When the demented character in Caine Mutiny, played by Humphrey Bogart, jangled metal balls in his pocket as a sign of craziness, it was so convincing that people believed this incident was the origination of this idiom*.
During the last session with my physical therapist, she inquired if I had any marbles. I tried to reassure myself her question was not the same as, “Have you lost your marbles?”
It wasn’t. Picking marbles up with my toes, she explained, was a technique to strengthen my feet.
I hate to be the one to break it to you but marbles are not that easy to find in the twenty-first century. After multiple phone calls and ten minutes of actual store shopping, I settled on a pack of plastic “marbles” from Target.
My spirit, dampened by these ugly plastic orange and blue objects and humbled by the the exercises difficulty, was ready to throw in the towel. Then I spotted a tiny black-box advertisement in the free weekly paper: The First Annual Des Moines Marble Show!
I knew I had to get there if it cost me an arm and a leg!
Last week I promised a post on marbles and diversity. Diversity is on my mind because of the “Culturally Competent & Ethical Social Work Practice with LGBTQ** Individuals” workshop you heard about last week.
Lest this post become too long and burdensome and I lose marble toe time (also different from losing my marbles), I will close for this week and ask you to create a connection between marbles and diversity. If this sounds like a contest – you are correct!
The prize for the most creative answer: my copy of The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa by Michael Kimmelman. Michael lectured at the Des Moines Art Center last year and charmed my socks off. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak or read his book, it will be time well spent. My favorite chapter: “The Art of Collecting Lightbulbs.” It’s a great book and I’m eager to share it with one of you.
Email me your entry before 10-17-2013. The author of this blog (me) will judge the entries and contact the winner. If you don’t have an idea how to combine diversity and marbles and you still want to enter the contest, email me and let me know you want the book. If there are no entries, the first email wins!
Thanks for exploring the marble mystery – Nicky Mendenhall
*Idiom – words that make no literal sense but strung together have meaning. That’s my definition – you might want to look it up for yourself. For extra credit – find the other idioms in this post!
**Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning