Lane J. Lubell Graduates

Am I proud of Lane graduating High School?

No!

 

I understand if that strikes some as an odd thing to say, it's just that I never had any reason to contemplate the possibility that he would fail to graduate. As I have explained to Lane frequently, this is perhaps the downside of possessing a record of high achievement - expectations tend to get rather lofty. Sure I get that there is something inherently unfair about me suspending the hoops so high off the ground- But damn it, you keep jumping through them.

I don't want anyone to think that I'm not extraordinary proud of Lane, that I don't get how hard he works, or that I don't appreciate his accomplishments. While I am in the habit of "reminding him" of items that he, or I, put on his "To do list," I do also write him lengthy texts filled with glowing praise. When I take issue with his overly brief responses, he will reply "Dad, you're the only one that sends an 800 word text."

OK, so getting a diploma I took as a given, but I am proud of how well he did, and how that success opened the doors to Northwestern. I'm in awe of the dedication to complete, and the caliper of writing in his 3 act play. I am genuinely impressed by the laser-like focus he direct towards his films and other writing projects. I do understand the daunting task of opening Avid Media and needing to find, match and sync several hundred audio clips to an equal number of video clips, knowing that upon completion, hundreds of hours of editing await. I was thrilled watching him and his friend Hunter perform songs at Old Town School of Folk Saturday night, great job Lane finding a woman that can really sing.

But what might impresses me most is Lane's sense of empathy and loyalty, it is sincere, and I have no question that it explains his ability to surround himself with such a great group of friends.
One more thing: I cannot adequately convey how much happiness he brings to my life each and every day. He is a best friend, an artistic collaborator, a person that never disappoints and one that I know will never stop making me proud.

Now I can go home and get upset that he didn't put back my WaWa and overdrive pedals.

 Ed and Steven drove in in order to celebrate Lane's graduation, I know Lane appreciated them being able to watch him step forward to the next stage of his life.

Lane is going to miss the comfort of having an apartment to hang-out in each day after school. 

When my and dad gone most of the winter, he had the place to himself, when they were home he had the joy of their company.  

Hunter Dunn sings at Old Town School with Lane.

Free time is not something Lane has much of, particularly during the school year. Teachers at Latin had no qualms about sending students home each night with many hours of work, his commitments to the theater department also swallowed large blocks of his time, and then there is my propensity to swoop in and lay-claim to most every remaining moment. Despite the precious few unchecked boxed on his daily schedule, he manages to find time to write a play, compose and post film reviews to his website and consistently have at least two films in some state of production. But this post was about his musical side.

Lane, finds small holes that he fills by moving from one instrument to the next, playing and writing songs for the pure enjoyment as well as for possible use in connection to some future larger project.   Of his many talents, putting things away is not on the list; so it is common to come home a see the his ukulele next to the piano with a tambourine on the floor within taping distance of the stool. Guitars left plugged into amps, a boom mic stand set by the drum kit. It is possible that Lane's greatest single gift  is the ability to find and attract talented people to work with him. He has been able to gather talented people to work of his films, and in this case, an amazing singer that makes anything he did sound great.

 .

Hunter, is going into her junior year at Latin, but already has a smooth sophistication to her singing often associated with someone several years older. Her personality is even sweeter than her voice.   

Mother's Day 2014

For many years we have established a Mother's Day tradition of heading over to Mom and Dad's condo for brunch, then a walk to and through the park. A rational person could question why our Mothers Day celebration centers around a plan which involves my mom doing a great deal of work, but families operate more by tradition than by logic.

I'm not sure how this got started, but the number of gift precipitants exceeds the notion that one buys a present for your mother, if fact it has expanded to purchasing gifts for every family member that carries a double X chromosome. I would love to say that I begin searching for the perfect gift in January, but the truth is I at best procrastinate, at worst totally forget. With my mind as sharp as Patrick's from Sponge Bob, the job of selecting and wrapping presents falls on my wonderful caring wife Ilene. A woman who is filled with the best of possible intentions, she is also over-whelmed with long lists of multi-part tasks piled onto her desk, and email in-box from work, while simultaneously having a husband and son, both asking her if she can find where we left our ADHD meds.

The typical level of chaos that comprises our daily lives has been sent into over-drive as Lane's last year of high school comes raining down, puddles forming at our feet. In addition to the deadlines that come free with graduation a few weeks away, Lane, true-to-form, has tacked on additional work including, rewrites, casting, rehearsals and staging of his full length play, Film Festival, completing the editing for the 12 grade film banner, editing a ruff-draft of his 30 minutes film "Coming Home" and performing a song with a friend from school. On Wednesday our dear fiend Stacy asks if we would attend a gala that her husband Scott was generous enough to purchase two tables for, but too busy at work to arrange to fill. It was so kind of them to ask, and we so enjoy spending time together, that of course we said yes. A new tux purchase later, we were ready to arrive; albeit 30 minutes late. Luckily Ilene had the good idea to shop for mother's day gifts at their silent auction.

