last March, with you and the group,
that most of the meals take two to
three hours, why is that?
A: Because in our culture, every meal
is a celebration, we don’t like to rush
through our meals, like eating fast
food.
Dr. Fernandez teaches Spanish
and Iberian History at Penn State-
Erie, his office is in the Academic
Building, and he will once again take
a group of college students on another
tour of Spain this March. Good luck
Dr. Ferndndez, and Buenos Dias!
HP*** I Bk
I