APPENDICES THE BIOGRAPHY OF MITCH ALBOM
Mitch Albom was born in New Jersey in 1958, the second of three
children. He grew up loving music and taught himself to play piano. In fact,
throughout his teenage years, he played in bands. Albom graduated high school
after his junior year and then attended Brandeis University in Waltham,
Massachusetts, where he majored in Sociology. After graduation, he continued to
explore the world and his love of music, performing in Europe and the United
States. However, while living in New York in his 20s, Mitch took an interest in
journalism and volunteered to work for a local weekly paper, the Queens Tribune.
This piqued his interest in the craft, so he attended graduate school, earning a
Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism,
followed by an MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.
Never forgetting his musical roots, he paid part of his tuition by working as a
piano player. Following his academic career, Albom took on full-time writing,
Sports Illustrated and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He moved to Detroit in 1985,
where he was a sports writer for the Detroit Free Press. He was able to use his
talents in multiple forms of media, working in newspapers, radio, and television.
He currently hosts a daily talk show on radio show and appears regularly on
ESPN's Sports Reporters and SportsCenter. Albom, who married Janine Sabino in
1995, is the author of four novels. Three of them have been turned into TV
movies, including Tuesdays with Morrie, which was produced by Oprah Winfrey
in 1999.
Career
Mitch Albom started S.A.Y. (Super All Year) Detroit in 2006, as a way
of combating homelessness in Detroit. Since then, the charity has raised close to
$1 million, all of it distributed or ere-marked to make life easier and more
productive for the city's most needy. At Albom's insistence, no salaries or
expenses are paid from the funds raised. Albom is an internationally renowned
and best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, and radio and
television broadcaster. His books have collectively sold over 26 million copies
worldwide; have been published in 50 territories and 42 languages around the
world; and have been made into Emmy Award-winning and critically-acclaimed
television movies. He writes a regular syndicated column through the Detroit Free
Press, hosts a syndicated radio show, and appears regularly on ESPN's "The
Sports Reporters."In 1995, he re-encountered Morrie Schwartz, a former college
professor who was dying of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. His visits
Mitch away from sports writing and began his career as an internationally
recognized author. "Tuesdays with Morrie" is the chronicle of Mitch's time spent
with his beloved professor. As a labor of love, Mitch wrote the book to help pay
Morrie's medical bills. It spent four years on the New York Times Bestseller
listand is now the most successful memoir ever published. His first novel, "The
Five People You Meet in Heaven" is the most successful US hardcover first adult
novel ever. For One More Day, his most recent, debuted at No.1 on the New
York Times Bestseller List and spent nine months on the list. In October 2006,
"For One More Day" was the first book chosen by Starbucks in the newly
launched Book Break Program, which also helped fight illiteracy by donating one
dollar from every book sold to Jumpstart. Albom wrote the screenplay for both
For One More Day and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and is an
established playwright, having authored numerous pieces for the theater,
including the off-Broadway version of Tuesdays With Morrie (co-written with
Jeffrey Hatcher) which has seen over seventy productions across the US and
Canada.
THE SUMMARY OF NOVEL
The First Phone Call from Heaven is a novel that tells the story of the
romance, history, and beliefs. From the novel by Mitch Albom, this deals with the
sense of desire to Debbie an expert with a phone that his voice is sorely missed
every day. The novel tells the story of a small town of coldwater, which
geographically is located north of certain regions of Canada, and only a few
miracle occurs where some of the people who live in the small town of first got a
call from heaven and this phone came every Friday. In this novel is told also about
two years before the invention of the telephone, Alexander Bell shout into the ear
of the dead. Eardrums and bones related, cut from a beautiful corpse by fellow
Bell, so that the Bell could learn how the eardrum siphon votes. He taped a straw
on the ear that, put a dark piece of glass at the other end, and put a funnel on the
outside. When Bell shouted into the funnel, the corpse suffered eardrum
vibrations. Therefore, the people who died skull conjures up that inspiration. So,
arguably the dead have become part of the phone, two years before anyone ever
see his. The novel also tells the story of the trust the community around with other
people about a call from heaven which resulted in uproar as there is one of the
recipients of a phone call from heaven claimed that he actually lied there is no call
from heaven that he earned. Recognition that keeps people coming to coldwater in
doubt of a call from heaven. In addition to all the happenings that sully was the air
force who is now a reporter finding out all the truth about the call from heaven
through Elias and archives in store by Maria. At the end of the story the novel
happen love story between Jack and Tess then expression searches of Sully about
the yakinannya against the phone-call from heaven. And terbongkarnya the secret
when sully its supposed innocence on Genesis f-18 aircraft crashed. all that in find
out by sully on the phone-call from the paradise with regards to past sully when
he is still in the air force. Sully proves that a call from heaven is the manipulation
THE LETTER FROM HORACE TO SULLY
Dear Mr. Harding,
I beg your forgiveness.
