If desired, you will be offered the opportunity to provide feedback to PBS/POV about the film immediately after the screening.

It was a beautiful Saturday and I wanted some “me” time. There’s this popular restaurant that I had never tried, which everyone seems to love, so I decided to try it. Now, let me say this, I am not one to really go places by myself, first of all because I don’t like eating in public (I feel that I will be too messy) and secondly I fear being awkward, but this day I decided to step out my comfort zone as it seems I have done so often lately. I was really tired of the house and felt like I deserved some time to myself and what better way to do it than with the promise of delicious food at a place I’d never been?

So I get inside the restaurant and the first thing that happens is that they don’t know where to seat me. All the tables inside the restaurant are high ones or are on a raised platform with no wheelchair access. The greeter and wait staff talk amongst themselves, and it is decided that the best place for me is on the patio. Wishing to avoid trouble, I agreed. The table is prepared so I follow the lady and park my chair in a nice spot as close to the wall as possible. I immediately feel awkward, asking myself why I had chosen to put myself in this situation. I fight off the feeling and proceed to order drink and food. While waiting on the food, I get so nervous that I realize mother nature is calling and to be honest, I was scared. This was my first time out and about alone, and now I must figure out what to do and quick. I stop one of the workers and ask for the way to the restroom. She looks around puzzled and says, “You can go this way,” and leads me through the door, back near the kitchen and around the corner. I get to the restroom and the first thing I look at is the door…

STOP!  Imagine going into a restroom stall, locking the latch and then when you get ready to leave you realize the lock is jammed. What do you do? This is a thought I have almost every time I go somewhere, I obviously cannot open a door for myself, so when I go to a public place I immediately have this fear and anxiety of being unable to get out of a restroom and of being locked in.

Anyway, I notice that the door is really fancy and heavy looking and the lady shows me in and is about to leave when I frantically stop her explaining that I either needed to have the door propped open or I needed someone to stay with me to let me out. She stayed. She wasn’t excited at all and in a sense I can’t blame her but what was I to do? My greatest fear is being locked in a space and not being able to get out and trust me, I can’t scream. My only other option was to wait in the bathroom until someone else came in to hold the door for me to exit, which could have been quite some time.

While having lunch out is a simple everyday thing to most people, it became an obstacle for me. It was a part of life I had not experienced and wanted to have access to.  If buildings have barriers to my access and wait staff are not educated on the needs of those in chairs, this tends to make me feel that I am being disqualified from having an experience non-disabled people have as often as they wish.

Segrest is a 15-year veteran of The Birmingham News, covering primarily college athletics and professional baseball. A Montgomery native, he previously worked at the Nashville Banner, Decatur Daily and Alabama Journal. Segrest has won numerous national and state awards, including Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year and the Herby Kerby, Alabama’s top state award, twice.

If you are unable to attend the event, but would like a signed copy, please contact us and we will be happy to reserve one for you, 821-5550.

Now I sit here and that just weighs heavily on me but in a positive light. She is right. My grades are important but they are not everything. I shouldn’t get so stressed that I’m paranoid. I can honestly just do my best and everything else will fall into place the way it’s supposed to. I’m more than just someone who uses a wheelchair and my grades aren’t the only way of proving that. I’m a student, writer, listener and friend. My chair doesn’t take away the many hats that I wear. I can be a smart student, great writer, wonderful listener and best friend without worrying about what others think I’ll be due to my chair. I know that this won’t be something I’ll adapt to doing overnight but it’ll definitely be something to take into future semesters as summer school approaches soon. I’m not the best math person in the world and I’m not perfect but I will be the best listener and friend that I can be.

The amazing thing about life is that one specific thing doesn’t define you. You can have things in life that are important to you but that doesn’t mean that it should frustrate you. You simply have to try and do the best you can and let the other parts of your personality help bring out the best you. Be the best you, excel at whatever it is that you do and let the other things go.

photo credit: Stephen Savage, Fairhope, AL

Zacharias, a native of Columbus, GA, writes about real people and the issues that really matter to them. Her work has been featured in the Huffington Post, New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Newsweek, National Public Radio, Relevant Magazine, Christianity Today, and CNN. She teaches journalism at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA, and blogs at Patheos.com. A vocal advocate for veterans and military families, Zacharias lost her father when he was killed-in-action in Vietnam in 1966. Her previous works include: Benched: Judge Rufe McCombs, After the Flag Has Been Folded: A Daughter Remembers the Father She Lost to War – and the Mother Who Held Her Family Together, Where’s Your Jesus Now?: Examining How Fear Erodes Our Faith and Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?: (‘Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV).

