Whoopi and Rainer Maria Rilke

This week, we started looking for movies to watch since we are home and sheltering in place because of the coronavirus. We were scrolling through Disney + when I saw the movie Sister Act on the screen and convinced my family to watch it.

The next day, my older son started watching Sister Act 2. (Yay! He must have actually liked the first one! He's an almost teenager so it's hard to tell what he likes or doesn't like these days...)

For some background. In Sister Act, Whoopi Goldberg witnesses a crime and has to go into hiding. She pretends to be a nun and lives in a convent where she befriends the other nuns and takes charge of their choir, makes it amazing, and save the church.

In Sister Act 2, Whoopi Goldberg is invited back to pretend to be a nun and teach students and save the church this time by turning around the school's choice program.

I was working on school stuff but listened to the movie in the background and pointed out that Lauryn Hill and Jennifer Love Hewitt were in the movie too. At one point, Lauryn Hill's character can't be in the choir because her mom won't let her. Whoopi's character trackers her down and tells her about Rainer Maria Rilke and his "Letters to a Young Poet." Here's the scene:

And here's Letters to a Young Poet (The First Letter) by Rainer Maria Rilke. I just had to go look it up because how awesome is that!? I love when pop culture gives me little nuggets of ideas to look up and explore more. 

And then of course, I wanted to know more about Whoopi Goldberg. These days she can be found on The View but she's been through a lot as an actor and it was fascinating to spend some time learning about her. Here's a fascinating episode from OWN and Oprah's Master Class that's called The Hilarious One-Woman Show That Sparked Whoopi Goldberg's Career. Whoopi Goldberg is an awesome example of being who you are. She does what makes sense to her and doesn't listen to what others think of her. 

You know, 

be an actor because you love to act. 

Don't be an actor because 

you think you're going to get famous, 

because that's luck. 

-Whoopi Goldberg

No matter what it is you want to work at, do it because you love it. Not because anyone else is telling you to do it. Not because anything is telling you that you should. Do it because it rings true for you and because you believe in doing it.