My real name,as you now likely know,is Elliot Gray. I am the father of
Elliot Gray Jr., my only child,with whom you are also tragically familiar.
On the day of your plane crash,it was I who destroyed the flight
recordings at Lynton Airfield,a relatively simple task for someone with my
background.
I did so in a foolish attempt to protect my son.
We had been estranged for many years. His mother died young,and he
did not approve of my occupation.In hindsight,I cannot blame him.It was
clandestine,deceitful work that often took me away for long periods of time.I did
it in the name of country and government,two things that mean surprisingly little
to me as I write this.
That morning,because he refused to take my calls,I arrived unannounced
at Elliot’s home. I had come to settle affairs with him.I was sixty-eight years old,
and had been diagnosed with an incurable cancer. It was time to resolve our
Unfortunately,Elliot did not receive me well.We argued. It is a father’s
naive belief that he can always make things right in the end. I could not. Instead,
he rushed out agitated and angry.An hour later,he gave you the wrong clearance.
On such moments do lives turn.
I believe it was my presence that put him in a distracted state.I knew my
son. He had his weaknesses. But his work,like mine,was impeccable. I had driven
to the tower to hand him a letter that contained my final wishes. I could have left
it at his home,but I suppose,deep down, I wanted to see him once more. I arrived
in time to hear the faraway sound of your jet crashing.
There are no words to descri be that moment.My training prepares me for
controlled behavior in chaotic situations. But I’m afraid my son panicked. I found
him alone in the tower’s control booth,yelling,“What did I do? What did I do?” I
told him to lock the door and let me handle things as I moved quickly to erase all
data—thinking,like an operative,that with no flight recordings,he could not be
proven at fault.
For some reason,as I did this,he fled the facility. To this day I do not
know why. That’s the thing when people leave us too suddenly,isn’t it? We
always have so many questions.
In the confusion that followed,I left the tower undetected,another thing I
am trained to do.But after learning of Elliot’s car crash, his death, and your wife
from a world of checks and balances. My son,I am responsible for. You and your
wife were strangers,crossfire victims.I became desperate to make amends.
A few days later,at Elliot’s funeral,I witnessed friends I didn’t know he
had.They spoke lovingly about his belief in a better world after this one.They said
he trusted in the grace of heaven. I never knew he felt that way.
For the first time in my life,I wept for my child.
I came to Col dwater to settle my debts—to him and to you.With access
to your military records,I was able to study your background.I tracked your return
here,how you’d moved your son in with your parents as you dutifully visited your
wife in the hospital.When I learned of the charges you faced,I felt grave concern,
knowing no evidence would be found to defend your actions. The ongoing case
meant Elliot’s death was constantly in the news.My conscience found no rest.
I have always been a man of action,Mr.Harding. Knowing my life was
drawing to a close,I purchased a nearby home,took on a new identity (again,a
simple matter with my government background),and,by fortuitous accident,met
Sam Davidson,who was hoping to retire from his life’s work at the funeral home.
As you approach death,its mystery takes on a mournful appeal.I bought an interest
in his business,and discovered that the grieving of others gave me comfort.I
listened to their stories. Listened to their regrets. Nearly all of them had a single
desire—the same desire,I suppose,that led me to the airfield that day: to speak
I decided,for a handful of them, to make it so. To make my last act one
of empathy,and perhaps give you and your son something hopeful after your
wife’s passing. The rest—how I did it,the eight voices,the timing, the details—I
am fairly sure you will have figured out by this point. Do not count on discovering
much evidence. My former employers will cover any important tracks. When you
do what I did for so long,you are never truly retired; as my identity could be an
embarrassment to them,they will reduce my significance and ensure I remain
mostly a mystery. But I am sharing this with you, Mr. Harding,because to you I
can never repay my debt. You may think someone with my background would
have no belief in God. That would be inaccurate. It was with fierce belief in
God’s support that I justi fied my actions all those years.
I did what I did in Coldwater as penance. I will die,as all of us do,without
knowing the outcome of my works. But even if my methods are revealed,people
will believe what they choose to believe. And if a few more souls have come to
faith because of these calls, perhaps the Lord will show megrace.
Either way,by the time you read this,the mystery of heaven will besolved
for me. If I could truly contact you and tell you of its existence,I would.That
would be the smallest of debts I could repay.
Instead,I end this as I began it,asking your forgiveness.Perhaps,soon, I
will be able to seek the same from my son.
Good-bye—