Marchant holds a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, specializing in late 19th- and early 20th-century American woman writers. Her dissertation, “Novel Resolutions: Revising the Romance Plot,” analyzes the influence of the Woman’s Movement on women writers. She currently teaches World Literature and Composition at Auburn University.

When I turned 18, I already had my life planned. I would move out of Auburn and be on my own, attend Troy University and be happy. Now at 23, I’m still in Auburn, living at home and still in Junior College. Yes, it’s a bit disappointing and I struggle with seeing my friends nearing graduation, but I guess it’s true that we do march or (roll) to the beat of our own drum. In the last three months I have done more than I have done in the last 5 years. If you know me then there are three things you know that I struggle with: 1). I struggle with being out of my comfort zone, 2). I’m paranoid about being awkward to others, and 3). I worry about everything. I have heard about number 3 so much lately that even as I type this I am chuckling because I can hear people saying that I worry too much.

The weird thing is that even though my previous plan didn’t work, I feel like my “right now” plan is what I need to be doing. I could be upset that it’s not the way I dreamed or I can create a new dream. I’m stubborn, clingy, and I’ll say no to almost anything in a heartbeat. I will find any and everything super funny at the inappropriate time but that’s just me. I’ve met great people who have gradually become my friends despite all the awkwardness I feel.

So I’ve decided when Plan A doesn’t work, dream bigger and make Plan B. Sometimes it’s Plan B that prepares you to be tougher for when Plan A becomes available, if it does. We all have to move to the beat of our drum, but I think sometimes you have to make your own remix.

Recently a friend offered to buy me lunch. I immediately refused to allow it without even thinking twice about it. My normal reaction to offers by others to do things or buy things for me is to decline and to be stubborn in my refusal. This friend, having experienced my negative reactions in the past to her and others who were trying to be nice, asked me why I could always give, but never accept. At first I was a bit defensive because until now I hadn’t seen anything wrong with how I behaved in that regard. I simply considered myself to be very independently minded despite my dependent circumstances. But I had to think about the question and come to terms with my feelings.

So because I do need help physically, like having doors opened or having someone hand me my backpack from the handles of my chair, anything outside of that is too much. I feel like I am being a bother. If you know me at all, you know that I say I am sorry for everything. I admit it’s a bad habit that is now to the point of saying it without even realizing I have said it. I have had many friends try to break the habit but unfortunately only one has had even a little success. I realize that I do struggle with people being nice to me and wanting to do for me because they care. There are good people in the world. I know personally I try to be very strong because of my physical weakness but I have to be willing to let people do things for me when they want to help.

Some of you, like me, may feel the need to be strong all the time. But we are here tor each other to lean on, and to love and strengthen one another. It’s okay to enjoy the company of others and need them because you never know you when you might have to strengthen them because they need you.

Imagine watching Schindler’s List and knowing the sadistic Nazi camp commandant played by Ralph Fiennes was your father. Inheritance is the story of Monika Hertwig, the daughter of mass murderer Amon Goeth. Hertwig has spent her life in the shadow of her father’s sins, trying to come to terms with her “inheritance.” She seeks out Helen Jonas, who was enslaved by Goeth and who is one of the few living eyewitnesses to his unspeakable brutality. The women’s raw, emotional meeting unearths terrible truths and lingering questions about how the actions of our parents can continue to ripple through generations. (The film runs 86 minutes).

There is no charge for this event. To learn more about the film, please visit http://www.pbs.org/pov/inheritance/

We are trying to provide a viewer discretion statement for the films shown at The Gnu’s Room whenever possible. Inheritance contains some scenes relating to the holocaust and the execution of Amon Goeth that might be disturbing to younger or more sensitive viewers.