"Leeza" Show Photos

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I was going through a box of old photos and found these. Can you guess which stories from this blog these photos are affiliated with? I had completely forgotten I had these because otherwise I would have posted them on the blog along with the stories I wrote several months ago.

Who is that lady in black with "salt and pepper" hair? Can you guess?

If your response was: "Hey, that's Mrs. Jordan, your fifth grade teacher who you surprised on the "Leeza" show!", that means you've read the now-famous stories about the impact she made on my life so many years ago. To refresh your memory of one of them, go here here.

The young girl standing next to Leeza is the daughter of Mrs. Jordan who accompanied her on the flight to Hollywood. Her job was not only to keep her company but to keep her mother guessing why she was coming out to the show. After it was over, the three of us (Mrs. Jordan, her daughter and I) went out to dinner at Universal Studios and caught up on 30 years worth of stuff. We had a great time. She sent me a thank you card in the mail, which I still have. That was in 1998. Mrs. Jordan is now enjoying retirement. We still keep in touch by email.

If you're new to this blog and have no clue who this special lady is and what she did to cause such a powerful ripple effect in a little deaf boy's life, then may I suggest you grab your favorite beverage and carve out a few minutes of your time for storytime reading? If you happen to be a documentary filmmaker or know someone who is, wouldn't it be cool if the stories you're about to read was turned into a documentary for PBS or Discovery Channel or even PAX Television? Yeah! How cool would that be? Here they are:

1. Adversity in Elementary School
2. Three Words
3. The Bully
4. Leeza Show

P.S. FYI, I now have a keynote speech called "That's Right Stephen!" about the impact Mrs. Jordan made with those three words uttered so many years ago in fifth grade. You can read the description of that speech here.