Sunday we found our way to Mother's day brunch - late, but bearing gifts. We got to meet the Kirsch's newest addition, a fit-in-your-purse type dog as cute as can be, just like Kimberly's dog Georgia.

Here are a few pictures.

      

Chicagoland High School Film Festival 2014

05/16/2014 UPDATE
HAND SPRINGS TOOK FIRST PLACE.

I am proud to say that Lane's short film "Hand Springs" has been accepted as a finalist in the Chicagoland High School Film Festival.
Needless to say, this would not have been possible without the performances of Erika Marks, Riley Nelson and Cullen Welch. They put in a lot of time and dedication, for no compensation, even arriving on "The Set" for 7:30am shoots on some of the very last summer days before the school year started; giving up what otherwise would have been their last opportunity to sleep-in.

Thanks to the Max McMahon and family for putting up with Lane "Kicking them out of their own home"; so he can shoot a few scenes there.

The 2014 Chicagoland High School Film Festival will be held at the Latin School of Chicago’s Wrigley Theatre (59 W. North Blvd), on  Friday, May 16th, from 6:30-9:00 pm.  Created by and for Latin School students in 2002 as Zwinglifest, the event has since expanded to include students from both public and private schools, giving young filmmakers the opportunity to share their expressive voice while gaining insight from an expert panel of some of the best in the business. 

PREVIOUS WINNER INCLUDE STUDENTS FROM:
 Benito Juarez High School/ Street Level Youth Media
 Francis W. Parker School
 Glenbrook North High School
 Hinsdale Central High School
 Lake Forest High School
 Latin School of Chicago
 New Trier Township High School
 Palatine High School

In past years there have been some very talented filmmakers, each creating impressive work resulting from up to hundreds of hours of effort, making this something worth attending.

The Laramie Project,

It's had to believe, but this will be Lane's last performance in a play at Latin (Well unless you count "The Morgans," the play he wrote that will have a staged reading next month).
Because I was getting a bit sentimental, I decided to design this poster to have something to look at to remember.

• The Laramie Project, 7 p.m., Wrigley Theatre, Latin School of Chicago

..... and now the festive meal.

Passover Memories

We have a tendency to accelerate through the Seder at a speed equal to the religious level of the people attending. If I was better at math, I assume there is a simple formula for predicting the duration of the service providing you knew the variable of the expectation of the most religious
adult attending.    

The Passover holiday will never be the same.

To answer the above formula, Ed would push for "More" rather than less, but always did so
with a smile and a collections of jokes.
 

To anyone watching who are not Jewish-No a napkin is not a new item of religious significance
to Jews, it's presence is the result of discovering, a moment before sitting down, that we can't remember where we put the Yamakas.   

Latin Class of 2014

Latin School, as a part of celebrating their 125th year, commissioned a company to come out and take a photo of all of the kids and teachers, K-12, to line-up to spell out the 125. The photographer made use of a large Cherry-picker to get to the height needed to get the shoot. But then they realized that the process of getting some 1,200 people to crowd together in carefully designated positions, dictated by several math teachers capable of factoring in perspective, was an event worthy of documentation. Based on two previous, unsolicited, short videos of parent "Pot-Luck parties," coupled with the understanding that Lane knows how to make movies; the task fell to us to make the video.

The head of the committee emailed me an example of a college that had spelled-out their age, and was asked to "Make something like that." The heart of the video was time lapse footage condensing the event to three minutes. That seemed like a logical approach which led to several issues, the need to obtain a camera that was designed to shoot time-lapse, the need to guess how long the process would take in an attempt to select the best interval to compress the action; and finally, how with my pronounced fear of heights was I going to shoot from a 60 foot elevation. Lucky for me, Lane had the answer to all three questions; he used a GoPro camera to shoot time-lapse of a construction site while at an internship with a video production studio; he calculated the interval needed, and he was willing to go up in that cherry-picker. The only thing was, as a student, he needed to be IN the photo; so he had to set up the camera, confirm it was working correctly, then ride back to the ground to be a member of the class. So we decided that I would be down on the nice safe ground with the Canon 7D on a tripod,he would set the GoPro and help in shooting the kids arriving, and being arranged, including close-ups,till the moment he had to join the seniors in the photo.

The editing, took a while because of the need to cut 45 minutes of footage from the 7D down to under 3 minutes, That's cutting that involves both aesthetic choices as well as providing a fair distribution of ages and perhaps not cutting the wrong people. This is version of the 125 video Latin has on their website. They made Lane use their fight song instead the better music he had planned- Something about alumni and money. But I understand the difficult nature of being the head of the committee having to please so many people; so the plan was to give them what they wanted. They asked us to help, and after all that the school has done for Lane; we were looking at this as gift, and would cut it anyway they requested.

http://youtu.be/GXcWkngeHPM

Moments after, the plan was to shoot a photo of the senior class. Well, as long as we had the equipment set-up, it seemed natural for Lane and I to shoot a video for the class of 2014. I hope it will be fun for the class of 2014 to see now, and bring back memories years from now, in a way that a single still photo can't match.